Southampton 1-1 Leicester - Match Thread

[the saint in winchester]

If we play like we did first half vs Tottenham we can get a goal or two. But we have to sustain it for the whole game, as Leicester are a strong second half side.

I want to see us get something, but I do have Ihanacheo as FPL captain and I can see him scoring again against us.

I'd also like to see Minamino in there, and ideally Janko, but that isn't going to happen with Ralph.

[ant]

14 goals in 14 for Iheanacho. 

[supersonic]

41 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I can see us playing differently. We were paralysed by caution/fear in that semi. Less to lose in this one.

Not saying we'll win, mind

Absolutely nothing from the past 19 games gives me your confidence things will change 

[SKD]

11 hours ago, LeG said:

Play for a 0-0 draw and lets get this season over with. 

You know what, I wouldn’t actually be that disappointed if it was the case. 
 

At least Ralph would show some kind of thought to change things. 

[Thedandysaint]

I think we need to play for a 0-0 even if we get beat we need some practice at the back.

Also if I see us with essentially 2 at the back in the second half of a game and vestergaard is level with our forwards without the ball I'm gonna explode.

Wolves away this season we were looking good they sat back then ran 4-5 players down the channels and we just ignored it then conceded.

If we can't sense danger why are we pushing so high/committing players?

[Matthew Le God]

50 minutes ago, Thedandysaint said:

Also if I see us with essentially 2 at the back in the second half of a game and vestergaard is level with our forwards without the ball I'm gonna explode.

Wolves away this season we were looking good they sat back then ran 4-5 players down the channels and we just ignored it then conceded.

If we can't sense danger why are we pushing so high/committing players?

Vestergaard only goes upfront in the final few minutes when we are losing as a last throw of the dice. He is there for someone to hit a long ball to.

[Thedandysaint]

He also steps up to make a pass and if we loose it he gets caught in no man's land as he's not the quickest. 

[captainchris]

29 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Vestergaard only goes upfront in the final few minutes when we are losing as a last throw of the dice. He is there for someone to hit a long ball to.

Not sure you watch the team or understand what was said in that post. I’m not going to explain for you. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Vestergaard only goes upfront in the final few minutes when we are losing as a last throw of the dice. He is there for someone to hit a long ball to.

But he's the one who hits the long balls.

I think I can see where we are going wrong here.

[suewhistle]

Yep, he definitely hasn't got the pace for that..

I'm sure I saw complaints when we didn't throw Vestergaard forward and now I'm seeing complaints when we do. Complaining about no plan B and then complaining when we change personnel (whether enforced or not) and change formation. Asking for subs and then moaning about them.  What I see from a lot of posters is the confidence they are right and denigrating others' opinions. This is a sad place at the moment, and not just because we're playing badly. I find the unremitting negativity from some people tiring and I find myself coming on here less and less.

[Thedandysaint]

So your happy playing two at the back?

Also we aren't very physical, not the best winning headers either.

[The Cat]

How about we start with Vestergaard up front? He could be our version of Paul Warhurst. 

Launch balls forward, get players close to him and pick up the knock downs. Sounds pretty simple.

[SKD]

Leicester aren’t playing all that well at the moment, so I think 9-0 is out of the window. However, they’ll still have more than enough for us. 
 

i’m going for a boring 2-0 defeat. 

[Charlie Wayman]

6 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Vestergaard only goes upfront in the final few minutes when we are losing as a last throw of the dice. He is there for someone to hit a long ball to.

All fine and dandy but it's a tactic that has never worked for us. It's a pointless vanity project for the big man.

[Whitey Grandad]

57 minutes ago, SKD said:

Leicester aren’t playing all that well at the moment, so I think 9-0 is out of the window. However, they’ll still have more than enough for us. 
 

i’m going for a boring 2-0 defeat. 

So you think we will only score two?

[LiberalCommunist]

2-1 Saints win. 

[JustinSFC]

3 hours ago, The Cat said:

How about we start with Vestergaard up front? He could be our version of Paul Warhurst. 

Launch balls forward, get players close to him and pick up the knock downs. Sounds pretty simple.

That as crazy as it sounds ain't half a bad shout.

He's pretty decent on the ball and can head the ball brilliantly.

He wouldn't be an awful centre forward and I wonder if he's ever played there.

[Jonnyboy]

Didn't some of our good form in 2020 coincide with a 3-5-2 sort of formation or did I dream that? 

[SKD]

9 hours ago, Jonnyboy said:

Didn't some of our good form in 2020 coincide with a 3-5-2 sort of formation or did I dream that? 

No, but I did coincide with a freak run without an injury for ings and him finding the form of his life. 
 

When his goals dried up or injuries reoccurred, we dropped back to usual. 

[Sarnia Cherie]

Hopefully that Covidiot Maddison won't be fit to play. 

[egg]

Well there'll be goals I'd imagine, and I fancy us to score at least one of them. 

I'll go for an entertaining 2-2 draw. Adams and Vestergaard. 

[Jonnyboy]

7 hours ago, SKD said:

No, but I did coincide with a freak run without an injury for ings and him finding the form of his life. 
 

When his goals dried up or injuries reoccurred, we dropped back to usual. 

Maybe Ralph should revisit that formation seeing as we've been utterly shyte in 2021.

[SKD]

22 minutes ago, Jonnyboy said:

Maybe Ralph should revisit that formation seeing as we've been utterly shyte in 2021.

Or maybe it was the player, rather than the managers formation....

[qwertyell]

No hiding place for the manager and his apologists with this one. Not saying we should expect to beat a team in the top 4, but with 11 days rest compared to their 3 days, the old excuse of our players being tired, of the schedule being against us, of not having enough time to prepare, is off the table.

If we still can't turn up to a second half and put in a proper shift over the whole 90 minutes, the jig's up.

Edited 28 April, 2021 by qwertyell

[WALK DMC]

2 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

No hiding place for the manager and his apologists with this one. Not saying we should expect to beat a team in the top 4, but with 11 days rest compared to their 3 days, the old excuse of our players being tired, of the schedule being against us, of not having enough time to prepare, is off the table.

If we still can't turn up to a second half and put in a proper shift over the whole 90 minutes, the jig's up.

This is just nonsense. Leicester City don't have the reputation or prestige of the Chelsea and Liverpool's of this world but they are a damned fine football team. Yes we need to put in a good performance, but statements such as "the jig's up" are disrespectful to Leicester; even if we were 11th and in satisfactory form, I would still anticipate a loss to a 3rd place team.  I'm hopeful that we can get some sort of result, but a single game isn't going to determine the Manager's fate. It will be the next 6, the previous 15 and the first half of the season that all need to be considered. 

The team are drained of confidence, but I still feel with a little it of luck we can get something out of this. Let's get behind the team - they need it at the moment !

[qwertyell]

32 minutes ago, WALK DMC said:

This is just nonsense. Leicester City don't have the reputation or prestige of the Chelsea and Liverpool's of this world but they are a damned fine football team. Yes we need to put in a good performance, but statements such as "the jig's up" are disrespectful to Leicester; even if we were 11th and in satisfactory form, I would still anticipate a loss to a 3rd place team.  I'm hopeful that we can get some sort of result, but a single game isn't going to determine the Manager's fate. It will be the next 6, the previous 15 and the first half of the season that all need to be considered. 

The team are drained of confidence, but I still feel with a little it of luck we can get something out of this. Let's get behind the team - they need it at the moment !

It has little to do with the result - we wouldn't expect to beat a top 4 team very often if at all.

But what we should expect - especially with substantially more rest and preparation time under our belt - is a far better level of performance than we've been throwing in lately. And, perhaps more importantly, one that can be sustained over the majority of a game.

If we can't play for 90 minutes with 11 days rest, if we can't get properly organised into less of shambles with 11 days preparation, then what's the flipping point? How is this manager going to turn things around? How much more time does he need?

But thanks for adding a few more excuses to the list: confidence and luck are also against us. And the referees, of course...

Edited 28 April, 2021 by qwertyell

[JRM]

Has there been any confirmation on what Ings injury is and how long he's expected to be out for? 

I notice Michael o'Bafemi features in lots of the training pics so at least we have him as an attacking option again, 

[whiteleySaint30]

13 hours ago, JRM said:

Has there been any confirmation on what Ings injury is and how long he's expected to be out for? 

I notice Michael o'Bafemi features in lots of the training pics so at least we have him as an attacking option

Your suggesting having Obafemi as an attacking option is a positive......nowhere good enough.

[Super_Uwe]

Big game for Ralph and the players.

I just want to see some evidence that there are better days ahead with this team. At the moment we are stuck in a terrible rut, we may not beat Leicester but let's at least hope for a battling performance.

[beatlesaint]

I can’t see past a defeat in this game. Leicester are better away from home, they are all out for a Champions League place while we are…..well we will probably put up a decent show in the first half, may even take the lead, but as so often happens the second half will be a shit show.

Come on Saints, prove me wrong…..please !

[Heisenberg]

3-0 Leicester 

[Toussaint]

2 hours ago, whiteleySaint30 said:

Your suggesting having Obafemi as an attacking option is a positive......nowhere good enough.

I take it as a positive, on the basis I will grab hold of anything right now, Redmond, Theo and Moussa have bee abject in recent times, so while I agree he is "nowhere near good enough", it is still possible he will be better than the 3 mentioned.   

[Saint Garrett]

Quite like Obafemi personally, think he's well capable, and gives us another option of the bench, he's considerably better than Nlundulu, and 2 years younger than him.

Any fresh energy into this squad at the moment has to be a positive!

 

[redkeith]

We need to score at least once to get anything from this, as Inneacho is on such a hot streak at the moment.

When the first rumours of Ings not signing his new contract appeared, there was talk of Leicester as a possible buyer, I thought at the time that if he went there, Inneacho would be a good exchange, with some money coming our way as well. 

How times change, now it is more likely that City  would take up there option to buy him back than he gets offloaded to a team likes us. 

 

[Saint Garrett]

Sounds like Ings might be out for the rest of the season, few weeks out...might need Obafemi,

Bertrand also out for Friday.

[JRM]

It's quite possible we won't see Ings and Bertrand play for Saints again, makes sense to try new things anyway if they are leaving regardless of injuries, but bit of a sad way to end their Saints careers. 

[Badger]

14 minutes ago, JRM said:

It's quite possible we won't see Ings and Bertrand play for Saints again, makes sense to try new things anyway if they are leaving regardless of injuries, but bit of a sad way to end their Saints careers. 

Fine in theory, until you realise what Ralph has at his disposal. 

[JRM]

59 minutes ago, Badger said:

Fine in theory, until you realise what Ralph has at his disposal. 

True, it will be Salisu and Adams I'd have thought. 

Missing Bertrand, Romeu and Ings, that's three of our strongest players really. Can't see any points from this game. 

[Vancouver Saint]

The only way I can see us winning this is if our team take the recent SF loss to Leicester personally and actually show some fight on the pitch that they want to win the game more. I missed the Spurs game but gather we were good in the first half...then did our normal disappearing trick second half.

I am actually glad Ings and Bertrand are out. Bertie has been a good servant but his time has come (I look at Matt Targett at Villa and think that was a short-sighted decision to let him go to keep Bertrand). Ings looks like he's been looking outwards for several weeks now. So a chance to get others in to stake their claim before the end of the season.

[Micky]

If we get out with just a 2 goal beating, I'd take it.  That's how utterly abject our season has become. Probably one of the worst seasons I can remember in a long time.  Can we still get relegated or are we safe yet, not that I'm particularly bothered either way.  Club needs a major reboot. 

[rallyboy]

Does the bus company still have an open top double decker?

If this squad gets a point they deserve the full city tour.

 

 

[Streaky]

15 hours ago, Vancouver Saint said:

The only way I can see us winning this is if our team take the recent SF loss to Leicester personally and actually show some fight on the pitch that they want to win the game more. I missed the Spurs game but gather we were good in the first half...then did our normal disappearing trick second half.

I am actually glad Ings and Bertrand are out. Bertie has been a good servant but his time has come (I look at Matt Targett at Villa and think that was a short-sighted decision to let him go to keep Bertrand). Ings looks like he's been looking outwards for several weeks now. So a chance to get others in to stake their claim before the end of the season.

Would like to see a younger team tonight. Tella, jankewitz, obafemi if fit. Have to do something different. Morale is at a all time low.

[Saint Garrett]

I’d be keen to give Jankewitz another chance, but if he’s off in the summer regardless there is little point…

Not sure any saints fan is looking forward to watching us atm.

I’d probably go something like…

 

Forster

KWP Bednarek Vestergaard Salisu

JWP Armstrong

Walcott Adams Tella Djenepo

[Heisenberg]

500/1 for another 9-0 

#justsayin 

[Turkish]

Leicester at home, friday night, bad form, them in good form, few key players injured. What could possibly go wrong.

[SKD]

3 minutes ago, Heisenberg said:

500/1 for another 9-0 

#justsayin 

Worth a insurance bet? 

[Heisenberg]

Just now, SKD said:

Worth a insurance bet? 

If we somehow go 1 up I’ll be ready 😉

[skintsaint]

Just read their forum on this match. One of them said they did the same on here and felt depressed afterwards reading the comments about our own team 😄

[JRM]

30 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Leicester at home, friday night, bad form, them in good form, few key players injured. What could possibly go wrong.

At least with the social media blackout not many people will hear about it 

[Diabolus Ex Machina]

                              Forster

KWP      Bednarek             Vestergaard       Salisu

               JWP                       Diallo

Armstrong                                         Djenepo

               Walcott                Adams

Subs: McCarthy, Redmond, Minamino, Tella, Obafemi, Stephens, N’Lundulu, Jankewitz, Ferry

Think that’s the strongest team we can put out. Ings and Bertrand both big misses but Walcott and Adams have done ok together previously this season when Ings has been out and as Bertrand hasn’t been as active going forward this season then the more defensive Salisu may not make his absence as noticeable.

Redmond, Minamino, Tella and Obafemi all attacking options off the bench if we are chasing the game – I just hope that if Redmond is to come on then it isn’t at the expense of either of the front two as he’s proven to be completely ineffectual whenever he’s played there this season (same with Tella actually). Would much prefer to stick Obafemi up there if one of them comes off if he’s fit enough.