Southampton 0-2 Preston - Match Thread

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Still interview; 

First half - frustrated, first goal typifies the non belief and lack of intensity that we have. Lost the ball on the half way line for no reason, defend the box really poorly which we're doing too often. The second, two extra men in the box and we've not tracked, not tackled, not done anything. As long as we keep doing this we're not gonna get any results. 

Blackmore: it's an indictment of the players but also of you, because it's you're job to get them doing that. Still: yeah...that's the way the world works. 

Avoids the question about the board backing him. 

Blackmore asks what the fix is, Still says if there was an instant fix he would have done it. Couple of small slips of the tongue that suggest he may be gone already, saying "we didn't have the time to do everything that we wanted". 

Then he avoids the leading question from Blackmore trying to get him to blame it on the recruitment. 

The main issue for me isn't the defensive mistakes it's the failure to create anything meaningful and the lack of intensity in our play. We waste so much time in games just not doing anything of note. Good teams play with purpose and looking to get forward and win games all the time. We never do that.

Edited 16 hours ago by hypochondriac

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Whoever signed off on Stewart being reliably fit needs sacking. 

Yeah I forgot about that one on my list of failure. 

[East Kent Saint]

I'm losing my Saints connection now , expecting relegation and possible revival at best ffs

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, Hawkswood said:

I honestly cant remember how Brentford played. So you also think there's interference behind the scenes ?

I don’t know, however it does seem weird that you’d have a preferred formation, have the players to play it yet persist with a completely different formation that isn’t working 

[benjii]

6 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

The main issue for me isn't the defensive mistakes it's the failure to create anything meaningful and the lack of intensity in our play. We waste so much time in games just not doing anything of note. Good teams play with purpose and looking to get forward and win games all the time. We never do that.

Yep, absolutely. 

[captainchris]

47 minutes ago, saintant said:

To be frank he's brought this on himself and the 3 centre backs is what has done for him because it totally screws the team up. Firstly we don't have players who know how to play the wing back role properly. It leaves us with too many defenders who don't act as a unit and get in each others way while they aimlessly pass the ball amongst themselves because there are too many of them. It leaves us a body light in midfield which makes us easy to attack and makes it hard for us to develop attacks of our own. In short it's a disaster but he stuck with it for far too many games thereby negating the good attributes of players like Fellows and Azaz. I wanted to give him a chance but have run out of patience with him. 

Yes certainly we have been light in midfield for a very long time now. However, football is about pass and move, we pass and literally stand still. You have to coach that continually and I’m not sure there is any or much actual coaching going on. 
We have to play the youngster up front now because AA just hasn’t got the instinct for scoring, he just runs around.

Just to say also we do not press. PNE we’re all over us first half pressing like mad, we do not do that. One reason for this is lack of being told to, another is laziness and another is it costs us a huge gap in midfield to play through….

The conclusion is a sad lack of decent management I’m afraid… We started this game exactly the same as the previous two and of course the outcome was the same…. 

Edited 16 hours ago by captainchris

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

8 minutes ago, DrunkenSaint said:

i still think that SR are getting involved way to much in tactics and formation and it wont change unless they either sell up or butt out.

I don't know. When you bring in a new manager, surely he then has the discretion to use the tactics he thinks will win games. Are you saying SR are telling him that he has to play three full backs with the wing backs?

Didn't Will Still say he wanted wingers so SR bought him wingers? And yet he stays with 5 at the back but we can all see it's not working. Sorry, Will, I really wanted you to work out because I think you are the most genuine manager we've had since Ralph, but you don't have Ralph's charisma and more important his tactical nous. 

[Convict Colony]

will still to the tactics board as he leaves

 

[Dr Who?]

Isn’t a lot of the stuff he says in his interviews shine him in a very dim light, as it is his job to make sure these things are happening, as dare I say it…. He is the fecking manager! 

[die Mannyschaft]

South West trains shit, on strike now or about 8 years. Saints cant strike on one day.

[Dr Who?]

14 minutes ago, East Kent Saint said:

I'm losing my Saints connection now , expecting relegation and possible revival at best ffs

This is my default function 

[saintant]

41 minutes ago, macca155 said:

Be under no illusions Preston deserved that. If anything they let us off the hook a little.

The players were all at sea, no coherent structure or dynamic play. I don't blame Wood for reacting like that. He's the one player who has put a shift in. Players are human beings.

Horrible defensive set up. when Edwards went off there was absolutely no difference, the defence coped fine. Fellows and Robinson caused all sorts of trouble and for a short while the momentum was with Saints. 

Suddenly another set of substitutions which pushed Fellows back, and left Robinson marooned in midfield. Madness, no midfield and 5 forwards waiting for the ball. No way was that Championship level management.

Aribo is unfit and certainly not the saviour.

Changes are required.

Yeah they're human beings on salaries the rest of us can only dream about so if they can't take abuse from the paying customers who have been served up victories rarer than rocking horse shit maybe the little flowers are in the wrong game. Stand up and be counted rather than ranting at those who help pay for your mansions, big cars and designer gear.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

That’s why I’d go with Pulis until the end of the season. Won’t be pretty but the GD will be a lot better and enough to stay up. Move upstairs to DoF and Tony appoints a new younger manager for the next couple of seasons.

Local and I think he’d take it on. Likes the club and I trust his judgement far more than anyone in SR.

To make it work with Pulis, Solak would have to have the guts to junk a lot of the SR approach.

Pulis has the experience and the competence. That would make him the only person at the club who has any. That is not going to sit well with a lot of chancers/ drones elsewhere in SR.

While improving the team would be well within his capacity early on, it's an uphill struggle to change the rot everywhere else.

[Killers Knee]

4 minutes ago, captainchris said:

However, football is about pass and move, we pass and literally stand still. You have to coach that continually and I’m not sure there is any or much actual coaching going on. 

The major give away it’s a coaching problem are the issues are getting worse, the only shining lights are those players yet to be infected, the coaches are having zero positive effect on any player, tactic, pattern of play, system or fitness.

We are still playing walking football, the number of times we played so slowly out the back PNE had ten behind the ball at all times.

Manning pulled off a cross that was a decent assist against Wrexham but has totally forgotten he got behind and turned their defence, that’s why it was a successful cross.  He’s been hoofing the ball for goal kicks ever since.

We still have about 8 players who are picked regularly who are not good enough at this level, those talented players we sold in the last 2/3 seasons were carrying these, now they are gone, nobody left to do the lifting.

 

[saintant]

38 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Ridiculous that these precious little flowers are so mollycoddled they believe that relentless incompetence on the pitch won’t be complained about eventually in the stands. 

Aint that the truth. 

[sambosa75]

This c*nt has got to go.  Complete rabbit in the headlights.  One of the worse sides I’ve ever seen to beat us by 2 clear goals.

[Challenger]

So predictable, so desperate, so pathetic, so utterly avoidable.

Edited 16 hours ago by Challenger

[ErwinK1961]

24 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I don’t know, however it does seem weird that you’d have a preferred formation, have the players to play it yet persist with a completely different formation that isn’t working 

I have it on good authority that this is accurate.

[Mboto Gorge]

8 minutes ago, saintant said:

Yeah they're human beings on salaries the rest of us can only dream about so if they can't take abuse from the paying customers who have been served up victories rarer than rocking horse shit maybe the little flowers are in the wrong game. Stand up and be counted rather than ranting at those who help pay for your mansions, big cars and designer gear.

Spot on. The fans are well within their rights to let them know their feelings. Unless it’s particularly personal stuff directed at Wood individually, he needs to wind his fucking neck in after we’ve endured 4 wins in 51 games. 

[saintant]

29 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

That’s why I’d go with Pulis until the end of the season. Won’t be pretty but the GD will be a lot better and enough to stay up. Move upstairs to DoF and Tony appoints a new younger manager for the next couple of seasons.

Local and I think he’d take it on. Likes the club and I trust his judgement far more than anyone in SR.

Unfortunately SR do not want someone to come in and throw a grenade into their cushy little existence. That's how they operate and seeing as they do the choosing safe to say Pullis won't be on any short list they draw up. Not saying I disagree with your idea by the way as it needs someone with balls to come in and take a wrecking ball to the complacency.

[HarvSFC]

Just awful, isn't it. Nothing's changing. Aimless hoofing the ball up to a midget, slow and easy to defend against football and poor defending. Our play also nearly always goes out wide. We rarely if ever play down the middle through our midfielders. This means Scienza, Fellows, Robinson and co need to win the majority of their 1 vs 1s for us to create something. Then when they do beat their man, they're crossing to a lone Adam Armstrong, who is easily taken out of the game. There's no out ball upfront when we have a back five because the majority of our players are on the defensive side of the pitch, meaning a back or sideways pass is the easy option to take and if we do go forwards, again if Scienza picks the ball up deep he only has one option upfield, and that option was marked out of the game. How many games will it take Still to realise Armstrong isn't a centre forward. I'm no Martin fan, but it didn't take Martin this long to work out how to play Armstrong.

The crowd have turned, which is fair enough after one home win in an entire calendar year. Alongside the recorded end of match video, Wood also had a pop at the fans before a corner towards the end of the game during a rendition of "You're not fit to wear the shirt". You'd respect it if he was prime Maldini, but he's Wood, who struggled a lot with the basics today, and he has looked alright recently.

Downs did his signature completely misreading a ball coming in across goal and attempting to go for it, but getting nowhere near it like he did twice earlier in the season. His movement and anticipation is just so bad. Doesn't have that killer instinct in the box like the best strikers do.

Manning's just awful.

At the end of the day, there shouldn't be anyone behind the scenes that made decisions last season still at the club. It's fine moving Kraft and Ankersen behind the scenes as investors, but Parsons, Bitcon and others should have also lost their jobs after the shambles of last season. They don't know how to make a competitive side, standards at the club have been at all time low for well over a year now. Carl Martin should have lost his job too. Coaches should help the manager and be a voice when the manager isn't quite getting it right, he never helped Jones, Selles, Martin, Juric or Rusk when they were all failing and now the same is happening with Still. Not one of those coaches have said to him, you know what maybe we shouldn't play five at the back this week? And how Lallana's immediately made it onto the first team staff, who knows. Olly Lancashire, Andrew Surman, Sam McQueen, working their way up through the academy, Matthew Etherington, another former Premier League player with our U21s also. But, the ego of Lallana couldn't possibly allow him to become an academy coach. He's first team or nothing. Wouldn't surprise me if he's having meetings with the board behind Still's back regarding stepping in as manager when Still gets the inevitable. Either way, it doesn't look like any of these coaches can coach.

Just a broken club that needed far more upheaval over the summer than what it got.

[spyinthesky]

I was willing to give Will Still some time to put his mark on the team.

The fact of life is that since he took over, the club has brought in Roerslev, Azaz, Sceinza, Quarshie, Fellows, Jander, Long (!!!), Jelert, and Downs (!!!!!!!!!!), probably at a cost of £40m + and only Scienza has proved worthy of the transfer fee.
Those responsible for scouting and signing players must share their part of the blame for shelling out so much wasted money when it was apparent to all us long suffering fans that a proper centre forward and a more robust presence in midfield was required.
Since Ross Stewart's injury we have played five games , scored 3 goals, conceded 8 and picked up 2 out of 15 points available.
Todays performance was chaotic against a team with a fraction of our resources.
I am getting totally fed up with leaving St Marys having to listen to the away fans celebrating yet another away victory.


 

[saintant]

27 minutes ago, captainchris said:

Yes certainly we have been light in midfield for a very long time now. However, football is about pass and move, we pass and literally stand still. You have to coach that continually and I’m not sure there is any or much actual coaching going on. 
We have to play the youngster up front now because AA just hasn’t got the instinct for scoring, he just runs around.

Just to say also we do not press. PNE we’re all over us first half pressing like mad, we do not do that. One reason for this is lack of being told to, another is laziness and another is it costs us a huge gap in midfield to play through….

The conclusion is a sad lack of decent management I’m afraid… We started this game exactly the same as the previous two and of course the outcome was the same…. 

It's very hard to press in numbers if you have 5 deep lying defenders (forget the fraudulent concept of wingbacks). With the keeper that is six players mainly operating in their own half so how do you operate a press with four players one of who has defensive duties as a midfielder? It's impossible. 

[tdmickey3]

Just now, saintant said:

It's very hard to press in numbers if you have 5 deep lying defenders (forget the fraudulent concept of wingbacks). With the keeper that is six players mainly operating in their own half so how do you operate a press with four players one of who has defensive duties as a midfielder? It's impossible. 

Yep, clueless coaching, clueless set up and no idea how to change it

[Lone ranger]

I feel very sorry for Will. He appears to be a decent bloke but who is not yet equipped for the job. In his post match interview he sounded broken like a young teacher who has just been dismantled by year ll louts and is now lost and hopeless. It’s not his fault. He has a mediocre team of largely disillusioned players and he doesn’t seem to know how to deploy them effectively. Trying to win anything without a decent striker is nigh impossible so that’s down to club policy not him. It’s a fair comment that we have been permanently damaged by one of our recent managers so that playing pedestrian aimless football is now in our DNA. Watched Wrexham last night. What a team. Everything we are not and a great striker. Amazing that we beat them many moons ago. How we have fallen! I wish Will but we need a new manager who has experience and the presence to get the players and fans on board , that will do it his way not the Board or anyone else and a nice all who is confident enthusiastic and talks sense. Must be someone out there who can turn this sound before attendances drop any further and our position becomes hopeless. 

[Convict Colony]

7 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I was willing to give Will Still some time to put his mark on the team.

The fact of life is that since he took over, the club has brought in Roerslev, Azaz, Sceinza, Quarshie, Fellows, Jander, Long (!!!), Jelert, and Downs (!!!!!!!!!!), probably at a cost of £40m + and only Scienza has proved worthy of the transfer fee.
Those responsible for scouting and signing players must share their part of the blame for shelling out so much wasted money when it was apparent to all us long suffering fans that a proper centre forward and a more robust presence in midfield was required.
Since Ross Stewart's injury we have played five games , scored 3 goals, conceded 8 and picked up 2 out of 15 points available.
Todays performance was chaotic against a team with a fraction of our resources.
I am getting totally fed up with leaving St Marys having to listen to the away fans celebrating yet another away victory.


 

Jander has been a great buy as well in my opinion and who the fuck is long ?

[Lighthouse]

The most telling thing about this team is that they win the ball back in our own third and just look like they haven’t a clue what to do next. Zero dangerous movement in front of them, zero presence up front, they just look clueless and abject. The worst thing is that we play such a negative form and attitude and we don’t even f**king defend well. We’re setting up to not get beat, against teams like Blackburn and Preston, and we’re conceding two or three goals per game.

[whiteleySaint30]

1 minute ago, Convict Colony said:

Jander has been a great buy as well in my opinion and who the fuck is long ?

Jander a great buy - what you on mush..........

[Wade Garrett]

19 minutes ago, Killers Knee said:

The major give away it’s a coaching problem are the issues are getting worse, the only shining lights are those players yet to be infected, the coaches are having zero positive effect on any player, tactic, pattern of play, system or fitness.

We are still playing walking football, the number of times we played so slowly out the back PNE had ten behind the ball at all times.

Manning pulled off a cross that was a decent assist against Wrexham but has totally forgotten he got behind and turned their defence, that’s why it was a successful cross.  He’s been hoofing the ball for goal kicks ever since.

We still have about 8 players who are picked regularly who are not good enough at this level, those talented players we sold in the last 2/3 seasons were carrying these, now they are gone, nobody left to do the lifting.

 

I’m no fan of Manning but he put some great balls in the box today.  

[tdmickey3]

Just now, whiteleySaint30 said:

Jander a great buy - what you on mush..........

He is decent 

[die Mannyschaft]

Still,  Still here

[captainchris]

9 minutes ago, saintant said:

It's very hard to press in numbers if you have 5 deep lying defenders (forget the fraudulent concept of wingbacks). With the keeper that is six players mainly operating in their own half so how do you operate a press with four players one of who has defensive duties as a midfielder? It's impossible. 

I think that is what I said … 

[Midfield_General]

5 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Jander has been a great buy as well in my opinion and who the fuck is long ?

George Long, third keeper

[madge]

I went there today without any confidence of seeing anything different from the last few matches. The team started ok and then Preston changed tactics, we couldn’t respond and then just had no play b to change the flow of the game. Nobody on the pitch seemed to be leading the team, not much experience on the pitch either. I’ve been through the branfoot, Lowe out, portfleit, redknapp days but this is the most worrying as before we shite squads but we’ve a ok one at present. When fans around me started calling out the board some just say there and smiled away.. unbelievable really that some fans just seem content to watch this shite week after week.still needs releasing from his duties. Get a manager who would unite the fans. I can only think of Ralph or Nigel Adkins, the latter I always believed was tactically sound and could work out ways of winning games after difficult periods in matches. Sports republic and  our owner can both feck off.

[Chris cooper]

9 minutes ago, whiteleySaint30 said:

Jander a great buy - what you on mush..........

Casper is solid & still adapting to the championships physical challenges .. he puts in a shift for me .. don’t know his best position tho or who he plays favourable with .. downes or Charles .. 

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, madge said:

I went there today without any confidence of seeing anything different from the last few matches. The team started ok and then Preston changed tactics, we couldn’t respond and then just had no play b to change the flow of the game. Nobody on the pitch seemed to be leading the team, not much experience on the pitch either. I’ve been through the branfoot, Lowe out, portfleit, redknapp days but this is the most worrying as before we shite squads but we’ve a ok one at present. When fans around me started calling out the board some just say there and smiled away.. unbelievable really that some fans just seem content to watch this shite week after week.still needs releasing from his duties. Get a manager who would unite the fans. I can only think of Ralph or Nigel Adkins, the latter I always believed was tactically sound and could work out ways of winning games after difficult periods in matches. Sports republic and  our owner can both feck off.

Nah this isn't as bad as the admin season. Obviously no idea what will happen next but if we appoint a reasonable manager we still have the funds to do alright next year. Assuming we avoid relegation of course which is no guarantee.

Edited 15 hours ago by hypochondriac

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, captainchris said:

I think that is what I said … 

I was pointing out the reason why rather than disagreeing with you.

[Saint NL]

It's quite amazing that if you read the first page of this thread, you'll see everyone knew what was going to happen. 

[rallyboy]

Enough.

Time for changes across several levels of the club.

[beatlesaint]

The club is so so broken, way beyond fixing with a new manager. Still will go, that’s obvious but he wasn’t given a decent keeper and he was given an experiment from the German second division as a centre forward. 
 

We will not suddenly start scoring goals with a new manager, we will not stop leaking stupid goals with a new manager, SR will not suddenly stop screwing this club up with a new manager.

These players are a fkin disgrace. That dickhead Wood telling someone in the crowd to fuck off finished me today. I’m fed up to the back teeth of being told the spirit is good, it’s blatantly not. The captain who got his new contract should be bloody ashamed. If he cares that much and is such a big personality around the club then why are the players so disengaged? Could it possibly be he’s part of the problem? Surely not !

I don’t know where we go from here, I really don’t. The road back is a long, long, long one I’m afraid.

Most of all it’s sad, it’s heartbreaking looking at what’s happened to this club we all love. That’s the worst part of this whole sorry mess.

[a1ex2001]

Can we please fire this clown and appoint someone totally unfashionable who doesn’t talk about ‘the system’ and instead talks about getting results I don’t want a system I want wins, I want us to be hard to beat and in the league relentless going forward.

[Micky]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

That's unlikely in January. The objective now is to not get relegated and put a bit of a run together to give us momentum for a big push next year. Hopefully if we get someone good in now we can put something together for next year. Feels unlikely at the moment admittedly but I've made my peace with Still leaving now.

That's exactly what I'm saying. We won't get a top striker in the January window. We need to limp to the finish line this season, and then seriously address the striker, goalkeeper, spine next season.

[saintant]

9 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

Can we please fire this clown and appoint someone totally unfashionable who doesn’t talk about ‘the system’ and instead talks about getting results I don’t want a system I want wins, I want us to be hard to beat and in the league relentless going forward.

It'll take more than a new manager to turn this floundering oil tanker around. The January window is about all that can save us from another relegation because this squad is completely disjointed and looks as though it's been assembled by people who have no clue about football - which is actually what it is. We need a minimum 4 good signings who can walk straight into the side in early January. Unfortunately that aint gonna happen and if it did the same idiots would be making the signings.

[hypochondriac]

7 minutes ago, Micky said:

That's exactly what I'm saying. We won't get a top striker in the January window. We need to limp to the finish line this season, and then seriously address the striker, goalkeeper, spine next season.

Yes but we need someone to stick up front to give us a chance of scoring some goals. Currently we don't have that do we.

Edit: that Ballard kid looks great over in league one. I think he has the highest goals to games ratio in the league. Maybe someone like that would be a good idea.

Edited 15 hours ago by hypochondriac

[Bazzyfryer]

Even the two wins this season were lucky a last minute winner against Wrexham and a perfectly good goal denied Sheffield United. We need a manager with experience Tony Pulis, Steve Cooper or Neil Warnock someone of that ilk. Avoid relegation at all costs - not a given unfortunately and rebuild next season

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Bazzyfryer said:

Even the two wins this season were lucky a last minute winner against Wrexham and a perfectly good goal denied Sheffield United. We need a manager with experience Tony Pulis, Steve Cooper or Neil Warnock someone of that ilk. Avoid relegation at all costs - not a given unfortunately and rebuild next season

I still maintain that the Sheffield United game was our worst performance of the season.

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Bazzyfryer said:

Even the two wins this season were lucky a last minute winner against Wrexham and a perfectly good goal denied Sheffield United. We need a manager with experience Tony Pulis, Steve Cooper or Neil Warnock someone of that ilk. Avoid relegation at all costs - not a given unfortunately and rebuild next season

We'll never rebuild successfully under SR.

[Miltonaggro]

I said to the nipper after 15 minutes today that it looked to me like the players were deliberately trying to lose the game, genuinely, all except Scienza.  No passion, no drive, no urgency, no fucking idea.  You would hope that Will Shill has already been sent packing after the shitshow today.  No way back with him in place. 

[saint michael]

I think that second half was the best we can expect from Still. Playing badly and giving his HT speech  to rally them. 

[die Mannyschaft]

30 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

Can we please fire this clown and appoint someone totally unfashionable who doesn’t talk about ‘the system’ and instead talks about getting results I don’t want a system I want wins, I want us to be hard to beat and in the league relentless going forward.

In leaque 1, that's where we a going unless 3 teams turn out to be playing worse football. Which I doubt