BATTLE AT QPR........

Can Saints win against a Redknappless QPR???

just my luck that saggy chops quit was hoping we would beat them and then he is sacked.

Biggest crock of xxxx I have ever heard from him about his knees, what does he take us for, though Sky pundits like Jim White lap up everything he says. he lies so much sure he never knows when he is lying now!

Expect a battle as think they will be happier the miserable old git has gone. looks like we will have Wanyama back, Schneiderlin may be on the bench but no Toby for a couple of weeks, I am expecting a 1 - 1 draw. expect wanyama for Reed but would prefer he replaced tadic and allowed Davis and JWP more forward with reed partner in DM and Mane playing off Pelle.

My vibes this week are telling me Saints should win and I hope they prove right again. Am thinking could be 0-2 or 1-3.....expecting Pelle plus one of the midfielders or defenders to be on the scoresheet. Fingers crossed..........

And a win it was, albeit in the 93rd minute.

Another poor game and somewhat lucky to get the win. A good goal from Mane ......and Forster made a great reflex save to push over in the second half. I thought Clyne was our Man of the Match.

My armchair ratings (will only use them towards Feb M. o. M. if you were not at the game Matty).


FORSTER 7
CLYNE 8
FONTE 6
MAYA 6
TARGETT 6
WANYAMA 5
DAVIS 6
WARD-PROWSE 6
MANE 7
ELIA 6
PELLE 5


GARDOS 6

Mike

yes was at the game and stayed the night up in London hence delay in posting. Good 3 points though the problem of converting chances remains a concern, overall we had plenty of possession, dominated first half and beginning of second but allowed QPR back in towards halfway through the second half and QPT grew in confidence. Mane proved to be our main threat in the game, sometimes seems to get it all wrong, tries to shoot when over stretching and then at times can try to be to clever but no doubt he was our main threat and at 22 is hopefully going to improve, does need to try and stay on his feet more.

Saints nearly got an early breakthrough, Mane put a great ball through for Elia who had Green rushing out and decided on first time shot which if he had gone the other side of Green would have gone in but the bend on his shot mean went wide of the goal. Mane had a shot which as stretching lacked power but Green had to knock around as was on target. A corner from JWP was met by Fonte but crashed back off the bar, JWP had a free kick that just went wide so plenty of chances,. Two talking points in first half were firstly Phillips clattering Targett and knocking him out, when you see the replay clearly can see Phillips leading with his arm which has effectively hit Targett's neck. Although doubt Phillips meant to cause that much injury I am sure he knew he was going to wallop Targett and wanted to shake up a youngster. Referee who was in the Oliver school of refs, awful, and did nothing , even Clattenberg today warned RVP about how he jumped when he whacked a West ham player and it is important that the FA remind players about their elbows, Target was knocked out and prone as was right in front of us and lucky not more severe. Second incident was the kick Dunne did on Elia. Hard to see at the time as opposite end to us but now have seen the replay and Dunne clearly just hacked Elia. I would hope FA look at it and ban him at least for 3 games for violent conduct, it was a deliberate hack at a player no intention of trying to play the ball, or at least the round ball they were supposed to be using, and should have been off.

Second half we carried on initially as left, Mane was ruled out offside when he broke the offside trap, terrible decision by the lino who was same side that saw the challenge on Targett. Mane wriggled through but couldn't hit with any power and most of our other chances got smothered as we tried to walk into the net. think teams have sussed us in a way knowing not to commit a tackle but crowd us out. QPR who had little threat first half did have some chances in second half, invariably on the break with a hoof down field and a couple of crosses where again Forster stayed routed to his line and was lucky able to pick up the second ball. Better sides will have sussed his weakness on crosses and can imagine West Ham pumping in loads of crosses on Wed. He did however make a great reflex save when Austin flicked on a shot for Barton, Clyne staying on the line had played him onside and a good instinctive save to knock over.

Into injury time and one last chance for saints when Yoshida who had got more adventurous as the game went on played a ball into Mane on left side of box, Mane held of his defender well and got free but was a tight angle but for once he made a good connection and fired over Green into net. Still time for some drama as QPR launched a long ball from a free kick by Green and in the goalmouth scramble prodded the ball home but ruled out, rightly, for offside. Actually came from Forster not being able to catch the ball which original thought was a foul but on replays not so sure.

So a good night out in London with 3 points, Liverpool Utd and City all drawing helped (though I hate city as they ruined 2 Accumulators for me!) so a big game on Wed against West Ham. See Carroll didn't play today and I am convinced that was Fat Sam targeting our game for 3 points as he sees us as the target. Will be a tough game but hopefully Wanyama and Morgan will start, Wanyama made a difference he was subbed after an hour for Morgan and think wary of the game midweek and coming back from a long layoff


Forster 6 great reflex save still dodgy on crosses
Clyne 6 not his best game, Hodgson in stands may have influenced but made a couple of mistakes, unusual for him
Fonte 8 another strong game from the capt
Yoshida 7 had a good game and did okay at left back when he covered for Targett
Targett 7 was looking good until clattered by Philips
Davis 7 bit better than last week more industrious but a few stray passes
JWP 6 good delivery of set pieces, but needs to be a bit stronger
Wanyama 7 good to see back did a good job
Elia 6 made some good runs in first half, less effective second
Pelle 6 not his best game was trying to many fancy flicks for me
Mane 8 frustrating he can be but scored again and his pace was a major problem for QPR, though they must have the slowest back 4 in the league.

Subs
Gardos 7 did a good job when he came on and went to CH
Schniederlin 6 looked a bit rusty and had to do a couple of fouls to recover when he lost the ball
Tadic 6 some neat touches but still made several mis placed passes

Thanks for that Matty.

Quite a bit of difference between our markings. Probably mostly because I only saw the edited screening on Sky.

Thanks Matty, nice report.

Have to say the highlights on MOTD are not much good though Sky normally do a good job on their match choice on saturday night. May have been a little harsh on Clyne but not as good as he normally is, Fonte has been leading the line well and Yoshida did get more forward when at left back than seen before from him.