Vancouver Saint

OMG that was brilliant - live texting my Arsenal-supporting friend watching from the other side of Vancouver - and meeting up for darts tonight after the Canucks game...beers on me and happy to oblige! Sounded like a fantastic atmosphere. Now to hammer Wrexham please.

A great result for sure - but a very nervy second half. Can't understand why we back off the man with the ball so much we allow their centre back to carry the ball right into our last third of the pitch. We almost threw that away at the end and won't get so lucky using that tactic again I feel. We lost a lot of bite when Downes went off. Surprised we didn't substitute Larin for the last 10 minutes or so - he was spent. We needed more energy in midfield. Great goal by Azaz and happy with the victory more than the performance. I love Peretz - that's 6 points from the last two games he's helped preserve...although his gamesmanship shenanigans almost back-fired in the extra time on top of extra time.

Need to watch out for Ali Ahmed - he joined Norwich from our Vancouver Whitecaps so I've seen him play many times. He's a very skillful wide player with a turn of pace, good control of the ball and knows where the goal is. better than Edozie and Fellows IMHO. Full Canadian International alongside Larin and well-deserving of it...shame we didn't get him.

Should be a really good game. They' are on an amazing run of form but so are we. We have the best home form atm - they are 4th in away form. Althought this has a draw written all over it, I think we'll reverse the score from the away fixture: 2-1 to the Saints.

What a result! Only caught the last four minutes of extra time but saw our goals in the after-match report - did we deserve it? Cameron Archer on the pitch? Looked like Peretz won us our points - what's it like having a goalkeeper eh!

Not sure about this one...not sure at all. Thought we were pretty crap against West Brom but think we might, might just play up to Coventry in this game... My problem is we can't do the basics like defend corners and take throw-ins to our own players...I can't see Coventry having less than 13 corners so unless we get 36 corners ourselves....

Oh man...just needed another 5 mins...West Brom were totally spent - but they were totally up for it today, didn't look like a team in the relegation zone. Can't say a draw wasn't a fair result tbh. Thought we looked a bit lightweight and still too ponderous passing around the back. They totally sussed out our playing out from the back, especially our right side and pressed us high every time. Larin looks better and better every time I see him - great strength, hold-up ability and target for headers - great goal to equalise. Think we might look back at this as a point well won and an unbeaten streak maintained.

Another bloody mid-day kick off - really not worth getting up at 4.00 am in the morning for - is there really no consideration for us Saints fans in the Pacific Time zone? - come on Football Association sort yourselves out! Oh and I'm pretty sure we'll go hybrid...semi rotation to give players a run-out with some first teamers on the bench to try to pull back a 2-0 deficit with half an hour to play. But knowing I'm not watching it, let's call it now - a 4-3 thriller with us coming back from 3-0 down in the first half to win in the sixth minute of extra time. Call me lightning.

Well, what will be put down as a routine win with us not getting out of second gear for most of the match - but I never felt we'd 'put the game to bed'. Even at the end we invite pressure and we're still bad at defending corners, so why risk conceding so many? Archer, I mean how many more chances is he given ahead of someone else? It was like bringing an extra defender for Wednesday - his main contribution was to block Scienza's almost certain goal!

Err um yes of course...felt like a loss given the possession we had. Too ponderous. Extra time showed the urgency we should have had from the outset.

We lost that because we can't defend. We always knew we'd need that second goal didn't we...

Well a good win in the end despite the 'we couldn't show more we don't care about this game' selection - Saints Young Boys beat Leicester's old boys. Leicester must really be sick of the sight of us - gotta love it! Positives - Edozie, Bragg, Larin, pretty much all the youngsters that cam on gave a good account of themselves. Jelert grew into the game before going off. Romeo got some decent minutes in without incident and one great goal-saving tackle. Negatives - Archer, seriously, what a waste of a shirt - what has happened to him? George Long less than convincing, Quarshie and Woods showing why they are second-stringers with lots of mistakes better sides would have punished.

OMG - did that just happen?!

Only saw the last 15 minutes...was nervy conceding corners but for once we held firm. I did say give Larin the benefit of the doubt - he's played really well for Canada in the past. He looked fitter and better than I expected with a good touch - but I guess he's only been on for a few minutes. It makes such a difference to have a goalkeeper!

Let's give him a chance for goodness sake. He had a good spell in the Canadian national team a while back...he has a physical presence and fits that 'big striker target' description which is clearly the new strategy (that being going forward and putting crosses into the box to someone tall enough to head it.

Yet another bloody midday kickoff I won't be watching at 4.30am Pacific time! Does anyone have stats for our performances at midday kick-off games? It seems to me we lose most of them, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Bloomin' heck - what's with it with all these 12.00 noon kick-offs? - that's 4.00 am in the morning for me. This team not worth the effort...although I'm hoping with Stewart and Charles back this could be the start of a revival...

OMG how bad are we? Masters of PPP - Ponderous Pointless Possession. Win all the stats except the one that matters. Eckert out of his depth. Such an obvious mistake to hire him. Not fair on him, the players or the fans. Whoever made that decision needs to be accountable - bowed to pressure way too early and unnecessarily. Meanwhile Danny Rohl burning it up at Rangers (for those that remember the Will Still vs Danny Rohl debate...I do think we tried to get him in fairness). No energy, urgency or belief in this team - even when we pull a goal back. Just awful. Fans leaving with 5 mins to go says it all - we all know we aren't going to create any last-minute chances. Watched listening to the Hull City commentators who were very fair - Southampton 'not exactly pushing on after scoring' the understatement of the day. Questions to answer please: 1. Was that first goal Ryan Manning's fault for an unnecessary and bad back-pass or Quarshie for not 'taking control' - obvious answer is a bit of both, but I thought it was more on Manning when it happened. Eckert obviously blamed Quarshie 2. Was the second goal the goalies fault - he started coming for the ball then changed his mind - or just poor defending at the back post (again)?

I just watched my Scottish team Hearts beat St Mirren playing with 10-men vs 11 from the 15th minute. They won 2-0. Played with spirit and courage. Played as a team. Had enormous energy. Fought for every ball. Ended up with 7 shots on target vs 2 from their opponents. The second time in four days they've won playing with 10 men. So the opposite of the spineless, gutless, structureless, leaderless, second-to-every-ball, where's my paycheck mentality of this current Saints team it's unbelievable. A joy to watch and a reminder of just how low I've sunk my expectations from Saints. So not interested anymore. Until the next game of course. Sad old addict 😳

I missed the first half - started watching from the second half - OMG, we seriously didn't touch the ball for the first 20 minutes, Doncaster scored twice...with our new goalie nowhere near clearing from a corner right under the bar (was he impeded?) then a statue for the second...I'm thinking well there's a lot of work to be done there if he's going to be any good. 'Southampton have been terrible in the second half' quote from the commentator. We didn't even get into their half let alone their box for that time - again the half-time team talk must have been 'We've won this, just mince about and don't bother, it's cold...here's a nice cup of tea'. We look terrible in defence for anything hoofed high or long, or for corners or free kicks into the box - seems rare we get a defensive head to the ball first. On the positive side...Scienza and Stewart made a big difference. The new keeper made a couple of good reaction stops at the end and showed enough to suggest he's already a much better goalkeeper than Bazunu (not difficult) - he'll learn not to get bullied in his own 6-yard box. Wellington much better than Manning. Quarsie needs more confidence with the ball at his feet. We still need more control of midfield. A win is a win - we squeaked through as the commentator said. Against a team struggling in L1. But I was pretty underwhelmed again from what I saw. Am I wrong?

No leadership. No heart. Either on or off the pitch. I said it at half-time, our players look disinterested...they're at walking pace for throw-ins, corners...there's no sense of love of the game and wanting to play football. 56 years I've been following the Saints and never have I been so disinterested and detached myself. Honestly, I wanted 'boro to add a fifth and sixth (which they should have) to dispel any myth that this game was anything but an utter embarrassment that shows just what we are - a shambles of a collection of players. We are not close to being a team. How can this be the same team and manager that beat Charlton 5-1 away?

Does anyone else think our players look disinterested? Slow, slow, slow for everything. Some really good chances to score - Azaz, Downes and Fellows should have all done better. One passage of play summed it up for me. Our free kick middle of our half left side - instead of playing it forward we play it backward and pass it sideways until we give away a throw-in 20 yards closer to our goal. We need to bolster the midfiled and pass it through the middle. 4-3-3 or or 4-4-2 or 4-5-1...anything but this 3 CBs at the back that can't control the ball well enough.

Is this deal done or not?

Ha! Didn't realise the game was on today and missed it completely - sounds like I missed nothing. I've been a Saints fan for 58 years - I never thought I'd be so disengaged in this club. From a quick scan let me say let's get real on the Bazunu thing - two good saves in two games does not make him the top-of-the-Championship quality we need. No doubt this will give the management team a reason not to follow-through on getting the new 'keeper we so desperately need...unless someone tells me that deal has already been done?

Well - we can't complain about taking just a point from that. Birmingham the better team for 60 minutes. Terrible goal to concede (four headers before a poncy header in) - as normal really poor defending. For once we were the better team in the last 20 minutes - much better energy and chances - fair credit, saving Scienza to come on as the impact sub against tired legs a good mix-up plan. I thought the substitutions were good. Still don't like our three at the back...when the wing-backs don't get in behind as was happening first half (Fellows not 100%? - Robinson did okay but was cutting inside not running past defenders) the formation doesn't work and we give up the middle of the field where the most danger comes from. We are still bang average without a better goalkeeper, commanding CB and killer target striker. Stewart coming back would be a boost.