Saints V Swansea Post match jubilation

Great result against a very good team. Kudos to both sides.

Good win but Saints looked very sloppy for the last 20 minutes. Fonte is not looking like the player he did last season. Juanmi looks a bit lightweight. Good performances from some of the others.

Good result, good play in parts, some sloppy passing and first touches in midfield.

they had more of the ball and looked pretty decent with it.

but we defended very well. VvD was class. Got their main striker subbed at HT.

they had more of the ball but we looked more dangerous.

Pelle was good, nice touches, unlucky not to get a goal

Lovely finish from Mane and im sure Tadics will be credited as an OG

JWP and Vic were good

Bertrand back is immense. faded in the 2nd half as expected but very good 1st half

thought Cedric was a little wobbly 1st half but fine 2nd..

VvD was my MoM....excellent performance

we beat a good side today

oh, the ref was an utter chump. For both teams

Great result, starting to progress well. Just gotta keep giving the new faces and players coming back from injury game time

Coasted to a 3-1 victory against a decent side. VvD my MotM. Bertrand showed why he was in the PFA team of the year last season. Clasie to come back into the squad next week. Happy days. #wemarchon

What a wasted summer.

What a wasted summer.

Weird.

More important, scrappy game but deserved winners.

What a wasted summer.

Some people are never happy.

Great to get a good win, plus some impressive performances. Bertrand back is huge, was easy to see how much we've missed him. VVD looks a quality player, too.

Good win but Saints looked very sloppy for the last 20 minutes. Fonte is not looking like the player he did last season. Juanmi looks a bit lightweight. Good performances from some of the others.

Saints looked poor after the substitutions. Mentality changed. It's an entirely different team without Mane / a feeling of aggression.

I watch Fonte the closest of any of the Saints and while I agree that he has looked very questionable this season (I think signing with Mendes and the national team callup has gotten in his head -- Portuguese are a mentally fragile bunch), that tackle was not out of character for him. Can recall several fairly reckless challenges last season where I thought "surely that's a pen" and he got away with it. He's never been afraid to slide in the area. I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't become routine.

Great to see Bertrand back in the starting 11. I wasn't expecting to see him for another week or two. I agree with what one or two are saying about Fonte not looking like he did last season but a lot has changed. He had Clyne and Alderwiereld offering cover last term. Let's be honest, Soares is certainly no, Clyne!

Swansea never looked dead. I hope we can follow that example in the games to come. We will be needing that spirit.

A small niggle - shame about losing the clean sheet. Was surprised at RK's decisions on the substitutions. Taking off Wanyama for Romeu would have seemed to be the better tactic but he declined it. The midfield suffered by the loss of Davis, whilst Wanyama was left still having to take extra care not to get a second yellow. The other substitutions were so late in the game they probably didn't matter but control did appear to be conceded to Swansea in the last 15 minutes.

Good performance.

Soares had a good game.

Great to have Bertrand back

Vvd my MOM

Not the best player on the pitch but encouraging how Cedric dealt with the dangerous Montero.

Having two good full backs makes a big difference!

It was always going to take time for this side to find it's feet, remember from the 2nd half of last season we lost Toby. Morgan, Clyne, Djuric, Elia out, ok the latter two weren't massive players but it's still changes in the squad and then 7 have come in many who have not played in English football before.

Plus we had two key players in Bertrand and Forster out, with thankfully Bertrand now back in, so that's pretty much 5 of our first team out and several squad players in.

That's a lot of changes for what I think is a fairly close knit squad, those new players needed time to bed in, but we still have Clasie to come in yet, Mane is finding form, Pelle is looking good, Bertrand is back, we had the Wanyama wobble as well.

Signs were there last week against a much improved (and very expensively assembled) Utd, we made them look average at times and really we lost the game through our errors (and a little linesman help) rather than them really beating us.

It carried on mid week with a complete thrashing of MK Dons and now today, lots of signs there of a really good team forming again.

If we can keep Mane fit, Pelle on form, Jay Rod keeps getting fitter, Tadic in there as well, that's an attack to threaten anyone in the league and with more time together the defence will get better and we will have Clasie to add to that midfield as well.

We'll have a few more wobbles no doubt but I think this team is potentially good enough for another challenge at the top 6/7.

I agree with what one or two are saying about Fonte not looking like he did last season but a lot has changed. He had Clyne and Alderwiereld offering cover last term. Let's be honest, Soares is certainly no, Clyne!

Certainly true but I've seen him make the same kind of dumb mistakes (poor clearances, mostly) for the national team, too, and he has plenty of excellent cover there. I'm fairly sure it's mental and hopefully it'll get ironed out.

Fonte is working with a different defence from last season. He will need time to adjust with them just as the new defenders will need time to gel with the team.

VVD looks like a great signing, I'm sure Fonte will form a partnership with him over time

Koeman not happy at all by the sounds of it.

:smug:Today my feelings that we would be fine this year despite our indifferent start were confirmed. Happy days, time for a beer:smug

Koeman not happy at all by the sounds of it.

About what?

Koeman not happy at all by the sounds of it.

According to Whispering Dave, he sounds like he is trying to encourage competition for places within the squad. I tend to agree with him. There are some positions up for grabs or demanding even more commitment from those already in the team.

A very good win but although we were 3 up the last 30 mins I was a bit nervous as we sat back and invited them on.

I doubt many of you predicted that we'd be cruising at 3-0 up with less than 10 minutes to go. I know I didn't and it's a shame about they made it a bit nervy at the end, but there are lots of positives to take from the game with signs of continued improvement all round.

VVD has made a huge difference and if he stays fit this season will be a key man to our success. I reckon he will definitely outscore all of our central midfielders.

Tadic hit a few lame crosses, but overall he and Bertrand worked really well down the left and can be a key partnership. Great to have the best left back in the premiership back in our team :-)

Cedric did well against Montero and is certainly a better option at RB than Yoshida! What was Koeman thinking?

Stekelenburg deserved another clean sheet, but was denied by some slack defending and a rash challenge - you can't expect keepers to save pens, really.

I was really excited by the mobile attacking football in mid-week against MK Dons, but they were truly awful, so we couldn't expect the same today. Only Mane survived from the front 4 on Wednesday, but it shows what depth we have in the squad that Shlong and JRod couldn't get a game after scoring twice!

All in all, we never really play the perfect game, but winning 3-1 with a lot of good performances is as good as you can hope for most of the time.

Would just like to put in a word for JWP. He gets a lot of stick here, but I thought he played a key part today. Some great touches and passes, and made the first goal with an inch-perfect near-post corner. But most important is how often he plays a role in winning the ball back for us. He's always in there challenging, and even when he doesn't win the ball personally, he often forces loose passes from the other side. The NBC commentators were oohing over him this side of the pond. VvD is exciting signing.

Single best thing about today's game? the football itself was quality. Some of our recent games have been bland and predictable. Win or lose, I want Saints game to be fun to watch. We got that today.

Would just like to put in a word for JWP. He gets a lot of stick here, but I thought he played a key part today. Some great touches and passes, and made the first goal with an inch-perfect near-post corner. But most important is how often he plays a role in winning the ball back for us. He's always in there challenging, and even when he doesn't win the ball personally, he often forces loose passes from the other side. The NBC commentators were oohing over him this side of the pond. VvD is exciting signing.

 

Single best thing about today's game? the football itself was quality. Some of our recent games have been bland and predictable. Win or lose, I want Saints game to be fun to watch. We got that today.

you want to tell the manager with that.he was pretty critical about our football.....

Rons reaction to the win

Was not an excellent, we never had total domination

it was a good win but not excellent

the performance was not at the level we can do

too much defending from us and not enough controlling

mistakes with the ball from us

we were clinical which was the difference today

About what?

The performance apparently.

A very good win but although we were 3 up the last 30 mins I was a bit nervous as we sat back and invited them on.

Exactly this.

Cedric needs to back himself more. Comes across as far too hesitant in the final third. That aside, it was delightfully easy

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There was a much better balance to the starting lineup today. Played pretty well at times and deserved the comfortable win although I didn't think Swansea were great today. We'll need to play better next week to get anything at Stamford bridge. (Although watching their defending against Newcastle perhaps not!)

Just had a look at a couple of Swan's forums. Oh my!! I'm surprised at their delusions of grandeur.

I had thought that their team is in a similar vein to ours in a "Best of most of the rest" kinda way. It seems that to most of them, that we are just some other team that they should have beaten easily away from home.

I have suitably made an adjustment to my hopes for their degree of success this season.

Cedric needs to back himself more. Comes across as far too hesitant in the final third. That aside, it was delightfully easy

 

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it obviously wasnt easy.

Ron was not too chipper despite the score and VvD was our MoM

it obviously wasnt easy.

Ron was not too chipper despite the score and VvD was our MoM

It wasn't easy?? What on earth were you watching?? Just because we didn't play particularly well doesn't mean that it was difficult. There's a v big difference.

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I think that RK now has quite a big squad so he can be critical of the players.............which is good

That's the best I've seen this year. It never looked in doubt that we would win. Mane constantly caused problems as did Pelle. Romeu looked strong when he came on. JWP had a good game - especially the corner that led to the 1st goal, as did Tadic. In fact, it's difficult to criticise any of our players. The fact that Gomes and Shelvey were both replaced is a testament to how well we contained them compared to last season. Good to see Bertrand back.

I think that RK now has quite a big squad so he can be critical of the players.............which is good

This was my take on his post match comments. I get the feeling that his comments were just an extension of what he has been saying to the players during training. Of course he will be delighted with the win, but he is tempering his public comments to be in line with what he is telling his players on the training ground.

He is just making it clear to the squad that if they play well enough in both training and matches, there will be a place for them in the team.

MOM jack cork at fault for the first goal, substituted at half time

Agreed. Thought we look good going forward, poor when we sit back and invite pressure.

Sat on the train. Actually thought we were pretty average and pretty sloppy at times but we made the chances count. Davis was excellent today closing down and working hard JWP could take some lessons. His idea of closing down seems to be getting about 15 feet from an opposition player and waving Jazz hands at them.

Can VVD take all our attacking free kicks his last two have been the best I've seen in some time.

Still think we are using the long punt to much when pelle is playing.

Having said all that good win.

Been awfully quiet on here today- funny isn't it. A win and this place is quiet. A defeat and suddenly a countless number of threads spouting negativity pop up.

Just don't understand this forum.

Oh well on to the next game- Chelseaaaa!

Koemans criticisms might be for the second half where we never properly pressed for another goal, but I can also buy that he's trying to keep the players on their toes. At the end of the day the players did what needed to be done.

Davis and JWP were both much better than in the past.

Mane pretty quiet by his standards.

Surely it has to be VVD?

Very good performance and a deserved win. I thought everyone did pretty good but my Motm was Tadic. Was a total menace going forwards and created so many chances. Think he is a bit of an un-sung hero on here but right now I would say he is our best player.

Sat on the train. Actually thought we were pretty average and pretty sloppy at times but we made the chances count. Davis was excellent today closing down and working hard JWP could take some lessons. His idea of closing down seems to be getting about 15 feet from an opposition player and waving Jazz hands at them.

 

 

 

Can VVD take all our attacking free kicks his last two have been the best I've seen in some time.

 

 

 

Still think we are using the long punt to much when pelle is playing.

 

 

 

Having said all that good win.

Pretty much this.

What a wasted summer.

Not really...thought Martina, Juami and Caulker all looked quality today.

Been awfully quiet on here today- funny isn't it. A win and this place is quiet. A defeat and suddenly a countless number of threads spouting negativity pop up.

Just don't understand this forum.

Oh well on to the next game- Chelseaaaa!

Celebrating takes time away from the keyboard. Not that hard to understand

it was a good win but not excellent

the performance was not at the level we can do

too much defending from us and not enough controlling

mistakes with the ball from us

we were clinical which was the difference today

I tend to agree with Ron.

MOM jack cork at fault for the first goal, substituted at half time

I wonder if his dad will put out a series of critical Tweets about Jack being substituted at half time?.....

Only Mane survived from the front 4 on Wednesday, but it shows what depth we have in the squad that Shlong and JRod couldn't get a game after scoring twice!

I could have sworn that was JRod who came on for Tadic at 74 minutes.