Southampton (H) | Post Match Thread

Performances so far this season, lack of pace and poor tactical decisions from Pep. Going to be an absolute masterclass in coaching to see us through the next matches without being embarrassed. Of course I hope that we can do it.
Get in there City.
Disagree with you about Pep's tactics - unusual tactics are what brings Pep trophy after trophy - no other coach comes close in a relatively short time as a coach. The issue wasn't the tactics, it was the execution of them. Nothing Pep can do when one of his own players fails to leave the ball for Phil and instead makes sure his 'goal' is ruled out for offside. Nothing Pep can do when players' first touches are ragged time and time again around the opposing box. A collective poor performance - apart from Dias and Ake who had more to do yesterday than any of our CB pairings for years. We are close to having Phil, Kevin and Jack in the team at the same time. If they were lining up against us for another team I'd be worried about our chances.
 
Hes an ok player, nothing more than that unfortunately, not the man that will drive us forward when things arent going our way. He's too slow and easily bypassed. Mind he's not alone in the slow department, we have an abundance of them around the middle. he's too safe for the most part with his passing, even in the twilight of his career Fern will try to fire it forward quickly, didnt come off a few times yesterday but it's hardly his fault if neither Jesus or sterling can make it stick.
He is not 'OK" he is a class act and we are incredibly lucky to have him.
 
never played one long ball from ederson and most of our crosses are golf chips easy to defend against
That's one thing that I couldn't understand yesterday. Southampton were pressing high and we had Sterling & Jesus up front so why didn't Ederson launch a few of his pinpoint long balls to them?
 
Southampton did well and made things very difficult for us with their incessant pressing and aggressive tackling. Our biggest weaknesses were exposed today, most particularly lack of pace and physicality in central midfield.

I'm not interested in digging out individual players when the whole performance (Jack aside) going forward was below par and far too many simple passes were not executed successfully.

We missed many of the guys who didn't start or were not available. I would hope that Stones and / or Laporte would have helped us play out from the back; Zin too, maybe.

On the upside, that was a fourth consecutive clean sheet in the league and our keeper was not tested today.
Dias and Ake played well I thought as conventional CBs (win it, clear it out), but that's not the usual Pep way of playing.We missed that diagonal from Laporte when he plays or the alternative way we play with Stones bringing the ball out, drawing players onto him (and out of position) and emerging with the ball still under control. The closest thing to Pique. The other bits of the jigsaw fall into place when we play with our first choice pairing.
 
Disagree with you about Pep's tactics - unusual tactics are what brings Pep trophy after trophy - no other coach comes close in a relatively short time as a coach. The issue wasn't the tactics, it was the execution of them. Nothing Pep can do when one of his own players fails to leave the ball for Phil and instead makes sure his 'goal' is ruled out for offside. Nothing Pep can do when players' first touches are ragged time and time again around the opposing box. A collective poor performance - apart from Dias and Ake who had more to do yesterday than any of our CB pairings for years. We are close to having Phil, Kevin and Jack in the team at the same time. If they were lining up against us for another team I'd be worried about our chances.
You really do have a Love-in with Pep don’t you? His ‘unusual tactics’ played a huge part in our CL final defeat. He can certainly deliver League titles but in the CL he has been consistently outthought over several seasons and that has been down to his TACTICS. If experienced senior players deliver a performance like yesterday - hook them. You are very much in a minority on this Forum if you think we’re going to get three straight victories in those key matches coming up.
It’s already prayers and hoping that other teams can do us favours.
 
looked like a different set up and style with players not used to it, not a good show at all. Some bad touches, what is sterling playing at with his form.

last 10 mins it looked like "come on we need to do something now"

points badly dropped, liverpool / chelsea / rags, will all stuff saints at home.
 

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