Cracking the top 4

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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Ward-Prowse, Clasie, Rodriguez, Mane, Pelle.

A stunning performance from the lads saw us easily overcome a Brentford side that had started brightly in the Premiership. Former Saints players Shane Long and Harlee Dean had absolutely no joy on their return to St Marys. Two wins in a row, two clean sheets in a row and first goals of the season for Graziano Pelle and Jay Rodriguez make this a very good day indeed.
 
What a fantastically balanced squad mate. Looking good for the present and the future!
 
Brilliant stuff, love how you're really giving the current squad a chance rather than using the money that is there to splash out on big names, keep it up! :)
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Bender, Davis, Clasie, Rodriguez, Mane, Pelle.

Another ruthlessly efficient performance, this time away from home, saw us breeze past Red Bull Salzburg. All 3 goals came from Steven Davis corners with Jose Fonte scoring two great headers before Sven Bender volleyed in following some penalty area pinball. That is now 3 clean sheets on the trot for the boys and confidence and momentum is building.
 
PatrickLFC said:
Brilliant stuff, love how you're really giving the current squad a chance rather than using the money that is there to splash out on big names, keep it up! :)
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Thanks :) I really think some of these players are capable of big things, some of them are coming up with ridiculous contract demands though so it might not be long before some sales.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Davis, Ward-Prowse, Insigne, Mane, Pelle.

Back down to earth with a bump after a fiercely contested game with Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. It was a very close and very entertaining match and I really thought we were in with a shot when Insigne scored his first goal for the club with an absolute beauty seconds before half time. Swansea had other ideas however and a masterful display and hatrick from Rodrigo Mora sealed the win for the Swans.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Targett, Koulibaly, McCarthy, Tete, Wanyama, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Rodriguez, Gallagher.

Its happened again.. Out of the Capital One Cup at he first time of asking. Perhaps the squad was too heavily rotated as we made 8 changes but even then it was a disappointing result although some of the youngsters such as Tete and Hesketh gave promising performances.
 
Great signings Riulli and Insigne, I signed both on my Valencia save for exact same price as you... Sold them 12 months later (Insigne missed entire season with injury) for a combined 40 million. Insigne if he stays fit could be brilliant!!
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Fonte, Van Dijk, Tete, Wanyama, Davis, Clasie, Tadic, Mane, Pelle.

A frustrating afternoon at St Marys as Stoke parked the bus and sat 10 men behind the ball for us to break down. We tried and tried, hit the woodwork twice, saw some efforts spectacularly saved by Jack Butland but still we were nowhere closer to the win. Graziano Pelle is in a bit of a slump form wise at the moment and Sam Gallagher has not looked ready for the first team. For the first time this season I have started doubting my transfer strategy, perhaps letting Austin go/not replacing him was a mistake.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Davis, Hesketh, Insigne, Mane, Rodriguez.

A much better performance and result as we switched to Jay Rodriguez being the main striker in the team. His threat of running in behind the opponents back line opened the pitch up for others and worked nicely. The real start of the show however was Jake Hesketh who provided assists for both goals, A beautifully timed cross for Rodriguez to run on to and a perfect through ball for Mane.
 
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September Review​

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A mixed bag again in September as we managed some convincing wins and some disappointing losses. Again we are not going to get too low with some of these results. We dominated the Stoke match and were unlucky not to win, where as the Swansea result could have gone either way and the West Brom cup game was a rotated side.

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It is Ancelotti's Chelsea that are leading the way with 6 games gone in the Premiership and Crystal Palace managed by Steve Clarke bringing up the rear. The promoted teams have fallen away slightly although Derby still look well placed. Jurgen Klopp is coming under pressure as Liverpool sit 13th, one place ahead of us. No need to panic yet, 3 points off of 5th spot.

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Top of our Europa League group without conceding a goal. Things couldnt be going much better in Europe.
Player of the Month​
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Steven Davis gets the nod this month for our own personal player of the month award. Replacing the out of touch James Ward-Prowse in the side, he really took his chance and has 3 assists in his last 4 games and an average rating of almost 8 over his last 5 games. Well done Steven.
October Preview​
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A testing month coming up with Man Utd and Hoffenheim at home and Everton away. Come on then lads, what are you made of.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Koulibaly, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Davis, Clasie, Insigne, Ward-Prowse, Pelle.

So this is starting to get very worrying now as we slump to defeat and fall to 17th in the table. Fans are starting to call for my head and understandably so after a really poor performance against Norwich. We just didnt show up at all and Loic Remy was in the mood for goals as he grabbed his hatrick. Calling the boys in for an emergency meeting tomorrow.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Bender, Clasie, Davis, Rodriguez, Mane, Pelle.

Oh god did we need that even if the way we did do it gave me a heart attack! We had a pretty solid game in honesty as we tried to hang on to possession where we could and make it difficult for United to get going but Depays early goal had us under pressure for most of the match. When Phil Jones gave away a penalty in the 87th minute I was ready to shake Van Gaals hand and walk away with a draw but Graziano Pelle had other ideas as he hassled Rojo into a mistake and then converted beautifully. A MASSIVE WIN!
 
Mixed start so far, the Europa League results are great though. Losing against West Brom and Swansea away from home could happen I guess but the loss to Norwich doesn't look good at all still you've gotten yourself a massive win over Manchester Utd so lets hope that that will provide a bit of a boost as you've got 3 tough games coming up.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Koulibaly, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Davis, Hesketh, Rodriguez, Mane, Pelle.

Another win and we are starting to look like the team of last season. Graziano Pelle grabbed a reassuring brace to show that he still has goals in him and Steven Davis provided both assists to continue his incredible form. Jake Hesketh played his 4th competitive match for the club and once again did brilliantly with a match rating of 7.8. This leaves the lad with 4 appearances, 2 assists and an average rating of 7.8. Very impressive. He is even starting to trouble the likes of Clasie for a first team place.
 
TheOtherSpecialOne said:
Mixed start so far, the Europa League results are great though. Losing against West Brom and Swansea away from home could happen I guess but the loss to Norwich doesn't look good at all still you've gotten yourself a massive win over Manchester Utd so lets hope that that will provide a bit of a boost as you've got 3 tough games coming up.
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Yeah it has been a really rough patch.. It kind of reminds of what Chelsea are going through in real life at the moment. Perhaps failing to reinforce and freshen the squad over the summer, coming back a bit complacent and failing to keep up. Hopefully we can turn it around now :)
 
Amazing story so far buddy, keep up the good work. Don't like Chelsea at the top...do something about that please :)
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Clasie, Ward-Prowse, Davis, Insigne, Mane, Pelle.

We appear to be starting to move in the right direction. Pelle had another wonderful game and makes it 3 consecutive games that he has scored in with Jay Rodriguez grabbing the other goal with a neat finish after coming off the bench.. Once again we probably did enough to deserve this victory having had the majority of the chances.
 
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Starting XI - Rulli, Bertrand, Van Dijk, Fonte, Tete, Wanyama, Davis, Hesketh, Tadic, Mane, Pelle.

And back to square one. I have no idea how we didn't win this game! Twice as many shots, more possession, it was just poor luck. Behind for most of the game, I thought our luck had changed when Jay Rodriguez equalised late in the game but then Everton went back ahead straight from the kick off to take the points.
 
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