Saints 1 Villa 1 Match reaction

Today was crucial. At kick off chance of 6th now bottom half with tough tough games to come. I think we have enough good players to avoid relegation battle but think 14th is likely. Which wouldn't be good after finishing 7th. Boards lack of investment and selling anything that moves caught up Ruth us imo.

You know you're talking trash when you specify a position as random as 14th.

Refreshing to hear the MOTD pundits less gloomy about our performance, though I don't agree that we'll be 'reasonably happy' with the point!

You know you're talking trash when you specify a position as random as 14th.

 

Refreshing to hear the MOTD pundits less gloomy about our performance, though I don't agree that we'll be 'reasonably happy' with the point!

Okay mate everything is great.

we were absolute sh1t today....slow moving the ball and worryingly lacking in pace and sharpness. Yet again it seems we lack the team spirit that has been there for the past few years, they almost play as if they don't know each other.

 

Wanyama was, yet again, dogsh1t....the number of times they had a free man in the middle was ridiculous and his passing is terrible. The long ball up to pelle is too predictable and teams come to SMS set up to deal with it. We need a plan b, we don't have one.

 

I agree with some other posters - something doesn't seem right within the team as they are definitely not playing to potential. Whatever it is I hope they sort it soon. Spurs and Arsenal will hammer us if we serve up the same dross to them.

 

If you take out the first dozen games from last season (assuming the mopo effect is real), it will be interesting to see what koemans record looks like.

I beg to differ. If for example one of our number of blocked shots had gone in and we won 2-1, would we still have been shit?

I beg to differ. If for example one of our number of blocked shots had gone in and we won 2-1, would we still have been shit?

Well, we were **** because our shots kept getting blocked. Either that or blasted over the bar, or snatched at, or missed, or bludgeoned or...

There was actually not too much wrong with how we played - we were let down by a lack of clinical finishing in front of goal.

There seemed to much negative football, by negative I mean back-passing and it was an intercepted one that led to their goal.

Certainly the lack of clinical finishing didn't help!

Finishing was woeful. As bad as anything I have seen in the A League over here. Tongue poking out the corner of the mouth, look of concentration, 40 foot over the bar. Unprofessional.

For all the frustration of not taking our chances and dropping points, I thoroughly enjoy an exciting and hugely entertaining match.

A new right forward/winger and moving Mane to play either behind Pelle or instead of Pelle would be ideal IMO.

Mane behind Pelle with Long and Tadic on the wings. That is where the forwards click.

Mane behind Pelle with Long and Tadic on the wings. That is where the forwards click.

We'd be horrendously overrun in midfield if we played that (as we were at Newcastle, for example). It might work if you play JWP on the right and tell Mane to drop deeper to pick up the ball & run at the defence. I agree with Adrian that we need a right sided player but actually think we need more of a midfielder than a forward if we want to play Mane as the 'number 10'.

How poor are Villa? Blimey. Regardless of today, they are going down.

Yep,my overriding memory of the day will be that Villa were really, really shyte - and we still didn't beat them.

For all the frustration of not taking our chances and dropping points, I thoroughly enjoy an exciting and hugely entertaining match.

What? I thoroughly enjoy an exciting and hugely entertaining match as well, but that was not one of them.

Today was crucial. At kick off chance of 6th now bottom half with tough tough games to come. I think we have enough good players to avoid relegation battle but think 14th is likely. Which wouldn't be good after finishing 7th. Boards lack of investment and selling anything that moves caught up Ruth us imo.

How much money have you put on us finishing 14th?

1-0 down and it's not working, so first sub was like for like.

2nd sub again was like for like.

 

Change the system or do something different if it's not working.

Mane and Davis switch, Mane play in the hole behind Pelle, put Long on and go more attacking, Get the full backs higher up the pitch as Villa were dropping further and further back.

 

I'm sorry but the players are slowly losing confidence and it's showing badly because our management are starting to shows signs of weakness.

and scored kind of the definition of the perfect sub I'd say.

Finishing was woeful. As bad as anything I have seen in the A League over here. Tongue poking out the corner of the mouth, look of concentration, 40 foot over the bar. Unprofessional.

That was the issue yesterday we created 23 chances on goal so criticizing the midfield for moving the ball to slowly seems erroneous to me. 23 chances should be enough to win a game if we had a striker on form yesterday we would have won at a canter and no one would be complaining.

Pelle looks like he is going to repeat last season by starting of scoring a few and then going off the boil and not scoring for a while. I was hopeful we might have a fit Jrod finding form as an alternative striker but like last season, with Jrod injured again, Pelle is a shoe in to start every game and there is no alternative. Hopefully a new striker to play up top in the Jan window.

I think the mighty Kenyan has played himself onto the bench for a few games.

A few more could do with a kick up the ar$e - preferably by someone who can hit it.

Victor has been poor for a while now. Romeua looked good when he came on maybe time to give him a few games in a row.

1-0 down and it's not working, so first sub was like for like.

2nd sub again was like for like.

 

Change the system or do something different if it's not working.

Mane and Davis switch, Mane play in the hole behind Pelle, put Long on and go more attacking, Get the full backs higher up the pitch as Villa were dropping further and further back.

 

I'm sorry but the players are slowly losing confidence and it's showing badly because our management are starting to shows signs of weakness.

No thanks. I'd much prefer Koeman to generally change the personnel rather than the system. Against Liverpool he rashly changed the system and things got much much worse, against Stoke he kept changing the system by throwing on more and more attacking players and we got worse and worse.

When you suffer a humiliating defeat you expect a response that defines the character of the side. We got that in the first 20 minutes and then became so predictable that a truly poor team can hold possession for a long period without us even attempting to press. If we suffer defeats in our next 4 games we could well be flirting with the relegation zone. A win at Palace and confidence is restored, a defeat and worrying times ahead.

I beg to differ. If for example one of our number of blocked shots had gone in and we won 2-1, would we still have been shit?

The result wouldn't have been but our performance would - the bournemouth game being an example. Whilst we won, I didn't think we were convincing at all....same as against leicester. If stoke finished better they would have won by plenty.

It's the lack of drive, urgency, desire and team cohesion that worries me.

The result wouldn't have been but our performance would - the bournemouth game being an example. Whilst we won, I didn't think we were convincing at all....same as against leicester. If stoke finished better they would have won by plenty.

 

It's the lack of drive, urgency, desire and team cohesion that worries me.

Not totally true the 1st half of those games we blew both those teams out of the water with some great football we just couldn't keep it up.

I think the mighty Kenyan has played himself onto the bench for a few games.

A few more could do with a kick up the ar$e - preferably by someone who can hit it.

I think the mighty Kenyan is just warming up, to get himself into another public strop ahead of the transfer window re-opening.

RK & Reed just just tell him bluntly, we are not selling you to thr yids, now get on with it.

Today was crucial. At kick off chance of 6th now bottom half with tough tough games to come. I think we have enough good players to avoid relegation battle but think 14th is likely. Which wouldn't be good after finishing 7th. Boards lack of investment and selling anything that moves caught up Ruth us imo.

Sad reflection but after the other night I am prepared to settle for a point, even though we should have had three against a p1ss poor Villa. I feared a 0-1 might have been the outcome before the game, and then we'd be seen as a team gone from comfortable to 'mini-crisis' in a week.

There does seem to be a lesson to be learned - which is that the players need more advice on when and how to take a shot on goal and need to practice shooting on target when under pressure. I'm sure Koeman and the coaches know that far better than any of us fans.

It's stating the obvious to say that yesterday was a bad result, whereas I wouldn't say that about the defeats to Stoke, Man City, or Liverpool. Stoke and Man City are looking like better teams than Saints, whilst we would not have let so many goals in against Liverpool if that had been a league game. But we should have been several goals clear of Aston Villa by half-time from the possession and chances. And the goal conceded was very poor defending.

This could be the first season in 5 or 6 years that we will not have improved our league position at the end of the season. If so, that would be quite a defining moment but there is still time to do something about it.

when was the last time we scored with a shot outside of the box?

Wanyama/Davis/JWP just means a midfield very unlikely to score. When confidence is fragile and you need goals, that really doesn't help. Tadic doesn't really like shooting, Pelle is slow, so it's all down to Mane and he can't do it every week.

Can't argue with any of that.

My concerns: no squad depth as a result of summer sales. Not replaced quality with quality and not able to 'March on'. Boardroom failure.

Wanyama looks like he wants out and has been mediocre for a while. Agents fault. Made Romeo look good, and he's not as strong as Wanyama - if he's the replacement when Vic goes in January (?) then we are in trouble - he did well yesterday I grant you, but is not consistently high quality.

JWP simply not good enough in my opinion - squad player at best.

Mané is our only high quality player - and so we will sell him and fail to replace him on current trends. But he is better as a Kevin Phillips type striker and running at defences not on the wing where he's wasted.

Koeman has brought in all his good quality targets - Tadic, Pelle, Clasie. Who else can he attract? Can he in January?

We are where we deserve to be - table doesn't lie from this part of the season.

I see potential for a relegation fight - I don't think we will go down but we can certainly enter the mix by late January.

So? I think we need x2 - 3 quality players in January to reinforce us up front and at right back (Yoshida not PL quality in that position). We need a defensive midfielder of Schneiderlan quality. And a midfield goalscorer (JWP isn't that player).

Will the Boardroom reinforce??? No chance in my opinion. We might be witnessing the start of the slide and end of Koemans reign. Gutted if so. But our Boardroom have failed to invest and support RK. Not enough quality in depth - not replaced Clyne, Schneiderlan, Aldervereld, not able to March on. We are weaker than this time last year.

when was the last time we scored with a shot outside of the box?

Totally agree - no one who can strike a ball from range less Van Djik and he's a CB!

There does seem to be a lesson to be learned - which is that the players need more advice on when and how to take a shot on goal and need to practice shooting on target when under pressure. I'm sure Koeman and the coaches know that far better than any of us fans.

 

It's stating the obvious to say that yesterday was a bad result, whereas I wouldn't say that about the defeats to Stoke, Man City, or Liverpool. Stoke and Man City are looking like better teams than Saints, whilst we would not have let so many goals in against Liverpool if that had been a league game. But we should have been several goals clear of Aston Villa by half-time from the possession and chances. And the goal conceded was very poor defending.

 

This could be the first season in 5 or 6 years that we will not have improved our league position at the end of the season. If so, that would be quite a defining moment but there is still time to do something about it.

Last line is absolutely right. Agree with everything here, but concur on that the most.

Can't argue with any of that.

 

My concerns: no squad depth as a result of summer sales. Not replaced quality with quality and not able to 'March on'. Boardroom failure.

 

Wanyama looks like he wants out and has been mediocre for a while. Agents fault. Made Romeo look good, and he's not as strong as Wanyama - if he's the replacement when Vic goes in January (?) then we are in trouble - he did well yesterday I grant you, but is not consistently high quality.

 

JWP simply not good enough in my opinion - squad player at best.

 

Mané is our only high quality player - and so we will sell him and fail to replace him on current trends. But he is better as a Kevin Phillips type striker and running at defences not on the wing where he's wasted.

 

Koeman has brought in all his good quality targets - Tadic, Pelle, Clasie. Who else can he attract? Can he in January?

 

We are where we deserve to be - table doesn't lie from this part of the season.

 

I see potential for a relegation fight - I don't think we will go down but we can certainly enter the mix by late January.

 

So? I think we need x2 - 3 quality players in January to reinforce us up front and at right back (Yoshida not PL quality in that position). We need a defensive midfielder of Schneiderlan quality. And a midfield goalscorer (JWP isn't that player).

 

Will the Boardroom reinforce??? No chance in my opinion. We might be witnessing the start of the slide and end of Koemans reign. Gutted if so. But our Boardroom have failed to invest and support RK. Not enough quality in depth - not replaced Clyne, Schneiderlan, Aldervereld.

So Koeman didn't want Clasie, Pelle, Tadic, Mane, Eljero Elia or VVD I think you can level somethings at the board but not supporting Koeman isn't one of them

There does seem to be a lesson to be learned - which is that the players need more advice on when and how to take a shot on goal and need to practice shooting on target when under pressure. I'm sure Koeman and the coaches know that far better than any of us fans.

 

It's stating the obvious to say that yesterday was a bad result, whereas I wouldn't say that about the defeats to Stoke, Man City, or Liverpool. Stoke and Man City are looking like better teams than Saints, whilst we would not have let so many goals in against Liverpool if that had been a league game. But we should have been several goals clear of Aston Villa by half-time from the possession and chances. And the goal conceded was very poor defending.

 

This could be the first season in 5 or 6 years that we will not have improved our league position at the end of the season. If so, that would be quite a defining moment but there is still time to do something about it.

I would be surprised anyone thought we would continue to improve our league position every year indefinitely the higher you go the harder it becomes.

I would be surprised anyone thought we would continue to improve our league position every year indefinitely the higher you go the harder it becomes.

There are some loons on here.

I would be surprised anyone thought we would continue to improve our league position every year indefinitely the higher you go the harder it becomes.

Jose fonte is an absolute tard. saying he and the club are aiming for silverware and champions league qualification

must have meant the complete opposite

I would be surprised anyone thought we would continue to improve our league position every year indefinitely the higher you go the harder it becomes.

Indeed. Actually, I'm not even that disappointed that we only managed to draw, I was fully expecting us to lose it 1-0 which would've been completely typical for us. I feel that while this team is clearly not as good as it was last year, it's also going through some poor form right now and I think we'll start having some unexpected wins at some point. Not going to finish top 8 though, that's certain at this point. It did look pretty promising couple weeks ago, but... 6-1.

If we hadn't had such a good season last year most people would be satisfied with us just not getting relegated and establishing us as a mid-table prem team. I mean it took a while for Stoke to turn into Stokealona and even Spurs with all their money are having a tough time to break into top 4.

What is going on with Koeman?

Why can he not see the blatantly obvious, playing Mane where he is atm is wasting his talent and having him back defending is inviting more pressure from the opposition. We have to start leaving him forward when we are defending, it would keep two opposition players back with him, mean we have someone to chase an 'out' ball and if passed accurately enough, the chance to use his main attribute. His pace over the first 15 yards. He seems to start running out of steam after that and is getting caught and passed by the opposition full backs.

Wanyama has been horrendous for months now and looks like his only attribute is his ability to win the ball which is then negated by his inability to pass it cleanly even five yards and his awful control when he is receiving a pass is putting undue pressure on the team as the opposition just come along and take it back off him or results in slowing us down whilst he takes another couple of touches to control the ball. Needs to dropped out of the squad for a while and Harry Reed given a place on the bench or in his place in the team if Romeu doesn't take his chance.

As for Ward Prowse, what does he bring to the team? His set pieces are rubbish, he can't pass forwards, his positioning is a joke, he has no pace and he's constantly running three yards behind the opposition player who is attacking with the ball. A position that he will never be able to make a tackle from. His best contribution yesterday was getting booked.

Tadic is a ten minute player, but I guess we have no alternative to him, so have to carry him for the other 35 mins of each half since Ramirez doesn't even give ten minutes when he is on the pitch. It was disgusting when Tadic bottled that challenge with Ireland in the first half when he would have been clean through had he got even the meerest of touches before Ireland did.

Yet another rubbish referee and linesman again yesterday, Ireland should have been booked in the first minute for the drag back on tadic, Lescott should have had at least a yellow for the drag back on Pelle, the officials let Villa get away with the most blatant time wasting I've seen in a long time and were also letting them advance the ball ten yards on every one of their throw ins. Then there were at least two offsides against Pelle where he was behind a villa player when the ball was passed including one where he actually had to run inside Ireland to get the ball. Having decent officials for once could help get the win that the team's confidence so badly needs atm, as they look so fragile.

I'll be amazed and very happy if we pick up any more points between now and the new year with the current starting eleven playing the way they are at present. Koeman has got to get his finger out and give them a kick up arse to get the energy back in the team and get them pressing the opposition again whilst dropping the players we can see are under performing.

when was the last time we scored with a shot outside of the box?

Good point.

And other teams will have noticed this, so they just need to keep us outside of their box and we won't score.

Most efforts yesterday went blazing over the bar - even the ones without deflections. I was shouting at the telly during MotD to hit it low! The ball can't go under the goal. Tadic particularly guilty.

Mane's header was tough, slightly behind him, he did well to get it vaguely towards the goal. I thought all those 'missed a header from 5 yards' comments I read yesterday were little unfair once I saw it.

JWP is stuck in a rut of mediocrity. Does he just need some lucky breaks? Or is he not good enough to make the most of the breaks he's actually getting?

when was the last time we scored with a shot outside of the box?

Yoshida against Villa coincidentally. Pretty awful that he tries something that none of our AM's nor strikers seem to.

Not totally true the 1st half of those games we blew both those teams out of the water with some great football we just couldn't keep it up.

This is familiar isn't it......

We are not fit..... All I hear about these days is the players having days off. Koeman seems to think pressing is not important and therefore fitness is not that important.

Jose fonte is an absolute tard. saying he and the club are aiming for silverware and champions league qualification

 

must have meant the complete opposite

No the tards are the ones who constantly buy into player interviews what do you expect our captain to say "yeah we're not really bothered tenth will be fine this year" you must be a salemans dream punter.

This is familiar isn't it......

We are not fit..... All I hear about these days is the players having days off. Koeman seems to think pressing is not important and therefore fitness is not that important.

There was no lack of fitness on display yesterday we well on top at the end of the game and pushing for the winner one of the reasons Villa were wasting time like it was going out of fashion.

This is familiar isn't it......

We are not fit..... All I hear about these days is the players having days off. Koeman seems to think pressing is not important and therefore fitness is not that important.

Really not a fan of Ron's are you?

The Aston Villa goal was a comedy of errors.

First Fonte makes a 10m pass to a player in the midfield who is tightly marked. I think it's Fonte's mistake because he can see what's in front of him. Aston Villa didn't press the centre backs. They held off and waited for this type of pass. We played into their hands. In this situation you stay patient or hit the ball long to Pelle and feed off the scraps or play a diagonal ball to the wingers. You play a safe option.

The next error is by VVD. Yes he shows awareness, gets over quickly and blocks a dangerous cross, but the ball must go for a throw and not a corner.

The corner! We weren't defending zones, but man marking. A lot of teams use a 1-2-3-4 system of defending corners. What was JWP doing running with his player when we needed somebody in position to stop such a cross. Who was in the middle? Where was the goalkeeper?

We made 4 mistakes to gift Aston Villa a goal and at this level that is amateurish to say the least.

If Liverpool or any other top premier league team had the chances we made in the first 20 minutes they would have finished the game.

Questions must be asked about why we made so many mistakes yesterday against a very poor team.

Indeed. Actually, I'm not even that disappointed that we only managed to draw, I was fully expecting us to lose it 1-0 which would've been completely typical for us. I feel that while this team is clearly not as good as it was last year, it's also going through some poor form right now and I think we'll start having some unexpected wins at some point. Not going to finish top 8 though, that's certain at this point. It did look pretty promising couple weeks ago, but... 6-1.

 

If we hadn't had such a good season last year most people would be satisfied with us just not getting relegated and establishing us as a mid-table prem team. I mean it took a while for Stoke to turn into Stokealona and even Spurs with all their money are having a tough time to break into top 4.

You know what, this winning football matches malarkey is very tricky isn't it? Look at Chelsea. All you have to do it to spend a lot of money on "big" players, get a "big" manager in and you are sorted. Or maybe not. Who would have thought that Leicester and Chelsea would be in their respective positions this year? That is the beauty of sport, It is random. Jose tells us that it is impossible to go down. It is not. It is unlikely though, and only because there are worse teams than Chelsea getting worse results at the moment. There are times when everything you hit flies into the back of the net, as with Liverpool the other day. There are other days where you batter away at the goal and get nothing, like us yesterday. When we put 8 past Sunderland Ron was still critical of the way we played. That is someone who has got his perspective right. Something we could do with a bit more of on here.

we need to address our weak underbelly - call for Kevin Nolan, we need his nastiness

Well, we got more points than Chelsea yesterday.

However given the problems Villa have been having, we should be putting sides like that away comfortably with a couple of goals a least.

Positive: we didn't lose

Negative: we really should have won

The Aston Villa goal was a comedy of errors.

 

First Fonte makes a 10m pass to a player in the midfield who is tightly marked. I think it's Fonte's mistake because he can see what's in front of him. Aston Villa didn't press the centre backs. They held off and waited for this type of pass. We played into their hands. In this situation you stay patient or hit the ball long to Pelle and feed off the scraps or play a diagonal ball to the wingers. You play a safe option.

 

The next error is by VVD. Yes he shows awareness, gets over quickly and blocks a dangerous cross, but the ball must go for a throw and not a corner.

 

The corner! We weren't defending zones, but man marking. A lot of teams use a 1-2-3-4 system of defending corners. What was JWP doing running with his player when we needed somebody in position to stop such a cross. Who was in the middle? Where was the goalkeeper?

 

We made 4 mistakes to gift Aston Villa a goal and at this level that is amateurish to say the least.

 

If Liverpool or any other top premier league team had the chances we made in the first 20 minutes they would have finished the game.

 

Questions must be asked about why we made so many mistakes yesterday against a very poor team.

No going to disagree their goal yesterday was a comedy of errors.

we need to address our weak underbelly - call for Kevin Nolan, we need his nastiness

6.4/10

6.4/10

I think he was actually serious...

when was the last time we scored with a shot outside of the box?

Davis against Chelsea.

I think he was actually serious...

Scarily enough, I think you're right. It's up there with his claims that the serbian Tadic struggles to play in cold weather Dinosaur.

we need to address our weak underbelly - call for Kevin Nolan, we need his nastiness

Seriously?

I don't think we were as bad as some have been making out. We started the game incredibly well, came out of the blocks like a train. Poor finishing and a lack of composure/confidence in those final moments cost us the win.

As the game went on we slumped back a little and lost that intensity we started with and once Villa got the jammiest of goals ever, the heads dropped. It took us a while to get going in the 2nd half, the players looked as if they were walking through mud some of the time. It was an important equalizer though, it stops the rot and can potentially be the starting base for another good run. I like Romeu and he started the season well, but once Wanyama came back on the scene he was out - not sure why entirely, as he's not at the level this year.

Ward-Prowse continues to frustrate by consistently doing nothing in a football match. This is a big season for him, lots of talk and lots of expectation, so he needs to start doing something now.

Palace will be a tricky match, but we can win there if we play with the same intensity as we started with yesterday.

Jose fonte is an absolute tard. saying he and the club are aiming for silverware and champions league qualification

 

must have meant the complete opposite

You really don't do yourself any favours with drivel like that.