Taking Southampton North!

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Injury News...


Well this is disastrous! I turned down huge offers for Mane just recently, and now he’s gone regardless. Such a shame. Hopefully the injury won’t damage him too much permanently, but he will probably lose some of his electric pace :(
 
English Premier League - Game 27 - Tottenham Hotspur (Away)


If we can win against the Spurs today then I will believe that we really can push for top 4. Having lost 3 on the bounce though, it’s not going to be easy, particularly at White Hart Lane. Cazares gets his first Premier League start in the absence of Mane, whilst Rodriguez returns to lead the line. This is a crunch period of fixtures, with Chelsea in 3 days time, and a further 3 league matches within the next 10 days.


Only a crucial block from Fonte in the first 15 seconds prevented Eriksen from likely opening the scoring from inside the box.

In the 14th minute a woeful mistake from Alderweireld allowed Rodriguez to break his drought and open the scoring. Cazares attempted to play him in with a through ball, and Alderweireld was first to it, but his pass back to Lloris was too soft, and Rodriguez pounced to slot past the helpless keeper.

In the 20th minute Bentaleb played a perfect slide rule pass for Eriksen, but the Dane inexplicably missed the target when he really should have scored.

A sensational backheel from Kane in the 25th minute had Eriksen splitting the defence again, but he took the ball too far and Fonte got back to block his effort from 6 yards.

In the 28th minute Cazares gave the ball away outside the Spurs box but they gave it straight back to Wanyama, who slipped a ball through for Cazares. Unfortunately, his shot looped over the bar.

In the 50th minute Cazares played a fantastic pass through the defence for Rodriguez, who took a touch and fired inches wide of the near post. He probably should have done better.

In the 56th minute an Eriksen free kick found Kane at the back post, who was denied not once but twice by the desperate Stekelenburg. Unfortunately, the ball was still loose, and the striker was able to have a third bite at the cherry, and tapped into the open net.

In the 67th minute Ward-Prowse replaced Cazares and moved to the right wing.

Unbelievably, a minute later, Rodriguez had his second - also from a terrible Spurs error! Targett’s throw in was headed backwards by Eriksen, but not hard enough, and Rodriguez surged past the defence, took a touch around Lloris and slid the ball home!

Two minutes later an outrageous backheel from Rodriguez sent Ramirez through one on one, but his shot was ballooned high and wide when he absolutely should have scored.

Davies hit the post for Spurs after a cleared corner was worked back in in the 73rd minute. Stekelenburg must have touched it onto the post, as another corner was given.

Palombo replaced Ramirez before the corner was taken, as we dropped into a 4-3-3 formation.

In the 80th minute a long cross from Walker somehow found Kane in the box for an easy volley to tie the game.

Wanyama was replaced by Davis immediately following the play, as the substitution had been pending.

In the 86th minute the unthinkable happened. Rodriguez’s harmless cross was trickling to Lloris, who stooped to pick it up - and dropped it! Quick as a flash, Ward-Prowse darted in and smashed it into the net!

In stoppage time Pato almost gave me a heart attack as his 40 yard effort from a cleared corner whistled narrowly wide of the top right corner.

If I hadn’t known better I would have said that Spurs were match-fixing, as we scored not one, not two, but three goals from their errors. I’ll gladly take the points though! We beat them 3-2 with a late winner earlier in the season, and have done it again! The match could have gone either way, with a similar amount of chances for each team - 7 clear cut and 4 half chances for Spurs, 6 and 3 respectively for ourselves. Rodriguez broke his drought with a brace, and technically assisting the winning goal too. It doesn’t matter how you get them… :P


POM: Jay Rodriguez (9.0, 2G, 1A)
 
Nice win against Spurs. The league table looks very tight! Exciting few weeks ahead. :)

Shame about the Europa League exit though. That was unfortunate.
 
Nice win against Spurs. The league table looks very tight! Exciting few weeks ahead. :)

Shame about the Europa League exit though. That was unfortunate.

Thanks mate, it's super close, going down to the wire! It was a shame but I guess it improves our chances in the league which isn't such a bad thing :)
 
Great news with the stadium expand and a great away result against Tottenham ! I believe you have a chance of finishing in top 4. My opinion is wait until Mane recovers from his injury and try to sell him before he gets injured again . Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is the perfect player to bring instead.
 
Some great league results but a shame about the FA Cup and Europe.. But Mane, what a nightmare injury.
 
Great news with the stadium expand and a great away result against Tottenham ! I believe you have a chance of finishing in top 4. My opinion is wait until Mane recovers from his injury and try to sell him before he gets injured again . Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is the perfect player to bring instead.

Thanks very much, we definitely have a chance which is surprising but great! Really disappointed about Mane, I'll see how he goes but there's a chance he just won't be the same player so may have to be sold. We will see, I do like Aubameyang

Some great league results but a shame about the FA Cup and Europe.. But Mane, what a nightmare injury.

Yeah hopefully next season we can do better in at least one cup. League is going very well though :) Such a shame about Mane :(

FM16 has learned how press works. At least the Spanish. It doesn't matter what the interviewed said, let's quote him saying whatever we wanted him to say.

Hahaha oh I agree, it's definitely realistic! The press are a joke, they twist everything to suit the story they want to tell :P
 

English Premier League - Game 28 - Chelsea (Away)



Champions Chelsea today. Good luck! Hazard has been on another level to everyone else in the competition this season, so it’s going to be very difficult to contain him. We’ll give it our best shot though, and who knows? Maybe we can hit them on the counter.


And it was Hazard who almost got Chelsea off to a flyer, but for Stekelenburg’s finger tip save in the 3rd minute.

Ramires was the man who put them in front in the 19th minute, when his first effort was blocked by Caulker, flew back past him, hit Wanyama and came back the other way and dropped straight in front of him, and he slammed home the loose ball. Incredibly unlucky.

Pedro was left in a criminal amount of space in the 38th minute, but his run was halted by Stekelenburg with a decent save.

15 seconds into the second half we ripped straight through them, the final pass being provided by Rodriguez, and the finish by Tadic to tie the game! Or not - offside! I was fuming, because replays suggest he was definitely onside.

Ward-Prowse was replaced by Clasie in the 54th minute.

In the 63rd minute Cazares and Juanmi replaced Tadic and Ramirez, and we went to a diamond formation.

Courtois made an unbelievable goal line save from Fonte’s close range effort from a corner in the 74th minute.

In the 85th minute a fantastic ball over the top from Juanmi sent Rodriguez through on goal. His shot was saved by a sprawling Courtois, but Cazares was there for the followup and tied the game!

Stekelenburg made a great near post stop to deny Willian in the 90th minute.

Great effort from the boys to get over the disappointment of having an equaliser ruled out, and really take the game to Chelsea. We fully deserved a point as the better side in the second half.


POM: Mario Fernandes (Chelsea - 7.6, 0G, 0A)


Best Southampton Players: Juan Cazares (7.1, 1G, 0A) and Jose Fonte (7.1, 0G, 0A)
 

English Premier League - Game 29 - West Bromwich Albion (Home)



West Brom are our next opponents, and beat us comprehensively last time out. Hopefully we can extract some kind of revenge.


It seemed West Brom were the fired up side though, picking up 4 bookings in the opening half hour.

Other than that, the first half was very uneventful though, and we went into the break all square.

It was West Brom who almost brought the game to life in the 48th minute, Dele Alli slipping Rondon through the defence, but the big striker was denied superbly by Dragowski.

The ball was cleared into touch and seconds after the throw in, Chris Brunt was left in oceans of space in the box - but once again, Dragowski made a brilliant save to keep us level.

Juanmi replaced Rodriguez in the 56th minute.

Within a minute of his introduction, the young Spaniard put us ahead, pouncing on the loose ball after Cedric’s cross was poorly dealt with to fire us in front! Talk about a supersub!

In the 64th minute Wanyama had a go from range, but it was blocked. The loose ball fell to Ramirez who belted it goalwards. Foster got a touch before it cannoned into the post!

In the 67th minute Ward-Prowse replaced Ramirez and Gitschier came on for Tadic, with Cazares moving to the left wing.

In the 77th minute Rondon equalised, blasting into the roof of the net after a great passing move from his team.

Two minutes later he almost put them in front with an ambitious effort from outside the box, but it whistled narrowly wide.

I can have no complaints about the result, in a match in which West Brom were certainly worth a point. Clasie and Wanyama controlled the midfield very well but didn’t have much help ahead of them, whilst Cedric did a diligent job at the back, and Dragowski made a couple of great saves to ensure we picked up a point.


POM: Cedric (7.6, 0G, 0A)
 
After these two draws I thought you'd be dropping pace from the top teams, but you're now just one point from Champions League. It won't be easy but definitely a possibility.
 
Four points off of second place could be an amazing first season for you, nine more big games
 
Top result at Stamford Bridge mate - top 3 a definite possibility!
 
After these two draws I thought you'd be dropping pace from the top teams, but you're now just one point from Champions League. It won't be easy but definitely a possibility.

I know right, can't quite believe it myself actually, every time we drop points so does everyone else!

Don't stop posting, I want more!!!! :D COME ON SAINTS!

Sorry mate, it was late and I was tired :P More updates to come though! :)

Four points off of second place could be an amazing first season for you, nine more big games

Yeah it's crazy to think how close we really are, and with nothing other than the league to focus on we could definitely push for a high finish

Not far from top 4 mate! Hopefully you can get the results needed!

Thanks mate, let's hope so!

Top result at Stamford Bridge mate - top 3 a definite possibility!

I was pretty happy with that, we fully deserved at least a point from that. Definitely a chance of top 3 or 4 :)
 
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