Hull vs Saints - Saturday 3pm

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

Thought he was pretty poor. Sloppy in possession and his delivery wasn’t up to much yesterday. So many safe sideways passes and even they were underhit at times. Him and Downes were the most guilty of slowing us down I thought. Lucky for us Murphy was on the other side, he’d have had Manning on toast 

Christ knows what he'd have done to Sugawara.

[SotonianWill]

22 hours ago, trousers said:

Yep, some decent punches today 👍🏻

If he got the ball he missed

[AlexLaw76]

Just read that Hull have conceded 14 goals in their last 5 games.

There surely can be no excuse not to at least look threatening for the majority of the game.

[Turkish]

5 hours ago, Jack said:

Thought he was pretty poor. Sloppy in possession and his delivery wasn’t up to much yesterday. So many safe sideways passes and even they were underhit at times. Him and Downes were the most guilty of slowing us down I thought. Lucky for us Murphy was on the other side, he’d have had Manning on toast 

I didn’t think he was any worse than anyone else and thought he put some decent whipped crosses in, defended pretty well too

i don’t know why but he’s a player fans haven’t liked from the start. He was one of our better players last season and I don’t remember him having any particularly poor games since he’s been here. He’s also our top goal scorer and up until the weekend created the most chances in the league so can’t be that bad, although the former of these two facts is more of an indictment of our attacking this season 

[Saint86]

15 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Just read that Hull have conceded 14 goals in their last 5 games.

There surely can be no excuse not to at least look threatening for the majority of the game.

You say that like we haven't been attacking in games? But we have been one of the most attacking sides in the league chance creation wise, and thats with a back 5 until now - the strikers have just been gash frankly.

As for the last match - Pompey rocked up with a game plan to stop us playing and to try to snatch something - nothing wrong with that as a tactic - But they averaged 0.09 xg as an average per shot, always had 1 man tight marking azaz as a minimum, sat in a compact defensive shape whenever we had the ball, and were time wasting and playing for any foul going to break up the play. Saints won't face that every week, and similarly that was the first game where all the new signings had a chance to play after a 2 week international break. There are plenty of reasons to expect us to kick on now.

 

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

You say that like we haven't been attacking in games? But we have been one of the most attacking sides in the league chance creation wise, and thats with a back 5 until now - the strikers have just been gash frankly.

As for the last match - Pompey rocked up with a game plan to stop us playing and to try to snatch something - nothing wrong with that as a tactic - But they averaged 0.09 xg as an average per shot, always had 1 man tight marking azaz as a minimum, sat in a compact defensive shape whenever we had the ball, and were time wasting and playing for any foul going to break up the play. Saints won't face that every week, and similarly that was the first game where all the new signings had a chance to play after a 2 week international break. There are plenty of reasons to expect us to kick on now.

 

Point 1: Pompey came to win - they had close to 70% possession in the first half and almost scored hitting the bar - that’s not a team sitting back.

Point 2: You’re right, Saints won’t face a Pompey-type team every week…they’ll face better teams that can score goals and win games.

I keep saying it - so far the value of our squad does not match the quality of the performances on display (Ipswich excluded) and particularly on the showing of the derby game (!) there’s not a hope of promotion via ANY route.

[Osvaldorama]

2 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Point 1: Pompey came to win - they had close to 70% possession in the first half and almost scored hitting the bar - that’s not a team sitting back.

Point 2: You’re right, Saints won’t face a Pompey-type team every week…they’ll face better teams that can score goals and win games.

I keep saying it - so far the value of our squad does not match the quality of the performances on display (Ipswich excluded) and particularly on the showing of the derby game (!) there’s not a hope of promotion via ANY route.

Bollocks. They time wasted from minute one, fouling and diving the whole game. 
 

This was their cup final and they won it 0-0. 
 

[IFHP]

2 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

I keep saying it - so far the value of our squad does not match the quality of the performances on display (Ipswich excluded) and particularly on the showing of the derby game (!) there’s not a hope of promotion via ANY route.

This is how I see it as well.

Nothing in our 5 games I’ve seen (plus Northampton in the cup) has lead me to believe Will Still and this team will make a challenge for the play offs this season.

on the plus side we won’t be any where near the bottom 3 either so not all bad.

I think Will Still will get the boot at some point this season ( possibly the moment the play offs are mathematically not achievable) the trouble is unless we have an unlikely change of ownership we will just appoint another dud. 


 

 

[Graffito]

3 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Point 1: Pompey came to win - they had close to 70% possession in the first half and almost scored hitting the bar - that’s not a team sitting back.

Point 2: You’re right, Saints won’t face a Pompey-type team every week…they’ll face better teams that can score goals and win games.

I keep saying it - so far the value of our squad does not match the quality of the performances on display (Ipswich excluded) and particularly on the showing of the derby game (!) there’s not a hope of promotion via ANY route.

I didn’t see a team that came to win. They time wasted from the very first minute. Where are you getting this 70% first half possession from?

[benjii]

18 hours ago, Turkish said:

I didn’t think he was any worse than anyone else and thought he put some decent whipped crosses in, defended pretty well too

i don’t know why but he’s a player fans haven’t liked from the start. He was one of our better players last season and I don’t remember him having any particularly poor games since he’s been here. He’s also our top goal scorer and up until the weekend created the most chances in the league so can’t be that bad, although the former of these two facts is more of an indictment of our attacking this season 

Norwich at home when it was 4-4 he was shite. But other than that, I agree.

[Whitey Grandad]

19 minutes ago, Graffito said:

I didn’t see a team that came to win. They time wasted from the very first minute. Where are you getting this 70% first half possession from?

At half time my grandson showed me the figures and they were 50/50. He made the point that any observer would say that Portsmouth had had the better of the half yet all the figures were equal.

[Graffito]

19 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

At half time my grandson showed me the figures and they were 50/50. He made the point that any observer would say that Portsmouth had had the better of the half yet all the figures were equal.

Thanks. 50/50 sounds much closer to what I saw. Yes they had the better of the first half. That’s not the same as saying they came to win (the point the other poster was making and using a dubious possession stat to back it up). Their tactics worked and they might have nicked a goal. But equally, saints were way too passive first half. As the manager said, a wasted half. 

[UpweySaint]

1 hour ago, IFHP said:

This is how I see it as well.

Nothing in our 5 games I’ve seen (plus Northampton in the cup) has lead me to believe Will Still and this team will make a challenge for the play offs this season.

on the plus side we won’t be any where near the bottom 3 either so not all bad.

I think Will Still will get the boot at some point this season ( possibly the moment the play offs are mathematically not achievable) the trouble is unless we have an unlikely change of ownership we will just appoint another dud. 


 

 

Change of ownership to who? Who are you hoping buys the club? 
 

They’ve made mistakes for sure but they have invested in the club without taking money out. They have admitted mistakes and took action to try to correct them.

It’s five games into a season. Five. We have turned over almost an entire squad and made signings most agree are sensible- Fellows, Azaz, Roerslev …

I genuinely don’t know what some fans expectations are for the club/owners. we’ve made a lot of change and it might not come good immediately. 

[Gloucester Saint]

50 minutes ago, benjii said:

Norwich at home when it was 4-4 he was shite. But other than that, I agree.

And Will Smallbone at DMC had just as much to do with the porous back line that day. Charles on the bench so no excuse for Martin that game. 

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 hour ago, Graffito said:

I didn’t see a team that came to win. They time wasted from the very first minute. Where are you getting this 70% first half possession from?

 

53 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

At half time my grandson showed me the figures and they were 50/50. He made the point that any observer would say that Portsmouth had had the better of the half yet all the figures were equal.

I can’t remember exactly, but there was a point in the first half - perhaps about halfway through - when the stat was shown on the TV. True story.

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

 

I can’t remember exactly, but there was a point in the first half - perhaps about halfway through - when the stat was shown on the TV. True story.

You sure they weren't flashing up the average IQ of the away end? 

[egg]

1 hour ago, Graffito said:

I didn’t see a team that came to win. They time wasted from the very first minute. Where are you getting this 70% first half possession from?

I think they came to win, and waste time. They certainly had attacking intent, and could/should have won. I agree they wasted time from the off though. I reckon they faffed around for at least 6-7 mins at corners and throw ins. 

[Saint86]

4 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Point 1: Pompey came to win - they had close to 70% possession in the first half and almost scored hitting the bar - that’s not a team sitting back.

Point 2: You’re right, Saints won’t face a Pompey-type team every week…they’ll face better teams that can score goals and win games.

I keep saying it - so far the value of our squad does not match the quality of the performances on display (Ipswich excluded) and particularly on the showing of the derby game (!) there’s not a hope of promotion via ANY route.

Point 1 - disagree. The main reason they got chances in that first half is because our play was appalling - far too slow and we seemed unable to sling more than 2-3 passes together. We played into their hands and gifted them breakaways or sloppy turnovers in their selective press. But that was it from them, sit back, press selectively, and pretty much lump an out ball to their big CF and hope for a knock on. Even their keeper was at it (almost exclusively) before he got injured. BFS would have been proud. Saints being shit first half doesn't change the opposition gameplan - they came to keep it tight, cancel us out, and try to get something on the break.

Moving forward - Saints should get significantly better from here on in - end of the day, this was the perfect time for Portsmouth to play us - saints have had a lot of unsettlement in the squad, and a bunch of new players joining over the international break.

Which leads to your last point - stop panicking!! To say there isn't a hope of promotion via any route is just ridiculous mate honestly. Cheer up.