Premier League - Southampton FC vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[arana peligrosa]

Strong language and profanities on a message board, obscene isn't it. At least they allow over there proper use of it instead of edited out letters like some others. In any event caught game highlights, Muric after a shaky start seems to have grown in confidence and looks now something of an astute purchase. Morsy may not have scored when he did without no deflection but guess we'll never know. It saved us the game and took a point from the trip so it's all good. The kid that scored for them must have been part of their kindergarten squad set-up.

Fact is we haven't won no fixture in six attempts taking into account defeat to a team two, three leagues under in a Cup competition with it but the signs are there we're prepared to do battle and it's just a matter of obtaining that first victory back at top level and we can kick on from there. Hutchinson is going to be a big assist to us since we got him now on a permanent deal and once again Muric after a slow start at last looks value for the price we gave Burnley when coming in. We can't be Southampton's favorite team right now after denying them late on once again, they'll bitch and complain about losing out once more but the time will pass and both teams will and can move on to further objectives.

[Bluemike]

The thing is it is a learning process, we are learning things every week, every player is pretty much new to this and individually are learning, it's a massive thing. We have had a bloody tough start fixture wise and are not in the bottom three, that's a big plus. Southampton would have been desperate to win yesterday as it was probably viewed as their easiest game of the season, big blow to them. We are doing OK, trust the process, unbeaten in Three in the Premier League, who would have thought that 2 years ago ?

[Shed on tour]

What scenes when that equaliser went in and was glad that there was a barrier in front of me otherwise god knows where I would have ended up. Loved the Southampton, it’s happened again chant. My concern is despite having most of the procession in the first half we didn’t create many chances. Again, when we did get the ball wide in a good position the final ball into the box was poor.
Hopefully we can improve on this soon as if not that first win maybe a while coming. A lot of people thought this was going to be the game where we got that but no game away from home in this league is going to be easy and we will have to fight for a result against whoever we play. However, yet again we showed great character by believing we could get something from the game even when it looked like we wouldn’t.

[hallamblue]

Last two post spot on, but it's as well to acknowledge McKenna's comments pre Saturday that Town shouldn't really he considered on the same level as thd other two promoted teams,Leicester and Saints, because both these clubs have PL experienced squads, whereas Town, do not. With that in mind, I'd say we are doing phenomenally well, AND we've already played the two best clubs in the PL.

McKenna has already alluded to the fact that this squad is still bedding in and will likely be performing much better come November, than it currently is.

I'd take that ....

[AzzurroMark]

We are doing OK, trust the process, unbeaten in Three in the Premier League, who would have thought that 2 years ago ?

Just to add this little bit of context from the EADT...

" They may all be draws, but Ipswich are unbeaten in three Premier League games now. That's some achievement so early into a first campaign at this level in 22 years.

For context, Sheffield United didn't manage that for the whole of last season. It took Luton until January to do so and Burnley until March."

I think we should look at every little positive we can, as there'll be times we WILL need it.

Things don't get any easier with Aston Villa in town next up. As it stands, we will then have played all of the current top 3 sides (top 4 if Brighton can beat Forest today). While it may be folly to start looking at league positions at this early stage, I think most of those top placed teams will stay in and around the top 6. In fact, Southampton are the first team from out of the top 8 who we've played.

[Bluemike]

If you want cheering up I recommend this Saintweb forum page.

https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/topic/61111 ... d/page/12/

The language is a trifle coarse, proceed with caution.

A quality read lol. I'm so glad we didn't sign BBD after reading that, he sounds a right Donkey

[hallamblue]

https://x.com/FanHub/status/1837772669002887334

[shabba]

We were fairly good for the first 20mins, despite their early goal with their first attack.

However as others have said we just weren't good enough today, a win would have been huge but a draw isn't a disaster.

However that is a HUGE blow for saints, morale must be low with them now.

Going to be really tough this year for sure, but I'm pleased overall with the start. So happy for Morsy to get that goal.

[Charnwood]

In my opinion we just have to learn how to link up play better from the back to the front as 4:2:3:1 isn’t working for us with our current selections and we always seem to be a man short in midfield.
I made my suggestion earlier in the thread but how would others resolve this as without it our creative goal opportunities will remain minimal.

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

Agree about the link up play - we don't move the ball quick enough and the final is often not delivered clinically enough.
We need to either alter the personnel to fit the formation, or the formation to fit the personnel.

[Ricco]

I'd be more inclined to write off the Man C and Liverpool games as basically playing teams a division above, and then focus on the other 3 games. They've been tight and we've conceded as many as we've scored. We missed chances against Southampton and on another day would've bagged 2 or 3.

I'd say don't panic, it is a formation and system that had us averaging 2 goals a game last season, better than anyone in the division. We have many new players and I think we should trust the process of allowing them to fully bed in before notable changes should be considered. Before the start of the season with the amount of changes at the club, we'd have taken the results and performances so far, I'm certain of that. It's a case of hang in there until we're up to speed, to be where we are is excellent.

[Bluemike]

I'd be more inclined to write off the Man C and Liverpool games as basically playing teams a division above, and then focus on the other 3 games. They've been tight and we've conceded as many as we've scored. We missed chances against Southampton and on another day would've bagged 2 or 3.

I'd say don't panic, it is a formation and system that had us averaging 2 goals a game last season, better than anyone in the division. We have many new players and I think we should trust the process of allowing them to fully bed in before notable changes should be considered. Before the start of the season with the amount of changes at the club, we'd have taken the results and performances so far, I'm certain of that. It's a case of hang in there until we're up to speed, to be where we are is excellent.

That's pretty much where I am with it atm.

[hallamblue]

Yer, Ricco is far too sensible, can we ban him for that?

[Ricco]

Yer, Ricco is far too sensible, can we ban him for that?

Yeah I wouldn't vote against that, sensible is no fun, I bore myself with most of my posts

[Charnwood]

I'd be more inclined to write off the Man C and Liverpool games as basically playing teams a division above, and then focus on the other 3 games. They've been tight and we've conceded as many as we've scored. We missed chances against Southampton and on another day would've bagged 2 or 3.

I'd say don't panic, it is a formation and system that had us averaging 2 goals a game last season, better than anyone in the division. We have many new players and I think we should trust the process of allowing them to fully bed in before notable changes should be considered. Before the start of the season with the amount of changes at the club, we'd have taken the results and performances so far, I'm certain of that. It's a case of hang in there until we're up to speed, to be where we are is excellent.

I’m certainly not panicking Ricco in fact quite the opposite given the massive step up in the quality of opposition and the huge turnover of players. However the system we deployed so successfully last season in the Championship may not necessarily be the system that works as well for us this season. It may well do when the players are all up to speed with one another and I guess we’ll have a better idea next month when we have a run of games
against a few teams closer to our level eg, West Ham, Everton. Brentford & Leicester. After that little run we’ll have a much better idea of our chances of staying up but I’ll feel much happier after we’ve bagged a couple of wins.
I still think to achieve this we need to have more dominance in midfield which may need some tweaking.

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

I'd be more inclined to write off the Man C and Liverpool games as basically playing teams a division above, and then focus on the other 3 games. They've been tight and we've conceded as many as we've scored. We missed chances against Southampton and on another day would've bagged 2 or 3.

I'd say don't panic, it is a formation and system that had us averaging 2 goals a game last season, better than anyone in the division. We have many new players and I think we should trust the process of allowing them to fully bed in before notable changes should be considered. Before the start of the season with the amount of changes at the club, we'd have taken the results and performances so far, I'm certain of that. It's a case of hang in there until we're up to speed, to be where we are is excellent.

Maybe, but that was in the Championship. And even last season many on this board were saying that we were too ponderous in our build up and needed to move the ball quicker.

The PL is a big step up, and we can't expect not to have to tweak our approach ro suit it.
I'm not panicking by any means, but I do recognise the fact that our final ball needs improving if we are going to score regularly. I watched the Fulham game over the weekend - the way they moved the ball around (and the movement off the ball) was a million miles away from us. Just saying

[Bluemike]

Couldn't beat us though

[Ricco]

I guess my thoughts would be that if you move to a different system there is always negatives that come with the positives, and so I'm personally happy to accept the negatives of this approach.

The only other way of playing I can see is going to three centre backs, but the current approach is more aggressive if we can make it work, and I think that's McKenna's opinion too.

There are so many intricacies to our tactics that we don't know about or understand, that the players work on day in day out, some of them for years now, it's what has brought us success. I think it would be a tad mad to start changing direction when nothing is failing or broken.

I get that tactics need to be adapted to the situation, but that has and will happen further. I think it's cruel to compare ourselves to Fulham, who finished 10th in the Premiership when we were just getting out of League 1. They've had such a headstart, we've overachieved and we're now desperately scrambling around trying to recruit and pull a team together, the fact we drew with them so soon is astounding and if anything is testament to how the system is relevant in this division.

[Ricco]

Couldn't beat us though

I need to be more efficient with my musings... I could have just said this

[hallamblue]

Like McKenna said, we are different to the other two teams that got promotion. Saints snd Leicester have established PL squads, we by contrast have a squad largely built in League One that had gone to division. We have only now added 11 higher quality players. These players have to GEL, or as McKenna refers to it, as bedding in, and understanding what the coaches want from them. It takes time. Let's see what we're doing in Nov/ Dec time.

[Charnwood]

Like McKenna said, we are different to the other two teams that got promotion. Saints snd Leicester have established PL squads, we by contrast have a squad largely built in League One that had gone to division. We have only now added 11 higher quality players. These players have to GEL, or as McKenna refers to it, as bedding in, and understanding what the coaches want from them. It takes time. Let's see what we're doing in Nov/ Dec time.

I still think we have enough talent in the squad to stay up and that will be plenty good enough for me this season and next. I see Nottingham Forest as a very similar club to Ipswich and they scraped through for their first two seasons with 38 and 32 points and this season have started strongly. I’ll be more than happy if we can follow their example and of course they also had to do it with a 4 points deduction penalty last season.

[Bluemike]

Like McKenna said, we are different to the other two teams that got promotion. Saints snd Leicester have established PL squads, we by contrast have a squad largely built in League One that had gone to division. We have only now added 11 higher quality players. These players have to GEL, or as McKenna refers to it, as bedding in, and understanding what the coaches want from them. It takes time. Let's see what we're doing in Nov/ Dec time.

I still think we have enough talent in the squad to stay up and that will be plenty good enough for me this season and next. I see Nottingham Forest as a very similar club to Ipswich and they scraped through for their first two seasons with 38 and 32 points and this season have started strongly. I’ll be more than happy if we can follow their example and of course they also had to do it with a 4 points deduction penalty last season.

Exactly that Andy, 4th bottom all season will do for me.

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

4th bottom will do for me too, but you're missing the point.

Saturday's game saw one change from the previous game, and that change was enforced. I happen to think that the game might have had a different outcome had Phillips been fit - I was looking forward to seeing Cajust start but I have to say he disappointed me given that it was a great opportunity for him.

But to play the same 3 behind the striker and in the same positions as the week before (when we failed to score) is not adjusting the personnel to the system in my book, and I did say that either the system or the personnel needed a bit of tweaking. Hutchinson has disappointed me in his central role so far, and I don't think Szmodics is best suited to playing on the left. That's what I meant by tweaking the personnel to fit the system - why not try Clarke on the left, Hutchinson on the right, and Szmodic through the centre? I think that would add a bit of bite going forward.

[Bluemike]

Couldn't agree more Gary, I've never understood why so many like Hutchinson in the central role, I don't think it's a good position for him and I don't believe he looks anywhere near as good playing it, he has also been very in and out this season so far, I don't think he's 100% right.

As I stated previously I would without question play Hutchinson right, Szmodics central and Clarke Left in behind Delap who simply has to start.

I still think Cajuste is going to be a very good addition although it wasn't a great game for him, in actual fact Taylor looked very bright when he came on. Phillips would almost certainly have started had he been fit but he's still got a lot to do to convince me he's a certain starter, he did look good against Fulham though but Brighton was tougher.

To be honest despite what we all think I don't see McKenna changing tactics or formations too much and nor should he, I firmly believe after a few weeks we'll be looking much better but we do need the quality upped in one or Two areas, mainly delivery and final balls into attacking players but that will come the more these guys train and play together.

[Ricco]

Hear hear, I agree with all that, I would have had Mike's line up as I've mentioned a million times, but I don't think the tactics are off.

I think Cajuste is a raw diamond, he has all the attributes, but he's young and I don't think he is tactically mature. What two players to learn from though in Phillips and Morsy. So he'll get there, but I'm not sure it will be this season, I think he will only feature through injury and suspension, and we know Luongo will always give a half decent performance too. I was surprised to see Taylor on too, I felt that smacked of desperation, but maybe I'm being harsh.

[ITFC2024]

We all think we’re experts on line ups and player’s positions, but obviously KM is far more qualified than any of us to make those decisions. I’m sure he’s addressed the need for more urgency in our link up play, and I’m sure we’ll improve in those areas. Bottom line is we need to score more goals if we have a realistic chance of surviving. I’m confident that will happen, but it’s a very difficult league obviously. I don’t see us getting anything from Villa, but we’re still growing. I predicted we’d be relegated, but I’m beginning to think we have a good chance to survive.

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

We all think we’re experts on line ups and player’s positions, but obviously KM is far more qualified than any of us to make those decisions. I’m sure he’s addressed the need for more urgency in our link up play, and I’m sure we’ll improve in those areas. Bottom line is we need to score more goals if we have a realistic chance of surviving. I’m confident that will happen, but it’s a very difficult league obviously. I don’t see us getting anything from Villa, but we’re still growing. I predicted we’d be relegated, but I’m beginning to think we have a good chance to survive.

Time will tell, of course, but at the moment there's little to back up your assertion that urgency in the link-up play is being addressed, and even if it has been then I'm not sure that the current personnel in their present positions are capable of delivering consistently the type of final ball that will lead to the goals you say we so desperately need.

[Charnwood]

4th bottom will do for me too, but you're missing the point.

Saturday's game saw one change from the previous game, and that change was enforced. I happen to think that the game might have had a different outcome had Phillips been fit - I was looking forward to seeing Cajust start but I have to say he disappointed me given that it was a great opportunity for him.

But to play the same 3 behind the striker and in the same positions as the week before (when we failed to score) is not adjusting the personnel to the system in my book, and I did say that either the system or the personnel needed a bit of tweaking. Hutchinson has disappointed me in his central role so far, and I don't think Szmodics is best suited to playing on the left. That's what I meant by tweaking the personnel to fit the system - why not try Clarke on the left, Hutchinson on the right, and Szmodic through the centre? I think that would add a bit of bite going forward.

A rare event Rossi, we’re both on the same page. Since the day we signed Jack Clarke a player I’d watched play many times for Sunderland, I’ve been calling for our 3 behind Delap to be Hutchinson on the right Szmodics in the middle and Clarke on the left. For me this offers our best chance of moving the ball from back to front as both Hutch and Clarke are prepared to come back to receive the ball and have thd pace to get it upfield quickly. I think Ogbene has the same ability but I’m not sure where he fits other than back up for the other two.
We certainly look a better team with Phillips playing and I’d like to see Phillips, Morsy & Cajuste in midfield but I’m not sure how we could achieve this unless we go 3:5:3 or 4:3:3 which we all know is highly unlikely.
If we exclude our first 2 games against Liverpool and Manchester City, our Form ranking for our last 3 games would place us Joint 10th in the table with Spurs, Brighton and Crystal Palace with 3 points & zero goal difference. For anyone concerned that should be an encouraging statistic.

My only short term worry is that Villa would be top of the table on 9 points from their last 3 games with 8 goals scored and 4 against.

Role on our following four games against West Ham, Everton, Brentford & Leicester who all sit below us on the 3 game form table with just 6 points between them with West Ham, Everton & Leicester City each only picking up 1 point from 9 in their last 3 games.

After the Leicester game on 2 November we’ll certainly have a better idea of how we’re doing and our chances of survival given our new boys will have had another 6 weeks to gel together and we’ll have played a complete cross section of Premier League teams from the strongest to the weakest.

[ITFC2024]

We all think we’re experts on line ups and player’s positions, but obviously KM is far more qualified than any of us to make those decisions. I’m sure he’s addressed the need for more urgency in our link up play, and I’m sure we’ll improve in those areas. Bottom line is we need to score more goals if we have a realistic chance of surviving. I’m confident that will happen, but it’s a very difficult league obviously. I don’t see us getting anything from Villa, but we’re still growing. I predicted we’d be relegated, but I’m beginning to think we have a good chance to survive.

Time will tell, of course, but at the moment there's little to back up your assertion that urgency in the link-up play is being addressed, and even if it has been then I'm not sure that the current personnel in their present positions are capable of delivering consistently the type of final ball that will lead to the goals you say we so desperately need.

I'm sure it's been addressed in training; it just isn't being executed. As you say, we may not have the personnel to deliver. With more games under the squad's belt, hopefully that will change.