SNSUN

I only saw some of the first half but he looked crap, constantly losing possession and miscontrolling the ball. Reed on the other hand was neat and tidy, providing a link from defence to midfield. Shame because I'd want Fulham to buy him at the end of the season. Hope he shines before then.

Unpredictable, highly skilled, quick, appetite for scoring from what I've seen too. A nightmare for defences. Plus against Newcastle he was working very hard to get the ball back. He's a good player and can get better. My only qualms were a couple of passes went astray (will surely get better with a run in the side), and obviously his questionable fitness record. But he's definitely a good asset to have in AM alongside Redmond, Armstrong and Walcott. AM is one of the positions I'd be looking to strengthen long term but as long as Djenepo stays fit we're OK for now.

26/28. One of the easier quizzes but annoyed at not getting one of them. Speed of typing the teams in is a bonus for this quiz as I was out of time and probably would have got the other two if I'd had a couple more minutes.

First time we have won 3 on the bounce since the last Koeman season! Great win and fully deserved, a clean sheet with Stephens at the back and no Danny Ings, and we still scored two beautiful goals. MOTM for me could have gone to JWP (who was close), Romeu or Walcott but I’m going for Adams. Did not stop working his bollocks off and got the first. We fully deserve to be where we are. Ratings: McCarthy: 7 Had little to do but THAT save! I thought it was in. KWP: 7 Another good game from him, didn’t panic against St Maximin and passing was decent. Didn’t get forward as much as we know he can but when he did, we got the first goal from his efforts. Bednarek: 7 Solid if unspectacular but had little to do. Could have scored from corner. Vestergaard: 8 Best of the defenders. Lovely passing and was composed. Stephens: 6 OK he didn’t get forward but we kept a clean sheet because he kept it simple out of position. JWP: 9 Was literally everywhere. Works so hard and passing is exceptional. Romeu: 8 Another game where the 2 midfielders bossed it. Lovely shot that Darlow got tips to. Armstrong: 8 I agree his passing was iffy and decisions not the best but his work ethic was great and a well taken goal capped it off. Djenepo: 7 Genuinely looks like he doesn’t know what is happening next but man does he have some tricks! Walcott: 8 worked hard up top in Ings absence and had a part in both goals. Seems to be a brilliant cheap signing. Adams: 9 Really worked his testicles off all game and did not stop running. Lovely well taken goal too. Ralph: 9 I was concerned when I saw the starting line up but he got his tactics spot on. We are a really good team now. Enjoy it! TOP OF THE TABLE PEOPLE!

With the settled side we would win tonight but missing Ings and both left backs is a worry. That side definitely shows we are weak in defensive areas. Let's hope Newcastle don't fully show up tonight and the stand in players can step up. We could really use a big performance from Djenepo and Walcott in his favourite position. We need the attack to click because i think we will ship a goal or two at least. I would be happy with a draw tonight, even despite what is at stake. Win though and I'll be taking a screenshot of the table on my phone.

If my stats are correct (been a bit iffy of lately) then we haven't won 3 games on the bounce in the league since the last Koeman season. We possibly won't have a better chance than now so let's hope the non injured players can step up. I think it will be a draw. Newcastle will come with their awful brand of football and stifle us. For that reason I'd be tempted to play pacy players for this one, Adams, Walcott, Djenepo, Redmond with Long and Armstrong playing centrally with Romeu, JWP shifting to right back and KWP who had played left back for Spurs filling in that spot. Probably won't be though.

Really want a cherry on top and get a fifth to take us above Everton... for now at least.

Only supporting Southampton can it be squeaky bum time when we’re winning 4-1! 🤗

More direct free kicks than MLT in his career now! Oh, and we haven’t scored 4 or more goals in a win since beating Everton in the Pellegrino season...

He'll probably learn a lot more from playing alongside Ings and being managed by Ralph than he did at Birmingham playing alongside Jutkiewicz and being managed by Garry Monk, which is why I think he'll continue to improve even more, so maybe the placed goals will come. At 24 he's still 3 or so years off his peak, I think he's a decent asset to have. People worry that we would struggle without Danny Ings but I think Adams recent form has slightly assuaged that.

Same result as last season in this fixture would be nice, the 3-1, but Villa are a different animal to the team we did the double over last season. Mind you, so are we in many ways. The home fixture last season was the game with the Che Adams last minute cross-field pass to Armstrong who bust a gut to score. He's been decent since. I think we will get a draw here. Entertaining 2-2, with the same team as last week. (Villa are the spine of my Fantasy team too (Cash, Grealish, Watkins) so I guess there's a consolation if we get beat!)

...was exactly my first thought, in fact I'd go so far to say that even we have more of a chance than Villa and Leeds. (Well the same really, in that none of us will be winning the title, but I still think we will finish above Villa and Leeds in the table this season.) Arsenal have more of a chance than Everton too but clearly that's based on early season form.

Not to mention KWP can play left back too, and has done for Spurs. Signing Williams would give us great versitility, although I would like him on a permanent, which I don't think United would be open to.

Based on having Vokins on the bench today over Valery, I suspect you’re right. But JWP and Romeu have built such a good partnership in the middle, it would be worrying to break it up. Let’s hope we don’t have to. Signing Brandon Williams in January (or someone of that calibre) would make total sense for squad depth. https://images.app.goo.gl/qxBFrR92eijpBMUT6 Was a definite red, that was a potential ankle breaker IMO. Ancelotti needs to watch it again. If that red card gets overturned I’d be very surprised. Karen Carney said it was a red. Not malicious but dangerous.

I transferred him out this week! Ffs And Jota, who scored for Liverpool. Chilwell is my highest scoring player with six. Bad week. Unless Kane does something miraculous. West Ham continue to surprise me this season. Their fixtures looked so tough but they’ve done very well so far. Whether they can be as good through the “easier” games remains to be seen.

After that game, Jay Rodriguez, formerly of this parish > J. Rodriguez, latterly in this parish. 😄 Very comfortable win, annoyingly I had to Sky+ it and watch it after it had finished due to agreeing to take my daughter to softplay at 2pm by mistake. (Thought we were the late game for some reason 🙄) Ings my MOTM, 2 assists and he just never lets up. I was also impressed by the Diallo cameo, and no player was less than and 8 out of 10, except perhaps McCarthy who had so little to do! The red card was correct. Nasty challenge even if it was unintentional. If we lose KWP we have issues. Now we see if we can knock Villa off their perch. Top 4 here we come...? 🤗 p.s. been said before, but N’Lundulu is a frigging unit.

Weirdly it's not like we've needed Salisu or Diallo to step in straight away, unlike Walker-Peters and Walcott, both whom we needed to play straight away following their signings. Vestergaard has done OK this season since Stephens was dropped alongside Bednarek (who had a pretty rare poor game last weekend) and Romeu has stepped up and formed a decent partnership with JWP in midfield. As long as the CBs and the DMs play OK, we've been lucky not to have to force and unfit/unready Salisu into the side before he's ready. It would be nice to see Salisu on the bench though, at least then we know he's getting close.

Were we ever actually linked with Del Piero or was that a SaintsWeb pipedream?

Exactly. Listening to Talksport earlier and they were discussing Villa winning the title. If that happens, I'm a baboon's butt. Even Cundy last night was listing half the Premier League that could win it. (Saints were not one of them). Far too many people jumping the gun this early into the season.

Looks so far as if that will be today....

Palace getting what they deserved for defending the entire game. I bet their fans are glad they aren't at the stadium to watch that crap. Speaking of ultra defensive, here come West Ham with a 5-4-1 formation against Spuds. 😖 So much dross in the Premier League this season. Glad to be a Saints fan right now. We have a great manager in charge.

United 2-1 now against Newcastle. 1 more goal for United and we go above Newcastle back into the top half of the table. #littlevictories EDIT: Done.

https://streamable.com/04imq9 Link to the Vestergaard goal (Don't watch if you're waiting for MOTD and haven't seen it). Nicked from REDCAFE https://www.redcafe.net/threads/pl-weekend-fixtures-17-10-20-19-10-20.458226/page-26

Hence the last line of my post. 🙂 Even teams playing not to get beat sometimes score enough to win. I did however enjoy the friendly last week.

No Ings or JWP in the starting line up. Such a boring starting XI, it's definitely like GS is trying not to lose than trying to actually win games. James over TAA? No Grealish? AMN over the left footed Saka? I'm still unsure of Southgate as manager. Makes some odd decisions. Still as long as he keeps getting results, we keep him as manager. England 1Pickford 4Walker 5Coady 6Maguire 2James 8Phillips 7Rice 3Maitland-Niles 10Mount 11Rashford 9Kane Substitutes 12Mings 13Pope 14Henderson 15Saka 16Alexander-Arnold 17Gomez 18Ward-Prowse 19Grealish 20Ings 21Sancho 22Henderson 23Calvert-Lewin