SaintTex

pretty much sums up my feelings. Plus: 01) Frustrating game to be sure. However, I am liking the Long-Pelle-Mane-Tadic offense front to be honest though. That game could have easily been 1-3. 02) Martina had a good game. Was active. 03) We have to get our corners figured out. Wasted so many chances. Can anyone on the squad other than JWP deliver on a set piece? 04) After Wanyama went off, we lost control of the midfield. There was a good 10 to 15 minutes stretch, after we scored, were we could not get possession to make that final push for the second goal. 05) JRod on the pitch is encouraging and individually he looks fine, but with such a long absence from real playing time, he isn't really clicking with his teammates - understandably. With time (next season) things hopefully will improve in that respect. 06) VvD seemed frustrated for sure out there. 07) I thought Koeman got the lineups and substitutions right. It was a gamble taking Wanyama off, but I like that he was going for the 3 points. 08) Long again was lively, I thought for sure it would bear fruit. Gibson's take down of Long should have been a red! 09) Saints - Two balls off the woodwork | Everton - 2 shots on target, 1 of them a deflected shot for goal. 10) Europa probably gone. Top 8 finish still likely.

You got to believe City's win yesterday is going to helps us as far as the schedule goes. They are going to have the Champions League Semi matches before and after our match at St. Mary's. Let's hope the first leg is a hard fought draw. City's Schedule 26/27-04-2016 CL Semis (1st leg) 01-05-2016 Southampton 03/04-05-2016 CL Semis (2nd leg)

Exactly.. Martinez is going to have to do some pretty serious player management and prioritize effort. Sat 9/4 - Watford D (1-1) Wed 13/4 - Palace Sat 16/4 - Saints Wed 20/4 - Merseyside Derby Sat 23/4 - FA Cup Semis that is packed! If they win on Wednesday and are on 42 points, do they rest players against us in preparation for the Derby and the FA Cup?

looks like we need 61 points for a 50-50 chance for 6th place, which would just happen to also best last season in place and points. so... Everton W Villa W City D Spurs D Palace W why not dream, right?

so um yeah, the next points came from Stoke, Liverpool and Newcastle. 9 points out of 12. Saints sitting at 50 points with 5 matches to go. Go back and read page 1 for laughs.

not surprising at all. His new club is getting relegated. His old club just beat Chelsea and secured 40 points. Not to mention hard to get call ups when you are languishing in the championship. His international career is suddenly looking very short.

I am often worried he will swallow his gum during the match. but again, what Chez said. He's young, don't cut bait yet.

Champions League? Of course there is a chance, but it is very slim. Bare minimum would be 6 wins in our final 7... and likely the other non-win is a draw. - 66 points. and even if we reach 66 points, it's iffy. If we win our last 7 games, I'd feel confident we would place 4th. So considering the inconsistency we have shown this season, finishing out by winning our last 9 matches seems highly unlikely. We'll likely finish 3-2-2 with 58 points and 8th place. (nice, albeit a frustrating, season) Leicester (a) - L Newcastle (h) - W Everton (a) - D Villa (a) - W Man City (h) - D Spurs (h) - L Palace (h) - W That being said, I hope I am completely wrong and hope we win them all!

interestingly, we are 6 points off last years points total after 31 matches 2014/2015 - 53 points | 2015-2016 - 47 points Liverpool is 10 points of their point total of last year after 29 matches 2014/2015 - 54 points | 2015-2016 - 44 points

from Stoke and Liverpool I'll take the six points.

I like this mindset. I would like to see a Clasie, Wanyama, Romeu midfield as well. With possibly Clasie playing a bit more forward feeding precision passes to Long's runs. The question become who best fits for the remaining two forwards if you have Long up front. There are plenty to choose from: Tadic, Mane, JWP, Pelle, Davis, Austin, JRod -------------Forster-------------- Cedric---Fonte---VvD---Betrand ---Romeu--Clasie--Wanyama--- -------Pelle---------Tadic-------- --------------Long---------------- Possibly Mane in for Pelle in this formation, if available.

I think at this point if you are going to have Pelle on the pitch, you also need Tadic on the pitch. both are less effective without each other. Pelle more so than Tadic.

Is that all? Unfortunately, your list could be attributed to the wants of every club in the League.

I don't think we stick with the 3 CB formation considering we are losing one of our starting CBs. Back to basics. --------------------------------Forster------------------------------------- Cedric-------------VVD----------------Bertrand------------------Targett -------------------Romeu---------------Clasie---------------------------- ---------Mane----------------Davis-----------------Tadic---------------- -------------------------------Long----------------------------------------

maybe something like this? ------------------Forster-------------------- Cedric– Fonte – VvD – Bertrand – Targett ----Clasie ------Romeu ------Tadic ------- ----------Long---------Austin---------------

Tadic not getting playing time has hurt us offensively. It hard to complain much when we were in such good form before Chelsea, but Tadic doesn't have a natural place in the Starting XI when we go 3-5-2. (really should be called 5-3-2, because I am not convinced Cedric and Targett are adding much offensively). I may be in the minority but we need Tadic to be on the pitch way more. Just not sure how that can happen as we have been lining up so defensively (with mostly good results, squeeking out wins until last Saturday).

He has a far better chance of winning trophies with Liverpool if he is not on the pitch.

they have 2 tough games while we rest and then a tough game after. Guess there is two trains of thought on this. 01) We will be fit and rested; they will be exhausted (physically and mentally). 02) They will be well-honed, playing against competition that by most standards is better than us; We will be rusty.

I am not surprising anyone by saying that defense is making all the difference in the world 4 matches 3 goals scored - 0 allowed 13 points to have 10 points over 4 matches while only scoring 3 goals is pretty unreal Another incredible thing to think about: If we had let in just one goal in each of the last 4 games - we would have 3 points (D-L-D-D) instead of 10 points (W-D-W-W). more incredibly: If we had let in just one goal in each of the last 4 games -We would be in 12th place (33 points) instead of 6th place. (40 points) Fine margins indeed in this League. Goalkeeping is so important.

I think both were the correct calls. a) I think we would have howled if it had been on the other foot with Forster and it had been allowed. b) Yoshida again, but no intent, tangled up at the feet. It looked dicey live I thought. My heart did stop and I felt sure I was going to see the ref run into the screen pointing toward the penalty spot. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Romeu and Clasie yellows were awful, however. I clenched up with Romeu went on yellow, due to Wanyama's suspension. Luckily, Romeu played smart after and Koeman substituted him out before he could pick up a second.

highly debatable. Whoscored.com has VvD as the highest rated defended in the League and the 5th best player overall. VVD - 5th best over all - 7.62 rating - 1st rated CB Toby - 41st over all - 7.19 rating - 10th rated CB https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/5826/Stages/12496/PlayerStatistics/England-Premier-League-2015-2016 I know whoscored.com isn't the end all be all and I think Toby is better than 10th best CB in the league, but it ain't a bad place to start. And saying Alderwiereld is the best CB in the league is not a slam dunk argument.

so with this , how many games will have he been out this season due to suspensions? At least 9? missing a 1/4 of the season is really unacceptable.

So far ~~ 25 matches | 37 points = 1.48 points a game if we carry our season average of 1.48 over our last 13 games we'll have : 19 points 37 points + 19 points = 56 points. on pace to finish with 56 points.

Southampton Title Chances http://www.sportsclubstats.com/England/Southampton.html We have a better odds of 4th place than relegation, so why don't we talk about that?

---------------Forster---------------- Cedric-VvD-Fonte-Bertrand-Targett ---------Romeu-----Davis----------- ------Mane----Austin------Tadic----- the team is likely a bit gassed due to playing 10 men for 35 minutes. Romeu, Davis, Targett, Mane, Austin, and Tadic should all be pretty well rested. If Davis can't go, put in JWP. If Targett can't go, move Bertrand to Left wing and insert Yoshida as third CB.