Interesting to see how VAR was going to be the saviour of the game , but all we have now is a different official getting it wrong.
Hard to call, but am preparing myself for a crap performance, we have been solid for the last few weeks, apart from the first 20 mins of the games not sure realistically how long we can keep the discipline up, it’s got to be time for another sending off
Is this a cut-off week for cards? Edit - no, that was last week, so now it is 10 bookings before 37 games.
Watching the Premier League games on Amazon in the week and they said a few players were suspended for this weekend due to accumulation of cards so I’m guessing that game week was the last one? Maybe the rules are different in the PL
Last week? Damn. I didn’t realise I’d missed the cut off date. Got most of them written, just haven’t got round to posting them yet.
Livermore felt a tweak in training. VI said he should be back for Ipswich midweek. Kind of a blessing as a rest might do his old bones some good, but having been one of our best players so far we will miss him today against pretty strong opponents. Hoedt might have to put in another masterclass because if we start slowly like we did against Norwich, this could get quite messy.
Just goes to show that DM is the priority position next month!! Livermore missing today is a disaster.
Well deserved point there, could've won it on another day. Great to see Healey get a goal as well. 2 points off the playoffs.
Good game, kind of think we should have won nice to see we have someone who has a big throw defence were solid, we were good in attack, their goal keeper however was excellent
Feels like a win and we could have won, playoffs are on. Me when I saw Healeys throwing ability just after he scored.
Get in there boys! You absolutely beauties. It’s been a long time coming but this is a very likeable team. They are not always pretty but they work their socks off.
Soton were by far and away the dirtiest team we've played this Seaaon. Even Millwall paled in comparison. We deserved a win today, let alone a draw with our finishing and missing connections on crosses letting us down. Bayo had a positive impact with the header for Healey to catch their keeper unaware who made some high quality saves before then which is the value of shooting early so they cannot set for the shot. The mentality of this team this year is unrecognisable to the dross we've become accustomed to since Covid. I would have snatched your arm for a draw before the game as thought Soton had the better quality players. Now I'm dissapointed we didn't win because we were better overall. Also nice to have a long throw specialist since Holebas.
A draw that feels like a victory. Deserved, in my view. There does appear to be a collective positive spirit in the squad. Healey appears to be a popular character with his teammates. Momentum still with us.
I honestly can't remember the last time we salvaged points at the death of stoppage time. Seems to have been something that happened against us, rather than the opposition. It's very satisfying to see the team willing to fight to the end. The improvement in mentality and desire is significant. Credit to VI for installing this. Also worth crediting the recruitment team, even if it is a case of clearing up their own mess to a point. Duxbury stated a while back that getting shot of the players who didn't want to be here was the goal, and it seems like they've achieved that. This certainly isn't the strongest or most talented squad we've had but they seem to want to play for the shirt, which is a welcome improvement. This run of fixtures looked very rough as we came into it, but we've done better than I think most would have expected. That's promising for the rest of the season. A few well chosen additions in the upcoming window (granted, this would be a significant departure from recent transfer form in January...) and who knows what we might achieve?
Agreed. Squad depth is certainly not strong enough to maintain a playoff push. They need to bring at least a couple of good players in to have any chance of that.
Late goal in injury time is a new departure. You never know, we might even get a penalty next time out. Gawd knows who will take it though, better get practising boys! COYH!!
We didn't deserve to lose that, and I think Healy's goal capped off what could of been had we taken some of our chances. Southampton were pretty poor and spent most of the game fouling our players rather than doing much else. However, their goal was all down to us backing off and backing off, so of course they will shoot when given the room. I thought we stifled them very well and kept a compact unit even without Livermore. It was a good game of football and on another day we would of probably won. Shout out to Lewis who is getting better every game, and Bayo also did well when he came on. A point at home to a side who will be there or thereabouts in May is not a bad result and we more than did our part to earn it. Credit to Val for sticking with the system and making changes when needed. Really pleased for Healy as he probably has been waiting a long time to score and let's hope that is the first of many. I didn't expect us to get much out of this run of fixtures but credit to the 4pts so far (I don't count Norwich a hard fixture, it never is for us). Not impressed with Southampton's "fair play" at all. Very crunching, titty tat football and whatever their gameplan was today we did well to counter it. It's so nice to have a side again to enjoy watching. We are not the most technically gifted side in the division but we work hard, and for each other, which is showing in the results. I do not know what VI said in that Sunderland changing room, but it obviously had a great effect. One loss since then and to the league pace setters. Shame Cardiff got a late winner, but we could of lost this and on merit, that would of felt a tad unfair considering how the game went. Ipswich (who won again) will be a very stern test now midweek on how far we can really go.
A pretty even game and a deserved draw. Although Southampton had a bit more of the possession, they didn't really create much aside from the goal. Fraser coming on helped to change the game in their favour a bit for a while as Andrews didn't know how to deal with him and his pace - I have no idea what he was doing just allowing him to run free beyond him for their goal. Both Hoedt for us and Bednarek for them had excellent games and were key components of the game seeming as if it would end up in a stalemate for the most part. Bazunu was having a very good game for them as well, but our Hive Live team managed to put the commentators' curse on him just before the end, as really he probably should have saved that. Pleased for Healey though, I still think there's a clear reason why he's only been a bit-part player, but even if his legs have gone a bit, as he showed today and his goal in Ligue 1 at the end of last season the striker's instincts are still there somewhere even if he's not where he used to be. I doubt that goal will mean we see much more of him, but at least he'll have had a positive impact for us during his time here. Good to see Val's subs going back to being effective as well in general, with Bayo winning the header on to Healey for his shot. I also have to give credit to Hamer again, who continues to look surprisingly composed given what we saw of him last season. He'll probably be keeping the shirt a bit longer. Also, I've given Porteous some criticism over this season, but he had a very good game today (and thankfully he saved his trademark rash booking for near the end of the game, meaning he wasn't having to walk a tight-rope). That result and performance reinforces that our recent form hasn't been a fluke and we're a decent team. Southampton were a team in excellent form and in general we matched them fairly well, aside from them having just a tad more quality options in the final third. Yes we were at home, but it shows that aside from the top few teams maybe we can generally hold our own on our day vs much of the rest of the division.
One other thing to add, although they didn't really create anything before their goal the one decent chance they did have in the first half came from - you guessed it - a corner to the friggin' back-post (which Bednarek won and then Armstrong flicked over the bar). Sort it out ffs!!
Definite signs of progress the last few weeks, both in terms of the teams cohesion and their confidence building. The level of performance we're seeing now from the likes of Lewis, Koné, Kayembe and others is much better. We got battered at Leeds, looked better at Leicester but still lost late on, and just gained a late point against Southampton. Progress!
Firstly, so pleased for Healey. Let’s hope this will kick start his career with us (if he’s actually played, of course). Well done! Secondly, a deserved point. It would have been a travesty to have lost that. A nice twist that our goal came deep into time partly added on for their time-wasting. That’s one defeat in ten matches now. We showed good character to rescue that. Thirdly, there’s much to like about us lately. Obviously not perfect or we’d be top two, but a team with spirit, fighting hard, several players really improving now they feel more settled in both the team and in their positions. Only Leicester have stopped is scoring in our good run, and the goals are coming from all over. Maybe bigger than the actual sum of our parts right now, and that’s not a bad place to be. It’s a really nice feeling to think we are growing and improving week by week. Maybe the future isn’t quite so bleak after all.
