WHU 3 Saints 1 Match Reaction

We are desperately slow in attack - just pedestrian and so damned predictable. Little point having 70% of the ball if 11 of their players are in front of you and are good at defending, which Wet Sham are (particularly with their hands I should add). Lambert is finished...the signs were there last season...and not replacing Osvaldo is looking to be a terrible decision. Gallagher is not looking like he's a Prem material striker - not a game changer either. Boruc was static and his distribution has not improved. Thought Lallana, Gaston and Cork looked threatening and up for it. The general shooting quality though is poor.

We're safe, but on today's showing, we're nowhere near a Europa league slot this season and it's daft to think so.

Oh!Dear. Calamity Clattenburg the Twelf Man again for WetSpam. As soon as I saw he was to officiate I knew we were onto a hiding to nothing. We get nothing from him and he was just waiting for his chance to 'Yellow Card' Adam. Listened to The Saint and all the time Merrington was saying 'Sam has sussed us' Again!!! MP certainlt has a lot to answer to now.

dont think clattenberg did much wrong, to be fair

Poor finishing, poor defending, other than that we were fairly marvellous. Thought the 2 full backs had very poor defensive games.

Too many already planning their world cup campaigns I think. Blue line and so on to next week.

Said we'd lose before the game, I was proven right.

 

Clattenburg + Hoofball team away from home = dissappointing result.

Well done. You must be both proud and happy. Go you.

Are we capable of mounting ONE SINGLE ATTACK without a single sideways or backward pass?!?!

No rush for the ignore button info now, ta.

Our league position has not changed by today's defeat and is unlikely to for the rest of the season. Sill, let's not let that get in the way of us trying to win a no-mark trophy like the tinpot FA Cup.

We are desperately slow in attack - just pedestrian and so damned predictable. Little point having 70% of the ball if 11 of their players are in front of you and are good at defending, which Wet Sham are (particularly with their hands I should add). Lambert is finished...the signs were there last season...and not replacing Osvaldo is looking to be a terrible decision. Gallagher is not looking like he's a Prem material striker - not a game changer either. Boruc was static and his distribution has not improved. Thought Lallana, Gaston and Cork looked threatening and up for it. The general shooting quality though is poor.

 

We're safe, but on today's showing, we're nowhere near a Europa league slot this season and it's daft to think so.

Lallana was ****e today. Woeful display of crap final balls and finishing.

Season's targets were compromised as soon as Osvaldo let down the team leaving us without a striker who should be playing in this system.

Happy that we are in the top half instead of near bottom and now will muddle through with Lambert and Gallagher, I expect Gaston to begin to chip in with goals to hopefully mitigate the shortfall somewhat.

Would be happy with the below team, bit harsh on Davies I know but we just need more direct play in the final 3rd and he isn't chipping in too much with goals, think Morgan looks a bit tired as well so maybe rotate with Cork.

Boruc

Chamber Fonte Lovren Shaw

Vic Morgan

Adam Gaston JRod

Lambert/Gallagher

dont think clattenberg did much wrong, to be fair

Anyway Adam didn't need to pull the West Ham player back by his shorts, Gaston had already picked up the ball and it was a silly thing to do, stopped us moving forward.

We played pretty well. We controlled the game, got between the lines and created lots of half chances and a couple of proper chances. I saw effort, quality on the ball and a decent pattern of play. The one thing we did a little too much was build up nicely then cross from too deep, which suited their big defenders. We need to get to the bye line a bit more often. Sometimes you lose games like this, that's life. We didn't create quite enough guilt edge chances.

In the end aN offside goal and a **** up by Yoshida, that we'd never hear the end of it was Jos, killed us.

Is anybody surprised at the result?

We never beat the likes of West ham but watch us go and beat Liverpool next week!

Season's over now.........

Well...After this result, I found that my anger over last week has suddenly faded to nothing, and it has been replaced by a big empty space. Nothing to do now other than wait until next season.

If ticket buying fans feel this way, then crashing out of the cup may well have cost Saints a lot more in the long run than they may have thought.

Negatives

Lambert: Really poor again, he's lucky Carroll has hardly played this season.

Rodriguez: Can't pass, prone to heavy touches and can't shoot to save his life if he is given time to think.

Shaw: Caught way too narrow for their third, not his best game. Mind you, Rodriguez doesn't really help him much.

Lallana: Should have scored twice. Still, he kept going to the end at least.

Schneiderlin: Rarely showed urgency.

Yoshida: Good goal, but ****ing hell he was poor defensively today.

Fonte: Not much better.

Davis: Hard worker, but against teams that are happy to defend and get goals on the counter or from set pieces he lacks quality.

Positives:

Ramirez: MoM for us, pulled the strings and contributed to a number of attacks that should have resulted in goals. Will be disappointed if he does not start next Saturday.

Ramirez was brilliant when he came on. The only bright light on a dark day.

Already on the train home from London. Mind you I didn't make it as far as the Boleyn anyway. Glad this is the only game I have missed watching all season. Arse : just remembered I am out with a couple of hammers tonight. Reading between the hysterics, sounds like we were nearly there but not quite again. Glad to hear Gaston was on form.

Will forget this result as quickly as I have forgotten about the FA Cup for another season (and hopefully I will soon forget the arrogance of the media/some fans thinking we were just a couple of selection decisions away from winning the thing!).

Were we better than against Stoke? That's all I need to know.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Winning is a habit and so is losing, that's why last week was so important.. We have lost momentum.

For all the possession football we lack composure in the final third and don't seem to have any idea on movement off the ball or he quality that we show elsewhere on the pitch.

We really do need VW back into position instead of cork we will not get caught by the sucker punch like we have been recently.

Team too nice...boys will toughen up

You have to give credit to the old fox Allardyce for doing his homework on us and coming up with a strategy that largely worked to their advantage. The possession figures of nearly 70% don't mean a thing unless it translates into possession in or around their penalty area. And neither do shots on goal mean much if you aren't going to get them on target and then score from them.

The question needs to be asked again of Pochettino, where is the plan B? If a team like West Ham closes down our passing out from the back and also closes down our width by marking our full backs, what do we have in our locker to counter it? Playing the ball over the top isn't going to work against a tall strong defence like West Ham's. Bringing on Ramirez gave us extra options for him to play the balls to intersect the channels, but we didn't have the shots on target from them to make them count.

In the absence of having players who can more consistently score from their shooting, we are not able to bring in any that can until the summer, so more time needs to be spent on the training ground with shooting practice. Lambert and Rodriguez don't seem to be very consistent at the moment, both misssing their opportunities, as did Lallana.

But at least we should be thankful that the team showed some commitment and desire today, which they didn't last Saturday. But it is galling that with over 20 shots on goal we only managed half a dozen on target, whereas West Ham managed to get about 6 shots on target and scored from three of them.

19 Accrington 31 -6 37

20 Bury 30 -2 36

21 Portsmouth 32 -12 36

22 Wycombe 31 -5 34

23 Torquay 31 -17 29

24 Northampton 31 -17 29

I'm afraid having Lovren back on the side will not solve our case study worthy problem of not being able to get a shot from anywhere before being less than 10 yards from goal.

In fact, make that 6.

You have to give credit to the old fox Allardyce for doing his homework on us and coming up with a strategy that largely worked to their advantage. The possession figures of nearly 70% don't mean a thing unless it translates into possession in or around their penalty area. And neither do shots on goal mean much if you aren't going to get them on target and then score from them.

 

The question needs to be asked again of Pochettino, where is the plan B? If a team like West Ham closes down our passing out from the back and also closes down our width by marking our full backs, what do we have in our locker to counter it? Playing the ball over the top isn't going to work against a tall strong defence like West Ham's. Bringing on Ramirez gave us extra options for him to play the balls to intersect the channels, but we didn't have the shots on target from them to make them count.

 

In the absence of having players who can more consistently score from their shooting, we are not able to bring in any that can until the summer, so more time needs to be spent on the training ground with shooting practice. Lambert and Rodriguez don't seem to be very consistent at the moment, both misssing their opportunities, as did Lallana.

 

But at least we should be thankful that the team showed some commitment and desire today, which they didn't last Saturday. But it is galling that with over 20 shots on goal we only managed half a dozen on target, whereas West Ham managed to get about 6 shots on target and scored from three of them.

We don't need a plan B, we need to convert some of the chances we create with Plan A, it's often the same story these days.

We need a striker who is better than Lambert, that is our problem. We had one but we gave him away for the rest of the season.

as well as pompey virtually in a relegation scrap

QPR lost today, and old arry is screwing it up at QPR

We don't need a plan B, we need to convert some of the chances we create with Plan A, it's often the same story these days.

Yep definitely missing far to many chances

25 goal attempts and only 5 on target!! says to me that we are creating all the effing time. Upfront is where the problem lies.

I actually think he is a hinderance to our play these days

is no longer able to offer a target up front and drops deeper and deeper

We are lacking that out-an-out striker at the moment. Lambert is dropping deeper and we rely on our AM's for the goal threat. If only Osvaldo wasn't a w@nk3r...

Watched the game on streaming and for me it was about WHU wanting it more. I really hate losing to them or is it just BSA.. Actually we played OK just one or two of our key players off their game i.e. RL and JRod. Nothing went our way today. One offside, an unfortunate rebound back off the post and a big lob in to the box looking for the knockdown. On another day we could have won 1-0.. That's football.. At this time of the season it will be about other teams we play wanting it more because of their position, top or bottom. We have to deal with that. I really find the negativity from some totally lacking any analysis. It adds no value. OK, I'm really fed up but looking for positives of which there were several.

This was probably a hangover from last week. There's no doubt the players would have been absolutely gutted to lose to Sunderland and would have found it hard to raise much enthusiasm and appetite for today's match which just had little or nothing riding on it. MOPO needs to lift spirits in the camp now but then, he was the one who didn't give the FA Cup game the full attention it deserved. This week he paid the price for that error of judgement.

On the bright side, at least the skates lost 5-1 to S****horpe.

Watched the game on streaming and for me it was about WHU wanting it more. I really hate losing to them or is it just BSA.. Actually we played OK just one or two of our key players off their game i.e. RL and JRod. Nothing went our way today. One offside, an unfortunate rebound back off the post and a big lob in to the box looking for the knockdown. On another day we could have won 1-0.. That's football.. At this time of the season it will be about other teams we play wanting it more because of their position, top or bottom. We have to deal with that. I really find the negativity from some totally lacking any analysis. It adds no value. OK, I'm really fed up but looking for positives of which there were several.

good post

This was probably a hangover from last week. There's no doubt the players would have been absolutely gutted to lose to Sunderland and would have found it hard to raise much enthusiasm and appetite for today's match which just had little or nothing riding on it. MOPO needs to lift spirits in the camp now but then, he was the one who didn't give the FA Cup game the full attention it deserved. This week he paid the price for that error of judgement.

Yep, the season ended last Saturday.

On the bright side, at least the skates lost 5-1 to S****horpe.

why did it just asterisk that!?!?

Not sure there is any point posting on this forum any more. There are a couple of objective points, some posters rightly disappointed with recent results, but mainly, this board is the sole domain of the trolls.

We are not clinical enough in front of goal. We are making mistakes at the back. Lovren back in would hopefully restore order at the back, trouble is we are not clinical enough. With Rickie not playing well at the moment, ie, not getting in those areas to make his presence felt and Osvaldo bottling the Premiership, there was only one option left for me, Jay Rod. May not be the answer, but, I bet he is disappointed at not being given that striker role with Osvaldo gone and Rickie in poor form. The position we are in and the options available, this would be the ideal time to find out if he can do it. Full respect to the young scot coming on up front, but, Jay Rod deserves his chance. Maybe with Gaston back, Lallana can go to the left and Jay Rod down the middle with Gaston in behind. Even a 4 3 2 1 might do it. Either way, he seems the forgotten striker at this club and had had a few goals of late. Pace strength and form, worth a go in my book.

Anyway, back to the trolls...

I thought we played well, but got done by high balls into the box.

 

Are the bedwetters going to say we should have played Jos ?

 

,

I'm not a bed wetter, in fact i agree that we played pretty well and have said as much on here already, but I think we should have played jos. He had a great game against west ham last season and is the right player to combat their style. Yoshida just does not win enough in the air for me.

why did it just asterisk that!?!?

If Typhoo put the T in Britain, who put the **** in S****horpe?

There are some terrible posters on this forum.

25 shots, only 5 on target was our problem. Had enough chances to win two games.

We just never seem to get the luck against the likes of West Ham (their 2nd goal offside for example), but I'd still much prefer us to attempt to play the way we do than the dross they serve up under fat sam.

 

The question needs to be asked again of Pochettino, where is the plan B? .

Ramirez is our only plan B at present. Almost everyone is saying we need a striker and a CB, but for me another attacking midfielder and some wingers to back up Rodriguez and Lallana are needed to give us a little variety in attack.

Said we'd lose before the game, I was proven right.

 

Clattenburg + Hoofball team away from home = dissappointing result.

Yeah well done Blakey, don't think I've ever seen you predict a loss before to be honest.

If only we'd have rested players last week for this vital game on our march for 7th.

Ramirez is our only plan B at present. Almost everyone is saying we need a striker and a CB, but for me another attacking midfielder and some wingers to back up Rodriguez and Lallana are needed to give us a little variety in attack.

Agreed, I wouldn't say ''out and out'' wingers, but an attacking player who can operate across the front 3 and take players on. Punch wasn't a great player, but we never replaced him and he was an alternative option. Same with Osvaldo. The core 11 is good and strong, but when they have an off day - which can and does happen, we seem to be in a situation where we just have to suck it up as we can't do anything about it.

Not sure there is any point posting on this forum any more. There are a couple of objective points, some posters rightly disappointed with recent results, but mainly, this board is the sole domain of the trolls.

 

We are not clinical enough in front of goal. We are making mistakes at the back. Lovren back in would hopefully restore order at the back, trouble is we are not clinical enough. With Rickie not playing well at the moment, ie, not getting in those areas to make his presence felt and Osvaldo bottling the Premiership, there was only one option left for me, Jay Rod. May not be the answer, but, I bet he is disappointed at not being given that striker role with Osvaldo gone and Rickie in poor form. The position we are in and the options available, this would be the ideal time to find out if he can do it. Full respect to the young scot coming on up front, but, Jay Rod deserves his chance. Maybe with Gaston back, Lallana can go to the left and Jay Rod down the middle with Gaston in behind. Even a 4 3 2 1 might do it. Either way, he seems the forgotten striker at this club and had had a few goals of late. Pace strength and form, worth a go in my book.

 

Anyway, back to the trolls...

To be fair jay rod hasn't impressed when played down the middle on his own, although he hasn't ever had a long run there. The wide left position suits him I think, but we need a second option.

We don't need a plan B, we need to convert some of the chances we create with Plan A, it's often the same story these days.

We need a striker who is better than Lambert, that is our problem. We had one but we gave him away for the rest of the season.

Exactly we created some very decent chances -better than Chelsea mustered- but we were shockingly wasteful.

Having Cork pick up Cole for the hoof in the first half as he dropped off hurt us - but we adapted well in the second half and would have been the more likely winner if we had made it 2-2.

Just one of those days. Need a new striker in the summer for sure.

We'd be top 6 easy if our strikers could finish.

Bizarre game. 3 shots 3 goals for West Ham. We need to stop ****ing around in the final third. Gaston was the only player trying to make things happen

Just one of those days. Need a new striker in the summer for sure.

 

We'd be top 6 easy if our strikers could finish.

I really dont know how people can use this phrase with a straight face.

It was apparently "one of those days" last week when the likes of Lambert missed a sitter and we lost to Sunderland Reserves.

Now its "one of those days" again.

When does "x of those days" become a major indicator to a slump in form ?

I think we lack composure in and around the box; that comes with experience, both of age and the PL. When you see the ages of the lads, JR

Not the end of the world people. Has been a great season, and we'll see more wins before May. Keep things in perspective ffs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Poor result.

No surprise to read Yoshida being blamed for a goal - he's another liability, his only saving grace is that he's considered marginally better than Hoiveld.

No surprise we lost today though. Reminds me of the old cliché "well, we can now forget about the league, and concentrate on the c.... " ,

Curling ?

For me Davis is the poor link unfortunately

He has been one of our most consistent players all season but he doesn't create enough IMO,get Gaston back in to start attacks drop Lambert and put someone more lively and mobile up top,not getting someone in on loan at least looks more and more stupid every week.

We have a bit of pace out wide but seem to be stale through the middle

Agreed, I wouldn't say ''out and out'' wingers, but an attacking player who can operate across the front 3 and take players on. Punch wasn't a great player, but we never replaced him and he was an alternative option. Same with Osvaldo. The core 11 is good and strong, but when they have an off day - which can and does happen, we seem to be in a situation where we just have to suck it up as we can't do anything about it.

Why not wingers? A plan B needs something different to what we have. Either way we need players that can dribble and create to add to those we have.

Some of you lot do talk a load of ********.

We were the better side, but failed to take our chances.

The season will peter out into a midtable finish, which is pretty good all things considered. However, it would clearly be better if we were still in the cup.

Frustrating, but not the first time we have seen this.

Fundamentally our problem is speed of thought and movement in the final third. Too often we have none: lethargic passing, no-one making darting runs and lack of ability to see and execute the pass if there is movement.

This is an issue since our pressing game results in us squeezing high up the pitch, and teams have now sussed that when we do so we rarely hurt people. It's only been Hull, in the first half, when we've really moved the ball with conviction in the last third.

SRL is a legend, but he's too static to play to our style - needs to become the Plan B sub. Davis is neat and tidy, a good player but but lacks the class. JRod has the movement, but can't play up top on his own. Sam G looks decent - but is clearly still young and learning. Gaston is starting to look a player, but needs more in front of him. Such a shame that Dani turned into a cock - he could've been the player to make a difference.

For me we should give Gaston and young Sam a run of games; we're comfortably mid-table - let's let people develop.

Oh, and MoPo is a class manager. People saying otherwise need to think back to the days of Gray, Wotte, Redknobb etc. If he has a failing it's persisting with his preferred tactics when we don't have the players to truly implement it. But what would you rather? SRL up top being fed by hoofball?