Cracking the top 4

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December Review​

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A wonderful month for the club as we only lose the one match and that was a close match to City.
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Its amazing the same fans who were calling for my head just two months ago are now shouting for a new contract. We have shot right up the table and now sit comfortably in 7th just two points off of 4th place. Massive credit to Van Gaal at Man Utd who has turned their fortunes around but now its Klopps Liverpool that have dropped off. Sunderland look all but relegated already and sacked Allardyce after their defeat to us.

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The defence of our FA Cup will kick off against Premier League Sheffield Wednesday in a home match at St Marys.

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The Europa League draw has not been quite so kind to us and we face a tricky looking tie against Valencia.


Player of the Month​
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Graziano has rediscovered his scoring form and has goals in each of his last three matches. He has now become our leading goalscorer this season and his presence up front has turned our form around drastically.


January Preview​
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Gutted. Big Pelle will probably be out for all of January and will be missed. Our other options up front are Rodriguez or Mane. With Gallagher really not living up to his potential it is more than likely that we will be dipping into the transfer market, especially with Mane leaving for African Cup of Nations duty.
 
Good month mate - here's hoping you can build on it and push up into the CL spots!!
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric Wanyama, Clasie, Davis, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Rodriguez.

Well that was dramatic. We huffed and puffed for the whole match with no success until Winston Reid gave us a penalty in the very last minute of the game. Dusan Tadic didnt need to be asked twice to tuck it away and we claim another three points.
 
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Benteke joins Saints​

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Southampton have confirmed the signing of Liverpool striker Christian Benteke on a four year contract in a deal worth an estimated £12.75 million. Benteke had been with Liverpool for 18 months after signing from Aston Villa for £32.5 million but has become disillusioned with life at Anfield recently following a lack of playing time.

"We are all thoroughly delighted to welcome Christian to the club" Said Saints manager Ronald Koeman "He brings great Premiership experience and a wealth of talent, his eye for goal can really help the club progress."

Benteke scored 10 goals in 27 appearances for Liverpool and will be available for Southamptons FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Koulibaly, Tete, Bender, Clasie, Davis, Tadic, Mane, Benteke.

We took the trip up to Stamford Bridge reasonably confident in our chances and we gave Chelsea a good game. We stuck to our defensive shape nicely and worked hard to shut Chelsea out. Eventually a corner was volleyed in by Azpilicueta who wriggled some room to put the blues ahead. We switched to a more aggressive style to chase the game and did really well leading to Sadio Mane claiming the reward for our intent and putting us level. Unfortunately Pedro came straight back up the other end and undid all our hard work and 2-1 it finished. A good effort.
 
Just finishing reading it my friend !! Well done on capturing Benteke !!
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Bender, Clasie, Davis, Tadic, Rodriguez, Benteke.

Another good away win for the lads as we manage to beat Brentford in their own back yard. Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly were both missing today as they will be for the next few weeks due to the African Cup of Nations, however this gave a chance to Jay Rodriguez who stepped into the side and put us into the lead like he had never been away. Steven Davis doubled our lead with a scorcher from outside the area and then we shut up shop and played for the whistle. Brentford did manage to get one back but it was too little too late.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Targett, Van Dijk, McCarthy, Tete, Bender, Ward-Prowse, Hesketh, Insigne, Rodriguez, Benteke.

A cracking game against a Luton side that put up much more of a fight than we were expecting! Goals number 1 and 2 for Christian Benteke can only be a good thing while further bright spots include an Insigne goal and a commanding midfield performance from James Ward-Prowse who has had a very quiet season.
 
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January Review
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Another great month as we advance through two rounds of the cup and remain competitive in the Premiership. The loss to Chelsea was a close one and half expected so now worries there.
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The end of January now and the table is starting to take shape. City lead the way again but it is so tight at the top that even we could be within four points off the lead if we win our game in hand. Derby are still doing superbly on their first season back in the Premiership and are surely safe now. Sunderland have appointed Brendan Rodgers as their new manager and since then they have picked up a couple of wins, it will be fascinating to see if they can make a comeback but the smart money says the current bottom three are going down.

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We are into the last 16 of our trophy defence and we are drawn at home against Stoke, a winnable fixture.


Player of the Month​
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Steven Davis has been Mr Consistent in the middle of the park this month and is a crucial part of how we play away from home. He has a lovely balance of attacking, supporting and defensive football and is one of the great box to box midfielders of the Premiership.
February Preview​
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A jam packed month with some interesting games. Valencia in the Europa League is going to be a great test of how far we have come before a double header against Stoke in the league and cup. This is going to be tiring on the old legs.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Koulibaly, Cedric, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, Hesketh, Insigne, Rodriguez, Benteke.

Despite bossing the game, we couldnt quite grab the win against Swansea. Lorenzo Insigne continued pressing his claim for the first team by grabbing our equaliser but even though we threw the kitchen sink at them we couldnt break through. Frustrating.
 
Holding on for the fight for a European spot! Good stuff mate!
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, Davis, Insigne, Mane, Benteke.

Much better performance as we crushed Norwich at St Marys. Jose Fonte got two, both headers from corners and Christian Benteke got his first league goal for the club. A moment of controversy in the game was the team letting Fonte take a penalty to try and get his hatrick, which he duly missed. I am seriously not happy with this, nobody takes the ball off our penalty taker. Sadio Mane returning from the AFCON made a big difference to the team with his pace on the right wing.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Davis, Rodriguez, Mane, Pelle.

We are going to have to do very well to get back into this one. A really poor performance saw us penned in and just not able to play out and create anything. Cartabia scored the only goal of the game as not only did we lose, we failed to grab an away goal either. Will take a big effort at St Marys now. Valencia played a really rough game and as a result both Steven Davis and Cedric will miss the next 3-4 weeks.
 
First up well done on signing Benteke. I am curious however, what are you planning on doing when Pelle returns to full fitness? Will you be rotating them or wil you be implementing the both? Anyway tough draw against Valencia and as expected they look to be the better team, still you've gotten some great results in St Mary's so not all is lost.
 
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