Southampton (A) - Carabao Cup | Post Match Thread

[FantasyIreland]

The media pretending/ignoring what team Southampton beat last night.

They went 2 nil up against one of the most disjointed elevens we have ever put on a pitch,it was only ever going to end in tears.

As i said in the match thread,it would have been preferable to send an EDS eleven......at least they would have been set up right.

The most comical part being in an effort to rest players,he chose such a shite line up that he needed to drag them off a lovely warm bench to try and recover the fuck up and subsequently probably causing them more angst than had he played them from the start.

Just fucking abysmal.

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

Are people calling for his head? I’ve just seen people slagging the strange tactics and obsession with possession football rather than the exciting stuff we’d become spoilt by. As regards the champions league his weird tactics and lack of bollocks in the big games have been our biggest problem.

Many in the thread have been implying it yes, comments like 'I'm done with Pep', 'Pep can fuck off' etc. He surely has to have loads more credit with us fans than a string of mediocre (and one terrible) performances before we turn on him.

Tbh, the players were infinitely more to blame than Pep last night. He gave a number of players chances to prove that they are good enough and every single one failed miserably. Whatever the tactics were, even Walker at CB, that team should have at least competed with Southampton. Whether that's a player or recruitment root cause I don't know.

 

[stonerblue]

Bobbins.
From Pep's fucking about with selection and tactics to a few abject performances from the players this game was a disaster.
In a battle of a game we didn't have one leader on the pitch and were out-fought in every area.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Its difficult to understand that performance. If you go at it analytically you have two fullbacks who went further than offering nothing - they actually helped the opposition. Then one of the most important if not the most important position on the pitch that Phillips played yesterday - he was abject in all aspects of the game. There was no overload in midfield (other than Saints) because of our fullbacks performance. At times it was Gundo and Phil vs 4 or 5. And on top of that Walker in a position he is unfamiliar with. Palmer meh. For a team like us that depends on all parts of the machine working beautifully together, that was always going to cause us massive problems. Then face us off with a young hungry team that showed zero respect and were in our faces from the first minute, throw in one goal where our new 'cb' goes walkies and a second goal where our (previously excellent) goalie goes walkies and you have last night. Improved in the second half but still too many parts of the machine not working.

Strength in depth I heard someone say?

 

[Shuffs]

Their high press really got to Laporte and he looked like he didn't trust Ortega which was a factor...if we wanted to get something out of last night...stick Haaland on early which would have reduced their team press. They would have been wary of Laporte picking him out, ball over top. They would have all dropped off 10 to 15 yds when we had the ball. Utd clearly the priority.

It's a tactic we should use more often at times, especially when the opposition are in full gengenpress mode and it is obvious we are struggling.

Put the 3 forward players on the the shoulder of the defenders, draw them in and then knock it long. It's not pretty or "Pep Ball" but it will give the other team something to think about.

 

[fulhamfever]

I think even the best teams in Europe are allowed a bad performance once or twice. City was shocking last night and credit to Southampton they played to their strengths and won the game. AC Milan got dumped out of the cup in Italy vs 10 men Torino in extra time. My point being is yesterday was just shite and need to get it out their system prior to the United game. The rags will be well up for it, hope City turn up and give the supporters a performance after last nights showing. Its away from home form that worries me, saying that Manchester is Blue so fcuk the rags.

 

[stonerblue]

Your point about Philips is spot on - he doesn’t want the ball and at City that isn’t an option - you must want the ball. He is way way out of his comfort zone.

Terrible from him last night, although he's not alone. I blame his over-tight shorts..

 

[stonerblue]

Again, fair enough, and much to agree with.

The only thing I'll say is that none of our mainstay defenders have been fit together, so we're forced to cobble together the back line. Dias is injured and will need to find his own tempo when he's fit. Laporté has been injured and has only just come back and needs to find his best form. The same with Walker.

Stones has been the stalwart, out of all of them, this season and has not long come back from injury, too. That's not to dismiss Akanji or Aké, but they're not our marshalling, decision-making defenders.

So, effectively, the whole back line disrupted for form, this season.

I don't mind the experimentation as it has to bed in (the inversing didn't seem to work at first, remember), but yesterday, Grealish should have been in the Cancelo role alongside Philips as his licence is to drive forward, draw the fouls or find the pass.

Not sure why his seems so limited stuck out on the wing with City.

Finally with Foden out of form and Palmer chopping and re-chopping and dicing up the same play, just ran out of time and position to be effective in finding a delivery. He needs not to bring his youth team play into the men's game and be less tricky when you have the player beat, the first time.

Cancelo not knowing how to marshal the middle, so not really find an effective pass to break any oppo, so Alvarez was starved. Philips not stepping up. Walker caught between covering right and centre positions, so not being able to marshal the lines.

The whole thing was a house of cards, last night.

As somebody said yesterday, only Pep could put a full-back at cb when there are 3 solid cb's available.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Your point about Philips is spot on - he doesn’t want the ball and at City that isn’t an option - you must want the ball. He is way way out of his comfort zone.

He wanted the ball all the time at Leeds (when fit). It’s too soon to be writing players off, especially in a game where the fans favourites were also shite.

 

[Roachy]

Bobbins.
From Pep's fucking about with selection and tactics to a few abject performances from the players this game was a disaster.
In a battle of a game we didn't have one leader on the pitch and were out-fought in every area.

I honestly think that they had no interest in that game, Pep included. For the whole team to be so shocking says to me they were just not up for it.