NewYorkSaint

Redmond looking really lively today. exciting interplay w Sims and Bertrand.

Great half, and lovely riposte to all the neg crap spouted recently on Puel. Suppose we'd just spent £15m on Sims. We'd be pleased with his debut showing, no? V exciting when we unearth new talent. This season McQueen, Targett, and now Sims. Failure to look properly at our academy was Koeman's worst fault. Quite fitting to have that pointed out to him inside a minute. Sims made the opener. God, I hope we can hold on to this one.

So much pessimism. Every football game is combo of two different team's formation, playing styles, tactics, energy/motivation levels, and luck. There have been so many times a team performs amazingly one week, then next time inexplicably less so. We've had plenty of evidence this season that this squad, and this formation, and this manager can produce truly thrilling football. Personally, I'm holding out for something special tomorrow. Koeman's arrival will energise, and I think we'll see a few players encouraged to try something different. (We'll miss Tadic for sure. Yes, would love to see Boufal come through. But I remember how angry this board was with Mane 6 or 8 months after his arrival whenever he had a game when he screwed up a few times. Give him time...) Great football is not like a a giant manufacturing plant. You can't just switch it on and see it work the same way every time. It's much more like improvisational art. You can prepare for it, but stars need to align on the day for true magic to happen. Why not go into the game with at least a little excitement?!

Can't believe how critical everyone is. We're playing away from home in the Europa league. i.e.. against one of the best clubs in Europe. There's one goal in it. We had good chances to score. J-Rod had one bad touch early on, but has looked decent since then. Clasie looking super-sharp. McQueen coming through as jewel for the future. Long playing the best he has in a while. Our rotation policy is reasonable, and is building quality throughout the squad. Yes, we could use a world-class striker. Wish we had that. I do. But we don't. So let's get behind the team we have and give them a chance. We'll equalize second half.

Spectacular football being played by both teams. Not a ton of shots, but thrilling midfield battle, and some amazing one-touch football. Game's being played at an incredible pace. VVD and Forster have kept us in it. Promising touches of genius from Boufal, but we need more. Davis understated hero. He's given away a couple times but harassed and won back more than that. Romeu incredible. He had one backward headed flick in competitive situation that took my breath away. All to play for. Goals a-coming. Head says 1-2, heart says 2-1.

Exciting team... despite loss of Tadic, tons of creativity in Holberg, Boufal, Redmond... wouldn't be surprised to see something like 2-2.

One thing everyone seems to forget after a horrible afternoon like this one. It's football. It's the premier league. Every single game can go either way. There's a ton of luck in the game. Anyone watching that would know that Saints by far the better team. If you replayed the game 10 times we'd win 6 and draw 2-3. Yes, we were low on chances today, but that hasn't overall been a feature of our season. You can't create a whole narrative about how feeble our transfer policy/board/Puel are based on one game. If anything, the result shows how hard it is to manage Europa + premier league. Puel and the team have been trying hard to juggle both. It doesn't always work. But often it will. Watch for a thrilling match against Liverpool. We'll bounce back.

It's not 100% clear where the goal scoring will come from, but personally quite excited to see the likes of Isgrove and Reed back in the mix. Also... good luck BOUFAL !

Van Dijk / Fonte / Romeu immense. Ha! Posted exactly the same, a few seconds later. mind meld.

Fantastic performance by saints. made them look v ordinary first half and defended like tigers in second. McQueen was strong second half, and Boufal showing promising signs (though will need to adjust to pace and aggression of premier league). VvD, Fonte and Romeu immense.

Superb effort by Saints. Redmond gets more exciting every game. Our core defensive engine of VVD Fonte and Romeo is unbelievable. I'd sub yellow-carded Clasie for JWP. We're getting a lot of set-plays and could use JWP's guile. Fingers crossed that McQueen can grow in the second half. I saw a great tackle toward the end. Maybe he can breathe and find some more confidence. C'mon Saints. This could turn out a truly epic afternoon.

We're by far the better team. By far! McQueen is wonderful. If we'd just paid $10m for him, we'd prob be happy. And here he is just up from the academy. Hojbjerg so great.... And the Tadic/Martina interplay is often wonderful. Radio commentary mistakenly blaming Yosh for the early bad back pass. It was actually Martina. Wd be robbery if we get beaten here....

I think Puel has the team about right. A rest for some of the older players, including Fonte and Austin... but enough there to be competitive. Would love to see Boufal get a run out and maybe then start on Sunday. Excited for this...

personally, don't think it was a dive. his rear foot is stepped on.

By the way, some questioning the McQueen penalty. But it looked to me like he had his rear foot stamped on. May have been accidental, but it took him out, and therefore a clear penalty, surely.

Agree. Redmond MoM. Fantastic. And so exciting to see McQueen shine. I love, love, love that we're using the academy again this year. Puel continues to truly impress me. The first half may have been relatively bland (although we deserved to be up a couple goals) but what I think we achieved first half was superior energy management. We kept the ball, began tiring them out. Second half we reaped the benefit, turning up the heat with an amazing amount of retained energy. Commentators here in US were marveling at how much pace Saints retained right through into extra time. 34 shots to 6 says it all.....

We created a ton of chances. Tadic, Redmond looking awfully dangerous. Goals are coming... McQueen promising debut so far...

Really exciting first half. Despite our travels, we look the better team. Worth thinking about. We look better than last year's champions, playing at home, off extra rest. Our rapid passing game is a joy to watch. Davis, Hojbjerg, Romeu superb.

Worth noting that while a draw is usually a poor result in the premier league (often better to gamble and go for all 3 even if it means you lose), in a small group competition a draw is much more valuable. Although you still only get 1 point, by holding the opposition also to just 1 point, you really increase chances of qualification.

Puel's away strategy seems to be to play it cool first half. try to control the game, keep it tight, don't waste all our energy. then dial it up second half as the opposition tire. we've seen it work well the last few games. let's see what happens now. My money's on 1-1, Long to claim a late equalizer after they score from a set-piece.

What a fantastic performance. first half took all the sting out of WH, owned possession. brilliant move for a goal. Second half, thrilling. To be fair, they maybe should have had the penalty, but I think we win either way. Our set up is now allowing so much creativity at the peak of the diamond. 7 or 8 beautiful little through balls from Tadic, Hojbjerg, Austin, Redmond and Davies. Gorgeous to see. Oh and a big shout out to the defense. VVD and Fonte imperious today. After leaking goals for a dozen games, suddenly four clean sheets in a row. We're heading up, friends!

really exciting game now.... heart thumping here.

C'mon Shane!

Would love to see 10 mins of Hesketh. He was so beautiful to watch on Weds... But first, let's wrap this up!!

That works just fine if you're mid-town. Down town there's the Red Lion in Soho. http://redlionnyc.com. All the games are on cable TV, so I usually just watch at home. Like now. The premier league is becoming a big deal in US these days....