Match Report and MOTM vs Southampton

CherriesOnTop said:
Exactly, not everyone can appreciate all aspects of a striker partnership though.
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I think it does largely come down to this. Especially the role of a number 10 under Eddie Howe.

Whether it’s Brett Pitman, Joshua King or Dominic Solanke.

The only player who ever won the crowd over in the role was Yann Kermorgant and even he job shared the position with Pitman during the Championship winning season.
 
A game of two halves for Rico but that might be stating the obvious! I've given him some stick lately but first half he was great and the player I thought we'd signed, less said about the second the better, all I can say he doesn't react well when under pressure.
Cook mom for me, awesome! Stacey wanted to much time on the ball and was generally poor.
 
Boscombes performance went a bit towards the Isle of Wight in the second half....probably because someone at Half- time mentioned that Gareth Sougatario of Mighty England was sat in his boring suit in the stands...even though only watching Saints players I imagine.....hmmm!
Ok for him to rock up..but does anyone need to know ?
 
DJ said:
I think it does largely come down to this. Especially the role of a number 10 under Eddie Howe.

Whether it’s Brett Pitman, Joshua King or Dominic Solanke.

The only player who ever won the crowd over in the role was Yann Kermorgant and even he job shared the position with Pitman during the Championship winning season.
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Both scored truckloads though. Everything about Dom suggests to me he might develop into a good player (jury’s out) but I’m not convinced he will score many. 1 in 32 appearances tells you that. Many are sub appearances granted but Liverpool and us create many chances and he could have scored four or five for us already (two v Man C) if he could connect with a ball properly.
 
Neil Dawson said:
Both scored truckloads though. Everything about Dom suggests to me he might develop into a good player (jury’s out) but I’m not convinced he will score many. 1 in 32 appearances tells you that. Many are sub appearances granted but Liverpool and us create many chances and he could have scored four or five for us already (two v Man C) if he could connect with a ball properly.
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Similar was said when King arrived.
 
DJ said:
Similar was said when King arrived.
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True! He missed a lot of chances though. Not sure Solanke has had one goalscorer style chance in last two games? It’s a positional thing.

Did you see Kings interview after game... he is clearly not happy on the wing! Happy to be part of the team don’t get me wrong but it’s not his desired position!!
 
Neil Dawson said:
True! He missed a lot of chances though. Not sure Solanke has had one goalscorer style chance in last two games? It’s a positional thing.

Did you see Kings interview after game... he is clearly not happy on the wing! Happy to be part of the team don’t get me wrong but it’s not his desired position!!
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He’s not happy anywhere I don’t think. :)

Obviously sees himself as the number 9 but he’s a clear second choice for that position.
 
Neil Dawson said:
True! He missed a lot of chances though. Not sure Solanke has had one goalscorer style chance in last two games? It’s a positional thing.

Did you see Kings interview after game... he is clearly not happy on the wing! Happy to be part of the team don’t get me wrong but it’s not his desired position!!
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And maybe the fact that Solanke's playing against PL defenders?
 
Bit of an odd game. Totally in control first half, then second best to everything second half. Lerma, Billing and Rico very much matched the story of the match. All very sloppy and slow on the ball second half, after good first half performances. Luckily our sloppiness wasn't really punished and 3 points are in the bag. I actually thought Callum had a good game yesterday, worked very hard and kept their defense busy. Didn't think Solanke was that bad either.
 
alwaysacherry said:
Came on this morning expecting to enjoy the euphoria of a first ever win at Stains and surprised by the extent of the negativity.
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If it helps aac I can confirm that at the moment Callum tapped in the third, my euphoria was totally boundless, and I'm still on Cloud 9 now!! No hint of negativity here.
There is a reason for that. On 5th October 1957, just a few months after our historic Cup ties vs Wolves, Spurs and Man Utd, my dear old Dad took me to the Dell for my first ever awayday. I looked on from the upper tier of the West Stand as Saints tore us to shreds and won 7-0. Of all the thousands of football matches I've played and watched since that day, that one has always been etched on my memory, so the result last night has, for me, finally ended 62 years of hurt(y):D(y)
Yippee!!!!
 
Topfarrier said:
So are the rest of our strikers ......not sure what your point is tbh.
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Ok, I see it wasn't clear that I was referring to the statement by Neil Dawson comparing Solanke to Pitman and Kermogant and saying they scored truckloads of goals. My point is, that was in lower divisions. Solanke is playing against much better opposition so it might be a tad more difficult for him to score. It's not exactly comparing like with like, is it?. Who knows, maybe he'd be scoring truckloads if he was playing in L1 or the Championship? Imo give him time, so far he's played in 10 games, most as a sub, so it seems a bit soon to me to be rushing to judgement.
 
As an avowed happy clapper and devoted optimist here's my take on last night's performance. Game of 2 halves, we weren't as bad 2nd half as Stains were 1st half, they weren't as good 2nd half as we were 1st half, hence we win by 2 goals : )

Eddie is always on about partnerships, last night's team had our 2 regular centre halves and Callum with Joshua up front, all the other permutations were virtually untried. The goalie, both full backs, centre midfield, H.Wilson, Dom Solanke, hardly played together in any team of ours.

You don't win an away Premier League match by 2 goals with at least 3 players having stinkers. Yes I know there's a lot of improving to do throughout the side but Eddie's starting from a decent platform : )

Top thing about last night :- all those Stains fans that have patronised, smirked or pretended to ignore us all these long decades, it's time to politely return the compliment. They can all move, change jobs, deny shared parentage before next weekend, at least. I'm going to be smiling at every Scummer I know all week, whether football comes up in the conversation won't be up to them : )
 
They said on Sky that was the first time Solanke had started back to back games. Obviously strikers do need a run of games to find form. The flip side is maybe there’s a reason managers haven’t trusted him for a run of games.

We are guilty of being overly harsh on whoever plays the no. 10 role for us. King and Afobe have both been hammered for their performances in the same role. When he finally gets that first goal it will be a weight of his shoulders but if he does play this role, he should be judged on more than just goals.
 
In All Departments said:
This. Unbelievable negativity after one of the nights of lives. After all the near misses recently I couldn’t give a monkeys how we did it. National media giving glowing praise too. Eddie knows we had to dig deep in the second half but his answer to the question “What does it mean to you?” tells us all we need to know...

“Everything”
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Negativity is born from complacency. I never take our prem status for granted and every point is hard fought. Admittedly Stacey and Rico got exposed a lot last night but, as reserves, there were plenty of positives too. Thought rico started playing with a bit of swagger in the first half. I thought h Wilson and king didn’t give enough support to either full back. Too often exposed. But that’s how we play.
 
Red Sky said:
Which is frustrating because most of us accepted 99% of offside decisions pre-VAR since the linesmen are dedicated to that one task and the margins are so fine. The main thing we hoped we would see the back of was incorrect and inconsistent application of the laws or things that the referee couldn't see properly, off the ball stuff etc.
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Except the linesman was a lineswoman last night. :)
 
Johnny Comelately said:
Ok, I see it wasn't clear that I was referring to the statement by Neil Dawson comparing Solanke to Pitman and Kermogant and saying they scored truckloads of goals. My point is, that was in lower divisions. Solanke is playing against much better opposition so it might be a tad more difficult for him to score. It's not exactly comparing like with like, is it?. Who knows, maybe he'd be scoring truckloads if he was playing in L1 or the Championship? Imo give him time, so far he's played in 10 games, most as a sub, so it seems a bit soon to me to be rushing to judgement.
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You missed the point. I’m fully aware that Brett and Yann played at an easier level and my belief is that neither would have scored goals in the Premier.

DJ was just saying they were the only two players that we liked in that position and I was replying with why I thought that was, not comparing their task to Solanke. There are number tens out there that score goals in the Prem and that is what Solanke will need to do if he is to keep his place. My view is that he doesn’t get into many goalscoring positions and on the few occasions he does his finishing is rushed and weak. Let’s hope he learns.

If he had showed the movement, speed and calm finish that Mousset did today we would be hailing him from the rafters...
 
AFCBade said:
Negativity is born from complacency. I never take our prem status for granted and every point is hard fought. Admittedly Stacey and Rico got exposed a lot last night but, as reserves, there were plenty of positives too. Thought rico started playing with a bit of swagger in the first half. I thought h Wilson and king didn’t give enough support to either full back. Too often exposed. But that’s how we play.
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Agree. I would imagine that no other side has two third choice full backs as good as ours.
 
Neil Dawson said:
If he had showed the movement, speed and calm finish that Mousset did today we would be hailing him from the rafters...
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I’m not sure “we” would. He’s a wildcard number 9, so not a like for like comparison to Solanke.

Callum Wilson shows movement, speed and calm finishes all the time and doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

What is it now nearly 30 goal involvements in 13 months, more than any other Englishman with the exception of Sterling? Yet two weeks ago there was a bizarre clamer to drop him...
 
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