Midfield_General

Amazing comeback from Leeds. 4 shots on target all game and they scored all 4. Marsch celebrating like they've won the Champion's League, unsurprisingly. It would be hilarious if they sacked him anyway

Leeds showing some proper fight Absolutely banging match

Yeah that’s Marsch done I reckon

Loving your work on this!

We're the same age - that was exactly my experience as well. I'd started going with my dad 3 or 4 years earlier but that side/ squad was the first one that felt like 'mine' as a Saints fan. That was because it was when I started going on my own, the Denmark kit was awesome, the 4-2-4 football was so exciting to watch, and looking back that squad contained some of the names who though young players at the time would go onto become proper club legends who we'd end up watching spend their whole careers at Saints. That one, the 2010-12 squad that got promoted from L1/Championship, and Koeman's 2014-15 squad are the three squads that have really defined Saints for me over the years. They all shared quality in every position, all played exciting, attacking football under a manager who wasn't afraid to have a go at anyone, and all pulled off some properly memorable results because of that. It was. Originated by the Ugly Inside when it was still a paper fanzine, I believe. Following on from christening Shearer and Ruddock 'the Bruise Brothers'. They did Ruddock Stomp t-shirts and everything, I wonder if anyone's still got one? I'd settle for scrapping out an ugly 1-0 win from an 89th minute penalty this weekend.

First time I’ve seen that since it happened! Thanks for sharing. It was a better penalty than I remembered, I thought he just blasted it but that was actually quite calm and composed.

Waiting for that penalty to be taken was one of the most nerve-wracking and gut-wrenching experiences of my Saints-supporting life. I was surrounded by people who literally couldn't watch. I don't remember Ruddock taking that many penalties before that, but as soon as it was given he grabbed the ball and said he wanted to take it. He showed real bottle because the pressure was immense. Ran up and just hit it as hard as he could, laced it straight down the middle, bam. The Dell went absolutely ballistic, then there was barely any time left before the final whistle went and it went ballistic again. Just this mass outpouring of relief and emotion. Like you say, we'd been 20 games without a win, we'd been shite and had been nailed on for relegation that year. Then from that result we kicked on and stayed up. I've never forgotten it.

Good, balanced article - difficult to disagree with the points made, really.

All huff and puff. Zero quality. When we do manage to carve out a chance we can't take it. Feel for Lyanco being played out of position but he doesn't have the quality on the ball to play where he was put today. More points lost against an average side. Way too many passengers contributing nothing - Aribo, AMN, Elyonoussi, Diallo. We've had a half decent little spell but that was normal service resumed. Only real positive is that a few other results went our way.

Just stick JWP on Zaha, wait for him to lose his shit and get sent off, and then cruise home to a comfortable victory against the 10 men

I’m going to give Ralph some credit. We were getting overrun in the first 20 minutes and he acted quickly and changed it, something he often gets accused of being unable to do. We looked like a different side after we went to the back five and he should be applauded for decisively making that change. Fantastic to see the battling and shithousery today - Lyanco, Caleta-Carr, Perraud and Ely all fought for absolutely everything and bullied their men throughout. DCC was a bit lucky not to get penalised but hey, is football. Shout out too for Bazunu who made some more vital saves to keep us in the game. He’s growing with every match he plays. Too early to say whether we’ve turned a corner but we’re grinding out some results now which is great to see, especially with the shocking injury list. Edozie definitely looks like he’ll have a contribution to make. Our goal was a lovely bit of football. Great to have plenty of positives to focus on. Well done lads.

Well if he's pregnant too then fair play, bench him

What's that formation then? 5 - 3 - 2 with Ely at RWB, three in midfield and Aribo up top with AArmstrong? Or a 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 like the BBC have got it, with DCC at RB?

But fit enough for the bench? So it's the sort of hamstring injury that's fine for 20 minutes at the end. Nothing he does makes sense anymore. He's so obtuse, he's doing my head in. (Cue sensational win out of nothing to make me look stupid)

Someone posted some Stoke fans’ reactions to Smallbone and it was… not good. They’re not sure what he is. It was a while back though so not sure how much he’s played since then or whether their view of him has improved.

Ulrich van Gobbel. Souness had previously signed him for Galatasaray and thought enough of him to sign him again for Saints for £1.3m, which was a big fee for us at the time. One of the quickest players in the league, but unfortunately that proved to be pretty much his only attribute. Later to be added to the pantheon of Saints players who’ve had a spot of bother with the law, after getting convicted for renting cars and then selling them.

The lack of balance in our squad, and that team, is embarrassing. I really hope we can scratch something out today but just look at it - a winger at defensive mid and two players who couldn’t get on the pitch last season now apparently mainstays of the team. Apart from the back five it’s just pulling names and positions out of a hat. It’s all over the place.

I admire your optimism @trousersbut did you honestly think Theo was going to be good second time round? He’d already been a busted flush for years. Everton fans couldn’t wait to get rid. I honestly think that putting him on a two year deal, on the money’s he’s on, is up there with some of the worst dealings that we’ve ever done in the transfer market. And that’s not just with the gift of retrospect - he was done when we signed him. It was such a negligent deal for a club with the financial constraints that we have. Like it was just done on a whim with no due diligence or common sense at all. Madness.

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Who's that I spy making a cameo appearance down in the bottom right corner of that picture? It's the lesser spotted Mr Spirit-Of-Southampton-Scarves-For-Arms-Squiggle-For-A-Body-Alternative-Club-Badge-Man! He's been discussed before, but very rarely seen in the wild. A collector's item indeed.

I have to say, I don't remember watching Kelvin Davis, Danny Fox, Jos Hooiveld, Dean Hammond, Richard Chaplow, Jason Puncheon, Billy Sharp and Guly hoisting aloft the Champion's League trophy or the PL. Playing international football at some point in your career also isn't really a particularly high benchmark, especially if you're from one of the smaller nations. And none of the players you're presumably referring to were at international level at that point either. Schneiderlin, Fonte and Shaw didn't get called up for their countries until two years later, in line with their development. Ward-Prowse didn't get capped until 2017. Lallana and maybe Lambert were the only ones who were really close to that level at that point, and even then it was another year before either of them got called up. The rest, while undoubtedly talented and with a lot of potential, were still very much a work in progress when Adkins was managing them. It's not like we were buying full internationals when we were in the Championship. Loads of players from other clubs who have gone on to play international football will have played in the Championship as youngsters at some point as well, that's not unusual at all.

Lavia's injured, unfortunately...

I suspect Blackmore has a personal relationship with Ralph/ Semmens that pre-dates Sports Republic. It’s mutually beneficial. Ralph and Semmens give Blackmore first dibs on the info that they are happy to share, which keeps him relevant, and in return Blackmore takes the soft soap approach, takes their side and rarely asks them difficult questions. So if Ralph and/ or Semmens go, it weakens Blackmore’s position as he doesn’t have that same relationship with SR, and the next guy may not want to have the same relationship with him. Hence, it’s in Blackmore’s interests to defend Ralph and Semmens and try to keep the status quo in place for as long as possible.

I like to read that as Salisu, JWP and Perraud as three goalkeepers, with McCarthy offering selfless running and hold-up play as the lone striker. it’s the last thing they’ll be expecting (taps nose)