Cracking the top 4

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Brilliant Stuff m8! cant wait to see if you can win a trophy and a top 10 finish!

Bender and Begovic are great signings!
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Bender, Davis, Rodriguez, Juanmi, Ward-Prowse, Austin.

I really cant have too many complaints as a rotated side got held to a draw by Middlesbrough. We have been in such good form of late I cant bring myself to be too critical, we are still in the competition and now have a home draw to get us into the semi-final of the FA Cup, we move on!
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Tadic, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Pelle.

Now that.. was satisfying. There are more than a few smug faces and raised glasses in Southampton tonight as we knock Liverpool out of the Europa League on the away goals rule, meaning the likes of Clyne, Lallana and Lovren are out before their old club. It was a really good display from the lads but all the credit really has to go to Jay Rodriguez who just would not accept defeat and kept dragging us back into the game when it looked like hope had gone. Three times we went behind and three times Jay equalised to claim the match ball, and our place in the Europa League quarter finals.
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Tadic, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Pelle.

And with that we are off to Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final! A thoroughly professional job saw us run out comfortable winners with Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pelle amongst the goals. Ryan Bertrand was particularly impressive today and he leaves with two assists and a man of the match award.
 
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A really good month for the club even though we only played one league match. That one match was against Arsenal and we managed to win it and the rest of the month is taken up by our progression in both the Europa League and FA Cup. Our match against Man Utd in the Premiership was postponed by our Cup replay against Middlesbrough.
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No major change from last time out with Chelsea still struggling, City way out in the lead and us marooned in mid table. We do however have 3 games in hand and are only 6 points off of 5th place.

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The Europa League has drawn us against Galatasary for the quarter finals. Confidence is high at the moment and on paper if we can beat Liverpool, Gala shouldnt be a problem but something tells me this is going to be tough.

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Our FA Cup semi final will be against Arsenal at Wembley. One last big effort is required to get to the final.
Player of the Month​

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My own personal player of the month is Graziano Pelle. 7 goals in his last 6 games in all competitions have seen him become the first name on the teamsheet. Charlie Austin not even getting a sniff. The Premier League decided differently however and voted James Ward-Prowse as the official player of the month. Congrats to both.

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The icing on the cake was a first Manager of the Month away for myself which is always gratefully appreciated.

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April Preview​

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Geez and I thought last month was tough, this is insane! Watford (6th) Palace (14th) West Ham (5th) United (4th) Liverpool (3rd) Man City (1st) and thats just in the League! That doesn't include Galatasaray twice in the Europa League and Arsenal in the FA Cup. This is a lot of games in a very short period of time. Tough times ahead.
 
Great story so far mate! Good luck in your next few games :)
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Clasie, Tadic, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Pelle.

Well that was rubbish. The absence of Sadio Mane is really starting to show as we just couldnt create any concrete chances and Watford punished us for it. The game was actually decided in the 2nd minute when Delaney scrambled home a header when a corner wasnt cleared properly. Need to lift our spirits back up and go again.
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Romeu, Clasie, Tadic, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle.


Mane returns and winning returns. A fantastic result away from home against Galatasaray where we managed to get an all important away goal. Our defensive display was absolutely superb, led from the front as usual by Fonte and Van Dijk. Our job was made easier as Burak Yilmaz got himself sent off for diving whilst already on a yellow card. Graziano Pelle scored his 20th goal of the season to make sure we got the job done.
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Tadic, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle.

Absolute disaster in this rollercoaster of a match. I really thought we had done enough when we came from 3-1 down to level it at 3-3 but sloppy defending let Palace take back control of the match and we didnt have enough. This puts us in real strife now in terms of our push for the European places in the league, especially with the run of tough games coming up.
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Tadic, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle.

A fantastic match and a perfect result! What a performance from the lads! Graziano Pelle's double and Virgil Van Dijk secured the victory for us by a margin. This result pushes us into the semi-finals of the Europa League! something that was unthinkable at the beginning of the season! Hope is just starting to seep into the team that we can make it all the way!
 
Absolutely brilliant story so far, I actually read through the entire thing in one go which shows how great it is. Will definately be following this one, keep it up!
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Clasie, Tadic, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle.

We are still in this! A good result against West Ham in what turned out to be a tense match. We have Jay Rodriguez to thank for a brace to sneak us past the hammers. Rodriguez is a fascinating prospect and quite a problem in terms of my selection. In this match he played on the right wing as a traditional winger and was fantastic even in a position that wasnt natural to him. He doesnt perform well in the shadow striker role behind Pelle but he is keeping traditional wingers like Ward-Prowse out of the team.
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Clasie, Tadic, Rodriguez, Ward-Prowse, Austin.

Well that was horrible to watch. Some short term injuries to Pelle and Mane enforced changes that saw us completely outclassed and outfought in every department. This run of fixtures we are going through are packed so tight that we cant afford to let this get to us.
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Clasie, Davis, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Mane, Rodriguez.

After the disappointment of the Utd result, i tweaked our tactical set up slightly and it worked as we return from our day out at Wembley with a ticket to return as finalists of the FA Cup! A rotated forward line shone against a strong Arsenal side with Sadio Mane and Jay Rodgiruez grabbing the goals in a match where Arsenal didnt really bother us. Davis made a mistake to allow Ozil to score right at the death but it didnt matter, we are into the final!

This was a massively important win for the club and completely takes the pressure off of our league form. Victory in the FA Cup could cement our place in the Europa League for next season for the 2nd consecutive year.
 
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The Europa League draw will see us face Tottenham over two legs in the semi-final, with the first game being played at St Marys. This see's the League game against Liverpool postponed to make room for the fixtures. As a remarkable season draws to its closing stages we are in with a shout of a 2nd final to look forward to and a chance of two pieces of silverware!
 
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Starting XI - Begovic, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Wanyama, Davis, Tadic, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle.

Yet another superb performance! the perfect performance in Europe as we took two goals and kept a clean sheet to prevent Tottenham grabbing any advantage through away goals. The forward line of Pelle, Mane and Rodriguez were perfect all night with Tadic out on the left wing pinging through balls and crosses in to provide them with service, it was a joy to behold. We now know that if we can score just the one goal in the return leg, Spurs will need to be put 4 past us to win.
 
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