Saints 4-1 QPR - Match Thread

[stknowle]

1 hour ago, saint francis said:

As a team it seems we are just as much an attacking threat without Larin as with him.  Perhaps it allows others to take more responsibility or more variation in the last third.  Whatever it is I like what I am seeing.  

 

1 hour ago, stknowle said:

Think that’s a bit harsh we’ve battered teams as well as we have today with Larin being instrumental in said batterings, but it’s great to see we can mix it up without him. We are starting to purr imho. C’mon!!!!

Apols misread original post as ‘more of’ not ‘just as much as’ in post win celebratory haste. So not harsh. 100% agreed.

Edited 15 hours ago by stknowle

[Lighthouse]

However much deliberation it took to get to the decision, I’ll begrudgingly admit it was the right one. That’s offside.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, DellBlockH said:

I thought, from in the ground, that he kept it down until told by the ref to raise it. This was at least 30 seconds after the ball had gone in. Bizarre decision.

So presumably there was no flag, the referee signalled a goal and then told the lino to raise his flag for offside. You couldn't make it up. It's either total incompetence or downright cheating. Either way these clowns should be made to explain their actions.

[saintant]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

However much deliberation it took to get to the decision, I’ll begrudgingly admit it was the right one. That’s offside.

He's not interfering.

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

He's not interfering.

He’s stood arms length away from the keeper, a yard out, centre of goal and the ball flew right through where he was standing to the point he had to dive out of the way. He can’t not be interfering.

[St. Ciervo]

Most importantly, the team moved on and put another 2nd in pretty quickly into the half. 

[Doctoroncall]

33 minutes ago, saintant said:

So presumably there was no flag, the referee signalled a goal and then told the lino to raise his flag for offside. You couldn't make it up. It's either total incompetence or downright cheating. Either way these clowns should be made to explain their actions.

When did the ref signal a goal?  Didn’t show it on the stream I was watching. 

[chuz]

4 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

When did the ref signal a goal?  Didn’t show it on the stream I was watching. 

The lino was right in front of me.  He didn't signal - the players went off to celebrate, QPR moaning like mad to the ref, ref talking to lino for ages (in total I reckon this took at least 30 seconds - our boys had finished celebrating and were heading back to halfway) then - finally lino puts his flag up, I'm guessing told to do so by the ref.  WTF did the ref not simply make the decision rather than telling the lino to do it?

[Willo of Whiteley]

Well I’ll say it, Bragg was largely excellent today, a bit of luck with the goal but good to see and was pretty dominant in the centre with Ward-Prowse. I must say QPR were largely ineffective in the centre, and so it turns out everywhere else.

Manning and Dobbin I thought were really good too. Dobbin keeping Larin out the team comfortably, it’ll be a fight to get his place back.

Man of the match I’d be half inclined to give to Pierce Charles, some of the stops he made were excellent. I mean wow!

[AlexLaw76]

4 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Well I’ll say it, Bragg was largely excellent today, a bit of luck with the goal but good to see and was pretty dominant in the centre with Ward-Prowse. I must say QPR were largely ineffective in the centre, and so it turns out everywhere else.

Manning and Dobbin I thought were really good too. Dobbin keeping Larin out the team comfortably, it’ll be a fight to get his place back.

Man of the match I’d be half inclined to give to Pierce Charles, some of the stops he made were excellent. I mean wow!

"Wow"

What?

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Did the lino actually put his flag up for offside?

Only after 'consultation' with the referee and a check of their bank accounts. 

The usual procedure is to raise the flag if you think someone might be offside and then discuss it with the referee to decide if the offender was interfering or other.

[Whitey Grandad]

45 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

He’s stood arms length away from the keeper, a yard out, centre of goal and the ball flew right through where he was standing to the point he had to dive out of the way. He can’t not be interfering.

The ball went over all their heads and into the top of the goal. No dives necessary. 

[Whitey Grandad]

59 minutes ago, DellBlockH said:

To be fair, our fans didn't observe the minute's silence either. It think it was confusing to have it after "The Last Post" rather than using the music to end the minute's silence, which I think is how they did it previously. Once the bugler stopped playing, the crowd started cheering before people remembered they were supposed to be silent. In the end, we got about 15 seconds of quiet.

I timed it at 20.

[Toadhall Saint]

51 minutes ago, saintant said:

He's not interfering.

What’s he doing on the pitch then? 

[macca155]

Great win and really pleased to see Cam put the Pompey game behind him, with a commanding performance. Toss up between him and Matsuki for MoTM, but who cares 3 points in the bag.

Good to see such a dominant performance, QPR were full of life, but Saints just took the sting out of their game by retaining procession.

Big game on Tuesday. Another chance to climb above a competitor.

Their flying ATM, so a draw will be ok. Just need to keep the pressure on.

[Oldandtired]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

He's not interfering.

The ref and Lino said he was. Guess whose opinion counts....

[Jack]

Weird game. Atmosphere was flat despite an entertaining and fairly end to end game. I thought we kept picking the wrong pass in the first half and were only really in 2nd or 3rd gear, but had way too much for them. Delighted for Bragg to get a goal to cap a brilliant performance. Matsuki was immense as was big Kev, I called really early that he was going to get a goal, lovely bullet header. 
 

We should be a scary proposition as I feel we’re still miles off our best but cruising past decent teams at home. Need to be consistent and keep taking points off the other teams at the top which we struggled with last season. Another massive game Tuesday. 

[BarberSaint]

5 hours ago, suewhistle said:

Williams hasn't stood out like a sore thumb when he's come on before.

From what I've seen of him, he's decent. Would have liked him to have come on earlier. Thought Dobbin's flicked header was excellent. Understand he wasn't offside, which is good.  Disappointed we conceded; should really have been about 6 or 7 nil. Would like to see us click into gear at some point.

[wild-saint]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

However much deliberation it took to get to the decision, I’ll begrudgingly admit it was the right one. That’s offside.

Where’s the guy taking corner stood at the time?

[saintant]

We're proving we can score goals without Larin who has contributed 25% of our goals. Contrast with Boro for who Lankshear has around 44% of their goals so they must be hoping to keep him fit because that's a huge chunk of their goals.

[BarberSaint]

1 hour ago, DellBlockH said:

To be fair, our fans didn't observe the minute's silence either. It think it was confusing to have it after "The Last Post" rather than using the music to end the minute's silence, which I think is how they did it previously. Once the bugler stopped playing, the crowd started cheering before people remembered they were supposed to be silent. In the end, we got about 15 seconds of quiet.

Except, same as last year, they did tell us what was going to happen. All you had to do was listen and then stand there.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Shout out to the police and stewards that escorted out the bellend that tried to jump the fan barrier from the Saints fans into the QPR fans - no idea what he was rattled about as we were 3-1 up.

Walked past him being at FT on Britannia Road being held by four police officers, he was foul, loud mouthed and abusive to them and fans that were rightfully looking as they walked past.

Embarrassment, hope he is banned for life.

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

"Wow"

What?

Yes, wow. Guessing you weren’t sat near or even at St Mary’s, but Pierce Charles was very good today, scoreline would’ve been a lot worse without him.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I have come to the conclusion that we are really a very good team.

[Whitey Grandad]

26 minutes ago, wild-saint said:

Where’s the guy taking corner stood at the time?

That doesn't matter.

Having seen the replays I see that Stephens gets very close to healthy ball but doesn't actually touch it. 

Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team-mate."

 In my opinion (opinions may differ) Stephens doesn't meet any of the criteria for being given offside. 

[Secret Site Agent]

2 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Didn’t see any of them wearing Trevor Francis tracksuits either.

Which is interesting as you can get them from a Mush in Shepperd's Bush!!!

[Saint Marky]

25 minutes ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

Shout out to the police and stewards that escorted out the bellend that tried to jump the fan barrier from the Saints fans into the QPR fans - no idea what he was rattled about as we were 3-1 up.

Walked past him being at FT on Britannia Road being held by four police officers, he was foul, loud mouthed and abusive to them and fans that were rightfully looking as they walked past.

Embarrassment, hope he is banned for life.

Yes saw that and thought a qpr fan had got into the chapel at first, before realising it was obviously a pissed up one of ours. Agree, suspect a long ban incoming.

[Totton Saint]

So frustrating, having read these post praising Saints, that I could not have watched the game on, say, Sky.

I live in Scotland these days. However roll on the WBA game!

[Toussaint]

11 minutes ago, Totton Saint said:

So frustrating, having read these post praising Saints, that I could not have watched the game on, say, Sky.

I live in Scotland these days. However roll on the WBA game!

There will be decent highlights on YouTube 

[OneMrsWallace]

First game at St. Mary's this season and picked a good one. Bragg was very good. JWP was a level above at times, stopping attacks in our box, dictating the pace of the game, just so, so solid. Word for Dobbin. First half his first touch was awful but second half saw a big improvement and his work rate across their back line and tracking back was really good. On to WBA and another win. Happy days.

[Sheaf Saint]

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

He’s stood arms length away from the keeper, a yard out, centre of goal and the ball flew right through where he was standing to the point he had to dive out of the way. He can’t not be interfering.

Stephens being where he was had zero influence on the fact that Charles' momentum was already taking him the other way. He didn't block his line of sight, nor did he prevent him from being able to get to the ball. What's more, he tried to get out of the way rather than move towards or attempt to play the ball. The word 'interfering' is doing some seriously heavy lifting here.

Even if we accept that he was, and that it is technically the right decision, I think what most people are rightly miffed about is the fact that neither the ref nor the lino saw any reason to disallow it initially, and only decided to do so after Charles and the other QPR players whinged about it. No competent referee should ever allow themselves to be swayed by player complaints like that.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Sheaf Saint

[davefizzy14]

We were totally dominant today and clinical. So pleased for Bragg 😊 he was outstanding today (my MOTM) and deserved his goal 😊 Prowsey was so good too, both dominating the midfield. Good finishes from Matsuki, Schlotterbeck and Welington too 😊 Onto Tuesday now, COYR 😊 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by davefizzy14

[CanadaSaint]

We’re starting to see a lot of interchangeable parts. Having those rotation options ends up being worth a good few points in a division as physically demanding as this one.

Our biggest area of vulnerability is the Manning quadrant, with him getting caught upfield too much and Leo not always tracking back quickly enough. It’s awesome to see JWP read that situation and cover for them, because we get to keep their offensive contributions without paying a big defensive price. He may not be an Azaz but JWP does a lot of thankless stuff really well.

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, Jack said:

Weird game. Atmosphere was flat despite an entertaining and fairly end to end game. I thought we kept picking the wrong pass in the first half and were only really in 2nd or 3rd gear, but had way too much for them. Delighted for Bragg to get a goal to cap a brilliant performance. Matsuki was immense as was big Kev, I called really early that he was going to get a goal, lovely bullet header. 
 

We should be a scary proposition as I feel we’re still miles off our best but cruising past decent teams at home. Need to be consistent and keep taking points off the other teams at the top which we struggled with last season. Another massive game Tuesday. 

Great win but support was awful wasn't it, i guessed a large number of fans were completing a sponsored silence challenge. Geezer next to me spent virtually entire game scrolling on his phone,  just don't understand some people make the effort to turn up but hardly watch the game or contribute vocal support 

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Secret Site Agent said:

Which is interesting as you can get them from a Mush in Shepperd's Bush!!!

Any David Bowie LPs?

[Tommy Mulgrew]

5 hours ago, obelisk said:

Well deserved win. Play every game like that 2nd half and most teams in this league will struggle to compete with Saints.

So far, we have not played every game like that 2nd half yet most teams have already struggled to compete with us.  I’m gradually getting more confident about finishing in the top two places.  If we win the next two games, I think I’ll be convinced.

I believe we were flattered today by some dreadful QPR defending but we earned our convincing victory and could easily have scored three or four more; so, all in all, a fair result and a great win for us.

My MotM, btw, was JWP, closely followed by Bragg
 

 

[Saint_lambden]

Atmosphere was bizarely flat other than the Chapel kop which is getting better all the time. It's a month or so away, but already looking forward to Friday night under the lights noise v Boro. 

[whelk]

7 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Some twats ruining the minutes silence which is a shame.

Think it was just misunderstanding and QPR started cheering after The Last Post. Went quiet afterwards and think they realised. This is the problem with introducing applause as a mark of respect

[Disco Stu]

2 hours ago, BarberSaint said:

Except, same as last year, they did tell us what was going to happen. All you had to do was listen and then stand there.

I was stood while the last post was ongoing wondering to myself how many idiots would start clapping and roaring after it finished despite the announcement very clearly asking to observe a silence afterwards. It happened last year and it will happen next year because an alarming number of people don't know how to follow basic instructions.

Edited 10 hours ago by Disco Stu

[davefizzy14]

Dobbin's goal should have stood today. The ref and linesman were a disgrace. 

[Badger]

7 hours ago, saint francis said:

The worst refereeing decision I can remember 

The worst refereeing decision I can remember since the penalty appeal in the last home game. 

[Sheaf Saint]

4 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Dobbin's goal should have stood today. The ref and linesman were a disgrace. 

I've just rewatched the highlights and I also think QPR's goal shouldn't have stood because of a foul by Kone on Schlotterbeck in the build up. When the long ball went forward he led with his elbow into Schlott's face and knocked him off balance.

 

[hypochondriac]

39 minutes ago, whelk said:

Think it was just misunderstanding and QPR started cheering after The Last Post. Went quiet afterwards and think they realised. This is the problem with introducing applause as a mark of respect

Fair enough. Agree with you but I seem to remember there was a derby game with a silence and the skates inevitably couldn't stay quiet so I see why they do it.

[sfc4prem]

5 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I've just rewatched the highlights and I also think QPR's goal shouldn't have stood because of a foul by Kone on Schlotterbeck in the build up. When the long ball went forward he led with his elbow into Schlott's face and knocked him off balance.

 

Yeah, that's a clear foul by the QPR chap. Dreadful officiating in a key moment, giving them a potential foothold in the game.

[Willo of Whiteley]

Extended highlights are up on the site:

 

[saintant]

13 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I've just rewatched the highlights and I also think QPR's goal shouldn't have stood because of a foul by Kone on Schlotterbeck in the build up. When the long ball went forward he led with his elbow into Schlott's face and knocked him off balance.

 

Wow, that is blatant. How did the officials miss that!

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

Think it was just misunderstanding and QPR started cheering after The Last Post. Went quiet afterwards and think they realised. This is the problem with introducing applause as a mark of respect

 

55 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I was stood while the last post was ongoing wondering to myself how many idiots would start clapping and roaring after it finished despite the announcement very clearly asking to observe a silence afterwards. It happened last year and it will happen next year because an alarming number of people don't know how to follow basic instructions.

I think the silence should come first followed by the last post. But perhaps there is some protocol about it somewhere. 

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Stephens being where he was had zero influence on the fact that Charles' momentum was already taking him the other way. He didn't block his line of sight, nor did he prevent him from being able to get to the ball. What's more, he tried to get out of the way rather than move towards or attempt to play the ball. The word 'interfering' is doing some seriously heavy lifting here.

Even if we accept that he was, and that it is technically the right decision, I think what most people are rightly miffed about is the fact that neither the ref nor the lino saw any reason to disallow it initially, and only decided to do so after Charles and the other QPR players whinged about it. No competent referee should ever allow themselves to be swayed by player complaints like that.

 

He was stood directly in front of the keeper, right in the path of the ball, he is quite obviously going to be a distraction to the keeper. The whole 'not interfering with play' rule was brought in to stop goals being disallowed for someone stood halfway to the corner flag, 30 yards away from the ball. A man stood dead centre of the goal, a yard out directly in the flight path of the ball is as blatantly interfering as can be.

The second paragraph is just a complete guess, you have no idea what they actually said to each other. The Lino doesn't have the depth perception to judge the position of Stephens, relative to the goal. The ref can't tell if anyone is playing him onside. They need to corroborate both these pieces of information to come to a decision, hence the discussion.

[benjii]

I think the offside call is technically incorrect (Stephens is not in Charles' line of sight) but really can't complain about it when the officials get one look in real time and Stephens is that close to the keeper.

I'm pleased Welington scored, as I like him, but it's a great first touch by Mubama and perhaps it would have been nice for him to bag one. 

[SaintTex]

9 hours ago, St. Ciervo said:

Most importantly, the team moved on and put another 2nd in pretty quickly into the half. 

yeah, this was the most impressive thing of it all. i certainly hung my head and was fuming after initially feeling elated to get a late 2nd goal going into the locker room at half.

I dont know what Tonda said at half, but they didnt let that disappointment beat them in the 2nd half.