Saints 4-1 Brentford - Match Thread

[Teddeer]

Thomas Frank claiming Saints didn't create anything in the match. Yes, apart from 3 great goals from open play and a neat headed goal from a well taken corner - apart from that nothing. You watched a completely different game to the rest of us Thomas. I believe it's called sour grapes.

[Turkish]

4 minutes ago, John B said:

We won because the players made few mistakes and played really well whereas Brentford did not

Correct, Pontus Jansen was a liability, gave the ball away at least twice in dangerous positions. played Adams on side for his goal and was caught by Broja for us. We played well, but took advantage of some poor play from them as well. Of course you could always say any goal could be avoided if a defender hadn't done what they did and Broja and Adams still had to find the back of the net, but Brentford were poor. 

[danjosaint]

My Leeds mate was over the moon when they moved on Pontus Jansen

[DT]

24 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Im glad he makes you calm lol. He pushed 2outfor the Swansea players on Sunday and if they had been better quality it could have done for us, add to that he got close to taking a cross over the line. Hes a decent keeper but lets not get carried away. I do accept he is more dominant and was shouting at the defence last night

Check the results since he's come in

[The Left Back]

11 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

I don't quite know how to react after that, it's all a very surreal and unusual feeling in a PL game. To be that comfortable in the final 10 mins is something i've dreamt of for many years! 

We started so well and so fast, this has become a bit of a statement of our season so far - we start well, we get on the front food and are seemingly taking lots of early leads in games as we catch the opposition asleep. We're on it from min 1 and we were even more on it today. We didn't play as well as we can do in the first half, but we played with an intensity which Brentford found hard to counter - so they couldn't really get into the game because of that.

The second half played into our hands really, Brentford pushed and opened the game up a bit. That left great space in behind for us to counter press to our hearts content. They had the majority of possession in that 2nd half, but because our press was still spot on we nullified a lot of their threat and were able to catch them in behind on a few occasions (notably the two goals, in behind, over the top etc). 

That game in a nutshell is our philosophy working to perfection. No, we won't have tons of possession, but we will press the living hell out of you and counter when we get it with pace and power.

JWP was absolutely imperious. A glorious performance all around from him, absolutely faultless. Big clubs will undoubtedly be sniffing with those sorts of showings. Diallo for me as well was epic. So good on the ball, so agile in his movement. He plays better in a more advanced central midfield role than a 'Romeu' replacement in my eyes, you get the best of Diallo by letting him burst forward as he has terrific pace and trickery to beat a man.

Broja kept the Brentford defence on guard all night long. He was electric. He's so quick, so powerful and they were scared shitless of him. He's got the beating of anyone one on one, the attributes he provides us are perfect. I don't think we can sign him perm, but I'd be doing everything now to try and do a deal for a 2nd season loan.

I can't list all the 11 as they all had good games to reasonable effect. Lyanco had a better 2nd half than first half, whereby he was a bit dodgy and dangerous with the ball. He settled down a bit in the 2nd half. Perruad as others have said offered us balance on the left side, he does lack that quality to get the ball in though - he needs to be better with the final delivery to be a proper wing back in this type of system.

It was important to get this big win in advance of what is a very daunting run of fixtures heading our way, this gives us terrific breathing space and in a certain respect the pressure is slightly off - so we may see some surprising results from the games we don't expect anything in. We can certainly cause anyone a problem if we play as we did today.

Was going to do my own write up but it would have been 90% this.  Only things I would have added were...

1 hour ago, Give it to Ron said:

Perraud had a good game bar his crossing. He defended really well closed his man down quickly.

He was an outlet all night and troubled Brentford all night.

Just end product needs to be better but credit where due he had played well

I really like Perraud.  His end product needs a bit of work but he is a proper left back and last night looked a proper wing back.  Given he played 120 minutes on Saturday he showed JWP levels of energy last night.  His defensive play was decent and he was a constant threat.  He's only young (22?) so will develop as a player.  I think he will be a great asset for us.

30 minutes ago, DT said:

been saying this for ages re FF. He emanates calm to the back four. McCarthy emanates jittery confusion.

Was talking about Forster on the way out.  He does seem to emanate calm but we're not sure why.  He is statuesque and a barn door.  The ball seems to get attracted to him.  He's seems to move in slow motion.  I can't quite put my finger on it but we do seem to play better when he's in goal.  I've said before that neither of our keepers are what we need and it's a toss of a coin over who is better.  But there is something about Fraser that is reassuring (and also comedic).

11 minutes ago, TWar said:

No idea why people are so bothered by the phone thing. The crowd seemed to be having fun with it.

I thought it was symbolic of the fun being had by the crowd last night.  Not sure why anyone could get arsey about it.  It's so rare for us not to have butt-clenching, heart-pounding, nail-biting finishes to a game that the crowd seemed to need something to do with their adrenaline.  There was all sorts of groups singing, shouting, joking, cheering.  The banter was rife.  The 'oles' were there. We were all a bit delirious.  and when the phone thing started (in the Itchen I think) it just added to the weird hilarity of the evening.  It could even have been an ironic gesture - that the game was more like a show than a competitive match.

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

My Leeds mate was over the moon when they moved on Pontus Jansen

They did well out of that one. They got Ben White in to replace him.

We were linked with him for quite some time back in the Wilson and Les days, looks quite slow to say the least.

Edited 12 January, 2022 by S-Clarke

[beatlesaint]

6 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

Thomas Frank claiming Saints didn't create anything in the match. Yes, apart from 3 great goals from open play and a neat headed goal from a well taken corner - apart from that nothing. You watched a completely different game to the rest of us Thomas. I believe it's called sour grapes.

He should think himself lucky then cos with that keeper they were fortunate to keep it down to four. He should be concerning himself more about him.

[OldNick]

2 minutes ago, DT said:

Check the results since he's come in

Yep but hasnt the whole team improved a lot in the last 5 or so games? Im happy to have him in goal but he is not the messiah as I get nervous when high balls come in with him there. Aka Spurs lol

[Tank]

Jans Bednerak must be our 2nd highest goal scorer ... if you count both ends of the pitch

[Tank]

Listening to Danny Mills slagging down Saints on talksport and having to eat his words every 10 minutes was a plesh

[DT]

39 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Yep but hasnt the whole team improved a lot in the last 5 or so games? Im happy to have him in goal but he is not the messiah as I get nervous when high balls come in with him there. Aka Spurs lol

No-one is arguing he is Peter Shilton. But he is slightly better than our other options.

Edited 12 January, 2022 by DT

[DT]

21 minutes ago, Tank said:

Listening to Danny Mills slagging down Saints on talksport and having to eat his words every 10 minutes was a plesh

Wasn't he a total arse?

[warsash saint]

1 hour ago, eurosaint said:

I agree with this but he did bottle the second yellow for Toney !

It was clear cut....

Was it??

I was sat right in front of incident - ref got it right in my opinion

[Sheaf Saint]

Just watched the highlights again. 

That through ball from Romeu for Broja's goal! 😍😍

[waylander]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

They did well out of that one. They got Ben White in to replace him.

We were linked with him for quite some time back in the Wilson and Les days, looks quite slow to say the least.

Even slower than Vestergaard

 

[Tamesaint]

The result from last night and the last few matches along with the absence of certain posters from this thread perhaps indicates that fhe "cult of Hasenhuttl" were correct.  😁😁

[SirWoody]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

Listening to Danny Mills slagging down Saints on talksport and having to eat his words every 10 minutes was a plesh

Cannot stand Danny Mills - arrogant, ill informed, pillock 

[JRM]

Only 1 defeat at home so far this season (out of 10 games) , ok only 3 wins with 6 draws but feels like an improvement and a bit more positivity around the ground. 

[Give it to Ron]

43 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Just watched the highlights again. 

That through ball from Romeu for Broja's goal! 😍😍

But we didn’t create anything though it must have been a clearance 🙂

[manji]

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

The result from last night and the last few matches along with the absence of certain posters from this thread perhaps indicates that fhe "cult of Hasenhuttl" were correct.  😁😁

I have always been a Ralph loyalist but I started to waver after the Norwich defeat but I am so glad the board have stayed with him

Edited 12 January, 2022 by manji

[WALK DMC]

58 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

The result from last night and the last few matches along with the absence of certain posters from this thread perhaps indicates that fhe "cult of Hasenhuttl" were correct.  😁😁

I am a Ralph man and was disappointed by the name calling that accompanied anyone who dared to stand up for him. However, I do recognise it is a forum and it is all part & parcel of the interactions. 

In fairness to the anti-Ralph crowd, a lot of their criticism was due to his lack of flexibility and his continued desire to always play 4-2-2-2, however in our recent improved run he has played 4-1-4-1 (West Ham) and 3 at the back against both Spurs & Brentford, so they also had a point or two worth considering. 

This forum's mood does change on a day to day basis (sometimes minute by minute during a game), so Ralph should enjoy the praise he is getting today, as with Wolves, Man City, Tottenham & Man U coming next I imagine we will see his critics back on this board with a vengeance and an immediate return of the "cult" insult. C'est la vie. 

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, trousers said:

Yeah, and I'm still embarrassed by it nearly 5 years later. I've only just started going to Sainsbury's without wearing a balaclava if truth be told. 

Good to hear, almost embarrassing as the gay wave at fratton park 

[Turkish]

48 minutes ago, JRM said:

Only 1 defeat at home so far this season (out of 10 games) , ok only 3 wins with 6 draws but feels like an improvement and a bit more positivity around the ground. 

“How shit must you be we’re winning at home” sung last night too 🤷🏾‍♂️

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, SirWoody said:

Cannot stand Danny Mills - arrogant, ill informed, pillock 

He plays at my golf club and he’s a good lad actually. Makes me laugh when people call ex players still involved heavily in football ill informed 🤣

[Nordic Saint]

8 hours ago, Mark Mywords said:

In his native Albania he is called Broy-ya. As he has lived in England since his birth, his name has been pronounced (or mis-pronounced) as Bro-ja and that has stuck. Hope that helps.

Spot on. He must have had to use two versions of his surname, growing up: the Albanian one with his parents and the Anglicized version at school. 

[Lighthouse]

I call him Broy-a because it annoys me when Americans, like Brad Keslowski, can’t pronounce their own names correctly. To me it would be like mispronouncing Sarajevo, Hajduk Split or Banja Luka, in that Balkan region.

[The Cat]

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

“How shit must you be we’re winning at home” sung last night too 🤷🏾‍♂️

That's so standard now. Also see "how shit must you be we're winning away."

Something that's crept in more and more the past few seasons is the nearly automatic "who are ya?" chant which comes straight after a goal. Sing the players name? Nah, shout that to the opposition fans no matter who they are. All teams seem to do it now and should stop.

Quite glad the Stuart, Adam Armstrong No Limits chant didn't fully catch on although I expect it will. 

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, The Cat said:

That's so standard now. Also see "how shit must you be we're winning away."

Something that's crept in more and more the past few seasons is the nearly automatic "who are ya?" chant which comes straight after a goal. Sing the players name? Nah, shout that to the opposition fans no matter who they are. All teams seem to do it now and should stop.

Quite glad the Stuart, Adam Armstrong No Limits chant didn't fully catch on although I expect it will. 

Is that like the Yaya/Kolo Toure song City used to do with those muggy hand movements? I remember some oddballs tried to get that going for Steven/Kelvin Davis at Barnsley away a few years ago, helmets.

[Christophenburg]

2 hours ago, Tank said:

Listening to Danny Mills slagging down Saints on talksport and having to eat his words every 10 minutes was a plesh

What is Danny Mills' problem with Saints? Can't think of any club connection in his history that'd imply a dislike of Saints. It's a shame as he seems a nice guy, does a huge amount for charity!

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

The result from last night and the last few matches along with the absence of certain posters from this thread perhaps indicates that fhe "cult of Hasenhuttl" were correct.  😁😁

(To clarify - Ralph deserves credit where credit is due, and criticism where it's warranted - no-one should be above criticism. I'm glad things have turned around though - the set-up last night was near perfect)

Edited 12 January, 2022 by Christophenburg

[Nordic Saint]

24 minutes ago, The Cat said:

That's so standard now. Also see "how shit must you be we're winning away."

Something that's crept in more and more the past few seasons is the nearly automatic "who are ya?" chant which comes straight after a goal. Sing the players name? Nah, shout that to the opposition fans no matter who they are. All teams seem to do it now and should stop.

Quite glad the Stuart, Adam Armstrong No Limits chant didn't fully catch on although I expect it will. 

I hadn't heard the "You're just a small town in...." song for a while, as in last night's "You're just a small town in Reading." But, to be fair, the Brentford fans started it with their gleeful reference to Portsmouth earlier on, and lived to regret it. Maybe we could have had a more unusual twist to it like, "You're just a small team in nylons" But, I doubt that younger fans have even heard of Brentford Nylons, which was about all that Brentord was once famous for. They went into administration in 1976. 

Brentford Nylons - YouTube

[badgerx16]

3 hours ago, The Left Back said:

 It's so rare for us not to have butt-clenching, heart-pounding, nail-biting finishes to a game.......

I don't know about that: 4-1 up with 5 minutes to p!ay I was as nervous as if we were defending 1-1 with 9 men. Must be something to do with supporting Saints for over 50 years.

Edited 12 January, 2022 by badgerx16

[spyinthesky]

3 hours ago, DT said:

Check the results since he's come in

I much rather have either of our keepers that the Brentford chappie (and I realise he is not first choice)
Also there are other 'keepers around in the Prem worse than our two.
To my mind they are subject to a lot of unjustifiable criticism.
That said neither of them are good at distribution.

[spyinthesky]

1 minute ago, Nordic Saint said:

I hadn't heard the "You're just a small town in...." song for a while, as in last night's "You're just a small town in Reading." But, to be fair, the Brentford fans started it with their gleeful reference to Portsmouth earlier on, and lived to regret it. Maybe we could have had a more unusual twist to it like, "You're just a small team in nylons" But, I doubt that younger fans have even heard of Brentford Nylons, which was about all that Brentord was once famous for. They went into administration in 1976. 

Brentford Nylons - YouTube

'You're shit and your shop went bust' has a ring to it but would be lost on the younger generation!!  or 'You're just a shit London Borough by the busy M40' is probably too much of a mouthful!!

[niceandfriendly]

4 hours ago, trousers said:

Come on. It ruins peoples' lives. Have some empathy for those suffering FFS.

Imagine being that insecure that it affects you like it does the usual melts on here. 

Edited 12 January, 2022 by niceandfriendly

[northam soul]

23 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

I hadn't heard the "You're just a small town in...." song for a while, as in last night's "You're just a small town in Reading." But, to be fair, the Brentford fans started it with their gleeful reference to Portsmouth earlier on, and lived to regret it. Maybe we could have had a more unusual twist to it like, "You're just a small team in nylons" But, I doubt that younger fans have even heard of Brentford Nylons, which was about all that Brentord was once famous for. They went into administration in 1976. 

Brentford Nylons - YouTube

Didn’t they have a shop in East street near Debenhams if I remember correctly.

[BERMUDASAINT]

13 hours ago, Dan Johnson said:

James Ward-Prowse, James Ward-Prowse, James Ward fucking Prowse!!

What a monumental performance, utterly exemplary, the absolute optimity of what you want from a captain. Sensational.

for me, he stays at the club the rest of his career he becomes the legend of legends, he really does.

His fitness, work rate , Commitment, Desire, and Passion is unequalled and unquestionably.

my motm by a country mile and that’s with some club best performances by the likes of Diallo, Broja, Perraud 

Mr Saint, will be a club legend! Always backed the player and now he is proving to all doubters how good he is. He will be a word record holder, best free kicker taker of all time! Mr Saint is the corner stone of our club, long may he prosper and thrive at our club!

[The Left Back]

28 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I much rather have either of our keepers that the Brentford chappie (and I realise he is not first choice)
Also there are other 'keepers around in the Prem worse than our two.
To my mind they are subject to a lot of unjustifiable criticism.
That said neither of them are good at distribution.

As well as being not very good, Fernandez must be the shortest keeper I've seen for a while.  Someone near me looked up his height during the game and said it was 6ft 1in, which brought a chorus of 'liar, liar,' when he next had the ball followed by shouts about him wearing platforms or standing on a step when the measurement was taken.

[BERMUDASAINT]

4 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

Missed the game so just seen the highlights. Looks like we put in a terrific display. Fantastic stuff.

 

Hopefully we can kick on now into the top half. We're not going down, we're obviously far better than last season, let's see what we can achieve. 

You can watch it on fullmatchtv.com

[Chez]

4 hours ago, The Left Back said:

I really like Perraud.  His end product needs a bit of work but he is a proper left back and last night looked a proper wing back.  Given he played 120 minutes on Saturday he showed JWP levels of energy last night.  His defensive play was decent and he was a constant threat.  He's only young (22?) so will develop as a player.  I think he will be a great asset for us.

He's 24, so, possibly what you see now, is what you will get going forward, which is a very hard working, committed left back. Which is a bloody good start.

I repeat what I've said on previous threads - it's great to get that desire, and a left footer, but technically he doesn't look gifted. I hope I am wrong (I often am) and he starts to really shine as he grows in confidence, but on what I've seen, which is not a huge number of games yet, I'm not convinced we have a top quality player on our hands. 

[niceandfriendly]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

He's 24, so, possibly what you see now, is what you will get going forward, which is a very hard working, committed left back. Which is a bloody good start.

I repeat what I've said on previous threads - it's great to get that desire, and a left footer, but technically he doesn't look gifted. I hope I am wrong (I often am) and he starts to really shine as he grows in confidence, but on what I've seen, which is not a huge number of games yet, I'm not convinced we have a top quality player on our hands. 

I think that's a fair assessment. I quite like him, certainly good enough to be starting for us, and as you say he's passionate, industrious and offers more balance to the side as he's a natural left footer. Don't think we'll lose him to a bigger club anytime soon though which isn't the worst thing in the world.

[LiberalCommunist]

Their first choice keeper Raya has been out injured for three months. And he's still ranked as their second highest rated player in the opta stats for them.

They should be very worried. I can see them getting sucked into a fight that they won't win. 

[WokingSaint]

4 hours ago, DT said:

No-one is arguing he is Peter Shilton. But he is slightly better than our other options.

FF  is great at blocking shots/goal efforts at close range. His huge frame just shuts things off. But, hit the ball towards the corners fom 15 - 20 yards and he is beaten. Also he still doesn't perform well on crosses. AM has more agility and is better at crosses. Overall not much between them.

[rooney]

5 hours ago, Tank said:

Listening to Danny Mills slagging down Saints on talksport and having to eat his words every 10 minutes was a plesh

Owen Hargreaves was the same at the start on the live stream I was watching. He said we have problems scoring goals after Danny Ings has left. Clearly he did not know the result of the WH and Swansea game. He began to change his tune as the game progressed and as  co pundit Sherwood bumped us up.

[Saint Garrett]

1 hour ago, LiberalCommunist said:

Their first choice keeper Raya has been out injured for three months. And he's still ranked as their second highest rated player in the opta stats for them.

They should be very worried. I can see them getting sucked into a fight that they won't win. 

Luckily for them, they got those recent wins against Watford and Villa, otherwise they'd be right in the shit.  Having got those two results, I can't see them being sucked in this season.  Expect them to go down next season though. 

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

He's 24, so, possibly what you see now, is what you will get going forward, which is a very hard working, committed left back. Which is a bloody good start.

I repeat what I've said on previous threads - it's great to get that desire, and a left footer, but technically he doesn't look gifted. I hope I am wrong (I often am) and he starts to really shine as he grows in confidence, but on what I've seen, which is not a huge number of games yet, I'm not convinced we have a top quality player on our hands. 

Very fair assessment of him. I described him as a bit of a terrier, never giving away much space and not afraid to get stuck in. He doesn't hide and you can never have any question marks about his application. From what I've seen he just lacks that bit of quality, it really does show when he's being expected to attack as he doesn't produce that final ball.

Decent player to have around longer-term I can see Small as our LB.

[Saint Garrett]

I like Perraud, thought he was excellent last night.  He's not played much this season, and hasn't let anyone down when he has played.  Will be interesting to see how he gets on with a prolonged time in the side if Tino is out for a while.

[Sheaf Saint]

13 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Very fair assessment of him. I described him as a bit of a terrier, never giving away much space and not afraid to get stuck in. He doesn't hide and you can never have any question marks about his application. From what I've seen he just lacks that bit of quality, it really does show when he's being expected to attack as he doesn't produce that final ball.

Decent player to have around longer-term I can see Small as our LB.

The prospect of Small and Tino as the wing backs in the formation we played last night is a very exciting one.

Not sure where that leaves KWP though.

[Totton Saint]

5 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Just watched the highlights again. 

That through ball from Romeu for Broja's goal! 😍😍

Yes Romeo played as well as anyone else from wha i could see on TV

[SaintTex]

20 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

I like Perraud, thought he was excellent last night.  He's not played much this season, and hasn't let anyone down when he has played.  Will be interesting to see how he gets on with a prolonged time in the side if Tino is out for a while.

I like Perraud as well. Solid; hasn't let anyone down.

the discussion on his lack of quality in the final third is interesting. I thought coming in to the club from Brest that was supposed to be a strength. Had 3 goals and 7 assists his last season in Ligue1.

hopefully that will come in due time. maybe he need minutes. (He played over 3000 last season at Brest.)

Who plays where at the LB and RB position (as well as what formation those players are best suited in) when everyone is healthy is a very interesting discussion

Edited 12 January, 2022 by SaintTex

[The Left Back]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

He's 24, so, possibly what you see now, is what you will get going forward, which is a very hard working, committed left back. Which is a bloody good start.

I repeat what I've said on previous threads - it's great to get that desire, and a left footer, but technically he doesn't look gifted. I hope I am wrong (I often am) and he starts to really shine as he grows in confidence, but on what I've seen, which is not a huge number of games yet, I'm not convinced we have a top quality player on our hands. 

Hadn't realised he was that old.  Still plenty of scope for development though.  As I've said elsewhere (and my name suggests) I've always had a bit of a focus on our left backs.  I think Perraud could turn out to be a good one but like you I'm often wrong.  I agree about the 'top quality' bit - he's no Bridge, Bale for Shaw - but I don't think we need or could afford 'top quality' in every position at the same time.  I'll be happy if him and Small fight for LB and Tino and KWP slug it out for RB.

And I must say it's nice to be able to debate this point with you @Chezwithout having to call you a name or bring up old debate to justify my rightness and your wrongness.