Millwall 3-2 Saints - Match Thread

[derry]

Aribo was abysmal. Slow, not committed and going through the motions. Personally I've never liked Aribo because he is so embarrassingly left footed he can only turn one way, that together with his lack of pace and mobility it astounds me that we are paying him over £3.5m a year. He should be shelved now and got rid of in January even if a contribution is required to transfer him. His performance hurt us yesterday If Tonda thinks otherwise he is deluded. Enough to cast serious doubts regarding his promotion. Yesterday's result was unfortunate. Personally Stephen's went missing at the last goal, Manning's poor positioning facing the wrong way contributed. That goal spoilt an otherwise decent result in the circumstances. 

[Tamesaint]

3 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Robinson was perfectly fine yesterday. Don’t fall into the weird Jo Tessem trap. Blaming him for things that simply weren’t his fault yesterday, it was really odd. 

Also, talk of experience again, just a reminder that we got worse yesterday when our two least experienced players went off and we bought tons of experience on. 

We needed the experience in the first half to calm down the crowd and take control of the game. The atmosphere was hostile and our midfield of Robinson (18 years old), Bragg (20) and Jander (22) was young and inexperienced. We would have benefited from Fraser's nous.  Certainly bring on some young legs to run at the tiring defence towards the end but expecting them to take control of the game was in retrospect asking too much. 

[Fabrice29]

6 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

We needed the experience in the first half to calm down the crowd and take control of the game. The atmosphere was hostile and our midfield of Robinson (18 years old), Bragg (20) and Jander (22) was young and inexperienced. We would have benefited from Fraser's nous.  Certainly bring on some young legs to run at the tiring defence towards the end but expecting them to take control of the game was in retrospect asking too much. 

Hostile atmosphere ffs 🤣 We went 1-0 up in the second half btw. We weren’t playing well but our young and inexperienced guys had managed us through the majority of the game just fine. 
 

It wasn’t inexperience that shit the bed in a tackle despite everyone saying what a hard man he is in the final moment of the game. Nor inexperience failing to challenge at the back post from the following cross or an inexperienced goalkeeper that couldn’t block a fairly tame header. 

Edited yesterday at 12:15 by Fabrice29

[Badger]

22 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

 Nor inexperience failing to challenge at the back post from the following cross or an inexperienced goalkeeper that couldn’t block a fairly tame header. 

Some good points.

Can’t disagree on the last point either. Our Gk is very experienced in not blocking fairly tame headers (and shots). 

[macca155]

15 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

You comment like someone that dresses their dog in human clothes. Utterly embarrassing comment.

Oh it's my turn is it, your bloody obsessed. You do nothing but attack him at every opportunity, and anybody who says anything about him.

Three decent saves, and absolutely no chance on two of their goals. The third was a defensive shambles, he's as culpable as the other defenders, but the real blame for that lies with Romeu who lost his man. 

Is he a decent goalie, nope. Too much flapping and too error prone, but that defeat isn't down to him.

 

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

Hostile atmosphere ffs 🤣 We went 1-0 up in the second half btw. We weren’t playing well but our young and inexperienced guys had managed us through the majority of the game just fine. 
 

It wasn’t inexperience that shit the bed in a tackle despite everyone saying what a hard man he is in the final moment of the game. Nor inexperience failing to challenge at the back post from the following cross or an inexperienced goalkeeper that couldn’t block a fairly tame header. 

"We weren't playing well". FFS we were being outplayed when we went 1 up. None of the youngsters in our team were playing like we know that they can. Playing away from home at a place like Millwall did not agree with them. I now think an older head would have been  beneficial. 

Yout last paragraph, whilst true, is a complete strawnan argument. My point is that the team would have been better if we had played Fraser instead of Robinson for the first 70 mins and then brought young legs on. Nothing to do with how we shat the bed in the 97th minute. 

[Fabrice29]

2 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

"We weren't playing well". FFS we were being outplayed when we went 1 up. None of the youngsters in our team were playing like we know that they can. Playing away from home at a place like Millwall did not agree with them. I now think an older head would have been  beneficial. 

Yout last paragraph, whilst true, is a complete strawnan argument. My point is that the team would have been better if we had played Fraser instead of Robinson for the first 70 mins and then brought young legs on. Nothing to do with how we shat the bed in the 97th minute. 

It could just be that they played better than us on the day? Rather than the mental gymnastics you have to do to convince yourself the players who played badly in 20 minutes would have done better if you had given them 70 all because of some elusive thing ‘experience’ gives you. 

[warsash saint]

21 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Not Romeu, not Manning or THB… all on Baz. Bellend. 

In all the over the top bull shit posted post match, here is our winner 

[EssEffCee]

8 hours ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Was all a bit odd because I don't even think Millwall consider West Ham rivals.

And I would say, while I didn't do a Turkish and go in all guns blazing and instead took my scarf off, I went in to the Den chippy right outside their main entrance and had one of the best pre-match meals I've had for a long time.

Ummm they definitely do.

[saintant]

4 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Hostile atmosphere ffs 🤣 We went 1-0 up in the second half btw. We weren’t playing well but our young and inexperienced guys had managed us through the majority of the game just fine. 
 

It wasn’t inexperience that shit the bed in a tackle despite everyone saying what a hard man he is in the final moment of the game. Nor inexperience failing to challenge at the back post from the following cross or an inexperienced goalkeeper that couldn’t block a fairly tame header. 

What a condescending derivative comment about one of our great servants. Uncalled for.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Bottom line is that it is absolutely inexcusable to leave an oppostion centre half all alone in your six yard box in the 96th minute of a game. Our back four/five is an absolute disgrace, Stephens as captain should be marshalling that back line, telling eveyone to pick up a man and stay with the runners. I'd happily get rid of the whole defence in January, including the keeper.

[Harry_SFC]

Despite the third goal being an absolute mess from probably half the team, how the hell did THB manage to slice the ball into the net? Looked like a simple clearance to me. 

[tdmickey3]

10 hours ago, spyinthesky said:

Eckhert reckoned he was pleased with Aribo's performance yesterday according to his interview with The Echo!!

Oh dear, his football is very flawed if he actually believes that Aribo was any better than dreadful 

[Harry_SFC]

42 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Oh dear, his football is very flawed if he actually believes that Aribo was any better than dreadful 

I don't think anyone watching that would genuinely think he was anything other than awful. I'd imagine he's just saying that. He can't exactly come out and say he was shit. 

[saintant]

The possession stats tell a story - we had too much of the ball in the wrong areas. Millwall were more than happy to allow us to play around at the back and make meaningless sideways and backward passes (prime Russball) because it allowed them to set up and implement their aggressive press which we couldn't deal with. We should have cut all that out and played more vertical and long passes to break the game up - it wouldn't have been pretty but I think it would have nullified a lot of their pressing. 

[Charlie Wayman]

19 hours ago, saintant said:

What a condescending derivative comment about one of our great servants. Uncalled for.

Hear! Hear! Well said.

[SaintsRoyalty]

23 hours ago, macca155 said:

Oh it's my turn is it, your bloody obsessed. You do nothing but attack him at every opportunity, and anybody who says anything about him.

Three decent saves, and absolutely no chance on two of their goals. The third was a defensive shambles, he's as culpable as the other defenders, but the real blame for that lies with Romeu who lost his man. 

Is he a decent goalie, nope. Too much flapping and too error prone, but that defeat isn't down to him.

 

Ok we are getting somewhere. But yes he was at fault for the loss and definitely not getting a point. Already mentioned on an earlier post but let me summarise it:

1. He should have saved the first. He got down to save a much harder shot earlier in the game so how can people then say he cannot save an easier chance? Defies logic.

2.  He should save the third. No ball should be going across the box without a so called competent keeper making it his. If you watch the goal he runs to the post and stands behind the defender who already has that area covered. You honestly wouldn’t see a keeper behaving like that in an u12s game. Who covers an area already covered by your player? Why stand behind your own player so you are unsighted?

3. He got very lucky on the disallowed goal which again was a howler on his part and could have easily been given.

The point I'm trying to get across is he’s so bad it doesn’t even get to the point where we need to analyse how he dealt with the shot. His positioning is of someone who has never played in goal before. Not even the fundamentals are there and he’s been a professional footballer long enough to have learnt this. He is a complete lost cause and fans need to be united against him otherwise he’s not going anywhere and we will always have to score at least 3 to win a game. Compare us to the Rangers fans who got Martin out the door asap. We need to start be united and vocal about dross like Bazunu.

Edited 7 hours ago by SaintsRoyalty

[macca155]

43 minutes ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Ok we are getting somewhere. But yes he was at fault for the loss and definitely not getting a point. Already mentioned on an earlier post but let me summarise it:

1. He should have saved the first. He got down to save a much harder shot earlier in the game so how can people then say he cannot save an easier chance? Defies logic.

2.  He should save the third. No ball should be going across the box without a so called competent keeper making it his. If you watch the goal he runs to the post and stands behind the defender who already has that area covered. You honestly wouldn’t see a keeper behaving like that in an u12s game. Who covers an area already covered by your player? Why stand behind your own player so you are unsighted?

3. He got very lucky on the disallowed goal which again was a howler on his part and could have easily been given.

The point I'm trying to get across is he’s so bad it doesn’t even get to the point where we need to analyse how he dealt with the shot. His positioning is of someone who has never played in goal before. Not even the fundamentals are there and he’s been a professional footballer long enough to have learnt this. He is a complete lost cause and fans need to be united against him otherwise he’s not going anywhere and we will always have to score at least 3 to win a game. Compare us to the Rangers fans who got Martin out the door asap. We need to start be united and vocal about dross like Bazunu.

Well I disagree on the 1st goal but that's just opinions. You'll get no disagreement from anyone that he needs replacing. With luck Ransdale will be sold to Newcastle in January and the club can upgrade that position.

[saintant]

2 hours ago, macca155 said:

Well I disagree on the 1st goal but that's just opinions. You'll get no disagreement from anyone that he needs replacing. With luck Ransdale will be sold to Newcastle in January and the club can upgrade that position.

I think for the first one he couldn't save it due to his poor starting position. Stand in the right spot to narrow the angle and give the bloke less space to shoot at and he saves it comfortably. His bad positioning is what is causing him to let in far more goals than he should.

[Harry_SFC]

4 hours ago, SaintsRoyalty said:

Ok we are getting somewhere. But yes he was at fault for the loss and definitely not getting a point. Already mentioned on an earlier post but let me summarise it:

1. He should have saved the first. He got down to save a much harder shot earlier in the game so how can people then say he cannot save an easier chance? Defies logic.

2.  He should save the third. No ball should be going across the box without a so called competent keeper making it his. If you watch the goal he runs to the post and stands behind the defender who already has that area covered. You honestly wouldn’t see a keeper behaving like that in an u12s game. Who covers an area already covered by your player? Why stand behind your own player so you are unsighted?

3. He got very lucky on the disallowed goal which again was a howler on his part and could have easily been given.

The point I'm trying to get across is he’s so bad it doesn’t even get to the point where we need to analyse how he dealt with the shot. His positioning is of someone who has never played in goal before. Not even the fundamentals are there and he’s been a professional footballer long enough to have learnt this. He is a complete lost cause and fans need to be united against him otherwise he’s not going anywhere and we will always have to score at least 3 to win a game. Compare us to the Rangers fans who got Martin out the door asap. We need to start be united and vocal about dross like Bazunu.

No way can you blame him for the disallowed goal. It was a terrible header back from Stephens. In fact I don't think Stephens had any idea where the header was supposed to be going.

I'd say he should definitely do better with the first one but that's about it. As for the third goal - Manning shouldn't have even been in that position in the first place. It's actually Mannings poor marking that leads to there being too many players in that area. 

I don't rate Bazunu but I do find it funny that people will blame him for literally everything even when some of it clearly isn't his fault. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Harry_SFC

[The Kraken]

38 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

I don't rate Bazunu but I do find it funny that people will blame him for literally everything even when some of it clearly isn't his fault. 

Some may do, but mostly what I see is people continually saying “could Bazunu do better there?”. And that’s where we are with Baz, he has built up a back catalogue not of complete howlers but so many occasions when you tend to think a slightly better keeper would be keeping the ball out of the back of the net more often.

For all of our goals against Millwall, they came about because of poor defending. I think most people recognise that, it’s just frustrating when the last line of defence seems to offer such weak resistance so consistently once the defence is breached.

[Harry_SFC]

2 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Some may do, but mostly what I see is people continually saying “could Bazunu do better there?”. And that’s where we are with Baz, he has built up a back catalogue not of complete howlers but so many occasions when you tend to think a slightly better keeper would be keeping the ball out of the back of the net more often.

For all of our goals against Millwall, they came about because of poor defending. I think most people recognise that, it’s just frustrating when the last line of defence seems to offer such weak resistance so consistently once the defence is breached.

I certainly don't disagree with what you say and the first goal is a prime example of that. We have an error prone back line and a substandard keeper so yes not a great combination but there are a few on here who seem to want to criticise him for every goal conceded.