Saints v Burnley - Match Day Thread

[NewClaret]

Lowton left his man Redmond for a free hit poor

Agreed. He’s been in fine form but you’ve got to be closer.

Mee at fault for the other two - getting drawn out by Ings’ check back and then the second was a shambles. Should probably have dived in outside the box.

[tiger76]

Not enough quality since Southampton got back into it. We really need a BIG midfielder coming in during the summer. I know a lot want a youngster but I think someone who has the experience to boss our midfield. Hugely disappointing after our start.

Totally agree on the midfielder, we yet again got overrun in that area, and it's not the first time that's happened this season.

Number one priority in the next window for me, if you don't control midfield you'll always struggle to win games at this level.

[Longsidebogs]

What happened to shutting up shop. We were 2-0 up FFS. Unforgivable. The only player who could have got us a point was Vydra, who looked more than a little cheesed of to be subbed. I hope he leaves this window. He deserves so much better!

[elwaclaret]

Ings the difference between the teams. a goal and 2 assists and a not to be forgotten big goal celebration.

Why would Ings not celebrate a Southampton win, he may have been our player but he is a Southampton fan, scoring to keep his team safe. I’d be celebrating wildly and then wishing my former team mates all the best for the rest of the season.

[SalisburyClaret]

Full strength Southampton are a very strong side. We should have had a pen but not to be. Have to keep the ball better when ahead

[Boss Hogg]

Westwood might be better with Cirk next to him. Just s thought. But it needs upgrading we are far too weak in the middle.

[Spijed]

I hate to sound like a broken record but our midfield has no idea how to protect the defence or control a game. Westwood and Brownhill are simply not good enough for the PL, especially as we play with two men wide: we get overrun in midfield by every team in the division. This has to be the area to strengthen.

Surely if that's the case we wouldn't have seen out games like we often do.

[Stalbansclaret]

Ings the difference between the teams. a goal and 2 assists and a not to be forgotten big goal celebration.

I find it incredibly easy to forget opposition goal celebrations....in fact I've definitely forgotten it.

[Belgianclaret]

If that’s no penalty on Wood then I don’t know what is?

[jojomk1]

Westwood might be better with Cirk next to him. Just s thought. But it needs upgrading we are far too weak in the middle.

Westwood can't get any better, unfortunately

Is Cirk a new signing - it feels like one

[RingoMcCartney]

The Dutch commentator on my link sneaked an REM reference in. Anyone else notice the , "that's Mee in the corner"?....

[tiger76]

Surely if that's the case we wouldn't have seen out games like we often do.

Isn't our ability to grind results out mainly due to our defence, the midfield has been a problem area for far too long now, and it urgently needs addressing in the summer window, if we don't get at least 1 cm who is comfortable on the ball, and can control the tempo of a game, then I fear for our survival prospects next term, we'll probably just about get away with our lack of investment this season, but the warning signs can't be ignored.

[elwaclaret]

Westwood has been largely off top form for much of the season, it happens, I do not believe he has become a bad player just misses having Cork doing the dirty jobs. I think Brownhill and Westy are too similar.

[jojomk1]

Efan Ekoku was spot on at the beginning of the match when he said that sometimes players suffer from long breaks between matches and can't get into the pace after such an international break
We had a lot like that today
Going 2-0 up flattered us and we got what we deserved

[Superjohnnyfrancis]

We really dont have a plan B and 4-3-3 or whatever we were playing in the second half dosent work very well

[burnley007]

Dyche - 3 was he even watching what was happening?? Why was Cork on the bench if he wasn't available? Westwood was appalling

[chekhov]

The Dutch commentator on my link sneaked an REM reference in. Anyone else notice the , "that's Mee in the corner"?....

Ah, not just me that heard that! Good spot.

[jojomk1]

Dyche - 3 was he even watching what was happening?? Westwood was appalling

Get your tin hat on

[Whitgord]

Pundits all saying saints are safe now so we are only 3 points from that. Today I think we lost the plot after Pieters got injured. He has been able to play lots of different roles for us. Taylor did ok but looked short of match sharpness. We move on

[DCWat]

I hate to sound like a broken record but our midfield has no idea how to protect the defence or control a game. Westwood and Brownhill are simply not good enough for the PL, especially as we play with two men wide: we get overrun in midfield by every team in the division. This has to be the area to strengthen.

I’ve been advocating midfield reinforcements for a long time. There have been moments from Brownhill so I wouldn’t write him off just yet - he’ll hopefully keep improving.

The biggest problem for me, predominantly with midfield, is that there’s very little movement off the ball. We limit ourselves from a passing perspective by being so rigid, though that does bring some solidity.

[Jakubclaret]

Totally agree on the midfielder, we yet again got overrun in that area, and it's not the first time that's happened this season.

Number one priority in the next window for me, if you don't control midfield you'll always struggle to win games at this level.

It makes hell of a difference, you’ll end up drawing the games you should be winning & losing the games you should be drawing, today with a solid compact mobile midfield you are looking at a pt, over the course of a season that could amount to a extra 6/10.

[RingoMcCartney]

Isn't our ability to grind results out mainly due to our defence, the midfield has been a problem area for far too long now, and it urgently needs addressing in the summer window, if we don't get at least 1 cm who is comfortable on the ball, and can control the tempo of a game, then I fear for our survival prospects next term, we'll probably just about get away with our lack of investment this season, but the warning signs can't be ignored.

Why is it that you never have a Steven Defour when you need one!?......

[Aclaret]

Hope Pieters didn't do any further damage by staying on for a few more minutes.

[claretblue]

1st Southampton home win for 3 months!

[chekhov]

Efan Ekoku was spot on at the beginning of the match when he said that sometimes players suffer from long breaks between matches and can't get into the pace after such an international break
We had a lot like that today
Going 2-0 up flattered us and we got what we deserved

I thought we were good value for our lead myself, although over the whole match on balance soton deserved to win.

[Taffy on the wing]

Can I start early on the player ratings?

Pope 4
Lowts 4
Tarks 5
Mee 3
Taylor 4
Dwight 4
Westy 3
Brownhill 3
JBG n/a as didn't touch the ball

Get a life!
Find another team to support.

[jojomk1]

The Dutch commentator on my link sneaked an REM reference in. Anyone else notice the , "that's Mee in the corner"?....

That's Mee in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my striker Ings
Trying to keep up with him and I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much, I haven't done enough

I thought that I heard people laughing
I thought that I heard the crowd sing
I think I thought I saw you cry

Too bloody true Ben !!!

[Boss Hogg]

Westwood can't get any better, unfortunately

Is Cirk a new signing - it feels like one

I wish it was predictive text is more exciting than our transfer windows

[NewClaret]

I’ve been advocating midfield reinforcements for a long time. There have been moments from Brownhill so I wouldn’t write him off just yet - he’ll hopefully keep improving.

The biggest problem for me, predominantly with midfield, is that there’s very little movement off the ball. We limit ourselves from a passing perspective by being so rigid, though that does bring some solidity.

Think that’s an instruction mate, not a reflection on the players.

[AfloatinClaret]

1st Southampton home win for 3 months!

I commented just before kick off that I wish we'd played them a fortnight ago whilst Ings and Walcott were still injured; once they'd had half an hour to get back into the swing of things, those two really pulled us apart and Soton deserved their win. Yes the shirt tug on Wood was a stonewall penalty, but I'm not as convinced about the one for the foul on Pieters, that was certainly no more deserving of a penalty than the Mee handball early on.

[ewanrob]

Fairly honest assessment

Burnley boss Sean Dyche: "We had a lot of control in the first half an hour and did the simple things well. Then we flat-lined for 15 minutes. You cannot do that in the Premier League.

"Without being disrespectful to Southampton, we presented them with a chance to win the game and were a little bit naive.

"The second half was a ding-dong. We've gone from having game after game to having three weeks off. It's tricky and we didn't react like we normally do.

"That said, we do know how to see games off. It was a strange game because there were a lot of good things about it."

[Targetman]

Efan Ekoku was spot on at the beginning of the match when he said that sometimes players suffer from long breaks between matches and can't get into the pace after such an international break
We had a lot like that today
Going 2-0 up flattered us and we got what we deserved

Cant agree with that. Being 2 nil up at that stage didn't flatter us at all.
It was later in the game where we were found wanting.

[Zlatan]

That's Mee in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my striker Ings
Trying to keep up with him and I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much, I haven't done enough

I thought that I heard people laughing
I thought that I heard the crowd sing
I think I thought I saw you cry

Too bloody true Ben !!!

That’s not bad...

Any chance you could put your lyrical majesty in to sort something out for Ben that isn’t the dwarf song...?