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Saints At Happoel Be'er Sheva The Verdict
Friday, 30th Sep 2016 05:31

Saints kept their place at the top of the group with a hard fought goaliess draw in Be'er Sheba.

Claude Puel once again rang the changes for a midweek game and took a gamble that his young side would be up to the task of getting a result against what might be the surprise team of the group.

It wasn't a pretty game or an exciting performance for the 350 or so grovelling fans who has nothing behind them outside the stadium other than desert, bur it was a satisfying one in that it showed that Saints can make wholesale changes and still be competitive.

In truth neither side created much of note apart from a couple of speculative efforts each, the home side had plenty of gusto but Saints stuck manfully to their task.

The manager again showed he has tactical nous when he made a change shortly after the half hour mark, he saw that he needed a bit more experience and ability to not only keep the ball but create chances and took off Jake Hesketh and brought on Dusan Tadic.

This gave Saints better balance and from then on in, one hairy moment in the second half aside they never looked like losing the game, indeed they could have easily won it.

But they went to do a job and did it superb marshalled by Vigil Van Dijk they closed the game out and kept a fifth consecutive clean sheet.

There are still questions to be asked about the side in the attacking third, but with the players who were out back again they should be soon sorted.

This was more of an event than a game for the Saints fans present and one that they will be proud to say they went to, yea Inter Milan will be an experience, but travelling to a different continent to support the team was something else and the fans made themselves heard in a noisy atmosphere.

We now continue the season at Leicester and there is a feeling that this side might just be better than last season in terms of what it can achieve, yes perhaps it is lacking the flair of Sadio Mane but we are getting results whilst still finding our feet and that is something that bodes well.

Photo: Action Images



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DPeps added 06:36 - Sep 30
This was a good point in difficult circumstances, and against a well-drilled side. We were strangely poor, however, with only Romeu, Redmond and Yoshida putting in decent shifts. Even the brilliant Virgil had a bit of a stinker. For all his endeavour, Long is really off his game at the moment. Not sure if he's just knackered or if he can't get on with the new way of playing. Regardless, he needs to sort things before our injuries start piling up!
0

the_saint added 07:19 - Sep 30
Apart from missing a sitter I thought Virgil played well.
5

1teeminants added 08:04 - Sep 30
They need to give young Olomola a run out even if it's just 10
minutes at the end.I see he was on the bench. Long needs a rest.
5

corkcitysaint added 08:14 - Sep 30
What a great atmosphere! Even just watching on TV the hairs were standing up on the back of my neck. If our game plan was to sit back and let HBS do what they want in their own have then close them down in ours , snuffing out any chances and frustrate the crowd then it worked perfectly.

Attacking wise, in the second half, we struggled. I thought if we had a bit of height in attack, it would have helped as we put a lot of crosses in to no effect. A target man to win the ball and for us to feed off the knock downs might have been a good fall back plan. As it was, it was all to intricate with balls getting stuck in feet.

I have to applaud Claude for taking JH off as I thought it was the right decision. He looked too lightweight for the match and was knocked off the ball too many times. As soon as Tadic came on, we got into the game more and started coming forward. I just wish Cuco could look along the line before running offside!

I felt sorry for Long. It was always going to be a tough game for a striker, chasing down balls on the counter, no real chances. He looked shattered at the end but credit to the guy, he never gives up, sulks or moans.

I must confess I still get a bit panicky when Yoshida has the ball around the edge of our box. He seems to dither for too long and almost gets caught in possession. Then he plays a sloppy ball which can prove fatal..

All in all, happy with a point on the road despite what could have been after 2 mins.
2

schatfield added 08:15 - Sep 30
that was 90 minutes of my life I will never get back!
4

SanMarco added 08:34 - Sep 30
You should play the "wait for the yoshi balls up" schatfield. It maintains a mild interest - don't play "wait for the Targett overlap" though...
2

SanMarco added 08:34 - Sep 30
You should play the "wait for the yoshi balls up" schatfield. It maintains a mild interest - don't play "wait for the Targett overlap" though...
0

davepid added 08:46 - Sep 30
I have some sympathy with schatfield. I used to play watchJWP srcew up this easy chance to score with a moving ball, but that's no longer available after West Ham. But Yosis game is a dead cert
0

vanmans added 08:51 - Sep 30
I will take a point but it was a shite game. Clearly we don't have the strength in depth to win these type games. We would have won if we still had Pelle up front. Big mistake not to replace him with another big striker. I thought Martina, Clasie and Ward Prowse were very poor last night. Van Dijk my man of the match.
1

SonicBoom added 09:23 - Sep 30
I thought Romeu was very good last night but we struggled to dominate possession in the way we usually do. The ball was coming back fairly quickly from Redmond and Long. In fact we lacked any sort of threat up front which is a concern and puts extra pressure on Austin to stay fit.
Any point away though is a good point and overall we are sitting pretty in the group right now.
4

halftimeorange added 11:33 - Sep 30
The substitutes we fielded last night are good but simply not as good as those regulars they replaced (Long apart as he is looking as though he's finally burnt out). We can't complain about the result with the team we had out and after such a long trip. It was a yawn from start to finish, rather like the first half at WHU, and I'm glad I didn't make the effort to travel. I also thought that Van Dijk had a very good game and is a fine captain in the making - wherever that might be.
3

highfield49 added 12:05 - Sep 30
It may be that my expectations are too high but I think Boufal will definitely add another dimension to the team as and when he gets fit to play. That said I have to agree with all the other posters who have highlighted the need for a Pelle style replacement up front. Charlie can't play every game simply because he doesn't have the stamina required and the goals will dry up as a consequence. As for poor old Yoshi, we just have to hope that he's not required to play against the top teams. On the other hand Romeu is looking more and more suited to the defensive midfield role vacated by Wanyama. Overall a decent if hardly dynamic performance against quite challenging opposition.
2

dirk_doone added 14:52 - Sep 30
Forster and the defence saved us. We had almost zero threat up front. Austin has to be played for at least part any game where we want more than a 0-0 draw as he is the only reliable goal scorer we've got left. If he gets injured before we can buy a replacment striker for Pelle and Mane in January, we're really going to struggle.
2

SaintGeorge added 18:29 - Sep 30
But we're not top.
Every table you look at we're second, even though we've got better GD
Uefa table http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2017/standings/round=2000792/group=2
BBC reported table
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/europa-league/table

Is it because our goals are home goals?

Either way, I'd like to see teh table with us at the top >:o/
0


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