| My take on yesterday's game 22:54 - Oct 27 with 1244 views | A1079 |
I have had a good weekend in Manchester interrupted by a football game. This is my take on the game and wider. It is just my opinion, many will see things differently which is what forums like this are for.
Few, if anyone thought that it would be anything but a rout and that it would be damage limitation at best. That feeling was not dispelled when we had not even managed to get to the 5 minute point of the game and Man City were in the lead courtesy of a Haaland goal. The surprise is that it proved to be the only goal of the match and thus the winner.
The match to be truthful, was dull and largely insipid. Man City having got the lead seemed content with it and barely broke out of first or second gear and I doubt never broke sweat. They were content for us to have spells of possession and we rarely threatened. We did hit the bar at the closing stages of the first half and had that gone in, could it have been a surprise outcome to the game or would it merely have poked the bear and woken it up? - on evidence of previous games, I suspect the latter. The second half felt like both sides were going through the motions but we had a flurry at the end which bought a little hope to the ever patient away fans. Fernandes, Lallana (his experience showed in the first half and I can't help but wonder, had he not left as he did and we Saints fans had been a bit more forgiving we could have enjoyed and benefited from his return much earlier) and KWP had good games and we did show some endeavour and we kept our structure but then it was not really tested that much. Man City have loads of games, bigger ones than Saints and it is as if they decided this was a game that they didn't feel they needed to take risks. Against other sides they may have been made to pay for that approach.
The officials did not give much, if in fact, anything. Gary O'Neil dared to suggest that there is unconscious bias. Of course he got in trouble for that comment and PL loving pundits said he was wrong. I think most of us know what O'Neil meant and it is difficult to disagree with him.
Those of us in the away end felt at the end that the team deserved some recognition for the effort and really because we had not got the thrashing we all expected. In many ways, that is almost a sad reflection of what we now deem as acceptable. Celebrating a defeat in which neither side exactly busted a gut. Had we lost 3-2 or something then you could have walked away saying that we had seen a good game and we were unlucky.
But, pundits, commentators, Guardiola and Silva praised Saints. Is it meaningful or patronising? What I find hard to accept is that somehow us Saints fans are supposed to be grateful for losing and being bottom. That we are being unrealistic and unreasonable for expecting anything more. Imagine if it was one of the so called big teams without a win, barely a goal to celebrate - there would massive noise. I (and I believe a majority of Saints fans) was realistic what this season would bring and many of us thought relegation was the most likely outcome and we would be mildly happy to finish 4th from bottom and then build from there.
Few of us really thought that we would be looking at almost certain relegation by the end of October/early November but if we don't beat Everton (and they looked awful against Fulham) next week then you would have to say that relegation is all but confirmed - I appreciate that is defeatist but when people say that yesterdays game and result will not define our season and we did well, that may be the case, but the games against Ipswich, Leicester, Brentford, Bournemouth and next week do define our season and whilst no game is easy, there are some games you would have expected more than the 1 point we currently have and would have kept us in the pack. |  | | |  |
| My take on yesterday's game on 07:00 - Oct 28 with 1029 views | TripleNiemi |
A very good, non emotional take / post.
Most of our fanbase are pragmatists and were always expecting a tough season, but I don’t think all of us were expecting a solitary point after nion a quarter of the season played. To be honest, it’s not just that one point that irks, it’s the manner we are throwing points away and the style. You sum it up perfectly by line ‘The match, to be truthful was dull and largely insipid’. And therein is it in a nutshell for me, football has to be entertaining for me, and this manager is eroding my enjoyment for watching us, and whilst I have enjoyed many a Saints relegation battle, this is far from enjoying. [Post edited 28 Oct 7:00]
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| My take on yesterday's game on 09:02 - Oct 28 with 893 views | GRIM |
I agree that we should not take too much notice of what Pep said complimenting our team & RM's beliefs.
It was patronising.
He once took Nathan Redmond to one side put his arm around him & told him how good he could be.
We all know how good Redmond wasn't.
I like Pep & he's a great Coach but he should cut out his after match remarks about opposition & stick to praising his own team. [Post edited 28 Oct 9:03]
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| My take on yesterday's game on 09:04 - Oct 28 with 884 views | Berber |
WE were largely ineffectual, and Man City wasted a hatful of opportunities, as you say, without breaking sweat. Haaland should have had 3, let alone the others. I am finding this season a cross between excruciatingly boring and excruciatingly painful. I thought last season was bad enough from a footballing perspective, but this approach is more than sad.
To succeed with the current style, we need to be well drilled and be able to concentrate for the 100 mins or so a match lasts these days. We are woefully short on both of these qualities. RM is a rich man whether he succeeds or not, so too it appears are the executives making the calls on how the club is run and develops. |  |
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