Watford 2-1 Saints - Match Thread

[saintstowin]

I'm finding (some) consolation in that despite how poor the team were we would have escaped but for individual mistakes. As soon as we turned up we were way better but unfortunately were chasing too much. 

Plus he won't play Scienza in that position again, hopefully. 

Shame Azaz wasn't fit to start because that led to many of the tactical issues.

I hope Dobbin will improve.

Hopefully Tonda learns. He's shown he can.

I didn't like how they made me feel in the first half.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, saintstowin said:

I'm finding (some) consolation in that despite how poor the team were we would have escaped but for individual mistakes. As soon as we turned up we were way better but unfortunately were chasing too much. 

Plus he won't play Scienza in that position again, hopefully. 

Shame Azaz wasn't fit to start because that led to many of the tactical issues.

I hope Dobbin will improve.

Hopefully Tonda learns. He's shown he can.

I didn't like how they made me feel in the first half.

Agreed. Had we played to our ability then we would have won. No evidence they were a superior team to us. That first half was unacceptable.

[stfrancisofbenali]

Scienza should never take corners as he inexplicably can’t beat the first man. Can anyone explain why Ramsdale doesn’t make the bench as our back up keeper? We’re paying his (significant) wages and he’s surely better than Long. 

[Appy]

Are we starting to turn teams around at the toss away from home? 
 

Not a fan of that at all, should be shooting towards the away end second half. 

[Badger]

We were always going to lose again at some point the unbeaten in the league wasn’t going to last.

Best get it out of the system early. Hopefully it dismissed any complacency and underlines to Tonda, Spors and Dragan the need for reinforcements. Proper ones, not Youth Experience schemes from Man City, or another Archer.

Tonda should be rattling their doors tonight for the CM, CF, and Anel.

But as for todays fuck up, I think the Adkins “draw a blue line under it” comes to mind. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

3 minutes ago, saintstowin said:

Shame Azaz wasn't fit to start because that led to many of the tactical issues.

If that was the case, I'd rather he started than come on. Could have used him for 60 odd minutes and if he was flagging take him off. 

[Sheaf Saint]

2 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

If that was the case, I'd rather he started than come on. Could have used him for 60 odd minutes and if he was flagging take him off. 

I have to disagree. A semi-fit Azaz up against the physicality Watford showed in the first half wouldn't have been able to impact the game in any way.

[bangkoksaint]

Just watching JWP giving a lesson on how to cross. Can’t help but feel he’d have strengthened us this season 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Just now, Sheaf Saint said:

I have to disagree. A semi-fit Azaz up against the physicality Watford showed in the first half wouldn't have been able to impact the game in any way.

Possibly, but by the same token, we wouldn't have had to change system if he started. If's and but's now though.

[Sheaf Saint]

58 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

🤪  September 2007 was the last time Watford beat us at their place

Really? That surprises me. I can't think of any wins we've had there in that time, but I can think of a few disappointing draws. Last season for one, and the Doucoure handball equaliser in the pre- VAR days in the PL also springs to mind. 

I also vividly remember going to the match on a cold New Year's Day in the mid noughties when we were utterly woeful and got tonked 3-0. 

[AlexLaw76]

12 minutes ago, stfrancisofbenali said:

Scienza should never take corners as he inexplicably can’t beat the first man. Can anyone explain why Ramsdale doesn’t make the bench as our back up keeper? We’re paying his (significant) wages and he’s surely better than Long. 

Ramsdale is not our back up keeper.

he has no future at this club what so ever 

[AlexLaw76]

I hope playing Leo in the middle (as we saw a few time towards the end of last season) does not become a point of frustration like we had with the 3 at the back mess last season. Where some were determined to tell us formations do not matter 

[Badger]

22 minutes ago, stfrancisofbenali said:

Scienza should never take corners as he inexplicably can’t beat the first man. Can anyone explain why Ramsdale doesn’t make the bench as our back up keeper? We’re paying his (significant) wages and he’s surely better than Long. 

Perhaps there is also a fear that if we needed to bring him on he might be injured before the window ends. Club might view it differently in September if he’s still here. 

[Football Special]

11 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ramsdale is not our back up keeper.

he has no future at this club what so ever 

He played for the u21s the other night, not sure why having him on bench for first team should be a problem 

[Saint Matty 76]

Only one (further) point lost on West Ham, Wolves and Burnley. 

Could've been worse.

[skintsaint]

6 minutes ago, Football Special said:

He played for the u21s the other night, not sure why having him on bench for first team should be a problem 

Probably to cut costs, he may have a matchday appearance fee in his cone-tract.

[Saint Billy]

I've just got so use to us starting the season badly whoever our manager is, the players we have or what league we are in, we are always shite the first few games.

[CB Fry]

55 minutes ago, Window Cleaner said:

Modern football, only the Old Guard still despise the Skates to the previously required and appropriate  level.

I'm 50 next year and had a lifetime of seeing Saints playing in blue away kits for decades and decades.

Just a few fucking bellends who pretend we've never done that and we somehow look like Portsmouth if we do.

What "Old guard" are you talking about? 

[Chez]

In my head the league winners never lose the first game of the season or indeed any of the first four or five games. No idea if that's accurate?

[Lighthouse]

50 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

How on earth did Woods who did brilliantly last season find himself on the bench again for that carthorse?

I'd wager that keeping three clean sheets in league games he started last season probably had something to do with it.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Shocking start. On paper a very strong team and they looked shite. Jack Steph ns shouldn't be anywhere near that team and the first signing saints should have made this summer was a CB. 

The game should've been like a cup final with Saints looking to undo the -4pt start in the first 2 games. 

We drew at Watford last season and lost this year so we're already 6 points down on last season. 

[Lighthouse]

44 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Really? That surprises me. I can't think of any wins we've had there in that time, but I can think of a few disappointing draws. Last season for one, and the Doucoure handball equaliser in the pre- VAR days in the PL also springs to mind. 

I also vividly remember going to the match on a cold New Year's Day in the mid noughties when we were utterly woeful and got tonked 3-0. 

We had a 4-3 win their under Puel, within a couple of weeks of the Cup final IIRC, with Gabbiadini scoring twice. I'm pretty sure Lambert got a hattrick there too on the way up in 2012.

I remember that NYD game (at SMS) being one of the most incompetent managerial displays I've ever seen. Vignal was a decent Championship LB, or failing that Skacel did a more than adequate job... nope; Jermaine Wright! Burley sat there like a clueless lemon, 3-0 for most of the second half, then sent on Adam Hammill in the 89th minute. That was the day he completely lost the fan base, he ended up in Scotland a few weeks after.

[sockeye]

15 minutes ago, Chez said:

In my head the league winners never lose the first game of the season or indeed any of the first four or five games. No idea if that's accurate?

Last league winners to lose their opening game were Newcastle in 2016-17. Nearly every one over the last 10 years has lost at least once in the opening 5 though.

[LaptopSaint]

That’s cool. I don’t want to win the league. I want to beat Middlesbrough in the play off final at Wembley. 

[Sheaf Saint]

8 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

I remember that NYD game (at SMS) being one of the most incompetent managerial displays I've ever seen. Vignal was a decent Championship LB, or failing that Skacel did a more than adequate job... nope; Jermaine Wright! Burley sat there like a clueless lemon, 3-0 for most of the second half, then sent on Adam Hammill in the 89th minute. That was the day he completely lost the fan base, he ended up in Scotland a few weeks after.

That wasn't the one I was thinking of. Just googled it and it was actually Boxing Day 2005, not NYD.

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/match/_/gameId/185144/southampton-watford

[trousers]

I'm hoping that our below par start was mainly down to a somewhat half-baked pre-season and that once we're firing on all cylinders then 'normal service' will resume.

We need to address the large Shea Charles sized gap in midfield pronto though...

If we were 7 points off an auto-promotion spot around Christmas, we'd probably fancy our chances of closing the gap, so nowhere near panic stations yet... 

Edited 16 minutes ago by trousers

[LiberalCommunist]

First day defeat shocker. 

Never would have predicted that. 

Time to lower expectations and grow thicker skin. 

This will be tough. 

Hoping we now start to get the siege mentality we desperately need. 

Jack was shit today. But don't write him off. He will be important.