 | News
Comment | Southampton At Leeds United The Verdict
at 16:28:31
Saints under Martin have always played their best football against the the best sides (Leicester aside). We need teams to come at us, to press us high, as the entire philosophy of our game is to beat the press. I was confident that with our strongest available 11, we'd beat Leeds.
As we head into the Playoffs, hopefully these better teams will also come at us and not sit back! |
| News
Comment | Southampton V Stoke City The Verdict
at 12:17:49
The irony of this website stating the following!
This should have been a celebratory day for Saints fans, there should have been a feeling of positivity, but the truth is that the fight has been knocked out of the supporter base
|
| News
Comment | No Togetherness No Character No Fight
at 12:42:22
Yes, we all saw last night's performance, and yes we all have concerns about where the season might go, but really..............keep it until the end of the season review.
The player and the manager need us behind them for the last two games and Playoffs, not this pessimistic drivel that fuels fan's collective moaning and negativity. Blimey, thank goodness you aren't a Saints player. I wouldn't want you in my team when the going gets tough ! |
| News
Comment | Southampton At Leicester The Debacle
at 12:25:32
It's fairly simple and obvious to me. With three key players (Gavin Bazunu, Flynn Downes, Stuart Armstrong) from our starting 11 out, we will struggle.
Gavin Bazunu - Despite all his detractors, Bazunu is a key element of playing the style of football Russell Martins has instilled. Bazunu is good with his feet and we start so many of our passages of play from the back, he's a big miss. You only had to look yesterday to see that we were trying to play this way with 10 men (as McCarty hasn't got it in him and defenders were reluctant to play the ball through him). You then start with one less option for a pass, so the drawing in of the opposition player(s) stops, which creates less space. We then end up lumping the ball forward !
Flynn Downes - protects the backline, has excellent movement and is comfortable on the ball allowing others to play off him.
Stuart Armstrong - is one of the few players that drives forward, and will shoot on sight or play others in.
Without S Armstrong and Downs, Aribo has to work harder as he doesn't have that safety net of better player around him. I thought Charles was fine last night, but all around him there were problems.
To me the midfield is key. We had nothing last night so Che was not involved. Our wingers when they did get into forward positions seemed unable to beat anyone when they are on the ball.
No need to panic though, that's for fans to do. Russell needs to re-focus the players. Saturday is a massive game now. We need a performance and a result at St Marys so we go to Elland Road and the Playoffs in some form. |
| News
Comment | Saints Announce New Season Ticket Details- Good For Some A Kick In The Teeth For Others
at 21:31:41
I think St Mary's having a real home end and safe standing is really positive. However, I hear lots of fans say that they've sat in the same seat for years and this is forcing them to move. Well, as a season ticket holder in the Itchen North and someone who has sat/stood next to away fans at The Dell and St Marys for nearly 40 years (because I enjoy it more, not because I bait or any other of some people's stereotypes), I feel the club is unfairly incentivising fans to the Northam. I get it but, it sounds like if I move to say block 20 in the Chapel South to be next to the away end, they want to charge me more now ! |
| News
Comment | Southampton V Watford The Verdict
at 13:44:18
A strange game that won't live long in the memory imo. We were comfortable for the 20-30mins but then the game started to shift and we were poor from then on and Watford didn't deserve to lose.
I didn't think the substitutions were poor. No one was play well. Aribo was not that effective, clearly had a knock, so came off. Brooks was equally not really doing anything so bringing on Fraser was obvious, but then Fraser did nothing. Bree could have stayed on, but Martin clearly needed to put on another attacking option, so Manning gives us that in the full-back position. Adam Armstrong was frustrating throughout, endlessly giving up the opportunity to shoot. The only players that stood out were Downes and maybe THB.
Then came the strange winning goal. I didn't celebrate it at all, because it was so clearly handball, the ref would surely blow and disallow it. That didn't happen but surely the lineman would speak to the ref, but he didn't. I stood there waiting, watching everyone go nuts. It felt like when you see the flag go up but half the ground doesn't see it and celebrates !
Happy for the 3 points of course and hopefully our luck is turning with other results going our way again. But we need to be better than Saturday.
|
| News
Comment | Southampton V Coventry City The Verdict
at 11:17:17
Saint were excellent in the first half and should have scored one or two more. The two stand-out players for me (in the 1st) were Joe Aribo, who was immense and Che Adams who got physical and made a real nuisance of himself.
Coventry had more pressure in the second half, but Saints managed this well.
You say that Saints though continue to play/pursue a suicidal strategy at the back, but Im struggling to think of too many times this season where this has directly cost us a goal. Certainly no more than any other situations that have cost us. For the Coventry goal, it wasn't about not being organised at centre-back when Bree tucked in, that's just how the play developed. It was that Adam Armstrong let his man go at the far side/post and he's acknowledge that. I think this strategy of playing out from the back speaks more of fan's anxiety than the fact that it is costing us goals. I see little point in lumping the ball forward, creating a 50/50 opportunity for the opposition to win the ball. When the games are tight and the opposition is in the game, the last thing you want to do is give the ball back to them, it invites even more pressure ! Slowing the play down at key times (towards the end of the game) is more important.
The key to better performance is playing players in the best position and to me, Stephen at centre-back is fine. It's about picking two from three between JS, THB & JB at centre-back. Then we play two recognised fullbacks and KWP and Bree, for me, are the best options in these positions.
A good win for Saints and a good atmosphere at St Marys as well. |
| News
Comment | Russell Martin Admits He Won't Change Tactics Or Drop Jack Stephens
at 13:52:20
One thing is for sure, nothing is going to change now, the season is nearly over. So what's the point in moaning and being negative, it won't help the team.
The best thing we can do is back the team and manager starting on Tuesday as we need to enter the Playoffs on a good run of form. Players feed of the atmosphere and therefore all we can do is create this for them. Anything else is selfish and will be counter productive. You have to put aside what you think and back the team, whoever is on the pitch. |
| News
Comment | Southampton V Middlesbrough The Verdict
at 08:33:14
It looked like we hadn't played for 3 weeks, but even at 1-0 up St Mary's was very quiet, so to me everyone inside the stadium fell short. Not good enough on the day, everyone. |
| News
Comment | Southampton At Birmingham City The Verdict
at 13:29:25
After a decent hour vs Liverpool, what has James Bree got to do to get a start ! He's just a really solid full back and will settle the backline down rather than us endlessly being wide open. |
| News
Comment | RIP Chris Nicholl A True Southampton Legend
at 13:11:57
Loved the 4-2-4 !
A really solid player, a good manager at Saints and will rightful be remembered as a great man in my eyes for everything he did for Southampton FC. |
| News
Comment | Southampton At West Bromwich Albion The Verdict
at 16:53:59
Our most significant win of the season so far. After losing our unbeaten run the chasing pack in Ipswish, Leeds and even West Brom would have been looking to see how if affected us. To go away to West Brom and put in a solid 0-2, sent out a clear message to everyone; that we are not going anywhere anytime soon. |
| News
Comment | Southampton V Huddersfield Town The Verdict
at 16:24:29
That was a great game. The feeling that we would lose our unbeaten run, to then two quick goals after halftime to send everyone into raptures in the stands, to going behind for a third time but to run out with a 5-goal second-half performance, was great. This is why the Championship is such a great league. Hats off to Huddersfield as well, they played great throughout but in the end, our strength and depth won out.
However, who are these idiotic people who booed at halftime? They need calling out. If anyone on here booed, please tell me why that was justified! Even if we did lose the game and the record, we'd have seen 24 games unbeaten and that alone is worthy of an ovation in itself for the effort of all players and coaching staff. Over the years, we've heard for example Man United sing that 'undefeated' song endlessly season in and season out and no doubt we've all listened to it at St Marys thinking how entitled they all sound, gloating to everyone about their record. We are now singing that song (which is great for us), yet those who booed before halftime need to give their head a wobble. The entitlement to a performance and a win when things haven't gone to plan for 45 minutes was just embarrassing. |
| News
Comment | Southampton V Sheffield Wednesday The Verdict
at 14:01:08
Great performance by the team again. This run is something special.
I have to rant though about some of our fans.
My only annoyance is yet again fans at St Marys. What we are seeing now/yesterday will likely never be beaten by another Saints team and almost certainly when this unbeaten run is over, never in our lifetime. So why were there 10-15000 empty seats at the final whistle ! Russell Martin and this team are making history, they deserved our full appreciation and support at the final whistle yesterday. Yet what they got was a whimper. The stadium should have been as near dam it full at the end.
Some will say we've achieved nothing yet or records mean nothing if we don't get promoted, but that must run pretty thin if you are Martin or the team right now, given what they are doing and equalling the clubs record run !
Yes of course promotion is the single most important stat this season but seriously, some of our fans need to give their heads a wobble. It appears entitled that 'we wont lose now, we've scored 4, im out of here'!
I full expect that these so called fans will be there to lap up the glorous moment if we win promotion, invade the pitch, and forever proclaim 'I was there'.
Where were you yesterday !
|
| | ItchenNorth
|
Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 0 | | Comment Votes: | 804 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 804 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.