Stoke v Saints Match Thread

Admittedly I only have 6 mins to go on but against ten men with complete

Dominance we should have won. It's coming down to a simple idea is it the lack of team quality or is it the manager. 16 games in its clear to see we have a problem of being very inefffectual and predictable. Which Way are we going to go with fixing it? Or do we not do anything? I never bought into the whole we have no ambition thing but if we don't address it one way or another then there is no other explanation for what we are seeing week in and week out.

I think we all knew we would be a striker short and so it has been proved.

I am as disappointed as most after watching the game as we should have had three points but what is more sickening is the negative posters who keep coming on with the doom and gloom "Puel should go", "Reed is no good" etc etc. We are stretched as a squad as we have been battling on many fronts and have been unlucky with injuries. Do you doom mongers really think that as internet warriors you will have one iota of a chance of influencing a multi billion company ? I have been supporting my team for over fifty years and never boo the team, never leave early and give them all my support. Can the boo boys go somewhere else as they have ruined this forum. Oh yes I do have rose tinted glasses and yes follow the team through thick and thin and am happy to be led by the nose following the management of the Saints. But the last few years have not seemed too bad compared to some of the forty I have followed the team before that. I am sure I will be informed of the error of my ways but I am off to bed after a tiring day at work and will probably set up my own forum tomorrow with only me as a member so I can leave all the cr*p posted on hear behind. Goodnight.

Well you are being drowned by those who just sit on their ****i ing computers and troll troll troll. you are quite right. they spoil the forum: solution is to not go on here FFS which is a terrible thing to say to a Saints fan: ignore the saints forum????? Jesus ferkin wept

".....our players ALWAYS look for safe options, if there's a pass there's no movement after it ....Our defence is excellent but without Fonte and VVD that could change very quickly."

Very sound points. 0 0 away to Stoke in December isn't a bad result but the circumstances leave a bad taste.

This was always a year of consolidation. 6 years of progression was always going to end at some point. Puel has a weak squad in some areas, and I hope his style is a response to that.

The use of youngsters is a major plus but boy do we need someone up front who occupies the opposition defences.

Oh and pass forward sometimes.

Progress yes and that is to be celebrated always, but I fear the Spurs game will show us how empty our tactics bucket really is.

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".....our players ALWAYS look for safe options, if there's a pass there's no movement after it ....Our defence is excellent but without Fonte and VVD that could change very quickly."

 

Very sound points. 0 0 away to Stoke in December isn't a bad result but the circumstances leave a bad taste.

 

This was always a year of consolidation. 6 years of progression was always going to end at some point. Puel has a weak squad in some areas, and I hope his style is a response to that.

 

The use of youngsters is a major plus but boy do we need someone up front who occupies the opposition defences.

 

Oh and pass forward sometimes.

 

Progress yes and that is to be celebrated always, but I fear the Spurs game will show us how empty our tactics bucket really is.

 

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Boro 0-3 Liverpool adds some perspective to our recent 0-0 against the dippers.

Stoke a

Bomp a

Spurs h

WBA h

What's a par score for that run of fixtures? 4 points/5 points/6 points?

We have one down, 1 pt and 3 to play, we could get almost anything between 1 and 10 (obvs need to score a few goals if we are to take more than 4 points!).

We were 2 inches away from winning - J-Rod's miss and the keeper's block of Bertrand's shot. disappointing perhaps, but not a disaster, and one point more than we started with. ( How many people would have taken a draw before kick-off ? ).

The point is the stats clearly show we can't score goals and this is confirmed by the number of draws.

It wasn't that we were just unlucky tonight it's the fact that Rodriguez has scored 2 Long 0 and thr midfield bugger all.

Only a moron would decide we don't need a striker. That moron is Les

46 posts from ALWAYS_SFC on this match thread

 

2 were about the game

 

We were **** tonight, we have been **** all season, why we appointed this clown I have only one idea - he was cheap

 

Look at his old team NICE now top of the league and plaudits galore for there style of football - and they lost 3 of there best players after Puel left!!! Puel is a joke

In truth you are a bit of an embarrassment

Any comments about the actual game?

10/10

a point away from home is always good no?

Well you are being drowned by those who just sit on their ****i ing computers and troll troll troll. you are quite right. they spoil the forum: solution is to not go on here FFS which is a terrible thing to say to a Saints fan: ignore the saints forum????? Jesus ferkin wept

I try to ignore this place for 12 - 24 hours after a game irrespective of the result. If I don't I just get wound up and bite.

Once matey was sent off you knew we would be pushing water up hill.

Second half we laid siege to the Stoke penalty area, what is worrying is that with all that dominance box we hardly fashioned anything of note. We have all this blathering on calling for the head of Puel, having watched him a few times now on the sideline he has been doing his nut at some of the decision making. But at the end of the day the players on the pitch are supposed to be doing a job they are paid handsomely for, most have been playing football since their Mums were wiping their backsides. Many have been in a professional footballing environment since they were about 8, and have taken a journey that has seen many other very capable kids cast out of the club system, they have made it to be Proffessional Premier League footballers. They train and play football every day, yet tonight with so much pressure being exerted in the vicinity of the Stoke goal, it was like they had forgotten the objective of the game being to put the ball into the back of the net, which for so many years of footballing experience as a collective on the pitch was pretty poor show, not being able to fashion many decent chances needs the finger to be pointed at them. You are playing Stoke yet knowing they are good in the air play loopy balls into the box for the Stoke defenders to see away with glee.

I don't know, it's almost like the penalty box lines have been painted with Kryptonite!

Right now it feels like the selling of our stars is finally catching up with us. Pelle Mané Wanyama that is a bit of a presence. That said who would have guessed as the season started we would find both Long and JRod unable to hit a Cows @r$e with a Banjo as we approach the half-way mark. They are now getting fed sitters on a plate which they defend better than attack. Other players know they need to take up the goalscoring slack but also know in doing so they leave a gap for the Oppos to exploit, just as we saw last night towards the end Puel changed the delivery option taking off Cucu and bringing on McQueen all of a suddened the new chap on for Stoke is running into Martina's empty space.

Right now we are playing with pretty much no strikers and that I believe is what is producing pretty turgid performances.

Lack of a striker is a problem. But not as much as our lack of a good attacking CM. When we're going forward our CM 3 (whether it's Davis/JWP/Clasie/Rom/Hoj) just stand half way between their box and the halfway line waiting to move the ball across to the other channel once our wingers/full backs run out of ideas. It's just so predictable. On the odd occasion that we can create a crossing opportunity, Long is in there on his own up against 2 giant CBs. We need a taller striker for our crosses to come to anything. In the mean time, we need to play with Bouffal or Tadic centrally if we're going to have any chance of going through the middle of teams. Both of them have that 'X factor' that can unlock a defence with some clever passing or quick turns. Or even shooting from distance. Last night Ryan Bertrand was our biggest central threat ffs.

Tadic Boufal Redmond

Jrod

Having got back at 130am I am glad I didn't look at the knee jerk cyber warrior comments immediately after the game.

Very frustrating not to take all three points, and I felt we started really well until the red card which changed the dynamic of the game completely. Stoke no longer looked to push on, which previously was leaving us space to use. We should be good enough to still win, but it just exposed what we know which is we lack a cutting edge which needs fixing in January.

However bigger picture is 9th in Premier League, semi-final to look forward to and three of the next four games are all against teams who I think we have a chance of finishing above in May so important to win as many, and lose as few, as possible of those matches.

Final word on four clean sheets in five Premier League games, which is not just down to a great defence (with changed personnel) but also a manifestation of the possession football that some on here hate. We really are one good strike away from being a top six team in my opinion

The point is the stats clearly show we can't score goals and this is confirmed by the number of draws.

It wasn't that we were just unlucky tonight it's the fact that Rodriguez has scored 2 Long 0 and thr midfield bugger all.

Only a moron would decide we don't need a striker. That moron is Les

If Les were a manager, like he was at Charlton, and in many respects is here, we'd be saying, thanks for the memories, it's time for you to retire now. He made some good decisions in the past but his decision making this year has been very poor and at his age it's unlikely to improve. Football is a ruthless business at this level. Chelsea even said goodbye to Mourinho when things started to go wrong there. A combination of someone who can actually get on with players and managers, like Le Tissier and a young professional who knows the transfer market, like Paul Mitchell, the man who found us our best players and managers, would be ideal. Les has always said that the system is so perfect that anyone can be replaced seamlessly. Well it's time for him to prove it by retiring at 65.

If Les were a manager, like he was at Charlton, and in many respects is here, we'd be saying, thanks for the memories, it's time for you to retire now. He made some good decisions in the past but his decision making this year has been very poor and at his age it's unlikely to improve. Football is a ruthless business at this level. Chelsea even said goodbye to Mourinho when things started to go wrong there. A combination of someone who can actually get on with players and managers, like Le Tissier and a young professional who knows the transfer market, like Paul Mitchell, the man who found us our best players and managers, would be ideal. Les has always said that the system is so perfect that anyone can be replaced seamlessly. Well it's time for him to prove it by retiring at 65.

Lol i really don't understand why everyone always wants to blame him for everything it's really wierd. The bloke rarely gets plaudits for the good things he does and then gets knives like above for fairly little. Definitely some proper Psychos out there.

Well you are being drowned by those who just sit on their ****i ing computers and troll troll troll. you are quite right. they spoil the forum: solution is to not go on here FFS which is a terrible thing to say to a Saints fan: ignore the saints forum????? Jesus ferkin wept

Its a sad fact that the doom mongers have killed off my attendance of the site. Its the same every where, whiners.

Keyboard warriors with emotional hang ups..

If Les were a manager, like he was at Charlton, and in many respects is here, we'd be saying, thanks for the memories, it's time for you to retire now. He made some good decisions in the past but his decision making this year has been very poor and at his age it's unlikely to improve. Football is a ruthless business at this level. Chelsea even said goodbye to Mourinho when things started to go wrong there. A combination of someone who can actually get on with players and managers, like Le Tissier and a young professional who knows the transfer market, like Paul Mitchell, the man who found us our best players and managers, would be ideal. Les has always said that the system is so perfect that anyone can be replaced seamlessly. Well it's time for him to prove it by retiring at 65.

And yet we have had a wonderful 7 years. We are a decent mid table Premiership side. We were a whisker away from a last ditch goal that would have seen us through to the knock out stages in Europe. We are in the semi finals of a cup. But yeah, lets get rid of one of the people that has made this possible.

Boro 0-3 Liverpool adds some perspective to our recent 0-0 against the dippers.

 

 

 

 

Bournemouth 4 Liverpool 3 adds some perspective to out recent 0-0 against the bin dippers.

You are not going to score if you have no intention of attacking them. The up coming Semi-final against them should be interesting.

Its a sad fact that the doom mongers have killed off my attendance of the site. Its the same every where, whiners.

Keyboard warriors with emotional hang ups..

But they haven't have they, as you are still posting ?

oops, wrong thread....

Errrrr, a white away shirt? For Bournemouth, ok.

The point is the stats clearly show we can't score goals and this is confirmed by the number of draws.

It wasn't that we were just unlucky tonight it's the fact that Rodriguez has scored 2 Long 0 and thr midfield bugger all.

Only a moron would decide we don't need a striker. That moron is Les

Les is a moron...? Fück me fella, he earns a lot more than you for a reason.