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Stoke 0-1 Saints - Match Thread

Lighthouse

By Lighthouse,
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SNSUN

SNSUN

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Long Shot said:

Everyone happy with a gritty win but no way do we look anything like automatic promotion hopefuls. Miles inferior to the side Adkins took up. 

To be fair, the bulk of the Adkins side had been playing together for 2 years. This lot are still gelling.

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Chez

Chez

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Long Shot said:

Everyone happy with a gritty win but no way do we look anything like automatic promotion hopefuls. Miles inferior to the side Adkins took up. 

This side isn't as good. Simple as. It is what it is. Hopefully we can improve over the course of the season. 

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Lee On Solent Saint

Lee On Solent Saint

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Chez said:

He wasn't good tonight, but we might need him at some point. Good idea to get behind players like him. Try to build their confidence up. They can make all the difference come the end of the season. 

I get what you are saying, but tonight we could have done with Adams coming on instead. Needed someone to hold the ball up front, that's not Mara's game, not strong enough to really play that role. I get Adams has been off the pace as well, just thought he would have been the better option. 

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notnowcato

notnowcato

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Should have had another 1 or 2 really. Defended well again. Maybe this team has gone and grown so balls

Agreed. More goals for us wouldn’t have looked out of place, we sliced through them with ease at times. A fit and firing Stewart looks like the missing piece of the jigsaw. 

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Galway saint

Galway saint

Posted
Posted

still need a proper mobile striker. let’s hope stewart is that man and if so the team might look dangerous. 

starting to look more solid defensively after the shit shows of sunderland and Leicester. feel THB has made a massive difference. he’s one of those players who always seems to be in the right place. the contrast with holgate is stark

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notnowcato

notnowcato

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, captainchris said:

God we weren’t exactly ‘a class apart’ 

Stoke played reasonably well and got into dangerous positions a number of times.

There really wasn’t much in it….

We were also full strength and they had injuries.  
 

Great goal from Stuart Armstrong but that apart fairy even… 

There was a clear gulf in quality between us and Stoke. 

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moonraker

moonraker

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, Long Shot said:

Everyone happy with a gritty win but no way do we look anything like automatic promotion hopefuls. Miles inferior to the side Adkins took up. 

Major difference was Adkins had had a whole season with the team, Martin is having to sort out the shitshow from last season.

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Chez

Chez

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I get what you are saying, but tonight we could have done with Adams coming on instead. Needed someone to hold the ball up front, that's not Mara's game, not strong enough to really play that role. I get Adams has been off the pace as well, just thought he would have been the better option. 

Mara's hold up play was poor tonight and it's not been good enough since he has bene here. Got to protect the ball better and relieve the pressure. That has been Adams best asset in the last few years, but he's not done it well either recently. 

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saintant

saintant

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I just hope that a fit Ross Stewart brings us the type of central strike we have been crying out for.
There seems to be a problem with Che Adams and Mara is nowhere near good enough.
Could possibly do with another midfield player.
Aribo offers nothing and I am a little bit disappointed with what Flynn Downes has done after his first decent performance.
I just hope he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning and will improve when fully functioning.

Downes was superb tonight. He did exactly what he was meant to and that would have been a comfortable win if others had played to his level tonight. 

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saintant

saintant

Posted
Posted (edited)
55 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

What an absolutely ugly game of football that was, not much to write about other than the win. I think we were dragged into the Stoke game a bit too much, they had absolutely nothing - a truly horrific side. We should have made it more comfortable than it was.

Not entirely sure why Stu got MOTM - bit of a lazy choice just because he got the goal. In play he was inept tonight. Alcaraz was great slightly in front of him I think.

Best player for me was THB - he quietly goes about it, but he just defends with no nonsense. Always in the right position, the ball is like a magnet to him. He's going to be huge for us.

Subs made us weaker, Mara was really, really, really bad - didn't give us anything as a sub. Can't trust him now, go with Adams if we make that change going forward. Hopefully we get some takers in Jan.

THB I hardly noticed which is often the sign of a good player.  I think he'll be first pick out of our centre backs even when Stephens is fit again. Didn't think Mara was really, really bad - there looks to be a player in there and he did a few decent things but he should have at least worked the keeper with his chance.

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Chez

Chez

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

still need a proper mobile striker. let’s hope stewart is that man and if so the team might look dangerous. 

starting to look more solid defensively after the shit shows of sunderland and Leicester. feel THB has made a massive difference. he’s one of those players who always seems to be in the right place. the contrast with holgate is stark

I'd be wary of overpraising our side. The decent sides (Leicester, Sunderland) have taken us apart. The lessor sides haven't. Not sure we have improved much in the last week or two. The standard of opposition has been much worse. 

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farawaysaint

farawaysaint

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, moonraker said:

Major difference was Adkins had had a whole season with the team, Martin is having to sort out the shitshow from last season.

I mean that and the fact that somehow we had a squad full of top class internationals in the Championship last time. 

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LuckyNumber7

LuckyNumber7

Posted
Posted

As others have said an ugly win, but you need wins like that in this league over a long gruelling season.

I thought we were clearly the better team but got dragged down to their level towards the end, however on the whole we defended excellently. We also missed 3 very good chances to make the score more comfortable, whilst I can barely remember Stoke creating anything of note.

Andy Hinchcliffe was doing my head in banging on about the Downes challenge, never in 100 years was that a penalty. The Bednarek one though we did get away with.

Downes was my MOTM, KWP excellent as usual and bazunu's distribution very good again. Sully a big threat but just needs to improve his end product. Actually thought Stuey had a shocker of a first half aside from his goal. Also think people are being overly harsh on Mara, the miss aside I thought he showed some nice touches. 

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notnowcato

notnowcato

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Definitely not a clear ‘gulf’ 

Rose tinted glasses touch off …. 

No glasses, just an honest view on both teams. It’s also obvious there is plenty of scope for improvement too, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were to absolutely smash a team before Christmas. 

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verlaine1979

verlaine1979

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, captainchris said:

God we weren’t exactly ‘a class apart’ 

Stoke played reasonably well and got into dangerous positions a number of times.

There really wasn’t much in it….

We were also full strength and they had injuries.  
 

Great goal from Stuart Armstrong but that apart fairy even… 

Stoke had very good positions on the edge of our box a number of times, particularly in the first half, but their final ball was catastrophically abysmal. Other teams recently have found themselves in similar positions and punished us.

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notnowcato

notnowcato

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, verlaine1979 said:

Stoke had very good positions on the edge of our box a number of times, particularly in the first half, but their final ball was catastrophically abysmal. Other teams recently have found themselves in similar positions and punished us.

Agreed. In the last 2 games we’ve also been much more aggressive defending our box. Having a fit Downes really helps with that aspect of our game. 

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Winnersaint

Winnersaint

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, captainchris said:

God we weren’t exactly ‘a class apart’ 

Stoke played reasonably well and got into dangerous positions a number of times.

There really wasn’t much in it….

We were also full strength and they had injuries.  
 

Great goal from Stuart Armstrong but that apart fairy even… 

Problem is you’ve got form for this over the years. Never seem happy whatever we do. We won, that’ll do for me. We go again Saturday. 

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saintant

saintant

Posted
Posted

If we can get Stewart fit and firing he could be the key to this team kicking on. Tonight we had no real presence up front and it led to many of our attacks breaking down. We are lacking an intelligent centre forward who makes clever runs and I think he will make us look a much better side once he has a few games under his belt. We had some good build up play tonight but were crying out for someone with a bit of nous further up the field.

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saintant

saintant

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

As others have said an ugly win, but you need wins like that in this league over a long gruelling season.

I thought we were clearly the better team but got dragged down to their level towards the end, however on the whole we defended excellently. We also missed 3 very good chances to make the score more comfortable, whilst I can barely remember Stoke creating anything of note.

Andy Hinchcliffe was doing my head in banging on about the Downes challenge, never in 100 years was that a penalty. The Bednarek one though we did get away with.

Downes was my MOTM, KWP excellent as usual and bazunu's distribution very good again. Sully a big threat but just needs to improve his end product. Actually thought Stuey had a shocker of a first half aside from his goal. Also think people are being overly harsh on Mara, the miss aside I thought he showed some nice touches. 

Aside from the most biased Stoke fans Andy Hinchcliffe was the only person watching that game who thought the Downes incident deserved a penalty. He made a fool of himself banging on about it.

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hasper57saint

hasper57saint

Posted
Posted

Just got home (North Shropshire) and enjoyed the win and clean sheet but there were times when we got lucky. Some of their tackles left a lot to be desired but the highlight for us was Stuart’s free kick. Even JWP would have been proud of it. Stoke didn’t have anything in their locker. To be honest, with a little more finesse we could have had five. MOTM for us was Walker Peters. Roll on Saturday and let’s see if we can keep up the momentum.

PS. Saints support outstanding. COYS 

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Ambsaint

Ambsaint

Posted
Posted

Obviously awesome result, what we needed, and finally a clean sheet which is superb.

Odd game after the efforts of Saturday, I think it's difficult to pick up too much from it as most of players will be a bit tired, which I thought showed given the possesion (high mental concentration) style. Was a few needless wayward passes and the passing at the back was at times terrifying me but actually mostly pretty good, especially from Baz and both CBs.

Thought the back line was mostly excellent again tonight, both CBs especially. KWP was very good, Manning I thought was ok and I think he is improving. Clearly he and Sully needed to sort out closing down for crosses, no idea if that's tactics, but you can't allow a few seconds for a winger to decide on a cross.

Front line looked unbalanced with AA on the right and didn't create much - Leeds our attack looked a lot more potent though, with the same players. Sulemana looked decent but we could so do with an equivalent threat on the other side.

I thought the midfield looked excellent tonight, Downes was again all over it and Smallbone I thought had an excellent game (I wasn't that convinced with him but he looks like he's improving rapidly to me). Personally I had a question mark over Stu who got MoTM, I thought he was mostly poor/average, but he won us the game.

Fraser/Aribo - not really sure on these two, maybe players to see out games but I don't think either brings a lot to the team at the moment. Aribo of the two is improving.

Alcaraz I can't work out, played as maybe a false 9 tonight(?), with AA right seemed a bit weird - he doesn't really have the pace to play off the shoulder but some very good passes and works hard.

Anyway, happy days :)

 

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CB Fry

CB Fry

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, saintant said:

If we can get Stewart fit and firing he could be the key to this team kicking on. Tonight we had no real presence up front and it led to many of our attacks breaking down. We are lacking an intelligent centre forward who makes clever runs and I think he will make us look a much better side once he has a few games under his belt. We had some good build up play tonight but were crying out for someone with a bit of nous further up the field.

That was my thought. An actual striker playing up front could genuinely be the final piece of the puzzle.

CB pairing was strong today, keeper was sound, Flynn I thought excellent. All of a sudden we are solid.

But going forward we're not getting anywhere. A focal point could make sll the difference.

 

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Mr Saints

Mr Saints

Posted
Posted

Stoke were really poor but we nearly fell into the trap in the last half hour by failing to bring Adams on, which would have given us a target. Without that, we had Mara with his strength of a sheet of tracing paper and no out ball.

But we got there in the end and it’s a valuable 3 points. Thought Downes, THB, KWP were excellent.

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Vancouver Saint

Vancouver Saint

Posted
Posted

Arrived late to watch the game but timed it perfectly as Stu curled in the free kick - so you can all thank me for that.

Based on what I saw in the second half we were unlucky not to score two more - Stu's header onto the defenders foot (doh!) and Sulemana's cut-in that he should really have scored from.

Otherwise, we looked (relative to previous performances) shockingly composed defensively. I still don't like how Manning leaves his man so open out wide...almost as if they've been told to concede possession out wide to stay compact in the middle...but invites crosses into the box and gives the opponents time to join in the attack.

Subs, excluding Shea, made us weaker. Mara and Aribo way off the pace and did nothing to hold up play high up or tackle back. Mara, sauntering across the back line to close down his man despite him having fresh legs. Fraser wasn't great but at least he works hard and tracks back too. The last 15 was screaming for Edozie to offer a speedy counter-attack threat.

Happy we held out for an important win

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farawaysaint

farawaysaint

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, CB Fry said:

Tanadari Lee is the only one I think, and he was half a season. Christ knows what @farawaysaintis on about.

Very polite thanks.  Perhaps  i should have been crystal clear and said future internationals but I’m afraid I assumed it was obvious what I meant.

Ah well, live and learn, apologies for the confusion. 

 

 

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Suhari

Suhari

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Suhari said:

Not watching this one: it's gone 1am and I'm on a plane home early tomorrow.

Me not watching = Saints win.

3-0. 

You can thank me later.

Wrong score, right result.

I do like waking up to a win. Looking forward to watching us on Saturday.

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Dark Munster

Dark Munster

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Chez said:

I'd be wary of overpraising our side. The decent sides (Leicester, Sunderland) have taken us apart. The lessor sides haven't. Not sure we have improved much in the last week or two. The standard of opposition has been much worse. 

That was mainly due the manager deciding to go into those matches with a terrible line up with no significant midfield. 

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Noodles34

Noodles34

Posted
Posted
On 30/09/2023 at 14:38, Lighthouse said:

Well f**k me if it isn't a cold, wet, October, Tuesday night away at Stoke. The graveyard of Messi, Neymar, Mbappe and every other footballer who isn't a great, big, hairy, northern lard arse.

Somehow we're live on Sky again, we seem to be getting more air time than anyone in the country this season.

None of those above played at Stoke. 
But Maradona did. 

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rooney

rooney

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, saintant said:

Aside from the most biased Stoke fans Andy Hinchcliffe was the only person watching that game who thought the Downes incident deserved a penalty. He made a fool of himself banging on about it.

Thats because he is a fool and the biggest "know all" you can imagine.

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inspectorfrost

inspectorfrost

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, adrian lord said:

Bazunu with a big performance in my book. 

Bit of a mixed bag I thought, he did make some good saves but a couple of dodgy moments. He was close to gifting Stoke an open goal early on with the sweeper keeper attempt.

Aribo did a lot better than I expected when he came on

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Colinjb

Colinjb

Posted
Posted

Thinking on it. Happier with last night then the Leeds game. 

Seeing the players working so hard for each other to see the game out and to actually do it was so heartening. That is the kind of team ethic that consistent results can be built upon. The attack can continue to be worked on as long as we can make this kind of effort habitual. 

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