Middlesbrough 4-0 Saints - Match Thread

[tdmickey3]

Just now, Saint NL said:

Weird half, very poor in parts but probably should have scored twice.

Not sure anyone will be upset if Scienza doesn't appear in the second half today.

Not getting the ball to him where it matters, need a cb off and more in middle 

[benjii]

1 minute ago, Harry_SFC said:

Flynn Downes is so fucking annoying. So many times he can just turn and pass it forwards. He is one of the most limited CM's I've ever seen.

I'd rather have Bragg any day. 

[Harry_SFC]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

How has fellows got to this point of his career and never learned how to shoot

If he could score goals he wouldn't be playing for us because other than that he's great. 

[die Mannyschaft]

2 minutes ago, trousers said:

Just before we took that throw-in near their corner flag I said to my son: "watch this end back at our keeper".... What a predictable joke this team is...

Saints are the worst team in leaque. We often see this and just a waste of time, pointless negative football from a £100m+ team. 

[Turkish]

186 minutes since we conceded a goal. 

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Just out of interest, why do we fans believe we should just dominate every game, especially against one of the best teams in the League, and away from home, when we have a shit defence and keeper (and it has been proven across multiple years and multiple Managers the players are wank) and a massively overrated CM in Downes (who is meant to control the ball and the game). We are in a league where, famously, any team can beat any team, and is one of the toughest and most competitive leagues in the world.

I don't understand why our fans seem to be so fucking entitled.

A bizarre opinion in my view. We've bought some of the best attacking players in the division. The likes of Scienza, Fellows and to a lesser extent Azaz and Armstrong would get in most teams in the division. You'd expect the top teams in the prem to be near the top of the league. With our resources and parachute payments we should be higher than we are and it's not entitled to expect that. In my view the bizarre attitude is to think that lower mid table is acceptable.

[Hawkswood]

2 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Anyone reckon we will go to a back 4

 

 

 

 

No, me neither 

I think the mention of a back 4 should be banned from the site for the foreseeable future.

[Viking Saint]

48 minutes ago, Suhari said:

...and he's coming off.

Tessem just said the guy's only managed 11 starts in 3 seasons.

That's rough on the fella 

Ross Stewart: Hold my beer....

[benjii]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

186 minutes since we conceded a goal. 

#wemarchon

[AlexLaw76]

I cannot see Jander lasting more than 15-20 into the 2nd half. Looks a bit like a passenger.

Leo very narrow and fairly quiet, Azaz Picking up the ball a fair bit and finding space. 

Fellows good carrying the ball into dangerous areas

[Farmer Saint]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

A bizarre opinion in my view. We've bought some of the best attacking players in the division. The likes of Scienza, Fellows and to a lesser extent Azaz and Armstrong would get in most teams in the division. You'd expect the top teams in the prem to be near the top of the league. With our resources and parachute payments we should be higher than we are and it's not entitled to expect that. In my view the bizarre attitude is to think that lower mid table is acceptable.

I don't, except our defensive players are THAT bad.

[Gloucester Saint]

35 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

Another terrible performance. One takeaway is the commentator mentioned Nathan Wood is the son of Dean Gordon. I didn’t know that.

Right you are https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66580284

[benjii]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

A bizarre opinion in my view. We've bought some of the best attacking players in the division. The likes of Scienza, Fellows and to a lesser extent Azaz and Armstrong would get in most teams in the division. You'd expect the top teams in the prem to be near the top of the league. With our resources and parachute payments we should be higher than we are and it's not entitled to expect that. In my view the bizarre attitude is to think that lower mid table is acceptable.

Absolutely.

[Osvaldorama]

6 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Just out of interest, why do we fans believe we should just dominate every game, especially against one of the best teams in the League, and away from home, when we have a shit defence and keeper (and it has been proven across multiple years and multiple Managers the players are wank) and a massively overrated CM in Downes (who is meant to control the ball and the game). We are in a league where, famously, any team can beat any team, and is one of the toughest and most competitive leagues in the world.

I don't understand why our fans seem to be so fucking entitled.

Haven’t seen anyone say we should dominate every game. 
 

All most people want is the bare minimum. For us to look like a championship level football team instead of a pub team. 
 

First 20 minutes of that were shocking, but then we slowly woke up a little and started getting some passing going.

[Hawkswood]

3 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Flynn Downes is so fucking annoying. So many times he can just turn and pass it forwards. He is one of the most limited CM's I've ever seen.

Said the same thing on here after the Coventry game i think. Hes a coward. Makes me want to.punch myself in the face

[chownie20]

Downes and Fellows have to score. Rose our luck but had better chances. Obviously will regret not taking them when Leo and Fellows come off and we get humped

[Saint NL]

Anyone else sensing a Ross Stewart winner off the bench? 

[Saint86]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

A bizarre opinion in my view. We've bought some of the best attacking players in the division. The likes of Scienza, Fellows and to a lesser extent Azaz and Armstrong would get in most teams in the division. You'd expect the top teams in the prem to be near the top of the league. With our resources and parachute payments we should be higher than we are and it's not entitled to expect that. In my view the bizarre attitude is to think that lower mid table is acceptable.

Well said Hypo.

[Jack]

A couple of passages of play in that last 15 mins that completely sum us up: 

- Baz launches a beautiful throw up the right side setting us on the counter - 2 passes later it’s with Wood who’s tightly marked in our 18 yard box and has to put it out 

- Quarshie throw in level with their box, it’s shit, 10 seconds later it’s back with Bazunu. 
 

Dreadful to watch. We don’t want to take any risks in the right areas, but perfectly happy to fuck around and take risks when it’s with the back 5 

[chownie20]

...albeit Leo hasn't done a lot. Maybe Ross up top and Arma wide

[Baird of the land]

3 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Anyone reckon we will go to a back 4

 

 

 

 

No, me neither 

Don’t think away to Middlesbrough is a game we need to.

[S-Clarke]

We grew into the first half, Fellows almost certainly should have scored that - or at least kept it down, it was terrible. Azaz is picking up pockets of space in the last 10 mins, which is happening because we started moving the ball a little quicker from the back to the front - but their press was pretty horrible in the later stages of that half.

I think they're there for the taking to be honest, the game is literally screaming at someone to take ownership of it and dictate the tempo - neither are really doing it so far.

[BARCELONASAINT]

The positive i will take from that first half performance was at least it more entertaining than the last few games.

Negatives, we are very open and making a very injury hit opposition look pretty good.

Scienza has obviously been asked to tuck in more but that takes away his attacking creativity, he has to be wide and free to receive the ball where he can run at players. Is Tonda fucking around with tactics and trying to make players something they are not!!

[Farmer Saint]

1 minute ago, Osvaldorama said:

Haven’t seen anyone say we should dominate every game. 
 

All most people want is the bare minimum. For us to look like a championship level football team instead of a pub team. 
 

First 20 minutes of that were shocking, but then we slowly woke up a little and started getting some passing going.

Have you ever watched pub football? Do you genuinely believe we are playing like a pub football team?

[saintant]

3 minutes ago, Viking Saint said:

Ross Stewart: Hold my beer....

Yeah, time to unleash the monster from the loch 🙂

[Midfield_General]

Second best for the first part of the first half but have come more into the game the longer it's gone on. 

They've had more of the ball but we've had the best chances and should be ahead. Three golden chances to take the lead from Azaz, Downes and Fellows and we've not taken any of them. 

Azaz and Fellows both playing well and causing them problems. 

Overall though we're playing better and if we stick at it and don't do anything silly we could get something here. 

What I really, really hope doesn't happen though is the manager make some unnecessary changes just because he's decided earlier this week that those are the changes he's going to make no matter what. No-one looks tired, we're doing alright, so just leave it as it is until 65-70 minutes and then if we need to change it, make decisions at that point based on what's actually happening in the game in front of you.

[NewYorkSaint]

Look.... we more than held our own away from home against the team lying third.  Had the better chances.   The team lacks confidence right now, and makes us v jittery in front of goal... it's really too bad.   I thought Quarshie had a fine half. He cd be a great player for us.

[Saint NL]

The decision to postpone the Hull v Watford game 10 mins before kick off is a shocker. Imagine travelling up from Watford only to turn around and go straight back

Edited Sunday at 15:59 by Saint NL

[Saint86]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Haven’t seen anyone say we should dominate every game. 
 

All most people want is the bare minimum. For us to look like a championship level football team instead of a pub team. 
 

First 20 minutes of that were shocking, but then we slowly woke up a little and started getting some passing going.

Exactly this... As it stands, we're halfway through the season and our loanee Bereton Diaz is scoring for a team above us in the table.

Anyone sat here trying to say that our squad is so bad that we should be below (or frankly anywhere near) Derby and Bereton Diaz in the table, needs to take a few minutes and realise the position they're arguing is absolute nonsense. 

Edited Sunday at 16:00 by Saint86

[Willo of Whiteley]

Are there any chants yet from the away fans?

[benali-shorts]

I wonder what the YTS boys are going to change at h-t 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

On balance, somewhat even. Both teams had spells, both had shots, and no one really troubled the keepers.

We were quite happy to soak up pressure and look for breaks, as we do, for most of it. That gave the home side dominance from their early injury to around 32mins, before we started getting some space.

Fellows got some very early joy down the right, but that vanished when we dropped back. Boro switching to a back 4 was too much for us.

Azaz had a couple of efforts, Fellows put one well over and AA had a snap shot.

Tonda keen to get THB forward at times. More in direct runs, than an extra body to control midfield. Quarshie popped up across the park with some good touches. His long throw in was, as Neil Maddison said, absolute rubbish.

The game could go either way. We give Boro plenty of the ball in our final third. It's our usual balance of hoping they keep missing, and that we can break quickly.

[tdmickey3]

3 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Anyone else sensing a Ross Stewart winner off the bench? 

He will get injured warming up

[BARCELONASAINT]

1 minute ago, NewYorkSaint said:

Look.... we more than held our own away from home against the team lying third.  Had the better chances.   The team lacks confidence right now, and makes us v jittery in front of goal... it's really too bad.   I thought Quarshie had a fine half. He cd be a great player for us.

Totally agree about Quarshie and have been saying for a while he is the ONE defender i do rate in this Saints team.

[trousers]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

186 minutes since we conceded a goal. 

I suspect the club's PR department are designing a t-shirt to commemorate this as we speak....

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, BARCELONASAINT said:

Totally agree about Quarshie and have been saying for a while he is the ONE defender i do rate in this Saints team.

He is going to be a pretty good player, isn't he. 

[Vancouver Saint]

Does anyone else think our players look disinterested? Slow, slow, slow for everything. Some really good chances to score - Azaz, Downes and Fellows should have all done better.
One passage of play summed it up for me. Our free kick middle of our half left side - instead of playing it forward we play it backward and pass it sideways until we give away a throw-in 20 yards closer to our goal.
We need to bolster the midfiled and pass it through the middle. 4-3-3 or or 4-4-2 or 4-5-1...anything but this 3 CBs at the back that can't control the ball well enough.

[tdmickey3]

4 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Have you ever watched pub football? Do you genuinely believe we are playing like a pub football team?

Sometimes the defending does a very good impression 

[LGTL]

Thanks goodness Ben Garner is in the dressing room at half time, ready to sort it out. 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

He is going to be a pretty good player, isn't he. 

He's not bad, very powerful and strong. I don't trust him with the ball as much though, I think he's a bit leggy at times.

As a defender, doing defensive things, he's not bad at all though.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

He will get injured warming up

Maybe get him to come on cold with no warm up - safer option.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Interesting to watch back the Downes shot. He and Jander were stood deep between the centre circle and the oppo box when the ball came across and so they had to run 20 yards to get to the ball to shoot. If one of them had stayed back and one waited just outside the box the shot could have been taken prior to the defence resetting, which might have given Downes the goal.

They stay back because we’re so light in midfield.

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, LGTL said:

Thanks goodness Ben Garner is in the dressing room at half time, ready to sort it out. 

He is getting instructions from Ankerson

[Baird of the land]

Annoyingly chances fell to wrong players. Downes tame side foot and fellowes, who’s shooting seems to involve the same blind swipe each time

[Farmer Saint]

1 minute ago, tdmickey3 said:

Sometimes the defending does a very good impression 

Our defenders are utter shit. Have been for years. You can't make a silk purse with a sow's ear. 

TBF we don't have a good seamstress...

[Edmonton Saint]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

He is going to be a pretty good player, isn't he. 

Would rather Quarshie plays every week and learns his trade , than see Shoehorn play. Definitely can see the potential with Quarshie.

[tdmickey3]

Just now, Farmer Saint said:

Our defenders are utter shit. Have been for years. You can't make a silk purse with a sow's ear. 

TBF we don't have a good seamstress...

Got a good dry cleaner though

[benali-shorts]

Just now, Farmer Saint said:

Our defenders are utter shit. Have been for years. You can't make a silk purse with a sow's ear. 

TBF we don't have a good seamstress...

Our midfielders and attackers are shit too, so hopefully we can make something given we’ve got considerably more than a sow’s ear to play with 

[AlexLaw76]

What a block by their defender. That was a goal otherwise.

[Suhari]

Great move. Unlucky AA.