ButtikonSaint

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Winner winner chicken dinner... Three more of the same, boys! Tadic, we missed you, where were you? Mario, strong, focused... Defense, better... McCarthy, genius... MH and staff keep up the good work... Saints fans at the stadium great support

5-4-1...line-up makes sense in our current situation... Longy hattrick ???

Good, battling win which will help morale. Was kinda 424 which meant we had no playmaker in an advanced central midfield position to spray wide or keep up with runs, although Gabbi did try (good game from him irrespective of penalty miss. With the state of the pitch, the weather and Wigan chasing hard, Romeu could have come in a bit earlier to free up Hoj but the Manager got the win so can't complain. Now can we do this vs WH? I think the whole team did OK, certainly better than last few weeks. Semi and off to Wembley,... happy days? COYS

A win's a win... Better defensive showing by the lads.. Mccarthy motm.. 2 upfront lasted all of 10mins, pity... Lemina massive, Hoj not too far behind... Liked JWP nagging and showing some attitude, our team needs to get nastier. We March On

Outfought, outplayed, outpaced, out of sight... We've had some stinkers of the years... that one is right up there Only one that seemed to try was CA; the rest can be rested. Bring on the under 21s (and their manager) as it can't be really worse...

Strong team performance, unlucky result, feels like our Saints are coming back! For such a game where we needed to be compact and organised, the formation was a good choice so fair play to MP. I liked the 3 central defender with VvD taking over the deep lying defensive midfield position which I think would suit him best (kind of reverse libero role). PEH, Lemina and Romeu made for a really strong central midfield where I'd have had Boufal coming in with one of Austin/Long/Gabbi up front FF had a decent game but his handling is still suspect and his kicking needs some work. Still, for a man-mountain, he should be bossing his area - he needs to get big, nasty and grow some. I think the players have to take heart from the performance. With a bit of luck, we get back to some attacking formation at the weekend and get a decent result. Tonight's result was frustrating but that shows we can play and eventually win against these teams. COYS !!!!!!!!!!!

Although I'd like to see some real attacking intent, this IS a 6 pointer... With no Oriol, I think he'll go for a 4-4-1-1, again... Predicted FF CS - VVD - WH - RB DT - SD - ML (if fit else JWP) - NR SB MG Don't think the results will improve though... going for a 1-1 , hope for a 4-1

Uninspiring... should we go to a 3-5-2 (worked a few years back when RK was on a nasty streak...)? We may actually have a bit more about us vs more attacking team at least let's hope so. But I think we're in trouble and so is MoPe.

Was strange... Poor Manolo, can't get a whiff of the ball from his midfield, midfield can't pass, defenders can't cover for that midfield, gk can't handle much when thrown at him. Without Lamina, we went back to a Puel like midfield, albeit Boufal wasn't that bad to be honest, with little invention pr blood, sweat and tears... Like others, I wish we could inject some pace and directness to our game... give our striker a fighting chance and us fans something to cheer about.... MP2 should worry

No matter how we played, one moment of ecstasy. Same kind of feeling for me as Longy's semi-final 2nd leg winner last year... after being bored senseless for so many games, total high, total bliss COYS

Not too unhappy, even though we lost. Starting to feel like a team that wants to win...and not afraid to take some risks to do so. Redmond took on some players a few times and actually managed to get into some decent crossing position, this is what he must keep doing. Tadic went central when Davis went off and he seemed to more influential... still feel he's only giving us 80% Mario and Oriol - greet pairing, bossed the game and yep... Mario looks like a true gem... wow. Defence, including Forster weren't bad at all. What would having a fit and fired up VvD bring? Maybe the ability for Cedric and Bertrand to bomb forward even harder? Long tried hard but was too isolated in first half... Second half was better and, at last, we had 20ish minutes with a front two.. Was a bit desperate though and still wondering what would have happened if we'd had 90mins with 2 up front... (at least a goal...) Love Davis but we have Boufal as a natural attacking midfield or even Tadic. 7.5/10

Insipid and tough first half... maybe Huddersfield slow down by the hour mark allowing us to pass around a bit more... but we need to be more physical and take on their midfielders... Jack takes on the midfield, manages to split them and gets a decent pass to Cedric...(who messes up...) How come he's the only one trying to take on a man or two? I agree with some of the post, we need a decent AM - how about this Boufal guy we've heard about?

Totally agree with your post. He seems thorough, clear sighted, composed, focused and intelligent. He's likeable but has an aura and presence. We should be patient and let him rebuild the team in his image... I think it will take a few months but with less games this year he'll hopefully work some magic and get the results and the style we crave for. COYS!! 2-1 Gabba and Redmond to start us with 3 points

JWP-> Captain in waiting but let's wait a year or two. He needs to concentrate on his game and mature into the fine midfielder we all hope for. Romeu -> possibly the most appropriate Tadic -> as per an earlier post, might be the incentive he needs to be more consistent and take responsibility on the field... Not a bad suggestion (no idea if they other lads would welcome that). Davies -> Club captain, legend... Seems enough Yoshida -> team player, probably very respected by players and management hence the armband lately... Not a bad shout honestly Bertrand -> probably our best player, just not too sure if we'd welcome being the captain... Also playing position ain't ideal (also like a central mid as captain) Irrespective, they are all good choices... COYS

Thanks for the running commentary, better than the live update from the DE !!

GOAL !!!!

Austin, Long, Boufal... doesn't seem too bad to me.

Same here... Had to trim from the 8 to 3 ... Gabba, Redmond and Bert made the cut... and had to have Jrod...

was a kind of half full season, no?

Agree with the uninspiring and something has got to give in the summer (board, manager, formation, attitude...something...) I think all at the club and every fan will be glad the season is over, was becoming really laboured. Of the positive, Yoshida, Stevens, Romeu and Redmond(ish...) all had a decent season. Bertrand, Cedric and Forster did all right. Davis, Tadic, Boufal JWP and the strikers had a season to forget. Puel, well, it's a hard one. I speak french and his interviews, in french, are intelligent & insightful, he's a really smart and actually likeable guy, however he just doesn't come across well in english (not too sure if he's paying for the Poch experience but as some suggested, get him some intensive language lessons over the summer). I think he deserves another season... just.

That was a real hard watch... Can't figure out the team... Something's not right and you got to think there's a clear lack of leadership... Mr Puel.... ??

Yoooo Fellow Saints, I liked our team's play today; shows we have some reasonable depth and quality in our squad. As said earlier, no real weak link - 11-14 good & skillful grafters ... Good coaching too it seemed as they passes, controls and decision making was near perfect. Just Longy today again - hopefully he gets a hat trick soon and gets his confidence back Another great day to be a Saint

Team fought hard in the second half against a pretty physical side. Redmond's pace becoming more and more telling Romeu such a stalwart, we'll miss him for the next 2 games Tadic as brilliant as fustrating Cedric and Sam, great shifts on both side No faux pas from our gk and center backs... nice one guys Longy... we feel for you mate.. keep on trying Great win, gives us some breathing space and maybe some option to rotate a little bit, try out some formations, take a few risks (pls M. Puel)...