UpweySaint

I was about to post the only saving grace was that we were only 1-0 at half time ... The tactics are wrong. We look really uncomfortable in this shape and Burnley are strolling through us with no pressure on the ball. I have no clue what our plan is today and it looks like the players don't either. Where the f*ck has the press gone?!? Yes Burnley want it more but I'm gutted for any who have travelled to watch us go through the motions. The team selection is wrong. Our back three is dreadful. I don't like when players are written off but, Norwich aside, this has to be one of the least convincing CB set ups I've seen in the league all season. What have Adams and Salisu done to not be starting? In a game crying out for physicality neither are playing. Is Broja arsed? We're not creating much but he looks a shadow on the player from a few months ago. Romeu should have scored one or both of his chances - both very good. Question marks about the second goal but frankly we're lucky they've not hit three or four so it'd be sour grapes to whinge about it too much. We need to look at ourselves and do something much different in the second half. I have so much time for Ralph and stepping away I'll probably want him to be given a well backed transfer window to see what he can do but I'm starting to think his time may be coming to an end. Yes he needs to be adaptable but we are at our best playing front foot, high press football. I can't see how this set up fits with what we're trying to do and it doesn't seem geared up to any particular threat Burnley offer.

I'm a big Ralph fan usually but what is going on with our tactics today? We're making Burnley look like Brazil, being carved apart far too easily and players seem to be nowhere near Burney counterparts.

That is beyond soft! Dean currently pitching wood at the opportunity to give City a pen.

Stephens miss kick and the deflection gives Fraser no chance. Bugger! We've started the game well and we may not be dead and buried just yet. If we chase the game and get smashed it's a one off cup tie at least ...

Frustrating game. Not bad as some on here would have you believe but some poor defending and just not enough cutting edge up to, de ja vu ... it does stick in the throat that Newcastle blagged to get the game called off and it's their blood money signings with the goals but we can only look at ourselves and what we need to do. Let's hope we can get back on track against Watford and end the season in the top half. Still lots of positives to take from the season and we are heading back in the right direction for sure. Agree with others that Perraud should be in the side on current form. Tino still has the world at his feet and his time will come but he's not hit the same heights since his injury.

Shocking left wing woke snowflake stuff that being opposed to people being killed or imprisoned for their sexuality ... one big commie conspiracy right?!? Not sure why you feel so threatened by 'these people' as you label them but suggest it doesn't really impact on your match going experience so surely you can just ignore it even if you don't agree with it?

Agreed with those wanting to hear a bit more from/about Crocker and the 'big picture' planning around the club. A broader piece on what some of the backroom team do might be interesting too, something like a 'typical day' at the club and who does what.

This one is up and running now - http://weakstreams.com/soccer-streams/premier-league/southampton-vs-everton/52796/?sport=soccer Bit behind I think but quality wise it's okay...

How the f**k is that not a foul?!? In what f*cking world is that not?!? Joke of a decision.

Said the actress to the bishop ...

His 'team of the week' is mostly a list of who scored at the weekend and always feels half arsed. No doubting Laporte is a top defender but there is no question who the most impressive CB was at the weekend - admittedly Salisu had a lot more work to get through. I actually think as CB's go Salisu has been pretty consistent this season. He plays aggressively and gets tight to attackers so there are always going to be times he over commits but he seems to be worth the risks for the amount of times it comes good. I love having him in the side - absolute ball magnet (probably says something about his positioning and decision making) and think he's certainly one who could progress to the top level.

So much for VAR being used for 'clear and obvious' errors. It took them an eternity to make the decision and it was subjective at best. We may as well be playing rugby if this is how they're going to officiate games.

I suppose it's subjective. Either way it gives Obafemi a chance to go down and the ref a decision to make irrespective of actual level of contact. Daft on a yellow.

I think it was really soft but Valery has a grab at Obafemi on a yellow and Obafemi has made the most of it. It gives the ref a decision to make and we've seen them given before and will again. Valery is really hit and miss but his decision making is often found lacking.

This. Seeing Brentford play us off the park in the cup (last year?) and having our asses handed to us by Sisto and co (do we relaunch the sign Sisto bandwagon now?) really showed how clubs could box clever to punch above their weight. We're never going to be one of the big, moneyed clubs and it's good to have some hope we can still punch above our weight now and then otherwise plodding along in the 'just good enough not to go down' club can get a little tiresome. There is a lot to like about Brentford as a club/fanbase and hopefully we can both sneak into the top half of the table with dreams of another European tour feeling like less of a pipedream - I only managed some of the home fixtures and would love to see Saints away in Europe in my lifetime!

I think a lot of the bitterness comes from the lack of real clarity. While Covid is black and white injury status is vague, I think their is cynicism that teams may not be playing this with a straight bat themselves. Coupled with the fact that we've had to play our u23s a lot over the past few years (people have cited the Utd game with 9 'first team' players) while the likes of Tuchel are whinging while sitting £70mil worth of Germany international on the bench plus others ...

It's not completely irrational. Plenty won't agree with it but there is a clear rationale behind it. Much like us selling Ings - he's a better player than all three of them but selling him was not irrational.

A few reflections. After the Burnley result I thought the draw may look better if we picked up a win today - three games without defeat feels positive. Small margins for sure and if we were clinical we would probably have 9 points and another 3/4 goals ... lots of good play on show and we need to keep this momentum going. A really good finish for Adams and it's great to have genuine competition up top. I think we'll give Villa a game on Friday ... Macca - 8. Didn't have too much to do but did it well. I understand some of the clamour for Fraser particularly after mid week however McCarthy hasn't done much wrong this season and I much prefer having a consistent no1. Livramento - 7. His driving runs are something else. He does seem to tire later on in matches but this is some 18 year old! Bednarek. - 6. Did nothing much wrong but the King half-chance he fell asleep for. Okay but next to Salisu (absolute ball magnet!) the difference is stark. Salisu -8. New contract. Now! He played with a maturity and intelligence that you associate with experienced, top class cbs. Sensible to take a yellow when Sarr threatened to get away - Sarr is some player. Watford will do well to keep him in the summer. KWP - 8. Good call from Ralph. Him and Redmond had some great interplay - he had the Watford full back on toast. Romeu - 7. Decent. Did Romeu things reasonably well. He has his limits but if he had a passing range and more mobility he wouldn't be at saints. JWP - 7 (just). Some good passes but the game passed him by a little. He'll have better days. Elyounoussi - 7. It's a strange compliment but I didn't really notice him today. In his last spell with us he often stood out as out of his depth. He belongs at this level and has proven me, and plenty of others, wrong. Redmond - 7.5. Decent performance. Worked hard in both directions and carried the ball relatively well. A few pot shots that could have been closer. His best play came in linking up with KWP to give him space to push in to. Armstrong (A) - 7. I liked his movement. He created some chances of his own and one of those sighters where he cuts in from the left and lets fly will find the net soon enough - I'm hopeful he'll come good. Adams - 8. The finish was top class and is the reason for the 8. He should have had another but he worked hard, linked play and got in good positions. He tired a bit towards the end and it would have been good to bring Broja on. Armstrong (S) - 6. Tried a bit too hard but flashes of what he was about and added energy. Diallo - 6. Not too much time to make an impact but drew a foul well and positions his body really well to hold possession. Great to have competition in the middle and genuine options. Lyanco - hard to fairly score him. One header that was more up than away but came on and helped us get to the end with points in tact. Loved him midweek and looking forward to seeing more of him. Ralph - 8. A good week for him. I doubted KWP at left back but it worked a treat. Our game plan really worked and we should have won comfortably. Sarr aside Watford were limited to offering nothing - they should worry this season, no Deeney to drag them through by sheer force of will. Subs were effective and again Ralph is showing better flexibility/game management this season.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion yet when somebody disagreed with you your retort was they should go and watch another sport. You were quite blatantly trying to belittle their opinion. You don't rate Redmond, fine. It's surprising you can't recognise a difference in his game this season when most, even those who don't rate him, are able to do so.

Forster has saved a few pens in his day - certainly makes the goal feel smaller.

Striker at new club not looking outstanding in an unfamiliar formation, a heavily rotated side against a side of Chelsea's stature? Yeah he's total sh*t. Stealing a living. Have a word will you!

We actually played some good football. Their second seemed to kill the game and the subs meant it lost fluidity. It does feel like two points dropped but we were a post width's away on more than one occasion and we did well to turn the game around from their early goal which felt like a sucker punch. If we miss other chances to pick up points in this favourable run this result will look worse but Burnley are no mugs and, if we can build on this, it may look better in context. McCarthy - decent overall, distribution poor at times. Livramento - he will be some player. Yes, partially at fault for the first goal but his runs from deep are special. I do hope we can eventually take a look at him and KWP in the same side but it may be too soon in terms of his development. Enjoy him while he's here. Bednarek - poor. for a big lad he seems to get bullied by some much smaller forwards. positional awareness maybe rather than physicality? Salisu - could have done better for the second but plenty to love about this lad. We need to get him tied down so if he does keep on his current trajectory we can hold him for a while longer before commanding a sizeable fee. Perraud - okay. just a bit 'meh'. Very early days for him and he gets up and down well but his crossing is poor and he doesn't really have much pace. Romeu - does he what does. tidy, combative but has a limited passing range. did well dropping back to help the cb's. Diallo - quieter than last week but some incisive passing and looks to move things forward. Elyounoussi - okay but nothing special today. the movement and link up with him and Redmond is promising but end product lacking. Redmond - so frustrating! Missed a sitter but had flashes of clever play and I think half the reason he get's so much stick is he can do better. Walcott - the game passed him by. Some good movement here and there but didn't add much. His half decent chance should have really hit the target at least. Broja - Good game. Tidy finish and was a handful. Decision making is still raw and he probably could have had 2 or 3 today. Ralph - The game plan actually seemed sensible and Burnley couldn't live with our interplay at times. His subs needed to come earlier and Theo looks like a poor call in hindsight. I did feel for him when Redmond missed the sitter and Tino smashed the post. We probably should have got the win today and, while he picks the players, its hard to legislate for us passing up several very good chances.

Small margins. Poor defending for their goal - possible offside much earlier in the build up - and the final ball/finish isn't quite there yet but you have to feel chances will come for us. Just need to actually take some of them!

Sorry, that wasn't meant to come across as digging you out. Just wanted to add some context. I think we do both agree that something is off - as you say the dead balls have not hit his usual heights, often hit the first man! I'm a big Prowsey fan but if he's having to compete to have a place in the side this can only be a good thing for us.

Dan Sheldon intimated Prowsey has had a gastric issue and was rushed back from injury. I'd suggest signing the new contact shows he is committed but he has felt like a passenger at times this season - hopefully the enforced rest will give him a chance to get back to his best.