Southampton (H) Post Match Thread

[newfaceinhell]

Once again a joy to watch, we are witnessing something very special in our history.

Sterling was superb, I wonder if the "experts" on match of the day will give him the credit he deserves or will his performance be glossed over for a slating of the Saints defensive failings.

Miraculously I was correct.

 

[noblelord]

Wow. Just finished watching the match and that was super good. Shame about the penalty.

 

[OB1]

I thought Dinho was superb today too, so much of what he does goes unnoticed.

True.

 

[OB1]

I don’t want it to appear as though I think he wasn’t good, but I just thought he held on to the ball for far too long on occasion. Leading to the break down of several attacks.
Seemed to be desperate to score a wonder goal.

He worked his nuts off though.

Sergio was really good today.

 

[citytilllidie]

Really seemed the intensity dropped a bit once we got 3 goals clear and allowed Soton more space than we normally allow. But to be fair to them they tried to get at us and that's also partly why we were able to get through them so easily.

Could have beem more than 6 but if we are "sloppy" like that on wednesday I think it would cost us. Good job Pep will make sure we are properly at it.

Being hyper critical, but I'm hoping that going 3 up, just made us subconsciously take the foot off the gas.
Southampton then had a bit of a go, and appeared to create a number of decent situations, not unlike last years home derby.
I trust Pep will be hammering this home. Bigger teams will have the firepower and make the most of their chances. That game could've been 10-4 or something daft. Sterling much more confident and calmer on the ball now. Great game

 

[bondsman]

Imperious at times. Looked very hungry in first 20 and saints just couldn’t live with us.

Thought lemina looked decent for them.

 

[OB1]

He certainly was, albeit that Raz and Bernie were even better. The only real stinker today for me was Mendy. A work in progress would be a nice euphemism.....!

I can't agree that Mendy had a stinker. He is a work in progress and he had a few poor moments but he did far more good work than bad.

 

[cleavers]

Offensively yes.

I thought we conceded too much though. Southampton had as much joy today as the rest of our games combined. We looked open and were not picking up the 2nd balls.

I agree, offensively very good (when we could be bothered as we had a few quiet periods in the game - 15 of the last 25 minutes of the first half, and about 15 in the second half), but we were a bit sloppy at the back for me, complacent at times, I think that's our worst shots on goal, shots on target game of the season, so not the perfection some are claiming.

The first 20 minutes, just wow, and without Ederson's aberration giving them a bit of hope, who knows where that first half might have ended up (and 4-1 is pretty good anyway).

I think we've played better this season, as a team, and I thought Mendy had some poor/clumsy play in particular, not for the first time recently.

 

[cleavers]

I think with Mendy, we have to remember that he has only played for a Pep team for 5 months, it takes longer than that to get it in a Pep team, especially in his position.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Strange match that. Utterly brilliant going forward at times but was surprised how easy Southampton found it to open us up. Especially as I thought the two centre backs had decent games. They could easily have had three or four goals today and probably troubled us more in one match than all the other league games this season put together. Mind you we could have had double figures ourselves. I hope Delph starts as left back in the derby.

We eased off conserving energy for the two impending games. However, when we do that we lose our normal rhythm. But hey - 6 - 1 !! We'll have 90 minutes of intensity when Manure turn up. Can Manure beat us ? Any Prem team can win an odd game against superior opposition. Can Manure outplay us if both teams bring their A games ? No chance. No bad thing conceding before Manure - motivation to improve defensively. And despite scoring 6, we haven't peaked - we need to do that next Sunday. Manure will park the bus - we just need to take the inevitable chances. In the unlikely event that Manure have a go, we'll destroy 'em in the space.