Annoying as it was - and ultimately unsuccessful too- Saints showed us how to manage a game. We built up great momentum after Gray's goal but they broke up play brilliantly. I hated it.
This was atrocious and has seemed to skip under the radar. Ward Prowse is his man and should be his first priority in marking but he casually ran back from Soton box whilst Ward Prowse sprinted forward to gamble on the ball coming to him in our box. If we are forced to play full back as defensively poor as Jan Maat And Zeeglar then Silva has to play a back three .
Janmaat is getting a lot of stick for his non-existent defending, but he was our most dangerous attacker in the first half and won a lot of baĺls in midfield in the second. But as right back in 442 he's as out of his depth as Gray in 451
Football is a fast moving, ever changing entity. People can go from hero to zero very fast, or equally in the opposite direction. Before the Everton approach, Silva looked a masterful signing as Head Coach. Let’s not forget how quickly we raced to the 20 point mark with some impressive victories. A fortnight ago the common consensus was Troy was finished as a force at Watford. Since then a goal and an assist, and a match changing performance off the bench, just as against Arsenal. Two weeks ago Gray couldn’t hit a barn door. Fast forward a fortnight and he’s got 2 in 2. After his debut and follow up match, Zeegelaar looked a real bargain. Now he’s been exposed for the strange signing we all felt he was at the time. Carrillo seems to lurch from hero to zero alternate weeks. Okaka was the answer when not playing, but rarely our match winner when he does. And these are just a few examples of how a season and perceptions and opinions and performances change so quickly. So take the point we got today. Bank it. Enjoy it. Realise that there were good performances out there today that, if replicated over the next few months, could either spell good news as we battle to overcome our slump, and equally some bad ones that could so spell the opposite. Maybe on a day we paid tribute to GT, a Hand of God moment will be the luck we need to turn our season back round. Maybe it won’t. We’ve generally been terrible of late, but today and against Leicester we showed some spirit and quality in adversity at least. Something to be pleased about. I reckon Saints will be even more pumped up than ever to knock us out the cup now though!
Silva is a **** Kevin Keegan . He arrogantly thinks he can outplay teams by scoring 3 goals and if they score 2 then we ve still won . The problem comes when we stop scoring . He is great at getting a team to play exciting attacking football and when it clicks it looks amazing . However when the chips are down you need a solid defensive shape to ride out the tough times . He clearly has no intention or ability to do this . He is the antithesis of Allardyce/Hodgson . The problem is defensive shape and discipline has to come before attacking prowess . That’s why the teams of Dyche, Allardyce, Hodgson are thriving and Watford , Soton and Muff are suffering .
Just happy we didn't lose. Half time feeling was awful. Walter had accumulated more points than this time last year but I think we will, just about, keep our head above water but it's probably going to be as grim as it was last year
I think if we had another fit CB we probably would play a three. Three isn't enough because any injury would force a change in formation. It was a good point won to stop the slide, but unsatisfactory as it didn't demonstrate any progress. With a few less injuries I doubt things would look as grim. If they are not resolved soon we need some new faces.
Exactly and like Behrami, I think that's where he will go next season. Experience of the league there and you can in Italy when you are that little bit older due to the slower pace of the game.
Fair point. But I don’t know what Soton you’re watching. Did you not hear “we scored a goal” chants. They think their coach is way too defensive. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not sure if it's already been mentioned but has anyone ever, ever, ever seen a referee give an offside that the linesman didn't flag for before? About 5 mins in, Long was standing miles offside and the linesman somehow didn't notice so the ref gave it. Not sure what he was watching or what he thought he'd seen. After that it was hardly surprising he missed the ball going in off Doucouré's hand!
True , Soton have turned into the turgid mess that we have become . But at the start of the season and the years before they were held up as the model of attack minded upper mid table teams .
Not here. Troy hasn't got going this year, but he's been excellent at times. Give him a run of games with players like Richy and Pereyra behind him, and I bloody well know he'll step up and carry this side to safety on his back. It really annoys me when people with short memories have a go at Troy.
Showed how to manage a game by conceding two goals from a winning position against a **** Watford side? Hmmm
Great tribute to GT,a glorious sight and well done to Saints fans for joining in and in the 72nd minute too. Relieved to take a point. About time we received some good fortune and I certainly felt there were two penalties in the second half. MPA and Janmaat were all over the shop but what really concerns me is that Silva seems to pay no attention to this side of the game. This is either arrogance or stupidity. We can all see it,play Deeney and Gray and we look a threat. Neither is capable on their own,not least because it's very tough! Credit to Troy today,he looked like his old self and if he can keep that level he has a role certainly. Pitiful time wasting from Saints,absolutely dismal.
Linesman was an absolute joke. I think even the ref trusted the judgement of 20,000 screaming drunks over that useless tart
I really thought i could not see a worse first half display them we put on today i was wrong the Ref and Linesman on the GT side were worse that us the whole game and made shocking calls against both sides Maybe Silva will now go with 2 up top Greay and Deeney looked good together
Wasn’t sure it was a case of somehow being onside or if the linesman thought the ball had come off a Watford player. Edit: or he was just ****.
Yet but that doesn't fit with my narrative so I'd rather just ignore it thanks Who was playing him on? I was in the Rookery and it looked like he was clearly off but maybe from another angle one of our full backs was miles behind the defensive line just for a change?
How did we avoid defeat? Two words: Troy Deeney. Fans who think we should sell him should feel very silly this evening.
First half was clearly a team that should be relegated, without a doubt Second half was a team that should sit around the middle of the table at the end of the season. We make the simple things difficult. The amount of passes we f@ck up is unbelievable. Even Doucoure tends to pass the ball to the opposition at terrible moments. I was absolutely farking livid at half time. I was watching swathes of people leaving the stadium from the SEJ stand and was thinking to myself "you lucky *****". The only thing keeping me there was to watch half time penalties as it is the only place at the Vic where I can watch some decent goals nowadays - Cleverley, you should be taking down notes from these 10 year olds who (most of the time) can actually hit the farkin target. As I said before, 2nd half was much better but one must not ignore the fact that Southampton are farking dreadful. We got a point, but I still feel as if we've dropped some more.... Leicester away next week... Oh what a joy it will be when Palace overtake us when they beat Arsenal away 1-0...
I don't feel silly, he turned up and gave a captain's performance like he should do every game. Unfortunately this was only the second time this season has done so, the first being Arsenal. Long may it continue though, but it doesn't change the fact that none of our strikers are top half Premier League quality and if we want to progress then we need that extra quality. And also goals would help.
He looked better the moment Deeney joined him on the pitch. And he looked way better once he'd got his goal. So Silva took him off.
This is the side where all the bad lino decisions occur. I wonder if there is some sort of optical illusion going on there.
Because they almost got away with it even though they're a worse side even than us, and would have if Doucoure's goal had been disallowed
