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Saints 1 Spurs 1 - Post Match Reaction


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Man of a The Match v Spurs  

287 members have voted

  1. 1. Man of a The Match v Spurs

    • McCarthy
      1
    • Cedric
      1
    • Bertrand
      55
    • Hoedt
      3
    • Stephens
      11
    • Romeu
      20
    • PEH
      19
    • Lemina
      27
    • Tadic
      43
    • Gabbi
      0
    • JWP
      105
    • Boufal
      0
    • Davis
      0
    • Obafemi
      2


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Watched the game on the TV - thought our fans were man of the match - great support.

Still on a knife edge which way the team is going to go but surely we can only take the positives from today's performance.

Only 4pts off 10th place - i guess we will know by the end of February whether or not we are staying up.

2 good signings would give us a real chance - still not sure whether changing manager now will make a difference (Erwin Koeman for me if we have to - knows the club and most of the players!)

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Stephens is a good footballer. He is comfortable on the ball, and as a defender he puts his body on the line, makes good blocks, and stands up to even the very best strikers in one-on-one situations very well. Unfortunately he is very weak in the air and has poor positional sense. He was ball watching for the goal, for example. He lost Kane in the same way that he lost Ibrahimovic in the EFL Cup final. Yes, they are top players, but he gets found out by them.

 

What I don't understand though, is that heading is a skill that can be coached and practised. I realise that footballers are only contracted to work 2 hours a day or whatever it is, but if Southampton or Stephens himself have ambitions for him to be a good PL centre back, he needs to be better at heading. You'd think, if they're not doing it already (which I highly doubt), he would be doing extra sessions to get better. I have heard (maybe from someone on here) that players NEVER practise heading, because of the health implications. Understandable in some ways, but too bad if you're rubbish at it and it's going to stop you having a top career.

 

Exactly correct. Perfectly said.

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We'll having said I wasn't looking forward to this game in the pre match build up I think it was the most enjoyable home game of the season. It was a decent performance and the players battled and fought until the end.

 

 

 

 

 

We dropped deep towards the end but a lot of players looked like they were blowing out their arses late on. I'm not surprised Hoj and Lemina came off as both put in a big shift in midfield and both took knocks so they were flagging towards the end.

 

 

 

 

 

A hard fought, physical game under lights in the pouring rain with both sides having chances whats not to like?

Edited by doddisalegend
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Was listening on the radio. Really had a feeling the kid would come on and score but sadly not to be. Is it better that he got into the position to get that chance and missed it rather than not missed it at all? At least it shows initiative...I'm assuming anyway, I haven't seen it.

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Was listening on the radio. Really had a feeling the kid would come on and score but sadly not to be. Is it better that he got into the position to get that chance and missed it rather than not missed it at all? At least it shows initiative...I'm assuming anyway, I haven't seen it.
has to score. very poor moss. but fair play to the lad. got in that position.
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Thought we played well today. Looked much better with our forward play - quicker getting the ball forward which helps massively.

We were very shaky at the back, especially first 25 minutes. Both Hoedt and Stephens were caught out of position several times, and every corner we faced was a heart in mouth moment. Stephens positional play and heading ability is very poor, and I don’t understand how game after game he keeps getting pulled out of position, and leads to opposition goals.

He may be one of our own, but he’s a good back up to Hoedt and A.N. Other, who we need to get in to form a proper, solid first choice pairing.

Tadic and Jwp were good today, Lemina and Romeu certainly put a decent shift in too. Very disappointed with Gabbi today, he really offered very little throughout the game.

Two golden chances at the end missed by the rookie lad, and Boufal (wtf didn’t he put his foot through that first time?)

 

Overall a good game, good atmosphere in the ground and my boys and I enjoyed the game. Good stuff, now to play the same against Watford and Brighton.

 

Ps please can we have a striker, cb, and pacy forward this week arrive?

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Considering our recent poor results I thought that was a very good performance. Spurs weren't great but we went a long way to nullifying them by finally playing our 3 best midfielders at the same time.

 

All the players seemed up for it and all put in a shift. Good to hear our fans drown them out every time they started 'Oh When The Spurs'.

 

Both team had decent chances to win, a draw definitely a fair result.

 

Is that the first point we've got at home against them since we got back in the top flight?

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Good performance. Feeling much more optimistic after that. It was interesting to see the players' reactions to Pellegrino's instructions in the 2nd half. Basically, they ignored them and one or two of them made a point of ignoring them. I don't know how that's going to pan out for the remainder of the season but it certainly worked today.

 

We still need a goal scoring striker and a tall, dominant central defender.

I take it you were stood next to the manager and heard these 'ignored' instructions. I'm sorry but that sounds like total bollux to me.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

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Considering our recent poor results I thought that was a very good performance. Spurs weren't great but we went a long way to nullifying them by finally playing our 3 best midfielders at the same time.

 

All the players seemed up for it and all put in a shift. Good to hear our fans drown them out every time they started 'Oh When The Spurs'.

 

Both team had decent chances to win, a draw definitely a fair result.

 

Is that the first point we've got at home against them since we got back in the top flight?

 

No had a 2-2 a couple of years ago.

 

Not as good as c2003/4 when we had the better of them for a couple of years including the 4-0 in the FA Cup and the Delap overhead 1-0

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No brass band outside, and no Kenzie? First steps to reduce the wage bill prior to relegation?

 

If Saints play like that, for the remainder, they definitely have a serious sniff at staying up.

 

Think I've read this a few times before though. Do you think we will ?

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Stephens is a good footballer. He is comfortable on the ball, and as a defender he puts his body on the line, makes good blocks, and stands up to even the very best strikers in one-on-one situations very well. Unfortunately he is very weak in the air and has poor positional sense. He was ball watching for the goal, for example. He lost Kane in the same way that he lost Ibrahimovic in the EFL Cup final. Yes, they are top players, but he gets found out by them.

 

What I don't understand though, is that heading is a skill that can be coached and practised. I realise that footballers are only contracted to work 2 hours a day or whatever it is, but if Southampton or Stephens himself have ambitions for him to be a good PL centre back, he needs to be better at heading. You'd think, if they're not doing it already (which I highly doubt), he would be doing extra sessions to get better. I have heard (maybe from someone on here) that players NEVER practise heading, because of the health implications. Understandable in some ways, but too bad if you're rubbish at it and it's going to stop you having a top career.

 

I know what you mean but I was a simply outstanding footballer in all aspects of the game EXCEPT heading which I simply could not get to grips with.

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Just back from the game.

 

Saints players in battling for the whole game shocker.... Yay!

 

I know it's a cliche but if we play with that spirit for the rest of the season we'll grind out enough wins to finish comfortably mid table.... IMO.

 

Add another couple of quality players before the end of the window and I reckon we'll be fine.

 

Bertrand my MotM. Good to see him 'psyched up' for a change.

 

P.s. how close was Obafeme to scoring late on? Looked close from the Northam but too far away to tell.

 

P.p.s. we missed Long's ability and desire to challenge for 50/50 balls hit long into the oppo's half. Gabbi simply isn't interested in competing for those kind of challenges

 

P.p.p.s. is that ref a closet Spurs fan?

Edited by trousers
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Thought we looked a bit Keystone Cops at the back but otherwise a decent performance. I said a couple of weeks ago that I didn't think the team had any bottle, but have to admit they stepped up to the plate today after being pegged back by spurs. Good performance, probably a point nobody thought we would get.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

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Much, much improved performance. JWP, Tadic and Bertrand excellent.

 

Anyone notice the increase in cofidence and decrease in silly errors at the back now McCarthy is in goal?

 

Their goal was quite weak on our behalf, but rather than blaming Stephens I'm wondering if he was the right guy to mark Kane in the first place. Stephens is great on the ground, but Romeu and Hoedt are better in the air.

 

Would like to see this team play both the Watford game and the Brighton game, get some consistency going in selection.

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Think I've read this a few times before though. Do you think we will ?

 

Depends on the line-up. I think JPH looks a bit lost playing further forward, perhaps swapping him with Lemina may pay dividends.

Playing Tadic wide also helped I think.

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The draw was a disappointment from the point of view that the thumping at the hands of Spurs I was anticipating, might have brought about the departure of Pellegrino.

 

However, it was an entertaining match which we deserved at least a point from and could have even won, had we had better striker options up front. From the off, I thought that the team selected was our strongest, especially with Lemina, Romeu and Hojbjerg together in the midfield. So it proved, with them dominating the 50/50 balls and closing down the space to deny Spurs to play their high line. I just hope that injuries allowing, that we continue to play all three for several matches to allow them to form an understanding of each others' strengths and weaknesses. In fact, bar the return of players like Yoshida and Long, I would be happy to play most of this team regularly to provide some urgently needed continuity.

 

Otherwise, I don't think that it is being too fanciful to state the opinion that for most of the match we were actually the better team. The usual conundrum is whether Spurs were just crap, or was it us who made them look crap?

 

Pellegrino's substitutions on the face of it appeared to weaken the midfield, but I understand that there might have been an injury to Lemina and or Hojbjerg, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Although we played deep and invited them onto us as we often do late in matches, on the other hand the Spurs high line did allow us on a couple of occasions to put the ball over the top and break towards their box. With a more instinctive first time shot from Boufal, or a more experienced striker than the young lad, we could have won the match. The lad otherwise did well from the point of view of his pace and willingness to impress by going for everything and he did give Spurs something different to think about.

 

Oh, and the refereeing from Friend (and at times his left lino) was very poor indeed. As the match progressed, he allowed a series of niggly fouls from Spurs to go unpunished, especially by Dembele who ramped up the foul count to an unbelievable level before his first yellow, yet he was only too happy to dish them out to us for first offences of a lesser standard. In short, he lost control of the match.

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Thought we played well today. Looked much better with our forward play - quicker getting the ball forward which helps massively.

We were very shaky at the back, especially first 25 minutes. Both Hoedt and Stephens were caught out of position several times, and every corner we faced was a heart in mouth moment. Stephens positional play and heading ability is very poor, and I don’t understand how game after game he keeps getting pulled out of position, and leads to opposition goals.

He may be one of our own, but he’s a good back up to Hoedt and A.N. Other, who we need to get in to form a proper, solid first choice pairing.

Tadic and Jwp were good today, Lemina and Romeu certainly put a decent shift in too. Very disappointed with Gabbi today, he really offered very little throughout the game.

Two golden chances at the end missed by the rookie lad, and Boufal (wtf didn’t he put his foot through that first time?)

 

Overall a good game, good atmosphere in the ground and my boys and I enjoyed the game. Good stuff, now to play the same against Watford and Brighton.

 

Ps please can we have a striker, cb, and pacy forward this week arrive?

 

Agree with this except about being totally shaky at the back. Yes Stephens is weak in the air and frequently loses his man but wtf was Gabbi doing trying to jump in front of Kane and Stephens? He shouldn't be anywhere near there! The contolled passing out of the back when under pressure was however excellent

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Just back from the game.

 

Saints players in battling for the whole game shocker.... Yay!

 

I know it's a cliche but if we play with that spirit for the rest of the season we'll grind out enough wins to finish comfortably mid table.... IMO.

 

Add another couple of quality players before the end of the window and I reckon we'll be fine.

 

Bertrand my MotM. Good to see him 'psyched up' for a change.

 

P.s. how close was Obafeme to scoring late on? Looked close from the Northam but too far away to tell.

 

Massively, if he had got the most basic touch on the ball it would have been in, instead it was a big slice.

 

Can't really blame him though, massive pressure on him and arguably the last 10 mins of this game wasn't the right moment to bring him in for his debut? He will improve in consistency with experience though.

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I like Stephens. I'd sell him because he's not a natural defender and I think he's just a good footballer with no set position, he turns off as soon as a player runs away from him especially when they run towards another player as though he thinks the other player can mark two of the opposition or he shouldn't get involved and he just won't head the ball enough when under pressure. Which means he'll just keep on giving goals and opportunities away (as has been said many, many times before and again today). I don't think he could offer enough in defensive midfield because he won't cover enough ground like Romeu, he's too one-footed and he'll always switch off and someone will go past him.

 

We now have to beat the teams around us. The commentator said our next 7 games are reasonably easy. 21 points and we should make it.

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No brass band outside, and no Kenzie? First steps to reduce the wage bill prior to relegation?

 

If Saints play like that, for the remainder, they definitely have a serious sniff at staying up.

 

**** me. No brass band.........

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I think everyone is getting carried away.

 

Yes it was a better 'performance' but its another game where we havent scored, couldnt take our chances, played far too deep at times, stiill in bottom 3 with no wins in 11 which is the worst run of results in all of english football.

 

Todays result is a disaster because they wont sack the manager this week and it leaves relegation a certainty.

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Agree with this except about being totally shaky at the back. Yes Stephens is weak in the air and frequently loses his man but wtf was Gabbi doing trying to jump in front of Kane and Stephens? He shouldn't be anywhere near there! The contolled passing out of the back when under pressure was however excellent

It certainly was, and that's something we usually do very well. This shows we have a decent players in most areas (minus the gaping holes up front, and a possibly a VVD replacement). There's no reason that with a decent manager and plugging the striker hole that we can't get out of this mess.

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I think everyone is getting carried away.

 

Yes it was a better 'performance' but its another game where we havent scored, couldnt take our chances, played far too deep at times, stiill in bottom 3 with no wins in 11 which is the worst run of results in all of english football.

 

Todays result is a disaster because they wont sack the manager this week and it leaves relegation a certainty.

 

I don't think anyone is.

 

We all realise we're are in a relegation battle so the first thing we need to see is the players fight and graft to try and avoid the drop we got that today. A point against a spurs side that regularly smash us is a little glimmer of hope and comfort. I don't think taking a bit of joy from this result means we all suddenly think everything is going to be fine but, in a season that has been generally ****e, can't we just enjoy a half decent performance tonight and go back to worrying about all the glaring problems in our club tomorrow?

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I know what you mean but I was a simply outstanding footballer in all aspects of the game EXCEPT heading which I simply could not get to grips with.

 

The same could be said of Fabrice Fernandes, the worst headerer (is that a word?) of a football I've ever seen. Thing is, he was a winger, not a centre back. If you were a centre back too, I've no doubt your inability to head the ball would have halted your progress.

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No brass band outside, and no Kenzie? First steps to reduce the wage bill prior to relegation?

 

If Saints play like that, for the remainder, they definitely have a serious sniff at staying up.

 

No they were there around the corner from the shop. Is it a coincidence that our decline as a club seemed to start about the same time the "saints band" started assaulting our ears every home game?

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No doubt, that is an excellent point & a good performance.

We still went too deep towards the end of the game & Tadic was awful.

Could have won, could have lost so a draw seems fair.

Rather Sam Gallagher was coming off the bench though...........

 

No he wasn't. He has been awful (quite often) this season but today he wasn't.

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I think everyone is getting carried away.

 

Yes it was a better 'performance' but its another game where we havent scored, couldnt take our chances, played far too deep at times, stiill in bottom 3 with no wins in 11 which is the worst run of results in all of english football.

 

Todays result is a disaster because they wont sack the manager this week and it leaves relegation a certainty.

 

Why is performance in inverted commas?

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I think everyone is getting carried away.

 

Yes it was a better 'performance' but its another game where we havent scored, couldnt take our chances, played far too deep at times, stiill in bottom 3 with no wins in 11 which is the worst run of results in all of english football.

 

Todays result is a disaster because they wont sack the manager this week and it leaves relegation a certainty.

 

This. It was also against a team fielding several reserves and in atrocious weather conditions.

 

Dangerous to draw too many inferences...

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This. It was also against a team fielding several reserves and in atrocious weather conditions.

 

Dangerous to draw too many inferences...

 

as opposed to us having to put a 17 year old on the bench due to lack of options? yeah poor old spurs having to scrap the bottom of the barrel player wise while we put a super strong team.

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Entertaining game that. Gabbi is just shocking but imagine still has his many believers who will blame it on service or the manager. He has been sh1t and would start Obefemi over the lazy lost bastrd

 

No excuses about service today he had a couple of good ones he didn't make anything off plus he barely won a header all day.

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Puel spoke about Redmond as the next Henry. We needed a fast No. 9 and as Gabbiadini was tiring I was crying out for Redmond to play up top. So what happens.......

 

Was a meaningless sound bite - Puel was just being a good corporate boy although his loyalty to Les didn’t do him much good. To think Les thought injury hit J Rod and Austin and the less than prolific Long were ample with the volume of games we had last term is astonishing, although less so with the January 2017 window debacle and Caceres it appears less jaw dropping and more the norm.

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Annoyingly Bertrand was getting to the byline and laying good cutbacks to the near post Austin would have gambled on them Gabbi never got near them.

 

Felt for Ryan with no one attacking them, but does emphasise the need for two fresh strikers to come in and reward his efforts

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Entertaining game that. Gabbi is just shocking but imagine still has his many believers who will blame it on service or the manager. He has been sh1t and would start Obefemi over the lazy lost bastrd

 

Thought he played ok first half. Reminded me a little of his performance vs Chelsea first half where he had some good touches, made some good runs but wasn't found (although this time it was a case of defenders cutting out the pass rather than no-one spotting the runs). I missed the first few minutes and therefore think I missed his early chance.

 

Second half was poor no doubt, but we did also start sitting deeper and he was isolated. I don't know if he lacks fitness or loses interest, either way it's concerning that he doesn't put a shift in for the whole game.

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My goodness we have missed so many clear cut chances this season, ii is that alone which will sink us if and unless we don't get a proven centre forward goalscorer, we simply have to score to win and stay up.

 

And please, Kevin Friend never again, he is hopeless.

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