WBA 0-0 Saints - SF 1st Leg Match Thread

[Saint Fan CaM]

It was an acceptable performance and keeps us in the hunt for round two. Surprised no-one has mentioned the ugly gaping wound on AA’s cheek…it looked bad and I truly hope he’s not missing on Friday. Whatever the question, Mara is not the answer…he provides very little and I am very surprised that he gets the nod over Dibling or even Sully. Back five worked really well and Sky mentioned that KWP was like having another midfield attacker. Stephens needs to cut out the stupid risky long passes that gift possession in dangerous counter situations…a better team like Leeds or Norwich would have punished us.  Thought Alex Mc was very good - Baz would not have got to the goal line save given his legs are made of lead.

If RM gets it right in terms of recovery and finds a way of improving our goal threat on Friday we should be OK. But this is the play-offs with all its theatre and I can see it going to pens which will likely be the doing of us. 2-1 Saints.

[SW11_Saint]

Really cracking atmosphere yesterday. The first time I’ve been to The Hawthorns and it’s a fantastic ‘old school’ stadium with a brilliant atmosphere. Their fans deserve a lot of credit - and our support was also fantastic. 

Got to make SMS a noisy fortress on Friday too, even if things don’t immediately go to plan - got to keep the backing, positivity and noise. Going to be another tight one. 
 

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

Mara is the only one I don’t want anywhere near the team. Surely even Dibling running around, chasing down and being a nuisance would be more effective?

This is the biggest disappointment for me this season.... Having gone down a league I was hoping it would give more opportunity to our 'rising stars', such as Dibling, Amo-Ameyaw and Bragg, but, if anything, the opposite has been true.

In the brief cameo(s) we've seen from Dibling, it does seem somewhat baffling how someone like Mara is effectively blocking his path into first team contention. He couldn't be any worse, surely?

 

[east-stand-nic]

Things I took from the game last night.

1. Mara is useless in every way

2. Aribo has an awful first touch

3. Passing across the back is suicidal

4. That RM cannot see any of this proves he is not a good enough manager.

 

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

25 minutes ago, SW11_Saint said:

Really cracking atmosphere yesterday. The first time I’ve been to The Hawthorns and it’s a fantastic ‘old school’ stadium with a brilliant atmosphere. Their fans deserve a lot of credit - and our support was also fantastic. 

Got to make SMS a noisy fortress on Friday too, even if things don’t immediately go to plan - got to keep the backing, positivity and noise. Going to be another tight one. 
 

It’s a great place for noise when they’re up for it, like most grounds, not always like that. Looking on their forums they’re saying Sunday was one of the best ever atmospheres at the Hawthorns. Let’s hope every Saints fan is equally up to it on Friday.

[Peter Douglas]

14 hours ago, Zorba said:

We are soooo boring to watch!

The only excitement is when we cock up our own endless back passing.

RM & SR won’t be here forever though.. and I’ll be happy to resign this era to a bad memory

Bore draw. Could have been worse. 

Onward and upward.

.

"Onward and upward."

Surely you mean backwards and sideways. 

 

[SaintNewForest]

24 minutes ago, trousers said:

This is the biggest disappointment for me this season.... Having gone down a league I was hoping it would give more opportunity to our 'rising stars', such as Dibling, Amo-Ameyaw and Bragg, but, if anything, the opposite has been true.

In the brief cameo(s) we've seen from Dibling, it does seem somewhat baffling how someone like Mara is effectively blocking his path into first team contention. He couldn't be any worse, surely?

 

Completely agree. Plus we lost Doyle to Brighton, and sent Ballard out on loan. 

Seeing as Ballard is the natural striker, he must be sitting at home recovering, watching Mara and wonder why Mara was kept on over himself last summer. I'd have sent Mara to Reading, to be honest, and we'd have had more return from Ballard. 

You could also argue the likes of Dibling & SAA would have had more impact this season than Sulemana as well. 

[Pamplemousse]

38 minutes ago, trousers said:

This is the biggest disappointment for me this season.... Having gone down a league I was hoping it would give more opportunity to our 'rising stars', such as Dibling, Amo-Ameyaw and Bragg, but, if anything, the opposite has been true.

In the brief cameo(s) we've seen from Dibling, it does seem somewhat baffling how someone like Mara is effectively blocking his path into first team contention. He couldn't be any worse, surely?

 

Our recent signings from Ligue 1 haven't worked at all. Mara, Sulemana (maybe Perraud but he did look solid if not spectacular).

I personally wouldn't want Dibling/SAA suddenly thrown into the team now in these pressure games, but feel they could've been given more opportunities across the season, especially with five subs.

[Dman]

15 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

Our recent signings from Ligue 1 haven't worked at all. Mara, Sulemana (maybe Perraud but he did look solid if not spectacular).

I personally wouldn't want Dibling/SAA suddenly thrown into the team now in these pressure games, but feel they could've been given more opportunities across the season, especially with five subs.

SAA is a weird one - I thought he looked brilliant pre-season and was expecting him to play a much bigger part than he has this season. 

He made a couple (1 maybe 2) appearances off the bench at the start of the season and I thought he looked lively. Positive and tricky. He was finally given a start against QPR and tbh, it showed he's not ready to be a regular.. However, I dont think we've seen him again since. 

As you say, there have defo been opportunities across the season to get him and dibling more minutes. I suspect they will next season if / when we don't get promoted. 

[Dan Johnson]

Jesus, reading through this thread you'd have think we lost 4-0, where on earth has all the negativity come from? 

Seems allot on here are basing their reaction on their anti RM agenda rather than basing it on the actual performance\game.

Its was a good Away performance, in tough conditions. I felt we edged a tight game and I go into Friday allot more confident than before yesterdays game.

 

 

[Fan The Flames]

2 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

Our recent signings from Ligue 1 haven't worked at all. Mara, Sulemana (maybe Perraud but he did look solid if not spectacular).

I personally wouldn't want Dibling/SAA suddenly thrown into the team now in these pressure games, but feel they could've been given more opportunities across the season, especially with five subs.

There hasn't been many games where we've been in a comfortable position to blood the younger players late on.

[warsash saint]

Was the PA purposely soooo loud yesterday to stop us fans singing before the game?  It was f*cking ridulous!!

[Lighthouse]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

This is the biggest disappointment for me this season.... Having gone down a league I was hoping it would give more opportunity to our 'rising stars', such as Dibling, Amo-Ameyaw and Bragg, but, if anything, the opposite has been true.

In the brief cameo(s) we've seen from Dibling, it does seem somewhat baffling how someone like Mara is effectively blocking his path into first team contention. He couldn't be any worse, surely?

 

Nobodies path is being blocked by anything. Players will get a chance in the first team when they look like they might be able to start adding something, at least sporadically off the bench. However you rate Mara, and I think he’s crap, he’s clearly much better than anything we’ve got in our youth team. Didn’t he score five goals in a reserve game last season?

SAA was probably the brightest prospect we had at the start of the season and the QPR game showed he’s just not ready yet. Likewise Dibling, he had a decent ten minute sub appearance but that’s no different to most of Mara’s performances.

Far too often people say, “XYZ couldn’t be any worse than ABC,” based on nothing other than baseless guesswork.

[lambtiss]

On 12/05/2024 at 15:49, Saint_clark said:

Mara much better than Armstrong today. 

Your defence of Mara is laudable, but he’s not picked upon unfairly or for fun, he’s just really not very good,

it’s a huge shame that his performances don’t match your belief in him. If anonymity and making slow lazy runs were an important factor in top level football success he really would be top drawer. As these are not actually of any value in football, it’s like playing with 10 men on the pitch.

[notnowcato]

4 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

Your defence of Mara is laudable, but he’s not picked upon unfairly or for fun, he’s just really not very good,

it’s a huge shame that his performances don’t match your belief in him. If anonymity and making slow lazy runs were an important factor in top level football success he really would be top drawer. As these are not actually of any value in football, it’s like playing with 10 men on the pitch.

He's also not as bad as many are making out on here.

Another day he scores a cracking overhead kick from the only half chance that fell to him.  His press was ok, forcing WBA into tight areas or to go long.  I do worry about his demeanour, he doesn't look like he's in a good place at the moment.  If Che continues to be out then Sekou plays the first 60 minutes on Friday.

[egg]

32 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Nobodies path is being blocked by anything. Players will get a chance in the first team when they look like they might be able to start adding something, at least sporadically off the bench. However you rate Mara, and I think he’s crap, he’s clearly much better than anything we’ve got in our youth team. Didn’t he score five goals in a reserve game last season?

SAA was probably the brightest prospect we had at the start of the season and the QPR game showed he’s just not ready yet. Likewise Dibling, he had a decent ten minute sub appearance but that’s no different to most of Mara’s performances.

Far too often people say, “XYZ couldn’t be any worse than ABC,” based on nothing other than baseless guesswork.

Agreed. Mara isn't good enough (well he arguably could be, but he doesn't put then work in) but he's our only option through the middle when Adams is out, and until Stewart is ready to start. 

We've not got anyone good enough in the B or kids teams. As much as I feel for Dibling not getting any real opportunities, he's not a centre forward, and wouldn't be an Adams alternative even if he was first team ready. 

[Saint_clark]

17 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

Your defence of Mara is laudable, but he’s not picked upon unfairly or for fun, he’s just really not very good,

it’s a huge shame that his performances don’t match your belief in him. If anonymity and making slow lazy runs were an important factor in top level football success he really would be top drawer. As these are not actually of any value in football, it’s like playing with 10 men on the pitch.

My defence of him wasn't from any kind of belief he'll be top quality for us. 

My defence of him was from the fact that he really didn't play that badly against WBA, certainly not enough to warrant being singled out. He wasn't any worse than Adam Armstrong and in fact with the improved performance he put in after half time I'd say he performed better. 

The issue we had was a lack of creativity from CM, especially as the fullbacks had a pretty terrible game going forward so we had zero threat from the wings in an attacking sense. 

[Saint86]

Have to say i am shocked by the negativity and toxicity from some of our fans. Was a very solid performance in a difficult tie - and one in which most pundits seem to have picked West Brom and Calderon to beat us... Sadly we're still stuck with too many of the fans that booed the side off in the last home game and couldn't be arsed to stick around for the player appreciation lap. I sincerely hope that everyone who goes on Friday is doing so with the intention of doing everything to support the players, as it will certainly be needed.

Edited May 13 by Saint86

[trousers]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Nobodies path is being blocked by anything. Players will get a chance in the first team when they look like they might be able to start adding something, at least sporadically off the bench. However you rate Mara, and I think he’s crap, he’s clearly much better than anything we’ve got in our youth team. Didn’t he score five goals in a reserve game last season?

SAA was probably the brightest prospect we had at the start of the season and the QPR game showed he’s just not ready yet. Likewise Dibling, he had a decent ten minute sub appearance but that’s no different to most of Mara’s performances.

Far too often people say, “XYZ couldn’t be any worse than ABC,” based on nothing other than baseless guesswork.

Always happy to disagree

I even got 9 likes which is almost unheard of for someone who talks as much nonsense as I do...

 

Edited May 13 by trousers

[Totton Saint]

Saints seemed to be conserving their energy for the return leg on Friday. Watching on TV it is hard to see how well players are playing. I could discern that our goaiei played well.

[Chez]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Nobodies path is being blocked by anything. Players will get a chance in the first team when they look like they might be able to start adding something, at least sporadically off the bench. However you rate Mara, and I think he’s crap, he’s clearly much better than anything we’ve got in our youth team. Didn’t he score five goals in a reserve game last season?

SAA was probably the brightest prospect we had at the start of the season and the QPR game showed he’s just not ready yet. Likewise Dibling, he had a decent ten minute sub appearance but that’s no different to most of Mara’s performances.

Far too often people say, “XYZ couldn’t be any worse than ABC,” based on nothing other than baseless guesswork.

Dibling was shite in the Watford game. He looked slow and did absolutely nothing. He's young, he offers great potential, but put a £10m fee on his back and you'd have fans slating his impact rather than calling for him to replace another Saint.

If he was good enough he'd be playing right now, but it may take about more time for him to blossom.

[SaintNewForest]

8 minutes ago, Chez said:

Dibling was shite in the Watford game. He looked slow and did absolutely nothing. He's young, he offers great potential, but put a £10m fee on his back and you'd have fans slating his impact rather than calling for him to replace another Saint.

If he was good enough he'd be playing right now, but it may take about more time for him to blossom.

And yet, in the replay at home, he was outstanding. Set up one of our goals with an incredible run from the right corner flag if I remember rightly? 

[trousers]

44 minutes ago, SaintNewForest said:

And yet, in the replay at home, he was outstanding. Set up one of our goals with an incredible run from the right corner flag if I remember rightly? 

It's almost as if human beings often use selective memory to back up their point of view...

Edited May 13 by trousers

[Jack]

Would’ve taken a draw before it started, I didn’t think we played well so good to escape without being behind. Really good atmosphere and a decent enough game for a 0-0. 
 

Mara and Manning were terrible. Mara just isn’t involved at all, and Manning never even gets close enough to his man to have a chance of stopping a cross. Luckily we defended fairly well aside from him. 

[Dr Who?]

7 hours ago, Dan Johnson said:

Jesus, reading through this thread you'd have think we lost 4-0, where on earth has all the negativity come from? 

Seems allot on here are basing their reaction on their anti RM agenda rather than basing it on the actual performance\game.

Its was a good Away performance, in tough conditions. I felt we edged a tight game and I go into Friday allot more confident than before yesterdays game.

 

 

Really, I’m not surprised, this is Saintsweb. It’s weird because the feeling in here is always opposite to those in the stands at the games I go too. It’s funny in here how negative it is. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 hours ago, Dan Johnson said:

Jesus, reading through this thread you'd have think we lost 4-0, where on earth has all the negativity come from? 

Seems allot on here are basing their reaction on their anti RM agenda rather than basing it on the actual performance\game.

I felt my responses were really well balanced and fair.

54 minutes ago, trousers said:

It's almost as if human beings often use selective memory to back up their point of view...

Oh rats, I'm doing this, aren't I? 🙂

[Harry_SFC]

3 hours ago, SaintNewForest said:

And yet, in the replay at home, he was outstanding. Set up one of our goals with an incredible run from the right corner flag if I remember rightly? 

Yep and to be fair the whole team were crap in that away game at Watford. 

[Harry_SFC]

2 hours ago, Dr Who? said:

Really, I’m not surprised, this is Saintsweb. It’s weird because the feeling in here is always opposite to those in the stands at the games I go too. It’s funny in here how negative it is. 

I think the general consensus from those of us that were there was that it's a decent result and a solid enough away performance. At the end of the day West Brom have a very good home record and they didn't cause us many problems apart from those first 15 minutes. 

[SaintsFan86]

This would be excellent. Let's ramp up the Ante.

 

[Saint86]

10 hours ago, Harry_SFC said:

Yep and to be fair the whole team were crap in that away game at Watford. 

Saints fans caught being negative and toxic... shocker... that and actively looking for and focussing on the negatives 🙄😂

Edited May 14 by Saint86

[malcolm waldron]

34 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Saints fans caught being negative and toxic... shocker... that and actively looking for and focussing on the negatives 🙄😂

While I agree that there are a few (and sometimes too many) on here who seem to delight in taking a negative view on performances - and Sunday was a prime example, I'm unsure where the term toxic comes into it.  You've used toxic to describe Saints fans in general on here a couple of times since the weekend - is this really how you view the support?

 

[Dr Who?]

21 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

My defence of him wasn't from any kind of belief he'll be top quality for us. 

My defence of him was from the fact that he really didn't play that badly against WBA, certainly not enough to warrant being singled out. He wasn't any worse than Adam Armstrong and in fact with the improved performance he put in after half time I'd say he performed better. 

The issue we had was a lack of creativity from CM, especially as the fullbacks had a pretty terrible game going forward so we had zero threat from the wings in an attacking sense. 

We had players out wide, but they seemed to be used a a decoy, especially in the first half. The option was always there but they were obviously under instruction to play narrow and through the middle. In the end WBA left they out wide and we still did not use them. Mainly this was Manning in acres. 

When we did bring Fraser on our threat going forward was reseeding more than my hairline as it was clear we were happy with the 0-0, so Fraser was not in the game much.