Wes Tender

Hojbjerg for Denmark

https://www.footballfancast.com/premier-league/southampton/southampton-praise-sofiane-boufal-after-assist-in-man-city-defeat We don't half have some idiots as fans. Here is an embarrassing opinion from somebody called Max Harries who believes that Boufal is twice or three times as good as Le Tiss was. Judging from the photo of him, it looks as if the ink hasn't dried on his birth certificate yet. He can't be old enough to have actually seen much of Le Tiss playing, let alone that Boufal has only played a handful of matches for us.

So Guardiola believes that any team which is inferior to his most expensively constructed team of world class talent ought to throw caution to the wind and play attacking football against them. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? What he absolutely doesn't want, is rival managers setting up their teams tactically to thwart him by closing down his players, denying them space in the box, marking their play-makers out of the game and frustrating his team and fans. He hates the possibility that having done that, there is always the possibility of their opponents hitting them on the break or scoring from set pieces, which is what we did. When all is said and done, what annoys him the most, is that through our tactics little old us with our vastly cheaper team very nearly robbed his expensive team of superstars of two points, and even could have won the match had we taken the chances that we had made to score from all three of our CBS having free headers or shots from close range. In the heat of the moment at the final whistle, his emotions at picking up all three points from the final kick of the ball got the better of him and unthinkingly he blurted out this rubbish. With the benefit of sober reflection, he will accept that tactically every manager of a less illustrious team would do the same.

I think that you're right. When Cedric went off, we were forced into a back four instead of the back five that we had when defending. He had been very good up until then, and probably would have had the midget Sterling in his pocket. Austin on for Redmond would have left Long on the pitch and I have absolutely no doubt that he would have carried more of a threat. Tactically Pellegrino has to be applauded apart from that. Now let's see the 3-5-2 a bit more, especially against the big teams.

The ref allowed the game to kick off again after the goal, just to make it look as if there was even some more extra time. Somebody needs to buy him a new watch for Christmas. What is it with Manchester clubs and extra time?

We were robbed. We put in a heroic shift. Had we taken Redmond off instead of Long, Long would have been onto those balls upfield to put pressure on their keeper.

The goal was scored after time was up

why take off Hojbjerg? Why not Redmond?

F*ck that!

A really solid performance. I'm delighted to see the 3-5-2 at last. Three solid CBs and three solid central midfielders in front of them, two nippy full backs to get back to make a five in defence, or five across the middle, and two fast players to keep the City defence on its toes. Shame that the two up front are both fairly toothless as a goal threat, but they do have the speed to track back. Keep it at 0-0 until late in the match and then maybe throw the dice with Austin up top for Redmond and Boufal on for one of the midfield three.

Niemi was a brilliant keeper. Tim Flowers wasn't too shoddy either.

I thought that this was a thread about Jeremy Corbyn and the death of the Labour Party. There is already a thread about us leaving the EU, so if you wish to discuss that, Moonraker, why not do it there? Or else by all means discuss Corbyn's or the Labour Party's position on the EU here; if you know what that is. I think that they seek guidance on it from singing the Hokey Cokey.

No doubt you'll be happy to quantify that remark with the actual figures. And whilst you're at it, perhaps you can gaze into your crystal ball again and give us some other predictions as to our future prospects as a nation.

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/11/27/ian-wright-claims-everton-midfielder-morgan-schneiderlin-was-inv/ A sad indictment of a once great player, being labelled as invisible by Wrighty.

I'd rather we had an extra goal in another two of the matches we have already played instead of 4 in one match.

The sadness with Lambert's departure is because of how great a servant he was for our club, not because I was unhappy that he didn't stay one more year. I didn't begrudge him a final pay cheque returning to his spiritual home where his career in football commenced. I would even have hoped for his sake that he could have had a successful season with Liverpool for his swan song. But then Rodgers was such a useless manager for them and didn't realise that Lambert came into his own partnered with somebody like Lallana, and also that he offered so much more than goals to a team in his play.

Were you even there? If so, then I would call into question your judgement. Certainly Austin, Cedric and Bertrand all had good games, but without the contribution made by Hojbjerg in midfield with his tackling, closing down, interceptions and passing, those other three players might not have made as much contribution to the end result as they did.

Schneiderlin could have become one the midfield greats, he certainly had the potential. But in terms of his Saints connection, his most useful contribution to us is to highlight that the grass isn't always greener elsewhere. Add him to a growing list of players who left us for the glory clubs and then failed to impress there and then saw their careers decline. Schneiderlin was one of those with the greatest potential who has fallen down quite far, but the list includes Shaw, Chambers, Lovren and Lambert. Lambert was the only one I was sad to see go. Of those others, none would probably get into our current team if they were ever to return. Of the more successful players who recently departed for bigger clubs, apart from Mane, an argument can be put that generally we have players of equal ability replacing them.

http://hoofoot.com/?match=Southampton_4_-_1_Everton_2017_11_26 Match highlights. Not the best quality, but perfectly OK to watch the best bits. Verifies my thoughts on their goal; we failed to close down the space that Sigurdsson had to shoot.

When I heard the team selection before the match, I thought here we go again. Another wasted opportunity to change the formation to allow two strikers up front. At least Austin for Long was a small step in the right direction. We were playing a totally disheartened team low on confidence at home, so why not go for their jugular? But then what transpired was a great performance from us with total domination for virtually the entire match, and a good helping of that rarest of commodities, home goals from open play. Also in the plus column, we carried on trying to score right up the the last whistle. With better finishing from some half chances and from Long, it could have 6 or 7. So it begs the question; was our superb performance down to Everton's poor play, or were we actually really quite good. Maybe a bit of both, perhaps. There were several factors that might have played a part in our win, despite us playing a similar formation to our usual Pellegrino set-up. Hojbjerg certainly had a commanding presence alongside Davis in midfield and the two of them were constantly looking to pass and move forward. Hojbjerg made some superb long diagonal cross field passes to Cedric, giving us some good forward impetus behind Everton's lines. The left flank was also good with Bertrand and Boufal. We didn't miss Redmond at all. Boufal and Tadic provide plenty enough flair and Ward-Prowse offered more in terms of effort and dead ball threat than Redmond, as well as the three of them being quicker and more direct in getting the ball into forward positions. Instead of the lone striker isolated up front, we had a succession of balls into the box from incisive passes as well as well-directed corners, the sort of service that a striker like Austin thrives on. The only criticism I have is that we shouldn't have conceded the goal. We allowed Sigurdsson far too much space to get the shot away and he should have been closed down immediately. A minor niggle is that Tadic and Bouffal were trying to outdo each other with poncey back heels which mostly gave away possession. I do wish they would cut them out. Long as usual got himself into scoring positions twice and then being Long, totally messed them up. Pellegrino earned himself a stay of execution. Even if we almost inevitably lose against Man City, there won't be too much moaning provided that we put in maximum effort, as we did today. He has a dilemma with his selection for that match, whether to give Hojbjerg another outing, or to bring back Romeu. Also Lemina must surely be back in contention if 100% fit. The real test will be the Bournemouth and Leicester matches.

https://talksport.com/football/premier-league-201718-table-super-computer-predicts-end-season-final-standings-november?p=10 The super computer predicts we will finish 10th. Panic over lads.

A good analysis which I mostly agree with.

I don't recall chatting with Andy in the Car Park

Totally inept. Lightweight, lacking endeavour, no cutting edge, no tactical nous, no desire, no shots on goal. No case for keeping Pellegrino unless he changes the formation. And then just to rub salt in the wound, we will not even have Romeu in midfield against Everton. What do we do if Lemino is still out?

From the moment I heard the team, I knew that we would struggle. Why a further episode of Redmond, Tadic and Boufal? Too lightweight in the midfield and not enough up front. When will Pellegrino wake up to two up front and at least give us a bit more chance of scoring a goal? And Long up front by himself? When was the last time he scored? Or is he there solely because he has the pace to match Mane? The game was crying out for 3-5-2, which would have shut down the midfield and allowed a stronger defence when tracking back and more impetus going forward. I suspect that Pellegrino will wait until the 80th minute before he decides to make the tactical changes that equate to the last throw of the dice, the game having been long lost. I do hope that Reed has already been making plans for Pellegrino's successor whilst there is still time to turn the season around. What exactly is wrong with Lemina and how much longer will he be out?