Saints vs Palace - Build Up

Haven’t they just signed a Brazilian keeper.

Today in fact!

Getting pretty short of wingbacks. Targett, Bertrand, Cedric all unlikely.

You'd like to think that if Bertrand was nearly back 2 weeks ago, he should be back for this next week...

Bertrand one side, Valery the other, I'm fine with that. You'd also hope that given there hasn't been a mention of Targett's injury, it's just a knock and he's fine. Assume he's back in training?

Can't shake the feeling that Lemina's injury is one of those ones that are confined to transfer windows. Rules out playing but nothing to spook suitors and allows all aspects of training apart from shooting...?

RB was in the training pics the other day so a positive sign there..

Getting pretty short of wingbacks. Targett, Bertrand, Cedric all unlikely.

Bertrand has been in training for quite a while now and Targett is in the training photos of today's session.

Bertrand has been in training for quite a while now and Targett is in the training photos of today's session.

That is very good news.

This is the first game of the season for me, now that my daughter is over 7 months she can finally stay with my scatty parents through the night without us worrying.

Looking forward to another three points! Surely we will do better than the last Palace game I saw, the 3-0 loss at Selhurst under Poortvliet when Kuqi ripped us to shreds.

Having shipped out our 4 best players, Cedric, Hoedt, Davis and Gabbi. No way we can win this game. Get all those cheeky insurance bets on.

Gonna say 0v2 to palace. Rip.

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Having shipped out our 4 best players, Cedric, Hoedt, Davis and Gabbi. No way we can win this game. Get all those cheeky insurance bets on.

 

Gonna say 0v2 to palace. Rip.

 

 

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Lets just hope for all our sakes the shifting on, albeit all as loans, of these players doesn’t bite us on the ass and cocky posters don’t end up looking even more stupid.

Lets just hope for all our sakes the shifting on, albeit all as loans, of these players doesn’t bite us on the ass and cocky posters don’t end up looking even more stupid.

Name me the last time Hoedt, Davis and Gabbi played for us under Ralph? Cedric clearly has not wanted to be at Southampton for about a year now, if he can’t be arsed to play the way Ralph wants, then it’s right to move him on. Cedric is a good rb, but when someone isn’t interested they quickly become poor or average. Valery will be fine, zaha will no doubt utterly destroy him but that’s why you double up and deal with the threat correctly. Zaha destroys even the best full backs.

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Name me the last time Hoedt, Davis and Gabbi played for us under Ralph? Cedric clearly has not wanted to be at Southampton for about a year now, if he can’t be arsed to play the way Ralph wants, then it’s right to move him on. Cedric is a good rb, but when someone isn’t interested they quickly become poor or average. Valery will be fine, zaha will no doubt utterly destroy him but that’s why you double up and deal with the threat correctly. Zaha destroys even the best full backs.

 

 

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or to look at it another way - if Valery loses his head against Zaha and gets sent off again who is covering right back ? An 18 yr old who just isn’t ready yet ? When Ings gets injured again, and he will, would you rather have Gabbi or Gallagher to call on ? If you are selling these players then fine BUT if you are loaning them out for a few months to save on wages and not bringing anyone in because these players could well be back on the wage bill come May then that is a risky game to play with the clubs immediate future.

or to look at it another way - if Valery loses his head against Zaha and gets sent off again who is covering right back ? An 18 yr old who just isn’t ready yet ? When Ings gets injured again, and he will, would you rather have Gabbi or Gallagher to call on ? If you are selling these players then fine BUT if you are loaning them out for a few months to save on wages and not bringing anyone in because these players could well be back on the wage bill come May then that is a risky game to play with the clubs immediate future.

I’d rather have Gallagher as Gabbi isn’t suited to a pressing side, even he admits that and Ralph has said. I even think the Napoli manager at the time said he isn’t a pressing striker. We were in that position with Valery for most of the time Cedric was “injured”. What I don’t understand is these players have received flack under the last 3 clown managers and everyone wanted them shipped out, now we have a manager with the balls to say “yep ship em out, we will be fine with or without signings” everyone loses their minds. These players hardly featured under Ralph.

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McCarthy

Valery

Vestergarrd

Stephens

Bednerek

Bertrand

JWP

Romeu

PEH

Redmond

Ings

McCarthy

Valery

Vestergarrd

Stephens

Bednerek

Bertrand

JWP

Romeu

PEH

Redmond

Ings

Is that our squad after the Jan window closes?

Is that our squad after the Jan window closes?

No that's my list of further sales before the window shuts.

or to look at it another way - if Valery loses his head against Zaha and gets sent off again who is covering right back ? An 18 yr old who just isn’t ready yet ? When Ings gets injured again, and he will, would you rather have Gabbi or Gallagher to call on ? If you are selling these players then fine BUT if you are loaning them out for a few months to save on wages and not bringing anyone in because these players could well be back on the wage bill come May then that is a risky game to play with the clubs immediate future.

Have you got the lottery numbers for tonight as well?

Lets just hope for all our sakes the shifting on, albeit all as loans, of these players doesn’t bite us on the ass and cocky posters don’t end up looking even more stupid.

Please explain how we will miss the right back who can't cross, the centre back who can't defend and a player who barely played all season.

Named a pretty strong side today vs Spurs. Zaha & Townsend both start.

Palace 1-0

Palace look rapid and direct on the break. Should be a good game midweek.

2-0, Townsend Penalty.

Palace no mugs, try and not have meltdowns when they give us a good game

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Should be three

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Since the ManU speculation things have gone spectacular wrong for Spurs/Poch. The injuries, out of League cup, going out of FA Cup as it stands... Wrong thread I know but still. I am enjoying this.

Palace will be difficult for sure Cabbage.

Palace no mugs, try and not have meltdowns when they give us a good game

 

 

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Got the makings of a good game

Pathetic from Nkoudou

Pathetic from Nkoudou

and Trippier.

Since the ManU speculation things have gone spectacular wrong for Spurs/Poch. The injuries, out of League cup, going out of FA Cup as it stands... Wrong thread I know but still. I am enjoying this.

 

Palace will be difficult for sure Cabbage.

Levy probably quietly happy. Good time to have a wobble with Utd doing so well when they want Poch.

No: Kane / Alli / Son / Eriksen / Toby

Hope zaha and townsend play the 90. Palace very keen on fouling even after the penalty. We should be able to exploit that.

Hope zaha and townsend play the 90. Palace very keen on fouling even after the penalty. We should be able to exploit that.

Think both of them are still on as of 80 mins (following by text commentary).

Palace getting strikers fit. Benteke & Wickham both getting minutes.

Here's how Palace have done since December. Most of the games are very close.

 

Palace 2-0 Burnley

Brighton 3-1 Palace

West Ham 3-2 Palace

Palace 1-0 Leicester

Man City 2-3 Palace

Palace 0-0 Cardiff

Palace 0-1 Chelsea

Wolves 0-2 Palace

Palace 1-0 Grimsby (FA Cup)

Palace 1-2 Watford

Liverpool 4-3 Palace

Palace 2-0 Spurs (FA Cup)

Updated. Decent set of results.

Hope zaha and townsend play the 90. Palace very keen on fouling even after the penalty. We should be able to exploit that.

Zaha played the full match, Townsend subbed at 88mins

Have to say I would take a draw. They are the sort of team that troubles us

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Have to say I would take a draw. They are the sort of team that troubles us

Yeah, on paper they are the tricksy away side.

Organised & solid - But rapid & dangerous on the counter.

Didn't we win at theirs?

yes they were without zaha and offered very little. different game this time round with both teams finding form lately

Don't worry chaps we've got Valery to snuff out the Zaha threat

Don't worry chaps we've got Valery to snuff out the Zaha threat

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You would think Palace were a top 6 team reading this thread!? They are level on points with us!

I can't find the stats to back up what I'm about to say, but I think that when a lesser club like Crystal Palace has a convincing cup win against a greater one like Spurs, it does not give them winning momentum. On the contrary, it makes them more likely to lose their next league game. Hope so anyway

Targett recovery, Bertrand approaching return

Ralph Hasenhüttl has confirmed that he has much the same group to work with for Wednesday’s Premier League visit of Crystal Palace to St Mary’s.

 

Saints line up against the Eagles for the first league game in 11 days, a time in which the Austrian has been able to oversee the continued recovery of Ryan Bertrand and an upturn in condition for fellow full-back Matt Targett.

 

While this week’s key double-header may come too soon for the former, the latter is in line to reclaim his place after limping out of the win over Everton before half-time.

 

“Ryan is a part of training at the moment and he is getting closer,” he said. “For now, it is a pity that Mario Lemina is not as well since he has a few problems with his stomach.

 

“Matt Targett’s knee injury wasn’t as bad as we first feared in the beginning so he has been training since Saturday so has a good chance to play this week.”

 

The First Team Manager also provided an update on Charlie Austin and Kayne Ramsay, both of whom face an uphill battle to be ready for Wednesday night.

 

“Charlie Austin has a swollen ankle so he could be a problem for Wednesday and Kayne Ramsay was ill today; if he trains well tomorrow then we will see about him too.

 

“It has been a strange week for our schedule not having a fixture at the weekend but we trained very intensively in that time and had a good opportunity to look at the whole squad.”

Source: https://southamptonfc.com/news/2019-01-28/team-news-southampton-crystal-palace-premier-league-1819

They've only one day of full training and may be knackered from their exertions against Spurs. We are on a much better place now than when MH was here so I'm going for tough win for Saints.

11 days rest for us, 2 days for them. I'd like to think we can make that count. The other fixtures for the clubs around us are very favourable, it is a huge chance for us to get potentially 6 points clear of the bottom 3 and start looking up not down.

They are a strange side, very good on their day but they are on the same points as us. I'd like us to get to 35 points as soon as possible and with 3 kind home fixtures coming up, it's a great chance to get 3 points closer to safety. A shame Bertrand won't be fit for this one as I think he will fly in this system.

if we win this one surely Ralph will be given manager of the month too? Only other option it could be would be Pep or Ole?

Zaha is way too good for our defence. Draw or home loss, I'm afraid.

Zaha is way too good for our defence. Draw or home loss, I'm afraid.

Yes. but they haven't got 11 Zahas have they? Just the one...

if we win this one surely Ralph will be given manager of the month too? Only other option it could be would be Pep or Ole?

We could win Infinity - Nil on Wednesday and it would still go to Ole.

This has got 0-0 written all over it

The trick will be to keep him starved of the ball, if Hoj & Oriol are on song he may not fancy one-on-one with those guys one little bit. I'm not saying we should intimidate him out of the game... ...yes I am!

On another less hopeful note, the local weather forecast for Wednesday evening is pretty horrendous, heavy snow from 5 pm with temps at 2 or 3C. Going to make life very difficult for fans trying to get to town and pretty dodgy walking to the stadium as well. I suspect the police might intervene and get the club to call it off.

Good players aren't good every week. Zaha doesn't score every week. Good players don't score against us every week.

 

He's a decent player in a very limited team. Why some are suddenly scared of Palace I've no idea.

I hope you're right but have too much experience of Saints being surprisingly good against the big teams and then ballsing it up against those we might be 'expected' to beat. Ps we would have played brighton or west brom in the cup. Portsmouth were still in the bag too....

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