Oldham Athletic 1 v 0 Salford City Papa John's Trophy Tuesday, 31st August 2021 Kick-off 19:00 |
SaintBrock added 20:00 - Nov 19 One to watch from behind the sofa. Of course it was a brilliant defensive display from the Magnificent 7 but all that emphasised was the huge gulf between Liverpool and us. We won't be able to defend this resolutely every week and unless we find a way of mounting a serious attacking threat and actually start scoring goals this could be a very uncomfortable season. SanMarco added 21:22 - Nov 19 From the kick-off to the final whistle the Saints 0 part of the result was a foregone conclusion. We defended well and had a little bit of luck to get the point. We really are shocking going forward and dreadful back passes, own-goals and silly penalties seem to be out main hope of a goal nowadays. A couple of key defensive injuries and we will be in a relegation struggle. SantiBeachUpperLoft added 00:21 - Nov 20 Onuoha does nothing to warrant being the captain. Absolutely no leadership or communication after the Norwich goal to get players focused. Should be Lynch, cousins or Bidwell all day long. smiffdub added 07:48 - Nov 20 I think this game shows us where we really are, all cheerleading aside. I can't remember a more negative, cowardly, performance from a Saints team at home in decades. Everybody on this site knows (even if they don;t always admit it) that we're missing real strikers, have no midfielders who can even occasionally score, and we have little defensive depth outside the obvious starters. But this wasn't really abut any of those things. It was about what kind of identity Puel has imposed on this team. Even though we were at home, we set up and played from the start like an away team that was petrified of the opposition. We defended so deep that the only attacking option was a very very long ball to a player (Austin) who is incapable of hold up play but was left without support for 50 yards. At home! The midfield was all about containment and didn't have a forward moving creative bone in its body. We essentially played with 3 containing midfielders...what other self-respecting PL team does that? If this is what Saints football now has to be, I for one am not interested. What a horrible let down! dirk_doone added 08:33 - Nov 20 smiffdub, that's a little bit over the top. Puel is doing the best he can with very limited resources. He didn't ask for Mane and Pelle to be sold or for the purchase of Redmond as Mane's 'replacement'. Puel is astute enough to realize that the squad is very short of attacking talent so holding out for a scoreless home draw against the top teams is his best option. Would you rather we lost 0-2 like we did against Chelsea? If Van Dijk and Fonte are sold next then we really will be in trouble but as long as we've got them, we'll be a very difficult team to score against and Austin can still score goals as long as his knees hold up. vanmans added 09:14 - Nov 20 Southampton failed to register a single shot on target in a Premier League game for the first time since 28 December 2004. Southampton had 3 shoots off target and Liverpool had 15. Southampton had 35% possession and Liverpool 65%. Southampton 1 corner and Liverpool 8 We were at home for goodness sake. Terrible performance if we carry like this we will be in a relegation fight. Nick do you still think our strikers are good enough. I have said ever since the transfer window shut that we should have bought one if not two strikers to replace Pelle and Mane. With games like this It looks like I was right. Alehouse added 10:21 - Nov 20 A brave defensive performance, VVD was absolutely outstanding. That having been said I agree with the other contributors about our total lack of attacking ideas and ambition. Pre-match Claude said we wouldn't park the bus but would continue with our normal attacking approach. We certainly continued with our normal approach but there was no element of attacking involved. I haven't been able to get to every game this season, but based on what I have seen this performance was no surprise. Liverpool weren't prepared to let us to keep possession and comfortably ferry passes backwards and forwards across our own half. We don't seem to have any other game. I cannot see many wins coming our way this season. We were lucky to come away with a point. tsbains64 added 11:24 - Nov 20 sidsaint added 12:47 - Nov 20 Lucky to escape with a point and stats show we were outplayed in every department except some good defensive tackles, which Liverpool didn't have to produce. The result was better than I expected because of the way Liverpool play, they are the fittest team in the league and play an incredible pressing game, they also have better players including 5 ex saints. Most matches see us with the majority of the possession yesterday we had only half the possession of Liverpool yet managed a point. The game also showed where we need to strengthen as no shots on target for the first time in 12 years speaks volumes for what we have been saying all season. We must strengthen in January and hold on to our defenders. Big_T added 13:25 - Nov 20 Unfortunately I said at the start of the season I don't like Austin and Redmond isn't good enough and I have seen nothing to change my mind. I am really happy however at the great performances of Romeu and Van Dijk. I think Puel is doing a great job the team look very organized look forward to getting Long back to full fitness and hopefully an interesting transfer window. Dear Santa this year I would like a striker than can hold the ball up and bring his team mates into the attack or a bit of pace and a new bike please.
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