S-Clarke

I wasn't as worried as I thought I'd be, it was one of those nights. I thought it was a bit too close if I'm honest, maybe 5-10 yards further out and it could have been different. It really was reminiscent of Leeds away in the Champ, but this was against one of the best tika-taka teams in the world.

The commentators said that they don't believe Man City have ever been dispossessed as much as they were yesterday, we were on it from min 1 to min 95. I agree that we were pushed back 2nd half, but first half it was a really good advertisement of the press and how to execute it well against a proper tika-taka style team.

Yeah, people are saying to me that they were on the edge of their seats in the last few mins - one of them doesn't even really follow football, others aren't fans of Southampton. I think we got ourselves a big neutral fan base after yesterday! We've certainly been one of the best teams to watch since the return, IMO.

That's usually the sort of wording they use when it's an option to buy, doesn't sound like a set arranged transfer like we had with Ings, more of an option if they are able to. Could be all sorts of requirements around it though - only kicks in if they get promoted etc, but it sounds like they have an option of sorts. Would be interested to know what we valued him at. Obviously it's still relying on him agreeing to move their on a perm though, he doesn't have to. He could have plenty of suitors.

I didn't realise that. I wonder how much?

He's certainly a reliable member of the team, and was pretty epic last night. But for me - he's one of the players we genuinely need to improve upon if we want to go further than we are. He lacks the mobility and speed to get around the pitch with this high press style, he's a great option to have around the place but I'd like to see us trying to improve on him if we can. It's up to him if he fancies being a member of the squad, but he may move on this summer IMO.

Everton away, we never win there. But this is a weird season, so who knows.

I don't think we'd have held out if he was on the pitch today. We've been in similar positions over the last couple of years at home, and he just goes to pot. I remember one game in particular, 90 odd mins, needed a calm clearance from the back and he just launched it straight up in the air and put us in the shit. He's not a terrible player, but he's not someone we're going to miss that much.

There was a funny feeling in the air about this game, just something niggling in the back of my head 'We don't win at home, City just score for will''......and the rest writes it's self. We were always going to need bucket loads of luck and boy did we have that, but...you make your own luck. Through blocks, harrying, hassling, pressing...it was a proper backs to the wall performance, I love those sorts of wins more than any other to be honest. The players look like they have bought into Ralph's style more than ever, everyone is in sync, everyone knows their jobs and the press is the most well executed I've seen - even better than the MP days. (we just lack a little bit of the quality from those days). Stephens has gone from being average as hell to what he is today. A very competent, strong, powerful premier league centre half. I still hope we bring in another CB to give both him and Jan some competition, but any new addition will need to be a bit of a world beater to oust either of those today. KWP was good, but what worried me was how Silva pulled on him - a couple of times - at the back post, his lack of height was being exposed at times - but technically he's very capable, but he did panic a little in the 2nd half with some clearances. We resumed the league a couple of weeks ago and we were sat on 34 points, still looking over our shoulders a tiny bit. Now we're on 43 points and 13 points clear, and unreal return from us. Something looks to have clicked fitness wise and tactically over the last few months. It looks like everyone at the club have been working their arses off and results like this are the proof.

Why be bothered about being mathematically safe? We were safe in Feb.

Yeah, Jamal - that's the fella! https://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2011/08/05/2606827/tunisias-ammar-jemal-pulls-out-of-southampton-move

It's crazy isn't it - when you look at Villa and you can only really pin point Grealish that may attract real interest, yet Villa are the team who spent £160m on new talent in the summer! #fail.

Brighton winning @ Norwich. Pretty much secures Brighton if they see it out, and it removes any faint hope Norwich may have had. Shit result for those below West Ham really, looking quite bleak for Bournemouth particularly.

Eliott Ward and we were linked to another foreign centre back in our first season back in the Championship, it fell through due to us not wanting to fund some sort of loyalty bonus, but I cannot for the life of me remember his name

I thought that last night - why on earth is he sat on the bench, when Eric flaming 'Dire' is in his position? They are light years apart in ability. This looks to be another Jose masterclass from his out of date methods.

What the hell is this fit and proper process thing actually doing? Absolute shambles again by the FA and EFL.

I reckon we could have fun against them at their place. Our game will probably be the one that confirms it too. Maybe.

Bournemouth need to win this home game or they're pretty much done. Leicester look intent on throwing away Champions league football too.

I don't really know what Obafemi brings us? He seems to lack some basic skills at this level from what I've seen, he's quick no doubt...but he doesn't seem to be able to do much more. Similar could be said of Adams, but he seems to have a bit more about him as a footballer.

Loved Maya, would be great to see him back for a friendly or similar.

Their 'fringe' players include Sane, Jesus, Foden, Silva, Mendy, Cancelo 🤣

It would be good to see Leeds and Forest back And it would be good to see the back of Bournemouth and West Ham!

He's a tidy little player, good awareness and ability to turn in midfield to feed Ings for the first goal. Defo. a great squad player for us, but I don't think we should be seeing him as week in week out first team just yet. Potential is big though from what I've seen of him.

I think he looks fitter tbh, so do a lot of our players to be honest. Certainly one of the fitter teams from this restart.

We are just epic away from home, really, really good. We press well, break well and genuinely disrupt a home teams tactic through our press. It really is executed perfectly away from home, we're just not getting it quite right at home yet. Don't really need to say much more about Ings, It's pretty clear that he's one of the best strikers in this country and we're very lucky to have someone of his level with us. Top 4 player without a doubt. Really impressed with Romeu's impact today, I thought he read the game superbly and used the ball sensibly - he was back to the Romeu I remembered under Koeman, just keeping it simple but using his intelligence to pickup the right area's of the pitch. Credit to Vesterguard too - I thought that was a good pairing up against Deeney, they had him for dinner all afternoon to be honest. Food and drink for them. Not going to moan about the OG as there was nothing Jan could have done really, had he left it Welbeck would have tapped it in - he had to try and do something. I really enjoy JWP's performances away from home, he dictates the tempo for us now days and keeps things ticking - he covers so much ground it's insane, I'm sure he's going to be up amongst the highest on distance covered at the end of the weekend? Adams came on and did finally make an impact I felt, he's just rusty as hell. He did so well to get through but wasn't clinical enough with the finish. Really hope he gets a goal before the end of the season, it's like a chain around his neck at the mo. KWP is like 10 levels up from Valery in ability and quality, I don't know what we do with Valery to be honest....loan to L1 and see how that pans out? But yeah, KWP until the end of the season and then see how he does. It's the first real look I've had of him since he's been here and he was pretty tidy. Let's just finish with as many points as we can and hopefully we can get some decent results at home before the season is out!