Southampton Post Match Thread

[SebastianBlue]

Thought we look tired last night rather than poor. Was in 121 last night and the ball was not out for their goal.

I was sat in 322 with basically the same view as the goal line tech camera and it was definitely along the line (in), unfortunately.

When Bertrand cut to the end line on the far side I was hoping he was going to put another balloon into our row but it was not to be—it wasn’t a particularly good cross, mind, but it brought Delph enough out of position (wish he had played the Saints player taking it down rather than raising his foot to try to get a toe on it, leaving him well off-balance) to cause Eddie to have to shift over... the rest is unfortunate history.

 

[Asian Blue]

...............................the comment on Twitter regarding the Kompany photo in the changing room after the Southampton, which went along the lines of....
"Little magician with the massive wand."
Sometimes simple things make you piss yourself laughing, so thank you for letting me go to work with tears streaming down my eyes.
Very sad but don't give a f*** as it made an old man cry with laughter, helped of course by Mr Sterling !!!!!!

 

[jay_mcfc]

Southampton deserved fuck all mate...time wasting twats...every goal kick and throw in took ages.
They dived and conned the ref constantly...it was poetic justice that Raz scored in the time added on for their time wasting.

Needs must. They're not the first tem to install those tactics going up against superior opposition and they won't be the last. I thought they got it spot on and I don't think they were as defensive as Pep made out. They had the right kind of balance if you want to get anything from us and arguably had the best chances.

All the better for us for getting through it.

 

[SebastianBlue]

the togetherness in the squad and the managers and the coaching staff is incredible.
Those celebrations for the goal almost eclipsed the agueroooooo moment!
We REALLY REALLY want the title this season and i think the players REALLY do believe they can win it this time. PEP is really fired up! And hes got the rest of the club fired up too!
The belief, the passion, the never say die attitude, its all there in abundance.

We were fortunate to be in the corner that all of the staff (players on the field, players on the bench, the coaches, ball boys, several team dogs) ran to and their reaction was the best bit of the night. Even a hop-skipping Mendy ran half the pitch to join in—the missus, as he was “sprinting” over, said “is that Ben!? FFS, where’s his mobility scooter!? That beautiful fool!”

 

[BlumerMooner]

This is the club's ploy to keep fans in till the final whistle.

Agenda ;)

 

[willipp]

Doesn't look like the 'bad spell' everyone in the media has predicted is going to work out as they hoped. What a night, really felt the emotion pour out of everyone when that went in. Actually thought second half we were good, could easily have had 3 or 4.

 

[SilverFox2]

Southampton deserved fuck all mate...time wasting twats...every goal kick and throw in took ages.
They dived and conned the ref constantly...it was poetic justice that Raz scored in the time added on for their time wasting.

I think every team that plays in that fashion is in effect submitting to our football superiority by refusing to play anything that opens up the game.

Cannot blame them reminds me of a mismatch of 2 boxers where one just uses his hands to stop his opponents onslought and attacks rarely hoping for a lucky knockout hit.
Getting plaudits for not being knocked out is all they expect but to say they were unlucky to not share the result would be rediculous even in the corrupt fight game.

The difference is of course is that each round has to be scored by judges in boxing whereas goals alone affect the result of football so take your pick which you value most pure defence or pure football.

 

[adr2.8i]

We were fortunate to be in the corner that all of the staff (players on the field, players on the bench, the coaches, ball boys, several team dogs) ran to and their reaction was the best bit of the night. Even a hop-skipping Mendy ran half the pitch to join in—the missus, as he was “sprinting” over, said “is that Ben!? FFS, where’s his mobility scooter!? That beautiful fool!”

i know! Mendy is all ready a legend here! i thought a fan had run onto the pitch at first! and there was Ben with his phone getting an on pitch selfie with Raz!!! Brilliant!!!
Amazing scenes.

Im still a bit of the old typical city type of fan and im trying not too get too excited so early in the season but you feel we are in the middle of something special right now.
Nothing is won in november i know, but this season feels so different,not just in the style of football, but the manner we keep going and the togetherness of the club.
Lets hope we keep it going and win some silverware.

 

[stonerblue]

Match of the Day made us look a lot better than it felt we were in the ground. Southampton defended incredibly disciplined and were denying space and closing passing lanes. They had a snap our attacking players didn't. Our movement was poor in long stretches of the game especially our movement close to the ball. Timewasting was outrageous

But credit to this team. We could have settled for the draw and said one of those nights. Still 6 points clear with a potential match winner disallowed BUT great desire to get 3 points. So made up for Sterling shoving the haters words back down their throats. Man of the season so far with some huge goals.

Badly missed Stones who is another player that this season is irreplaceable

Agreed re; motd highlights. They didn't capture anything of the 'feel' of the match either, totally missing the tension before our winner. Saints were also much better than they seemed.

 

[stonerblue]

Needs must. They're not the first tem to install those tactics going up against superior opposition and they won't be the last. I thought they got it spot on and I don't think they were as defensive as Pep made out. They had the right kind of balance if you want to get anything from us and arguably had the best chances.

All the better for us for getting through it.

great tackle..

 

[East Level 2]

Results like tonight are what football is all about. You might as well pack it in and follow a different sport if you’re not absolutely buzzing right now.
The performance means diddly squat.

So why have any post match analysis? I was "buzzing" all the way home after the game and I'm still chuffed to little mint balls this morning. And I was the same coming out of Huddersfield and Bournemouth when we got late winners, but that doesn't mean we can't analyse the performance.

 

[paulchapo]

The psychological importance of winning the last two games cannot be overstated. On paper they were two fairly comfortable games. In the end they turned out anything but. If we had drawn them the rags would be four points behind us going into a derby with Spurs to follow, on the basis we both won our next games. Even worse on the back of that scenario would be we drew with West Ham and they pulled off a moral boosting victory at Arsenal. The gap would be three points with the chasing pack making up ground too. It doesn't bear thinking about. As it is if they lose on Saturday and we win on Sunday we could go into a derby a massive ELEVEN points clear of them which would be incredible. It would be a game they had to win just to hang onto our coat tails, even then they would be eight points behind still.

Last nights game was so frustrating. That c**** of a ref didn't help! If he would have booked a couple of their players for timewasting early on, yes they were that bad, it would have helped. I am not having any of Southampton played well I thought they were a disgrace. Dirty, cynical, they used tactics I would have expected from a non league side playing us, not a decent premier league club with some top players. The fact they were undone with the last kick of the game was fucking poetic justice, they got what they deserved, nothing!

Some of our players were just not really at it last night. Walker was in his own world from the first few minutes when under no pressure he passed straight to one of their players and almost put him clean through. Lots of misplaced passes from everyone, giving away too many cheap free kicks and corners and defending them horribly, we rode our luck a little. Gundogan looks a shadow of the player he was and Vinny looked vulnerable, after his yellow I was certain he would get caught and be walking. Negatives aside Forster had the game of his life and for 10-15 minutes in the second half we looked like early season as we moved the ball quickly and pulverised them. B. Silva looked dangerous when he came on and our team spirit is incredible. We have so many quality players capable of producing something special that teams can spoil as much as they like but they know we have that in our locker and just like the rags at the swamp in their heyday you can feel teams fear as the clock ticks down.

Does anyone know what has happened to Sane? He was a big miss last night.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

So why have any post match analysis? I was "buzzing" all the way home after the game and I'm still chuffed to little mint balls this morning. And I was the same coming out of Huddersfield and Bournemouth when we got late winners, but that doesn't mean we can't analyse the performance.

True Ged, for example, Pep clearly spotted a weaknesses down Southampton’s flanks by pushing Sterling to the left and KDB out right for much of the second half.

I thought in the second half we we are also more content to pass back to the Blue who who had just given the pass if there weee no better options on. In the first half we seemed to be obsessed to passing to a different player either resulting in sloppy back passes or attempts at Hollywood through balls.

The two up front didn’t work so well but we created our share of chances. I think it will be Jesus to start against the Hammers with Kun on the bench.

I had a brilliant time last night and I hope more Blues will stay to applaud the team off the pitch in future.

 

[bluemc1]

People going on about getting added time to make sure we win FFS
Yeah ref allows more time he’s under that much pressure to do us favours but disallowed a goal he could’ve let stand in injury time
Bittter bitter bastards

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

The psychological importance of winning the last two games cannot be overstated. On paper they were two fairly comfortable games. In the end they turned out anything but. If we had drawn them the rags would be four points behind us going into a derby with Spurs to follow, on the basis we both won our next games. Even worse on the back of that scenario would be we drew with West Ham and they pulled off a moral boosting victory at Arsenal. The gap would be three points with the chasing pack making up ground too. It doesn't bear thinking about. As it is if they lose on Saturday and we win on Sunday we could go into a derby a massive ELEVEN points clear of them which would be incredible. It would be a game they had to win just to hang onto our coat tails, even then they would be eight points behind still.

Last nights game was so frustrating. That c**** of a ref didn't help! If he would have booked a couple of their players for timewasting early on, yes they were that bad, it would have helped. I am not having any of Southampton played well I thought they were a disgrace. Dirty, cynical, they used tactics I would have expected from a non league side playing us, not a decent premier league club with some top players. The fact they were undone with the last kick of the game was fucking poetic justice, they got what they deserved, nothing!

Some of our players were just not really at it last night. Walker was in his own world from the first few minutes when under no pressure he passed straight to one of their players and almost put him clean through. Lots of misplaced passes from everyone, giving away too many cheap free kicks and corners and defending them horribly, we rode our luck a little. Gundogan looks a shadow of the player he was and Vinny looked vulnerable, after his yellow I was certain he would get caught and be walking. Negatives aside Forster had the game of his life and for 10-15 minutes in the second half we looked like early season as we moved the ball quickly and pulverised them. B. Silva looked dangerous when he came on and our team spirit is incredible. We have so many quality players capable of producing something special that teams can spoil as much as they like but they know we have that in our locker and just like the rags at the swamp in their heyday you can feel teams fear as the clock ticks down.

Does anyone know what has happened to Sane? He was a big miss last night.

Virus I think. I agree with your post but not the Forster bit. Some good saves but a lot of "TV" saves. He was their best player though.

With the vulnerability we showed at the back last night, particularly from corners, I thought they may have more of a go 2nd half as we were very poor at defending set pieces.

 

[East Level 2]

True Ged, for example, Pep clearly spotted a weaknesses down Southampton’s flanks by pushing Sterling to the left and KDB out right for much of the second half.
I thought in the second half we we are also more content to pass back to the Blue who who had just given the pass if there weee no better options on. In the first half we seemed to be obsessed to passing to a different player either resulting in sloppy back passes or attempts at Hollywood through balls.
The two up front didn’t work so well but we created our share of chances. I think it will be Jesus to start against the Hammers with Kun on the bench.
I had a brilliant time last night and I hope more Blues will stay to applaud the team off the pitch in future.

One of my biggest gripes about early leavers is that the players leave the pitch to so many empty seats. Not as many empties as the media suggest, but far too many when you consider the quality we are producing.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

One of my biggest gripes about early leavers is that the players leave the pitch to so many empty seats. Not as many empties as the media suggest, but far too many when you consider the quality we are producing.

Spot on mate. Each to their own but what a goal to miss and the singalong at the end of the game was the best of the season.

Btw: keep at it 1894. We saw at the end of the game that songs will go around the ground on occasions. “We’re not really here.”

 

[Dribble]

Well said, it wasn't anywhere near a horrible performance, it just didn't reach the heights of the rest of the season.

I thought Southapton were excellent and I won't complain about their style or tactics. They deserved a point but thankfully we were able to find a way yet again. And not to state the obvious but we really missed the three S's last night but they can't all play every game.

Southampton got what their play deserved. I'm not arsed about their tactics, because as highlighted with City against Udders, they used what they had, as effectively as they could, but on a freezing cold Wednesday night in November, our stars bossed the game in every way & got the result.... Eventually!

It's to Southampton's credit that they almost got something out of the game by being defensively robust and making the most of their set pieces. They probably guessed correctly that if they tried to play against us, they have got spit roasted at both ends.

 

[paulchapo]

Virus I think. I agree with your post but not the Forster bit. Some good saves but a lot of "TV" saves. He was their best player though.

With the vulnerability we showed at the back last night, particularly from corners, I thought they may have more of a go 2nd half as we were very poor at defending set pieces.

Yes I know what you mean about tv saves. He annoyed me last night as I have seen him concede a few shockers lately.

The set pieces are a worry and especially against the rags, we are a small team in general that is the problem.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Yes I know what you mean about tv saves. He annoyed me last night as I have seen him concede a few shockers lately.

The set pieces are a worry and especially against the rags, we are a small team in general that is the problem.

Some of the corners we conceded resulted from sloppy passes that were intercepted. Hopefully, we can sort this by the time of the Derby