Saints 1-4 Newcastle - Match Thread

[Saint-Michael]

Highlight of the game for me was seeing Nigel Adkins 

[sammysaint93]

Shit performance, away fans in the home end again (bloke literally stood in a Newcastle shirt), Ralph out 

[Micky]

Woeful display, no fight, no passion and quite worryingly not a lot of effort in some cases.   We are destined for the championship unless something quite remarkable happens.  Crap, crap day, feel for the fans who shelled out top dollar for that bollux.  This club is in shite state from top to bottom. 

[aintforever]

As expected really. The sort of shit defending you expect from a bunch of kids. Missed the usual sitters.

I expect Ralph will be sacked this week but I can’t see this lot staying up regardless of who’s manager unless we get a couple of decent strikers in the window.

[Disco Stu]

15 minutes ago, sammysaint93 said:

Shit performance, away fans in the home end again (bloke literally stood in a Newcastle shirt), Ralph out 

You're joking? Our stewarding really is pathetic.

[Charlie Wayman]

1 hour ago, Tanlee said:

Thought we were great for 9 seconds in the 1st half until mo arrived. 

Fucking bullshit, the answer to who can replace Ralph that some pricks seem to ask.. is any fucker with a coaching badge! 

Fucking soaked wasted £80 again and still not home, fed up with this shit! 

Yeah but apart from that did you enjoy your day out?

[Suhari]

We weren't completely shit. Some good moments, some very nice attacks.

Woeful, fucking awful finishing. We should've scored 3. If we had two prem quality attackers we would have.

Some stupid defending. Some shitty individual errors. And against a very good team.

Hard to see positives now. Love RH but it's time to go. Need some fresh ideas. Break the transfer record in January to get a couple of quality attackers in and we should stay up.

Beer. I need many beer.

Edited 6 November, 2022 by Suhari

[Hawkswood]

Well I'm clearly going to be in a minority here but I thought we played quite well. I want Ralph gone but I feel a little bad for him today ( not including the Walcott selection !!!!!) If Ely and Che don't miss those absolute sitters we've got a different game. With lavia I felt we looked OK in defence and midfield ( before we got suckerpunched for the second and third ) and as everyone knows, if we had just a little but of quality up front there would have been a different outcome. I feel personally that if we can add a couple of decent forwards we've got a decent team there though fcuk knows who gonna want to come to a club that's clearly in a relegation battle. 

[legod66]

Dont think Ralph walks on water, but would anyone else do so much better with some of this lot.  Some quality in there, Bella Kotcha, Perraud, Salisu, W-Peters, Tino (when back), Lavia, and couple of the real youngsters.   However, tell me truthfully that Armstrong, Adams, Ely -(and we are paying Walcott 75K a week-unbelievable !!)   would be taken for money by any PL side!! What a pathetic forward line, we all knew that so why oh why didnt we spend "proper" money in the summer.   This is only going one way 

[johnnyboy]

After match presser comments 

[Lord Duckhunter]

Typical Ralphball. Easy risk free passing, mincing about, and generally flattering to deceive. “Had Moi scored, had Che scored” blah blah blah. Had they both scored, I’d bet my life we’d still  have lost, probably 5-3 or similar.
 

I wouldn’t turn the radio on Thursday lunchtime if I was JWP. 

[Norm]

No more than I expected, pre match I forecast 0-4. We played against a team 4th, every player better than ours, every one. Not one Saints player would be wanted by a top 8 team, never mind a top 4 side. I’ve felt R H should have gone end of last season as we were going to struggle again this year. In a way, I feel sorry for RH, trying to make average players compete with the quality in the Prem.

I’ve no idea if he had any say in the signings at the start of this season but it was obvious to everyone we lacked good players. Was he held back by the Board? As the old saying goes, you can polish a ….

[Archers Road Stand]

Yet another soul destroying experience at St. Mary's. The football has been largely shit since 2016, the value for money has to be among there with the worst in the country for the home support. 

I don't even think Newcastle got out of second gear today. What does that say about us?

The Che and Moi misses were bad, another one added to the collection for Che. Unfortunately he just isn't a PL standard striker, I know people have terms like second striker but a strikers job is to put the ball in the back of the net and he just doesn't do it anywhere near enough. Moi and Walcott shouldn't be getting gametime at a PL club, both are abysmal players. Whoever sanctioned a two year deal @ £70k a week for Walcott deserves the sack. 

Onto Ralph, it seems like he's finally going to get the sack and it's about time really. He should have been shown the door at the end of last season and its been pretty clear since pre-season that he wasn't going to turn it around here so keeping him for this long has been an awful decision. His tactics are washed up, we don't move the ball anywhere near quick enough when we try to go from defence to attack, the opposition always end up back in their shape and we will always struggle to break teams down. 

The January transfer window is massive for us. We failed to address a massive flaw in the team during the summer and we absolutely have to be corrected that error as early as possible in January or we are going down. The summer transfer window was a disappointment, this one better not be. In the summer we had a decent wedge to spend but went for quantity over quality, massive massive mistake. 

I personally think Semmens should follow Ralph through the exit door too. 

[woodsaint1]

While its as clear as day we're lacking in the attacking dept, we also conceded goals from Chris Wood and Joe Willock ffs. Hardly two PL dangermen. Yes we need a striker and hopefully an AM in January, but we also need a coach that can inject some attacking flair into our team. Exactly what Howe is doing, even with Isak missing and ASM just returning from injury. We're dreadfully vacant when it comes to ideas/decision making in the final third

[Chris cooper]

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

[woodsaint1]

3 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

Thats pathetic. We deserve to be relegated for our weak fanbase alone

[davefizzy14]

We've missed some extremely clear cut chances today and it's costing us dearly. We let some poor goals in today, the 1st goal was totally avoidable. Perraud took his goal very well and played really well.

[davefizzy14]

9 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

That is shocking. Some serious action needs to be taken to stop this from happening. Its not the first time this has happened this season. 

Edited 6 November, 2022 by davefizzy14

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

That is shocking. Some serious action needs to be taken to stop this from happening. Its not the first time this has happened this season. 

maybe some special training for the stewards?

oh......

[Pamplemousse]

11 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

Saw a pic on Twitter.

It's absolutely disgusting and honestly I hope he sues the club for damages. It's their fault.

[IOWSaintDaz]

Hopefully that's the last we've seen of Ralph. Done his best but so long as owners see us as a selling club we'll never prosper. Championship here we come.

[beatlesaint]

I had to laugh listening to Solent coming home they started talking about JWP going to the World Cup. Even Tessem said not on current form. It’s not even a question, he was awful again today and how he escapes being subbed I’ll never know.

[woodsaint1]

Would happily take 502 bad gateway until the end of the season. Its bad enough watching us at the moment, least I wouldnt have somwhere to talk about how bad we are too

[saint1977]

20 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

That is shocking. Some serious action needs to be taken to stop this from happening. Its not the first time this has happened this season. 

You’re right and that action is Toby Steele, the new head of security from Millwall, Martin Semmens along with the first team manager all being dismissed and the announcement at 12pm tomorrow. Trouble has been brewing all season with the ease of buying tickets for visiting supporters and the hostile environment from those running SFC towards its own supporters. This is every bit as bad as the worst of the Lowe era for me today. Club has no leadership, drive or direction top to bottom, no relationship with its own fanbase. 

SR - pull your fingers out, you’ve bought SFC so sort it out, cut the rubbish out of the boardroom, Senior Ops posts and first team environment. This is supposed to be head of your club group so give SFC supporters something to cheer and at the very least safe in their own stadium. Or you can look forward to a 7000 gate for the Rotherham home game next season which is what you are heading for. Stop pissinh about with Turkish second clubs and get the EPL one you have, the one in the English top flight for all bar 7 years since 1978, back into that division with a Liebherr style budget next season and win the Championship title.

 

 

 

Edited 6 November, 2022 by saint1977
Sp

[Saint Garrett]

I am clearly in the minority but I didn’t think we played that badly at all today. I’ve certainly seen us play worse. Everything seemed to fall for them and nothing seemed to fall for us. 

Our keeper doesn’t make enough saves, we miss sitters for fun, and Newcastle were unbelievably clinical today. It was just one of those days, but unfortunately we have too many, and it’s the right time for Ralph to depart, if they don’t see a long term future with him. It’s time to freshen it up. 

But without a goal scoring striker, and a little more creativity in midfield, we aren’t staying up, whether we have Ralph or Guardiola. 

Even despite our relatively impressive defence, we can’t keep clean sheets. I know this is also a knock on affect of giving the ball away. 

[Forester]

The one thing that has been good in recent weeks is the defending, with just three conceded in four games.  So why make two unforced changes in the back four?

 

Again clear cut chances wasted.  Change of manager, buy or loan two (not one) striker, recall Tella in addition to the two and farm out Mara on loan.  More of the same and we are going down otherwise 

[gammon cheeks]

18 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

You’re right and that action is Toby Steele, the new head of security from Millwall, Martin Semmens along with the first team manager all being dismissed and the announcement at 12pm tomorrow. Trouble has been brewing all season with the ease of buying tickets for visiting supporters and the hostile environment from those running SFC towards its own supporters. This is every bit as bad as the worst of the Lowe era for me today. Club has no leadership, drive or direction top to bottom, no relationship with its own fanbase. 

SR - pull your fingers out, you’ve bought SFC so sort it out, cut the rubbish out of the boardroom, Senior Ops posts and first team environment. This is supposed to be head of your club group so give SFC supporters something to cheer and at the very least safe in their own stadium. Or you can look forward to a 7000 gate for the Rotherham home game next season which is what you are heading for. Stop pissinh about with Turkish second clubs and get the EPL one you have, the one in the English top flight for all bar 7 years since 1978, back into that division with a Liebherr style budget next season and win the Championship title.

Raplh , Semmens and Steele all should get the boot ! 

 

 

[Toussaint]

50 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

It feels like there isn’t one single aspect of this club that has being run properly in the last few years, a continued  decline in standards in every department. We are lions lead by donkeys. 

[Norm]

29 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

You’re right and that action is Toby Steele, the new head of security from Millwall, Martin Semmens along with the first team manager all being dismissed and the announcement at 12pm tomorrow. Trouble has been brewing all season with the ease of buying tickets for visiting supporters and the hostile environment from those running SFC towards its own supporters. This is every bit as bad as the worst of the Lowe era for me today. Club has no leadership, drive or direction top to bottom, no relationship with its own fanbase. 

SR - pull your fingers out, you’ve bought SFC so sort it out, cut the rubbish out of the boardroom, Senior Ops posts and first team environment. This is supposed to be head of your club group so give SFC supporters something to cheer and at the very least safe in their own stadium. Or you can look forward to a 7000 gate for the Rotherham home game next season which is what you are heading for. Stop pissinh about with Turkish second clubs and get the EPL one you have, the one in the English top flight for all bar 7 years since 1978, back into that division with a Liebherr style budget next season and win the Championship title.

 

 

 

So Toby Steele, Martin Semmens and R H are all being dismissed and an announcement at 12 tomorrow. Yes?

[aintforever]

59 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

Fuck me, we can’t even win a fight in our own home end. 

[Disco Stu]

1 hour ago, woodsaint1 said:

Thats pathetic. We deserve to be relegated for our weak fanbase alone

Not sure people in the family stand should be expected to have to fight off Geordies. The elderly and people sat with their kids won't be jumping in to join a brawl.

Edited 6 November, 2022 by Disco Stu

[Pamplemousse]

Southgate was there apparently

 

100% that's JWP out of the squad, barring some sort of wonder performance at Anfield

[The Cat]

1 hour ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

 

[The Cat]

8 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Not sure people in the family stand should be expected to have to fight off Geordies. The elderly and people sat with their kids won't be jumping in to join a brawl.

Pretty sure it wasn't in the Family Stand as I sit there and didn't notice it.

Saw a Newcastle fan wearing a shirt in our stand getting escorted out by a steward before kick off, didn't see any others after that though.

However it's clearly becoming more of a problem week after week and it's obvious that the club are either too weak to do anything about it or just don't care. Really don't see what the problem is with just kicking them out. They are breaking ground rules so can't really argue. It's a complete disgrace.

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

Ralph’s brand of attacking, defensive organisation and team spirit has now reached the terraces. 

[VectisSaint]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

I am clearly in the minority but I didn’t think we played that badly at all today. I’ve certainly seen us play worse. Everything seemed to fall for them and nothing seemed to fall for us. 

Our keeper doesn’t make enough saves, we miss sitters for fun, and Newcastle were unbelievably clinical today. It was just one of those days, but unfortunately we have too many, and it’s the right time for Ralph to depart, if they don’t see a long term future with him. It’s time to freshen it up. 

But without a goal scoring striker, and a little more creativity in midfield, we aren’t staying up, whether we have Ralph or Guardiola. 

Even despite our relatively impressive defence, we can’t keep clean sheets. I know this is also a knock on affect of giving the ball away. 

You may be in a minority but it's larger than you think. We played some good stuff today at times, S Armstrong and AMN and Perraud made some decent chances but they were squandered. We made a big mistake when Larios went off and really never recovered. Centre mid and centre defence was our downfall, oddly where we consider our best players. Having to move AMN to RB was a blow, Lavia was rusty and probably shouldn't have played, Salisu was a bit of a liability, it would probably have been better to start Caleta Carr today. The game didn't seem like 4-1, but we will get nowhere while our forwards continue to miss sitters. JWP is a shadow of his former self, I blame that squarely on the loss of his midfield partner. Think that the time is right for Ralph to be shown the door.

[Badger]

55 minutes ago, The Cat said:

 

Wonder what Toby Steele has to say about this, ("wouldn't happen at Goztpe mate... it's the fans fault").

[OttawaSaint]

2 hours ago, johnnyboy said:

After match presser comments 

Does he ever give a straight answer to any question.

Ralph, what is the capital of France?

RH: For me, no. It is the cheeses we ordered for the canteen and where players are beginning to sit. I think it is no, a problem for my staff.

[Badger]

That was a dreadful day out. When I heard Walcott was in the starting line up I knew the two hour hike to get down to the match was a mistake. Seeing the 12 year old Spanish kid playing didn't help the feeling.

For all the critiscism of the manager... Elyonouusi , again, what a waste of space, and Adams ..... Christ on a bike, not bringing a striker in was critical, everyone knew it apart from our recruitment team.  How many tackles were missed for their first two goals, AMN looked all over the place. 

Is there anything positive about the club at the moment, from ownership, board (Semmens), manager, players ... ? And then the stewarding allowing home fans to be attacked in home sections. 

[JRM]

5 minutes ago, Badger said:

Wonder what Toby Steele has to say about this, ("wouldn't happen at Goztpe mate... it's the fans fault").

Tobys answer will be to make the Northam stand a neutral section to accommodate the many southern based people who support glory hunting premier league clubs keen to attend games at St Mary's 

Sums up our club , soft touch 

[Badger]

3 hours ago, Hawkswood said:

Well I'm clearly going to be in a minority here but I thought we played quite well. I want Ralph gone but I feel a little bad for him today ( not including the Walcott selection !!!!!) If Ely and Che don't miss those absolute sitters we've got a different game. With lavia I felt we looked OK in defence and midfield ( before we got suckerpunched for the second and third ) and as everyone knows, if we had just a little but of quality up front there would have been a different outcome. I feel personally that if we can add a couple of decent forwards we've got a decent team there though fcuk knows who gonna want to come to a club that's clearly in a relegation battle. 

But they did, and they do constantly.

Ely is a waste of space, Adams in front of goal (sometimes standing on the goal line) isn't much better. 

We can't constantly post ' but on another day ...' and sidestep the fact that the squad assembled is not good enough

[Badger]

3 hours ago, Micky said:

Woeful display, no fight, no passion and quite worryingly not a lot of effort in some cases.   We are destined for the championship unless something quite remarkable happens.  Crap, crap day, feel for the fans who shelled out top dollar for that bollux.  This club is in shite state from top to bottom. 

 

2 hours ago, Archers Road Stand said:

Yet another soul destroying experience at St. Mary's. The football has been largely shit since 2016, the value for money has to be among there with the worst in the country for the home support. 

I personally think Semmens should follow Ralph through the exit door too. 

 

2 hours ago, saint1977 said:

You’re right and that action is Toby Steele, the new head of security from Millwall, Martin Semmens along with the first team manager all being dismissed and the announcement at 12pm tomorrow. Trouble has been brewing all season with the ease of buying tickets for visiting supporters and the hostile environment from those running SFC towards its own supporters. This is every bit as bad as the worst of the Lowe era for me today. Club has no leadership, drive or direction top to bottom, no relationship with its own fanbase. 

SR - pull your fingers out, you’ve bought SFC so sort it out, cut the rubbish out of the boardroom, Senior Ops posts and first team environment. This is supposed to be head of your club group so give SFC supporters something to cheer and at the very least safe in their own stadium. Or you can look forward to a 7000 gate for the Rotherham home game next season which is what you are heading for. Stop pissinh about with Turkish second clubs and get the EPL one you have, the one in the English top flight for all bar 7 years since 1978, back into that division with a Liebherr style budget next season and win the Championship title.

 

 

 

Think it's all summed up in the above.

[Hawkswood]

20 minutes ago, Badger said:

But they did, and they do constantly.

Ely is a waste of space, Adams in front of goal (sometimes standing on the goal line) isn't much better. 

We can't constantly post ' but on another day ...' and sidestep the fact that the squad assembled is not good enough

I don't disagree with you but I was commenting on today's game.

[nta786]

I was sat in the Itchen South today, also saw two blokes in Newcastle shirt. How the f**k do these guys get through the turnstiles so openly? What are they exactly training these stewards on? That it’s 2022 so we can’t discriminate opposition fans to sit in the home end? It beggars belief.

As for the game I won’t say much as I echo many of the thoughts above, the result was shite and we weren’t clinical enough and I think Ralph’s time is up.
 

What did rile me up slightly though was the number of fans clapping Trippier when he was walking around towards the end of that first half when he had a potential injury scare… He didn’t give two shits to even acknowledge it and why should he.

Now I’m not saying we need to be like the Toon Army in the away end and all go topless but my word it feels like we have the softest fan base in the division. 
A shame that St Mary’s is a bit corporate and soulless, not intimidating at all. I think you see other fans from the likes of Newcastle and WHU previously there is no doubt why the likes of Semmens and Steele can just exploit our fanbase so easily.

[austsaint]

7 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

I decided that I wanted to watch some competitive sport so watched Tonga v Samoa in the RLWC, literally whilst waiting for paint to dry, and avoided footie streams, the BBC coverage of the PL, and the forum. ( Though I gather the latter has been as flakey as the team this afternoon ).

Were we as bad as the scoreline suggests ? Did Theo contribute anything ?

We weren't as bad as the scoreline suggested, and for much of the game Saints matched the Geordies for effort and intensity, but not skills and clinical finishing.    Elyounoussi's miss was inexplicable, as was Ralph's decision to leave him on for the full 94 minutes.  Adams had time to take a touch, but chose a difficult first time volley.     While we're on the subject of Ralph, his decision to start Walcott and leave him on for over an hour should be enough to ensure his dismissal - young Edozie did more in his first five minutes than Walcott showed in 63.

There were some good performances - Perraud was great all game, Maitland-Niles is getting up to speed quickly and showed he is good cover at RB.     Stuart Armstrong played well and looked our most dangerous attacking player while Salisu had good moments and his passing was much improved, including his assist for Perraud's goal.      Ralph should be gone before the WC break....surely.

[Nordic Saint]

1 minute ago, austsaint said:

We weren't as bad as the scoreline suggested, and for much of the game Saints matched the Geordies for effort and intensity, but not skills and clinical finishing.    Elyounoussi's miss was inexplicable, as was Ralph's decision to leave him on for the full 94 minutes.  Adams had time to take a touch, but chose a difficult first time volley.     While we're on the subject of Ralph, his decision to start Walcott and leave him on for over an hour should be enough to ensure his dismissal - young Edozie did more in his first five minutes than Walcott showed in 63.

There were some good performances - Perraud was great all game, Maitland-Niles is getting up to speed quickly and showed he is good cover at RB.     Stuart Armstrong played well and looked our most dangerous attacking player while Salisu had good moments and his passing was much improved, including his assist for Perraud's goal.      Ralph should be gone before the WC break....surely.

 

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, Chris cooper said:

5 Newcastle fans in the chapel set about a saints fan while 10 stewards sat and watched and did nothing .. could see it all from itchen south ! Not even fellow saints fans helped him ! Held his own for a while but was inevitably knocked to the ground … no police nothing ! Newcastle fans just moved to higher empty seats and carried on watching the game like nothing happened . 
 

Was this it?
https://fanbanter.co.uk/video-newcastle-fans-in-home-end-get-attacked-by-southampton-supporters/

[Nemi]

I actually find it embarrassing watching the way we defend. We've been a complete shambles defensively for too long and there's no sign of anything changing. I can't think of a team that as looked as stretched as we do when the other team has the ball. And why do we constantly have our defenders over committing for challenges they're never going to win? Newcastle didn't even the to try - for goal one and goal three we literally presented them with a three-on-one overload and then a six-on-three overload because our defenders have gone walkabouts trying to win impossible challenges and our midfield is no-where near the defence. I've also never seen a team play with such large gaps between defence and midfield, its mental how much space we leave open. Teams literally don't even have to try against us, we just open up for them. And for everyone blaming the keeper, what are you expecting from a young lad who has that complete shambles ahead of him. Of course he doesn't look confident - no keeper would with those tactics.

It frustrating because we aren't even that bad on the ball. Forget a new striker for the moment - it was a complete disaster not to get one, and utter negligence - but in the meantime we should have picked up at least a few more points by just coaching our players to maintain the defensive shape in a game. At least the we could have had some sort of solid foundation to build on in the January transfer window, but at this rate, we'll be too far gone to save. Instead, I guess we'll experiment with five at the back again, weaken the midfield, all while ignoring the gaping obvious issue, which is probably what will happen next week if Hassenhuttl is still there.  

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, austsaint said:

We weren't as bad as the scoreline suggested, and for much of the game Saints matched the Geordies for effort and intensity, but not skills and clinical finishing.    Elyounoussi's miss was inexplicable, as was Ralph's decision to leave him on for the full 94 minutes.  Adams had time to take a touch, but chose a difficult first time volley.     While we're on the subject of Ralph, his decision to start Walcott and leave him on for over an hour should be enough to ensure his dismissal - young Edozie did more in his first five minutes than Walcott showed in 63.

There were some good performances - Perraud was great all game, Maitland-Niles is getting up to speed quickly and showed he is good cover at RB.     Stuart Armstrong played well and looked our most dangerous attacking player while Salisu had good moments and his passing was much improved, including his assist for Perraud's goal.      Ralph should be gone before the WC break....surely.

Perraud's defending for Willocks goal left a lot to be desired. PL full backs should never be beaten as easily as that. He has a bit of fire in his belly which I like, but some of his positioning today was reminiscent of Oliver Bernard.

I would agree that it wasn't a 1-4 game at all, but the way the team structure and shape fall apart after the 2nd goal went in shouldn't be allowed to happen. 

[Saint86]

36 minutes ago, nta786 said:

What did rile me up slightly though was the number of fans clapping Trippier when he was walking around towards the end of that first half when he had a potential injury scare… He didn’t give two shits to even acknowledge it and why should he.

Now I’m not saying we need to be like the Toon Army in the away end and all go topless but my word it feels like we have the softest fan base in the division. 
A shame that St Mary’s is a bit corporate and soulless, not intimidating at all. I think you see other fans from the likes of Newcastle and WHU previously there is no doubt why the likes of Semmens and Steele can just exploit our fanbase so easily.

Our atmosphere (and fan bond with the team) largely died when Les Reed dismantled the promotion team in Summer 2014. It has never really recovered. The Puel, Mope, and Hughes really did kill it.

Edited 7 November, 2022 by Saint86