nta786

also, let's assume a late goal is a goal scored after 75 minutes. Cardiff City 1–0 Southampton Southampton 3–2 Arsenal (gained 2 pts) (we scored in 85th minute) Huddersfield Town 1–3 Southampton Southampton 1–2 West Ham United (lost 3 points) Southampton 1–3 Manchester City (lost 2 points) Chelsea 0–0 Southampton Leicester City 1–2 Southampton Southampton 2–1 Everton (conceded in 91st minute but made no difference) Southampton 1–1 Crystal Palace (gained 1 point) (JWP gets our equaliser in 77th minute) Burnley 1–1 Southampton (lost 2 points) (concede penalty in 94th minute) Southampton 1–2 Cardiff City (lost 2 points) (both equalise then lose in 90th minute injury time) Arsenal 2–0 Southampton Southampton 2–0 Fulham Manchester United 3–2 Southampton (lost 3 points- because we were winning at one point!) (Lukaku score in 88th minute) Southampton 2–1 Tottenham Hotspur (gained 3 points) (JWP and Valery score, 78th and 81st) Brighton & Hove Albion 0–1 Southampton Southampton 1–3 Liverpool (lost 3 points) (Pool score in 80th and 86th) Southampton 3–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (gained 2 points) Newcastle United 3–1 Southampton Watford 1–1 Southampton (lost 2 points) (Gray in 90th minute) Please correct me if I have gone wrong somewhere! so we have gained 8 points from drawing/losing positions, but lost 17 points when having a winning or drawing position and losing. Also- Derby x2 (lost a 2 goal lead twice I think)

On our final away game of the season under Poch, against Swansea, when we won it 1-0 with Lambert's shoulder goal in last minute, my mate got a photo with Shaw, who went to get food from Burger King at a service stop! I think many others did too.

Gunn Valery Bednarek Yoshida Vestegaard Bertrand JWP Romeu PEH Redmond Long This is my prediction for what Ralph will play. Personally I would prefer a 4231, with Sims and Redmond on the wings, Armstrong in the hole, and Ings/Long up top- don't want to risk Ings if it will screw him over for game against Bournemouth. In terms of centrebacks, then definitely drop Stephens, and I'd probably start Yoshida with Bednarek tbh, haven't really liked Vestergaard in a back 4. I am really looking forward to this one, as I do with all London away games, if you classify Watford in London that is. We need to rectify the last two injustices we have had against Watford- we had the Austin goal disallowed start of this season, and this fixture last season they had the handball. So, 1-0 Saints. Redmond to score.

Just drew away to WBA U23s, final result 1-1. It now means that 1st, 2nd and 3rd are all locked on 40 points, with Saints occupying that 3rd spot. 1) Wolves, 40pts, GD= +22 2) Reading, 40pts, GD= +13 3) Southampton, 40pts, GD= +12 Our final game is against bottom of the table Sunderland at home (who are pretty much Huddersfield like adrift) Wolves play Man United away, Reading play Stoke away. Be good to get promotion of course.

https://www.90min.com/posts/6347393-southampton-line-up-club-record-bid-for-leeds-united-star-kalvin-phillips-as-rebuild-begins?utm_source=RSS the speculation begins

Yep Cardiff winning good result IMO. Firstly, keeps it interesting down bottom. Second, I would prefer Brighton down than Cardiff, even if Brighton is decent away day-, be good if Brighton just went into the oblivion and also I just think Cardiff will be like the Huddersfield of this season, and even though I am very much looking at a top half finish next season, it would be good if Cardiff next season sows a relegation spot up early much like the Terriers have this season. PS. If I really could choose I’d have wanted Burnley down! #Southerner The answer is yes for me tbh.

I actually would prefer we change our wage structure slightly- any incoming transfers should not be offered more than £40k a week- and if that reduces the pool of players we get to choose from then so be it- we have players like Elyounoussi on like £60k a week, who if I recall correctly said something during the international break about how that has set him up for life. Bednarek I think is an example on the lower end of the wage scale in comparison to his peers That way, it gives a sense of progression and maybe a motivation to improve to get on even bigger wages, either with us or for a top 6 club, and equally, should the player not perform, then well it makes it easier to offload too. If they do perform fairly consistently well after say 2 seasons, then yeah sure, offer them £80k-100k- I feel that is the balance we need- superstars who warrant that pay, and the rest all on £40k a week or less. I guess that might even be the agenda soon anyway- a solid 13/14 players and then the rest from the academy on £20k or less. Stephens/Hoedt/Elyounoussi/Boufal/Austin and other players on bench/on loan should never be earning more than a starting 11 player, and as a club we have far too many of those.

this. although is very far fetched when they compare him to Hazard as links below show. https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/15251064.claude-puel-sofiane-boufal-can-be-like-eden-hazard-or-lionel-messi-just-be-patient/ https://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/premier-league/2016-2017/who-is-sofiane-boufal-and-what-will-he-bring-to-southampton_sto5776942/story.shtml https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/sofiane-boufal-meet-lilles-spurs-scouted-midfielder-whos-throwback-hazard

It will very likely be the latter in my opinion, we've always tried to raise capital by selling first and then investing the money raised second. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many June/July in-comings bar Redmond tbh, otherwise the early signings are usually our cheaper Juanmi/Bednarek/Gardos type purchases. i

Well tbf these sorts of arguments could be made if you take every game on an individual basis, you could find a load of 'if' moments- what if Spurs went 3-0 up in the first half at SMS last month, or what if Jimenez scored to make it 2-2 yesterday, or what if Jannik didn't make that horrible mistake against Cardiff in Ralph's first game- these examples are all from Ralph's tenure and I am sure many more can be made- depends which side of the fence you sit on if they are positive or negative. As for Hughes, I do think he was an upgrade on Pellegrino, and tbh a breath of fresh air in terms of his press conferences when he came in, and had we kept Pellegrino we would have gone down, so Hughes did steady the ship in that sense simultaneously with a Swansea collapse. However, in the 8 Premier League games he did manage with us, apart from the West Ham games we were more than in it for all them, including close 3-2 defeats to both Arsenal and Chelsea, and even in the City game at home remember us hitting post and knocking on the door. Then there is of course the Everton game where we should have won at Goodison, and the Swansea win was the highlight of the season. Maybe Hughes played a blinder in getting us promoted, most likely putting a 100% effort in tactically planning every game for it, then as soon as that bumper 3 year contract came in he took his foot off the gas and then didn't give much of a cr*p, hence reports of him being disinterested etc etc... certainly can say it worked.

I can only assume a lot of credit must go to him too, even if Ralph is leading our resurgence.

For me, Hughes underachieved with that squad, but Ralph is overachieving with that squad! However, that is what an amazing coach does, and our players all look top 10 quality again.

If that Keita bloke cost them £48m, I'd want at least £50m for Lemina.

This is certainly true. Mastered the art of waffling. However, will we ever know what the five pledges were?

Well that is roughly £650k saved from the wage bill every year. It might be a case of Gao wanting more control following the dismal 2/3 years we have had since his takeover. Thanks for the service Ralph- presided over both the good and the bad of the last 6 years.

it would not be 'nigh on impossible', but they could certainly pay more than we would be willing to- after all their record signing is in the £45m mark for Sigurdsson, and they paid £44m for Richarlison last season too. Ours will likely remain at £19m for the foreseeable future, and that is not a criticism for me tbh. Again, wages too- they must have a couple of players on a 100k per week, I don't think we have broken that barrier, so yeah they could offer a hefty wage- although I remember reading in January how that Moshiri bloke doesn't have as much money as assumed OR- maybe he will just be attracted by the dugouts

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jonathan-moss/bilanzdetail/schiedsrichter/677/saison_id/2012/heim_gast//verein_id/180/wettbewerb_id//funktion/1/plus/0 not won our last 8 games with Moss refereeing us. for a team that is newly promoted they are a very confident bunch!

it is the Saints way after all- never for the faint hearted. I'm going to predict a 1-1, drab draw. Ings to get ours before they score late on. I think what a poster said about the whole 'plan A' is the fact they have played 3 at the back in I think most of their games- obviously it has been working fairly well for them- hopefully Ralph will know how to negate that with some good tactful lessons this week.

It was a tight call tbf- we still should never had let a 5ft 6 (or whatever his height) score with a header in the box like that.

yes, for the last couple of years now the runner up of the FA Cup no longer gets the Europa League berth. If a team in the PL top 6 win it, it goes down to 7th, and that has been the case for the last few years anyway. Although, finishing 7th means you begin your Europa League Journey in the 3rd round qualifying I think, and off the top of my head not many bar a couple have made it to the actual competition itself- we lost to FC Midjtylland in 2015-16, West Ham lost to some Romanians in 2016-17, and Burnley at the very start of this season lost to someone else too and didn't make it.

I do find it difficult to see how away fans, when in the home end cannot keep quiet, I'd have to be really binned to be honest to start celebrating. I have seen the Saints a number of times in the home end of other stadiums when I cannot get tickets myself, notably this season at Chelsea and Palace I was in home end with my friend, and even at the old Boleyn ground when we beat West Ham 3-1 (Pelle, Schneiderlin, Koeman in charge). However, it does appear like I am making that assumption all away fans in home section are like that- I am sure for the most part it is fine - but for the ones who do get kicked out- I see it as stupidity.

yes exactly. Wolves and Watford have plenty to play for, as does others chasing 7th place. Although if City lose this evening somehow, then yes the winner between Wolves/Watford will obviously see it far easier to achieve Europa League through the FA Cup Berth, with maybe one of them taking their foot off the pedal if that is the case- but on paper just cannot see City not winning the FA Cup this year,.

Yep summed up well. If we were to ever get a result tonight you need 100% of things to go for you, like Long who had an okay chance the one where VVD cleared it over, or maybe when Sims was in on counter attack but ref pulled it back, or on another day Salah would have been flagged offside for their first. No real complaints from me despite defeat. Let’s go chase 40pts now, onwards and upwards.

2 words: political correctness.

be a waste of a tenner really. Cardiff are around 80% gone. Brighton and Burnley the only other alternatives. Yes, we are on 33 like Burnley and Brighton but when you take into account our fixtures plus our resurgence under Ralph then we really aren't in the mix.