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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by highfield49 at 12:10:05
I've got very little of any substance to add to your report Nick. Peretz is proving to be a sound acquisition and his weakness on crosses should be simple to eradicate by a decent coach. Jack Stephens looked competent, way beyond my usual negativity. Welington, as said above, looked like our best left back since Bertrand. Oyekunle, off the pace in reaction time to events but made his presence felt, so well worth his game time.
Stoke did give us more space and less pressure, with scant sustained press, so the issues concerning our leadership and organisation were not exploited as much as in recent matches. The question being, does a fixed and settled back four solve the problem by itself? I think it may well do so because Bree and Welington reduce the need for THB and Stephens to be drawn out of position. Settle the defence and you settle the team. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by PezzaSaint at 01:53:14
Played a back 4 for the last 3 games and have conceded 1 goal, surprise, surprise! New goalkeeper has helped, but THB and Jack Stephens are playing so much better in a 4 then they ever did as a 5!!! |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by 1962saint at 23:58:08
So many of the players looked to drive forward, Wellington especially excelled in this aspect. The other improvement on recent performances was how many 50/50 balls were won.
However, I'm not getting too carried away as Stoke were very poor in all positions and made it a rare comfortable watch. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by Alehouse at 23:47:43
I wasn't disappointed at all when I saw the line-up. In fact I thought for the first team we've got the best players on the pitch in the right formation. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by SaintPaulVW at 22:51:07
Lovely pass from THB to Fellows for that first goal.
Confidence seems to be up and 4 at the back seems to be working. Peretz seems to have something about him despite the odd howler, missing the ball completely with an air shot almost gave Stoke an early gift but then redeemed himself with a fantastic diving save a few minutes later.
Stewart has such a great footballing brain, plays some lovely lay offs and tries to get in the right position to receive balls. Fingers crossed he can stay fit until the end of the season.
COYR |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by Farlow at 21:36:40
I know Stewart looked a little short of match fitness but his link up play was excellent and physically
Had quite a presence something that’s missing when Armstrong plays |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by landsdownsaint at 20:25:06
The runs of the ball Stewart was making is something Armstrong doesn’t/can’t do , when we move that ball forward quickly we look very good but still to much negative Russell ball , gotta say THB was exceptional today … good result |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by SainteSimon at 18:49:35
Chose a good game for my first away jaunt of the season; think our best 90 minutes of the season too. Love away days like these; no sign of all the moaners and bores on social media and at St Mary’s, just 100% fans behind their team - great to be part of and total pleasure! |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by YosemiteSaint at 18:37:10
A slew of unfamiliar but really welcome thoughts came to mind watching this one:
-- Stoke were physical, but also allowed us acres of space. We ran them ragged!
-- Two world-class saves from Peretz, but our shape and diligence in defense meant he was rarely troubled and we kept the clean sheet.
-- Maybe it's addition by subtraction after all: Azaz, Downes, Charles, Stewart, etc. all looked freed up with Armstrong and Archer left out of the squad.
-- Lots of candidates for MOTM, but for me THB was both solid in defense, excellent on the ball, and a regular menace in attack. Hopefully we can prioritize building the squad around him, and must keep him as long as we can.
Hopefully we've got some traction now and can move up the table. Keep this up and maybe playoff places aren't out of the question; we're now 3 wins off the top six and 4 losses out of the relegation zone. COYR! |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by bryanK at 18:16:20
This was so much better. A lot of strong performances Harwood Bellis, Downes, Yander, Aziz and Fellows. Special praise to Wellington who was my man of the match. Also a very strong performance from Stephens who like many is not top of pick list, as you have Nick one of his much better days and long may it continue,
The team seen to flow and although Stewart wasn’t great it was far better than recent outings. Does make you wonder what lurks in the dressing room and the absence of Armstrong. SR get that new striker in ASAP. Onwards and hopefully upwards. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by Bowlercow at 16:35:37
Great result but just as important was the performance Not quite back to our best but definitely getting there
Non decisions by the officials could have ruined the afternoon
The good thing was none of our players let it get into their heads
I can't even give captain Jack a low mark
The back four must now be a fixture The pairing of Leo and Wellington looks likely to be matched by Bree and Fellows
Roll on next Saturday |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by Farlow at 16:32:07
Enjoyed the performance,Azaz gave a good old fashioned inside forwards performance his best game for Saints.We looked a lot much better with 2 proper full backs,though why it’s taken Eckart so long to realise Wellington is a classabove Manning I don’t know.Wellingtonreminds meof Ryan Bertrand.
Oyekunle will have learnt an awful lot today kept working and a strong lad.Well done lads a great team game |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by A1079 at 16:12:11
I thought today was a good all round team performance. No one had a bad game and everyone put a shift in. Strangely we seemed nervous after scoring the initial goal but settled down again. A better team than Stoke might have punished us on a couple of occasions, but I am pleased with the way we approached and dealt with the game. I thought we had 2 solid penalty shouts and Azaz should not have received a yellow for simulation. The Ref had a poor game but fortunately it did not affect the outcome. A pleasing weekend. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by IanRC at 16:01:05
That was perhaps the worst refereeing display I've seen this season. Booking Azaz when he was fouled in the penalty era was a complete farce and there were at least three other occasions when penalties should have been given. In fact he seemed to favour Stoke pretty much throughout.
Still it makes the result all the better. I agree with the above that Wellington was my man of the much a tremendous performance. The only time he was beaten was when their substitute fouled him but the referee failed to give it. COYS. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by halftimeorange at 15:53:31
I thought the removal of both Scienza and Stewart robbed us of our impetus going forward and put us somewhat on the back foot, and a more creative team than Stoke might have punished us however, as a result of a brilliant fingertip save from Peretz, the usual panic never caught hold and we ended the game thereafter untroubled. I agree with West Sussex Saintvthat, save for one slip on the edge of our penalty area, Welington had another solid game and was my MoM and should now have cemented his position as our starting LB. He looks more reliable than Manning and more attack-minded. I also thought the referee was rather poor, missing genuine fouls and being inconsistent. The pulling down of Stephens was obvious but, credit to Jack, he got up uncomplaining and had one of his better games in a Saints shirt. More like this, please! |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by kingolaf at 15:42:22
Didn’t realise that Perez got something on the shot
that hit the post, tremendous save.
Downes my MOTM. He was tremendous again. Azaz was very good. I thought Leo was a bit off it today. |
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Comment | Southampton At Stoke City The Verdict
by WestSussexSaint at 15:31:46
Good all round team performance and I would say that none of the starting 11 were less than 7 out of 10 and a few merited higher than that.
As you say hard to call out MOTM but for me Wellington was involved in everything both defensively and going forwards on the left. Hopefully that puts to bed the Manning wing back experiment.
Finally i thought the ref had a shocker. This is one of the up and coming refs who took a match in the PL last weekend and maybe he was waiting for VAR to rule on the pens. We should have had at least 2 for fouls on Stephens and Azaz. But there was inconsistency all over with some fouls meriting yellows when others of similar standing were not. Not good.
7 points from 9 and with a run of home games coming hopefully this is the start of a run up the table. |
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Comment | Southampton Side Announced To Face Stoke City
by Monksway at 12:23:31
Tonda is describing Armstrong's absence as a knock in training. In the team yesterday apparently! Must be a bit pissed off if Spors suddenly pulled him because a deal has been agreed. Could be an interesting few days after all. |
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