Southampton (N) | FAC | Post Match Thread

IronsideKozuch said:
Doku was not even here during the treble season. There were no better teams than us in terms of teamplay, even 2 seasons ago as I wrote to You - we been champions and extremely unlucky against Real in UCL. Nobodys been better in the final third in terms of understand between them or combinations in 2022/23, even in 2023/24 I would say. Its not a FIFA video game.

My problem to the point? You are setting an impossible standard and then bashing people for not meeting it, specifically our footballers in this case. I see it as 'cheap' criticism that results in unrealistic visions and arguments that just don't hold up in the real world.
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I can remember when Gundogan was scapegoated in his early time at City.
Big gamble, glass ankles, not good enough etc
Didn't turn out too bad for him in the end did it?
More recently Nunes who made that unfortunate slip against the rags got slated, get rid, not good enough.
Mahrez got stick for missing a pen , even Bernie - he's too old now, lost a yard.
Like you say, players and managers held up to unrealistic standards.
Hopefully with Savinho the good will outweigh the bad over time.
 
Pleased with the FA Cup semi-win and another final shot.

As always with the BBC commentary for the FA Cup, if you are the favourite you cannot expect objectivity, rather the endless 'romance' angle of the absolute quality of the underdog.
Southampton defended resolutely - no argument - but they had 30% possession and four shots at goal in the game. Their XG was 0.78.
Conversely, City had 26 shots on goal and an XG of 2.32. This was not a case of Southampton being robbed, but a case of pressure finally telling.

Southampton are a good side, unbeaten since January, and well-coached, disciplined and hard to break down. They also scored a worldy from an immaculate turn and shot. We struggled to do that with some profligacy from players who are not match-sharp having not played for several weeks, and months in some cases. I am pleased to be through but had to turn off the BBC commentary for my own sanity. I get it, and it works for the neutral I am sure.

Now it is five games to try and win the league. Arsenal's win yesterday was expected, I suppose, but it is possibly the toughest fixture of their run-in. Hold their heads and it is theirs. I do not believe that we will achieve maximum points here-on-in, with tough games at Brentford, Bournemouth, Everton, and Palace, but I also didn't expect to be in this position. We will see.
 
Not a brilliant first half but the introduction of Doku and Savinho injected some pace and caused Southampton all sorts of problems. They’ll be plenty who say Southampton were “unlucky” or “deserved something” from the game. The reality is it was a 2-1 battering which, similar to Wednesday at Burnley, should have resulted in a very comfortable win. Some good performances notably from Kovatic, Nico G and Ake. Reijnders and Marmoush continue to frustrate and we all just want ‘our Phil’ back.
 
Ithryn Luin said:
Enjoyed the game. Thought Marmoush finishing and decision making was poor and I am now just feeling sad when I see Phil play. He is totally lost.
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He is, but we should never forget that he was the Golden Boy, a six-times PL winner, the PLPOTY and one of the great English talents. It is unusual for someone so gifted to suddenly fall away so sharply, and for Pep to fail to play someone he holds in such high regard. I suspect there is a medical or psychological issue at play, so we should be as patient as possible. Credit to the club also for keeping their counsel should my suspicions be accurate. He is one of our own and has been a terrific player for us. Good luck to him.
 
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oldius said:
He is, but we should never forget that he was the Golden Boy, a six-times PL winner, the PLPOTY and one of the great English talents. It is unusual for someone so gifted to suddenly fall away so sharply, and for Pep to fail to play someone he holds in such high regard. I suspect there is a medical or psychological issue at play, so we should be as patient as possible. Credit to the club also for keeping their counsel should my suspicions be accurate. He is one of our own and has been a teriffic player for us.
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It is so sad to see Phil in this state as he has proved what a talent he is
I hope he returns to his best with us
 
oldius said:
He is, but we should never forget that he was the Golden Boy, a six-times PL winner, the PLPOTY and one of the great English talents. It is unusual for someone so gifted to suddenly fall away so sharply, and for Pep to fail to play someone he holds in such high regard. I suspect there is a medical or psychological issue at play, so we should be as patient as possible. Credit to the club also for keeping their counsel should my suspicions be accurate. He is one of our own and has been a teriffic player for us.
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I believe he’ll be back - & the club know this
 
Dax777 said:
Its not that our fringe players aren't good enough. It's that you can't do whole sale substitutions and expect good results. 4 subs max. And one of those has to be the goalie. Then you start hot and remove the starters.

I dont know how many games we have to struggle through for this to become obvious.


Start the majority of the front line. One sub in the middle and maybe 2 at the back.

Start your starters and sub them out.!!!!!
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I agree

But playing devils advocate I guess the medical info that the doctors/physios etc give to pep on each player dictate wheher starting and coming off is best or the other way around....we just dont know

But we have seen Reijnders play with the vast majority of what we would call our stongest 11, same with Savio and both consistantly put in poor performances - especially Reijnders.

The issue for Marmoush isnt so much about quallity - its about where does he fit...he cant play the Haaland role...he needs to play alongside someone but as ew have seen with Semenyo when Pep tried to play him alongside Haaland - it doesnt work...since we started playing with Semenyo wider we have again started to look more fluid in attack - the issue for Marmoush however is that he aint very good from wider positions and isnt technically anywhere near good enough to play as a 10

So while I agree with your point on sweeping wholesale changes being very unhelpful.....There is also a quality issue with some of these players...that lack of finish by Savio yesterday was just so poor
 
oldius said:
Pleased with the FA Cup semi-win and another final shot.

As always with the BBC commentary for the FA Cup, if you are the favourite you cannot expect objectivity, rather the endless 'romance' angle of the absolute quality of the underdog.
Southampton defended resolutely - no argument - but they had 30% possession and four shots at goal in the game. Their XG was 0.78.
Conversely, City had 26 shots on goal and an XG of 2.32. This was not a case of Southampton being robbed, but a case of pressure finally telling.

Southampton are a good side, unbeaten since January, and well-coached, disciplined and hard to break down. They also scored a worldy from an immaculate turn and shot. We struggled to do that with some profligacy from players who are not match-sharp having not played for several weeks, and months in some cases. I am pleased to be through but had to turn off the BBC commentary for my own sanity. I get it, and it works for the neutral I am sure.

Now it is five games to try and win the league. Arsenal's win yesterday was expected, I suppose, but it is possibly the toughest fixture of their run-in. Hold their heads and it is theirs. I do not believe that we will achieve maximum points here-on-in, with tough games at Brentford, Bournemouth, Everton, and Palace, but I also didn't expect to be in this position. We will see.
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we avoided an embarrassing shock result according to the BBC.
I'm not sure about Arsenal winning all their games though. They were pretty poor yesterday and still have the AM games to go. Think there is at least one or two twists left. A couple of months ago I could not conceive of a treble so am just enjoying where we are just now and the fact that we have found our best team and have played some very good football. What will be will be.
 
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