Cracking the top 4

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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Chambers, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Rodriguez, Pelle.

I knew Rangers were not going to roll over and have their bellies tickled but this was unacceptable. I decided to give Cedric a start as I felt somewhat sorry for him being exiled from the first team due to Tete's form. That sympathy is now gone as he scored an own goal in the 2nd minute of the match which turned out to be the only goal of the game.
 
Clearly had some bitter feelings towards being left out. You sure he didn't just wait to pick up the ball and roll it into the net? ;)
 
JustaJim said:
Clearly had some bitter feelings towards being left out. You sure he didn't just wait to pick up the ball and roll it into the net? ;)
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He might as well have :P Useless.. and to think ive been turning down 25 mil bids for him from Liverpool!
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Chambers, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Strootman, Davis, Insigne, Ward-Prowse, Benteke.

Poor again as we didnt even look like threatening throughout the match. We were wasteful with possession, poor in the pass and sloppy with our finishing in the very few opportunities we had. These guys are going to take a while to gel as a team, lets just hope we dont suffer too much in the mean time.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Chambers, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Strootman, Hesketh, Insigne, Lucas, Benteke.

Thats much better, what was I worried about? We thumped Rangers at home to comfortably progress to the group stages of the Europa League. Strootman thumped in a wonderful effort from the edge of the box which arrowed right into the top corner to put us into the lead. Christian Benteke then scored a great header from an even better Lucas Moura cross before Prowsey tapped us safely through late into the game with a 3rd. Lucas Moura returning from injury made such a difference already.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Chambers, Tete, Wanyama, Strootman, Ward-Prowse, Insigne, Lucas, Benteke.

The stats may not show but I was much happier with this performance. We defended really well as a unit and broke with pace away from home and got a well deserved point. Lorenzo Insigne seems to have hit another gear this year and is benefiting from a run in the team as he grabbed another goal.
 
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August Review​

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A ridiculously hectic month had its ups and downs and was always realistically going to be about letting the team bond and gel. The positives are that we have safely qualified for the Europa League and shown signs of promise in the opening day win against Tottenham.
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Again it is far too early to pay any attention to the League table whatsoever but it is funny to see Arsenal rock bottom and the only team in the whole league without a win. Tottenham are also languishing near the bottom along with us.

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The Europa League draw will see us face some interesting games against Sporting and Saint-Etienne, but looking at the group we have got to back ourselves to qualify from it.

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In my time at the club we have never won a Capital One cup game, and I think it is the right time to end that particular statistic.
Player of the Month​
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Christian Benteke has been superb this month and has started the season in style. Six appearances, Five goals, Two assits, an average rating of 7.85 and 3 man of the match awards. Class.


September Preview​
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It is quite a nice change to see that it is us involved in most of the major transfers this window. Some interesting transfers including a couple of names that I pursued hard in the window. Sergi Darder was a player that I lodged several bids for and went through plenty of contract negotiations but he chose United in the end. Alvaro Morata has made his way to the Prem with Man City, while Pierre-Emile Hojberg is a class act and should be good at United.
 
Sucks to be that low in the league early on hope you can start winning some games
 
Some great signings there, especially Strootman and Lucas are excellent captures. Now for the month august, personally I wouldn't be worried. Like you said it was an incredibly busy month and since you're squad has gotten a massive overhaul it will take some time for the players to settle in. You've gotten a great win against the Spurs and qualified for the Europa League so all in all not bad at all. Looking forward to this season especially with the improvements you've made.
 
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Southampton FC Squad 2017/18


Goalkeepers

Timo Horn
Maarten Stekelenburg
Harry Lewis

Defence

Ryan Bertrand
Matt Targett

Jose Fonte
Virgil Van Dijk
Calum Chambers
Jason McCarthy

Cedric
Kenny Tete

Midfield

Victor Wanyama
Sven Bender

Kevin Strootman
Steven Davis
James Ward-Prowse
Jake Hesketh
Callum Slattery

Dusan Tadic
Lorenzo Insigne
Jay Rodriguez
Lucas Moura

Strikers

Graziano Pelle
Christian Benteke
​


* Academy Products


Overall I am extremely happy with the balance of the squad at the moment. We have plenty of depth and a nice mix of experience and youth which is leading to a highly successful mentor program. 6 Academy products in the first team is something that everybody at the club is incredibly proud of, heres a look at some of the younger players who are breaking into the first team squad.

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Harry Lewis has the potential to be an absolutely superb goalkeeper. Currently being mentored by Stekelenburg, Lewis is the natural successor to the Dutchman when his contract expires and will take on the role of backup goalkeeper where he can hopefully put some pressure on Horn.

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Jason McCarthy is a player that I really like and has done reasonably well when given first team opportunities in the past couple of years.

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Matty Targett is a player that is really starting to flourish, especially under the guidance of Ryan Bertrand who he is battling for a first team place at left back. The lads going to continue to improve and is the natural successor to the left back position.

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Callum Slattery has the potential to have the world at his feet. Very rarely have I ever seen a youngster so Technically and Physically sound at such a young age. At just 18 years old, this lad is already pushing for a first team spot and has a massive future.

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Last seasons player of the year, Jake is already an established member of the first team with 25+ appearances under his belt from last season. The lad had a wonderful year last year and I will be looking for him to replicate some of those performances this year!

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A quick glance at the Under 21 squad shows that the academy is absolutely not resting on its laurels. A mixture of youth intake players and some clever buying from Director of Football Les Reed see us with a wonderful range of high potential youngsters to bring on. In particular I am super excited by our 3 young striking options as well as Barry and Dozzell. There is a strong chance that in 5 years time our entire midfield could be comprised of Academy products with the likes of Ward-Prowse, Hesketh, Slattery, Barry and Dozzell. The same can be said with Whiteman coming through who is likely to take the place of Bertrand when he exits the club, leaving us with a home grown duo of Targett and Whiteman.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Chambers, Tete, Wanyama, Strootman, Ward-Prowse, Insigne, Lucas, Benteke.

Before the match I tried to give the lads some of their confidence back, telling them to keep hold of the ball and work the overlap instead of instantly looking for the goalscoring threat. I told them that with the ball at their feet there are few better teams in the Premiership and instilling that confidence worked. We did a much better job on the ball and carved out chance after chance with Prowsey scoring a wonderful free kick and Lucas Moura grabbing his first for the club. Valuable three points.
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Chambers, Cedric, Wanyama, Strootman, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Lucas, Pelle.

This team just loves playing at home. Once again we bossed the game, got the goals we needed early and then defended wonderfully to see the game out. A 2nd goal of the season for Lucas Moura shows there are definite signs of him settling in while Pelle got a well deserved goal, taking his chance well.
 
SaintMotbot said:
Goalkeepers


Timo Horn
Maarten Stekelenburg
Harry Lewis


Defence


Ryan Bertrand

Matt Targett



Jose Fonte
Virgil Van Dijk

Calum Chambers
Jason McCarthy


Cedric
Kenny Tete

Midfield

Victor Wanyama
Sven Bender

Kevin Strootman
Steven Davis
James Ward-Prowse
Jake Hesketh
Callum Slattery

Dusan Tadic
Lorenzo Insigne
Jay Rodriguez
Lucas Moura

Strikers

Graziano Pelle
Christian Benteke
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What I'm liking about this is how different our teams are. I've just started my second season with Saints and pretty much just sold most of the squad worryingly as I wanted to put my own stamp on the team.

The only players we have the same now are Bertrand, Targett, Wanyama (will probably go soon as his release clause isn't that high), Ward-Prowse, Hesketh, and Slattery.

I did buy Bender but sold him for a profit as I have enough Centre-Mids :D
 
Herowolf said:
What I'm liking about this is how different our teams are. I've just started my second season with Saints and pretty much just sold most of the squad worryingly as I wanted to put my own stamp on the team.

The only players we have the same now are Bertrand, Targett, Wanyama (will probably go soon as his release clause isn't that high), Ward-Prowse, Hesketh, and Slattery.

I did buy Bender but sold him for a profit as I have enough Centre-Mids :D
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I think that is one of the beauties of football manager :) It's all about how you want to play your football. I'm a massive Saints fan in real life, so I know what players like Tadic, Pelle, Van Dijk and Cedric can bring to the table. I really like giving players the opportunities they have earned however there does need to be some ruthlessness if they dont perform :) Cheers for following by the way!
 
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Starting XI - Horn, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Chambers, Cedric, Wanyama, Strootman, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Lucas, Benteke.

I hope I made myself perfectly clear to the lads after this game. UNACCEPTABLE! I realise that I need to shoulder some of the responsibility as manager, but so many of them underperformed and didnt even look like they were trying. Our away tactic clearly isnt working any more and we are going to need to review that. Nobody should be outplayed to that extent by Stoke.
 
SaintMotbot said:
I think that is one of the beauties of football manager :) It's all about how you want to play your football. I'm a massive Saints fan in real life, so I know what players like Tadic, Pelle, Van Dijk and Cedric can bring to the table. I really like giving players the opportunities they have earned however there does need to be some ruthlessness if they dont perform :) Cheers for following by the way!
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Same here :) And I still have Cedric, missed him from your list. One I noticed from your Targett profile earlier is that he doesn't have "Curls Ball" as a PPM. If you Bertrand tutor him then he can get that PPM and a Professional personality to ;)
 
Herowolf said:
Same here :) And I still have Cedric, missed him from your list. One I noticed from your Targett profile earlier is that he doesn't have "Curls Ball" as a PPM. If you Bertrand tutor him then he can get that PPM and a Professional personality to ;)
Click to expand...

Cheers for the tip :) Tutoring has begun!
 
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