1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Match Day Thread Leeds United v Southampton 23/02/21, 6pm, Sky Sports

Discussion in 'Southampton' started by tomw24, Feb 20, 2021.

  1. Ronnie Hotdog (MLsfc)

    Ronnie Hotdog (MLsfc) Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2012
    Messages:
    7,204
    Likes Received:
    7,240
    1 point from 24.
    Can't score.
    Conceded 18 in past 5.
    Injury crises.
    Forum turning on ourselves.
    Mods have lost control.

    The end is nigh!
     
    #581
  2. Negative Creep

    Negative Creep Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2020
    Messages:
    2,230
    Likes Received:
    2,824
    Oh, i know he wasnt playing RB in that game, and youre correct about Jack, i was simply making the comparison that Bedders is totally **** when out in that position. he doesn’t judge the speed of the game there from what I can tell.

    Even the 1st goal tonight he wasnt sure where his position should be, and kinda ended up getting in the way doing nothing.

    I’m not blaming him, i just dont want to see him playing there again.
     
    #582
    OddRiverOakWizards likes this.
  3. ellandback

    ellandback Well-Known Member
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2011
    Messages:
    60,421
    Likes Received:
    32,906
    Rejuvenated Costa. He was fantastic tonight.
     
    #583
  4. ellandback

    ellandback Well-Known Member
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2011
    Messages:
    60,421
    Likes Received:
    32,906
    Rejuvenated Costa. He was fantastic tonight.
     
    #584
  5. SAINTOSPREY

    SAINTOSPREY Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2019
    Messages:
    3,324
    Likes Received:
    2,451
    Should JWP have been booked for trying to cheat by taking the kick early? The way things are going it would not surprise me if he was!
     
    #584
  6. saintrichie123

    saintrichie123 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2011
    Messages:
    29,792
    Likes Received:
    34,464
    Straight red.....surprised we got away with it.
     
    #585
    Archers Road and mowgli like this.
  7. Brinkworth Saint

    Brinkworth Saint Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2012
    Messages:
    2,203
    Likes Received:
    2,633
    No doubt this is a rubbish result, but Ralph is, in my view, the person to get this bad run sorted. Against Chelsea we showed definite signs of better form, if not quite where we were, but that's life. KWP's absence is a massive blow for us and the change round tonight to cope with this problem did not work. That said I'll be very surprised if Ralph and the team don't learn from that. We are where we are and it's not pleasant to be a Saints fan at present, but right now I do not believe we will do a Bournemouth and even if it's a close call, we will be playing in the PL next season and we'll be ok. Optimistic, perhaps for some, but compared with previous seasons, I do not have the same fatalism that was the case a few years back.
     
    #586
    Pelletron and mowgli like this.
  8. Saintmagic

    Saintmagic Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2011
    Messages:
    18,860
    Likes Received:
    13,575
    For me blaming Hassenhuttl is the easiest thing, and maybe what the board will ultimately do.

    This team has no spine whatsoever. It’s all well and good looking great for 45 mins of a game where we move the ball well and we are playing like we know what we are doing. Until we reach the final third then it falls apart. Whether that is due to a lack of ability, a lack of a plan or a bit of both.

    In tonight’s game in the first half we had a free kick just inside their half, Bertrand took it, defender cleared and their centre mid had the whole ****ing of our half to play a ball for their player to be clean through. That is terrible. There is no way any coaching staff at St Mary’s elementary school (yeah I’m not from Southampton) would be teaching players to set up like that let alone a pro outfit. So that comes down to organisation, on pitch leaders, players with some kind of ****ing nous and understanding that you can stray slightly from the exact game plan and use your ****ing brain about how a football match plays out.

    Fast forward to every second half in recent memory and this team falls apart when something against them happens. Tonight it wasn’t VAR it was **** defending. Did anyone really think we’d get back into the game on the 47th minute when they scored? It is a team of weak
    minded players, confidence is low, but you know what? Somebody has to stand up and want the ball, rally his team mates and ensure that the 45 mins where we have shown we are good enough to compete doesn’t just disappear after we concede.

    These players, in the main, were the same ones who struggled under Pellegino, under Hughes and to a certain degree under Puel. Hassenhuttl has done well with what is ultimately an average group of players. But doing well with this group is about where we are, lower mid table
     
    #587
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2021
  9. RSS

    RSS Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2011
    Messages:
    9,648
    Likes Received:
    7,300
    I really don't see how changing McCarthy for Forster will make any difference to either the way we are playing or the results we are getting. To me that is just a thought born from desperation at just wanting to change something, and we have very few things that we can change due to lack of options. I'm obviously as frustrated as the rest of you with that result and performance and where we are with everything right now, but the real turd on the cake is Romeu getting injured again. Seriously, we are cursed. So ****ing annoying.

    The marginal decisions going against us AGAIN feel like another dagger in the back because even though they were probably correct decisions, they are the type of thing that if they were against us would and have been given. We have a lot of mitigating reasons for this dreadful run. But there are things that Ralph and the team simply need to stand up and sort out. We are so so mentally weak. JWP was still talking to the ref when he came out second half about the decisions. That should have been shelved at half time and the focus coming out second half purely on standing up and putting in a performance to try and win the game. No team collapses like we do when things go against us, we've been this way for years and it's something that Ralph has not sorted out. We are the epitome of a relegation candidate right now because we can't score, we don't create enough to score enough...and we are conceeding too many and too easily. Theres no magic wand to fix this, in an ideal world we would be playing once a week and I think that would help a lot in terms of injuries, game plans and the fitness levels that saw us winning so many games in project comeback at the end of last season. However we don't have that this season, and so Ralph needs to do something to change this around because it's clearly not going to be a lucky break that gets us moving in the right direction again. I haven't a clue what the answer is, but we need to figure out something sooner rather than later. With so little to life at the moment in what seems like an eternal lockdown of groundhog day, Saints losing every ****ing week is really not welcome.
     
    #588
    LincolnSaint and timatoketchup like this.
  10. Le Tissier's Laces

    Le Tissier's Laces Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2011
    Messages:
    38,530
    Likes Received:
    40,070
    I've heard you say that and be wrong before.
     
    #589
  11. Saintmagic

    Saintmagic Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2011
    Messages:
    18,860
    Likes Received:
    13,575
    Just out of interest how did you think we did tonight?

    Ive agreed with you that in recent games we have looked good in the main, but fallen apart when something goes wrong. Do you think this is something systemic, confidence or something else?
     
    #590

  12. Libby

    Libby 9-0

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2011
    Messages:
    76,434
    Likes Received:
    77,112
    This is on the money imo.
     
    #591
  13. saintrichie123

    saintrichie123 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 29, 2011
    Messages:
    29,792
    Likes Received:
    34,464
  14. Le Tissier's Laces

    Le Tissier's Laces Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2011
    Messages:
    38,530
    Likes Received:
    40,070
    I thought we started very brightly, and had one of the early chances been converted we may well have gone on to win. Anyone can see that this team's confidence is as brittle as a fresh poppadum though, and that's a real worry. As I said before though, we're failing with fine margins, but this is a premier league outfit and the PL is all about being on the right side of those margins.

    We're getting very little luck, but we're not helping ourselves either. I've said it a few times now as well, it worries me that Oriol is our most progressive midfielder. It worries me that Danny still has all the skill, but none of the goalscoring threat that he had a while back. It worries me that we have no full back cover.

    But I'm also long enough in the tooth to know that 99 times out of 100, these fine margin errors and mishaps will and do turn around. I'd just very much like it to be sooner rather than later. Once that happens, the pieces will start falling back into place again. It's the goal off the arse and the dug-in victory.
     
    #593
  15. Le Tissier's Laces

    Le Tissier's Laces Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2011
    Messages:
    38,530
    Likes Received:
    40,070
    One thing that is notable, everyone is crying out for Ralph to try something different from the off. He tries someone different with the lineup, and the cries of "WHY DID HE DO THAT?" are deafening.

    Then bringing Moussa on was, yes, a risk, but had he brought Jankowitz on and nothing changed, everyone would have said "WE WERE LOSING, WHY NOT BRING ON AN ATTACKING SUBSTITUTE?"

    It's amazing how good we all are at premier league management after a game has finished.
     
    #594
  16. Schad

    Schad Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 6, 2011
    Messages:
    17,724
    Likes Received:
    13,007
    A lot of it just comes down to a lack of quality depth. If a player goes off the boil or gets injured, we can expect the lineup to take a real step back. If our better players are tired, we still end up riding them.

    Combined with a system that requires an awful lot of effort and it's not just the confidence: if you're a goal down and fatigued, it's going to be even tougher sledding out there.

    If we're going to be an Academy team, part of that involves the kids being able to step up and provide that energy and enough quality to keep the front-line players in top form. That hasn't happened to date.
     
    #595
  17. Negative Creep

    Negative Creep Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2020
    Messages:
    2,230
    Likes Received:
    2,824
    I agree this is likely to turn around, however, we are unlikely to get much change from the next 2 fixtures. It puts he wrong pressures on the Shef Utd game, and we dont do this kind of pressure.

    It also allows literally every team we face the knowledge that if they score 1, they are unlikely to lose, which is a truly awful position to be in.

    I still think Ralph needs to lead us out of this. I thought we have been pretty good in a number of games lately, Villa, Wolves even Leicester 1st half. But, tonight got to me more than the Utd game, cos we were utterly dog **** that 2nd half, and I thought Raloh got our approach totally wrong after going 1 down.

    I still fancy us to win v Everton.
     
    #596
  18. Saintmagic

    Saintmagic Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2011
    Messages:
    18,860
    Likes Received:
    13,575
    I think a lot of people (on here anyway) have been calling out for a new number 10 type player for **** knows how long. I’ve never been a fan of Ward-Prowse really. Takes a great set piece, runs around a lot, but I’d like much more from a centre mid. Maybe just me.

    I agree with the poor luck, but on the flip side when we were up the top of the league, you couldn’t have asked for more luck really. Couple
    of chances a game and we scored, then we played similar to how we are playing now, for 45 anyway. Confidence maybe or other teams having to chase the game a bit and the game changes.

    I think Ralph is a good manager, I think he hasn’t been given the funds to mould the team how he would really like it. Unfortunately it is much easier to change the manager than the skint owners. I don’t want him gone, but with the constraints we have due to those owners I can see why thinking logically it crosses peoples minds.
     
    #597
    OddRiverOakWizards likes this.
  19. ChilcoSaint

    ChilcoSaint What a disgrace
    Forum Moderator

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2011
    Messages:
    37,240
    Likes Received:
    35,091
    You’re next then :D
     
    #598
    Ronnie Hotdog (MLsfc) likes this.
  20. Libby

    Libby 9-0

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2011
    Messages:
    76,434
    Likes Received:
    77,112
    Win at Goodison? <yikes>

    Can't be smoking that **** without sharing mate...
     
    #599
    Schrodinger's Cat likes this.
  21. Negative Creep

    Negative Creep Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2020
    Messages:
    2,230
    Likes Received:
    2,824
    Not sure this is totally fair. The fact is his decisions weren't great tonight, they just didnt pay off.

    I wasnt happy with the line up of Bedders in defence, but thought Ings needed a rest.
    Stuey picks himself, and Redmind was ok on Sat, so why not tonight.

    I was amazed he put Moussa on when Oriol went off, and it clearly didnt work. We were still very much in the game at 1-0, and I think we had about 15 mins left.

    I guess fair play to Ralph for trying to be positive with Moussa, but I just thought it obvious what was going to one of the best counter attacking sides in the league.

    It wasnt also just about the subs. I'm assuming bringing Moussa on, we needed Stuey to sit deeper, and that didn't really happen. Surely the instructions need to come from the management, its not as if the players wouldn't be heard over the crowd...
     
    #600

Share This Page