Sheff Utd 1-2 Saints - Match Thread

[saintant]

4 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Blimey - what a nervy ending!

Great 3points against a team who’ll be up there & will soon be very hard to beat.  Feels like it’s all slowly going in the right direction now 🤞

Love Stills honesty, say it how it is! & his courage to make some tough decisions - been waiting a very long time to see Stephens out of this side & THB deserves dropping - although I’m very worried with Quarshie - terrible today!

Stewart, Fellows, McCarthy, Wood, stars for today 

Disappointed with Manning, Quarshie, AA tonight - the rest were just ok

Never sure about Charles - he’s hard to work out for me whether he’s doing enough 

Think Stewart could be immense for us with plenty more game time & staying fit 

Agree Quarshie struggled today. He's got a foot like a JCB shovel at times.

[mikec]

8 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Lots of draws elsewhere which helps us move up the table

Yes 6 draws and 2 away wins from tonight's 8 games.  Not a good day for home teams.

[hypochondriac]

Quarshie needs dropping before he does something horrendous. Not sure who else you're putting in his place though unless THB has decided to be good again. Made up for Stewart who will probably feel for the first time that he's actually contributing to our team and the second goal was superb. No idea why we decided to just do nothing near the end and that last twenty minutes were awful. Ref was also shite and they can feel a bit hard done by with some of his bizarre decisions. All in all can't complain as its a rare win that we didn't look like getting at half time.

[Tamesaint]

16 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

what ever you do, don't watch any of the highlights from the 1st half

No don't watch it. Just read this thread and then have a good laugh at the comments. 😁😁😁

[captainchris]

7 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Really need to follow up that win with a result against Derby at the weekend.

 

Quarshie needs a kick up the arse. 

Shame because he was good at Anfield but tonight he was very poor. It was his man at the back too so potentially his fault for both ‘goals’ He should have been hooked, he tired physically and definitely mentally. Replace with Stephen’s next game.Cannot understand why Roerslev came on when Jelert is obviously the better right back…

We were fortunate…. 

 

 

[S-Clarke]

A horrible game to watch, but that 'win' (to break this horrendous spell) wasn't ever going to be pretty. We needed a backs to the walls win like that, although it wasn't as 'hanging on' as it could have been. Sheffield United were seriously disjointed after their subs. 

A win like that was needed to break some players in, bring the mood back up and get us moving again. Tonight was about getting it done, and getting the fuck out of there.

I'm happy for Ross, it feels like he's finally arrived after 2 years. He's our only viable number 9 and he's taken his chance today, that's for sure - I just hope his problems are in the past.

Derby will be interesting, I'd expect us to take the game to them a bit now we've got that win.

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, JohnS said:

Blimey - what a nervy ending!

Great 3points against a team who’ll be up there & will soon be very hard to beat.  Feels like it’s all slowly going in the right direction now 🤞

Love Stills honesty, say it how it is! & his courage to make some tough decisions - been waiting a very long time to see Stephens out of this side & THB deserves dropping - although I’m very worried with Quarshie - terrible today!

Stewart, Fellows, McCarthy, Wood, stars for today 

Disappointed with Manning, Quarshie, AA tonight - the rest were just ok

Never sure about Charles - he’s hard to work out for me whether he’s doing enough 

Think Stewart could be immense for us with plenty more game time & staying fit 

Good post. Charles is good but I don't think he's as good as some people think he is. Total saints podcast were raving about him on Sunday.

[The Wyvern]

17 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I like how the commentators are suddenly acting as if the threshold for fouls isn't lower on keepers than the rest of the team.

Who was the co-commentator? Poor understanding of the laws of the game and didn’t like any of the decisions that went our way 🤣

[Baird of the land]

2 minutes ago, RedWillie said:

Went ahead and hung on badly. No idea or clue on how to see out a game. That's on the coaches. A win yes but God we were shit.

The Downes/Roerslev move just surrendered all the last 20 minutes to Sheff Utd. Very lucky to get away with it. 

[stknowle]

9 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

I just don’t understand how we can drop down a league and look so agonisingly bad. 
 

Maybe I’m just being overly negative after months and months and months of shite. But I thought we were absolutely abysmal tonight. 
 

General play, passing, set pieces all awful. Well done to Stewart for a couple of good finishes. 

With respect you are being overly negative for the exact reason you identify. Whilst we weren’t great, you’ve only got to look back to the Hull game to see what abysmal truly is. Personally I sense the tide is turning. We were the better side tonight (though noted we offered up some decent chances), and at last we’ve had a striker put in a proper striker’s difference making performance. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Quarshie needs dropping before he does something horrendous. Not sure who else you're putting in his place though unless THB has decided to be good again. Made up for Stewart who will probably feel for the first time that he's actually contributing to our team and the second goal was superb. No idea why we decided to just do nothing near the end and that last twenty minutes were awful. Ref was also shite and they can feel a bit hard done by with some of his bizarre decisions. All in all can't complain as its a rare win that we didn't look like getting at half time.

Wood and THB make sense, although Ronnie Edwards could feel hard done by as he was also very good tonight.

Quarshie is your typical rash/raw/young CB. Thankfully we have a decent cohort of CB's so we're not forced to play him every week.

[CylonKing]

Wood immense, best player on the pitch, Quarshie not as good but a great pairing. Nervy but deserved!

[Harry_SFC]

Am I the only one who thought we were the better side and deserved the win? It wasn't brilliant but certainly felt as the away team we did enough considering we skied a penalty and missed several other chances. 

[skintsaint]

and back above Pompey for an added bonus!

[S-Clarke]

Just now, Harry_SFC said:

Am I the only one who thought we were the better side and deserved the win? It wasn't brilliant but certainly felt as the away team we did enough considering we skied a penalty and missed several other chances. 

I thought we probably shaded parts of it, but neither side had real control. It was a typical game against two sides really struggling to find their way.

We just needed to get out of there with 3 points, no matter how we played.

[Saint_clark]

Just now, Harry_SFC said:

Am I the only one who thought we were the better side and deserved the win? It wasn't brilliant but certainly felt as the away team we did enough considering we skied a penalty and missed several other chances. 

I'm seeing improvement every game. Are we where I want us to be? No, but we're heading in the right direction and you can SEE what it is we're trying to do. 

[Osvaldorama]

I think I’d stick with the same back 3 personally. 
 

Quarshie is young and learning. He made some mistakes tonight, but he is showing that he is a big lump that could come good. The other 2 did alright, I thought.

I just don’t want to see THB and Stephens back in the side for a while tbh. They’ve let us down too many times. 

[ant]

4 points off 2nd.

Not claiming we're magically fixed, nor suddenly flying. We've still not identified our best XI, and there's a buttload of work to be done. 

But bearing in mind how we've faltered thus far, it gives some perspective on this ridiculous league.

[VectisSaint]

Good to get 3 points, 2 goals for Stewart. Amongst the big problems, is that we continually give the ball away in the middle when we are trying to move it out of defence. So many turnovers in that dangerous area.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Quarshie needs dropping before he does something horrendous. Not sure who else you're putting in his place though unless THB has decided to be good again. Made up for Stewart who will probably feel for the first time that he's actually contributing to our team and the second goal was superb. No idea why we decided to just do nothing near the end and that last twenty minutes were awful. Ref was also shite and they can feel a bit hard done by with some of his bizarre decisions. All in all can't complain as its a rare win that we didn't look like getting at half time.

Thought Quarshie was good on Saturday but today their guy walked round him to score and he didn't look so assured. He can't kick a ball but he can head and get in the way and today he didn't do that so much. I'd still keep him in because I think we're getting in to a winning combination at the back.

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Good post. Charles is good but I don't think he's as good as some people think he is. Total saints podcast were raving about him on Sunday.

It might be a controversial view, but I never feel as if we have midfield control when Charles plays. 

Charles is a bit ''all action'' and doesn't 'sit' as such, he drives all over the place. I really liked Downes and Jander together at Anfield, we had control in the middle then.

[saintant]

5 minutes ago, chiknsmack said:

He was good, but in the wrong area of the pitch. He needed to get further up the pitch so the side as a whole could play further up; him playing so deep is part of the reason there was so much "Russball" in the first half. If Fellows pushes right up and pins the fullback back, there's room for Azaz or Jander to drift out and pick up the ball where Fellows was and then look to play forward.

He was playing as a wing back so had to be disciplined and do his fair share of defending - I think it wastes what he offers further up the pitch.

[captainchris]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Wood and THB make sense, although Ronnie Edwards could feel hard done by as he was also very good tonight.

Quarshie is your typical rash/raw/young CB. Thankfully we have a decent cohort of CB's so we're not forced to play him every week.

Not THB he is really over rated. Stephen’s is the better player on that side too…

[bpsaint]

1 minute ago, captainchris said:

Shame because he was good at Anfield but tonight he was very poor. It was his man at the back too so potentially his fault for both ‘goals’ He should have been hooked, he tired physically and definitely mentally. Replace with Stephen’s next game.Cannot understand why Roerslev came on when Jelert is obviously the better right back…

We were fortunate…. 

 

 

Yeah very much this, he’s been out of the team and then suddenly played three games in a week including a tough trip to Liverpool, I’m sure the legs are feeling a bit heavy.

We’ll have to wait and see what that win does to the side but there’s every chance now that result gives everyone the lift we need, it can’t have been easy being so fucking dreadful last season getting battered week in week out, going to take a while to turn this ship around. We were unlucky not to get the win against Boro tbf.

If the likes of THB and Downes can get their heads down and produce their form of a couple of years ago we could make real progress.

Hopefully “Welly” isn’t too far off a return to give Manning a break.

[sockeye]

On the same points Martin was on after 8 games now.

[Patrick Bateman]

I enjoyed that, again. First 30 mins or so was nervy from both teams, good passing in patches, great creativity from Fellows and Jander ... just lacking "something" and the Sheffield United goal was inevitable.

Penalty was a penalty. Cannon fouled Alex in goal.  The commentators were annoying bellends. 

I presume Azaz and Fellows came off as planned subs to give them rest time ahead of Saturday, but Fellows really is very good. 

Wood, Jander, Fellows, Stewart, Edwards all really good. Everyone else did their bit, some better than others ... notably Quarshie had a poor day. 

But well won 3 points against a team throwing EVERYTHING at it in the end (as they should be, well done to them for trying to do so), same team, performance up another notch on Saturday please. 

 

[captainchris]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

It might be a controversial view, but I never feel as if we have midfield control when Charles plays. 

Charles is a bit ''all action'' and doesn't 'sit' as such, he drives all over the place. I really liked Downes and Jander together at Anfield, we had control in the middle then.

Yes well spotted that man… 

[skintsaint]

https://www.skysports.com/football/video/36174/13441910/sheffield-united-1-2-southampton-championship-highlights

[saintant]

7 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Quarshie needs dropping before he does something horrendous. Not sure who else you're putting in his place though unless THB has decided to be good again. Made up for Stewart who will probably feel for the first time that he's actually contributing to our team and the second goal was superb. No idea why we decided to just do nothing near the end and that last twenty minutes were awful. Ref was also shite and they can feel a bit hard done by with some of his bizarre decisions. All in all can't complain as its a rare win that we didn't look like getting at half time.

Agree on the ref - nearly every tackle from both teams resulted in a free kick. The worst one being when O'Hare went down with zero contact from Edwards yet he gives them a free kick.

[benjii]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

I think I’d stick with the same back 3 personally. 
 

Quarshie is young and learning. He made some mistakes tonight, but he is showing that he is a big lump that could come good. The other 2 did alright, I thought.

I just don’t want to see THB and Stephens back in the side for a while tbh. They’ve let us down too many times. 

Yes, Quarshie makes some mistakes but also offers a lot of positives and his potential is massive.

[Suhari]

6 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

The Downes/Roerslev move just surrendered all the last 20 minutes to Sheff Utd. Very lucky to get away with it. 

Yep.

I don't quite get what he was trying to do.

But a win is a win. And we were decent at times tonight.

Delighted for Stewart.

[Give it to Ron]

8 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Shame because he was good at Anfield but tonight he was very poor. It was his man at the back too so potentially his fault for both ‘goals’ He should have been hooked, he tired physically and definitely mentally. Replace with Stephen’s next game.Cannot understand why Roerslev came on when Jelert is obviously the better right back…

We were fortunate…. 

 

 

Height Jelert is tiny whereas as Mads is 6ft plus for aerial bombardment usually at end

[OneMrsWallace]

Thought Azaz was still not in the game much and gives the ball away too often. Think he should be on the bench for Saturday but who replaces him or would it mean a change in shape? 

[benjii]

Impressed with Jander again. He really helps to get the team up the pitch and press the oppo.

[Baz Fl]

3 points away from home is always good and to see Ross look like a striker was a added plus. That said at some stage I’d like to see us play well for longer periods, hopefully that comes soon🙏

[benjii]

Just now, OneMrsWallace said:

Thought Azaz was still not in the game much and gives the ball away too often. Think he should be on the bench for Saturday but who replaces him or would it mean a change in shape? 

I'd put Armstrong behind Stewart and have two proper wide men.

[Vancouver Saint]

Well...very happy we finally won a game despite trying our hardest to lose it. Very happy for Stewart who played really well and scored a stunner to win it. But...

...let's not kid ourselves...we were very lucky with some of those refereeing decisions - especially for their disallowed goal...no protests from our players a giveaway. I didn't see a foul despite really wanting to - did I miss something?

Our defence is shambolic...toss a high cross up into our box and there's a fair chance you'll get your head to the ball first if you're an attacker. Quarshie is still a work in progress, Woods was solid apart from a silly foul in the D that almost threw the game away at the end. McCarthy blows hot and cold - kept us from going 0-2 down but then just not great at commanding his 6-yard area let alone 18-yard box...he's still better than Bazunu.  

The last 15 minutes was painful, sitting back and inviting pressure. Fraser covering Quarshie as left back is not a great combo IMHO, although Fraser did well. Roerslev and Downes did nothing to impress me when they came on. We should have had at least one or two breakaway chances to score a third  but we didn't even get a sniff.

Shame Arma missed that penalty...I play striker and have missed exactly the same (yes, I'm not a professional footballer!) but it takes courage to take a penalty and that was not as bad a miss as it looked...just a tad too much adrenalin and lean-back. Still, could have cost us the win - glad it didn't.

Now, let's take our luck and ride it. Another three points on Saturday please...

[Harry_SFC]

Just now, benjii said:

I'd put Armstrong behind Stewart and have two proper wide men.

I'd like to see Scienza given another start personally 

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Thought Quarshie was good on Saturday but today their guy walked round him to score and he didn't look so assured. He can't kick a ball but he can head and get in the way and today he didn't do that so much. I'd still keep him in because I think we're getting in to a winning combination at the back.

He was the worst player on the pitch for me. Was partly responsible for the first goal, would have been responsible for the second if they hadn't fouled the keeper and no idea why the ref didn't give them a free kick from his foul on the edge of the area.

[saintant]

9 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

A horrible game to watch, but that 'win' (to break this horrendous spell) wasn't ever going to be pretty. We needed a backs to the walls win like that, although it wasn't as 'hanging on' as it could have been. Sheffield United were seriously disjointed after their subs. 

A win like that was needed to break some players in, bring the mood back up and get us moving again. Tonight was about getting it done, and getting the fuck out of there.

I'm happy for Ross, it feels like he's finally arrived after 2 years. He's our only viable number 9 and he's taken his chance today, that's for sure - I just hope his problems are in the past.

Derby will be interesting, I'd expect us to take the game to them a bit now we've got that win.

I think he's winning a few over because, unsurprisingly, he's had his doubters. Needs to stay fit and get stronger now and he could score a load of goals for us. 

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, benjii said:

Impressed with Jander again. He really helps to get the team up the pitch and press the oppo.

Yeah he's the real deal, good technique, good pace/movement with the ball. 

Good spot Spors.

[LoyalSaintSO50]

3 minutes ago, OneMrsWallace said:

Thought Azaz was still not in the game much and gives the ball away too often. Think he should be on the bench for Saturday but who replaces him or would it mean a change in shape? 

Downes, Charles  Jander in front 

[hypochondriac]

8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

It might be a controversial view, but I never feel as if we have midfield control when Charles plays. 

Charles is a bit ''all action'' and doesn't 'sit' as such, he drives all over the place. I really liked Downes and Jander together at Anfield, we had control in the middle then.

Can't say I disagree. I'd certainly like them to give that a go. I don't think Charles and Downes works.

[saintant]

14 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Good post. Charles is good but I don't think he's as good as some people think he is. Total saints podcast were raving about him on Sunday.

Agree. I actually thought Downes and Jander worked really well together against Liverpool and was surprised Will Still decided not to stick with that pairing.

Edited 4 hours ago by saintant

[karlb79]

22 minutes ago, saintant said:

Agree but we were sleeping at the free kick which is unforgivable.

I think you mean Manning was sleeping.....again.

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, benjii said:

Yes, Quarshie makes some mistakes but also offers a lot of positives and his potential is massive.

I've heard that 🙂

[stknowle]

17 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Am I the only one who thought we were the better side and deserved the win? 

No you’re not. We were and we did. 

[hypochondriac]

14 minutes ago, saintant said:

Agree on the ref - nearly every tackle from both teams resulted in a free kick. The worst one being when O'Hare went down with zero contact from Edwards yet he gives them a free kick.

TBF the worst one was Quarshie blatantly fouling their player and he gives nothing.

[saintant]

10 minutes ago, Vancouver Saint said:

Well...very happy we finally won a game despite trying our hardest to lose it. Very happy for Stewart who played really well and scored a stunner to win it. But...

...let's not kid ourselves...we were very lucky with some of those refereeing decisions - especially for their disallowed goal...no protests from our players a giveaway. I didn't see a foul despite really wanting to - did I miss something?

Our defence is shambolic...toss a high cross up into our box and there's a fair chance you'll get your head to the ball first if you're an attacker. Quarshie is still a work in progress, Woods was solid apart from a silly foul in the D that almost threw the game away at the end. McCarthy blows hot and cold - kept us from going 0-2 down but then just not great at commanding his 6-yard area let alone 18-yard box...he's still better than Bazunu.  

The last 15 minutes was painful, sitting back and inviting pressure. Fraser covering Quarshie as left back is not a great combo IMHO, although Fraser did well. Roerslev and Downes did nothing to impress me when they came on. We should have had at least one or two breakaway chances to score a third  but we didn't even get a sniff.

Shame Arma missed that penalty...I play striker and have missed exactly the same (yes, I'm not a professional footballer!) but it takes courage to take a penalty and that was not as bad a miss as it looked...just a tad too much adrenalin and lean-back. Still, could have cost us the win - glad it didn't.

Now, let's take our luck and ride it. Another three points on Saturday please...

Yeah, you missed their player backing forcefully into McCarthy as he went to jump for the ball. Clear foul all day long.

[Saint Scott]

14 minutes ago, Vancouver Saint said:

Shame Arma missed that penalty...