Southampton VERY impressive

[BUTTERBALL]

Think we missed Greer, he adds steel to our back line, is vocal and organises the team well. He can also pick our some terrific balls forward. Albion paid the price for dropping too deep and affording a reasonable team too much respect. Long balls were our achillies heel, just as they were against Stoke and to a lesser degree Dagenham. We need to learn to counteract that next year.

 

[JJB]

I thought that the second half yesturday was the best we've played for about a month. Although still not at our best. Yesturday, like youwe had key first team players missing. Richardson is probably a better right back than Butterfield, Harding was out, but Dickson is a better player. Schneiderlin, our France U21 CM who pisses on teams has been out for the last two months and wont play again this season, Oxlade-Chamberlain was out, as was Barnard. I think with what we had on teh pitch we played a very good game. However one man changed it, Lallana. Best player technically and physically on the pitch by a mile. Best player in this league, hands down.

 

[bhaexpress]

We missed Greer but Saints could argue them were missing Oxo and Barnard. At the end of the day they were better on the day but the record books will always show us as Champions, honours shared I would say.

 

[Barrow Boy]

spot on , when you sit 11 men behind the ball you invite pressure as we did in the second half. it was frustrating to see calde clear to no one because we are all behind the ball. its not the way to defend and always catches you out. surely everyone saw it coming today and it happened. we were poor today but easily forgiven. the turning point again was muza going off, never look the same team without him be it gouing forward or defending. their second was an embarresment.

Can't argue with any of that, perfect summing up, everyone could see we were inviting SCC to score by playing so deep. Shame Gus didn't bring Noone on at the same time as Wood and put their defence under instant pressure once we'd lost Murray. Oh well, just have to be happy with being League 1 Champions!

 

[bhaexpress]

I thought that the second half yesturday was the best we've played for about a month. Although still not at our best. Yesturday, like youwe had key first team players missing. Richardson is probably a better right back than Butterfield, Harding was out, but Dickson is a better player. Schneiderlin, our France U21 CM who pisses on teams has been out for the last two months and wont play again this season, Oxlade-Chamberlain was out, as was Barnard. I think with what we had on teh pitch we played a very good game. However one man changed it, Lallana. Best player technically and physically on the pitch by a mile. Best player in this league, hands down.

Simple fact, Saints without Lallana are just not the same team, I think he has missed all Saint's defeats hasn't he ? That's the key difference between the two sides, we can lose one player and win, but woe betided Saints without Lallana. Of course you could wonder how much difference losing LuaLua has made to us.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Southampton demonstrated the value of a good deep squad. We knew they had that - and towards the end of the season when players are tired, get injured, and suspended is when the value of it shows. We lose our captain and against a good team do not cope. They lose players without seemingly much impact. They were the standard of team we had better get used to. They were what that Millwall supporter was telling us - when we move up a division the players are bigger, stronger and faster. And still skillful.

And of course they wanted it more. They are desperate to avoid the play-offs and we ........... well we want to retain our home record and get to 100 points. The mental side of it can't be understated. They had more to play for and it showed. Today was when we needed Greer - and for that moments stupidity (and it looks more dense from here) we lost yesterday. I don't think Greer would have let us defend so deep.

As for Adkins - he is a good manager. A good squad needs managing and setting out and he has done that all season. OK he wound us up, and it was all great fun - but don't lose sight that it is banter.

Also - that "Mind the Gap" was embarrassing. Then to do it twice.

And it was a funny song - but that "we don't care about you" song being continually sung did suggest they do care. Bless.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Best player technically and physically on the pitch by a mile. Best player in this league, hands down.

Why did he not play the first half ?

He is certainly an excellent player. I would love to watch him each week.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Southampton demonstrated the value of a good deep squad. We knew they had that - and towards the end of the season when players are tired, get injured, and suspended is when the value of it shows. We lose our captain and against a good team do not cope. They lose players without seemingly much impact. They were the standard of team we had better get used to. They were what that Millwall supporter was telling us - when we move up a division the players are bigger, stronger and faster. And still skillful.

And of course they wanted it more. They are desperate to avoid the play-offs and we ........... well we want to retain our home record and get to 100 points. The mental side of it can't be understated. They had more to play for and it showed. Today was when we needed Greer - and for that moments stupidity (and it looks more dense from here) we lost yesterday. I don't think Greer would have let us defend so deep.

As for Adkins - he is a good manager. A good squad needs managing and setting out and he has done that all season. OK he wound us up, and it was all great fun - but don't lose sight that it is banter.

Also - that "Mind the Gap" was embarrassing. Then to do it twice.

And it was a funny song - but that "we don't care about you" song being continually sung did suggest they do care. Bless.

Good post.

To take a positive from the situation, yesterday should serve as a wakeup call that Gus needs to improve on the team this summer and will need to be ruthless in some areas. I've no doubt that this team could avoid relegation in the championship, but we want to aim higher than that

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Also - Southampton did not allow us to impose our game on them. They were quicker to the ball, very organised, strong on the ball, and could pass it themselves. What we better get used to next season with our aspitations of top six.

And that is what Claridge warned us about earlier in the season. Teams at a higher level will be able to counter our style of football. We know the chequebook will be out in the summer - and we will need better players to play the same way in the Championship.

In Gus we trust.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

To take a positive from the situation, yesterday should serve as a wakeup call that Gus needs to improve on the team this summer and will need to be ruthless in some areas. I've no doubt that this team could avoid relegation in the championship, but we want to aim higher than that

Quite. I should think this morning the celebrations have stopped and players will be thinking about showing they can do it season. I think we will stuff Colchester.

 

[SeagullRic]

I was impressed with them. They've got some class players. I'd have their two centre halfs over ours, Lambert is better than what we have.

What they lack is a manager. As I said in another thread, put Poyet in charge of them, and they'd have been up by Christmas.

The difference in the sides is the managers. We have the best you manager in the game who has taken a relgation threaten side and with a few additions got them promoted at a canter.... they have a complete muppet, which is good for us, as if they had a manager on a scale of ability of 1-10, say a 2 instead of Atkins (whos clearly a big fat 0), we may have had a tougher ride this season.

You'd have Jaidhi over Greer? Granted he wins a lot in the air, but he's also an accident waiting to happen: see his nightmare error today and the following 5 minutes, as well as the awful display he put in when we beat them 3-1 last season

 

[El Presidente]

SCC were bigger and stronger than us and wanted it more. For their sake it is essential they go up, as I can't see the likes of Lambert and Lallana wanting to stick in division 3 for another season. Lambert won a lot and has a delicate touch for a big bloke, Lallana had our full backs on the back foot every time he had the ball.

Perhaps yesterday was a wake up call for next season, we definitely need to invest in more depth, someone who is going to dominate midfield, and a strike partner for Muzza (if he signs a new contract).

Fair play to Poyet for still trying to win the game when it went to 1-1, but personally I would have brought Dunk on to shore up the defence who were having a tough time of it and missed Greer. Had it not been for Casper it could have been 4 or 5.

 

[Acker79]

First half they were decent, but after 20 mins were nothing special. Once they took out murray, we had no outlet, any time we cleared the ball it came right back at us. I think any decent team would look good if they were allowed to constantly attack for 40 minutes, with little comeback. We defended too deep, so couldn't get out. Whether our defence flattered Southampton, or if Southampton forced us into it, I don't know, but I think even if we were pressured there were times we shot ourselves in the foot. We gave them too much space for their first goal, our weakness with crosses cost us the second. I recall mentioning something about how easy it is to score against us if you just make sure you have a player at the far post for crosses since Ankergren often leaves ones that are so comfortably his the defenders leave it for him, and he leaves it to go across the goal, Southampton seemed to be aware of this as at least one effort came that way, though fortunately for us it hit the post. They didn't convert enough of their chances for me to call them great, but they were definitely dominant.

In two games we have scored one goal against them. That alone suggests they have a fairly solid back four.

Not really that simple, is it? If their midfield are good enough, their back four aren't called on often enough to determine how solid they are. I thought Davies seemed like he could have been a weakness, a few errant kicks under pressure, I think if we were better up front we'd've got something more.

Davis got the ball first from where I was Just like our defenders did when Lambert went down.

I don't know if he got the ball first or not, but it's irrelevant. The only way he was going to get ball with the challenge he made was by taking murray out in a way that give him no chance to avoid the collision, either first or on the follow through, showing at best disregard for the safety of his opponent, at worst harmful intent. That's a foul. If it's harmful intent it's a red, if not (and I believe it was just disregard) the ref could have got away with a yellow (from what I recall Murray was heading away from goal, or maybe towards the byline) so not denying a clear goal scoring opportunity (I know, murray and an open goal, but some refs like to avoid reds and use the direction of the run as an excuse).

 

[JJB]

Simple fact, Saints without Lallana are just not the same team, I think he has missed all Saint's defeats hasn't he ? That's the key difference between the two sides, we can lose one player and win, but woe betided Saints without Lallana. Of course you could wonder how much difference losing LuaLua has made to us.

Something like that. Like you saw when he came on, defenders just don't know what he is going to do. He has so much talent it's unbelievable. And over the last 18 months he's added strength and pace to his game. I sincerely hope he stays with us for one more year like chamberlain, they would be a match for any championship defence. We have won without him, but only when we have played a 4-3-1-2 formation with Guly roaming around.

 

[Braders]

SCC were bigger and stronger than us and wanted it more. For their sake it is essential they go up, as I can't see the likes of Lambert and Lallana wanting to stick in division 3 for another season. Lambert won a lot and has a delicate touch for a big bloke, Lallana had our full backs on the back foot every time he had the ball.

very much this

Perhaps yesterday was a wake up call for next season, we definitely need to invest in more depth, someone who is going to dominate midfield, and a strike partner for Muzza (if he signs a new contract).

not so sure that yesterday spelt that out for us even more then we already knew , yesterday was very much played as a "post-season friendly" it felt , but yes investment is needed , not just based on yesterday but by how strong a division the Championship is

Fair play to Poyet for still trying to win the game when it went to 1-1, but personally I would have brought Dunk on to shore up the defence who were having a tough time of it and missed Greer. Had it not been for Casper it could have been 4 or 5.

very much this too , if Southampton had taken there chances it could've been 7 or 8...

 

[JJB]

Why did he not play the first half ?

He is certainly an excellent player. I would love to watch him each week.

Coming back from a groin injury. I was suprised to see him come on seeing as he was only half fit. I doubt he'll play a part tomorrow.

 

[Triggaaar]

What i can understand is why we played so deep today, i cant remember us playing with such a negative attitude.

Second half, we started dropping a lot deeper and Lambert went up against Painter, Calde and smaller players rather than Elphick and was winning knockdowns in the 6 yard box rather than 20 yards out. They also used the width, especially the left a lot more and to good effect. Lallana and Dickson were all over us down there.

All of that, exactly. Even when we won the ball in the second half our players were all still in our half.

SCC played well in the first 20 minutes, but we handled it without problem, and we looked more threatening at the end of the first half. And while SCC looked like they wanted it more (more effort and pressure while we had the ball), we looked pretty comfortalbe. In the second half however, we were really negative, and I don't think we put much effort in. I don't know if they thought it was worth trying to just defend for 45 minutes, or if it was that they just didn't want it enough, but whatever the reason, it was painful to watch.

 

[stss30]

With all respect to Saints, how is Lallana still playing for them? Is it because he is injury prone? Because imo he is a higher champ lower prem player (I suppose thats what Saints will be aiming for next season)

 

[JJB]

Also I believe the difference between yesturdays game and the game back in Novemeber was our fitness. You can berate Adkins all you like, but he is intelligent. He knows how to look after players and since he's been in charge we've got fitter and fitter. We ran out of puff back in Nov and you got stronger as teh game went on due to your style of play, but this time round I believe we were just too fit for you and never gave you the chance to exert your style of play on us. He also knows how to manage a football team and since he came in has picked up a lot of points, I think he came in after around 10 games so missed the first 30 points of the season. I also remember Redknapp touting him as a potential England manager one day! doubt that will happen, but he is a very good manager.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Also I believe the difference between yesturdays game and the game back in Novemeber was our fitness. You can berate Adkins all you like, but he is intelligent. He knows how to look after players and since he's been in charge we've got fitter and fitter. We ran out of puff back in Nov and you got stronger as teh game went on due to your style of play, but this time round I believe we were just too fit for you and never gave you the chance to exert your style of play on us.

Also - remember we have had two separate celebrations - I am sure the players have been out on the piss more than earlier in the season, and deservably so. And we had little to play for - so to keep calling on reserves of energy is complicated.

(not wanting to take anything away from your win like).