Saints 1-0 Norwich - Match Thread

[Lee On Solent Saint]

6 hours ago, Saint Shady said:

That was a really weird decision. I wonder why they thought it would be a good idea to loan out a player that’s championship proven quality to then buy and loan two others in his place. I think we’d have a few more points if Bree was in our lineup from the start. 

Totally agree. Wasn't Bree's biggest fan since he joined, bit fair play to him. He's been a massive reason for our upturn in form.

[Sheaf Saint]

20 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Totally agree. Wasn't Bree's biggest fan since he joined, bit fair play to him. He's been a massive reason for our upturn in form.

It's no surprise to me really. Even in the darkest times of last season's horror show, he was consistently our best player when he was in the pitch. He's one of those players in the mould of Paul Telfer who never seems to let the occasion get the better of him and will always give you a solid 7/10 performance no matter what. 

[kitch]

Another great performance. Looked like we were low on energy which is understable given all the games recently, but they battled hard. Azaz, Downes and THB all different gravy, but Peretz man...don't fall in love with loan signings, eh?

To a man they all put another big shift in. Whole team should feel good about itself at the moment.

[swedish dave]

I won't waste more time on my comments about the referee (on other thread).

A very welcome 3 points from a scrappy game that lacked much in footballing skill.

Peretz to the rescue once again, we surely must sign him in the summer.

An excellent performance from Sam Edozie who put on a good show for the absent Scienza 

and was unlucky to have one goal ruled out, and a penalty shout that VAR would have OK'd. 

Downes and Stephens have redeemed themselves after all the early season criticism they received.

Azaz too, has developed himself in a good role, after a rather uneven start to the season.

Having got into the Top 6, our big challenge is to stay there until the season's end, and win the play-off spot.

[Paul_B]

10 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

A combination of Bazunu and Still has effectively done us for the autos, which is shame. 
 

But on the plus side, I thought this season was a right off so the playoffs potentially is incredible.

As for tonight… we’ve demonstrated  every version of how to win (and lose) this year. Shoddy performance but gutsy and immensely satisfying.

Peretz… incredible.

I think it's more down to the fact Turkish didn't say we would go unbeaten from the very start. He's got to take responsibility for this. 

[Saint86]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

And signing Downs. The trilogy of shite decisions.

Perhaps, but Scienza, Azaz, Peretz, and Jander are all superb signings. Larin is a solid addition given limited financial wriggle room as well. Fellows is a good player (but he's off form lately), and the club have broadly done well defensively from a depth perspective (if you consider the players that have been out over the season we've been pretty solid there so far). CM was always strong - i don't think there is a better CM in the league than ours with Downes, Jander, Charles, and Bragg. And its worked out very well letting Bree go out for fitness and a reset, and then the decision to bring him back in - i think he is our best RB now...

Been a few misses as well (their always are in truth), but Spors has done pretty well with his first 2 windows - not to mention the fact that he largely cleared out the stink of last season and shifted an impressive number of players out the door.

Edited 4 hours ago by Saint86

[Totton Saint]

What was shown on the highlights

was most impressive, if not scintillating,

 

 albeit was in isolation from the rest of the play

[Greedyfly]

Having just watched the highlights again can I reiterate - the ref was fucking shit.  Awful awful performance, and I don't often bother making comments like that because we all know the state of them sometimes, and I do genuinely believe it evens out.  But he was fucking awful, goal should have stood, Edozie should have had a pen and at least one of their players should have been off in the first half.

[malcolm waldron]

I was surprised with how physical Norwich were from the outset last night.  Our old friend Jack Stacey I thought would target Edozie early on - I thought he deserved a booking in the opening minutes and it's a shame we didnt target that side far more after he finally got the yellow card. 

As for their no. 20 - I've only seen it once in real time but it looked like he smashed his shoulder into Jander's face right at the start of the 2nd half?  I doubt I'll see footage of that in the highlights but that to me was a second yellow and then they're playing a whole half with 10. And then it's a different game completely.

[LiberalCommunist]

Even this morning, I'm still surprised we didn't concede a late goal in that game. 

Time and time again we have fluffed it in the late stages. But it does feel different now. Having a real keeper is going to change our weak mentality, as fans and players.  And this head of steam we are building has come at the perfect time. 

No one will want us in the play offs. We might not be ready for promotion, but there sure is  good path right now.  

Crazy season. 

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Perhaps, but Scienza, Azaz, Peretz, and Jander are all superb signings. Larin is a solid addition given limited financial wriggle room as well. Fellows is a good player (but he's off form lately), and the club have broadly done well defensively from a depth perspective (if you consider the players that have been out over the season we've been pretty solid there so far). CM was always strong - i don't think there is a better CM in the league than ours with Downes, Jander, Charles, and Bragg. And its worked out very well letting Bree go out for fitness and a reset, and then the decision to bring him back in - i think he is our best RB now...

Been a few misses as well (their always are in truth), but Spors has done pretty well with his first 2 windows - not to mention the fact that he largely cleared out the stink of last season and shifted an impressive number of players out the door.

No perhaps about it. I won't deny that we've done well with other signings and the club deserve credit for them but equally it's not an exaggeration to say that those three decisions have likely cost us automatic promotion. 

[S-Clarke]

It was a very ugly second half for sure, but I'd say this has been something we've lacked for a long time - having the sort of players in the side who can help you win ugly - goalkeepers are usually critical in that approach, as if you're bad you're likely going to face some shots which need saving!

You cannot underestimate the difference Peretz has made to the side with his saves, but also with the mentality of the defence and the confidence throughout the entire backline when defending set pieces or communicating etc. Of course he makes saves, which goalkeepers are paid to do, but it's his personality and energy he brings which has given us an extra kick too.

I thought Azaz worked his arse off - as hard working as I've ever seen him, and with little moments of quality in the areas that matter too. Matsuki was another who worked so hard, always pressing, always harrying - he doesn't have the pace or ability of a Leo, but the energy he brings has always been infectious. 

Larin had a bit of a sloppy night I felt, but even through that - it was his presence which enabled Azaz to score, so it shows how important a physical presence actually is - they don't need to score, or even play out of their skin....things can still happen around them because they make defenders to defend. 

This was mentally a big game - we had expectation on us for the first time this season I'd say, against a side in stronger form than us and the results around us had gone our way, so we had an opportunity to take advantage - and we did it, by hook or by crook. Oxford at home on paper looks dooable, but they've seriously picked up in recent weeks and are fighting for their life. If we play to our ability we'll have too much for them, but if we are complacent this is a huge banana skin.

[Doctoroncall]

2 hours ago, kitch said:

Another great performance. Looked like we were low on energy which is understable given all the games recently, but they battled hard. Azaz, Downes and THB all different gravy, but Peretz man...don't fall in love with loan signings, eh?

To a man they all put another big shift in. Whole team should feel good about itself at the moment.

Maybe it was low energy but they were not as proactive in the defensive third to pick up players or stop the pass as they were in the first half. It’s fine to defend a lead but there were a few too many chances for Norwich in those last 20 minutes or so. 

[Mr X]

Norwich were definitely the better team second half and we were under the cost quite a lot peretz keeping us in it! but we defended as a whole the best I've seen for some time and looked more committed dare I say it seemed like the players wanted top 6 last night! we were woeful. Against Brom though 

Edited 2 hours ago by Mr X

[UpweySaint]

25 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

It was a very ugly second half for sure, but I'd say this has been something we've lacked for a long time - having the sort of players in the side who can help you win ugly - goalkeepers are usually critical in that approach, as if you're bad you're likely going to face some shots which need saving!

You cannot underestimate the difference Peretz has made to the side with his saves, but also with the mentality of the defence and the confidence throughout the entire backline when defending set pieces or communicating etc. Of course he makes saves, which goalkeepers are paid to do, but it's his personality and energy he brings which has given us an extra kick too.

I thought Azaz worked his arse off - as hard working as I've ever seen him, and with little moments of quality in the areas that matter too. Matsuki was another who worked so hard, always pressing, always harrying - he doesn't have the pace or ability of a Leo, but the energy he brings has always been infectious. 

Larin had a bit of a sloppy night I felt, but even through that - it was his presence which enabled Azaz to score, so it shows how important a physical presence actually is - they don't need to score, or even play out of their skin....things can still happen around them because they make defenders to defend. 

This was mentally a big game - we had expectation on us for the first time this season I'd say, against a side in stronger form than us and the results around us had gone our way, so we had an opportunity to take advantage - and we did it, by hook or by crook. Oxford at home on paper looks dooable, but they've seriously picked up in recent weeks and are fighting for their life. If we play to our ability we'll have too much for them, but if we are complacent this is a huge banana skin.

Good shout on Larin. Not his best game but he kept their defence honest. He helps directly and indirectly with the play around him. I think he tired and struggled in the latter part of the second half, I did find myself wishing we could bring fresh legs on up top without sacrificing the physicality- a fit Ross would have been ideal.

It’s nice to see us being able to do the hard, ugly stuff. The team feels a lot more suited to the Championship than it did at the beginning of the season. 
 

Hopefully we can get the job done against Oxford then have a few weeks to rest tired legs before we go again.

[saintant]

A stronger referee would have clamped down on the Norwich thuggery much earlier with yellow cards and warnings of reds if they didn't cut it out. They were allowed to get away with it for way too long and it stopped us getting into a good rhythm and frankly wasn't conducive to a good game of football. Ok it's a physical game but there are boundaries which Norwich players regularly crossed but went largely unpunished for doing so. Glad Leo didn't play because they'd have kicked him all over the pitch. It was good to beat them and send them home with nothing especially after their cheated goal at home with the blatant handball. 

Edited 36 minutes ago by saintant

[beatlesaint]

I think if Leo was touch and go for last night not playing him was a good thing cos that lot would have kicked the living daylights out of him and he would have had zero protection from a bloody awful ref who totally lacked consistency (except for beig shite, he did maintain that tbf)

Peretz has, aside from his saves, bought a level of confidence to that defence we havent seen in ages. 

Edited 1 hour ago by beatlesaint

[OldNick]

Meghoma their no 25 should have been booked if not more in the first 20minutes. He was a good player at Brentford coming on and scoring against us, an astute signing by them.

I thought whenWood came on itwould be a mistake but to be fair to him, he put himself in harms way and made a couple of goodinterceptions in the melees in the box.

Peretz superb and 2 games running he has saved points in the dying secongds.

The refwas the one away at FP I was told, he let things ride there and did the same last night. Manning giving and taking someheavy challenges.

Azaz did well again

Norwich will be dangerous next season