Saints 1-0 Norwich - Match Thread

[adrian lord]

Got to eat humble pie re Tonda. He is building a really good team and spirit. 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Mboto Gorge said:

It’s amazing what a coincidence it is that we are suddenly regularly coming out on the right side of these 50/50 matches that could have gone either way , from the moment we’ve signed an actual decent keeper who makes match winning contributions. Who’d have fucking thought it!

It truly is an amazing coincidence isn’t it. I think with Baz there we’d probably have won more comfortably tonight as we’d play out from the back better, easing the pressure and maintain possession but but Peretz did okay

[SNSUN]

On 16/03/2026 at 19:20, SNSUN said:

Two teams bang in form, they made good attacking signings in the window, we are defensively solid. We can nick this 1-0 but it's the game I've been least looking forward to in the run before meeting Wrexham. Do we keep the 3 CMs? Personally think this will be a drab nil nil or 1-1 rather than an all-guns-blazing type of game with goals galore. But then I've been wrong before.

A lot. 

Still wrong. But we did nick it 1 nil so sometimes it's good to be wrong! 

[Thripp87]

Peretz is different class. Best keeper we have had since Niemi. He makes such a difference.

Deal needs to be done yesterday to get him in.

[John B]

8 minutes ago, obelisk said:

Have to say that Saints will need to be better than that if they want to get through the play-offs. Totally surrendered that 2nd half.

But Norwich never scored did they 

[egg]

4 minutes ago, Danbert said:

A terrible game of football and we were very poor.   

Who gives a monkeys. We fought and won. Not sure why anyone would focus on the negatives. 

[Patches O Houlihan]

11 minutes ago, SaintNate said:

I thought I saw Koeman in the crowd!

[Jimmy_D]

Amazing result.

Next job to see if Tonda can stop us taking our foot off the gas just that couple of percent now we’ve got ourselves into the playoff spots.

Wrexham could go either way now they’ve been knocked down as well, that won’t be easy for them to deal with.

[Saint Scott]

Just now, Thripp87 said:

Peretz is different class. Best keeper we have had since Niemi. He makes such a difference.

Deal needs to be done yesterday to get him in.

How much is the option on Peretz?

[Gerrys Dark Forest]

It was a painful last 45 plus 10 but come on..we did what we needed and won..as others have said saints of 2025 fuck that up and lose with nobs on..this is now becoming a team with confidence at the perfect time.. I'm pissed we took so long, but hey, let's enjoy the fact we have a cohesive unit working like trojans for each other and the club...

[Saint NL]

Norwich look a decent side for next season, the league is going to be tough with Burnley, Forest and Wolves, then Norwich and Wrexham will strengthen. We really need to get promoted this year

[skintsaint]

Just now, Saint Scott said:

How much is the option on Peretz?

€8m i think.

[adrian lord]

We need to just pay whatever and get Peretz signed up. 

[Galway saint]

1 minute ago, Saint Scott said:

How much is the option on Peretz?

£8million I believe 

[Saint Scott]

Just now, skintsaint said:

€8m i think.

Absolute bargain 

[tdmickey3]

Hard fought, backs to the wall at times and we would have lost that in days gone by.

[Vancouver Saint]

A great result for sure - but a very nervy second half. Can't understand why we back off the man with the ball so much we allow their centre back to carry the ball right into our last third of the pitch. We almost threw that away at the end and won't get so lucky using that tactic again I feel.
We lost a lot of bite when Downes went off. Surprised we didn't substitute Larin for the last 10 minutes or so - he was spent. We needed more energy in midfield. Great goal by Azaz and happy with the victory more than the performance.
I love Peretz - that's 6 points from the last two games he's helped preserve...although his gamesmanship shenanigans almost back-fired in the extra time on top of extra time.

[Saint86]

That was like having teeth pulled out by the end. I am finding it hard to even be happy, let alone relaxed after that. Crikey!

Crucial 3 points, pretty much crawled over the line, some of the players were absolutely knackered by the end, just sat down.

Peretz superb. Azaz very very good as well (great engine on him). Downes and THB did a good job, and Larin put a lot into that as well. Also Manning (who often doesn't get the credit he deserves). Well battled, the definition of winning ugly 😅.

Edited 12 hours ago by Saint86

[Harry_SFC]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

Try looking at the bigger picture rather than squinting down your nose at the result. We won!

At this stage I couldn't care less about how we play. Just need to get the job done.

A different kind of test on Saturday. Oxford will sit deep and our track record against these sort of sides is poor. 

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Galway saint said:

£8million I believe 

To think we paid £12million for Bazunu 🙂

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, adrian lord said:

We need to just pay whatever and get Peretz signed up. 

Fair play to Spors, no one had heard of him not played for ages but been one of the best signings for years.
 

PS never fall in love with loan players 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

Phew, pushed through there. You can tell the team is shattered with the current run of games but doing well with getting through. 

That was tough in the second half. Hope Tonda can rouse them again for Saturday before taking a break.

[Saint Fan CaM]

Think we might be getting ahead of ourselves a little here. Great to get the win and sneak into the playoffs, but honestly…we’ll need to be so much better to sustain that position.

[Hawkswood]

11 minutes ago, Danbert said:

A terrible game of football and we were very poor.   

Old addage though isn't it. If you win when you play shit.....etc

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

Peretz arguably a more important signing than Leo.

Still think attack is the best form of defence...so does my heart rate!

Shit-houserie, time wasting. It's so frustrating when you're on the receiving end of it and even when we're doing it, I don't agree with it. We're better than that.

Some tired players out there. As some else has said, the international break will be doing us a favour.

[Patrick Bateman]

Just now, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Peretz arguably a more important signing than Leo.

Still think attack is the best form of defence...so does my heart rate!

Shit-houserie, time wasting. It's so frustrating when you're on the receiving end of it and even when we're doing it, I don't agree with it. We're better than that.

Some tired players out there. As some else has said, the international break will be doing us a favour.

International breaks terrify me. Saints always hit form, break comes up, then we're wank afterwards ... hopefully not this time ....... 

[Patches O Houlihan]

19 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I can't wait for Pingpong to come along and tell us how Peretz got really lucky tonight.

I really don't miss Baz

Edited 12 hours ago by Patches O Houlihan

[Micky]

5 minutes ago, adrian lord said:

We need to just pay whatever and get Peretz signed up. 

Exactly, if you look at even just the last two games he's probably got us 4 points with his contribution.  Get him signed now.

[saintant]

Just now, Saint Fan CaM said:

Think we might be getting ahead of ourselves a little here. Great to get the win and sneak into the playoffs, but honestly…we’ll need to be so much better to sustain that position.

I'll not judge us on tonight which was always going to be tough after a huge win at Coventry and because Norwich are the form team. They were desperate for the 3 points as well to keep them in with a feint chance of the play-offs. We'll play better than that and have big players coming back. Tonight was more about getting the 3 points than a performance to drool over. It must have been nervy out there and that saps the energy especially after Coventry. Big win in my book.

[Saint86]

5 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Phew, pushed through there. You can tell the team is shattered with the current run of games but doing well with getting through. 

That was tough in the second half. Hope Tonda can rouse them again for Saturday before taking a break.

A fair few of them do look absolute shattered (and it has been an immense run of games - 4 matches in 10 games, including 3 tough away matches), so fitness/freshness is a concern.

It will be 5 matches in 13games when we play Oxford. That is a crazy amount of fixture congestion.

If we can come through it with 4 wins (and i think oxford will be hard, especially with a tired squad), then its frankly superb by the players and Eckert/coaches.

Edited 12 hours ago by Saint86

[scumbag]

11 minutes ago, trousers said:

Cheer up sir  🙂

Fair point. I am a miserable bastard.

But that was horrible to watch without alcohol.  Plus I'm old, and I was there when we lost to Tranmere 4-3, so loving the shithousery is lost on me.

[Cabrone]

6 points from Cov (a) and Norwich (h) is phenomenal. We just beat the 2 form teams in 5 days and none of the other play off teams will be wanting to play us.

We've also surely killed off any faint hopes Norwich had for playoffs, good because I wouldn't fancy meeting them.

Peretz is my MoM, what a difference a class keeper makes

The guy is a prem keeper in the champ.

Need to go up to have any chance of keeping him.

Edited 12 hours ago by Cabrone

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Azaz very very good as well (great engine on him). 

he's quality. I am wondering if he might make the step up. Maybe not quite quick enough, but certainly got the ability. Really been impressed with him since we got rid of Still.

[Saint86]

6 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Peretz arguably a more important signing than Leo.

Still think attack is the best form of defence...so does my heart rate!

Shit-houserie, time wasting. It's so frustrating when you're on the receiving end of it and even when we're doing it, I don't agree with it. We're better than that.

Some tired players out there. As some else has said, the international break will be doing us a favour.

He's a loanee that's essentially scoring a couple of goals a game, and who we can buy for £8M... Absolute bargain business.... If he doesn't attract too much attention from bigger sides😅

Edited 12 hours ago by Saint86

[Micky]

3 minutes ago, scumbag said:

Fair point. I am a miserable bastard.

But that was horrible to watch without alcohol.  Plus I'm old, and I was there when we lost to Tranmere 4-3, so loving the shithousery is lost on me.

As a pensioner myself, I too fully feel your pain sir...!

[Sarnia Cherie]

1 minute ago, scumbag said:

Fair point. I am a miserable bastard.

But that was horrible to watch without alcohol.  Plus I'm old, and I was there when we lost to Tranmere 4-3, so loving the shithousery is lost on me.

Oh God. I remember that. Cruising at 3-0 and still lost. Was Hoddle our manager then?

[trousers]

6 minutes ago, saintant said:

I'll not judge us on tonight which was always going to be tough after a huge win at Coventry and because Norwich are the form team. They were desperate for the 3 points as well to keep them in with a feint chance of the play-offs. We'll play better than that and have big players coming back. Tonight was more about getting the 3 points than a performance to drool over. It must have been nervy out there and that saps the energy especially after Coventry. Big win in my book.

Yup. Huge performance when put in context. 

[Patrick Bateman]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

he's quality. I am wondering if he might make the step up. Maybe not quite quick enough, but certainly got the ability. Really been impressed with him since we got rid of Still.

Tonight especially I was going to give him my MoTM, and that is some accolade let me tell you .... but no seriously, he was very very good tonight, he seemed to be everywhere, doing everything, well.

[Crab Lungs]

How many could we have scored if we had Bazunu’s build up from the back though?

He got lucky with all those shots this evening and on Saturday. Feel for Gav, he had over 100 world class, unstoppable shots and Peretz gets all his shots right at him.

[Patches O Houlihan]

Is there any news on when Scienza is back? We could have done with him on the subs bench today.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Crab Lungs said:

How many could we have scored if we had Bazunu’s build up from the back though?

He got lucky with all those shots this evening and on Saturday. Feel for Gav, he had over 100 world class, unstoppable shots and Peretz gets all his shots right at him.

Exactly. Rasmus is right their eyes deceive them. If Baz is there we’d have more of the ball, less shots to face, less pressure invited. It’s a totally different sort of game. We wouldn’t need a keeper to get in the way of scuffed shots, we’d be playing the game in their half. Like you say it’s noticeable how poor the shots have been Peretz has saved compared to Baz who got really unlucky to face a much higher quality of finishing 

[Saint86]

5 minutes ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

Oh God. I remember that. Cruising at 3-0 and still lost. Was Hoddle our manager then?

I want to say Dave Jones. I don't think i'll ever not remember that loss eitherway though - i also recall a cup defeat against Stockport as well. Both very upsetting to a young Saint86.

Edited 12 hours ago by Saint86

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Is there any news on when Scienza is back? We could have done with him on the subs bench today.

If he'd come on tonight Norwich would have kicked the shit out of him. He was in the best place tonight.

[Saint86]

4 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

Is there any news on when Scienza is back? We could have done with him on the subs bench today.

Suspect he'll be on the bench vs Oxford, but only used if needed.

[Mboto Gorge]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

I want to say Dave Jones. I don't think i'll ever not remember that loss eitherway though - i also recall a cup defeat against Stockport as well. Both very upsetting to a young Saint86.

Hoddle was our manager for the Tranmere loss. I myself was a teenager back then too and it was devastating, I was mourning for days afterwards as I genuinely felt at the time we could have got to Wembley, or Cardiff as it was in 2001. 

Edited 12 hours ago by Mboto Gorge

[Cuddles]

18 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Fair play to Spors, no one had heard of him not played for ages but been one of the best signings for years.
 

PS never fall in love with loan players 

Head over heels here 😭

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

I want to say Dave Jones. I vividly remember that loss - i also recall a cup defeat against Stockport as well. Both very upsetting to a young Saint86.

It was Hoddle. let's move on swiftly. That game still gives me nightmares.

[Convict Colony]

18 minutes ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Think we might be getting ahead of ourselves a little here. Great to get the win and sneak into the playoffs, but honestly…we’ll need to be so much better to sustain that position.

we havent lost in 13 league and cup games.

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Convict Colony said:

we havent lost in 13 league and cup games.

Got to thanks Turkish for that 🙂

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Convict Colony said:

we havent lost in 13 league and cup games.

Did I mention that we’re unbeaten since I said we’d never lose another game?