26/27 - Other Games

[Harry_SFC]

Bazunu having another blinder 

[Katalinic]

39 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I absolutely fuckin hate Middlesbrough. Everything from the twat fans to their smug arrogant fucker of a manager. Really hope we take them down next month.

Sadly I think that they are way ahead of us.

[Harry_SFC]

1 hour ago, RedArmy said:

Was fairly obvious if they signed a keeper and striker they were going to be right up there. 
 

We need to up our levels, but luckily we play them twice and we need to get revenge. 

Whilst I agree, it's not just because of the keeper and striker. They just look a lot more fluid than we do. 

If we have a full strength team I'd still back us against them - I worry about our ability to beat the lesser sides, especially away. 

Edited 22 hours ago by Harry_SFC

[Micky]

51 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

Borough unfortunately look miles better than us at the moment

 

They don't look miles better, they are miles better.  Can't see lightening striking twice and them dropping off as they did last year.  I think the stick they took last season is galvanising them this year, can't see anything other than autos. 

[Britannia]

You know, I’m not really looking forward to playing them next month.

[RedArmy]

5 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Whilst I do agree, it's not just the keeper and striker. They just look a lot more fluid than we do. 

It’s easier to look fluid when you’ve got the confidence that the chances you create will be put away. 
 

They created a ridiculous amount of chances under Hellberg last season they just couldn’t score enough of them. Look at that first leg as a prime example. 
 

EDIT: If they had Lankshear last year the EFL wouldn’t have needed to kick us out of the playoffs.  

Edited 22 hours ago by RedArmy

[Harry_SFC]

2 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

It’s easier to look fluid when you’ve got the confidence that the chances you create will be put away. 
 

They created a ridiculous amount of chances under Hellberg last season they just couldn’t score enough of them. Look at that first leg as a prime example. 

That's true.

I would never wish a bad injury on someone but...

[RedArmy]

1 minute ago, Harry_SFC said:

That's true.

I would never wish a bad injury on someone but...

We’re not getting top 2 without it so wish away. 

 

although I will say, if you’re not winning the league then Wembley is the next best thing. 

[beatlesaint]

Not watched it, has Bazunu had a decent game or has he chucked a couple in his own net?

[Saint86]

Truly embarrassing defending by Bolton tonight. Just invited boro to walk it in.

[bpsaint]

How did we draw 0-0 with this shite?

Boro have got behind their manager with a few quid in the summer and given him the tools to succeed. Have to say despite their equal or better squad than last season bollocks Sport Republic have let us down once again.

[Jack]

39 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Boro showing what difference investing in a proper striker makes. What’s that now, 10 in 12 games?

All but one have been a tap in from 6 yards, or offside. Fair play to Boro really, they’re making glorious chances for him. I think I’d have put most of them away 

[Harry_SFC]

5 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Not watched it, has Bazunu had a decent game or has he chucked a couple in his own net?

Was their best player by a mile. Says it all when you've just lost 5-1. They were crap. 

[saintant]

Pains me to say it but Boro were very good tonight and are currently ahead of us in terms of the way they look after the ball and transition swiftly. If they maintain this level they will have a good chance of top 2 along with West ham so we may have to settle for play-offs. Early days and a lot can and will happen but they laid down a marker tonight with that performance against a side we couldn't break down.

[Harry_SFC]

3 minutes ago, Jack said:

All but one have been a tap in from 6 yards, or offside. Fair play to Boro really, they’re making glorious chances for him. I think I’d have put most of them away 

They've had 67 shots in their last two games. Madness.

[bpsaint]

Just now, Jack said:

All but one have been a tap in from 6 yards, or offside. Fair play to Boro really, they’re making glorious chances for him. I think I’d have put most of them away 

Perhaps, but kind of doing him a disservice with that statement, It’s 11 in 12 now which is no mean feat. Still need someone with the quality to finish these chances, as we saw with Dobbin and his one on one last week.

[Fabrice29]

1 minute ago, bpsaint said:

Perhaps, but kind of doing him a disservice with that statement, It’s 11 in 12 now which is no mean feat. Still need someone with the quality to finish these chances, as we saw with Dobbin and his one on one last week.

Dobbin had a better goals to minutes ratio than him in the league last year. He’s only just got in our side.

Boro are good, always have been, that’s okay because so are we, chill out a bit when other teams win. 😂

[Jack]

6 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Perhaps, but kind of doing him a disservice with that statement, It’s 11 in 12 now which is no mean feat. Still need someone with the quality to finish these chances, as we saw with Dobbin and his one on one last week.

Oh I’m fully aware I’m doing him a disservice, it’s for many reasons. He plays for Boro, he’s a tap in merchant,  he thinks he’s hard, and I want our #9 to be putting up numbers like that, not him 

[bpsaint]

37 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Dobbin had a better goals to minutes ratio than him in the league last year. He’s only just got in our side.

Boro are good, always have been, that’s okay because so are we, chill out a bit when other teams win. 😂

Think we’re under achieving personally, and Tonda has been let down when it comes to the players at his disposal.

Dobbin has had 9 appearances so far this season and hasn’t looked like scoring, forgive my trepidation whilst Lankshear who actually had the same goals per game ratio last season is banging them in, tap ins or not, and we’ve not scored via a forward player for 4 games now.

Edited 21 hours ago by bpsaint

[Fabrice29]

5 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Think we’re under achieving personally, and Tonda has been let down when it comes to the players at his disposal.

Dobbin has had 9 appearances so far this season and hasn’t looked like scoring, forgive my trepidation whilst Lankshear who actually had the same goals per game ratio bangs in all of his “tap ins” and we’ve not scored via a forward player for 4 games now.

If we hadn't started on minus 4 we'd be 4 points off the top with a game in hand and them to play. We're not under achieving. 

Also don't really think comparing those two this season is fair given the minutes they've played. Point I was making was we have players capable of scoring but we've had our own striker banging them in a bit ourselves you know? Form happens, the season is long, we're doing okay, chill.

Edited 22 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Saint86]

17 minutes ago, saintant said:

Pains me to say it but Boro were very good tonight and are currently ahead of us in terms of the way they look after the ball and transition swiftly. If they maintain this level they will have a good chance of top 2 along with West ham so we may have to settle for play-offs. Early days and a lot can and will happen but they laid down a marker tonight with that performance against a side we couldn't break down.

Pretty easy to score 5 goals when the bolton players can't be arsed to track their runners or step up for offisde, and just casually walk around at the back...

[BotleySaint]

Without Larin we are blunt. We need Mubama or Dobbin to come good and cover for him. Or give a youngster the chance.

[saintant]

8 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Pretty easy to score 5 goals when the bolton players can't be arsed to track their runners or step up for offisde, and just casually walk around at the back...

Yeah, maybe Bolton made things easy for Boro or maybe Boro's good football opened them up and they couldn't deal with the passing and movement. We are doing ok but we don't look after the ball as well as they did tonight and that is something we need to improve on because we do give it away far too cheaply.

[Saint86]

Just now, saintant said:

Yeah, maybe Bolton made things easy for Boro or maybe Boro's good football opened them up and they couldn't deal with the passing and movement. We are doing ok but we don't look after the ball as well as they did tonight and that is something we need to improve on because we do give it away far too cheaply.

Did you watch the game? Time after time bolton's defenders simply switched off and let multiple boro players in behind. was laughable.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Good teams punish the poorer teams.

Tonight was evidence of it working. Us last Saturday was evidence of it not, and showing were some way away from being a dominant force in this league.

West Ham and Boro top two is theirs to lose.

As the weeks have gone on I’m far from convinced by us, which is a shame because I felt so confident going into the season.

[bpsaint]

31 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

If we hadn't started on minus 4 we'd be 4 points off the top with a game in hand and them to play. We're not under achieving. 

Also don't really think comparing those two this season is fair given the minutes they've played. Point I was making was we have players capable of scoring but we've had our own striker banging them in a bit ourselves you know? Form happens, the season is long, we're doing okay, chill.

Happy to disagree on that point personally. Think the Watford, Lincoln, Wrexham and Bolton results were poor, we’ve laboured against Portsmouth for the first half, huffed and puffed away to Norwich, the team doesn’t look as sharp or fit as last season and we’ve gotten good at sloppily giving the ball away in dangerous areas.

We’ve got one of the best first choice XI’s in the league, but bar a handful of games I don’t think we’ve looked that great, and our scouting team that get paid a fortune don’t appear to have come up with the tools we need to make a go at the autos. 

[RedArmy]

40 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Pretty easy to score 5 goals when the bolton players can't be arsed to track their runners or step up for offisde, and just casually walk around at the back...

We don’t play with that same freedom that we did last season yet. The players have all vocalised that they haven’t hit their peak, and we can all see it. There’s a lot of hesitation in the final third and we really rely on those defence splitting balls from deep. 
 

Boro impose themselves on the opposition similarly to how we did last season. 

[Jazzfunk]

Only this gaff could be in a semi meltdown like this on a Friday night when we aren't even playing. I mean, I get it, but let's save something for tomorrow 😂 

 

[whelk]

3 minutes ago, Jazzfunk said:

Only this gaff could be in a semi meltdown like this on a Friday night when we aren't even playing. I mean, I get it, but let's save something for tomorrow 😂 

 

We have very weak fans

[CB Fry]

I wish we were Middlesbrough 

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

2 minutes ago, whelk said:

We have very weak fans

Easily knocked...

[Fabrice29]

42 minutes ago, bpsaint said:

Happy to disagree on that point personally. Think the Watford, Lincoln, Wrexham and Bolton results were poor, we’ve laboured against Portsmouth for the first half, huffed and puffed away to Norwich, the team doesn’t look as sharp or fit as last season and we’ve gotten good at sloppily giving the ball away in dangerous areas.

We’ve got one of the best first choice XI’s in the league, but bar a handful of games I don’t think we’ve looked that great, and our scouting team that get paid a fortune don’t appear to have come up with the tools we need to make a go at the autos. 

The results in the games we didn’t win were poor. Hadn’t really thought of that tbh. And we haven’t battered everyone for 90 minutes. Fair points and not at all completely unrealistic. 

Edited 20 hours ago by Fabrice29

[Fabrice29]

38 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

We don’t play with that same freedom that we did last season yet. The players have all vocalised that they haven’t hit their peak, and we can all see it. There’s a lot of hesitation in the final third and we really rely on those defence splitting balls from deep. 
 

Boro impose themselves on the opposition similarly to how we did last season. 

Boro are nothing like us last season. They are coached very well and very uniquely and nobody in this league is similar. Just let them be and we’ll see them next month. 

[Challenger]

11 hours ago, Katalinic said:

Sadly I think that they are way ahead of us.

Indeed, there wasn't much between us and them last season, thanks to SR taking their eye off the ball, there is now.

[Turkish]

10 hours ago, CB Fry said:

I wish we were Middlesbrough 

I was just looking for the posts where people were saying we were miles ahead of Middlesbrough after we beat Millwall 5-1 and a few weeks later they drew 2-2 with them, but couldn’t find them. 

[Maggie May]

54 minutes ago, Challenger said:

Indeed, there wasn't much between us and them last season, thanks to SR taking their eye off the ball, there is now.

How have they taken their eye off the ball?

[sfc4prem]

8 minutes ago, Maggie May said:

How have they taken their eye off the ball?

By not buying Lankshear 

This forum... crazy.

[suewhistle]

I see THB can't even get on the bench today for Villa, did he get injured in training?

[BARCELONASAINT]

14 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

Not watched it, has Bazunu had a decent game or has he chucked a couple in his own net?

he made some outstanding saves to prevent the score being totally embarrassing and could have done nothing about those scored. 

[LiberalCommunist]

We need Tonda to have the plan today, and the players not to miss the opportunities the plan creates. We need the perfect storm. And that involves a fringe player coming in and playing a blinder. 

I can't see it. But it could happen. 

[sfc4prem]

16 minutes ago, LiberalCommunist said:

We need Tonda to have the plan today, and the players not to miss the opportunities the plan creates. We need the perfect storm. And that involves a fringe player coming in and playing a blinder. 

I can't see it. But it could happen. 

Stranger things have happened. For example, Papa Waigo once stayed onside, or so I heard.

[DellBlockH]

Half watching the Portsmouth game. How annoying would it be to seated next to that bloody bell? It's bad enough on the TV.

[trousers]

6 minutes ago, DellBlockH said:

Half watching the Portsmouth game. How annoying would it be to seated next to that bloody bell? It's bad enough on the TV.

The beauty of the English language... Single words with multiple meanings...

[Winnersaint]

3 hours ago, Challenger said:

Indeed, there wasn't much between us and them last season, thanks to SR taking their eye off the ball, there is now.

They were 13 points ahead having stufffed us in our heaviest defeat of the season By the time we got to February this had increased to 18 with only a third of the season left. They should have been out of sight at the end of the first half of the away play off leg. In fact Coventry apart we were pretty shite against most of the promotion rivals last season. 5 points out of 18.

 Ipswich 2/6

Millwall 1/6

Boro 1/6

Hull 0/6

[Lee On Solent Saint]

33 minutes ago, DellBlockH said:

Half watching the Portsmouth game. How annoying would it be to seated next to that bloody bell? It's bad enough on the TV.

I know weather is arse, but this game is absolutely shite. 

[AlexLaw76]

No one else watching the big match on BBC1?

[DellBlockH]

49 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I know weather is arse, but this game is absolutely shite. 

Gave up and watched Lutpn v Leicester. Looked like Leicester has rescued a point with a goal on 90 minutes, only to concede again on 93.

Edit: I missed the first half but have just watched the highlights. Luton's first goal came from some Leicester passing along the back line.

Edited 5 hours ago by DellBlockH
Additional info

[HKsaint]

Russell out 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

37 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

No one else watching the big match on BBC1?

Caught the second half.

[Britannia]

Saints won, Pompey won, Eastleigh won and Bournemouth will probably win tomorrow.