Saints 1-1 Coventry - Match Thread

[Saint Fan CaM]

4 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I dont think there is a poster on here, or a Saints fan in general, that doesnt believe we need  a big centre forward who can cause problems in the air in and around the penalty area>
Ross Stewart could have done that, if fit, but he will be gone at the end of the season with just the Sheff Utd 3 points to show.
No idea why the club spent a load of money on Archer who is basically a low rent Arma.
I guess they thought Downs might fill the bill but he has proved to be yet another crap striker signing.

You say that but in the recent poll new wing-backs or a keeper were seen as a priority for many. The club have already said they’re not looking for too much change in the window - the squad is still too big (and bloated with sub-standard players). Movement in the January window is typically low level nowadays but a CF has to be the priority now.

[Appy]

Manning does my head in, he’s been absolutely awful defensively all season, arguably since he signed. It’s getting masked to fans this season because he’s chipped in with a few goals. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

13 hours ago, redkeith said:

I think I have a solution for the issue of keepers falling over in the 70 something minute, feigning cramp or something else. 

If anyone can get cramp while just strolling around the penalty box , they must have serious health issues.  Anyone who does it twice in on season , like Nick Pope, should have to spend a month at St George's Park being observed by doctors for their own health. 

I read that FIFA are on the case. They’re looking at teams having to swap an outfield player as the one that has to stand on the line for 30 seconds if the keeper has treatment. Don’t know how it’ll work, does the opposition choose, or the keepers side. Maybe it could be the nearest player when the keeper goes down.
 

Personally, I’d manage it a different way. I’d double the time added on for the “injury”, so if there’s 3 mins of treatment I’d add 6 mins. Of course you couldn’t do this if there’s a foul, but if they go down for no reason, they’re going to cost their side time….

Edited 8 hours ago by Lord Duckhunter

[Wade Garrett]

13 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I read that FIFA are on the case. They’re looking at teams having to swap an outfield player as the one that has to stand on the line for 30 seconds if the keeper has treatment. Don’t know how it’ll work, does the opposition choose, or the keepers side. Maybe it could be the nearest player when the keeper goes down.
 

Personally, I’d manage it a different way. I’d double the time added on for the “injury”, so if there’s 3 mins of treatment I’d add 6 mins. Of course you couldn’t do this if there’s a foul, but if they go down for no reason, they’re going to cost their side time….

I would just leave the keeper on the ground and play on.  He’d soon get up. 
I remember when the last thing players would do after a tackle was let their opponent know he was hurt.  Footballers these days are a load of diving, cheating pricks.  Ours included.

No wonder refereeing is so difficult these days.  

I was watching a game on telly the other day and switched it off after 10 minutes because of all the play-acting bullshit.  Can’t stand it, bores the shit out of me.  Football needs to change.

 

[Football Special]

Scienza really should have scored first half 

 

[die Mannyschaft]

2 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Scienza really should have scored first half 

 

I thought he was going to put it high top corner. At least he's a positive player. Everything goes through him, he gets the ball we look good and chances created. He that good I cant see hiat Saints next season. Can you imagine him playing in a non Rusball team. Even Leeds would benefit from a player like him.

[S-Clarke]

16 hours ago, saintant said:

Personally I thought Jander had a good game today and we lost some cohesion when he went off to be replaced by Archer who contributed nothing.

Don't get me wrong, he still had a decent game and is important to us - we do fall apart without him evne more, but....I just sense his wings are being clipped slightly by the more savvy managers in this league, the instruction is not to allow him to drive or be stood in space as the 'easy' out ball on a transition. 

If I can call our approach out after 3-4 games of the same, then I'm fairly sure every manager in the league now has this sussed and we'll be seeing a lot more sideways and backwards. It's similar to AA, who was coming deep to collect, spin and run - that's also been clipped by oppo managers now.

And thus we have nothing else to our game.

Edited 8 hours ago by S-Clarke

[die Mannyschaft]

14 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I would just leave the keeper on the ground and play on.  He’d soon get up. 
I remember when the last thing players would do after a tackle was let their opponent know he was hurt.  Footballers these days are a load of diving, cheating pricks.  Ours included.

No wonder refereeing is so difficult these days.  

I was watching a game on telly the other day and switched it off after 10 minutes because of all the play-acting bullshit.  Can’t stand it, bores the shit out of me.  Football needs to change.

 

Its a tactic sitting down pretending to be injured. Yet another ridiculous thing managers are coached to do in FIFA gamesmanship ship level FUCKballv9. The FA rules say if its a keeper down injured he doesn't have to go off to side pitch, that's just for outfield players. 

[ecuk268]

A thing that pisses me off is the rule that subs have to leave the pitch via the nearest point, not being enforced.

Welington did that yesterday but, when Coventry made their subs, they were all conveniently over by the Kingsland touch line and moved at a snail's pace to leave the pitch and the ref ignored it. 

Edited 7 hours ago by ecuk268

[Sheaf Saint]

49 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I read that FIFA are on the case. They’re looking at teams having to swap an outfield player as the one that has to stand on the line for 30 seconds if the keeper has treatment. Don’t know how it’ll work, does the opposition choose, or the keepers side. Maybe it could be the nearest player when the keeper goes down.
 

Personally, I’d manage it a different way. I’d double the time added on for the “injury”, so if there’s 3 mins of treatment I’d add 6 mins. Of course you couldn’t do this if there’s a foul, but if they go down for no reason, they’re going to cost their side time….

The other option is if a keeper goes down injured then they should be forced to temporarily bring on their sub keeper for a set minimum amount of time (say 10 mins) while he goes off to be assessed, but without having to use one of their 5 subs for it. 

[StrangelyBrown]

8 hours ago, Football Special said:

 

Ok the basis that's a penalty we should have had 2... Lampard is a classless twat. End of.

[Appy]

28 minutes ago, ecuk268 said:

A thing that pisses me off is the rule that subs have to leave the pitch via the nearest point, not being enforced.

Welington did that yesterday but, when Coventry made their subs, they were all conveniently over by the Kingsland touch line and moved at a snail's pace to leave the pitch and the ref ignored it. 

Also when a team celebrates a goal, refs just let them stroll back and take as long as they like. Obviously we’ve seen a fair bit of this by opposition teams at St Mary’s in the last year or so. 

[saintant]

48 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Don't get me wrong, he still had a decent game and is important to us - we do fall apart without him evne more, but....I just sense his wings are being clipped slightly by the more savvy managers in this league, the instruction is not to allow him to drive or be stood in space as the 'easy' out ball on a transition. 

If I can call our approach out after 3-4 games of the same, then I'm fairly sure every manager in the league now has this sussed and we'll be seeing a lot more sideways and backwards. It's similar to AA, who was coming deep to collect, spin and run - that's also been clipped by oppo managers now.

And thus we have nothing else to our game.

Yeah agree we've been sussed out to a certain degree. However, I still believe we have the players to hurt opponents and need to work out how to better utilise the talents of our more gifted players. Probably our biggest problem is that our centre backs, apart from THB, are not great at controlling the ball then hitting crisp accurate passes so everything becomes a bit clunky and clumsy. Also, our wingbacks, apart from Fellows, are reluctant to get higher up the pitch when our centre backs have the ball so we have five players strung out in a horizontal line with nowhere to go but....er sideways which leaves us blocked in by a good press.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

I would just leave the keeper on the ground and play on.  He’d soon get up. 
I remember when the last thing players would do after a tackle was let their opponent know he was hurt.  Footballers these days are a load of diving, cheating pricks.  Ours included.

No wonder refereeing is so difficult these days.  

I was watching a game on telly the other day and switched it off after 10 minutes because of all the play-acting bullshit.  Can’t stand it, bores the shit out of me.  Football needs to change.

 

Well, unless it's clearly a head injury the referee should be letting play continue unless goalkeepers are treated differently - not sure what the rule is.

[Oldandtired]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

I would just leave the keeper on the ground and play on.  He’d soon get up. 
I remember when the last thing players would do after a tackle was let their opponent know he was hurt.  Footballers these days are a load of diving, cheating pricks.  Ours included.

No wonder refereeing is so difficult these days.  

I was watching a game on telly the other day and switched it off after 10 minutes because of all the play-acting bullshit.  Can’t stand it, bores the shit out of me.  Football needs to change.

 

This, exactly.

[sandwichsaint]

2 hours ago, spyinthesky said:

I dont think there is a poster on here, or a Saints fan in general, that doesnt believe we need  a big centre forward who can cause problems in the air in and around the penalty area>
Ross Stewart could have done that, if fit, but he will be gone at the end of the season with just the Sheff Utd 3 points to show.
No idea why the club spent a load of money on Archer who is basically a low rent Arma.
I guess they thought Downs might fill the bill but he has proved to be yet another crap striker signing.

Missing a trick not bringing on McCarthy and shoving Baz up front last fifteen minutes each week. He’s scored twice with headers previously, after THB that’s probably second best stats in our starting XI. 

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Its a tactic sitting down pretending to be injured. Yet another ridiculous thing managers are coached to do in FIFA gamesmanship ship level FUCKballv9. The FA rules say if its a keeper down injured he doesn't have to go off to side pitch, that's just for outfield players. 

I’m aware 😂.  It grips my shit.

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, StrangelyBrown said:

Ok the basis that's a penalty we should have had 2... Lampard is a classless twat. End of.

I haven’t got a problem with what he said in that interview.  I would imagine he regrets what happened on the pitch though.

Mind you, if people were targeting his family with their abuse that is bang out of order.

[lambtiss]

15 hours ago, benjii said:

If Stewart was fit, or we had signed a striker other than Downs, we win that quite comfortably.

That's not Ekhert's fault, although I think we could have throw another forward on.

We also could have taken one of the 3 centre backs off. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

would just leave the keeper on the ground and play on.  He’d soon get up. 

They go down when the ball is dead, you can’t just be playing on, especially if it’s a goal kick to restart play. Putting the reserve keeper on is the best solution I’ve seen , Saints web poster showing the way to FIFA. 
 

The other rule id bring in is this; injury time is ball in play time. If ref indicates 4 mins, then that’s 4 mins of ball in play. Every time it goes out, 4th official stops watch 

[Teamsaint1]

6 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

They go down when the ball is dead, you can’t just be playing on, especially if it’s a goal kick to restart play. Putting the reserve keeper on is the best solution I’ve seen , Saints web poster showing the way to FIFA. 
 

The other rule id bring in is this; injury time is ball in play time. If ref indicates 4 mins, then that’s 4 mins of ball in play. Every time it goes out, 4th official stops watch 

Games timed by ball in play would be a big step in cutting down time wasting , play acting etc.

easy and controversy free to implement . 
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/oct/15/longer-games-less-football-ball-play-premier-league

 

35 mins a half would give the fans a lot more entertainment for their  money.

Edited 5 hours ago by Teamsaint1

[coalman]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

They go down when the ball is dead, you can’t just be playing on, especially if it’s a goal kick to restart play. Putting the reserve keeper on is the best solution I’ve seen , Saints web poster showing the way to FIFA. 
 

The other rule id bring in is this; injury time is ball in play time. If ref indicates 4 mins, then that’s 4 mins of ball in play. Every time it goes out, 4th official stops watch 

I really like the idea of forcing the reserve keeper on for ten minutes.

I also think that VAR should step in if players go down holding their face when clearly nothing came near it. Automatic red card.

Anyone crowding the referee gets an automatic yellow unless they are the captain.

With keepers taking goal kicks there should be a countdown clock the same as when they pick the ball up.

90% of the bullshit would stop overnight if FIFA grew a pair. Instead of wasting their time sucking up to Trump with the Bellend D'Or award.

[saintant]

Can't work out why Wood seemed to be marking Bazunu when the cross came in for the Coventry goal.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

They go down when the ball is dead, you can’t just be playing on, especially if it’s a goal kick to restart play. Putting the reserve keeper on is the best solution I’ve seen , Saints web poster showing the way to FIFA. 
 

The other rule id bring in is this; injury time is ball in play time. If ref indicates 4 mins, then that’s 4 mins of ball in play. Every time it goes out, 4th official stops watch 

I wouldn’t put the reserve keeper on.  I would make another player sit it out in n the keeper’s place.

 Would put a time limit on a side scoring a goal and being ready for the kick-off.  Anyone not in their own half gets an automatic yellow.

Refs also need to enforce subs leaving by the nearest point.

Start enforcing obstruction again and yellow card anyone that manhandles opponents at set plays.

[Whitey Grandad]

5 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Personally, I’d manage it a different way. I’d double the time added on for the “injury”, so if there’s 3 mins of treatment I’d add 6 mins. Of course you couldn’t do this if there’s a foul, but if they go down for no reason, they’re going to cost their side time….

I can neither confirm nor deny that I used to do this when I was an active referee. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Can't work out why Wood seemed to be marking Bazunu when the cross came in for the Coventry goal.

Perhaps he knows where the greatest danger lies?

[notnowcato]

5 hours ago, ecuk268 said:

A thing that pisses me off is the rule that subs have to leave the pitch via the nearest point, not being enforced.

Welington did that yesterday but, when Coventry made their subs, they were all conveniently over by the Kingsland touch line and moved at a snail's pace to leave the pitch and the ref ignored it. 

The whole substitution ceremony boils my piss. Such a needless bullshit disruptive time.  Once the ref signals for the subs to come on; play should then restart no more than 10 seconds later. That will stop all the fake jogging and fucking shin pad adjusting as they leave the pitch. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I can neither confirm nor deny that I used to do this when I was an active referee. 

Refs should show more of this, I guess because they’re now miked up, they need to be careful.
 

Reminds me of my mate who used to umpire local cricket. He turned down 2 LBW appeals, and the bowler was muttering and moaning. Few overs later, the bowler clean bowls the bloke, and sarcastically turns round and shouts “owzat”. My mate then slowly puts his arm out and signals, no ball. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Lord Duckhunter