Southampton v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Hoppo]

Stick your statistics  up your arse. We won away 3-2.. For Christ sakes enjoy it.

[Dave Clark Five]

Just got home - thankfully bus driver didn't take us on tour of Southampton toll bridges on way back.

Bloody pain that was. At least it cheered up the moaner who couldn't understand why we left as early as 2pm then spent 30 mins at the beginning of each leg of the journey talking about the Albion.

A couple of top drawer interceptions by Clark kept us in the game plus their bloke seeming to clear off our line. Very pleasant night out with three pre-match pints of high quality, even if the taxi driver did another tour of Southampton's bridges.

If you know what you are doing, the toll bridge into Southampton is actually the quickest way to get to the ground and into the city. However, the layout of the city is quite confusing to the uninitiated

The problem was that the directions given to the coach drivers were wrong. Eight out of nine official coaches (not all in convoy, it should be added) went over the same toll bridge twice on the way there!

[Mortimer's Bear]

Stick your statistics  up your arse. We won away 3-2.. For Christ sakes enjoy it.

Amen

[fbriai]

I don't think there is anything really surprising about that 23% possession statistic. We are set-up to play on the counter anyway, but then if you add to that the fact that we were in the lead three times as well, which inevitably means that Southampton were going to have to come at us to get back into the game, then it's not surprising that they had most of the ball. We sat back and sucked them in. They fell for it.

[MoetVillan]

My old boss used to say "Its not what you've got, its what you do with it".  Three shots on target, three goals, three points, Get In

[Herman]

My old boss used to say "Its not what you've got, its what you do with it".  Three shots on target, three goals, three points, Get In

Wasn't that The Fun Boy Three? Or maybe Bananarama?

[MoetVillan]

Touche.  I didnt work for Banarama unfortunately, they were far better looking than my old boss.  I think thats "Its not what you do, its the way that you do it" anyway!

[Matt Collins]

It was a great result, some very good goals (two beauties) and some resolute defending. And I'm definitely happy to be in the top half

But if we'd put in exactly the same performance otherwise and not scored with all three of our shots on goal, people would be moaning about the performance.

I think we played really well for 60 minutes against Everton and lost, and didn't play well last night. I think that's an entirely valid perspective.

Villa are pretty unlikely to win anything of note for the foreseeable future. So I'd like to enjoy watching us play. For the first time in several years I actually enjoyed watching our games at the back end of last season, even though it was often so tense. I just can't say the same at the moment

The stats aren't the point. They just illustrate that it's often quite painful watching this side at the moment. And of all the things I was expecting this season I didn't think that would be the case.

Hopefully we can start to improve on that.

[Dr Butler]

well done Villa, score more than them and you will win....

also that last 15 mins was heart pounding, 3-2 up and Everton winning....I had chucked a few quid on Palace(9/4) and Everton(17/4) winning and made some beer money for Fulham away on Sunday 

UTV
The Doc

[Chris Smith]

At the weekend Southampton out passed Chelsea for 45 minutes so Mourinho switched to a more direct, or long ball, game and they won the game. I think Lambert picked up on that because they commit so many men to pressing high up the pitch they are vulnerable to direct counter attacking. I expect we will see more sides adopt that approach from now.

[DB]

Get in! Great result. That performance shows why we are good away and average at home, playing on the break the way we do.
I wish Gabriel would stop that ear cupping celebration to the opposition fans after he scores, looks petty - why do it???

[nick harper]

It was a great result, some very good goals (two beauties) and some resolute defending. And I'm definitely happy to be in the top half

But if we'd put in exactly the same performance otherwise and not scored with all three of our shots on goal, people would be moaning about the performance.

I think we played really well for 60 minutes against Everton and lost, and didn't play well last night. I think that's an entirely valid perspective.

Villa are pretty unlikely to win anything of note for the foreseeable future. So I'd like to enjoy watching us play. For the first time in several years I actually enjoyed watching our games at the back end of last season, even though it was often so tense. I just can't say the same at the moment

The stats aren't the point. They just illustrate that it's often quite painful watching this side at the moment. And of all the things I was expecting this season I didn't think that would be the case.

Hopefully we can start to improve on that.

Matt, I agree with you. It's always great to win - especially when its not expected but we shouldn't let it colour the facts.

We are hard to watch - we give the ball away constantly, players don't move to receive the ball, there is no composure - it's almost embarrassing how poor we look. By the law of averages you can't keep playing like that and expect to progress. I can't believe Lambert wants us to play like this but I'm not sure what his philosophy is at the moment.

Anyway, I'll enjoy the moment. It's much better than looking up the table than down.

[SashasGrandad]

Just got home - thankfully bus driver didn't take us on tour of Southampton toll bridges on way back.

Bloody pain that was. At least it cheered up the moaner who couldn't understand why we left as early as 2pm then spent 30 mins at the beginning of each leg of the journey talking about the Albion.

A couple of top drawer interceptions by Clark kept us in the game plus their bloke seeming to clear off our line. Very pleasant night out with three pre-match pints of high quality, even if the taxi driver did another tour of Southampton's bridges.

If you know what you are doing, the toll bridge into Southampton is actually the quickest way to get to the ground and into the city. However, the layout of the city is quite confusing to the uninitiated

The problem was that the directions given to the coach drivers were wrong. Eight out of nine official coaches (not all in convoy, it should be added) went over the same toll bridge twice on the way there!

My first time visiting St Mary's (my last time was at the Dell) I thought they had moved to an edge of city greenfield site not even further into the cramped city centre. The coaches went past the ground but could not find the way in (simply missed the turn - not signed and no police) very frustrating see the ground but not being able to find a way through the maze of little streets and roadworks.

[l_mckay]

Great win down there to a team that hasn't lost at home yet this season,a win is a win who cares about the rest

[Damo70]

I'm not big on pouring over the stats of an individual game. I'm more interested in stats like points compared to this time last season, points compared to the same fixtures last season and our recent clean sheets and unbeaten run. I watched it at ten on match choice without knowing the score. It's a good way to do things if you can handle going cold turkey from the score updates whilst the games are on. And if you win.