I do agree with that, I said earlier it was an odd sub, but the point was we currently have no other available wingers so it seemed likely he'd be used for a bit.
Another home game where we were weak in the tackle, ponderous in possession and second to every loose ball. The contrast with how I felt walking out of Goodison last week…. This game was so important in terms of following up those three points and we were abject.
Struggling to think of anything Ngakia did wrong except getting horribly exposed by Sarr not bothering to get close to Walker Peters all game. Today was only his eighth start in the Premier League and he's very inexperienced, I don't know why you're so desperate for him to have bad games. It's all very strange.
Dreadful performance. King did okay - my man of match. The amount of space our defence gave Saints around then box was embarrassing. Sarr was awful. We should snap off anyone’s hands who offers £40m and pay down some debt. Sema and Cleverly showed how poor they are with their sub appearances. Great business to extend both of their contracts last season.
The Premier League is absolutely rancid as a spectacle when it's like that. I don't usually go for the idea that the officials are particularly easily influenced either by the crowd or the stature of the opposition but today's an exception. The referee couldn't wait to give them free-kicks for every collision, or every time a Southampton player went down under the slightest pressure. The one where Kucka stood there and the Southampton player jumped into and over him before falling awkwardly was remarkable. How that was a foul, I don't know. I know every team does it – including us – but it's incredibly tedious knowing that as soon as they had taken the lead they would take as long as possible over every free-kick, goal kick and throw-in. Every trick in the book was employed to waste time. As for the team – the wrong selection compounded by the wrong half-time changes. And Sarr was at his worst – completely uninterested unless the ball was passed directly to him.
I thought King showed his limitations a bit today. He came off second best in most contests with their defenders and often didn’t even challenge for headers. Sarr should have used the ball much better, but King seemed unable to get to the near post. He didn’t have a terrible game, but leading the line on your own is a tall order for him. It was disappointing how little Pedro offered him by way of support.
Any opponent with a bit of pace runs beyond him like he wasn't there. That has nothing to do with where Sarr or isn't. The couple of times Livramento was 1-vs-1 against the much derided Masina he actually got his tackle in. What's "very strange" is the few posters who make a point of repeatedly slating the rest of our defenders while claiming Ngakia has somehow been "excellent", when he's actually been as culpable for our shoddy defending as the rest of them.
Zero creativity. Same with Kucka and Cleverley when he came on. Which is why we played direct and the only times we got behind them were the flat clearances from Foster. It said it all when Sissoko won the ball, rode a couple of challenges and couldn’t complete a simple throughball. I’m not as sold on him as others seem to be. The game was crying out for Tufan. And if Louza can’t get on the pitch in that scenario, when the **** is he ever going to play?
The only time we have ever looked half decent this season is when we've been on the front foot, trying to press the opposition. When we sit back we inevitably give them time to pick passes and find runners that we struggle to pick up. Perhaps we should just try pressing from the start and maybe even scoring a few goals rather than whatever it is we've been trying to do for the majority of the season. On this note, I thought Cleverly made a big contribution to the tempo of our game out of possession when he came on, at least it looked liek we could pick up some possession in their half.
But for poor finishing by Southampton that would have been another thrashing. On the other hand the ball goes over the line before cleared and we get an equaliser and go in at half time with a chance to get a win. Fletcher hits that shot low and hard we get a win. Strange team selection. Not sure what has happened to see our bench with Gosling instead of Louza. People criticise Cleverley but his contribution marked a much improved midfield in the second half. For me Sarr looks like a player who suddenly does not like being here. Perhaps the Championship was too easy and now the reality is hitting home. Sissoko my man of the match, pity he will be probably gone next season. He is too good for the Championship. Not all lost yet, but we need to get a clean sheet before Christmas, and hopefully five more points. Fifteen or better points going into the Christmas programme; with some recruitment on the horizon and more time for the head coach to wring some performances out of the squad would be good situation following todays very lack lustre performance.
Yes, but scoring from your chances is part of football. Saints have been missing chances since Ings left. Indeed, Watford had 2 or 3 chances. I'm not saying Southampton weren't the better side, I thought they were. But 0 - 1 suggests there wasn't much in it.
He did and Kucka had a decent second half. Trouble is, without the ball, the opposition run rings around them.
Not sure why people are holding out hope Pozzo is going to make sensible additions in January. The last time in this spot he extracted Udinese £7m in the Pussetto fiasco. With a tight budget this summer he used it all to bring in a non-playing midfielder from his agent friend. The requirements of our squad will simply not be a priority.
Sour atmosphere at the game. Guys a few rows below us seem to spend the whole game shouting at the players that they were c*nts. It’s a day out I suppose.
True, that was a very poor window. But would Ranieri stand for that? They must have made him a promise or two.
Equally the number of chances we gave up in the first half is consistent with not having kept a clean sheet all season. It just happened to be one goal today, on another it will be more. Same happened against Newcastle and Leeds, neither game was close and conceding just one goal was about the oppositions failings, nothing to do with us making the game close.
The starting line up was too Attacking and subs bench was too defensive we move on to next week hopefully he gets the balance right
If he is around.. He seemed very frustrated again but we know who the powers that be point the finger at for poor performances.
Nfl redzone tomorrow at 5pm. 7 hours of commercial free American football. Infinitely better than the shitte served up today.
To be fair, we nearly got a point even though the opposition were much better than us. They looked like an established PL Team if not a particularly great one. We looked like a work in progress, which is a big problem. There were pluses to take, but with no points likely until mid-December we are already up against it.
I listened to it on the radio so my opinion isn't based on the actual action as cuch, but it sounded like they had a great first half then defended and time wasted in the second. At least Ranieri had the balls to make two half time subs, and as people have said, our starting eleven was too attacking whilst our bench looked quite defensive. Next match Arsenal. 0-0 please
Ridiculous, that almost half the Welsh team haven't been released so it has a second-string youngster feel to it. Well it was bad but not as bad as it could've been. Shame.
Is it not to much to ask to find a winger who can actually deliver a decent cross. They don't have to be a speed merchant. Cally, not a speed merchant but boy could he deliver a ball.
