eelpie

20 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Great idea. Then who do we play in CM? 

Stu Armstrong?

4 hours ago, eelpie said:

For our mens teams, I mean.

I will start with: 

1. Agility and accuracy in front of goal

 

I'm going to add

2. The ability to turn very quickly on the spot before shooting accurately. (Not our forwards' best skills) 

For our mens teams, I mean.

I will start with: 

1. Agility and accuracy in front of goal

Another depressingly modest transfer window so far. Is the club preparing for the Championship in a year's time? Ot are they gambling on some Bargain basement surprises?

 We've one of he best team we've had. 

2-3 to Saints. My only concern is late match fatigue after some very energetic games. 

What stream is showing this game? I thought it was going to be on iPlayer, but not so. 

2 hours ago, Jack said:

Full strength, unchanged for me. Rotate a few for Villa if needed. We should be putting absolutely everything into the cup run now that we’re safely mid table but way short of Euro qualification 

This. Absolutely!

Current form and position in the table would suggest an easy 2-0 win.. But the table reflects Saints recent successes in matching and drawing against top teams.. Norwich's position at the foot of the table is a result of terrible early season form and recent bad luck. Norwich are tenaciously fighting to survive, and need a good result.  They are a decent, spirited side who have already beaten Saints..

Saints aren't good against supposedly weaker teams. I'm expecting an exciting game, with shocks!

 2-2 the result. Gunn to make spectacular stops and Tino to save Saints blushes. 

Man City are showing top world class form, penetration and fluency in all areas these days. They are beatabl, but if we press we will concede lots. Best is surely to defend resolutely in the box, and hope to break if rare opportunity comes. Toughen this out for 55 minutes lads.

It's certainly going to be an intriguing match; Wolves are only 4 points above us.  I was surprised to see that they have only scored 14 goals, yet have won 8 matches. Their defence has proved to be formidable, conceding only 14 goal, a weird symmetry for a team fairly high in the table.They are a dour, defensive side.

If we can score early and maintain our recent defending form, we will win.  1-2 to Saints.

We should win this with a good margin, according to league tables, but we do sound over-confident on here, and we often underperform against weak teams.

Norwaucj are also encouraged by recent efforts.  

Banana skin?

I think there may be an early shock.  1-1 , Stewey saving our blushes.

54 minutes ago, Minsk said:

You mean like the comedic, unbalanced, line ups that saw us get draws against Utd, City and in form, free scoring, West Ham? Those selections?

To be fair, since those matches we've lost Stevens to injury and he'll be out of action for quite a few matches. Stevens has become a force in our defence, and his absence highlights weaknesses - obvious on Saturday - as  a result of not having Premier quality cover.   That is Gao's fault and our worry.

I cannot understand why we heroically fight tooth and nail against the powerful, top teams one week, then become supine and spineless against weaker ones the following weekend? Surely, it must be about lack of leadership on the pitch 

Or is it simply that Southampton and area is now too tranquil and easy going to want to succeed week after week?

On 20/09/2021 at 14:34, eelpie said:

I'm also looking forward to seeing some of our exciting and promising options playing, but with a caveat:  not too many newcomers at once without experienced first team players on the pitch. We must keep good shape, cohesion and understanding between the players, otherwise there could be a cup upset.

 

So the result was much as I predicted.  New players had a useful run around and we (just) survived to fight another day. Forster was the hero and it was great to see Salisu (have we found another Vesty?) and Diallo score. Oriel hit the vital penalty too. But the new defenders were disappointing.

I would have been happy if we could have replayed at St Mary's because it's so important to be able to give our 'B' players as much match experience as possible. Let's win the next round with a just a few of our young footballers in the team.

I'm also looking forward to seeing some of our exciting and promising options playing, but with a caveat:  not too many newcomers at once without experienced first team players on the pitch. We must keep good shape, cohesion and understanding between the players, otherwise there could be a cup upset.

It is going to be a tough match. But NOT easy for West Ham as the Independent believe. Saints have held out against better and richer teams and there is no reason why  - if we concentrate on a resolute defence - we can't break away and score more than once. 

COYS!

Good luck Michael. I think your career will take off now.

1 hour ago, david in sweden said:

66% possession and 11 shots without scoring in the first half was more down to the panic Toon defending than simply

blaming Djenepo for missing when so close in, and on another day we might easily have gone in 2 or 3 goals up.

Yet another instance of our all-out attack in the first 45 , not being able to keep it going into the second half.

Good performances from Livramento that auger well for the future.  Despite conceding two goals , both Stephens

and Salisu look to be forming a good CB partnership,  and Walker Peters didn't look out of place at LB. 

 

After his two season sojourn at Celtic,  Elyounoussi  has earned  his place in the start line-up and we may finally

be on the way to getting our money's worth on his deal.  Huge disappointment conceding second goal after 91 mins.  

but although not scoring, Adam Armstrong contributed to the result through sheer determination and it was left to

" Super-Prowsey "  to  do the business and get us a well-earned point. 

This. A thoughtful and positive analysis.

2 minutes ago, benjii said:

Djenepo wasn't offside so it's a terrible miss. Also missed another good chance.

Livramento needs to release the ball better. Too greedy in the dribble.

Adams a bit slow today.

Romeu big weak link. Messed up a number of good positions being caught on the ball.

Having said that, we're by far the better team.

I'd like to see Dialo for Romeu and Broja for Adams later. Also Tella for Djenepo at some point.

Not being in the lead is criminal really after that 45.

Newcastle defending with 9 men back to the wall makes it difficult. This is where we miss Danny. But with the game opening up we have more opportunities, provided we keep strong at the  back.

11 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

What are the odds on Leicester and Man Utd putting up a twitter post saying:

"Not quite 9 0 is it"

And all the media

It's quite horrible, taking it out on this little club. 

Yeah - Get in there. We want 10!

9 minutes ago, obelisk said:

I suspect Utd will be comfortable given Saints reputation for giving up in the second half.

4 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Would like to think we replace Walcott with KWP and play him in front of Tino. But I suspect we will have ground hog day.

12 minutes ago, BotleySaint said:

Is he playing?

Now, now, BBC report Theo is looking sharp.

2 hours ago, Toussaint said:

It’ll be interesting to see what effect the crowd has, Ralph would probably have lost his job last season if the crowds were there to voice our frustration. Maybe Ralph would have changed his approach when he became aware of our dissatisfaction? Who knows, it’s been a messed up year and a half, and it’s given him a free pass, but things will surely change now one way or another.

However critical we are about Ralph, it has to be said that he set the team up well between March 2020 and November 2020, providing some superb entertainment (sad we couldn't watch it live). If we had like for like cover so that the players  could be rested, they might not have become so exhausted. Ralph's pressing tactic did not match our resources. 

As our resources might be too thin for a good result against multibillionaire Manure.

19 hours ago, egg said:

My brother is a plastic occasional fan so he couldn't give a shit, but I think it's odd that any fan wouldn't be bothered by our team, results, and performances. 

Everton was interesting in that it revealed contrasting positive and negatives about play and individual performances.  With promising new players in the team, I would expect it to take a few matches for the team to gell.  We need to give newcomers in the team some slack.

 We've so often seen us do well in the first half, then have no answers on how to defend leads.  Yet we've  seen us defend well against strong oppositions. so it can be done.