Saints 1-4 Man City - Match Thread

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

 

Overall I kinda enjoyed watching us today, as weird as that sounds. 

Not weird. I enjoyed watching us too. We went for and gave our all. Critically, in contrast to recent opponents, City didn't press or get overly tight, left space for us on the break and as a consequence we look better 

That said, if we had played like that to a bottom half team, and lost, we'd all be crying. Lose to City and you can be a bit more forgiving. not going to forget the Adams chance though. Got to score that at this level. That kind if chance is practiced every day. Shoudl have scored.

 

 

[Vancouver Saint]

11 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

2 silly mistakes plus a really good strike compounded by not taking our chances.

This. Stupid penalty killed the game. Salisu should know better. As a team we gave a really good account of ourselves, so it's disappointing to be let down by both centre-backs making goal-conceding errors. Finishing as everyone says could and should be a lot better. Have been sympathetic with AA for a long time but he was woeful with his finishing today. Positives - Stuart Armstrong outstanding, Elyonussi played well, KWP terrific again, Livramento looked back to himself again...

For those criticising Che and Broja - very hard to maintain belief once you know the game is done - which at 1-3 down it was.

[saint77]

33 minutes ago, Jimmy_D said:

It was a soft penalty at best. Calling it stonewall is ridiculous.

It was a stonewall and pathetic from salisu 

[Micky]

10 minutes ago, Dark Munster said:

But they gave one of the best teams on the planet a decent game until handing a penalty decision on a plate to Mike Dean. Even after that, Adams had a good chance to equalise. At the end of the day class players won it, so I have no complaints with how Ralph handled it.

I don't disagree with anything you say, but as I said, ultimately we didn't have enough quality to take the chances we created.  We gave them a run for their money, but when you have the likes of Foden and Mahrez on the bench the game is only going one way.  The penalty was a penalty, poor defending,  but all refs would've given it.  Basically it was two teams at very different levels. 

[Chez]

25 minutes ago, Saints foreva said:

Did the PA announcer really annpunce that KDB was the MOTM? Pathetic. 

Keown on the BBC went for KDB too. Thought he had a very average game myself.

[CylonKing]

Disappointing but not unexpected. At 1-1, thought we looked good, not sure about the penalty, seemed very soft but there was contact. The Adams chance was critical, that goes in and we could've sneaked it, but it was not to be. Thought Long and A. Armstrong did a very good job and we lost something when they went off. Personally would've brought Adams on for Long and left AA on as he was getting into the right places. Really not sure who our best centre Def is alongside Sali?

[S-Clarke]

7 minutes ago, Chez said:

Not weird. I enjoyed watching us too. We went for and gave our all. Critically, in contrast to recent opponents, City didn't press or get overly tight, left space for us on the break and as a consequence we look better 

That said, if we had played like that to a bottom half team, and lost, we'd all be crying. Lose to City and you can be a bit more forgiving. not going to forget the Adams chance though. Got to score that at this level. That kind if chance is practiced every day. Shoudl have scored.

 

 

That's Adams in a nutshell though isn't it, and Adam Armstrong to a degree. They're outstanding Championship players, and you can get away with those misses in the Champ as you'll get another chance soon after. But they have always needed 2/3 or more chances to get a goal and that doesn't happen very often in the PL, you've got to take the one chance you get and they're just not capable of it as harsh as that sounds. They're decent as support to a better striker, but neither should be 'main men' for a progressive PL club.

Broja wasn't much better when he came on, but he is the player who seems capable of scoring with the one chance he gets (as he's done that on quite a few occasions for us this season). The area which frustrates me the most is our number 10's, I thought Elyonoussi played well....but if he just had a bit of pace it would open it up so much more, we could be much more threatening on the transition. Having Tella back should help on that front, but I'd still look for a quicker number 10 in the summer and ditch Moussa.

Palace, Leicester, Villa, Wolves, Newcastle etc all have that bit of star quality in their wide areas/number 10 area's which can win them games out of nothing, even when they're playing shit. We don't have that at all, which is why we struggle to pick up a single point when we don't play well.

Edited 20 March, 2022 by S-Clarke

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, saint77 said:

It was a stonewall and pathetic from salisu 

pathetic is not the right word. sloppy or reckless maybe? he's left one on one, and makes a poor decision. Pathetic? Nah. Not having that.

[OttawaSaint]

We were all worried about Mike Dean but it was Stephens and Salisu that fucked us. You can't expect to win a cup match vs one of the top 5 teams in the world with lapses like that. 

[macca155]

Hame turned on the penalty. Absolute stonewall no arguments. What on earth was he thinking. Game fell away from that point onwards. Too many chances missed, but their defending was very good, always close to the man and never gave up.

Better performance but the two CHs struggled. I wonder if all the changes to our team have dented our confidence.

Take what positives we can and move on. Build for next season and give Adam A a run of games. He either cracks it or needs to move on.

Anyway better than the last team we lost 4 1 to in the cup.

[CanadaSaint]

1 minute ago, Chez said:

pathetic is not the right word. sloppy or reckless maybe? he's left one on one, and makes a poor decision. Pathetic? Nah. Not having that.

It was more clumsy for me. Under our system, with wingbacks pushing forward so much, the CDs are going to be exposed to one-on-ones, and Salisu needs to improve with them. But this is his first full season - and that was Man City.

[obelisk]

Well at least the whole nation can now see where Saints main problems are. Apt to make silly errors in defence and wasteful in attack. Fix one or other or both of those and Saints might just make a half decent top half team with a trophy cabinet that's worth dusting off.

[Chez]

4 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

We were all worried about Mike Dean but it was Stephens and Salisu that fucked us. You can't expect to win a cup match vs one of the top 5 teams in the world with lapses like that. 

but for one obvious foul on KWP, Dean didn't really put a foot wrong. 

I think if you are going to say Salisu and Stephens fucked us, then you have to also say Adams too. Is his miss any worse than Salisu's error? Strikers get away with murder, defenders punished at this level and then get crucified on here.

[The Kraken]

It’s often overlooked that Salisu is still only 22 years old. He’s got great promise but he’s still got plenty to learn. Bad mistake from him today, just very naive defending.

[JRM]

Felt like I was watching a friendly. Crowd were flat, Itchen topping up the tan, we played well in spells but never really looked like winning. Disappointing end to the season. 

[Teddeer]

Brave effort but their class told in the end. We made mistakes at crucial times and gifted them goals whilst missing our own decent chances. I'd love to know why Adam Armstrong manages to scuff every single shot lately because he does have a good strike on him. Stephens was awful throughout and totally culpable for their opener.  Moi failing to release the ball meant we'd expended a lot of energy for nothing and had players stranded upfield leading to the soft penalty - I thought refs were allowing a certain amount of contact this season but Jesus went down as though a sniper had taken him out after the merest of brushes as he ran alongside Salisu - Dean of course could not wait to point to the spot. Adams should score at 1-2 but rather than pick out either corner he puts it straight at the keeper. Salisu's weak header gives Foden the chance and he shows our strikers how to hit a football. Overall a good effort against one of the best club sides in the world. Excellent displays from Stu Armstrong, JWP, KWP and Tino.

[alehouseboys]

Why don't you gobby twats actually go to a game?

[TWar]

Thought we played alright, City are just City unfortunately. Against a lot of teams we could make the mistakes we made and still win with our overall quality. Against city you do that and lose 4-1. Three big errors from Stephens, Salisu, and Adams cost us when we were playing well and had good momentum. When chasing the game City's pure quality won out unfortunately. Also thought we got a bit unlucky at times and against a team like City you need luck with you.

[OttawaSaint]

Just now, alehouseboys said:

Why don't you gobby twats actually go to a game?

It's a bit of a long round trip for me...

[Sheaf Saint]

The scoreline didn't fairly reflect the balance of the game, but it does perfectly reflect the gulf in quality between teams that can afford to spent £100m+ on players and those whose record transfer fee is 1/5 of that. 

[adrian lord]

Missed the game on TV due to having to do a 150 mile round trip to save my daughter from the 4 most chilling words in the English language: "Rail Replacement Bus Service". 

Sounds like we were undone by poor finishing and the opposite from City. 

[ButtikonSaint]

5 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Well at least the whole nation can now see where Saints main problems are. Apt to make silly errors in defence and wasteful in attack. Fix one or other or both of those and Saints might just make a half decent top half team with a trophy cabinet that's worth dusting off.

fully agree - no shame in losing to City, decent effort by the boys against a billion and more made up team. 
Would have been good for A.Armstong to have got his goal, he needs one to go in soon.
We're not too far away and hope our season doesn't peter out.
 

[Dman]

7 minutes ago, TWar said:

Thought we played alright, City are just City unfortunately. Against a lot of teams we could make the mistakes we made and still win with our overall quality. Against city you do that and lose 4-1. Three big errors from Stephens, Salisu, and Adams cost us when we were playing well and had good momentum. When chasing the game City's pure quality won out unfortunately. Also thought we got a bit unlucky at times and against a team like City you need luck with you.

Notibly ignored Armstrong’s misses. Jesus, you really won’t admit you’re wrong, will you 😂

[Dman]

22 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

It’s often overlooked that Salisu is still only 22 years old. He’s got great promise but he’s still got plenty to learn. Bad mistake from him today, just very naive defending.

Reminded me in a way of the one against Tottenham, where he lunged in and got sent off as well. 
 

He’s clearly got potential and for the most has been top class. 
 

He’s certainly not at the level Van Dijk was whilst with us. Needs to take a step up before going to a ‘big 6’ team imo. Newcastle would be a good fit, could see him going there in the summer. 

[Dark Munster]

42 minutes ago, Dman said:

Broja was quiet when he came on at a point where the game had gone, but I’d stick my Mortage on him taking one of those Armstrong chances. 
 

Also would have been perfect at running in behind. 

Yes, but the game would've been completely different, so he wouldn't have had those chances. He may have had different chances, but we'll never know. If City had been 4-0 up at half time I could understand criticising the starting front two, but as it was we were at 1-1 with Broja/Adams about to come on.

[TWar]

13 minutes ago, Dman said:

Notibly ignored Armstrong’s misses. Jesus, you really won’t admit you’re wrong, will you 😂

Armstrong hit the post, was unlucky, Adams had a 1v1 and put it straight into the keeper. All Armstrongs other misses were half chances, nothing like the miss Adams had.

[Dman]

Just now, TWar said:

Armstrong hit the post, was unlucky, Adams had a 1v1 and put it straight into the keeper. All Armstrongs other misses were half chances, nothing like the miss Adams had.

Half chance!!? Behave. Any striker of premier league quality should and would have put his first chance away. 
 

The reason he hit the post is because of lack of quality in the strike, hit it clean, it goes in. It wasn’t unlucky at all, it was poor finishing. 
 

His second was also, what I’d consider, a really good chance for someone who’s playing in the premier league. 
 

[OttawaSaint]

3 minutes ago, TWar said:

Armstrong hit the post, was unlucky, Adams had a 1v1 and put it straight into the keeper. All Armstrongs other misses were half chances, nothing like the miss Adams had.

Disagree. AA was lucky it even hit the post, it was a very poor finish. 

Edited 20 March, 2022 by OttawaSaint

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Dark Munster said:

Yes, but the game would've been completely different, so he wouldn't have had those chances. He may have had different chances, but we'll never know. If City had been 4-0 up at half time I could understand criticising the starting front two, but as it was we were at 1-1 with Broja/Adams about to come on.

thats a far point, maybe there wouldn't have been the same press, but there were a couple of breakaways (which had nothing to do with the press) before Broja came on where he'd of been in his element.  For me this game, with the opponent not sitting deep, was a better ft for Broja.

[aintforever]

Gave it a good go but just not good enough, nothing to complain about.

One of City, Liverpool or Chelsea will win the cup, how interesting.

[davefizzy14]

Dissapointing result for us today but plenty of positives to take. Stuart Armstrong, Prowsey, Romeu, KWP and Tino all quality today. We were on top until the penalty decision. We move onwards and upwards

[TWar]

2 minutes ago, Dman said:

Half chance!!? Behave. Any striker of premier league quality should and would have put his first chance away. 
 

The reason he hit the post is because of lack of quality in the strike, hit it clean, it goes in. It wasn’t unlucky at all, it was poor finishing. 
 

His second was also, what I’d consider, a really good chance for someone who’s playing in the premier league. 
 

Hit it clean and it goes straight at the keeper, he directed it into the corner and was an inch or two from finding it.

[cloggy saint]

No real complaints about the result or the performance, City are one of the best teams in the world and we're not. Also, thankfully the Mike Dean conspiracy theorists don't have anything to moan about.

[OttawaSaint]

1 minute ago, Dman said:

Half chance!!? Behave. Any striker of premier league quality should and would have put his first chance away. 
 

The reason he hit the post is because of lack of quality in the strike, hit it clean, it goes in. It wasn’t unlucky at all, it was poor finishing. 
 

His second was also, what I’d consider, a really good chance for someone who’s playing in the premier league. 
 

Yep. Strikers dream about passes like that, coming across the body keeper advancing at an angle. Such a simple finish to just cushion it back across the goal, keeper didn't stand a chance. Instead he snatched it and heeled it. Had it been Long many would be utterly castigating him.

[Baird of the land]

2 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Disagree. AA was lucky it even hit the post, it was a very poor finish. 

Agree it was a poor scuff but it was a tough chance even f he'd hit it right. Adams was a far easier chance that he fluffed.

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, TWar said:

Armstrong hit the post, was unlucky, Adams had a 1v1 and put it straight into the keeper. All Armstrongs other misses were half chances, nothing like the miss Adams had.

poor strike for the 1 on 1. Not really unlucky, just poor striking. It wasn't straight forward though. You are right that the others weren't clear cut, but they were more than half chances, they were decent opportunities, but he just isnt striking the ball well. I like him, but he should not be starting games until he is firing them in right left and centre in training.

Edited 20 March, 2022 by Chez

[OttawaSaint]

1 minute ago, TWar said:

Hit it clean and it goes straight at the keeper, he directed it into the corner and was an inch or two from finding it.

I can see that you don't play the game. 

[TWar]

1 minute ago, OttawaSaint said:

I can see that you don't play the game. 

Not this nonsense again

[gammon cheeks]

To beat Man City you cant make fook ups and you have to take your chances.....

[alehouseboys]

27 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

It's a bit of a long round trip for me...

*excludes anyone millions of miles away **applies to those who frequent EVERY match day thread (whether home or away and could attend) but/and slag us off 🥴

[davefizzy14]

32 minutes ago, Chez said:

thats a far point, maybe there wouldn't have been the same press, but there were a couple of breakaways (which had nothing to do with the press) before Broja came on where he'd of been in his element.  For me this game, with the opponent not sitting deep, was a better ft for Broja.

I thought both Adam Armstrong and Long did a very good job with the press and making it extremely difficult for Man City. Like in the previous round bringing Broja on made sense to try and unlock them in second half.

Edited 20 March, 2022 by davefizzy14

[Micky]

3 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Gave it a good go but just not good enough, nothing to complain about.

One of City, Liverpool or Chelsea will win the cup, how interesting.

Exactly, cup competitions are,  for the large part, very mundane. When was the last time a true underdog won.  Wigan? 

[Manuel]

The moment the shot left his foot I thought "awful" but replay shows he bent it towards the goal and with hindsight he was unlucky.  He knew what he was doing there.

[Dman]

3 minutes ago, OttawaSaint said:

Yep. Strikers dream about passes like that, coming across the body keeper advancing at an angle. Such a simple finish to just cushion it back across the goal, keeper didn't stand a chance. Instead he snatched it and heeled it. Had it been Long many would be utterly castigating him.

1 on 1 less than 12 yards out is only a half chance mate 

[OttawaSaint]

4 minutes ago, TWar said:

Not this nonsense again

Sorry but it's true. I'm getting on a bit but I still play regularly. I'm a striker and trust me, it's not a difficult finish from there. 

I feel for him because I know how the legs can let you down when you are nervous or desperate to score. He's probably going over and over in his head about that chance. 

Edited 20 March, 2022 by OttawaSaint

[maysie]

5 minutes ago, TWar said:

Hit it clean and it goes straight at the keeper, he directed it into the corner and was an inch or two from finding it.

Oh come on he totally mishit it. I think there is a decent player in there and really want him to come good, but you're twisting the facts to fit your viewpoint.

[TWar]

Just now, OttawaSaint said:

Sorry but it's true. I'm getting on a bit but I still play regularly. I'm a striker and trust me, it's not a difficult finish from there. 

I feel for him because I know how tge legs can let you down when you are nervous or desperate to score. He's probably going over and over in his head about that chance. 

Do you play against prem quality keepers? 

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, TWar said:

Hit it clean and it goes straight at the keeper, he directed it into the corner and was an inch or two from finding it.

Fuck me. Absolute rubbish, clearly, you’ve never played the game or just that you’re scrambling to find an excuse to back up your opinion you’re coming out with total nonsense.  
 

If you believe it was intentional for him to do that, crack on. But fucking hell, you’re shot away if so. 

[TWar]

2 minutes ago, Dman said:

1 on 1 less than 12 yards out is only a half chance mate 

I didnt say that one was a half chance, I said he hit the post and was unlucky

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

I thought both Adam Armstrong and Long did a very good job with the press and making it extremely difficult for Man City. Like in the previous round bringing Broja on made sense to try and unlock them in second half.

yep, but the trouble with having forwards who's best attribute is work rate, is that the chances you create as a result of that work often are not taken. As was the case today. Running around a lot simply is not enough at this level. Ralph's tactic worked I guess. Adams was the one that missed the real chance.