Saints 3-1 Swansea - Match Thread

[Patrick Bateman]

30 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

I hope the lack of competition for Brees place isn't making him complacent. Thought other than the assist he had a poor game tonight and hasn't looked the same this season so far.

I think we might see Abbott making an appearance at right back ... 

[Wade Garrett]

Downes was immense tonight as he has been all season.

We were so much better today.  3 really well worked goals.

[St Chalet]

The Saints fan PTSD in me feared the worst after they brought it back to 2-1.

I thought we were braver after that than we've previously been and once we had the 3rd they were done.

[Cumbria Saint]

Leo's best games are against the teams that play football and don't try to chop him to pieces in the first ten minutes.

[Behind Enemy Lines]

3 hours ago, Behind Enemy Lines said:

Sorry all. At the game for this one. That’s can only be bad news for us sadly. 

My reverse psychology worked. You’re all very welcome 😊 

[saintant]

And we've still got Jander waiting in the wings.

[Winnersaint]

20 minutes ago, saintant said:

Thought Azaz had another very good game for us including a superb goal. He really makes us tick and takes up clever positions which give our opponents problems. He is a vital component to the team.

He’s not always on it but when he is! Love watching him when he is. 

[hypochondriac]

Just now, saintant said:

And we've still got Jander waiting in the wings.

Not sure that's the catchiest version of that chant.

Edited 1 hour ago by hypochondriac

[Cabrone]

Good game, good performance and we're top of the table based on our actual results. What's not to like.

[Midfield_General]

7 minutes ago, St Chalet said:

I thought we were braver

[Charlie Wayman]

32 minutes ago, St Chalet said:

The reason for last year's second half charge was the strength or our squad. Not many teams have JWP as 2/3 CM.

if Schlotermisspesing was the replacement for Quarshie I dread to think how good our proposed replacement for THB would have been in this league.

Far too good that's why he never came here.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Just now, Cumbria Saint said:

Leo's best games are against the teams that play football and don't try to chop him to pieces in the first ten minutes.

I think we do well against Swansea as they like to play an open game.

Leo certainly thrived. After some debate on taking players off, due to data, I felt Tonda kept our best on, until it was done.

That allowed Mubama to play a little more to his strengths, with his pace, as Swansea pushed to get back into it. It's good we use the squad. It's better when the changes fit tne game at tne time.

Lots of good performances, with a squad that isn't far from the top already, despite tbe -4. No shadows on the horizon either...oh.

[StrangelyBrown]

1st half was the best football I've seen from us in ages. I couldn't fault any of the starting 11, even Fellows had a good game. Matsuki looks a lot more effective off the bench against tired legs.

We are very lucky to still have Flynn Downes. He slips under the radar outside our fanbase, but he's probably the best midfielder in the division right now.

Azaz and Leo much better tonight which makes a world of difference.

Hopefully this is the start of a really good run of form!

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 minutes ago, saintant said:

And we've still got Jander waiting in the wings.

He's never a winger. 🙂

[SNSUN]

13 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm still holding out hope that Dobbin can do something. He was obviously decent last year and 9 million is a heck of an amount so we must have seen something too. Him showing some form may be incredibly important for him but also to allow some of our other players to have a rest. At the moment we are too reliant on our first eleven to play the majority of minutes.

I prefer Matsuki to Fellows on the right, possibly because he's left footed but also is more goal focused and skilful, but I wonder if Dobbin couldn't be tried on the right. Leo, Finn and Cyle have their positions nailed down, the RW position is still really up for grabs. Could be worth a try. But at the moment it does seem as though we spent 9 million on a back up player. Long season though and we'll need everyone over the course of it.

[Turkish]

11 goals in 3 homes games is fantastic especially when you consider two of the three games were against team who were top at the time. 

[Livewire]

1 hour ago, KingInDaSouf said:

Too early to say that Schlotterbeck is an upgrade on THB?

Yes - too early. Although early signs are promising. 

[Give it to Ron]

Keven Schlotterbeck has won 19 of 24 aerial duels in his first four games for #SaintsFC, with a perfect 4/4 return against Swansea this evening.

Colossal 🪨
 

just wish we could trust him with the ball at his feet as per comment on here 😉 

[Dan Johnson]

It’s a very good win tonight against a side who have shown, up till now, that they’re one of the better teams in this league, we however were much better.

There’s so much to like about tonight’s performance but I wanted to focus on the post match interviews by Tonda and Azaz on Solent Sport who basically said we have to trust them when it comes to playing out from the back, alongside the great point made by Jo Tessem in the post match analysis who said in the last two away games if we’d kept the ball better by playing out from the back rather than pumping it long and losing the ball, we might have won the games, and I have to agree. 
 

I think this team has earned our trust.

also it’s good to see Tonda learning from the mistakes of Saturday and leaving the better players on to secure the game, had we don’t that Saturday we probably win that too.

I don’t think there’s a bad performance tonight and I think there’s more to come. 
 

This sides top of the league on form, just not on points, and that’s something we all should be excited about 

[Scummer]

On 06/09/2026 at 19:43, trousers said:

Fair point... I'm whipping my life savings out of my account as we speak to put it all on 'home win'...

 

Did you stick it all on tonight's match, or a double with Saturday 😉

[Jimmy_D]

Good win, that  

[Oldandtired]

They say it's a game of two halves, atm we seem to be a team of two halves. going forward, transition, superb. Fannying around at the back, despite what FA and TE say about it, is still painful to watch sometimes.

Of course we have to trust them, they hopefully know what they are doing, but it sure makes for some oh shit moments.

[Tamesaint]

I don't know why everyone is so upbeat.

We may have scored more goals than Swansea but they had more possession than us. Russell wouldn't be happy 

[Harry_SFC]

11 minutes ago, Dan Johnson said:

It’s a very good win tonight against a side who have shown, up till now, that they’re one of the better teams in this league, we however were much better.

There’s so much to like about tonight’s performance but I wanted to focus on the post match interviews by Tonda and Azaz on Solent Sport who basically said we have to trust them when it comes to playing out from the back, alongside the great point made by Jo Tessem in the post match analysis who said in the last two away games if we’d kept the ball better by playing out from the back rather than pumping it long and losing the ball, we might have won the games, and I have to agree. 
 

I think this team has earned our trust.

also it’s good to see Tonda learning from the mistakes of Saturday and leaving the better players on to secure the game, had we don’t that Saturday we probably win that too.

I don’t think there’s a bad performance tonight and I think there’s more to come. 
 

This sides top of the league on form, just not on points, and that’s something we all should be excited about 

It's also important to note that when we play out from the back and beat the press we seem to get it into our forward players quite quickly.

Unlike under Russ where when we occasionally beat the press we'd just pass the ball straight back and let them regroup, losing all momentum.

[Obstacle1]

I remember ol Russell Martin referring to Downes as a 'cheat code' in the championship and to be fair he had a point. Weird that he seemed to struggle with the step up to the prem as he always looks like one of the best in this division

[trousers]

Great post-match interview with Azaz... Worth a listen 👍🏻

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0p8mp07

[Dan Johnson]

2 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

It's also important to note that when we play out from the back and beat the press we seem to get it into our forward players quite quickly.

Unlike under Russ where when we occasionally beat the press we'd just pass the ball straight back and let them regroup, losing all momentum.

The “transition” as it’s now phrased, used to be called a fast break in my day.

you’re absolutely right, the speed at which we move the ball and break after we beat the press is what seems to create most goal scoring opportunities.

 

[SaintBobby]

Kind of crazy that it’s only early September and we’ve played the league leaders home twice. And won twice.

 

Edited 7 minutes ago by SaintBobby

[Lighthouse]

1 minute ago, SaintBobby said:

Kind of crazy that it’s only early September and we’ve played the league ladders home twice. And won twice.

Agreed, although we might have a bit more trouble when it comes to the snakes.

[Mboto Gorge]

Just got back. Very good performance, everyone giving their all. Other than the first 20 mins of the second half I thought we were very dominant and could’ve scored more than we did. Downes absolutely immense again and thrived as captain. 3 out of 3 at home with 11 goals scored, St Mary’s has potential to be a fortress for us this season if we keep this level of intensity up. We tend to also do better against sides who come to attack us such as the last 2 sides we’ve played here. 
 

[die Mannyschaft]

 Very impressed tonight with Saints work rate. Passing was much quicker and accurate, Azaz actually made a few decent though balls. Closing down anx trying to force Swansea to make a pass rather than take us on

Defensively much better apart from a few dodgy moments. Scienza was on fire, KS solid and great passing to midfield. Good to see subs done at right time. 

Overall a much better Saints team that we expect and great worked goals,  should of had more. Statement win shows what we can do.

 

[suewhistle]

53 minutes ago, saintant said:

And we've still got Jander waiting in the wings.

Better in the middle really..

 

😉

[macca155]

Just back (bloody traffic/roadworks)

What a performance, as I said at half time, play like that and it will be a top two finish.

Downes and JWP were superb tonight. The former is just loving his football at the moment. 

Schlotterbeck and Wood are already gelling.

Personally I thought Fellows had a very good game. He is very good at making space, and Bree was constantly interchanging with him. They couldn't cope with Leo at all, let alone those two.

Our form since January is ridiculous. They'll be dips , we'll have to cope with those, but onwards and upwards.