Saints 0-0 Skates - Match Thread

[Challenger]

Leaving the new players out of the equation, if Still doesn't know his players strengths and weaknesses and an effective method of play by now, questions need asking.

[spyinthesky]

Our passing was dreadful, especially in the first half.
Playing long balls up to Archer only for their two centre halves to win the ball easily in the air was a ploy that was bound to fail.
Whilst very disappointed in the teams performance today, I do feel there will be better days ahead when the new players become jelled into the side.
That said we do need to get a win at Hull next Saturday.
Pompey have a given 3 points at home to Sheff Weds and could potentially be 5 points ahead of us if we dont perform next week.
I cant see much enthusiasm with ticket take up for the Liverpool game after that poor performance

[Saint Fan CaM]

3 minutes ago, gio1saints said:

My match review :

First half: We were much weaker and half a yard slower too. They were stronger. The occasion put lead in our boots. But our tactics were asking for it.  I stopped counting the high hoofs mainly to archer but frankly it was shockingly bad offensive play. 
 

Second half. Better - but only because they tired and basically got resigned to keeping a point - it was not because we worked out what they were doing and countered it. 
 

As for our players : Charles did alright, Manning ditto, Bazunu too and Fraser did what he always does - works hard - but fuck it he is a limited player so if we had any ambition to win Jay or Leo should be on sooner. Stephens and THB were ok but still too keen to pass to each other instead of to forwards or mf. 
The rest : Aziz did a few touches but did not command the game. Neither did Fellowes. Both go down as disappointing performances for me. Downes - bad game. Archer as usual anonymous - this time because hitting 65yard balls at 9ft to him is simply stupid stupid stupid. I wouldn’t mind but there’s never anyone even close to him to fight for second ball - stupid stupid stupid. Mads was toothless today. 
The subs- Leo got fouled 3 times in 10 minutes Casper did a few decent things. Jay did nothing. Ross and Adam also did not change much.
Overall our best attacker was the bloke who ran in the pitch and I give the manager a 4/10 for absence of initiative to change tactics. A better manager would have worked it out on the hoof versus that limited pfc side. Will did not/could not. They were not a top team but we made them look it in first half. 

That’s not entirely accurate. They had circa 70% possession at one point passing it around like they owned the place. OK, our press was almost non-existent, but they had a decent game plan, had decent chances and even hit the bar with dear old Baz beaten. We were strangers.

[Football Special]

33 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

Irrelevant. It’s a derby. 

First time we had played them at St Mary's for 13 years, got the impression from some fans around me they don't even know it's a rivalry, perhaps haven't been going that long and just don't understand it. 

[stfrancisofbenali]

I think our real season starts now. The games before the transfer window closed were improvised at best and the derby coming immediately after the first international break was always going to be a distraction rather than a proper test of Still’s philosophy. The next ten games are crucial for Still and he needs to get this squad purring and put a run together. Let’s see where we are at Christmas. 

[aintforever]

Fucking awful. Time to get a proper manager in.

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Football Special said:

First time we had played them at St Mary's for 13 years, got the impression from some fans around me they don't even know it's a rivalry, perhaps haven't been going that long and just don't understand it. 

I'm glad it's not just me who felt the atmosphere was so passive. It felt like a normal league game where I was sat, everyone sat in silence. It was infuriating.

Couple started to get something going a row or 2 below, with your standard chants, but were told to shh and sit down by fans around because of the naughty words they said.

Everything about today was absolutely fucking shit. Fans included.

[danjosaint]

I need to apologise as I've said on here and stuck up for THB saying he will become a top player.... he wont, another like Downes who is part of our past problem. He's generally always out of position and seems to moan at everyone else like a younger Bednarek. It's saying something when Stephens is your 1st choice cb. There effort that hit the bar was because of THB trying a sliced clearance under no pressure whilst Baz could just pick it up, now is this him being rash like we've often seen or him not trusting Baz or because Baz isn't vocal or dominant enough, we really did literally need a huge clearout to get this negative mentality out of the club, nothing changes with spine of Baz Stephens THB and Downes 

[Patrick Bateman]

Crap match, although second half was better, crap atmosphere for a derby, was about as toxic as fresh water from the tap.

Annoying.

Giving the team the benefit of doubt though, a 2 week break with some missing, loads of new faces, so let's see what the next couple of months bring.  If it's still like this in 5 or 6 matches, let's hope Danny Rohl is still available. But hopefully it won't come to that, fingers crossed.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

3 minutes ago, benjii said:

Maybe the atmosphere was quiet cos the coke/Stone Island crew were knackered after yesterday's Retard Parade.

I have never seen so much fake Stone Island in my life, sad.

[obelisk]

Watched last 30 minutes in a Lisbon bar. Was the rest of it as toothless as that? Still haunted by Russball in defence.

Need to be much more dangerous in attack otherwise playoffs will be just a dream.

[benjii]

Just now, obelisk said:

Watched last 30 minutes in a Lisbon bar. Was the rest of it as toothless as that? Still haunted by Russball in defence.

Need to be much more dangerous in attack otherwise playoffs will be just a dream.

The rest of it was much worse. The first half was disgusting. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, obelisk said:

Watched last 30 minutes in a Lisbon bar. Was the rest of it as toothless as that? Still haunted by Russball in defence.

Need to be much more dangerous in attack otherwise playoffs will be just a dream.

The last 30 was about as good as it got, the rest was levels below that - if possible.

[lambtiss]

1 hour ago, BotleySaint said:

I thought Stewart did fairly well. Dropped back to win the ball a few times. Worked hard. But he's barely played for years so needs a run.. 

The trouble for me, is that he's not going to get match sharp coming off the bench for 20 minutes

[Nordic Saint]

1 hour ago, Hopper said:

Tough to judge Azaz or Archer because they got fed so little. 

Azaz was at the centre of our midfield. He was the one supposed to be feeding the ball to others. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Nordic Saint

[AlexLaw76]

 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

Azaz was at the centre of our midfield. He was the one supposed to be feeding the ball to others. 

Difficult when we are pumping the ball forward from 40 yards from our own goal

horrible stuff

[Big M]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

Yeah. Dreadful today. Shambles of a performance. He looked absolutely knackered when he came off as well. Wondering if he’s unfit. 

Yep, unfit to wear a Saint's shirt. 

[Football Special]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

 

Fucking hell is he that desperate for attention? Deary me 

[skintsaint]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

 

Dancing like a bellend makes you a nonce apparently. Unless i missed something.

[BarryVenisonsHair]

Bazunu - 7. Not a lot to do but did what he had to. Distribution was generally good. 

Roerslev - 4. Very underwhelming for someone with his premier league experience. 

Stephens- 7. Generally good performance and loved his lung busting waltz through midfield as no one else had the balls to try! 

Harwood-Bellis - 7. Got his head on a fair bit. 

Manning - 4. Positioning was poor and delivery even worse for the most part. 

Downes - 3. Very poor. Crab football, uninspiring. 

Charles - 7. Assured on the ball. Strong performance. 

Fellows - 6. First half when we had moments, he was very direct old school right winger, getting to the byline. Second half not as much and cut in a bit more. Promising. 

Azaz - 4. Didn't offer nearly enough for his league experience. Left Archer exposed and isolated a lot. Meh. 

Fraser - 9. Best player on the pitch. Ran his socks off and tried everything. Fair play

 Archer - 7. Put himself about for a small bloke and held his own whilst isolated. Tried hard but needed more support. 

Armstrong - 6. Burst of energy when he came on and tried but again didn't have much to work from.

Rest of the subs unrated as they were all introduced for too late. 

 

What a frustrating afternoon. Those outswinging corners were arse! Should have put Manning on inswingers, would have been more effective. 

 

 

[Dr Who?]

2 hours ago, LGTL said:

His subs were baffling today. We finally got a foothold on the game and he makes a load of subs that totally ruined our momentum.

He just seems to chuck everyone on when we need a goal. Any sort of plan goes out the window. 

Said the same at the time. Subs should not be made when you get to a certain time on the clock, but if you need to shake things up to try and get a foothold in the game. We were getting on top for sure and so he made changes. 🤷🏽 

[saintant]

21 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I'm glad it's not just me who felt the atmosphere was so passive. It felt like a normal league game where I was sat, everyone sat in silence. It was infuriating.

Couple started to get something going a row or 2 below, with your standard chants, but were told to shh and sit down by fans around because of the naughty words they said.

Everything about today was absolutely fucking shit. Fans included.

Do you not think the fans turned up as a collective expecting our far better players to dominate? No surprise they were stunned into relative silence by what unravelled on the pitch from the first minute. I'd be surprised if there is a single Saints fan who thought Pompey would be so dominant in that first half and we'd resort to total hoofball. A lot of that was down to Will Still.

[Dr Who?]

3 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Dancing like a bellend makes you a nonce apparently. Unless i missed something.

It’s so cringe! 😬 

[skintsaint]

Just now, Dr Who? said:

It’s so cringe! 😬 

I agree....but why a nonce?

[Dr Who?]

2 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

I agree....but why a nonce?

That I cannot answer, but I am sure we say the same about that clown 🤡 with the big shoes and blue and dirty white wig. I think it is added for impact! 

[disconnect]

4 minutes ago, BarryVenisonsHair said:

Bazunu - 7. Not a lot to do but did what he had to. Distribution was generally good. 

Roerslev - 4. Very underwhelming for someone with his premier league experience. 

Stephens- 7. Generally good performance and loved his lung busting waltz through midfield as no one else had the balls to try! 

Harwood-Bellis - 7. Got his head on a fair bit. 

Manning - 4. Positioning was poor and delivery even worse for the most part. 

Downes - 3. Very poor. Crab football, uninspiring. 

Charles - 7. Assured on the ball. Strong performance. 

Fellows - 6. First half when we had moments, he was very direct old school right winger, getting to the byline. Second half not as much and cut in a bit more. Promising. 

Azaz - 4. Didn't offer nearly enough for his league experience. Left Archer exposed and isolated a lot. Meh. 

Fraser - 9. Best player on the pitch. Ran his socks off and tried everything. Fair play

 Archer - 7. Put himself about for a small bloke and held his own whilst isolated. Tried hard but needed more support. 

Armstrong - 6. Burst of energy when he came on and tried but again didn't have much to work from.

Rest of the subs unrated as they were all introduced for too late. 

 

What a frustrating afternoon. Those outswinging corners were arse! Should have put Manning on inswingers, would have been more effective. 

 

 

Feel it's a bit harsh - was looking like he was making things happen in the second half and was brought off as he was growing into the game. Commentator (Dowie?) said similar. Also thought Fellows was looking more dangerous as we got more of the ball and think him on one side and Scienza on the other are going to win us a lot of games. 

Jander impressed when he came on, hopefully someone with a bit more drive from the middle of the park will help our creative players a bit more. Downes generally awful and agree that Roerslev was a bit disappointing but did make a few good tackles.

[lambtiss]

5 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

I agree....but why a nonce?

It's easy to spell?

[Wade Garrett]

26 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

I have never seen so much fake Stone Island in my life, sad.

I did warn you 😂

[OttawaSaint]

17 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

 

Jesus effing Corbett. Full kit and why would anyone wear anything blue at the derby? 

[benjii]

Isn't he in the disabled section?

[Wade Garrett]

26 minutes ago, BarryVenisonsHair said:

Bazunu - 7. Not a lot to do but did what he had to. Distribution was generally good. 

Roerslev - 4. Very underwhelming for someone with his premier league experience. 

Stephens- 7. Generally good performance and loved his lung busting waltz through midfield as no one else had the balls to try! 

Harwood-Bellis - 7. Got his head on a fair bit. 

Manning - 4. Positioning was poor and delivery even worse for the most part. 

Downes - 3. Very poor. Crab football, uninspiring. 

Charles - 7. Assured on the ball. Strong performance. 

Fellows - 6. First half when we had moments, he was very direct old school right winger, getting to the byline. Second half not as much and cut in a bit more. Promising. 

Azaz - 4. Didn't offer nearly enough for his league experience. Left Archer exposed and isolated a lot. Meh. 

Fraser - 9. Best player on the pitch. Ran his socks off and tried everything. Fair play

 Archer - 7. Put himself about for a small bloke and held his own whilst isolated. Tried hard but needed more support. 

Armstrong - 6. Burst of energy when he came on and tried but again didn't have much to work from.

Rest of the subs unrated as they were all introduced for too late. 

 

What a frustrating afternoon. Those outswinging corners were arse! Should have put Manning on inswingers, would have been more effective. 

 

 

Completely agree with your ratings 👍🏼.

[Football Special]

37 minutes ago, BarryVenisonsHair said:

Bazunu - 7. Not a lot to do but did what he had to. Distribution was generally good. 

Roerslev - 4. Very underwhelming for someone with his premier league experience. 

Stephens- 7. Generally good performance and loved his lung busting waltz through midfield as no one else had the balls to try! 

Harwood-Bellis - 7. Got his head on a fair bit. 

Manning - 4. Positioning was poor and delivery even worse for the most part. 

Downes - 3. Very poor. Crab football, uninspiring. 

Charles - 7. Assured on the ball. Strong performance. 

Fellows - 6. First half when we had moments, he was very direct old school right winger, getting to the byline. Second half not as much and cut in a bit more. Promising. 

Azaz - 4. Didn't offer nearly enough for his league experience. Left Archer exposed and isolated a lot. Meh. 

Fraser - 9. Best player on the pitch. Ran his socks off and tried everything. Fair play

 Archer - 7. Put himself about for a small bloke and held his own whilst isolated. Tried hard but needed more support. 

Armstrong - 6. Burst of energy when he came on and tried but again didn't have much to work from.

Rest of the subs unrated as they were all introduced for too late. 

 

What a frustrating afternoon. Those outswinging corners were arse! Should have put Manning on inswingers, would have been more effective. 

 

 

Think that's a fair assessment, People kept proclaiming Roerslev is a good signing due to his Premier league experience, but we can point to other players who had plenty of that who were no good. He was disappointing, James Bree looked better for Charlton yesterday vs Millwall 

Edited 1 hour ago by Football Special

[bpsaint]

47 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

 

Fuck me that’s embarrassing. How did this bloke end up becoming our Westwood.

[Football Special]

36 minutes ago, saintant said:

Do you not think the fans turned up as a collective expecting our far better players to dominate? No surprise they were stunned into relative silence by what unravelled on the pitch from the first minute. I'd be surprised if there is a single Saints fan who thought Pompey would be so dominant in that first half and we'd resort to total hoofball. A lot of that was down to Will Still.

I think anyone who has watched us this season and paid a passing interest in Skates games would have expected exactly that, they are above us for a reason, but anyway irrelevant it's a local derby against a team we sing about constantly, finally get them at St Mary's and people stand there is silence most of the game , poor effort whichever way we look at it 

[HarvSFC]

Have to think that moving the away fans has harmed the atmosphere. There isn't a back and forth anymore. Opposite end to the singing section, so no directed singing, etc.

[macca155]

This game had draw written all over it, so no surprises there. Pompey surprised even their own supporters with that first half performance. 

There were some positives though.

Back 4 is way more effective, and our players looked more comfortable.

Fellows liked decent and Azaz got into the game more in the 2nd half. A couple of sublime passes put Archer through. He needs to find his role.

Archer looks more like the player we bought.

Janger looks like an upgrade on Downes.

Scienza looks lively but needs to stay on his feet.

However the biggest plus for me is the growing confidence of Charles. We have a  decent player there. If he has a partner in midfield who can support him, then hopefully Saints won't keep surrendering the midfield.

Derbies are a pain, the opposition always raises their game. Inevitably costs each other points. Ipswich and Norwich have the same problem.

[Football Special]

2 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Fuck me that’s embarrassing. How did this bloke end up becoming our Westwood.

I think the tv cameras picked up on him doing his dance during one of those awful light shows and since then he positions himself for maximum attention,  it's quite sad, don't know the guy I'm sure he means well but he seems to have become our sex offender equivalent fan 

[SotonianWill]

5 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

Have to think that moving the away fans has harmed the atmosphere. There isn't a back and forth anymore. Opposite end to the singing section, so no directed singing, etc.

There was at the other end. The Northam is inaudible from the other side, leaving the away fans of every team to largely believe our support is complete sh*t. Which it probably is. 

[Gloucester Saint]

50 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

I agree....but why a nonce?

Their fans were with ‘Tommy’ yesterday and picked up that word.

[LGTL]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

I'm glad it's not just me who felt the atmosphere was so passive. It felt like a normal league game where I was sat, everyone sat in silence. It was infuriating.

Couple started to get something going a row or 2 below, with your standard chants, but were told to shh and sit down by fans around because of the naughty words they said.

Everything about today was absolutely fucking shit. Fans included.

It was but let’s not pretend they were anything special. Their away support is pretty awful now, proper noddy. It was nothing like derbies of old.

[Monk]

Whole thing was shite.

Atmosphere was crap, really thought Pompey would be louder (Wrexham out did them) and as for us… other than the build up and first couple of minutes. All too worried by the game to sing.

In the first half, the two playing patterns were crap (Archer vs Shaugnassy) and THB to Manning for round the corner for Fraser. Azaz was infuriating, Boro fans feedback of him hiding in big games come to mind.

Downes coward in the first half, hid behind their blockers. 

Will Still being bit of whopper didn’t help.

Robinson change came too late, he would’ve carried the ball forward. 

Referee was awful.

my chips were cold.

and can we please get that Dawson out..  I arsehole goes back into itself when I see him. 
 

As it stands, they’re one up on us whether we like or not and January is going to be hideous.
 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Monk

[spyinthesky]

15 minutes ago, SotonianWill said:

There was at the other end. The Northam is inaudible from the other side, leaving the away fans of every team to largely believe our support is complete sh*t. Which it probably is. 

Saints fans came over well on the TV

 

[Mr Brightside]

29 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I think anyone who has watched us this season and paid a passing interest in Skates games would have expected exactly that, they are above us for a reason, but anyway irrelevant it's a local derby against a team we sing about constantly, finally get them at St Mary's and people stand there is silence most of the game , poor effort whichever way we look at it 

Agree, it’s irrelevant how bad we were in the first half, atmosphere should be electric for this game. Ok in patches but nothing like the other ones I’ve been to. 
First one for my lads who were expecting it to be up a level from the excellent West Brom play off. They left as disappointed with the atmosphere as the result.  
Also worth saying though that thought the blue few were also quieter than expected. 
Yes it was Sunday lunchtime, yes we’ve changed the stadium layout, yes the performance was rubbish, but still no excuses. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Mr Brightside
Typo

[LGTL]

14 minutes ago, Monk said:

Whole thing was shite.

Atmosphere was crap, really thought Pompey would be louder (Wrexham out did them) and as for us… other than the build up and first couple of minutes. All too worried by the game to sing.

In the first half, the two playing patterns were crap (Archer vs Shaugnassy) and THB to Manning for round the corner for Fraser. Azaz was infuriating, Boro fans feedback of him hiding in big games come to mind.

Downes coward in the first half, hid behind their blockers. 

Will Still being bit of whopper didn’t help.

Robinson change came too late, he would’ve carried the ball forward. 

Referee was awful.

my chips were cold.

and can we please get that Dawson out..  I arsehole goes back into itself when I see him. 
 

As it stands, they’re one up on us whether we like or not and January is going to be hideous.
 

 

Come off it. It was 0-0, neither of our utter shit won anything. It was terrible all round. January a long way away. 

[Football Special]

2 minutes ago, LGTL said:

Come off it. It was 0-0, neither of our utter shit won anything. It was terrible all round. January a long way away. 

Yes but they certainly celebrated at the end as if it was a win , all about perspective I guess 

[LGTL]

2 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Yes but they certainly celebrated at the end as if it was a win , all about perspective I guess 

And that says more about their noddy support

[trousers]

Surprised to see various people pointing out the atmosphere wasn't great. I was in the Northam and apart from a dip towards the end of the first half I thought the atmosphere was great. Plenty of singing and chanting. Gotta be something to do with poor stadium acoustics if this wasn't apparent from other parts of the ground?

Edited 1 hour ago by trousers

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

I'm glad it's not just me who felt the atmosphere was so passive. It felt like a normal league game where I was sat, everyone sat in silence. It was infuriating.

Couple started to get something going a row or 2 below, with your standard chants, but were told to shh and sit down by fans around because of the naughty words they said.

Everything about today was absolutely fucking shit. Fans included.

It’s difficult to get excited for something when you just lump it every thirty seconds up the field.

That’s literally all we did for the first half.

[saintstowin]

Middle of The Chapel the atmosphere was good but nothing special. And I think it's fair to say the first half sucked the energy out of the fans. It's all well and good saying what's happening on the pitch shouldn't matter due to the magnitude of the match. But of course it does. A goal or even some pressure in the first half would've changed things. If the West Brom game went in a different direction it wouldn't have been the amazing and loud night it was. 

The lack of forward movement, the terrible passing, absence of pressing, zero risk taking in the final third. And there's plenty more rubbish the first 45 contained.

There was 15 minutes (50-65ish) where we took control and naturally everyone got louder and there was genuine hope and some excitement, but then I felt it petered out with all the changes, these should've come earlier.

I look forward to seeing how everyone settles in, we have got a talented squad now. Hopefully some of them will actually have a shot or two.