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Saints V Leicester City The Verdict
Sunday, 18th Oct 2015 09:22

This felt like a defeat such was the disappointment of conceding an equaliser so late in the game, but the reality was that this was a decent point in the scheme of things.

Saints looked to be cruising to victory at half time against Leicester City after goals from the central defensive pair José Conte and Virgil Van Dijk put Saints in the driving seat.

But it was very much a game of two halves and in the second it was Saints hanging on as the visitors clawed back the possession stats and had the majority of chances with Saints looking very tired which was understandable given how many of the team had been away on international duty over the last week or so.

In the end the possession stats ended honours even but Leicester had a massive 26 attempts on target compared to Saints 14 and this was the issue in that 2nd half.

Claudio Ranieri won the battle of the tactics, bringing on Nathan Dyer and Rihad Mahrez, the latter creating chance after chance for the Foxes and when Jamie Vardy halved the deficit with just under 25 minutes to go the writing was on the wall and it looked to be a long final period for Saints.

They gritted their teeth and hung on though or at least it looked like they might and it was deep into the five minutes of stoppage time before Vardy managed toscore his and Leicester's second to snatch a point and in doing to make sure they stayed in fifth rather than being leapfrogged by Saints who had to settle for 8th.

Disappointing given that we were so close to that win, but in the grand scheme of things it was still another game unbeaten and against the shock form side of the Premier League.

A bad day at the office for Saints, or at least a bad second half, but testament to how strong we are these days that we did not lose and ground out a point, a few things to work on though, but as always we keep marching forward, taking the positives and ironing out the negatives.

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DPeps added 09:56 - Oct 18
A quarter of the way through the season and it's been a mixed bag so far. Personally I don't feel we're near the standard we were at this time last season. I've said this before but we seem crumbly and I don't have confidence that we can keep leads, which is unlike the last few seasons. Everton and Man Utd games also showed that we can go to pieces. Not sure what the reason is for this - I suspect not adequately replacing Schneiderlin. I'm not sure about Romeu but obviously he wasn't playing yesterday. Things have generally looked better since VVD and Bertrand have come in but clearly things aren't entirely sorted.

A couple of things about yesterday: Clasie will get some stick but I said months ago that he'll need time. The reason the big teams didn't go for him is because of his lack of physicality. He's small and slight and needs bulking up to cope. This will take time.
On selection: why Kelvin Davis? Why not Gazza? At least if Gazza makes a mistake he'll hopefully learn from it and not do it again in the career ahead of him. Davis has little career ahead.
Lastly, fair play to Leicester. Good team, attractive football, and some excellent players.
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StRipper added 10:12 - Oct 18
I think it was a coming together of failings that cost is yesterday. Our team entering the second half maybe with an attitude that the job was done. A referee that was inconsistent, unfortunately hire it worked out, by making decisions that have impetus to the opposition. Some great substitutions by Claudio and brilliant play by Mahrez. And sadly, worst of all for me, a determination by our manager to give a returning player game time ahead of ensuring the result. The decision to bring on Clasie was baffling, as we were under pressure already, so doing a like for like substitution and replacing Davis was never going to change anything. The change for Cedric was obviously enforced but I can't understand where the logic was to play Clasie.
Other fans berating Kelvin and Yoshida is unfair as conceding two goals wasn't their fault. Wanyama was riding a yellow card, Ward Prowse was adding nothing, getting in poor positions and kept losing the ball. Even players like Bertrand were making bad decisions.
All very frustrating but Koeman could have made a difference by bringing on Romeu to protect our defence more. Instead he opted to waste the sub and take off Steve Davis who wasn't having a bad game just to get Clasie on. That decision for me made the difference. Would also have helped to take Tadic off earlier as we know his defending is shocking but perhaps if we had shored up defence then we would have maintained more of a threat going forward so it wouldn't have been an issue. Bad day at the office for you Ronald.
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IanRC added 10:12 - Oct 18
Difficult to argue that Leicester deserved a point after a disappointing second half display. Let's hope it is just tiredness and that normal service is resumed at Anfield.

Refereeing was again not in our favour with Bertrand and Wanyama booked for relatively minor offenses whilst Vardy escaped with nothing for his late tackle on Fonte.
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schatfield added 10:42 - Oct 18
our old boy Nathan Dyer made a huge difference, odd why the swans didnt keep him. Agree on Classie, seems our manager was more keen to give him playing time than other things, and Romeu would have helped there. Vardy was quality.
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bstokesaint added 10:54 - Oct 18
Nick, I like the way you always post match reports a day after the game. The problem with posts on the DE is that they are knee jerk and players a tend to get singled out in a venting of frustration.

Personally I think you're spot on that it was a coming together of errors that cost us. I'm sure tiredness and complacency played a part. It was unfortunate that Cedric was a forced substitution as he was doing okay and Yoshida unfortunately played Vardy onside for the equaliser. I find it hard to blame Yoshi though because again he finds himself covering a position which isn't naturally his own. Tactically Koeman got it wrong. He put a lot of faith in the new man when Romeu was definitely the right man and I'm not sure what the Jay Rod sub did for us. Our shape was completely lost by that stage.

I was going to take a shot at the officials too for giving Leicester the impetus with the balance of a lot of non fouls by us and not punishing them enough for their fouls. Having watched back MOTD though VVD's goal was definitely offside. They're still rubbish officials, but they did us a favour.

I agree Peps that it's been a bit of a mixed bag this season, but this is definitely a stronger team for me with the return of Bertrand. He might not have been great yesterday, but look at the results with VVD and Ryan and we're much more settled, especially with the regular keeper. No disrespect to Kelvin, but it was obvious yesterday he's been out a while with a few miscommunications at the back. That's to be expected.

Last of all fair play to Leicester. There aren't any superstars (Vardy could be if he was more prolific), but they work their ar$es off for each other.
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SaintPaulVW added 11:01 - Oct 18
I can't remember which commentator it was but they always used to bang on about 2-0 being psychologically the most dangerous lead in football. Leicester seem to have taken it to heart.

It feels like 2 points lost rather than 1 gained but if you are going to slip up a draw against a team in form isn't too disastrous.

Our season will be better than last if we can avoid the long barren spells that we had last season. We've got off to a slightly slower start but we're still up amongst it. Hopefully with the defence beginning to mesh and the greater squad competition we can improve steadily over the entire season rather than go missing in some months.
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helpineedsomebody added 11:05 - Oct 18
little bit harsh the posts above
our manager has had too build 2 teams in the last year
this team still needs more time but there are getting there
every game for leicester at the moment is like a fa cup tie when there energy levels start to fade thats when the confidence will drop then we will see if they have plan B
as for jordy you dont pay 9 million pounds if you are not 100% sure about him
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IWOZTHERE added 11:59 - Oct 18
If Chelsea was 'dreamland' this was a nightmare, although you can't buy Leicester's 'never say die' attitude and fair play to them. Clasie was obviously 'on a promise' but sorry Ron, that was a crazy decision.
OK, given the upheaval and injuries we're not in a bad position but we should have been going to Liverpool on the crest of a massive wave. As it is, it feels as if we lost. I'm sure Ronald will address the issue but you don't get belief and momentum from training, it comes from results and this may be more of a setback than just dropping two points.
Why do our old players,like Dyer, come back to haunt us? Please...not next week.......
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corkcitysaint added 12:02 - Oct 18
The 11 players that ran on to the pitch for the second half looked very like the same ones that ran off at half time but they certainly didn't play like them!

Last season, when we were in a winning position, I always felt that it was game over, game won as we defended so well and controlled the game. Yesterday's second half display reminded me a little of the match against Man U. As soon as we scored, we went back into our shell, conceded possession and defended deep. Yesterday, second half, we looked like we didn't know what to do. We couldn't keep the ball and created nothing going forward and defended on our 18 yard line. Full credit to Leicester as they played very well second half and "got up us" and maybe could have won it.

As noted in above posts, I think our substitutions did made a big difference. I think Clasie is coming in for some stick a little unfairly. Yesterday wasn't the right time to bring him on in my opinion. I would have thought Romeau would have been the right choice unless Rons thought was for Clasie to try to get on the ball and pass forward quickly thus putting Leicester more on the back foot as use the pace of Mane more. If Clasie touched the ball more that 5 times, it would have been a lot. I don't think it is fair to judge him on yesterdays match, wrong palyer, wrong time. J-Rod didn't do anything and poor Yosh played Vardy onside for the second goal.

At least we got a point but I hope we learn from yesterday as to how to kill off a game. We're still moving up the table which is a positive.
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WanderingSaint added 12:56 - Oct 18
Watched the whole game on stream. We were complete and utter control and then let them back in it. My view is that the introduction of Clasie caused it. He doesn't look very good at all. And to make matters worse, I put my $10 free bet from Pokerstars on a Saints win:-(
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SanMarco added 14:55 - Oct 18
I agree that the Clasie decision was the wrong one but I felt we were falling apart before he came on. I also agree that JRod sub didn't really help us, although JWP and Tadij had certainly gone absent without leave before then.

I am surprised that the Kelvin issue isn't mentioned more. The fact that he couldn't be faulted for either goal misses the point. The defence and increasingly the whole team (including Kelvin himself) have no confidence in him. His presence undermined us from start to finish. Alright yes we can roll out all the 'great servant' stuff but he really needs to play that role well away from the pitch. He was never good enough for this level and is now many years past his mediocre best. Is there a goalkeeper in history who has had less command of his territory and has flapped so ineffectually at so many crosses. If Gazzanigga is deemed worse than Davis then why in the hell was he given a new contract. I know that some will huff and puff that I am being unfair - my belief is that it is cruel on the player himself - let him put his feet up and watch the game with his pipe and slippers. His presence, and the usual bit of carelessness from Yoshida and the continued 'set-pieces only' contribution from JWP cost us 2 points yesterday...
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halftimeorange added 15:09 - Oct 18
I can agree with some of the comments above but it is likely that Clasie was preferred to Romeu as the latter is on four yellows and would possibly have been ruled out of the Liverpool game (where he will be more needed) if he had got booked yet again and yesterday's referee would have been just the type to give us another card for just about anything.
I share the opinion of San Marco. The blame for our second half display lays firmly at the feet of Kelvin Davis. Immediately after halftime he adopted his old way of rolling the ball out to the nearest defender even if that player had a Leicester player in close proximity. Kelvin confused and panicked our players forcing them to make errors that they would otherwise not have done with a more secure goalkeeper. He's done it before and it's cost us before. Several times he patently didn't call when he should have given pointers as to whether the ball was "safe" or needed booting away resulting in at least two corners against us. He should never play for the first team again.
I have to say that Morgan had Pelle in his pocket all afternoon and Mane had a really poor game by his standards. This was two points given away and we should have soundly beaten Leicester. No-one will convince me differently.
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sidsaint added 15:27 - Oct 18
1.Davis's poor performance put extra pressure on the defence right from the start and they finally cracked in the second half.
2. Mane did the hard work by rounding Schmichael after one of his runs and then fluffed an open goal albeit from a good way out. If he had scored game was won.
3 Leicester never gave up and played pressing football like we did under Pochetino and in the end were unlucky not to win.
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Whatsforpud added 17:18 - Oct 18
In spite of the fact that we lost our lead in stoppage time, I somehow felt relieved that we got away with a point. Can't remember Saints having so little possession in a half of football. When we did get it, we gave it away. When the whole team defends, there is invariably no one in the centre circle to pass to, to relieve the pressure.
I can't understand Mane's decision to shoot from 40 yards when he has the pace to run for goal The way he was positioned, it would have needed a foul to stop him. On a positive note, I thought Van Dyke was a class act, especially in the first half.
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SonicBoom added 17:36 - Oct 18
Seemed to me we panicked once they got a goal. Tiredness? Do me a favour. They all travel first class and are pampered with massages etc. Don't Leicester have any internationals then?
We panicked and Ron fluffed his tactical changes. We were defending too deep and there can't have been a saints fan watching that couldn't see they were going to score.
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bstokesaint added 18:25 - Oct 18
Agree mostly Sonic, but time differences and travel to and from ground also contributes. We definitely look tired in the second half.
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Dr_Saints added 22:04 - Oct 18
Agree with all the comments above though one player who goes under the radar for criticism is James Ward Prowse. I struggle to understand what he brings to the team other than the odd decent freekick. He was anonymous again yesterday and I'd rather see Juanmi given an opportunity in that advanced midfield position or move Clasie into that position.
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trampslykeus added 23:00 - Oct 18
Agree with Dr Saints. Not even sure about the free kicks. What has happened to Harri Reed? If Romeu couldn't be brought on because he was needed for Liverpool next week, why was he on the bench? Bringing Clasie on in a situation that was not right for him has now put more pressure on him to perform.
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Alehouse added 23:06 - Oct 18
Am I the only one who thinks Leicester's second goal resulted from a very poor goal kick from Kelvin?

His distribution was poor throughout and we were really lucky not to concede from an even worse goal kick in the first half. His roll out ball to Wanyama on the edge of the box revived a nightmare from the past which someone else will surely be able to remind me of.
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BoondockSaint added 01:31 - Oct 19
SOS-Same Old Saints-Beat a good team, then follow it up with throwing away points against lesser opposition. Let's face it, they just wanted it more, and could easily have won it. Vardy missed close up in the first half. The lack of grit is a constant concern and I thought we had rounded that corner with the win over Chelski.
As soon as I saw Kelvin on the screen, I thought "This could be trouble!" As people say, he has been a great player for Saints, but should now be coaching rather than playing.
A goal keeper in the Prem should be able to at the very least kick the ball into the other half!
Yoshi was to blame as he kept the player onside when two Saints players are standing right in front of Yoshi! Mane was trying to be too cute, but I give him a pass as I only want him scoring another two or three until the winter transfer window closes!
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saintmark1976 added 08:33 - Oct 19
Alehouse. I was listening on Solent and they said immediately that the goal kick resulted in their goal. Thus it ever was with Kelvin, a good reaction keeper but not up to it when distributing the ball or commanding his area.

Poor decision to play him on Saturday and hopefully his last Premiership appearance for us.
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bstokesaint added 12:21 - Oct 19
I couldn't understand it either Alehouse. Said the same thing during the game. I thought one of the benefits of having Pelle up top was his abiity to hold up the ball or knock on to other front men. Instead by distributing short each time from goal we invited them to take back possession in our half and keep us pressed back. Everyone watching could see it, but the message didn't seem to get out onto the pitch.
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aceofthebase added 19:52 - Oct 19
For goodness sake we were two goals up when Clasie brought on. An ideal time for him to step upto the plate and show everyone his capabilities
. Trouble is at the moment he is not good enough and Ron hasn't seen it.
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TeamCortese added 22:35 - Oct 19
For crying out loud! What has got into everybody? We're in the top 10 and took 4 points from a possible 6 against Chelsea and Leicester (Not to mention the win against Swansea). We haven't even gone into 4th gear yet and our team is still yet to fully gel. My goodness we've become spoilt. Wasn't too long ago when we were happy being in the top flight!

I have no doubt we'll replicate if not better our position from last season. My main issue is with the board's selling mentality. If they sell Mane, Bertrand or Wanyama. Then this whole thing is a waste of time. Personally that is no longer a football club with ambition but rather profit maximising business.

As for the match, it was a game of two halves and I think a draw was on balance a fair result. My only issue, from a Saints perspective, was why Mane didn't try to finish his chance closer to goal rather than trying to lob the goalkeeper from 40 yards out? I thought it was incredibly unprofessional and one could go as far as saying it cost us 2-points. He was by far the fastest player on the pitch and could have killed off the game. The decision made no sense to me.

Furthermore I do sense that some of Rokos decision are made more so to appease the dressing room rather than for footballing reasons. The simple reality is great managers get results not because they have the respect of the dressing room but rather because the players know they earned the right to wear the shirt and they go onto the pitch knowing that anything less than a win is unacceptable. I think some players don't get that. Roko needs to be more ruthless when it comes to those situations.

A great example of this is Kelvin Davis. He shouldn't be our reserve goalkeeper. The simple fact of the matter is he's not good enough to playing in the Premier League. If he is our reserve goalkeeper then we should sell Gazzaniga. He's been here long enough and should be ashamed not to be chosen over Davis at this stage of his career.
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