Southampton 0-1 Aston Villa post match thread

[Moonraker]

Just watched MOTD highlights to confirm, yes, we nicked that one and had some luck but we are still owed some more going forward. Some good performances there. Interesting that the pundits talked about "Watkins Barkley....and Jack". Nice to see them talking him up and on first name terms...

[Nev]

After Wednesday I decried our lack of savvy and resilience. We showed that in spades last night.
I'm happy.

[DB]

Targett was never as bad as some people here were suggesting last season. Delighted for him that he's kicked on from there.

He has improved lots. But it does help when you have Grealish playing in front of you.

[KevinGage]

Having someone like Grealish in front of you can make it tougher.

Targett came to us with a reputation as a full-back/wing back who likes to get forward and support the attack. That's how I remember him at Fulham.

He's still capable of getting forward, but he's had to rein it in and adapt. The strongest part of his game this season has been his interceptions and reading of the game.

[Bad English]

I was screaming for Dean to make a substitution as I was worried that tired legs might let them get one back at the end. But we won, and I do not need to point to Dean's subbing strategy (which I would have done) as evidence that I knew best. ;-)

[richtheholtender]

Just watched MOTD highlights to confirm, yes, we nicked that one and had some luck but we are still owed some more going forward. Some good performances there. Interesting that the pundits talked about "Watkins Barkley....and Jack". Nice to see them talking him up and on first name terms...

He’ll always be Jack to us and Grealish to the rest

[olaftab]

I was screaming for Dean to make a substitution as I was worried that tired legs might let them get one back at the end. But we won, and I do not need to point to Dean's subbing strategy (which I would have done) as evidence that I knew best. ;-)

Couldn't you do one of those raised finger "But in future Dean...."?

[Russ aka Big Nose]

A great win and as Dean Smith said in his interview after (on AVTV), we need to be hard to beat.

We have the players and the approach to create enough chances. At that end of the pitch it is about taking enough of those chances.

The other side of it is being tough to beat - in terms of organisation, concentration and bloody-minded determination. The last of these being demonstrated by Cash, Mings etc. throwing themselves in the way.

I swapped a few messages with a mate who is a Saints fan. He was right - we deserved something from our home game and they deserved something from last night - but a loss and a win (3 points) is better for both clubs than a couple of draws. UTV

[darren woolley]

So happy with the win and clean sheet it was our turn to have some VAR luck.

[KevinGage]

A great win and as Dean Smith said in his interview after (on AVTV), we need to be hard to beat.

We have the players and the approach to create enough chances. At that end of the pitch it is about taking enough of those chances.

The other side of it is being tough to beat - in terms of organisation, concentration and bloody-minded determination. The last of these being demonstrated by Cash, Mings etc. throwing themselves in the way.

I swapped a few messages with a mate who is a Saints fan. He was right - we deserved something from our home game and they deserved something from last night - but a loss and a win (3 points) is better for both clubs than a couple of draws. UTV

Decent way of looking at it.

I was impressed with Southampton last night. They were some way short of their best, had various injury issues pre game and had two important players pull up during the game.

But they largely nullified us as an attacking threat (even the CL chasing sides haven't been able to do that) and created enough chances second half to win.

But thems the breaks.

[AlexAlexCropley]

So happy with the win and clean sheet it was our turn to have some VAR luck.

Me too Darren, up till now we have been vary unlucky. Let's hope it's not var today and gone tomorrow!

[john e]

I don’t think Tez was brought on as it would potentially have played into their hands. Trez would have been likely to have given away free kicks near our box. Ward-Prowse delivery was their big threat.

Why would Trez do that? Can't see that that would have been more of a risk than leaving Traore on, who did very little second half.  At the end of the day, they did get the ball in the net and we'd have had two points less other than for VAR. It was daft of Smith and co not to make any subs, they were all over us.

We won, therefore he did the right thing and the linesman flagged. VAR had nothing to do with it.

That’s a bit harsh on Smith
If we’re going with that logic every time we lost its Smiths fault
you know, we lost therefore he did the wrong thing

yet I feel there is plenty of times this season when we have lost and yet we were the better side therefore he was doing the right things
but things just went against us
It happens

[Ads]

They created two chances, I thought they were pretty poor in the final third, largely thanks to our defence.

[cdbearsfan]

They created more than two chances in one attack.

[SamTheMouse]

Can we hire one of those planes to fly over the stadium in the second half of our next match, with the message "Make a bloody sub, Dean"?