Post-Match Reaction: SAINTS 1-1 FC Midtjylland

Targetts positional sense is absolutely terrible as well

Agreed...he looks lost at times...still only young but don't see a premier player here.

Romeu and Caulker will improve and it appears Romeu has a few goals in him. Clasie will replace JWP when fit, I think we have enough firepower, we just haven't found the right combination from JRod,Juanmi,Mane,Pelle. If I were to invest, spend big in the Clasie, JWP space. Shaqiri would have been great. Overall optimistic it will come together and we finish 10th.

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Nothing £40 million of shrewd signings on proven players wont fix in the next few weeks.

More realistically though will see what The Black Box spits out and hope we get a Morgan replacement for 6 million!

Agreed...he looks lost at times...still only young but don't see a premier player here.

I actually think he he had a decent game. Not perfect but we all know it is a bit early in his development. He provided decent width on the overlap and got in some crosses with good whip into good areas.

He's not Shaw, he will develop slower, but that doesn't mean he wont cut it.

How many times has an ex player returned to score an important goal against us? It doesn't matter who plays or who manages us, it always seems to happen.

Some positives to take from the game, but overall it's disappointing not to be going into the away leg with a healthy lead.

 

Poor defensive organisation lead to their goal, which is frustrating.

 

Mane was lively but too selfish at times.

 

JWP had one of his better games and his set-piece delivery was very good tonight - just well defended by FCM.

 

Romeu looked good and will only get better. If Wanyama can actually get his head in gear (which he hasn't done yet this season) then we could potentially have a very good DM pairing.

 

Goal for J-Rod. Very good to see even if it was from the spot.

 

Targett looked much better tonight than he did in either of the PL games so far.

Maybe it's in Tottenham.

Targetts positional sense is absolutely terrible as well

No it wasn't, I bet you thought Pelle's flicks were good as well

I thought we looked better than we did against Vitesse. Jordan should have done better with his chance by either getting a shot on target or passing to Pelle when through on goal.

Targett did ok, we have to get used to raw 19yr old lads playing as we sell our best players.

I wonder what the odds are of Koeman beng the first manager to go, not that he will be sacked but just as he will see the potential damage to his reputation as the squad is constantly weakened as the club draw the money.

We have not spent all of last seasons fees.It is KL business and she is free to do as she likes but as this goes on the fans will drift away. It is not her fault that the players leave but to mind the money in is not properly reinvested in the team.

The revolving door policy must make it nearly impossible to get a good United team spirit in the dressing room. Our English spine is lost and perhaps the fight for each other is lost.

I think we will win next week but I would swap progress in the Europa for a couple of wins in the league.I f we don't start to get some points the nerves will set in

Caulker was climbing. Both hands on the defender's shoulders. I'm just watching the recording now. It was Jose's sloppy diving header that sets up Tim Sparv for his goal.

Ok. Thanks

I thought we looked better than we did against Vitesse. Jordan should have done better with his chance by either getting a shot on target or passing to Pelle when through on goal.

Targett did ok, we have to get used to raw 19yr old lads playing as we sell our best players.

I wonder what the odds are of Koeman beng the first manager to go, not that he will be sacked but just as he will see the potential damage to his reputation as the squad is constantly weakened as the club draw the money.

We have not spent all of last seasons fees.It is KL business and she is free to do as she likes but as this goes on the fans will drift away. It is not her fault that the players leave but to mind the money in is not properly reinvested in the team.

The revolving door policy must make it nearly impossible to get a good United team spirit in the dressing room. Our English spine is lost and perhaps the fight for each other is lost.

I think we will win next week but I would swap progress in the Europa for a couple of wins in the league.I f we don't start to get some points the nerves will set in

No English spine? Not many sides use as many English players as we did last night? Would also be one more if Forster wasn't injured.

Thought I'd wait until the morning to gather a bit more rational thoughts before posting. Looked a lot worse first half than second. Their keeper made a few blinding saves, the one from Caulker's header was world class.

Couple of thoughts, the shape just didn't work, midfield looked fairly solid: Wanyama and Romeu look like they could form a decent partnership and JWP played ok. Didn't give Targett enough help for my liking.

Talking of Targett, it's now very apparent why Luke Shaw was picked above him, he isn't good enough for this level at the moment. Could do with a loan move. Never got anywhere near Sisto (who was brilliant and would certainly help us!) for the whole game. He seems to have developed Danny Fox and Gregory Vignal's fear of going within 10 yards of the winger. The way Sisto went past him a few times was embarrassing.

Jrod looks a tad over-weight to me. Certainly disagree with his comments pre-season about being quicker, he's lost a lot of speed. Appreciate he's still on the comeback. I'd have only given him a one-year extension rather than a 5 year deal personally.

Pelle looked ok, still poor in the air for someone his size, he just doesn't have the mentality to win 15-20 headers a game, unlike Lambert.

I'd like to see more of Juanmi, he's looked decent in the games I've seen him.

Caulker looked solid defensively, think if we get VVD on board and Bertrand back we'll keep a fair number of clean sheets.

Still fancy us to do it in Denmark. Hopefully we can smuggle Sisto back with us.

Would you rather have a team that finished just above relegation, and therefore didn't have players of the calibre of Mane, Scheinderlin, Clyne, J-Rod, etc ? We are playing at the top table, and there are some bloody big, very rich, and extremely greedy clubs at our end of the league, whom we cannot compete with in the wages stakes.

It is a shame we cannot hang on to players so I'd prefer to get more money out of the buying club as the damage to repair the team is greater for us. We get top prices, but I think we need top top prices, after all they can afford it.

I thought we looked better than we did against Vitesse. Jordan should have done better with his chance by either getting a shot on target or passing to Pelle when through on goal.

Targett did ok, we have to get used to raw 19yr old lads playing as we sell our best players.

I wonder what the odds are of Koeman beng the first manager to go, not that he will be sacked but just as he will see the potential damage to his reputation as the squad is constantly weakened as the club draw the money.

We have not spent all of last seasons fees.It is KL business and she is free to do as she likes but as this goes on the fans will drift away. It is not her fault that the players leave but to mind the money in is not properly reinvested in the team.

The revolving door policy must make it nearly impossible to get a good United team spirit in the dressing room. Our English spine is lost and perhaps the fight for each other is lost.

I think we will win next week but I would swap progress in the Europa for a couple of wins in the league.I f we don't start to get some points the nerves will set in

28/1 on skybet.

Thought I'd wait until the morning to gather a bit more rational thoughts before posting. Looked a lot worse first half than second. Their keeper made a few blinding saves, the one from Caulker's header was world class.

 

Couple of thoughts, the shape just didn't work, midfield looked fairly solid: Wanyama and Romeu look like they could form a decent partnership and JWP played ok. Didn't give Targett enough help for my liking.

 

Talking of Targett, it's now very apparent why Luke Shaw was picked above him, he isn't good enough for this level at the moment. Could do with a loan move. Never got anywhere near Sisto (who was brilliant and would certainly help us!) for the whole game. He seems to have developed Danny Fox and Gregory Vignal's fear of going within 10 yards of the winger. The way Sisto went past him a few times was embarrassing.

 

Jrod looks a tad over-weight to me. Certainly disagree with his comments pre-season about being quicker, he's lost a lot of speed. Appreciate he's still on the comeback. I'd have only given him a one-year extension rather than a 5 year deal personally.

 

Pelle looked ok, still poor in the air for someone his size, he just doesn't have the mentality to win 15-20 headers a game, unlike Lambert.

 

I'd like to see more of Juanmi, he's looked decent in the games I've seen him.

 

Caulker looked solid defensively, think if we get VVD on board and Bertrand back we'll keep a fair number of clean sheets.

 

Still fancy us to do it in Denmark. Hopefully we can smuggle Sisto back with us.

The thing with Targett, how good are we expecting our back-up left back to be?

I have been a member of this forum since 2007 and read it virtually every day, but never really feel the need to post my feelings or opinions. I have been following Saints since 1970 and I am a season ticket holder so know a bit about the team.

After reading some of the posts on here today I feel compelled to give my opinion due to some of the ridiculous statements by people who clearly know nothing about football. So, these are my thoughts, you can ignore them if you like;

We are a team going through a transition. We have a handful of new faces who will take time to bed in.

FC Midtjylland were very organised and pressed us when we were in possession at the back, this forced us to go longer in the 2nd half. They are certainly no mugs and made every aspect of the game difficult for us, however with a little more fortune we could have scored a couple more goals.

The freakish Everton result has skewed a lot of peoples judgement and was really down to a bad first 45 minutes where RK did not select the right team i.e. Davis instead of Romeu in midfield.

Jay Rodriguez is still very rusty but RK is doing exactly the right thing in giving him game time. He had a very good chance early on that in 3 or 4 games time he will bury. If that goes in we have a different game on our hands.

We had poor runs last season where we didn't win for 5 games but these came when we were well into the season and already had points on the board. A lot of people are start to wet their beds because we only have 1 league point. I am confident that as this team get more game time together we will start winning matches.

It's very easy to go onto a forum and post negative, knee jerk reactions. People should take a deep breath and think about the bigger picture.

Pele won pretty much everything and I also thought Romeu looked good, nice to see somebody who can shoot.

Not an ideal game for him when all we did was hoof it.

Romeu will be a good addition in that position give the lad a chance

Nothing £40 million of shrewd signings on proven players wont fix in the next few weeks.

 

More realistically though will see what The Black Box spits out and hope we get a Morgan replacement for 6 million!

Hate to break this to you but we have already signed Morgan's replacement. He also looks half decent.

I have been a member of this forum since 2007 and read it virtually every day, but never really feel the need to post my feelings or opinions. I have been following Saints since 1970 and I am a season ticket holder so know a bit about the team.

 

After reading some of the posts on here today I feel compelled to give my opinion due to some of the ridiculous statements by people who clearly know nothing about football. So, these are my thoughts, you can ignore them if you like;

 

We are a team going through a transition. We have a handful of new faces who will take time to bed in.

 

FC Midtjylland were very organised and pressed us when we were in possession at the back, this forced us to go longer in the 2nd half. They are certainly no mugs and made every aspect of the game difficult for us, however with a little more fortune we could have scored a couple more goals.

 

The freakish Everton result has skewed a lot of peoples judgement and was really down to a bad first 45 minutes where RK did not select the right team i.e. Davis instead of Romeu in midfield.

 

Jay Rodriguez is still very rusty but RK is doing exactly the right thing in giving him game time. He had a very good chance early on that in 3 or 4 games time he will bury. If that goes in we have a different game on our hands.

 

We had poor runs last season where we didn't win for 5 games but these came when we were well into the season and already had points on the board. A lot of people are start to wet their beds because we only have 1 league point. I am confident that as this team get more game time together we will start winning matches.

 

It's very easy to go onto a forum and post negative, knee jerk reactions. People should take a deep breath and think about the bigger picture.

You should post more often sir. As long as you don't mind that your pragmatism sticks out like a sore thumb!

Pelle wasn't poor in the air, he won loads.

 

The thing with Targett, how good are we expecting our back-up left back to be?

Good enough to not look like a school kid every week.

That last 20 minutes was excruciating to watch - copious amounts of time wasting and gamesmanship from them, and either poor passing/control or unimaginative long balls when we had a chance to do something.

 

I thought we looked threatening until then, perhaps our lack of such threat as the game went on was mainly due to their tactics. But the number of times I said "jeeesus" or "bl00dy hell" in that game shows how fragile and error prone we look defensively compared to last season. I guess it's inevitable in a team missing Schneiderlin, Clyne, Alderweireld and Bertrand, but disappointing nonetheless. Thought Romeu and Wanyama protecting the back line helped compared to previous games, but Vic's all round performance was poor, and we missed Davis' energy - as much as Ward-Prowse had a decent game, I don't recall him being everywhere in the same way that Davis was against Newcastle, for example.

 

With Targett and Yoshida as full backs we were sorely missing width, there were times it was crying out for a ball into space wide, but there was no-one there.

Sums it all up very well in my opinion, particularly your mention of how we missed Davis' energy. There was a yawning chasm between the midfield and attack which he has been adept at linking. Also, he is very good at closing down players and tackling. But I suppose that with the sort of energy he always gives, he needs to be rested more than most.

As for the time-wasting by Midtjylland, I really can't remember having seen so blatant an example and the referee must take the blame for not issuing a yellow card much earlier in the match. Theirs is a team of cheats, from the goallie taking ages on his kicks, the substitutes who would have walked off the pitch slower than a geriatric with a Zimmer frame and the defenders who fell to the ground mortally wounded from somebody breathing down their necks, or feigning cramp. That tactic effectively broke up any momentum we had developed, but after the second incident, the referee should have immediately have ordered the player off the pitch for treatment and continued play. And instead of giving them back the ball after their player had returned to his feet, we should have foregone any courtesy and kept the possession. At what point does cheating by one team not deserve to be retaliated to in kind?

Overall though, despite the frustration of not being able to pull ahead in this game because of some sloppy defending, the lack of cohesion and the poor refereeing decisions that allowed the Danes to get away with such blatant gamesmnaship on the one hand, and to disallow us a perfectly good goal on the other, we ought to have enough to see us through the return fixture.

Pelle wasn't poor in the air, he won loads.

 

The thing with Targett, how good are we expecting our back-up left back to be?

If Targett isn't ready we could have had Yoshida at LB and Soares at RB. Do we know why or 1st choice RB didn't play?

If Targett isn't ready we could have had Yoshida at LB and Soares at RB. Do we know why or 1st choice RB didn't play?

I think due to his lack of height; it was thought they might target him with long balls and crosses in his area.

So stop reading Alpine's posts. He is the only one. Its quite amusing finding some people who expect to see these sort of posts and even though they don't exist they pretend that they do. No-one other than Alps is writing off the season, but really if you can't see that we have a lot of problems that need to be sorted then that's as bad as those (one) who are supposedly writing off the season.

Fully aware there are weaknesses within our team right now. And its not just Alpine, this whole thread is littered with knee jerk negativity, it's there in black and white for all to see.

I get just as p*ssed off as anyone on a Saturday when we lose, but I think a touch of realism is needed. This place is started to look like a Spurs board in the fact we have a divine right to finish in Europe from now on. If after 6-8 games things havnt improved then I'll hit the panic button.

If their keeper hadn't made 2 world class saves and Yoshida hadn't hit the post at the end we'd be talking up a great performance by the lads. Instead its the ****ing apocalypse on here and we are going out of Europe.

I'm not saying it was a vintage performance, it wasn't, but we were by far the better side, created a shed load of missed chances and were the only team looking to play any football. Frustrating evening - but I saw some positives in the performance.

Clasie and Bertrand to come plus a new centre half, but some have already written off the season. Bizarre

What is more 'bizarre' is you have hardly seen Classie yet let alone in a league game and yet you have him down as a life saver! Dreaming will get us nowhere!

Can we improve? Most certainly.

Can they get any better? Unlikely.

I have been a member of this forum since 2007 and read it virtually every day, but never really feel the need to post my feelings or opinions. I have been following Saints since 1970 and I am a season ticket holder so know a bit about the team.

 

After reading some of the posts on here today I feel compelled to give my opinion due to some of the ridiculous statements by people who clearly know nothing about football. So, these are my thoughts, you can ignore them if you like;

 

We are a team going through a transition. We have a handful of new faces who will take time to bed in.

 

FC Midtjylland were very organised and pressed us when we were in possession at the back, this forced us to go longer in the 2nd half. They are certainly no mugs and made every aspect of the game difficult for us, however with a little more fortune we could have scored a couple more goals.

 

The freakish Everton result has skewed a lot of peoples judgement and was really down to a bad first 45 minutes where RK did not select the right team i.e. Davis instead of Romeu in midfield.

 

Jay Rodriguez is still very rusty but RK is doing exactly the right thing in giving him game time. He had a very good chance early on that in 3 or 4 games time he will bury. If that goes in we have a different game on our hands.

 

We had poor runs last season where we didn't win for 5 games but these came when we were well into the season and already had points on the board. A lot of people are start to wet their beds because we only have 1 league point. I am confident that as this team get more game time together we will start winning matches.

 

It's very easy to go onto a forum and post negative, knee jerk reactions. People should take a deep breath and think about the bigger picture.

As said above. Any chance you could post more often?

Pelle, JWP pretty good

 

Romeu very decent.

Rodriguez clearly getting better

 

Stek is very steady.

 

But the 1st half was disgusting.

 

You look at the side. We have not improved a single player from last season.

 

but lets be honest, we have gone massively backwards from last season. no where near as good.

of course we were going to lose a couple of players but thinking our recruitment has been on the very cheap side and it shows

Schneiderlin, Alderweireld. End of discussion.

Schneiderlin, Alderweireld. End of discussion.

If you set aside the second half of last season, clyne was excellent for us. At the very least, with him in the side, few teams were able to counter on us as well.

If their keeper hadn't made 2 world class saves and Yoshida hadn't hit the post at the end we'd be talking up a great performance by the lads. Instead its the ****ing apocalypse on here and we are going out of Europe.

 

I'm not saying it was a vintage performance, it wasn't, but we were by far the better side, created a shed load of missed chances and were the only team looking to play any football. Frustrating evening - but I saw some positives in the performance.

Certainly a game of fine margins. Not to mention that on another day the ref may have not seen any infringement from Caulker for his 'goal'. Had that stood and we'd got the rub on a couple of other chances, people would be saying, "sign of a good team - playing badly and still winning".

Agree with those that have said the ref should have been stronger on the timewasting. Also noted that he bizarrely gave the ball to Midtjylland for the throw-in after one of their players put it out for another 'injury' (not to mention that the lad was already up and about by the time the ball crossed the line to go out ).

I personally think the Vitesse results were deceptive. We're not a 'team' yet and it could take at least the season to form us back into one. We're sorely missing Schneiderlin, Alderweireld and Bertrand. That's a LOT of the engine to have to rebuild. At the start of last season we only gelled so quickly because we managed a number of like-for-like purchases in the Summer. Thus far we've not been able to properly assess Clasie, haven't signed a TA-level replacement (yet) and have Ryan on the sidelines.

I've confidence we'll come good but am also acutely aware that more time is needed on this occasion.

A 1-1 draw isn't much worse than a 1-0 to us really. If they'd stuck another in, it really would be a trickier proposition. Can't see us firing a blank in Denmark; in which case we'll be on an even footing. Will they play so defensively at home? Well, I guess RK and team have a week now to figure out how to break them down. As long as it's not resorting to long balls I reckon we'll scrape through.

Why would they?.....It's been made clear to them they're not here to win things but merely showcase their abilities for the benefit of potential clients in the transfer market and thus ensure Big Kat's big purse gets ever bigger....

 

Straight out the same Les Reed book of 'psychology and achievement' that's made just about every decent player we had run for the hills.

 

To quote the great one....."It could have been so different"

Bore off ***t

Good enough to not look like a school kid every week.

Which he is. Sorted then.

RK said before the game that we had to play a different game and we did. Although, I felt despondent afterwards, we did have 60% of the possession and 23 shots at goal coupled with more corners than the Danish Champions.

We need to be better in putting opportunities away. We looked disjointed and RK's comment at the pre game press conference about 5 defenders changing from last season and we need time to settle in and get used to everybody's game, is very relevant.

Can we improve? Most certainly.

 

Can they get any better? Unlikely.

Agreed, but the clock is ticking.

RK said before the game that we had to play a different game and we did. Although, I felt despondent afterwards, we did have 60% of the possession and 23 shots at goal coupled with more corners than the Danish Champions.

We need to be better in putting opportunities away. We looked disjointed and RK's comment at the pre game press conference about 5 defenders changing from last season and we need time to settle in and get used to everybody's game, is very relevant.

Very relevant, and was largely very avoidable.

1 year to cover Morgans departure

God-knows-what p*ssing about over Toby.

Bertrands loss to injury was the only really avoidable event.

If you set aside the second half of last season, clyne was excellent for us. At the very least, with him in the side, few teams were able to counter on us as well.

He's a lot more easily replaced though. Cedric will be fine once he gets up to speed, his main problem at the moment has been us not picking Romeu and Wanyama when he's played.

I thought there were a lot of positives last night in amongst Caulker being a complete donkey on the ball. Romeu can shoot a bit as well as being a pretty solid shield, Wanyama's worst performance with the ball for ages but still solid defensively even then, Yoshida's best performance at right back for us by miles, and with the exception of the goal which was a hell of a hit right into the corner and the kind of shot you just deal with (once you agree you're not meant to clear the ball into that area to begin with), we didn't really look like conceding despite their bombardment and Stokesque crowding set-pieces. They showed enough mistakes that we didn't that we should still be the better of the two sides in the away leg, though whether that translates to winning the tie, and how we're going to navigate the tricky task of scoring with the weaknesses we've shown defensively I'm not yet sure.

I *think* I want us to stick with the back 6 and assume we'll get one, I'm not sure Midtjylland will be particularly attacking when they know the a goal for us is worth a lot and a goal for them isn't as valuable ( unless we've already scored).

We should have won it, we didn't, we played well within ourselves barely pressurising the ball at all and we've left ourselves a difficult task.

Caulker seems to have been playing for too long in poor teams. Too many panicky clearances. He should improve with more experience in our way of playing.

Amazing how many people around me were grumbling about the need to buy when they'd spent the whole game moaning at players who we know are usually very good. They didn't turn bad overnight.

What I'm most puzzled by is Martina and Cedric staying on the bench when we could have used attacking full backs. Perhaps Koeman wanted Yoshida on to defend set pieces, but Martina's a reasonable size too. Yoshida looked absolutely goosed by 75 minutes.

The above point about cover on the wings is well made, though. Having Mane floating about the pitch and JWP drifting into the centre for tackles did leave Targett and Yoshida without options sometimes.

I didn't think we played too badly last night. We had two good chances through J-rod and Mane early on and if either of those goes in it's a completely different game. The middle part of the first half was turgid I have to say. Why was Targett left completely isolated on the left side? Whenever the ball came over to him people around me were ripping into him for not passing the ball or going down the wing himself. In reality how many times did he find himself with the ball and nobody ahead of him down the wing? He could've tried to take their player on but if he'd lost the ball we'd have been completely exposed down our left side. It wasn't until Mane came across to the left that Targett was able to get forward and (IMO) things started to improve. The second half was better until we started punting long balls. IMO we got the most joy from getting our quick players away down the wings. We needed to keep playing our football and not panic and start playing long balls which in reality is what we did. One last thing, how bad is our long range shooting? Vic, Maya, J-rod all had horrendous efforts from outside the box. The effort from Vic when the ball came to him on the edge of the box was particularly horrific. When the ball was coming to him he should've put his boot through it, instead he tried some sort of side foot effort which troubled only the crowd behind the goal.

We're still well in the tie but it's going to be tough next week!

Caulker seems to have been playing for too long in poor teams. Too many panicky clearances. He should improve with more experience in our way of playing.

At the moment the CB's are not getting the defensive cover from midfield that they've enjoyed in the past. See Toby's comments. So Caulker may well have to accept that 'our way of playing' this year will be different to previous. He's also carrying some extra timber but that will no doubt be shifted now he's settled with us. I guess the uncertainty of where /what he'd be doing in pre-season hasn't helped in that respect.

If we get VvD then I can't see him featuring much anyway but let's see.

Romeu and Caulker will improve and it appears Romeu has a few goals in him. Clasie will replace JWP when fit, I think we have enough firepower, we just haven't found the right combination from JRod,Juanmi,Mane,Pelle. If I were to invest, spend big in the Clasie, JWP space. Shaqiri would have been great. Overall optimistic it will come together and we finish 10th.

 

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Clasie plays deep and will not replace JWP. He will replace either Victor or Romeu and be more of a threat from that position

Caulker seems to have been playing for too long in poor teams. Too many panicky clearances. He should improve with more experience in our way of playing.

I hope so, he was showing all the signs of a weather-beaten hoof merchant last night and it was that which led to them pressing us high up the pitch more. Though two decent headers in their box.

Clasie plays deep and will not replace JWP. He will replace either Victor or Romeu and be more of a threat from that position

I think there's potentially a lot of mileage in playing him in front of them, though there is a risk our midfield passing will then be too defensive. Not sure on the brief glimpses I've seen so far that Clasie has the physical presence to play DM in the Prem regularly but too soon to judge,. but I have seen him pinging rapid passes through the lines to feet which is a useful skill for a more creative role, and probably explains why a few people see his potential further forward.

I'd be reluctant to leave either Romeu or Wanyama out at the moment.

I was sure we bought a right back to replace Clyne, but I obviously dreamt it because Yoshida has got that gig.

No worries about Wanyama going to Arsenal, they don't buy players who can't shoot or pass.

Jay Rod needs 3 months in the U21s. It was painful watching him tonight.

 

Thought we were a rabble tonight, no leadership on the pitch, disjointed and quite frankly I think Koeman has screwed up for the second time in a week.,

for me the decision to play Yoshida was based on the set piece strength of the opponents and our ability to defend them, makes sense to me but did mean we completely lost the attacking edge down the right hand side.

Lots of moaning from fans around me last night, but i thought we played well in parts. Last season a massive part of our game was attacking full backs creating space going forward and having defensive midfielders to cover for them. Losing Clyne and the unfortunate injury to Bertrand is costing us that at the moment, we really need him back.

We have no one with anywhere near the same quality as clyne ay the moment, agreed? Cedric seems ok atacking but poor defensively, Bertrand may not return at the same level as before the injury.

I think the club need to realise we can no longer replace quality players on the cheap and hope for the best!

Ok, I'll bite. Really cannot agree with this, my son and I have thoroughly enjoyed both games under lights and will definitely be going to the group games if we get that far. If anything last nights game was more exciting than the Vitesse one, even if the result wasn't ideal. I was certainly hoarser at the end of it which is usually a good indication of the type of game we watched!

Besides £15 entry, a good crowd and a free program, whats not to like!!

17th, or close to it, is looking more likely by the game.

 

The sooner we are out of this meaningless European venture the better as we need to concentrate on getting 40 points this season.

We have no one with anywhere near the same quality as clyne ay the moment, agreed? Cedric seems ok atacking but poor defensively, Bertrand may not return at the same level as before the injury.

 

I think the club need to realise we can no longer replace quality players on the cheap and hope for the best!

I think Cedric will be every bit as good as Clyne, who himself has had plenty of dodgy defensive moments (including one for England U21s which delayed his international call up for the senior squad by probably a year), and standing on the ball in the 6 yard box last season. Cedric's defensive "deficiencies" so far all seem to have stemmed from a complete lack of support in front of him every time he's played - he's never played in the same team as Wanyama and Romeu which is our current preferred DM pairing. It's not easy to look like a decent defender when you're having to defend all the time, especially when you're up the pitch. You'll note I'm not making the same exceptions for Targett, who looks like a back up left back even with Romeu and Wanyama in the team.

I thought the game was quite agreeable to watch actually, probably better for the neutral than the Saints fan though.

Bit rustic from time to time but there was very little down time at all..

Clasie plays deep and will not replace JWP. He will replace either Victor or Romeu and be more of a threat from that position

I'd be quite happy with this, and I think it would be a lot more balanced and allow us more control through the middle.

Romeu - Wanyama

Clasie

Mane Jay

Pelle

I thought the game was quite agreeable to watch actually, probably better for the neutral than the Saints fan though.

Bit rustic from time to time but there was very little down time at all..

Only when their players rolled around because someone had stamped on their toe nail.