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Episode 377: Match Review - Hurting the Hornets!
116 Plays11 days ago
Southampton – Watford at home, a Canadian Cannon from Larin, and ultimately 3 points on the board! Zak is on his lonesome but gets to celebrate a win!
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Transcript
Co-host Absence & Event Update
00:00:13
DailySaintsPod
This is indeed the Daily Saints pod with Zach and Greg. I am your host, Zach. Unfortunately, Greg is not here today. He's seeing, I want to say, Britain's strongest man. he managed to grab tickets to that.
Transfer Decisions & Player Debut
00:00:28
DailySaintsPod
So unfortunately, he has missed an absolutely brilliant goal in the North End for the first time in a while.
00:00:36
DailySaintsPod
And yeah, yeah the sure, he's going to be devastated to have missed out. But it's fine. I'm here to cover the game today and have a look at, you know, another another nice little win.
00:00:47
DailySaintsPod
And whilst it doesn't paper over all of the wider questions we have about the club and the wider questions about transfer policy and sort of the shock of Adam Armstrong disappearing out the door, you know, it it soothes the wound a little bit that the man who replaces him has scored on his
Historical Game Portrayal & Fan Reactions
00:01:05
DailySaintsPod
But in the build-up to this game, they were trying to talk about it being a fixture that has history. It was very bizarre, I think, from sort of everybody's perspective.
00:01:17
DailySaintsPod
Both sets of fans feel like this is a bit weird. Again, i think I'm still mad, maybe, about Watford scoring with a handball like five, six, seven years ago. don't even know at this point. Yeah.
00:01:31
DailySaintsPod
but Yeah, it wasn't quite the historical fixture that they tried to claim it was. However, it was a win and it's another three points on the board where there's quite a lot of games this season. We haven't managed that.
Team Lineup & Loan Decisions
00:01:45
DailySaintsPod
So let's bring it back to the start and talk about team lineups so in goal perets uh which is completely unsurprising uh obviously we don't have to have that debate anymore as to who starts which makes life a lot easier no real surprises at the center back pairing being stevens taylor harbour bellis they're playing really well at the moment and uh why would you change something if it's not broken Wellington developing into the left back. We always wanted to see from him.
00:02:16
DailySaintsPod
And, you know, he once again started today and had a really solid game. Bree, right back, who, you know, just seems like one of the first names on the team sheet every game since he's come back, right? He's had a lot of championship experience this season.
00:02:32
DailySaintsPod
He sort of it begs up the question as to why we even really sent him out loan, because it seems like he's almost like a missing piece. It's it's genuinely, for me, felt like a bit of transfer business in in the window that's that's helped us out massively. In and actuality, it's just returning, I guess, a player to his rightful place.
Midfield Confusion & Player Fitness
00:02:49
DailySaintsPod
So, yeah, Bree was back in the side. the Middle of the park, we had Downs and Jander. Me and Greg have said quite a few times we wouldn't really be surprised or bothered for any combination of the midfield players we currently have. We still have our questions as to what the entire point of transferring Romeo was, if not just for like dressing room presence and, I guess, something for the fans. But you know we're quite happy with Jander, Charles and Downes. And luckily, all we three of them were fit, or otherwise we probably potentially could have had problems.
00:03:23
DailySaintsPod
And then, yeah, Strikeforce of Scienza Azaz, Fellows and Stewart. Really sort of a, if it's not broke, don't fix it, you know, which was good. Even if they kind of had a bit of a struggle game today.
Match Physicality & Watford's Tactics
00:03:39
DailySaintsPod
So let's talk about the game itself and get directly into it. That game, I think, was was hard. it wasn't the It wasn't the prettiest thing to watch. I don't think that the the game itself goes down in them in the sort of history books as much as they tried to force the fixture to. Yeah, it was very sort of...
00:04:00
DailySaintsPod
the physical side of it and the physicality of Watford was very much on show. And we seemed really tired and sluggish despite having like a full week of rest.
00:04:10
DailySaintsPod
When we've got midweek games, I can kind of expect it. but But yeah, it just wasn't the sort of same level of... sort of pace that you'd expect from sort of fellows and Sienza in a game like today.
00:04:21
DailySaintsPod
But part of that is, is you know, me wondering, is it just sort of the physicality of Watford? Watford tightening up a little bit more. They had a really good game midweek against Hull, where although they didn't score, you know, it was nil-nil in the end. So it was, you know, they managed to keep them out, which they...
Defensive Struggles & Goalkeeping Analysis
00:04:39
DailySaintsPod
did quite successfully for most of the game against us. Not that we had a significantly large amount of chances. Very, very early on, though, they did almost capitalize on a mistake from Peretz, which luckily, you know, we managed to sort out.
00:04:55
DailySaintsPod
But when I say that Peretz gives me Boric vibes, I hope people can start to kind of understand why. It's just a little bit. Luckily, of as though it it wasn't punished and he now gets another clean sheet, which is always good for the confidence of both the defence and the goalkeeper himself.
00:05:16
DailySaintsPod
Obviously, we had like a shot quite early on. but so i say early on About 20 minutes in, we had a decent chance from Stewart that just wasn't capitalised on, unfortunately, and brought a good save from the Watford camp. And then, obviously...
00:05:30
DailySaintsPod
And then there was the Flynn Downs incident where he went in for a crunching tackle, but came out worse for wear. And he kind of struggled and carried on for for a little bit longer.
00:05:42
DailySaintsPod
But you could sort of tell, even after the initial challenge, it was a lot more discomfort than he let on. And, yeah, unfortunately, had to be substituted for Shea. And I think that Shea's lack of match minutes were on display because it kind of, the tempo of the game would already at that point...
Second Half: Maintaining Defense
00:06:02
DailySaintsPod
just started to slow down a little bit more. and Although, in my opinion, the first half, we still kind of looked the better team. We looked like we'd had like the better chances, but there was still nothing really of note.
00:06:16
DailySaintsPod
And it it sent me into the second half with a little bit more worry than you know i i had by the end of the game, right? As I said, I didn't really feel like they were threatening us for a lot of the game.
00:06:30
DailySaintsPod
But I think the apprehension of how we have been in second halves was definitely there. And I'm glad we were kind of able to start putting that to bed as a myth more than anything else.
00:06:41
DailySaintsPod
So second half kicks off and we start to struggle a little bit. And they had a bit of a spell of dominance, if I'm totally honest. And, you know, you've you've got some fouls taking place that...
00:06:53
DailySaintsPod
really you know like taylor harbour bellis got booked for for a professional foul and sort of slowing you know trying
00:07:02
DailySaintsPod
Taylor Harbour-Bellis got booked for a a foul. And, you know, the game was really being brought to us by Watford, which, again, is a problem we've we've seen to have with with second halves. Again, I don't know if it's just sort of the the legs on some of the players were starting to go a little bit, but we very much got bullied into into our own half for the the early second half of the game.
00:07:26
DailySaintsPod
But we we managed to withstand the pressure, which I think is the the big difference, right? we We had quite a lot of corners go against us. And, you know, whilst we still didn't clear them in the most spectacular of ways, we we were able to deal with that and not concede, which I think was was a massive point for us.
Impactful Substitutions & Game Dynamics
00:07:44
DailySaintsPod
And then obviously came one of the bigger moments of the game, which was the substitutions. Now, I didn't talk about it when I talked about the sch team sheet, but...
00:07:53
DailySaintsPod
some of the big news that came out obviously was Laren was on the bench, which, you know, we'd predicted in in our preview episode that he probably would, especially where he's been playing previously.
00:08:05
DailySaintsPod
And, you know, I don't think he's quite as much fit as we'd want him to be because he was very much limited to substitution appearances on his last loan And the Edozie
00:08:16
DailySaintsPod
Blackmore put it, has come back from the brink, right? You know, there was lots of talk about whether he'd go in January. I think there was quite a lot of expectation that he would go in January. That obviously wasn't the case. And then they said that he might be reintegrated back into the squad. And it kind of felt like...
00:08:32
DailySaintsPod
with Jay out with an injury or, you know, an issue or whatever, you'd expect to see Dozie back in that starting lineup unless there was something else going on. And clearly not. He was he was in that team sheet. So he came on for Sienza, which kind of made sense.
00:08:49
DailySaintsPod
Sienza, I think, had a difficult game today. i don't know if it was just... sort of long-term fatigue or still carrying a knock from the other week, which hasn't quite sorted itself out yet.
00:08:59
DailySaintsPod
But, you know, he didn't didn't have the greatest day with with his sort of free kicks and didn't have the greatest sort of pace. He did have, a you know, he did have couple of goes and I think at one point he pounced on a backwards header, which unfortunately was unable to finish
Edozie's Return & Impact
00:09:14
DailySaintsPod
off. So, you know, he still did see ends of things, but you could tell he was just a little bit off. And are those coming on for him?
00:09:21
DailySaintsPod
I think Edozie makes sense as a slightly better substitute than Jay Robinson. And that's no disrespect to Jay Robinson. Me and Greg have made our opinions on that abundantly clear throughout the season.
00:09:34
DailySaintsPod
i just just think that he's you know but better suited to a different position to where he's constantly played. Whereas Adozi kind of looked like he'd stepped back into the role that he played previously
00:09:45
DailySaintsPod
pretty
Cyle Larin
00:09:46
DailySaintsPod
well considering he's not really had any game time for a while I didn't really expect him to come on and and be as as good as he was and you know straight away you also had sorry Cyle Larin come on for Ross Stewart as I said we alluded to the fact that we thought he would probably get in and it makes sure makes it's a straight swap it does raise questions as to what is going to happen with Archer I think that obviously they potentially cancelled his Rangers move due to the fact that they were still going to need him. I think from his perspective, there's an expectation of playing slightly more rather than just sort of being a bench warmer.
00:10:29
DailySaintsPod
But as you know Greg quite often likes to point out, we have different profiles of striker and the profile we still needed at that point was what had already been on the pitch, right? It wasn't like, well, we need to whip out somebody that can hold up the ball for someone that's a bit nippy.
00:10:47
DailySaintsPod
and So it makes sense that, you know, he was swapped in but you you do wonder, and i and I feel for him a little bit because obviously there's a lot of upheaval around all the sort transfer deadline day. And we don't, we don't realistically know how close that move was. It could have, we don't know if all the eyes have been dotted and we don't even know if, you know, we haven't really had confirmation around that at all, but,
00:11:07
DailySaintsPod
When he does get an opportunity next up, I hope that he he grabs it with both hands. And I hope, if anything, we just end up having like solid competition between our strikers. And on top of that, for for for the solid competition to exist, though, but i hope that Ross Stewart stays fit.
00:11:21
DailySaintsPod
So it made sense that they took him off as well because he had a game. He made some defensive interceptions. I noticed that you know his his tallness and physicality were...
00:11:34
DailySaintsPod
vital to And I'd also say that that's one of the things that I instantly noticed with Laren is that we're kind of used to having these tall, physical, but like quite gangly strikers in Ross Stewart and Paul Onuachu.
00:11:48
DailySaintsPod
And Laren just seemed a bit more physically built to be able to like withstand, you know, and as he's even pointed out in his post-match sort of interview about his goal is that he was able to sort of bully the defender off him a little bit.
00:12:03
DailySaintsPod
And yeah, so that's a really good strength and something we've we've talked about needing for for quite a long time. But obviously, he he came on with , Edozie and very, very shortly after, the goal that I alluded to took place. The quarter was conceded by Steven Maffuni and i'm pretty sure was won by , Edozie. I think that that you know there was a little battle going on there.
00:12:24
DailySaintsPod
So instantly, you've got a Dozie coming on, making an instant impact. You've then got James Bree taking over
00:12:32
DailySaintsPod
set-piece delivery by from Scienza And again, only come back to the club the last couple of weeks. And then manages to cross in. Really, really good ball that Lahren gets on the end of. And scores probably like one of the best diving headers I've seen in a long time. like Everyone's seen the photo by this point. And if you haven't, just check it out. if you haven't seen the goal, check
Laren's Diving Header & Fan Reaction
00:12:51
DailySaintsPod
it out. It's just such a such a good moment for for us and him. And there's been a lot of sort of criticism around him coming into the club. And yeah and even me and Greg, to be fair, like we've done a, we did a profile on him. It would have come out this week. So if you haven't seen that, go go back, have a look. He's an extremely experienced player, but even me and Greg on deadline day in our conversations back and forth,
00:13:14
DailySaintsPod
before we recorded that slightly manic episode where I put a a pot on my head at like 11.30pm or whatever it was, we we discussed that we we kind of felt it was a bit panic buy-in. It was a bit of a strange one.
00:13:27
DailySaintsPod
And we know that they've looked into to other striker options, right? they' They've admitted that they looked into Piroe at one point. I think they were also in contact with Tottenham over Manor Solomon, who ended up making a move to Florentina.
00:13:39
DailySaintsPod
So clearly either they knew that Adam potentially was on his way out quite early on, which means they did do more planning than we thought they did. Alternatively, they were just putting the feelers out anyway. And obviously they've ended up with, with Laren and we wondered, you know, how much scouting they've actually managed to do and, and how much of a
Strategic Control & Securing Win
00:14:00
DailySaintsPod
sort of gamble it is But in that episode,
00:14:20
DailySaintsPod
25 minutes of the game and and scoring with what you're like, you're almost your your first or second touch of the ball is good. It's a good debut, right? He managed to get into the positions quite quickly, positions we wanted those you know our striker to get into. He very nearly hit got onto the end of the ball.
00:14:38
DailySaintsPod
It was very, very similar to the cross that he did. about 30 seconds prior to the of the corner. so yeah, i just I just think that, you know, i understand why quite a lot of people have been quick to judge. I'm quite happy to, you know, eat my my sort of worries.
00:14:56
DailySaintsPod
But obviously, there's still quite a long rest of the season. But, you know, the lone move alone, in my opinion, is worth it for the three points that we got today. So, yeah, enough about Laron and Adozi when they came on.
00:15:08
DailySaintsPod
It was all right after that. like kind of We played well the rest of the game. We we tried to go forward a little bit. It kind of sucked the wind out Watford's sails a little bit, but then obviously they did the standard sort of war. It's a bit desperation.
00:15:23
DailySaintsPod
We then were quite smart about it. like After we realised we were quite in control, we got to the 90th minute. I expected far more added time than what was actually allotted in the end.
00:15:35
DailySaintsPod
For like four minutes, i I thought was quite low considering the amount of sort fouls and stoppages and this and the other. And obviously bringing on Wood for Fellows, that was definitely like a tactical, like let's move to a bit more defensively. And then we yeah we so we sort of saw out that that four minutes without much issue. I think Shea picked up a card for for a bad tackle that, you know, he kind of had to make at the time.
00:15:57
DailySaintsPod
But, you know, even even running the ball into the sort of their quarter flag right up into the 94th minute was, yeah, very much sort of... It was it was good to see watch us see out a game and not have complete blind panic at the end. it felt very We felt very much in control towards the end. But, yeah, it wasn't it wasn't the best game. It's not going to go down in the history books as as one we all look back at as, oh, that was a i was a cracker.
00:16:22
DailySaintsPod
But, you know, ultimately we we broke down a a side that were... very physical, very disciplined, clearly trying to sort of regain composure after the loss of another manager. And whilst they're managerless, I think that their their current interim manager is very much in line for the job. And yeah, I think that, you know, we we struggled, but we got it over the line and we got it over the line with the help of our our new sign-in. So yeah, fantastic. And I've got a little couple of little things to say,
00:16:53
DailySaintsPod
sort of talk about the end of after the match had ended that that surprised me a little bit. So we we had actually less shots than than them. However, our shots were the ones that counted. We had, you know, four on target in comparison to their theirre two out of 11. So, you know, that that in itself means at least we're still...
00:17:12
DailySaintsPod
being consistent with putting them into the right places. One of the other things that I thought was an interesting stat is we successfully defended nine corners. So, you know, it was a bit of a struggle for a lot of that game, don't get me wrong.
00:17:24
DailySaintsPod
But yeah, that was that was pretty decent that we were able to so kind of start to move away from this, the curse of set pieces, right? And let's not beat around the bush the fact that, you know, Watford are what, like, goalless in five hours, I want to say.
00:17:39
DailySaintsPod
is probably a contributing factor and, you know, they're low on confidence and they weren't able to, but, you know, they tested Peretz a couple of times and, you know, they they definitely gave it a go throughout the game in in spells.
Game Statistics & Adaptation
00:17:52
DailySaintsPod
But the other thing that was actually really interesting to me was this, I think the first time in a long time that we've had a win where we actually had less possession.
00:18:00
DailySaintsPod
So they they came at us for a lot more of the game than we did. Like it was very sort of close. It was like 53, 47. But I just thought it was interesting because for a long time, it's not, not really felt like we felt like we kind of dominated the possession. I don't know if that's necessarily the move to the back four, but it just means that we know we we can be a little bit more clinical. and We also had over double the amount of forward passes than backward passes. so So clearly they're having that discussion. There were a couple of times that it took place and you could hear some of the murmurs from the crowd have sort of sort get it forward and this and the other, but
00:18:31
DailySaintsPod
Overall, yeah, as I said, not not one for the history books, but a really a really solid game. And sort of, Laren was interviewed after the post-match, and he said, honestly, his great feeling was with the win. And because of his experience across the board, he's been able to kind of like adapt quite quickly in and gel with the team. And he puts a lot of that down to the coaching staff and behind the scenes. And I know that we're all very concerned at what is going on the club at the moment, especially high top level, right? with the Sports Republic and, you know, we we addressed it this week as to what was going on with the, you know, i don't even really want to call them sister clubs anymore because it's kind of disrespectful to so all of us involved. Like, it feels a bit weird with everything that's going on, but there's a lot of sort of weird vibes around that. But for a player to come in and, you know, within that first week sort of,
00:19:22
DailySaintsPod
give a lot of praise to the back end staff and, and sort of how he's just been able to get on with it. Hopefully a lot of that noise isn't necessarily hitting the players, which means that we can at least kind of push on at least in a footballing sense. And I don't want it to be like a sweep over the rug, sweep under the rug, sorry, sort of situation where we get a couple of wins and everyone stops thinking about it.
00:19:43
DailySaintsPod
But like, it's nice to be able to enjoy the football as well. Right. Because that's part of why it's been such a problem over time.
Post-match Thoughts & Tactical Benefits
00:19:50
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. It was quite funny where he was talking about Stephens who told him to go on run into the space and get a goal, which is exactly what he did. And this was after him asking Stevens the instructions as to what to do, because that was his sort of like first set piece of in this team and it makes sense that obviously the way that set pieces work now is very I wouldn't say convoluted but everyone has their roles and their jobs and what they're supposed to do and ultimately you know relying on a player's instinct and you know fair play from Jack for just telling him to just score because that's exactly what he did so yeah pretty much that's pretty much it
00:20:26
DailySaintsPod
happy Happy weekend, guys. Really, really nice that you know we managed to get three points on the board. And you know we kind of roll on into an FA Cup week where we can always just we just take a take a deep breath back and kind of hope that that the table starts to go away a little bit more. And whilst I still personally think that we're not really on for promotion this season,
00:20:48
DailySaintsPod
And you can see that with some of the planning that the club has done around the financials of all the transfers have just taken place and why it was like two in on loans and nine out. It does sort of give me a little bit of hope. that maybe Maybe we can go back up. Maybe.
00:21:06
DailySaintsPod
Would I want to go back up right now? No. Do I feel like maybe they would have more of a plan this time round? Yeah. Does that rely on their finances being not an absolute mess?
00:21:16
DailySaintsPod
Also, yeah. Lots and lots of mixed feelings. But I'll tell you i'll tell you what, i'm I'm just happy we got win. and i'm I'm happy we got to see a really, really decent goal from a debut on where I don't really think most people expected it.
00:21:28
DailySaintsPod
And, you know, he seemed quite confident in himself. And hopefully now, you know, we've got options between two strikers that have scored quite, you know, within quick succession of each other.
00:21:39
DailySaintsPod
That's it for today. Thank you, everybody, for joining me.
00:21:44
DailySaintsPod
Best wishes to Greg, who will enjoy and be enjoying himself at the time of this recording.
Podcast Independence & Future Plans
00:21:50
DailySaintsPod
Best wishes to all of you wonderful people. Thank you for listening. Thank you for liking, subscribing, commenting, all of the bits and pieces. We are a newly independent podcast,
00:22:00
DailySaintsPod
So, yeah, every sort of follow, like, subscribe and all that kind of stuff helps us out. We really enjoy all of the comments a bits and pieces. They spark episode ideas for us and We we usually cover and like to interact left, right and center. So yeah, check us out. We are on Facebook, Twitter, slash X, Blue Sky, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, all those wonderful places. We will be back with you tomorrow for something Saints related. Me and Greg will figure out. And until then, thank you very much for listening and we'll see you in the next one.