Saints 3-1 Sheff Weds - Match Thread

[Greedyfly]

11 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

I know some people love a good conspiracy but that’s quite obviously not what’s going on. Five at the back is a legit formation, used by a lot of managers, Bazunu is being picked ahead of Alex McCarthy, not Lev Yashin.

Still would not have accepted the job under those stipulations, which he’s spent half the season ‘ignoring’ anyway.

I said this on the match thread in midweek - But Still FREQUENTLY played the 3 at the back at Lens - in fact almost always so no idea where his love for 4231 came from because he barely ever played it.

 

Thus it was a WS thing; not a SR thing for anyone believing otherwise.

 

But Eckert needs to drop it - its an awful watch especially at home to Wednesday.

[die Mannyschaft]

5 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

They may be bottom but Wednesday are a good team - i.e. they’re utilising their small squad to very good effect and are picking up points. This is not going to be some easy pushover like some seem to be thinking especially with us not having a decent target man - they will press us hard and capatilise on mistakes at the back (inevitable).

A win is possible but I’m going 1-1.

There are no bad teams the bottom 10 are all the same.

[Mboto Gorge]

Would be very surprised if we won this, can see a draw at best. Wednesday aren’t as bad as their position suggests. They’ve had some very decent resilient away performances: would not be surprised at a 1-1 draw, and if we’re as bad we were against Preston , we will almost certainly lose again.

[saintant]

31 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

You would have thought that Still would say something akin to that.

He'll have been made to sign an NDA in return for payment of his contract meaning he can't say anything.

[coalman]

I sincerely hope we're not about "keeping things ticking over". We got lucky playing badly against QPR. Playing as badly again is unlikely to continue yielding the same results. The last thing we need is continuity.

[OttawaSaint]

4 hours ago, trousers said:

Press conference at 2pm today 

(Players training at St Mary's today btw)

Our players train? Wow! Doesn't seem like it...

[Jack]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Are you suggesting the players are picking the side and choosing to play 3 centre backs? Maybe you're onto something because if we don't play 3 centre backs they'd have to leave out one of their pals.

We were talking about this yesterday. If Jack Stephens was to pick his starting XI, I think it’d have looked very much like what we saw on Wednesday. Wouldn’t shock me if Eckert is just appeasing a popularity contest with his selections, because it’s clearly shit in a tactical sense. 
 

It’s why we need a no shit, respected manager to come in and break up what’s left of Martin’s sideways/backwards banter club, so we can progress as a football club. 

[stevematthews635]

1 minute ago, Jack said:

We were talking about this yesterday. If Jack Stephens was to pick his starting XI, I think it’d have looked very much like what we saw on Wednesday. Wouldn’t shock me if Eckert is just appeasing a popularity contest with his selections, because it’s clearly shit in a tactical sense. 
 

It’s why we need a no shit, respected manager to come in and break up what’s left of Martin’s sideways/backwards banter club, so we can progress as a football club. 

There really are some right plums on here and seeing 'reds under the beds' at every opportunity.

The manager picked the team not the players.

Give it a bloody rest!

[Toadhall Saint]

52 minutes ago, saintant said:

He'll have been made to sign an NDA in return for payment of his contract meaning he can't say anything.

That would have need to be agreed pre contract not as part of the post contract.

[Jack]

42 minutes ago, stevematthews635 said:

There really are some right plums on here and seeing 'reds under the beds' at every opportunity.

The manager picked the team not the players.

Give it a bloody rest!

I didn’t say the players picked the team, you plum, I’m questioning whether the stand in manager is heavily influenced by the clique of uncommitted, shit players who’ve been here too long and clearly have too much influence around the place. 
 

The manager certainly didn’t pick a team to play that way based on it being any good. 

[saintant]

56 minutes ago, stevematthews635 said:

There really are some right plums on here and seeing 'reds under the beds' at every opportunity.

The manager picked the team not the players.

Give it a bloody rest!

He's young and inexperienced. He'll have discussed team selection with Captain Jack - no doubt about that.

[saintant]

36 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

That would have need to be agreed pre contract not as part of the post contract.

Whenever but it's always done because you never hear a sacked manager giving his views.

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

We were talking about this yesterday. If Jack Stephens was to pick his starting XI, I think it’d have looked very much like what we saw on Wednesday. Wouldn’t shock me if Eckert is just appeasing a popularity contest with his selections, because it’s clearly shit in a tactical sense. 

You wouldn't believe he's made 1 selection and won the game would you  

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

He'll have been made to sign an NDA in return for payment of his contract meaning he can't say anything.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for the absolutely mental conversation that some of you seem to think took place when we hired Still.

Spors: "So, Will, you're a promising young manager with a decent record in French football, we think you're the right man to take us forward in the Championship."

Still: "Okay, I'm interested, tell me more."

Spors: "Well first of all, we're going to decide what formation the team plays, not you."

Still: "Errrr.... why."

Spors: "Well, even though we got promoted two years ago playing a back four for the majority of the season, including our longest unbeaten run for a century, we absolutely insist on playing a back five this time."

Still: "Well, if you say so."

Spors: "Also, even though we signed Amo-Ameyaw, Lis, Bella-Kotchap, Mara, Caleta-Car, Edozie, Larios, Orsic, Alcaraz, Bree, Onuachu, Sulemana, Taylor, Sugawara and Brereton Diaz, then binned them off when they were deemed not good enough, for some reason we're going to insist that you absolutely must play the worst goalkeeper in Championship history at all times."

Still: "Why?"

Spors: "Because profits. Once every scout in Europe has seen that he's the worst goalkeeper in England, clubs will be queueing up to sign him for £30m."

Still: "Anything else?"

Spors: "Yes, we're going to sign some of the leagues best and most expensive AM players from last year. You're going to say they suit your prefered formation, then hardly play them, just to troll the fans."

Still: "Okay, that sounds sane and reasonable, sign me up."

Spors: "Great, also sign this NDA saying that when it all goes tits up, we sack you and everyone thinks you're useless, you have to stay completely silent and pretend it was all your fault the whole time."

Still; "Ah, awesome, this sounds like a great idea and definitely wont be the end of my managerial career at the age of 33.

....

....

Still: "BTW FU, I'm sometimes going to play McCarthy and a 4-2-3-1, just for teh lolz!!"

[Verbal]

11 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for the absolutely mental conversation that some of you seem to think took place when we hired Still.

Spors: "So, Will, you're a promising young manager with a decent record in French football, we think you're the right man to take us forward in the Championship."

Still: "Okay, I'm interested, tell me more."

Spors: "Well first of all, we're going to decide what formation the team plays, not you."

Still: "Errrr.... why."

Spors: "Well, even though we got promoted two years ago playing a back four for the majority of the season, including our longest unbeaten run for a century, we absolutely insist on playing a back five this time."

Still: "Well, if you say so."

Spors: "Also, even though we signed Amo-Ameyaw, Lis, Bella-Kotchap, Mara, Caleta-Car, Edozie, Larios, Orsic, Alcaraz, Bree, Onuachu, Sulemana, Taylor, Sugawara and Brereton Diaz, then binned them off when they were deemed not good enough, for some reason we're going to insist that you absolutely must play the worst goalkeeper in Championship history at all times."

Still: "Why?"

Spors: "Because profits. Once every scout in Europe has seen that he's the worst goalkeeper in England, clubs will be queueing up to sign him for £30m."

Still: "Anything else?"

Spors: "Yes, we're going to sign some of the leagues best and most expensive AM players from last year. You're going to say they suit your prefered formation, then hardly play them, just to troll the fans."

Still: "Okay, that sounds sane and reasonable, sign me up."

Spors: "Great, also sign this NDA saying that when it all goes tits up, we sack you and everyone thinks you're useless, you have to stay completely silent and pretend it was all your fault the whole time."

Still; "Ah, awesome, this sounds like a great idea and definitely wont be the end of my managerial career at the age of 33.

....

....

Still: "BTW FU, I'm sometimes going to play McCarthy and a 4-2-3-1, just for teh lolz!!"

This is frightening. I'm sending this recording transcript straight to Henry Winter. People have to know. 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for the absolutely mental conversation that some of you seem to think took place when we hired Still.

Spors: "So, Will, you're a promising young manager with a decent record in French football, we think you're the right man to take us forward in the Championship."

Still: "Okay, I'm interested, tell me more."

Spors: "Well first of all, we're going to decide what formation the team plays, not you."

Still: "Errrr.... why."

Spors: "Well, even though we got promoted two years ago playing a back four for the majority of the season, including our longest unbeaten run for a century, we absolutely insist on playing a back five this time."

Still: "Well, if you say so."

Spors: "Also, even though we signed Amo-Ameyaw, Lis, Bella-Kotchap, Mara, Caleta-Car, Edozie, Larios, Orsic, Alcaraz, Bree, Onuachu, Sulemana, Taylor, Sugawara and Brereton Diaz, then binned them off when they were deemed not good enough, for some reason we're going to insist that you absolutely must play the worst goalkeeper in Championship history at all times."

Still: "Why?"

Spors: "Because profits. Once every scout in Europe has seen that he's the worst goalkeeper in England, clubs will be queueing up to sign him for £30m."

Still: "Anything else?"

Spors: "Yes, we're going to sign some of the leagues best and most expensive AM players from last year. You're going to say they suit your prefered formation, then hardly play them, just to troll the fans."

Still: "Okay, that sounds sane and reasonable, sign me up."

Spors: "Great, also sign this NDA saying that when it all goes tits up, we sack you and everyone thinks you're useless, you have to stay completely silent and pretend it was all your fault the whole time."

Still; "Ah, awesome, this sounds like a great idea and definitely wont be the end of my managerial career at the age of 33.

....

....

Still: "BTW FU, I'm sometimes going to play McCarthy and a 4-2-3-1, just for teh lolz!!"

What I posted was factually correct and did not need this diatribe in reply 🙂

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

You wouldn't believe he's made 1 selection and won the game would you  

Wonder if he'd win many more games setting the side up like that and then retreating to our own penalty box for 20 minutes when leading 2-1 🙂

[Willo of Whiteley]

I don’t buy the “he’s interim manager, he’s hardly going to change tactics”.

It’s not difficult to say to the players we’re setting up in this formation, you have license to get forward, you need to cover these areas etc.

Give the players some freedom.

We might win 6-0 by playing players in the right position and in an attacking formation, but we don’t know because we’re to bloody scared to try.

Edited 23 hours ago by Willo of Whiteley

[Baird of the land]

Is it Desperate still fanatics trying to imagine a scenario where he’s not an awful manager by imagining club forcing him to play his favourite formation. Guess those French clubs were also in on it too. 
 

 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

13 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Wishing for: McCarthy; Jelert, Wood, Quarshie, Wellington; Downes, Jander, Azaz; Fellows, Armstrong, Scienza

Expecting: Bazunu; Fellows, THB, Stephens, Wood, Manning; Downes, Jander, Robinson, Armstrong, Downs

I just see the line up tombola being rolled out for this one.

I'm expecting Scienza to be fit and Downs only to come on as sub - though preferably not come on at all!

Also, not convinced yet by Jander. Not too sure what he adds to midfield though Downes is starting to look good again. 

2-0 Saints. 

[Give it to Ron]

15 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

I'm expecting Scienza to be fit and Downs only to come on as sub - though preferably not come on at all!

Also, not convinced yet by Jander. Not too sure what he adds to midfield though Downes is starting to look good again. 

2-0 Saints. 

Christ I think totally the opposite I think jander has been decent. Reads it and nullifies attacks keeps it simple and ticking over. Whereas Downes is nowhere near his level before but I wonder if that’s caused by illnesses and injuries. 
opinions 🙂

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

13 minutes ago, Give it to Ron said:

Christ I think totally the opposite I think jander has been decent. Reads it and nullifies attacks keeps it simple and ticking over. Whereas Downes is nowhere near his level before but I wonder if that’s caused by illnesses and injuries. 
opinions 🙂

Likely that both will play tomorrow and also likely that our interim manager will stick with five at the back, so the two midfielders will have a lot to do - I'll be watching especially to see who has the most impact.

That stated, here's hoping they both have great games!

[saintant]

16 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Likely that both will play tomorrow and also likely that our interim manager will stick with five at the back, so the two midfielders will have a lot to do - I'll be watching especially to see who has the most impact.

That stated, here's hoping they both have great games!

8 defensive players then with 3 isolated attackers. Goalkeeper, 3 centre backs, 2 'wing backs' who will mainly operate as full backs and 2 defensive midfielders - against Sheffield Wednesday! What a complete farce. Hope nobody expects to see many chances created.

[bpsaint]

Sounds like we’re setting up to be defensive, and we know crisp packet wrists has a mistake in him so this will not be an enjoyable watch. Wednesday have a bit of fight about them despite everything going on, and I fully expect them to bring us back down to earth with a bump tomorrow.

1-2 away win.

[die Mannyschaft]

On paper Saints 5-1. Sooner or later we will play at our £120m squad value. If we cant beat Sheffield Wednesday it will be like a stock market crash with the squad valued at £1.20.

[sockeye]

4-4

hungry eyes meet hungry eyes

[VectisSaint]

8 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

We played four at the back in WIll Still's last game and all of preseason. Five at the back is not how we play, it's randomly what we decided to do after getting smashed by Hull. 

It was actually what we did when we played Liverpool in the Cup, and it worked well. I think to an extent that's why it stuck, unfortunately.

[hypochondriac]

9 hours ago, VectisSaint said:

It was actually what we did when we played Liverpool in the Cup, and it worked well. I think to an extent that's why it stuck, unfortunately.

Which would be ridiculous as Liverpool reserves attacked us in a way that almost no other team in this league will do.

Edited 10 hours ago by hypochondriac

[Harry_SFC]

7 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Which would be ridiculous as Liverpool reset es attacked us in a way that almost no other team in this league will do.

Indeed. You can understand the logic behind doing it at Anfield but at home to beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday? Not at all. 

[Willo of Whiteley]

Scrappy 1-1 today 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

22 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Indeed. You can understand the logic behind doing it at Anfield but at home to beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday? Not at all. 

That's the point. I vaguely recall we always used to play 442 then one afternoon Ralph played 5 at the back against Arsenal, we won 1-0 and the formation crept in to our game. What I think our managers are missing is that fundamentally it's a formation to play against a much stronger opposition - so it's not one to be used by us in the Championship!

Perhaps there should be a repetitive chant of 4-4-2 going around St Marys until management understand it's what the majority of us want.

[Suhari]

Hungry-eyed Saints are cooking today.

We're going to have them on toast, and all Wednesday get is an empty bag of crisps, courtesy of Baz.

3-1

Get the fuck in.

[macca155]

15 hours ago, saintant said:

He's young and inexperienced. He'll have discussed team selection with Captain Jack - no doubt about that.

Bollocks he would, those discussions would have been with Lallana. 

He's an interim manager, not his place to start making wholesale changes. He's brought in a couple of U21s, that's his signature.

Jack played because he was a better option than Edwards and Quarshie at the moment. Quarshie should have made the position his by now, but we are where we are.

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

32 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

That's the point. I vaguely recall we always used to play 442 then one afternoon Ralph played 5 at the back against Arsenal, we won 1-0 and the formation crept in to our game. What I think our managers are missing is that fundamentally it's a formation to play against a much stronger opposition - so it's not one to be used by us in the Championship!

Perhaps there should be a repetitive chant of 4-4-2 going around St Marys until management understand it's what the majority of us want.

Well put.

I dont see the need for 5 defenders every game. Just leaves the midfield wide open or bypassed.

Had SIX bloody defenders on versus Blackburn and that was a shitshow.

[Simo is back]

Saints off the back of a win , Team we are playing bottom of the league . You all know what that means !? Easy win , For Wednesday. 

[Bakovnetski]

21 hours ago, saintant said:

Please ditch the ridiculous 3 centre backs obsession. I don't see it happening though.

How about starting a "4-4-2" chant from the Northam End? Maybe they might get an insight into the fans thoughts.

[benjii]

22 minutes ago, Simo is back said:

Saints off the back of a win , Team we are playing bottom of the league . You all know what that means !? Easy win , For Wednesday. 

I assume they have a striker who hasn't scored for 2 years? Lump on.

[benjii]

16 minutes ago, Bakovnetski said:

How about starting a "4-4-2" chant from the Northam End? Maybe they might get an insight into the fans thoughts.

This happened at Swindon away under Pardew. FACT!

[Nordic Saint]

I must say I'm looking forward to this much more than the Preston game. There's a hint of optimism in the air at St Mary's again and I'd expect a bigger crowd than last week too.  Let's see some more magic from Scienza and Robinson, back-to-back wins and, as a bonus, Pompey to continue their winless run. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Nordic Saint

[HarvSFC]

They've lost 4 of their last 6 and are winless in 8. We're the strong favourites according to the bookies. Naturally, you'd be thinking in the back of your mind that typical Southampton are going to be the ones to end their poor run. However, they're like we were 17 years ago, if not worse considering they've missed payments for their players (before admin), didn't sign anyone for any money in the summer, while we were still putting £1m down on a raw Morgan Schneiderlin when that was a lot of money for a Championship club. So, really any manager worth their salt should be guiding our team of far more experience and worth to a comfortable victory this afternoon. It should be the nicest fixture we play this season. Go into the international break on a high for once and hopefully we're in a good position to go again two weeks from now.

Up the Saints.

[Toadhall Saint]

22 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

I must say I'm looking forward to this much more than the Preston game. There's a hint of optimism in the air at St Mary's again and I'd expect a bigger crowd than last week too.  Let's see some more magic from Scienza and Robinson, and back-to-back wins.

It’s the hope………well you know the rest. We won’t be as lucky as we were in the last 20 mins against QPR.

[Picard]

A win today.

[Football Special]

47 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

I must say I'm looking forward to this much more than the Preston game. There's a hint of optimism in the air at St Mary's again and I'd expect a bigger crowd than last week too.  Let's see some more magic from Scienza and Robinson, back-to-back wins and, as a bonus, Pompey to continue their winless run. 

I'd say will be a similar crowd to last week , maybe a bit higher due to Sheffield wednesday bringing about 1000 more than Preston did but usual big areas in the home end closest to away fans, I'd guess at 27,800 as attendence today 

Edited 6 hours ago by Football Special

[EssEffCee]

26 minutes ago, Football Special said:

I'd say will be a similar crowd to last week , maybe a bit higher due to Sheffield wednesday bringing about 1000 more than Preston did but usual big areas in the home end closest to away fans, I'd guess at 27,800 as attendence today 

No way Preston had 2k there, probably half that so Wednesday will be filling 2k seats that were empty last week.

Don't think there'll be much difference in home numbers.

[StrangelyBrown]

20 hours ago, stevematthews635 said:

There really are some right plums on here and seeing 'reds under the beds' at every opportunity.

The manager picked the team not the players.

Give it a bloody rest!

I'm not sure the manager chose the formation though. Just Google "Rasmus Ankersen 3-5-2" and make your own mind up.

[StrangelyBrown]

4 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

That's the point. I vaguely recall we always used to play 442 then one afternoon Ralph played 5 at the back against Arsenal, we won 1-0 and the formation crept in to our game. What I think our managers are missing is that fundamentally it's a formation to play against a much stronger opposition - so it's not one to be used by us in the Championship!

Perhaps there should be a repetitive chant of 4-4-2 going around St Marys until management understand it's what the majority of us want.

4-4-2 isn't the answer - it leaves us short in midfield and is very easy to play against. 4-2-3-1 would be much better especially if we genuinely want to play a high press.

Interestingly, I wonder if there has ever been a side who've successfully played a high press playing 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 week in week out.

[davefizzy14]

I'm hoping we can get another victory today - 2-0 to us 😊 Scienza and Adam Armstrong to score 😊 COYR 

Edited 5 hours ago by davefizzy14

[Verbal]

1 hour ago, Picard said:

A win today.

Is that a prediction or are you in a time  zone four hours ahead?

[Midfield_General]

8 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

4-4-2 isn't the answer - it leaves us short in midfield and is very easy to play against. 4-2-3-1 would be much better especially if we genuinely want to play a high press.

Interestingly, I wonder if there has ever been a side who've successfully played a high press playing 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 week in week out.

I still think our best option to get the best out of lopsided squad would be 4-3-3. Provides more control in the middle of the pitch and then Scienza and Armstrong or Fellows could go either side of Archer, who I think is crap but would be probably be most effective playing in that formation. 

[benjii]

11 minutes ago, StrangelyBrown said:

4-4-2 isn't the answer - it leaves us short in midfield and is very easy to play against. 4-2-3-1 would be much better especially if we genuinely want to play a high press.

Interestingly, I wonder if there has ever been a side who've successfully played a high press playing 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 week in week out.

Bielsa and Sampaoli usually play a back 3 and press aggressively, but it's done in a very different way to how we have been playing!