Nordic Saint

2021 stats: Forster played 13......goals conceded 12......cleans sheets 6.......ave goals per game 0.9 McCarthy played 14.....goals conceded 38.....clean sheets 0.....ave goals per game 2.7 So, now that they have the same defence, the difference between them is even more marked. We are conceding 3 times as many goals when McCarthy plays.

Fact is stranger than fiction. Southampton did, in fact, provide the first Englishman to be capped by Brazil. Sidney Pullen left his home city of Southampton with his family when his father got a job in Rio. He became the first foreigner to be capped by Brazil when he played for the Brazilian national team against Argentina, Uruguay and Chile in the first Copa America. He also won the Campeonato Carioca 6 times, 5 of them with the country's top club, Flamengo. He would have won more titles but his football career was interrupted when he returned to fight for the country of his birth. Pullen later became Flamengo's manager. And let's not forget the other Saints Academy products in the England squad: Ben White, Tyrone Mings and Luke Shaw.

Obviously, Forster was outstanding for Celtic, which is why he's kept a total of nearly 200 clean sheets but let's just compare like for like: Forster and McCarthy's stats for Premier League games only:Forster played 115..... goals conceded 130.... clean sheets 40... ave per game 1.1 goalsMcCarthy played 130..... goals conceded 202.... clean sheets 25 ...ave per game 1.6 goalsThat means that with McCarthy in goal we concede 0.5 goals per game more than we do with Forster, which is 19 more per season. How many points has that cost us????

Fonte and Galtier are certainly a winning combination: Galtier and Fonte's leadership helped Lille to beat the odds (dailyherald.com)

We drew 0-0 with West Ham when Vestergaard wasn't playing. We also beat Liverpool 1-0 and Arsenal 1-0. It just goes to show that without Vestergaard our defence can be good, even against top teams. In fact, when he went off after 10 minutes against Leicester and we were down to ten men, our defence looked much better.

Another backup goalkeeper, with the bonus that he has dodgy knees. He's not even the first choice for Albania. You can see here why Lazio want to offload him: Thomas Strakosha - Stats 20/21 | Transfermarkt

West Ham United 0-3 Southampton - BBC Sport West Ham United 1-3 Southampton - BBC Sport Five of the best: Saints at West Ham | Southampton FC

Forster is the best goalkeeper we have and he keeps a lot of clean sheets. But, I'd get rid of McCarthy and Gunn (easier said than done) and get David Raya in from Brentford to be our long-term No 1.

First British club to tour South America. We beat Argentina 8-0 in Buenos Aires in 1904, which is the record victory by any English team against them. The England national team have never beaten them by more than a 2-goal margin. From the early 20th century, when Saints were one of the best teams in the world, we hold record English victories againt several national teams. We beat Hungary 13-0 in Budapest in 1901 and France 11-0 in Paris in 1904. British football clubs tours to South America - Wikipedia

Officially, the most onesided derby in the country. It's got even more onesided since the Guardian published this table: Which two rivals have the world’s closest derby record? | Football | The Guardian

This afternoon's diving competition should be interesting but Grealish is going to have to work very hard to preserve his title as he will only be appearing as a second half sub and by then Zaha will have built up a big lead. Grealish will of course get more points for style.

If we're looking for a replacement for McCarthy as backup goalkeeper to Forster and eventual first choice, David Raya would be a better buy.

To be fair, we are solidly mid table with 43 points from 36 games. About as many points separate us from a European place as separate us from the relegation zone. We finished with only 39 points in 2019, 36 in 2018, and in 2017 we finished 8th with 46 points. We'll finish above Burnley and we'll also be the top south coast team again. The Premier League is the toughest league in the world and it's no surprise that 2 Premier League teams are in the Champions League final. It is very difficult for newly promoted Championship teams to compete in it unless they are a very big club like Leeds with a lot of financial muscle.

With all the injuries we've had this season, there have been plenty of big changes already. I'd prefer to see Salisu partnered with Bednarek, especially as it sounds like Vestergaard is going to be sold in the summer.

Wolves' remaining fixtures look tough so they may not pick up another point, which means if we win 2 of our remaining games, we could finish as high as 12th. Spurs A Everton A Man United H

When it was announced that Ings was in the starting lineup again, we knew we were going to score. The question was whether our defence could hold up and thanks to Forster it did. His penalty save was the turning point. We are 14th but we should now aim to finish 12th, which would seem like a reasonable end to the season. My favourite May home game v Palace is still the 6-0 in 1971 (1970-71 being one of my all-time favourite Saints' seasons) but tonight's win is up there as a cause for optimism for next season.

Three ex-Saints battling it out at the top: !st Jose Fonte's Lille 2nd Pochettino's PSG 3rd Paul Mitchell's Monaco With only 2 games left to play, it looks likely that Fonte will lead his team to the title with the best defensive record in Europe and pick up his third major trophy. French Ligue 1 Table - Football - BBC Spor

The accident has already happened when he played Mane onside for their goal. He just plods around in his own ego-driven world totally disinterested in what the rest of the team are trying to do. The sooner he goes to Spurs, the better.

With Mr Plod Vestergaard playing in our defence? Really ?

The big dummy, Vestergaard, played Mane onside. He has no team awareness. He just plods around in his own world.

Is our defence better with or without Vestergaard? In the 11 Premier League & FA Cup games he has missed this season, we have kept 6 clean sheets. Looking back, most of our best defensive performances, like the 1-0 wins v Man City and Spurs and the 2-0 win v Chelsea last season and the 1-0 wins v Liverpool and Arsenal this season, have been when he hasn't played. The players seem to cover each other better and show more team spirit when he's not there.

Just spend the money on bringing in some of the best referees from abroad, the same as we do with players.

The same referees, with their established prejudices, are on VAR too. To be fair, it's difficult to find anyone in this country with an interest in football who doesn't have favourite teams as well as teams they don't like. The old referees like Dean and Moss, who have been there for decades, have built up their prejudices over many years. If it's a decision that might favour a big team, they will take several minutes examining it on VAR but when it comes to us, they barely give it a second glance. and that was what happened when Moss was required to consider Vestergaard's red card. We have foreign players so why not foreign referees? That might help solve the problem.

Remarkable statistic: Palace remain unbeaten in their last 24 Premier League games when leading at half-time. Are Leicester good enough to end that run?

He has been about our only defender who can actually defend, which is why teams now concentrate their attacks on our right flank.