Burnley 1 Saints 0 - Reaction

Next five matches are defining. We need to look over our shoulders as its getting uncomfortable. **** poor football. It really is.

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Four loses in a row.

What the **** has happened to Forster? He's an absolute shadow of last season. Heaton is top class. Can we swap?

What was the score? I find it hard to believe that some people can't see we have gone from a team that was offensive and set out to try to win every game in the knowledge that three points is crucial to a side that is set up purely not to lose. Check how many points we won away in the past three seasons. We need to be more gung-ho and less conservative because Puel's tactics are clearly not working especially away from St Marys.

20 shots to their 9

 

60% possession away from home

Which means absolutely bugger all... The only statistic that counts is 1 - 0

Some real 6-pointers coming up. Similar results in many of those games and even the optimists might be getting the willies.

Unfair criticism of forster - imagine the pressure he is under when he knows that he must save everything as we can't score ourselves.

 

Besides apparently the goal was deflected.

The goal wasn't his fault. It went through the wall, possibly with a small deflection.

Burnley put two players in the wall and we didn't cover them when they moved to make a gap. Poor.

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Next five matches are defining. We need to look over our shoulders as its getting uncomfortable. **** poor football. It really is.

 

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The relegation word is being increasingly used. My warnings are now reflecting the increasingly majority viewpoint. I did warn everyone and to be fair most people could see the folly and the complacency in our summer transfer business.

I can see us ending 15th or 16th at this rate. We'll probably get beat at Anfield in the semi so that will be this season over. We need to get favourable draws in the FA Cup to do anything there, and Arsenal isn't going to be easy, even if we get past Norwich. However, I'm more concerned about next season. VvD will be off in mid season to one of the big clubs, and if Puel is still here and playing the same sort of football we will certainly be relegation favourites in my book.

Unlucky today, wasn't a bad performance except for the bleeding obvious.

 

However can someone explain why we persist in 4-3-3 when none of the three midfielders today can virtually ever score ? You can add Clasie to that list. 4-2-3-1 at least would mean that there would be 4 players who are forward minded. It's simple maths. It's worked well for the last few years with many of the same players and Rodrigues was great on the left side of the three, he doesn't have to be the front man. Having four from Long, Rodrigues, Boufal, Tadic, Redmond would give us a better chance.

 

I'm not convinced that it would solve all our problems, but we need to make a fundamental change. Trying to buy a great new forward in January is not likely to be possible due to the market, so we need to try other approaches in the short term.

Amen to that - this hits home at the nub of the problem.

It is a frustrating time but I cant agree with all the fingers pointed at Foster.

 

Whilst I think he needs to be better coached about his position ie permanently stuck within his 6 yard box, apart from the Palace game, I cant see he has made any major bloomers.

He would have assumed that the wall would have stood firm against what was basically a side foot free kick from Barton, so I don't blame him for this.

Romeu was a little bit unfortunate to be penalised but that doesn't paper over the cracks we have going forward.

Shane Long is now the very average forward I thought he was when we first signed him (I really hope he will prove me wrong again), Tadic is not firing on all cylinders and JWP not progressing as we hoped.

I do think we are not getting the run of the ball but the results don't lie and it is very important we strengthen as there is definitely a relegation battle looming especially as we fail to get results against Leicester and Swansea.

Beyond this I wonder how we will regress further if VVD is sold.

When he is sold..... which will be in the summer , why would he stay based on the current situation.... would you???

Which means absolutely bugger all... The only statistic that counts is 1 - 0

yeah but you have to question why over and over again (not just this season TBF) we can come out of a game with large number of shots and no ****ing goals...

This is one of those threads that will get bumped at the end of the season and we'll all laugh at the idiotic pessimism displayed by so many

I can see us ending 15th or 16th at this rate. We'll probably get beat at Anfield in the semi so that will be this season over. We need to get favourable draws in the FA Cup to do anything there, and Arsenal isn't going to be easy, even if we get past Norwich. However, I'm more concerned about next season. VvD will be off in mid season to one of the big clubs, and if Puel is still here and playing the same sort of football we will certainly be relegation favourites in my book.

We will finish closer to 17th than 6th that is for sure.

Amazing. 4 pages in half an hour!

This has made me even more depressed.

I agree with some of that, expect for the fact that the lack of cutting edge has been a problem since Pelle and Mane were sold by Reed with no attempt whatsoever to replace them (Redmond replaced Juanmi). It's inexcusable from Reed and he's not being put under anywhere near enough pressure; from the fans, media, Puel or the players. About time the criticism started getting a lot more public!

If Puel is under the thumb, maybe the players need to insist on new signings in their interviews?

Hard to be too critical of Puel today, set up OK but lack of AMC/Strikers killing us and that's down to Les Reed. The DoF needs to change or Krueger needs to change the DoF. Best midfield options in the PL, yeah whatever Les. Bertrand put in a peach of a ball early on but no-one to attack it since Charlie injured.

Which means absolutely bugger all... The only statistic that counts is 1 - 0

Exactly all those shots and possession and we do feck all with it again and our chocolate wrist goalie costs us a point at least.

We are currently sitting below West Brom, Stoke, Burnley and Bournemouth....all you need to know.

Good job it's only January then..

The relegation word is being increasingly used. My warnings are now reflecting the increasingly majority viewpoint. I did warn everyone and to be fair most people could see the folly and the complacency in our summer transfer business.

On which forum?

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Hope you are right but cannot see Reed having the dynamic transfer window we need to freshen up the midfield and forward areas and loan out the under-performers to the Championship e.g. JWP

I just watched a game where we were the better, more attacking, pleasanter to watch side....we had more possession, shots, corners and we were beaten by a deflection from a free kick. We came up against a well-organised side whose keeper had his second inspired game against us of the season.

I'm not sure what Puell can be blamed for?

The only player from their team I'd sign is Heaton...he was good, we were unlucky. Bring on Norwich

This is one of those threads that will get bumped at the end of the season and we'll all laugh at the idiotic pessimism displayed by so many

You on a self timer? We know you have an agenda but is there a need to keep repeating yourself?

dire again. This season is looking like a write off already. We could be out both of the cups in 2 weeks time. We should be ok to avoid relegation as there are 3-4 teams somehow worse than us. We are really taking a massive gamble on the striking front. Even with a fit Austin, we are still desparate for another striker.

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This is one of those threads that will get bumped at the end of the season and we'll all laugh at the idiotic pessimism displayed by so many

Let's hope so.

On which forum?

 

 

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This forum. Scroll through.

As someone pointed out on the match thread: Koeman coaxed 13 goals out of Long last season.......

 

....... Didn't we bring Puel in because he 'makes players better'?

 

We really have gone backwards in every department.

There's a lot of variables with this though (just playing devil's advocate) how many of those were assisted in some way by players such as Pelle, Mane etc?

We're not going to be in a relegation battle.

Normally I would agree but we could be 4 places above the drop zone by the end of the day. Right now we have 4 points from the last 18 on offer. Same as Sunderland. Are they not in a Relegation battle? Swansea have 6, how about them? If you can't score goals you won't win games its as simple as that.

It doesn't mean I think we will be relegated it means if you think we are immune from being in that situation then you must be mental. One win in 6 is relegation form. We have the second lowest goals scored in the league. There are issues and they have to be fixed or we will be in that position. It is arrogant to believe we wouldn't if we continue in our same form.

I don't care about the 1-0 win in the cup. Even if we win the bloody thing, I'll still be saying Puel's got to go. Terrible.

Played well.

Forster was poor for the goal, but i'm convinced it took a deflection...will be interesting to see MOTD.

Still want us to splash out on Heaton or Pickford in the summer.

Redmond very good game.

If Rodriguez had started we may have won that.

Wtf!

I honestly don't think we have been well-managed this season either on or off the pitch.

I am also worried no money will be spent while takeover talks are ongoing. If we spent 30m on a forward and central defender, which we desperately need, the prospective owners might have view.

I just watched a game where we were the better, more attacking, pleasanter to watch side....we had more possession, shots, corners and we were beaten by a deflection from a free kick. We came up against a well-organised side whose keeper had his second inspired game against us of the season.

 

I'm not sure what Puell can be blamed for?

 

The only player from their team I'd sign is Heaton...he was good, we were unlucky. Bring on Norwich

Mostly agree with this, it wasnt so bad today, we were just very unlucky.

And blaming Puel goes a bit far but ill never understand why you would substitute a winger for a winger when you are 1-0 down and only have like 10 minutes to go.

Normally I would agree but we could be 4 places above the drop zone by the end of the day. Right now we have 4 points from the last 18 on offer. Same as Sunderland. Are they not in a Relegation battle? Swansea have 6, how about them? If you can't score goals you won't win games its as simple as that.

 

It doesn't mean I think we will be relegated it means if you think we are immune from being in that situation then you must be mental. One win in 6 is relegation form. We have the second lowest goals scored in the league. There are issues and they have to be fixed or we will be in that position. It is arrogant to believe we wouldn't if we continue in our same form.

Agree with this. I don't think we will be relegated but I certainly wouldn't rule it out if we continue with our current strategy.

This forum. Scroll through.

I thought you meant the Norwich one

Do you cut and paste from there?

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Luckily we will do enough to stay up, there are far worse teams than us. Thinking positively, this is a wake up call and a kick up the arse for Les, Kat etc, they took a gamble with the squad, now they will know they fûcked up.

Need to win the cup now. Don't care where we finish if we win the cup, but that is going to take some doing. Liverpool away and Man Utd

I thought you meant the Norwich one

 

 

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You may try and 'muddy the waters', the fact is that the 'relegation' discussion is now under way.

I just watched a game where we were the better, more attacking, pleasanter to watch side....we had more possession, shots, corners and we were beaten by a deflection from a free kick. We came up against a well-organised side whose keeper had his second inspired game against us of the season.

 

I'm not sure what Puell can be blamed for?

 

The only player from their team I'd sign is Heaton...he was good, we were unlucky. Bring on Norwich

Exactly. I enjoyed our football today and we were well worth a point if not all 3. Not really deserving of the hyperbolic reaction seen here now.

Big improvement in performance level since Everton where we switched off after 70. We were the better team for 90 mins today but Burnley are the kind of team that get everyone back on the line when defending their box and somehow manage to grind results out despite playing crap football. Pretty much like Stoke at the Brittania under Pulis.

Their keeper made 3 excellent saves. Can see why they are unbelievably hard to beat at Turf Moor but I haven't seen as many teams play as well as we did and lose there.

Even some of the clappers are accepting things need to change. Within two weeks things will become clear. We could have won another league game and be in the EFL cup final with a new striker signed too.Equally, we could still be **** and out both cups. Les doesn't seem the type who will sack Puel mid season, but I hope to God we have someone else lined up to start in June.

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Need to win the cup now. Don't care where we finish if we win the cup, but that is going to take some doing. Liverpool away and Man Utd

You would be happy to win the cup and get relegated, like Wigan who are ...

We are woeful. Anything can happen in the cup. Wigan Showed that. Against Liverpool we had to play on break so the slow build up rubbish was redundant. Even when we play aswell as we can play like Everton and the other night we only score 1 goal! We are sinking fast. Jwp is getting worse not better les.

Need to win the cup now. Don't care where we finish if we win the cup, but that is going to take some doing. Liverpool away and Man Utd

So you'd be happy being relegated to win the cup? Weird.

..., the fact is that the 'relegation' discussion is now under way.

You need to stop listening to the voices in your head.

The relegation word is being increasingly used. My warnings of the last 5 seasons are now reflecting the increasingly majority viewpoint. I did warn everyone for 5 years and to be fair most people could see the folly and the complacency in our summer transfer business every year.

...

You need to stop listening to the voices in your head.

and you need to stop burying your head in the sand.

You may try and 'muddy the waters', the fact is that the 'relegation' discussion is now under way.

No just find you hilarious trolling a troll. Your not even a Saints fan but Norwich ST holder

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I was wondering how effective our strikers are in training such that CP selects them, then realised they are probably practising against Fraser.

Need to win the cup now. Don't care where we finish if we win the cup, but that is going to take some doing. Liverpool away and Man Utd

No. What's the point of a cup if you're relegated, destroying the club's stability both financially and in terms of players.

Sorry, but that's rather pathetic nonsense.

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and you need to stop burying your head in the sand.

Get back to worshiping in the Church of Glenda.

Luckily we will do enough to stay up, there are far worse teams than us. Thinking positively, this is a wake up call and a kick up the arse for Les, Kat etc, they took a gamble with the squad, now they will know they fûcked up.

The "trolls" have been saying just that for 2-3 months

Hopefully now we can post honestly, without people getting so defensive and waving the cards at the ref/mods

No just find you hilarious trolling a troll. Your not even a Saints fan but Norwich ST holder

 

 

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Try and distract from the topic if you like. The relegation topic is valid and under way. So contribute to the discussion instead of attacking the individual.

This is one of those threads that will get bumped at the end of the season and we'll all laugh at the idiotic pessimism displayed by so many

U for real

The striker needs support so we need to play two up front. Redmond and Tadic mostly on their wrong sides were hopeless, slowed it down, came back across the field all the time, never got to the bye line or managed to pick out an attacker with their scuffed crosses mostly short at defenders, despite having a lot of the ball. Just allowed the defence to mass. How we played against Liverpool.

It's time JWP was permanently binned. Can't Run, beat a man, tackle, shoot or head, his mythical delivery rarely ever troubles defences, his passing is just negative. Hojbjerg was poor and tentative early on but the longer the game went on the better he got, there is a good player in there we need to get him playing. Long had one of his most competent games up front on his own and worked hard but no support, a striker short and no proper service.

Romeu was solid but gave away several needless free kicks, however he had a decent game. The back four was solid but Yoshida didn't look as confident as he was on Wednesday. It looked like a set piece was the only thing that could trouble us except for a break in the last fifteen minutes with VVD staying up front.

The tempo was much better but the set up just looks all wrong. 11 goals from play in 21 league games says it all. We need to get another attacker into midfield with both Long and Rodriguez up front, two defensive midfielders is enough. Tadic and Redmond could play with Rodriguez behind Long but only if they play on their natural sides. Rodriguez looks stronger as he gets more game time.