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Saints 3 - Arsenal 2 - I should start threads more often


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Absolutely buzzing. Just finished watching it. Recorded it and didn't turn on my internet all afternoon or evening to avoid the score. There were a few moments when I just thought, for the sake of my nerves, I'll just go and have a look at the result but I'm glad I didn't because the out poor of emotion at the final whistle was well worth it.

 

You're a better man than me. I couldn't wait for a recording, I know i'd be checking scores constantly

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ok Romeu made a mistake on the second goal but how many blocks interceptions and breaking up play did he do.

This is a guy who was destroyed under Hughes considering hiw little he has played give him a break.

Vestergaard was excellent to recover from last weeks howler shows good management too.

Chuffed tonight.

 

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Can't believe how many people were not impressed with Romeu's game. He broke up so much of Arsenal's midfield play, hassled and harried, picked out good passes and got forward to press several times. Only that dithering moment on the ball which led to the deflected goal marred his performance. I hope Ralph uses Lemina, Hoj and Romeu together in some games and reverts to a back four, with Lemina given licence to push forward.

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Can't believe how many people were not impressed with Romeu's game. He broke up so much of Arsenal's midfield play, hassled and harried, picked out good passes and got forward to press several times. Only that dithering moment on the ball which led to the deflected goal marred his performance. I hope Ralph uses Lemina, Hoj and Romeu together in some games and reverts to a back four, with Lemina given licence to push forward.

 

yes he made a mistake for their second, yes it affected him for a while but overall he looked the best he’s played since the great season he had under Puel. I thought he had a great game and thankfully he wasn’t alone.

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Should also point out how well PEH captained the side today. Always talking, always encouraging and calmed things down when necessary. Excellent.

 

Agree totally. Needs to keep the band, even when Bertrand available. Reward

 

 

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Bizarre logic. We were rubbish under Pellegrino but other teams were also rubbish. We were rubbish under Hughes but other teams remained rubbish.

 

Thinking 2 wins in that spell makes it a good achievement is exactly what keeps these useless journeyman managers on the merry go round. Thankfully clubs seem to be wising up. No one panicking and appointing Allardyce or Moyes would also be great.

 

Let’s always be thankful to mark hughes he kept us up always be thankful and enjoy memories of that win at Swansea if nothing else

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Yes, we did improve with the appointment of Hughes (otherwise we would have gone down).

 

But to try and compare that to the transformation into what looked like a completely different team, such as we saw today, is quite erroneous. The two situations are in no way comparable.

 

Completely agree!

 

With hindsight, I think all Hughes really did was simplify everything (Redknapp style of ‘go out and play lads’). The players looked confused and uninspired by Pellegrino’s ‘football is all about efficiency’ nonsense and Hughes stopped that.

 

I think Pellegrino would have relegated us. Probably 90% of journeyman managers would have kept us up and Mark Hughes was just one of those.

 

Hughes was only ever going to be a quick fix. He had no vision or plan to improve the players. He also didn’t get them fit enough.

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Completely agree!

 

With hindsight, I think all Hughes really did was simplify everything (Redknapp style of ‘go out and play lads’). The players looked confused and uninspired by Pellegrino’s ‘football is all about efficiency’ nonsense and Hughes stopped that.

 

I think Pellegrino would have relegated us. Probably 90% of journeyman managers would have kept us up and Mark Hughes was just one of those.

 

Hughes was only ever going to be a quick fix. He had no vision or plan to improve the players. He also didn’t get them fit enough.

Yep. Hughes improved us and kept us up but with hindsight the mistake was giving him a longer term contract after that.
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Yep. Hughes improved us and kept us up but with hindsight the mistake was giving him a longer term contract after that.

 

A pathetic thing to do but the good thing is the idiot responsible has now left our club.

What a great buzz we now have in the camp and I bet the players can’t wait for training Tuesday.

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Yep. Hughes improved us and kept us up but with hindsight the mistake was giving him a longer term contract after that.

 

Hughes didn't actually improve us at all. For the 8 games he was with us for at the end of last season, we scored 8 points. The 8 games before that we scored 8 points. He maintained it but effort levels did rise tbh. It's a myth he improved us.

 

Ralph will definitely improve us though.

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I think it was Nigel who used to say "Hard work wins when talent doesn't work hard" that was us yesterday.

 

I've had no illusions about the quality of the squad in recent seasons and knowing that I wanted to see the squad compensate with hard work and a game plan the players understood and for the first time in a long time I saw that at SMS.

 

Finally left SMS with a smile on my face that hasn't happened in a while....

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Hughes didn't actually improve us at all. For the 8 games he was with us for at the end of last season, we scored 8 points. The 8 games before that we scored 8 points. He maintained it but effort levels did rise tbh. It's a myth he improved us.

 

 

That hypothesis assumes that Pellegrino would have maintained the same point scoring rate. Just because Pellegrino achieved 8 points in the preceding 8 games doesn't guarantee that he'd have picked up another 8 points in the remaining 8 games. So, the most accurate assessment is that we'll never actually know whether Hughes got more points than Pellegrino would have done. Different people will have different hunches though, which is fine.

Edited by trousers
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That hypothesis assumes that Pellegrino would have maintained the same point scoring rate. Just because Pellegrino achieved 8 points in the preceding 8 games doesn't guarantee that he'd have picked up another 8 points in the remaining 8 games. So, the most accurate assessment is that we'll never actually know whether Hughes got more points than Pellegrino would have done. Different people will have different hunches though, which is fine.

 

It's not a hypothesis it's a simple comparison of two equal periods.

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It's not a hypothesis it's a simple comparison of two equal periods.
Eights games mid-season for a manager with a full pre-season and 30-odd games behind him is not the same as eight games for a new manager coming in to salvage a season.

 

Calling those two periods "equal" is itself a hypothesis.

 

Hughes sharpened us up and we stayed up. That's simple.

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An enjoyable game for the neutral to enjoy.

 

A good performance from a Saints fan performance if we had drawn or lost.

 

A great performance for a LONG awaited win.

 

Lets hope it is onward and upward from here.

 

The only negative observation from yesterday's game was that we were fortunate to play Arsenal when they were short of defenders and it showed.

 

That said they had formidable attacking options and we were able to cope with them reasonably well

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Hughes didn't actually improve us at all. For the 8 games he was with us for at the end of last season, we scored 8 points. The 8 games before that we scored 8 points. He maintained it but effort levels did rise tbh. It's a myth he improved us.

 

Ralph will definitely improve us though.

 

I'm quite happy that we played better under Hughes for those 8 games than we had all season with Pellegrino.

 

Still shouldn't have given him a contract in summer though.

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Yes, we did improve with the appointment of Hughes (otherwise we would have gone down).

 

But to try and compare that to the transformation into what looked like a completely different team, such as we saw today, is quite erroneous. The two situations are in no way comparable.

 

We did not go down because Swansea were so bad is an opinion held by many football fans

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Ho assured was Valery? He's going to be a big player for us.

Agreed

I think he did extremely well yesterday, ok he lost his man in the build up to their first goal, but then we have seen the vastly more experienced Cedric skinned by lesser players.

When he saw the ball out under pressure at the end of the game, voices around me were going "no not there, thats not the place to be doing that", when the ball went dead the cheer that went up from the Northam must have taken away all the aches and pains he was feeling from a full game against a very good side.

Even a blind man could see what a difference Ralph has made in a week, intelligent young players like Valery being given his chance are going to thrive in that kind of environment. How many times have folks been calling for a viable challenge to Cedric, no doubt Jan is the kind of competition he needs too.

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There is bound to be someone far more adept than me at lifting an image to post on here from the Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6501277/Southampton-3-2-Arsenal-Ralph-Hasenhuttl-earns-win.html

 

The lead photo of Charlie Austin heading the winner, has a blurry JWP warming up on the touchline also rising to nod it home, just thought it quite funny.

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This was like watching us from the Koeman/MP days, probably a little too early to read too much into it...but it was a seriously impressive showing tactically, I have to say.

 

We used to press under Pelligrino, Puel and Hughes in a half-hearted manner, maybe 1 or 2 token efforts. However yesterday there was a plan, a cohesive team effort and a tactical understanding of when to press, in which areas to press and how many press at a time. When you play like that against anyone you worry teams, you fluster them, you force them into rash clearances and mistakes - which is what we did.

 

This is exactly the sort of setup I think Hojbjerg will thrive in if I’m honest, he isn't massively quick, but he reads the game well and can snap in and set the tempo - I've always thought he's better on the front foot rather than defensively anyway. Romeu still looks rusty as hell, but I'm sure he'll get his sharpness back....

 

Bednerak was the best of the bunch at the back, although as a unit it was tons better, I have to say. It shows what a bit of coaching and tactical instruction can do, as the players seemed keen to implement the plan. I just feel over the last 3 years we've just been told to go out and 'pass the football' without much thought for anything else. Teams like ourselves have a better chance of doing well if we pressure teams and force them into errors.

 

We still have huge deficiencies in the squad though and there is still work to do, but the path is seemingly looking like the correct path and the players are buying into what they are being told. I loved the new guys passion at the end, that will rub off on everyone.

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If Pellegrino was still our manager we'd still be waiting to get off that coach in Swansea.

 

Hughes clearly instilled more fight and grit in us last season. He changed defensive shape and we got a bit more solid. He threw on strikers away at Swansea and one of them got the crucial goal. Anyone think Pelligrino would have thrown on the extra striker at Swansea?

 

Saying Hughes did nothing for us last season is churlish self-deception.

 

That said, he's not a very good manager.

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This was like watching us from the Koeman/MP days, probably a little too early to read too much into it...but it was a seriously impressive showing tactically, I have to say.

 

We used to press under Pelligrino, Puel and Hughes in a half-hearted manner, maybe 1 or 2 token efforts. However yesterday there was a plan, a cohesive team effort and a tactical understanding of when to press, in which areas to press and how many press at a time. When you play like that against anyone you worry teams, you fluster them, you force them into rash clearances and mistakes - which is what we did.

 

This is exactly the sort of setup I think Hojbjerg will thrive in if I’m honest, he isn't massively quick, but he reads the game well and can snap in and set the tempo - I've always thought he's better on the front foot rather than defensively anyway. Romeu still looks rusty as hell, but I'm sure he'll get his sharpness back....

 

Bednerak was the best of the bunch at the back, although as a unit it was tons better, I have to say. It shows what a bit of coaching and tactical instruction can do, as the players seemed keen to implement the plan. I just feel over the last 3 years we've just been told to go out and 'pass the football' without much thought for anything else. Teams like ourselves have a better chance of doing well if we pressure teams and force them into errors.

 

We still have huge deficiencies in the squad though and there is still work to do, but the path is seemingly looking like the correct path and the players are buying into what they are being told. I loved the new guys passion at the end, that will rub off on everyone.

 

Indeed I loved our tempo of the game.

 

I watched quite a bit of training recently and I have noticed the players are crashing into each other loads more.

I agree it’s not great for our injury purposes but it surely makes the players more fitter and stronger during the proper matches.

How good did it feel when loads of Arsenal players were going to ground plus the way we scared the shi.te out of any players that likes to dribble with it.

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Agreed

I think he did extremely well yesterday, ok he lost his man in the build up to their first goal, but then we have seen the vastly more experienced Cedric skinned by lesser players.

When he saw the ball out under pressure at the end of the game, voices around me were going "no not there, thats not the place to be doing that", when the ball went dead the cheer that went up from the Northam must have taken away all the aches and pains he was feeling from a full game against a very good side.

Even a blind man could see what a difference Ralph has made in a week, intelligent young players like Valery being given his chance are going to thrive in that kind of environment. How many times have folks been calling for a viable challenge to Cedric, no doubt Jan is the kind of competition he needs too.

 

I thought precisely the same there. He showed great strength!

 

 

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For those that are criticising Romeu, and he should be criticised for dallying with the ball in front of his box instead of clearing it, it should be noted that he ran further than any player on the pitch, 7.6 miles, Michitaryan was the next with 7.2 miles. Valery had the most sprints, 26 but I still hope to see him not hesitate when facing the last defender and take him on.

 

Another match won with 34% possession. Last week 67%ish lost. As far as the figures went we had 3 more shots on target. On target 7/4, missed target 1/4, blocked 4/5.

 

Possession is useful only if it's used. Results wise we won and equalled the output despite having half the possession.

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Am I right thinking that the fanbase in the main is the most united since Koemans arrival??
One swallow doesnt make a summer but in the stadium was the best for about 2 years...its the hope that kills you.

Watch Motd2 and Shearer talking about Ings etc that passage of pressing had nearly everyone up and whats been missing.

If only Claude had started like that :-)

 

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One swallow doesnt make a summer but in the stadium was the best for about 2 years...its the hope that kills you.

Watch Motd2 and Shearer talking about Ings etc that passage of pressing had nearly everyone up and whats been missing.

If only Claude had started like that :-)

 

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I remember the atmosphere in the first leg of the league cup being electric.

The difference I believe is that nowthe fans seem to have taken to Ralph and not worried about his lack of good English in interviews etc. it is good to have a pretty united fanbase

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For those that are criticising Romeu, and he should be criticised for dallying with the ball in front of his box instead of clearing it, it should be noted that he ran further than any player on the pitch, 7.6 miles, Michitaryan was the next with 7.2 miles. Valery had the most sprints, 26 but I still hope to see him not hesitate when facing the last defender and take him on.

 

Another match won with 34% possession. Last week 67%ish lost. As far as the figures went we had 3 more shots on target. On target 7/4, missed target 1/4, blocked 4/5.

 

Possession is useful only if it's used. Results wise we won and equalled the output despite having half the possession.

Arsenal spent a fair bit of time passing it around in their own half.

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For those that are criticising Romeu, and he should be criticised for dallying with the ball in front of his box instead of clearing it, it should be noted that he ran further than any player on the pitch, 7.6 miles, Michitaryan was the next with 7.2 miles. Valery had the most sprints, 26 but I still hope to see him not hesitate when facing the last defender and take him on.

 

Another match won with 34% possession. Last week 67%ish lost. As far as the figures went we had 3 more shots on target. On target 7/4, missed target 1/4, blocked 4/5.

 

Possession is useful only if it's used. Results wise we won and equalled the output despite having half the possession.

 

For me that was a main part of the problem. He got caught out of poistion far to often leaving space for HM to pick the ball up in the pockets. It could have been the instructions, but at times he was running like a headless chicken. I’d have prefered to see him more controlled sitting in front of the back 3.

 

Personally I don’t think he’s suited to play in a 2, he’s better at the base of a 3, imo

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Great performance and a great result which we thoroughly deserved. To me it was apparent in the first 10 minutes how the team had several specific instructions which changed how we played. The effort to press their defence has been mentioned here and on MOTD2, but also there seemed to be a no backpass to the keeper rule as just about everyone looked for a forward pass even when the keeper was on. Redmond and Armstrong seemed to have instructions to drive forwards at their defence, with no checking back and slowing play allowed. We were engaging them in tackles about 10 to 15 yards inside their half, which protected our defence and helped isolate their attackers. We looked like an intelligent team - managers, coaches and players - and it was like a breath of fresh air.

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