Southampton Thread

[robindubois]

Colback and Dozzell both start. Willock and Dykes not even on the bench

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[Macmoish]

And of course no Dykes either

[rickyqpr]

Willock not in the 20 man squad.
Nor is our expensive signing Richards - but he looked so unfit last week....
At least Saints have sold Tella! Their two signings did not sign in time yesterday.

[kenthoop]

how the hell does Dozzzell get in the starting eleven everytime ? this reminds me of the Luke Amos scenario always selected and useless but the Breadman rated him ,shame nobody else did 😊😀

[robindubois]

Aug 26, 2023 13:16:13 GMT rickyqpr said:

Willock not in the 20 man squad.
Nor is our expensive signing Richards - but he looked so unfit last week....
At least Saints have sold Tella! Their two signings did not sign in time yesterday.

After Ipswich we were told Willock was only planned to play 60 minutes and he came off early because he was "exhausted" not having played. On Thursday we were told Willock was training and Nan important part of the picture. Now not even on the bench.

Would normally say it smells like a pending sale but in his current condition, injury record and poor form who would buy him.

Richards - Brighton must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Dozzell - hook him pre match in the warm up and get on Dixon-Bonner or Duke-Mckenna  

Bala - Hat trick for the Development squad last time out.

[rickyqpr]

Aug 26, 2023 13:19:37 GMT kenthoop said:

how the hell does Dozzzell get in the starting eleven everytime ? this reminds me of the Luke Amos scenario always selected and useless but the Breadman rated him ,shame nobody else did 😊😀

Dozzell - I hoped he would put an extra man in the middle and start Colback.
The problem is that we are such a tiny team.
If we play Dukes-McKenna, Smyth and Chair. then there is no height.
Casper the friendly ghost (Dozzell) does not warrant his starting position though. He must be under pressure from Aoraha - and that says it all.
So little choice.

[londonranger]

1-1 T HT We hardly had any possession yet Soton seemed mesmerized.

[robindubois]

I wonder if Armstrong and or Smyth tire - what would happen if put Kolli and Bala on together. I assume they know each others game from the Development squad and from what I have read both seem to know where the back of the net is.

Imagine if they both break into the team along with Armstrong and we have 3 young talented goal scorers plus Dykes and Smyth.

No harm in dreaming but stranger things have happened.

Anyway at least we have had a few shots and scored

[londonranger]

We lost 2-1 after endless amount of injury time. 2 of our players had excellent chances for a draw but stubbed their toes. For my money losing 2-1 to Soton is good result

[spanishal]

Thought we played well but not well enough. Created chances and didn’t take them, Saints had two and took them and that says it all. Quite the worst Ref I’ve seen. Armstrong offside goal with a Saints player in the goal line-really?

[Macmoish]

For my money - playing well but losing is just morale destroying for the players.
And unless we start to win; we'll start to play poorly and lose.
And I don't blame Ainsworth - He has no one to choose. Especially for the bench.
Now players not being able to play a whole game is a little concerning!

[nomar]

There at least appears to be 4 or 5 teams struggling as badly as us, so we have to hope we can take points off of them when we play them.

[kilburnhoop]

That's 4 losses out of 5, we are playing well, so it is all ok. Middlesboro away next week, big game for Ainsworth.

[robindubois]

It's quite simple. If we had taken our chances we would have taken the 3 points - same against Ipswich.

Why are we not taking them - inexperience, wrong players getting the chances but also likely clack of confidence and being anxious. The more we miss the worse it gets. A good 4-0 win would make the world of difference or just one of our players to start firing and we will be fine.

However if we do not start to take our chances the pressure will build both on thepitch and in the table. There seem to be a few teams struggling more than us at the moment and playing worse football than us but we cannot rely on that for a whole season. The next few games will be key - Boro is really a game we need to win then we need to get some home form going - so far we have only played 1 home game so things are a little distorted.

Pity about missing Stansfield (if we tried). Injury time winner for Brum while we had inexperienced Kolli who could not take his chance. Small margins.

Doubt we will see anyone coming in but of the 3 positions I have been harping on about I would narrow it down to 2 as key - striker and right back.

[rickyqpr]

Not very impressed with Begovic. Distribution is awful, and at fault for the first goal...again.
Watch Seny have a blinder next Saturday!

[robindubois]

Aug 27, 2023 13:58:17 GMT rickyqpr said:

Not very impressed with Begovic. Distribution is awful, and at fault for the first goal...again.
Watch Seny have a blinder next Saturday!

Distribution is not as we have seen last few seasons but how many on here have said they saw enough of Dieng Dunne and Dickie passing it around. Ainsworths style is more direct and Bergovic may well be following instructions but not doing it so well.

Re the goal yes he could have done better but having watched it a few times I would equally put the blame down to the defenders who let the scorers basically walk into the area unchallenged and were stood yards off him unchallenged to allow the shot. All round poor goal from dropping back too far again just as for the Ipswich goal.