Southampton FC - We March On

The season kicks off

At last, after a lengthy pre-season the first weekend of the Barclays Premier League has come around and the fixture list has provided us with the perfect incentive to get off to a good start with former saints man Mauricio Pochettino bringing his Tottenham team to St Marys. Here are how the teams lined up...

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WE DID IT!!! A truly inspired performance from the boys was enough to earn us a 3-0 win and get our campaign off to a winning start. In a closely contested match the Saints made their chances count and sent Tottenham back to London with their tails between their legs. It took debutant Lucas Romero just 80 seconds to score the first goal of his Southampton career, lashing left footed into the top corner of the net from 25 yards before a Sadio Mane double left Saints to coast to the end of the game. The match wasnt without its dramas however, as Tottenham hit the woodwork three times and Dusan Tadic missed a penalty after Jan Vertonghen was deemed to have made a high tackle in the penalty area.

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Man of the match

Sadio Mane! His two goals proved vital today but a huge shout out to Graziano Pelle who assisted both of his goals and played wonderfully.

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Lambert rejoins Southampton
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Southampton legend Rickie Lambert has rejoined his former club after agreeing a £1 million transfer. Lambert, who only left the club 12 months previously found himself getting limited game time at Anfield and decided that a move back to St Marys was the way forward.

"As soon as I left Southampton I missed it, the lads, the atmosphere. I went away and fulfilled my dream of playing for my childhood club but now I'm back and ready to kick on" Lambert said "When Saints approached me again a few days ago there wasnt even a moments hesitation, I have amazing memories at the club and am now keen to make a few more, I want to thank all the staff, players and fans for making me feel so welcome again and id also like to say thank you to Lloydy for putting his faith in me and giving me this opportunity"

When questioned about the move, Southampton manager Thomas Lloyd claimed it was a 'no brainer'. "Rickie is a fantastic footballer and a legend of the club, he is the sort of experienced guy that we need here at Southampton and is a fantastic ambassador for the club, having him back here benefits everybody".

The arrival of Lambert sees yet more competition for places up front with Pelle, Mane, Long, Rodriguez and Juanmi already on the books. It is almost certain that Lamberts presence will spell the end of young Sam Gallagher's first team chances this season with a loan move looking likely.

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Great news! Rickie should have never gone to Liverpool, he belongs to Saints!

Let's hope he can get back that magic touch once more :D
 
---August---

A real mixed bag this month in terms of results with a fantastic start leading to disappointment.

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The fantastic win against Tottenham was the perfect way to kick things off in the Premier league and perhaps that played a part in our disappointing results having made us over confident.

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Southampton 2 - 1 Apollon
This was a really tough match, much tougher than originally anticipated. Sadio Mane eventually did enough to help us squeeze to a win with a goal and an assist but a last minute away goal for Apollon made sure it wasnt going to be an easy away leg.
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Newcastle 3 - 1 Southampton
Newcastle was an absolute disaster. Ryan Bertrand had a horror of a game, giving away a penalty early on and then leaving his man unmarked for Newcastles 2nd. He was substituted at half time with a rating of just 4.5 and despite Rickie Lambert's late debut goal there wasnt enough in the tank to get back into the game.
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Apollon 0 - 2 Southampton​
The most important game of our season so far, we were desperate to ensure qualification for the Europa league group stages. A very nervy first half saw the two teams go in at the break 0-0 however Saints fans wernt to worry as Graziano Pelle notched a brace to give Southampton a 2-0 win on the night and a 4-1 win on aggregate, securing qualification.
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Southampton 0 - 1 Everton
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Another very tense game got off to a dreadful start when Graziano Pelle missed a penalty in the opening stages, furthering the growing discontent in his performances of late. This proved to be crucial in the end as a solitary Lukaku strike was enough to see us off. Despite having the lions share of the chances, a man of the match performance from Everton keeper Tim Howard was enough deny us. Bad start to the season.
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Cup Draws​

The third round of the Capital One Cup drew us against newly promoted Norwich City in a tie to played at St Marys
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The Europa League draw was rather unkind, giving us tough matches against CSKA Moscow and Kobenhavn. Russia is a long way to travel for mid-week matches, lets hope this doesnt effect us too much.
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League Table

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Player of the month

Sadio Mane - Selected for his 3 goals and 3 assists in 5 appearances

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Next month?

Our European adventure continues as we face a stern test against CSKA Moscow while some slightly friendlier premier league fixtures will hopefully see us pick up a few more points.

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Judging from the upcoming games , September will be a good month for you! Keep up my friend ! Your signings are great and it is only a matter of time for your team to appear more and more solid !
 
Thanks for all your support guys, unfortunately the save file is now corrupt =/ brilliant way to end the first story.. You can follow my new story if you want.. Rickie Lambert - New Beginnings
 
SaintMotbot said:
UEFA Europa League - 3rd Round Draw​

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Nope. I've never heard of them either. That was a kind draw, especially with teams like Borrussia Dortmund, Dinamo Moscow and Vitesse in the draw.
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Amazingly though they are Israeli they will play their home match in Cyprus! Maybe due to security reasons? This happened a number of time in real life with Israeli teams btw.

And next Europa League away match you re back in Cyprus! Cute.
 
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SaintMotbot said:
Thanks! I tried to sign Dragovic but Chelsea offered him a much better contract! Nkoulou was my second choice. More signings to come!
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Dragovic has big problems with his jumping reach. Had him for a season at Athletico Madrid and his inability to jump resulted in a number of silly goals. Sold him on for 33m tho making a huge profit!
 
SaintMotbot said:

The tactic that I am going to be using this season is a defensive 442. The idea is for the two defensive midfielders to sit and shield the defence and push into the space when in possession.​
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Well, if thats the idea then the combination of roles you chose at the dm position will mean that it will remain an idea especially if you play attacking/control. The bwm innately does NOT sit in any position but chases the opposition ball holder.

Cleon puts it quite nicely here: The 4-2-3-1 – Midfield Analysis | SI Sports Centre
 
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