Cracking the top 4

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Sheffield Wednesday Vs Southampton
15th May, 2021.​

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We absolutely mauled Sheffield Wednesday in their own back yard. Mike Williamson and Dele Alli got two goals each and Gareth Bale got the other one as put five past their thin defence. The narrow diamond seems to be really good offensively but leaves our defence wide open and we conceded two cheap goals. While we will continue to experiment with this formations, its looking likely that we will stick with our 433 that has been so successful for us.

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Southampton Vs Arsenal
19th May, 2021.​

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A very satisfying win against Arsenal is enough to lift everybodys morale. After going behind, it was ex Arsenal man Calum Chambers that fired us level before fellow centre back Jonatha Tah headed us ahead. It then fell to Chambers again to make it comfortable. Three excellent points and more momentum. The downside? another injury to Gareth Bale. This for me is the final straw, he has only managed 15 Premier League games this season, and for somebody on almost £200k a week wages, is not good enough. Will try to sell in the window.

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Southampton Vs Newcastle
23rd May, 2021.​

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A fantastic way to end the season with one of our best performances. We absolutely blew Newcastle away with two goals for Mike Williams and one each for Dele Alli and Ron Whiteman. In a way this match was all about our emerging stars this year.

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We stumble across the line to take a very comfortable 3rd place, but fall short of seriously challenging for the title.
 
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FA CUP FINAL
Southampton Vs Manchester City
29th May, 2021.​

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The Referee blows his whistle and we are away here at a sold out Wembley!

KICK OFF!​

8 Mins - The ball is worked forwards, out to Kevin De Bruyne on the right hand side, he sends a cross in, Ante Coric runs onto it and hits it on the volley!! Courtois gets a hand to it! but it hits the inside of the post and goes in!!! ANTE CORIC GIVES MANCHESTER CITY THE LEAD AT WEMBLEY

GOAL
SOUTHAMPTON 0 - 1 MANCHESTER CITY​

10 mins - A long hopeful ball forwards from Courtois, it bounces awkwardly in the City Half, Gomez tries to control it and cant! Martial nips in and takes it off him! goes for goal!!! it hits the post!!!!!! Martial cannot believe it, Southampton so nearly level.

44 mins - Ozil puts in a delightful ball from a free kick by the corner flag, Chambers loses his marker and heads towards goal!! just wide.. Saints have been wasteful so far, but still very much in this game.

45 mins - Again its a hopeful ball forward from Dele Alli, Martial controls brilliantly on his chest and reverses a pass through to Williamson who is through!! his first touch is poor though and the defenders get back in position. Williamson turns the first man and unleashes a shot... OH WHAT A GOAL! MIKE WILLIAMSON HAS SCORED A SCREAMER FROM JUST OUTSIDE THE BOX INTO THE FAR CORNER! SOUTHAMPTON ARE LEVEL!

GOAL
SOUTHAMPTON 1 - 1 MANCHESTER CITY

HALF TIME​

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As you can see, the stats show Southampton's dominance so far at the half time stage, but this game is so tight.. and its an FA Cup final. You just cant help but feel that the next goal will win it.

KICK OFF!​

49 mins - Corner for Southampton. Whipped in by Ozil and its into a really good area! Ross Barkley is left unmarked and heads at goal!!! straight into Joe Harts hands.. a good take from the keeper but Barkley needs to be doing better there.

73 mins - Man City spring the counter attack. Galloway launches a long ball forwards and Bruma runs onto it, hes through on goal, drags it back onto his other foot! What a tackle!! Jonathan Tah has come from out of nowhere and flown it at full stretch to put it behind for a corner!

75 mins - Excellent one touch football from Southampton as the try and work a way through! Barkley, Alli, Ozil, Williamson.. he turns and plays through Martial!! he must score!!! NO! Great save Joe Hart!! !

FULL TIME
SOUTHAMPTON 1 - 1 MANCHESTER CITY
EXTRA TIME TO BE PLAYED!​

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KICK OFF​

96 mins - Here come City, walking the ball forwards but the Southampton defence is backing off, its played out to Bruma on the right, he swings a lovely cross on on a plate for the arriving Sterling!! its over!! he connects with the header but its over the bar and Southampton survive.

110 mins - Morgan Schniederlin sends the ball out to the wide right, Turza picks it up and sends a teasing cross across the face of goal. It deflects back off a City defender and Martial lashes it first time!! side netting! so close!

FULL TIME!
SOUTHAMPTON 1 - 1 MANCHESTER CITY

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WE ARE GOING TO PENALTIES!!!

Up steps Gaya for City.. and SCORES!!!
MANCHESTER CITY 1 - 0 SOUTHAMPTON

Martial for Southampton, takes a deep breath.. SCORES!!
MANCHESTER CITY 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON

Bruma looks confident.. SAVED! Courtois saves low and to his right!
MANCHESTER CITY 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON

Mesut Ozil with a chance to give Saints the leads. SAVED, he tried to go down the middle!
MANCHESTER CITY 1 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON

Ante Coric for City!! SCORES! Courtois got a hand to it but couldnt stop it!
MANCHESTER CITY 2 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON

Morgan Schneiderlin.. SAVED! again he goes down the middle and Joe Hart reads it!!
MANCHESTER CITY 2 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON

Alvaro Morata.. SCORES! perfect penalty.. right into the top corner..
MANCHESTER CITY 3 - 1 SOUTHAMPTON

Mike Williamson.. Cool as you like.. sends the keeper the wrong way and scores.
MANCHESTER CITY 3 - 2 SOUTHAMPTON

Jordy Clasie.. with a chance to win it against his former club... SCORES DOWN THE MIDDLE!!

MANCHESTER CITY WIN THE FA CUP ON PENALTIES!!

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SEASON REVIEW​

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In the end, 3rd place feels like a disappointment. The two Manchester clubs were just in a league of their own and United ended up taking the crown by two points over their blue neighbours. Liverpool qualify for the Champions League while Arsenal, Norwich and Stoke will represent their country in the Europa League. It is goodbye for now for Wolves, Brentford and Crystal Palace as they drop back into the Championship.

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The fans are absolutely spot on again. Dele Alli richly deserves his player of the year award with 14 goals and 5 assists from midfield in 53 appearances at an average rating of 7.80.
 
ok you know what?

I'm disappointed from you. I expect more!!

p.s. the F.A cup final was a wonderful post!!!
 
Mahoney85 said:
ok you know what?

I'm disappointed from you. I expect more!!

p.s. the F.A cup final was a wonderful post!!!
Click to expand...

Nobody is more disappointed than me! how we didnt win anything in that season is beyond me.

Cheers for the support :)
 
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UEFA Nations League Semi-Final
England Vs Spain
11th June, 2021.​

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Absolutely gutted as we crash out of the Nations League at the semi-finals. Even more galling is the fact we lost it in extra time, to a penalty that shouldnt have been, after being 2-0 up in the first half! Typical England. We now have to turn our attentions to the Confederations Cup.
 
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Southampton agree to sign Welbeck​

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Danny Welbeck has today agreed to join Southampton FC on a free transfer when his current deal with Manchester City ends next month. The 30 year old former England striker found game time hard to come by at the Etihad stadium and only made 18 Premier League starts over the four years he spent there.

"I am absolutely delighted to be joining Southampton" Welbeck said on signing his contract. "The ambition of the club is there for all to see. As soon as I got to the training ground and talked to everybody, I knew this was where I wanted to be.. there is a great togetherness to the lads here and if I can help them win some silverware this will be completely worth it."

"Danny is a fantastic player and will be a great asset to us here at the club" Said Southampton manager Ronald Koeman. "He has pace and stamina and a natural poachers instinct that you cant teach. He can be very important for us."

Welbeck has 49 England caps to his name and 17 goals for his national side but has not been called up since 2017 when he was named in the England XI of the year.
 
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England Vs Mexico
1st July, 2021.​

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A dull affair as we ground out a goalless draw against Mexico. The momentum of the game swung from side to side but nobody really had a clear cut chance worthy of mentioning. Raheem Sterling got himself injured and will miss the rest of the tournament which will see us experiment with the narrow diamond again. Our fate in the cup will now be decided against Chile next.

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Confederations Cup Semi-Final
England Vs South Korea
8th July, 2021.​

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A really good performance against Korea in the semi-final as Barkley and Alli shone in their midfield roles once again. Playing together for Southampton must have improved their understanding because they look like they have been playing together for years. Into the final we go!
 
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Confederations Cup Final
England Vs Argentina
11th July, 2021.​

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Wow we had to earn that! After a dreadful first half we switched back to our wide formation and bossed the 2nd half, finding an equaliser through a fantastic Jack Grealish cross that Otamendi turned into his own net. Extra time was the most tense football I have ever watched with both sides guilty of missing glaring chances, but in the end the match went to penalties and it fell to Calum Chambers to slot home his own penalty to lift the Confederations Cup for England.

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Odegaard joins Southampton​

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Southampton have today signed Borussia Dortmund playmaker Martin Odegaard on a give year contract in a deal worth an estimated £36 million. Odegaard, 22, is a well known player across Europe having enjoyed successful stints at Real Madrid and Dortmund. Last season Odegaard scored 13 times and created 14 assists in his 48 appearances for the German giants but wanted a move to a Champions League club following Dortmund's disappointing 6th place finish in the Bundesliga last year.

"As soon as I knew Southampton were interested in me, I knew I had to leave" Odegaard said after his contract signing. "They have a very good record of developing young players and also have a great ambition to be the best they can be. The opportunity to play with the quality of players here at St Marys was too great."

In Further news, Southampton have also signed Real Madrid centre back Efren Godoy on loan until the end of the season. Sky sources understand that the Saints have a buyout clause in the contract worth £36.5 million if they decide they want to keep the player permanently.

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Two leave Southampton​

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Southampton have today sold Italian forward Lorenzo Insigne to Newcastle for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £7.75 million. Insigne has been a reliable performer for Southampton since he signed in 2016, but a serious injury ruled him out of most of last season and he failed to regain his place.

Also sold is academy product Jake Hesketh who has been rumoured to be unhappy for a while now. He completed his move to Sheffield Wednesday earlier today for a fee of £6.5 million. Fans are said to be disillusioned by the sale of not only a home grown player, but for such a low fee as well.

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Pre Season​

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A wonderful if not slightly short pre-season as we win all five games without conceding a single goal! Some promising signs from Martial and Bale as they get off to a quick scoring start to their seasons, the question is can Bale stay fit?
Squad Overview​

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So this is how the squad looks after the departures of Hesketh and Insigne and the arrivals of Welbeck, Odegaard and Godoy.

Goalkeepers​

Thibaut Courtois easily holds the number one spot in between the sticks and will do for some time. He had a great debut season with us and will be looking to carry on his fine form. Young Harry Lewis continues to serve as his understudy but is unlikely to make much of an impression on the first team.

Full Backs​

Both sides of the defence have got the same combination of youth and experience. Lucas Digne on the left and Calum Chambers on the right are the experienced, tried and tested options in their respective positions but keep an eye out for Ron Whiteman on the left and Agustin Turza on the right. Can the apprentices become the masters?

Centre Backs​

Jonathan Tah is the leading light in our back line and we had to fend off interest from Bayern and Barcelona to keep hold of him this summer. The most likely partner for him in the centre of the defence is either Eric Dier or Calum Chambers who provide pace and experience. Youngster Godoy has been brought in as cover in case Dier is needed in defensive midfield or Chambers needs to play right back. An honourable mention to Virgil Van Dijk as well as I believe he is the only player left of my original squad.

Defensive Midfield ​

Perhaps the easiest choice in the whole squad, it is a simple choice between Morgan Schneiderlin and Thiago Maia. Both incredible players. I really am spoiled.

Central Midfield​

The central midfield is split into two sections, attacking and playmaking. On the playmaking side we have the monster that is Mesut Ozil and his young apprentice Ross Barkley. Josh Barry has just broken into the first team squad and is seen as the long term successor to Ozil. On the attacking side the main man is Dele Alli although I may look to Barry and Ozil to help out.

The Wings ​

The left win is all about Gareth Bale. Even as he is getting older he can still play a massive role in our potential title bid. Kinglsey Coman is his back up and Danny Welbeck can put a shift in if needed. On the right it is a choice between the newly signed Martin Odegaard and club veteran Lucas Moura. Martin was not a signing of necessity but of opportunity. I firmly believe that Odegaard can be the next Messi and for £36 million which was his transfer listed price, I couldnt not buy him. This gives me a problem as Lucas Moura was making noises about leaving for more play time at the end of last season. Who do I play?

Strikers​

Anthony Martial will be our key man so long as he keeps scoring. Mike Williamson is ready to step in if the goals stop or if we want to play two up. Again Danny Welbeck and Gareth Bale are well capable of playing there if needed.
 
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