Saints 1-4 West Ham - Match Thread

[Saint NL]

At least we're consistent.

GK, Defence, Midfield and Attack all very poor.

 

[James]

Just now, Chris cooper said:

Spy gate hasn’t galvanised us at all ..  infact it looks the total opposite.. fa charge hanging over Tonda has killed us!! 
 

no one wants to come here either !! 
strap yaselves in .. guna be a slog this season !!  

I think hope of a f*ck you storming of the league with the same team is slowly evaporating based on how we've started the season. We were pretty naff at Colchester, lost to Watford, could easily have drawn on Saturday but for a late show and got humped tonight. Not particularly inspiring right now. I do think the Tonda charge is hampering our recruitment efforts, it would be a surprise if it wasn't. 

[Baird of the land]

Just now, Harry_SFC said:

Quarshie may be a bit clumsy on the ball but there's no way he's any worse than what we've seen from Stephens so far this season. 

Honestly against a physical Millwall I’d prefer quarshie even over the more solid version of Stephens, let alone the current subpar version.

[Saint Scott]

A poor performance all round, notably Stephens again. One positive was Akachukwu, I thought he controlled the game in the first half showing lots of good qualities.

I'll reserve my judgements until the window shuts next week but clearly some work to be done. Spors came through last year in the final days of the window, let's hope he can replicate it 

Edited 2 hours ago by Saint Scott

[RedArmy]

9 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Absolutely no shame in losing.

There absolutely is shame in losing to that reserve team with the team we had on the pitch. 

[hypochondriac]

The only positive is that we will be getting some new players in to replace some of the shit ones and the ones who haven't played yet will be a boost. In an ideal world

Peretz 

Bree new cb new cb Manning 

New RM Downes Jander/new signing Scienza 

Azaz 

Larin 

Should be a fair old improvement on what we have seen so far. We need an attacking player to inject some urgency into our play and to set the tempo.

[saintant]

13 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

He will be in the starting eleven on Saturday.

This is the very sad fact of the matter. However bad Capn Jack plays, irrespective of how many goals he gifts the opposition he still gets in the starting eleven unless injured.

Could Quarshie really do any worse?

[lambtiss]

I can accept losing but it was the manner of the defeat that was worrying. 

Too easily beaten to the ball, too casual ad wieful lack of effort. 

 

Tonda needs to earn his corn now. 

[CSA96]

Tonda set up to try and start strong and take advantage in the first half. Nuno set up to be able to roll his big hitters on for the last 20-30 minutes. We messed up by only being one in front going into the second half really. Poor goalkeeping, poor defending and the momentum swung their way - as you'd expect when you look at who they were able to bring on. Not going to overreact to a Carabao Cup game but we definitely need more than just two new faces in the next six days

[hypochondriac]

Just now, RedArmy said:

There absolutely is shame in losing to that reserve team with the team we had on the pitch. 

If you're only going to cherrypick the first bit of what I said devoid of context then your reply isn't going to make a lot of sense. 

[Livewire]

Atrocious and abysmal. Others above have summed up the problem areas. I am just glad that it was the League Cup and not the league. But Millwall may be licking their lips after that defensive and midfield nightmare. 

[Give it to Ron]

Sideways backwards sideways play a shit ball to player with back to goal who loses it and they run at us.

Our one goal was scored because Fellows ran forward and crossed from the bye line - we hardly did it again.

[captainchris]

Tonda needs to be told he wanted upstairs after that shit show and read the riot act. That performance was not acceptable and Tonda needs to be told….

[Harry_SFC]

Just now, Livewire said:

Atrocious and abysmal. Others above have summed up the problem areas. I am just glad that it was the League Cup and not the league. But Millwall may be licking their lips after that defensive and midfield nightmare. 

It is totally negligent the way the club haven't signed a CM to replace Charles. They knew he was leaving months ago. There's a huge gap in our midfield ffs.

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

The only positive is that we will be getting some new players in to replace some of the shit ones and the ones who haven't played yet will be a boost. In an ideal world

Peretz 

Bree new cb new cb Manning 

New RM Downes Jander/new signing Scienza 

Azaz 

Larin 

Should be a fair old improvement on what we have seen so far. We need an attacking player to inject some urgency into our play and to set the tempo.

When?

You are the only one on here who is convinced that we will 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

Just now, Livewire said:

But Millwall may be licking their lips after that defensive and midfield nightmare.

Alex Neil is no mug, he'll know exactly how to expose our midfield and defence.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, tdmickey3 said:

When?

You are the only one on here who is convinced that we will 

Fuck off I'm not in the mood.

[captainchris]

2 minutes ago, Saint Scott said:

A poor performance all round, notably Stephens again. One positive was Akachukwu, I thought he controlled the game in the first half showing lots of good qualities.

I'll reserve my judgements until the window shuts next week but clearly some work to be done. Spors came through last year in the final days of the window, let's hope he can replicate it 

If Spors thinks Dobin is a footballer then I would hold my breath on that one!

[hypochondriac]

Just now, captainchris said:

If Spors thinks Dobin is a footballer then I would hold my breath on that one!

He fucked up with Downs last year. Maybe that's the one ricket out the way so the rest will be worldies.

[stknowle]

20 minutes ago, coalman said:

We played three premier league teams last year. Beat two of them, including the champions. 

We haven't competed today. Last season we made it hard for teams to play against us. Today we've been easy to defend against because we're just so slow with the ball.

Yep.

[Patches O Houlihan]

13 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

We really have been sucked into buying a lot of Man City never will be’s in recent years.

In fairness we also bought Romeo Lavia, Charles, and THB

is that 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 turn out well?

[RedArmy]

3 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

If you're only going to cherrypick the first bit of what I said devoid of context then your reply isn't going to make a lot of sense. 

Nothing in the rest of that post has anything to do with whether it would have been seen to be shameful to lose that game when the teams came out. 
 

It was. Regardless of the performance. 

[bogwoppit]

We were lucky to get the 3 points on Saturday.

Tonight we were poor individually and as a team.

We definitely miss Jander. I’m now starting to think there is something else going on there! Close to the team / Squad but not even on the bench today.

Stephen’s, poor again.

Edozie, as per normal 

New centre forward, doesn’t seem to be the most mobile.

Scienza I think has been poor since towards the end of last season.

Dobbin…..9 million!!

let’s see what the next week brings.

[Give it to Ron]

1 minute ago, captainchris said:

If Spors thinks Dobin is a footballer then I would hold my breath on that one!

Is he any better than Archer? Not in my eyes and must be off if can’t get on tonight. 

[tdmickey3]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

Fuck off I'm not in the mood.

🤣

Its a fair question you stroppy prick.

Who are we buying that makes you so convinced?

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, captainchris said:

If Spors thinks Dobin is a footballer then I would hold my breath on that one!

Learn from the BBD mistake, don’t have him hanging around for a season, loan him back to PNE and if he does well again Saints get some/all of their money back.

[SfcPhil]

1 minute ago, Chris cooper said:

Spy gate hasn’t galvanised us at all ..  infact it looks the total opposite.. fa charge hanging over Tonda has killed us!! 
 

no one wants to come here either !! 
strap yaselves in .. guna be a slog this season !!  

Yeah it's cost us more than people realise. We lost Charles and soon to be THB because of it in theory (I think we'd have beaten Hull, then no need to sell). We're now weaker squad in a stronger Championship, in the final year of our parachute payments.

Spors has a monumental task in the next week to try and build a side fit for promotion. He pulled off some great deals last summer, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until the window closes.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

17 minutes ago, 23rdSaint said:

Lots of sensitive souls on here tonight, but you take first place. Congrats. 

Let's see where Saints are at the end of the season. It won't be in a promotion place! 

 

 

 

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

Nothing in the rest of that post has anything to do with whether it would have been seen to be shameful to lose that game when the teams came out. 
 

It was. Regardless of the performance. 

You can lose any game at any time for a host of reasons and every team does. The manner of the defeat is the important thing and that's why this was more concerning than simply losing.

[James]

22 minutes ago, coalman said:

We played three premier league teams last year. Beat two of them, including the champions. 

We haven't competed today. Last season we made it hard for teams to play against us. Today we've been easy to defend against because we're just so slow with the ball.

The problem is the team is significantly weaker than it was at that time. We don't have THB in the team as he is unsettled/being sold, we don't have a Charles replacement to come off the bench and inject energy and, injury prone or not, Stewart was a big, physical striker that caused Premier League defences problems when he wanted to. We've replaced him with (yet) another Man City youth player who, whilst he has qualities, isn't anywhere near the same level as a fit and firing Stewart.

[Saint Matty 76]

Chill out lads it’s the Carabao Cup

We’ll get some new players in over the next week and be sound. Tonda and the players deserve a lot more credit after last season that they’re being given right now

[goodymatt]

I think Tonda was intentionally trying to play a game at a slow pace to manage the three game week with limited resources, first half it was working ok but we missed the chance to take a strong lead against a weak WHU team.

We are playing without a central midfield and with a very error prone CB at the moment. Players playing out of position, we started with academy pairing in the middle ourselves, players having to come back in from the cold. It’s all very unbalanced and slow. THB situation not helping, speed of replacing Charles not helping. Captain’s worst form since PL not helping.

No surprised WHU looked too strong following the changes but we had already gifted them the game by then. Not good enough but at least we had this collapse in a cup game.

I'm sure we will be stronger at the weekend with Downes, Larin and Azaz starting but there is plenty of work to do in the last days of this window to fix some big holes in the team.

[Mboto Gorge]

7 minutes ago, saintant said:

This is the very sad fact of the matter. However bad Capn Jack plays, irrespective of how many goals he gifts the opposition he still gets in the starting eleven unless injured.

Could Quarshie really do any worse?

There’s no way Quarshie can possibly Be an overall worse centre back than fucking Stephens, who was an absolute embarrassment tonight. If the club are thinking Quarshie is worse, then yet again it speaks volumes about some of the pathetic recruitment we’ve had over the last few years. 

[Tanlee]

Middle of the park has looked really poor so far apart from maybe 2nd half against Watford,  hope jander stays and gets back quickly and need a addition who looks forward first before sideways or back 

[Baird of the land]

5 minutes ago, captainchris said:

If Spors thinks Dobin is a footballer then I would hold my breath on that one!

I think dobbin might end up being ok. Showed last season he had some talent.

however, it was such a bizarre signing. Like buying a hot tub for your house when you actually really needed to prioritise a new roof.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, goodymatt said:

I think Tonda was intentionally trying to play a game at a slow pace to manage the three game week with limited resources, first half it was working ok but we missed the chance to take a strong lead against a weak WHU team.

We are playing without a central midfield and with a very error prone CB at the moment. Players playing out of position, we started with academy pairing in the middle ourselves, players having to come back in from the cold. It’s all very unbalanced and slow. THB situation not helping, speed of replacing Charles not helping. Captain’s worst form since PL not helping.

No surprised WHU looked too strong following the changes but we had already gifted them the game by then. Not good enough but at least we had this collapse in a cup game.

I'm sure we will be stronger at the weekend with Downes, Larin and Azaz starting but there is plenty of work to do in the last days of this window to fix some big holes in the team.

I agree. Some big players still out or their replacements not signed up yet. The transfer window not being closed yet is a big reason we look very weak. Such a shame it can't close before the start of the season when things would be a lot clearer.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

10 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

If you're only going to cherrypick the first bit of what I said devoid of context then your reply isn't going to make a lot of sense. 

Maybe you need to think a bit more before posting?

[macca155]

Well that was desperate, I rarely leave early, but tonight I wasn't prepared to put up with any more of that.

Stephens desperate, he's 4th choice at best.

Wellington crap

Bree poor game

Bragg overrun

Dobbin ... Poor

Mubama.. ineffective

The set up, lack of press, and desperately slow buildup was a disgrace.

I thought Wood, Fellows, and Scienza did their job, nothing more.

This squad needs a serious upgrade in defence and up front.

Frankly the club got what they deserved. Disgraceful pricing.

Grump

[Toussaint]

14 minutes ago, Chris cooper said:

Spy gate hasn’t galvanised us at all ..  infact it looks the total opposite.. fa charge hanging over Tonda has killed us!! 
 

no one wants to come here either !! 
strap yaselves in .. guna be a slog this season !!  

There is definitely a dark shadow hanging over the club. I don’t want Tonda to go particularly but I’m starting to believe it was a mistake  not cutting him loose, if that makes sense. 

[St Chalet]

12 minutes ago, saintant said:

Could Quarshie really do any worse?

I'm 49, I'd be better than Jack tonight.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Maybe you need to think a bit more before posting?

Or not? I'm perfectly happy with what I posted and judging by the amount of likes on the post it seems that many people agree. The manner of the defeat was disgusting and the second half performance in particular was unacceptable.

[Saint NL]

1 minute ago, macca155 said:

Bree poor game

Bragg overrun

You could say that for every game they've played this season tbf. Both well off it.

[Patches O Houlihan]

Listening to Radio Solent - Blackmore stood in the tunnel still waiting for Tonda and a player to come out for an interview:

Didn't things turn around in January after Tonda kept them in the changing room for 40 mins and gave them some home truths?

I hope we'll be able to get the fire back in time for Millwall or our season could be in trouble. Need to make these home games count.

Edited 1 hour ago by Patches O Houlihan

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

I think dobbin might end up being ok. Showed last season he had some talent.

however, it was such a bizarre signing. Like buying a hot tub for your house when you actually really needed to prioritise a new roof.

Previous owner of our house we’ve renovated spent £10k on Hillary’s blinds when the roof was indeed leaky and needed an overhaul - that analogy works for me.

I get the same feeling I did with BBD - he’ll be tried in more positions than Bonny Blue but can’t see it working out. 

The laptop wankers have struck again with an AI special. 

[PerthshireSaint]

We will never lose again 

[Saint86]

27 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

Edozie didn’t even attempt to recover his mistake. 

Wellington was the root cause of that error in fairness. Just dreadful for it.

[Challenger]

Can't SR just fuck off and find some other venture to mess around with ?

[die Mannyschaft]

36 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

The squad players who came in tonight were fucking shite to a man, as was Calamity Stephens.

Team not good enough simple as that. Need players in quick 

[suewhistle]

Oh gosh, it was depressing but the depressives are out in force tonight on the forum..

Anyway Saints, I'm not long back from the pub in the village where I probably spent about the same as a ticket to the match tonight. But I'm home, no long trip on the train (or car), with all those costs, getting home around midnight on a midweek. My kitchen delivery arrived OK, but I'm so glad I didn't make the effort to go. I might have if the ticket cost had been anywhere near reasonable.

We never actually gave up, but lessons learned? We need a more convincing CB than Stephens, Edozie really needs a new start somewhere. 

 

 

[Wade Garrett]

22 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Chill out lads it’s the Carabao Cup

We’ll get some new players in over the next week and be sound. Tonda and the players deserve a lot more credit after last season that they’re being given right now

Tonda doesn’t deserve any credit.  Cost us the chance of Premier League football because he cheated.