Taking Southampton North!

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Yeti01 said:
Some wheeling and dealing going on there Patty! Looks like you've picked up some gems!
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Well let's hope so, none of the Swedes are ready for the first team yet though, but the others can all contribute :)
 

English Premier League - Game 4 - Leicester City


Leicester are our hosts today, and a few changes are enforced by injury and fatigue.

In the 12th minute we scored a sensational team goal. Lightning fast and exquisite passing took us from one end of the field to the other, and eventually the ball was spread out by Davis to Luan, who half-volleyed in a cross, and Jay Rodriguez crashed a header off the underside of the bar and in!

Just 30 seconds later, the scores were tied again though, through a slice of misfortune that saw Luan’s perfect sliding tackle knock the ball straight to Germain 6 yards out, and he couldn’t miss.

In the 18th minute Nuno Santos put a cross into the 6 yard box and Germain had a point blank volley - saved! Incredibly, by Dragowski! Vardy’s followup effort was deflected wide.

In the 58th minute Zivkovic replaced Juanmi, and switched wings with Cazares.

In the 71st minute Ward-Prowse and Kießling replaced Davis and Cazares, with Rodriguez shifting to left wing to accommodate Kießling up top.

In the 75th minute a sensational chipped ball from Mahrez met the run of Vardy into the 6 yard box, and his redirected volley was extraordinarily saved by Dragowski at full stretch! The ball was still just in the field of play, and Dragowski recovered to watch Nuno Santos hit the outside of the post.

Two minutes later we were undone by a corner though, as Mechele headed it back across goal to Germain, who had his second with a point blank header.

In the 79th minute Kießling split the defence with a great ball for Rodriguez who beat his man with a clever piece of skill but couldn’t beat the keeper from a tight angle.

In the 81st Kießling played another brilliant pass, this time for Zivkovic, but from a promising position the Serbian missed the target quite comfortably. Very poor effort.

In the 90th minute Leicester sealed the game through Fuchs, who smashed a 30 yard free kick into the top corner for his first ever Leicester goal.

A really disappointing performance and loss, as our shooting was far too wayward, and the Foxes made us pay. Zivkovic still doesn’t seem to have settled, but I’m prepared to be patient. Rodriguez scored again, and has scored in each of his appearances this season - 5 in 4.


POM: Valere Germain (Leicester City - 8.9, 2G, 0A)

Best Southampton Player: Jordy Clasie (7.6, 0G, 0A)
 

So far this season we’ve looked pretty good I’d say. We’ve had two really poor performances - Leicester and Chelsea - but in every other match we’ve performed very well. Dragowski has been great in goals, Rodriguez is on his way to proving that he’s no one-season wonder, Kießling has done nothing wrong in his limited opportunities, and I’ve been impressed by Luan, Fonte, Radu and Augustinsson, who are currently my first choice back four. Clasie and Davis have also really stepped it up in midfield this season, putting in a number of great performances between them. The wings are perhaps the only question marks so far, but I have confidence that between Tadic, Pjaca, Ramirez, Juanmi and Zivkovic, we have enough quality to mount another top four challenge.

The issue I have when considering our potential to finish in the top four, is the other teams. Last season we profited from some immense good fortune, in that no team, apart from Chelsea, could seem to maintain any sort of consistency, and as a result, the table was very tight. We finished fourth with a haul of 66 points, whilst City were third with 69 and Arsenal second with 74. In a regular season, you would expect 74 to be more of a 3rd or 4th placed tally, with our own 66 points more likely to land us a spot around 6th to 8th. In that respect, last season was something of an anomaly, and we will likely have to perform much better this season to repeat last season’s results. Only time will tell, but we seem well placed to have a red hot go. If we fall short but better last season’s points tally, then I can hardly complain.
 

UEFA Champions League Group Stage - Game 1 - FC Schalke 04 (Home)


Schalke are arguably the favourites in our group, so this match could be an important indicator of our chances. A rotated lineup takes the field, with Milik given a chance to impress up front, and Forster in goal. I’ll be interested to see how Nastasic performs for Schalke given how close we came to signing him.

In the 10th minute Cedric played an incisive pass to Milik at the penalty spot, who turned and shot, but Nastasic stuck out a leg to deflect it to the side. Pjaca had a crack from the rebound but it was well saved.

The ball was cleared to Wanyama, whose 25 yard effort was arrowing towards the bottom corner before a fingertip save diverted it wide.

Milik’s venomous shot in the 29th minute flew just wide.

Juanmi replaced Pjaca in the 56th minute.

Slattery replaced Ramirez in the 64th minute, shifting Ward-Prowse to the right wing.

A minute later Forster got down well to turn a near post effort from Di Santo around the post.

Kießling replaced Milik in the 68th minute.

In the 76th minute Slattery sent Kießling through with a great ball over the top. With just the keeper to beat, he missed the target. Very disappointing from my experienced striker.

In the 81st minute Ward-Prowse sent a brilliant raking pass across to Juanmi, who brought it down, stepped between two defenders, and from the top left corner of the box, curled it beautifully into the top right corner! What a goal!

8 minutes later an incredible run from Juanmi took him through the defence, but this time his curling effort was well saved.

A brilliant effort from the team today, as we saw off group favourites Schalke thanks to a sensational goal from super sub Juanmi. His production wasn’t the same in the second half of last season, but hopefully this performance can spark a return to the form he was in for the first half of last year. Ward-Prowse was also in top form, providing 8 key passes, including the assist.


POM: James Ward-Prowse (8.9, 0G, 1A)
 
Nice win there mate! rocky league start but im sure you will turn it around man, KIU.
 

English Premier League - Game 5 - Sheffield Wednesday (Home)


Newly promoted Sheffield Wednesday can’t be allowed to leave St. Mary’s with even a point, despite what pre-match analyst Kevin Patterson says about us being evenly matched. Rodriguez headlines the list of first choice players returning to the lineup.

In the 26th minute we found ourselves in trouble though, as Radu gave away a very soft penalty. But Dragowski picked Chamakh’s spot kick and saved it brilliantly! Augustinsson cleared the danger. Brilliant stuff from the young keeper!

In the 37th minute Davis lined up a free kick on the edge of the box, and curled it to the far post, where Jose Fonte met it with a volley just a yard or two out - saved! More outstanding keeping, this time from Westwood, as an outstretched leg prevented a certain goal.

Two minutes later Sheffield Wednesday came the other way, and Marco Matias found space for a shot, which beat Dragowski, whose positioning arguably could have been better.

In the 56th minute Clasie launched a counter from a corner with a great ball to Rodriguez. The striker switched the play over to Juanmi, who stepped in field and threaded a perfect ball forward for the run of Clasie, and the Dutchman absolutely smoked it into the top left corner of the goal! No keeper in the world would have saved that!

In the 64th minute Gitschier replaced Wanyama and we moved to a 4-2-3-1.

In the 75th minute Pjaca replaced Ward-Prowse.

In the 82nd minute we were sucker-punched though, as Kevin Constant produced a fine shot to find the near top corner when played through by Forestieri.

Milik replaced Davis in the 85th.

Well maybe I should have taken a draw to begin with! Credit to Sheffield Wednesday, who played well, but there’s absolutely no way we should be losing at home to these guys. The only bright spots were Dragowski’s penalty save and the performances of Clasie (8.7) and Juanmi (9.0, POM), whilst Rodriguez failed to find the net for the first time this season. We have some ground to make up now.


POM: Juanmi (9.0, 0G, 1A)
 

Capital One Cup - Third Round - Leeds United (Home)


A few of the youngsters get a chance today in the League Cup against Leeds. Hopefully they can step up to the plate.

In the 7th minute Dario Rodriguez laid the ball off for Bertrand to overlap down the left, and he whipped a cross to the 6 yard box where Milik redirected it, but it was saved on the line!

From the resulting corner, Gitschier had a shot from the edge of the box cleared off the line!

Palombo slipped Milik in cleverly in stoppage time, but another great save denied us an opener.

In the 61st minute, Milik and Rodriguez were replaced by Kießling and Cazares.

In the 74th minute we finally took the lead, as Gitschier timed his run to meet Cedric’s cross with an emphatic volley and open the scoring!

Balic replaced Fonte in the 76th minute, a move which saw Palombo drop into central defence.

A solid win, and I was very pleased with the performances of some of the youngsters. Slattery, Zivkovic and Gitschier all had excellent games, whilst fullbacks Cedric and Bertrand were fantastic as well. Good stuff, and they will get another chance to impress in the Fourth Round.


POM: Cedric (8.6, 0G, 1A)
 

English Premier League - Game 6 - Newcastle United (Home)


We really need to bounce back today against Newcastle. We have two wins and three losses from our opening five fixtures, and if we drop any more points we will be playing catch-up all season. Hopefully former striker Pelle doesn’t come back to haunt us.

In the 12th minute Augustinsson picked out Rodriguez in the box with a great cross, and he brought it down well, but inexplicably took far too long to shoot, and Vallejo got back to block. Probably should have scored there.

A minute later his glancing header from another Augustinsson cross flew wide.

In the 37th minute Augustinsson swung in a sensational cross, and Rodriguez darted between two defenders, presenting himself with a tap in - straight to Krul! Disappointing effort once more.

In the 65th minute an attempted cross from Alisson, flew over Dragowski and struck the inside of the far post, before being headed clear by Fonte! Almost a complete disaster!

In the 73rd minute Pjaca replaced Rodriguez, shifting Juanmi up top.

Ramirez replaced Davis in the 79th minute, moving to the right wing, with Ward-Prowse going to central midfield.

A minute later Ward-Prowse slipped Ramirez through, but a fantastic double save from Krul denied first the Uruguayan, and then Juanmi on the follow up.

Kießling replaced Wanyama in the 89th minute as we went to two up top.

We couldn’t find the breakthrough though, and a disappointing match came to an end.

The team actually played quite well for the most part, but uncharacteristically, it was Rodriguez who somewhat let us down with his finishing. Other than that, just about everyone played pretty well, with Luan and Ward-Prowse in particular impressing. We just need that finishing touch!


POM: James Ward-Prowse (7.9, 0G, 0A)
 
A good chance to get even with Leicester ha ha ! Good luck ! I guess that Zirkovic is still struggling but keep your faith to him give the boy some playing time in the starting line up and he won't let you down!
 
kolas79 said:
A good chance to get even with Leicester ha ha ! Good luck ! I guess that Zirkovic is still struggling but keep your faith to him give the boy some playing time in the starting line up and he won't let you down!
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Yeah hopefully some revenge is on the cards :P I'm sure he will come good, he'll continue to get chances, don't worry :)
 

UEFA Champions League Group Stage - AS Monaco (Away)


A really tough away game today against Monaco, the reigning French champions. More rotation is required though, as we face Man City in 3 days in the league, and risk falling well off the pace if we can’t take anything from that match.

In the 4th minute a Monaco corner fell to Malcom, whose effort was cleared off the line by Bertrand!

In the 30th minute Zivkovic cut in sharply from the right and lashed an effort goalwards, but it was brilliantly saved by Subasic.

In the 59th minute Milik was dispossessed in the area, but the loose ball fell to Zivkovic, whose fairly tame effort was turned around the post by Subasic.

Tadic replaced Zivkovic in the 61st minute.

30 seconds later I shifted to a 4-2-3-1, bringing on Ramirez and Slattery to replace Ward-Prowse and Clasie. Slattery and Palombo were in midfield, with Ramirez on the right and Tadic behind the striker.

A minute later Forster made a fantastic save, tipping Carrillo’s effort over the bar.

From the resulting corner, another flying save kept us level.

Palombo dropped back to DM in the 69th minute.

We saw out the rest of the match to record a nil all draw.

Not a bad result really, all things considered. We’re still in the hunt for qualifying from the group. Now our attentions turn to the Man City clash in 3 days time.


POM: Fabinho (AS Monaco - 7.6, 0G, 0A)

Best Southampton Players: Stefan Radu and Ryan Bertrand (7.3, 0G, 0A)
 
Good away result there against Monaco mate. Hopefully you can bring some of you Champions League form into your Premiership games.
 
Yeti01 said:
Good away result there against Monaco mate. Hopefully you can bring some of you Champions League form into your Premiership games.
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Yeah lets hope so, we really need to pick it up in the league :/
 

English Premier League - Game 7 - Manchester City (Away)


Man City at the Etihad is never an easy fixture (unless you’re Liverpool), but we enter this match in difficult circumstances, as we are getting to the stage where we really need to start picking up points. I’d take a draw, but that’s not going to stop me going for the win. Hopefully Rodriguez can rediscover his scoring form. City are so strong though. Their bench includes Volland, Kane and Sterling.

In the 20th minute we fell behind to an exceptionally soft goal, Zabaleta slotting near post side after a counter attack.

Agüero then tore our defence to shreds before curling the ball inches wide in the 25th minute. H

e did something similar in the 37th minute, once again firing narrowly wide.

Two minutes later it was Agüero again, running half the field but hitting the side netting.

Tadic replaced Ward-Prowse in the 50th minute.

In the 56th minute, Davis picked out the run of Clasie with a superb ball, but the Dutchman hit the side netting when he should have scored.

Pjaca replaced Juanmi in the 64th minute.

Kießling replaced Rodriguez in the 71st minute.

In the 78th minute an atrocious pass from Van Dijk near the corner flag set up Agüero for a first time shot in the area (Dejan Lovren vs West Ham), but Dragowski kept it out with a fingertip save.

Agüero then sent substitute Sterling through in the 84th minute, but he was denied by Dragowksi.

Seconds later he was through again, this time thanks to Volland, and made no mistake from point blank range.

Turns out we weren’t doing ourselves any favours by chasing an equaliser, as Agüero finally got on the scoresheet less than a minute later.

Really disappointing result in the end, though it was somewhat undeserved. 1-0 would have been a better reflection of the whole game, but we conceded twice after going for broke. Fonte and Van Dijk were tormented by Agüero all game though, and we’re now in serious trouble in the league. Not only are we losing, but we haven’t scored for 3 straight games now.


POM: Nabil Bentaleb (8.9, 0G, 1A)

Best Southampton Player: Victor Wanyama (7.0, 0G, 0A)
 

English Premier League - Game 8 - Aston Villa (Home)


Today’s match is a must win. We badly need to break out of this slump, and hopefully we can take all three points against Villa today. Former Saints striker Shane Long starts up top for our opponents, who are now owned by a tycoon, and thus are on their way to becoming a real Premier League force.

James Ward-Prowse ensured we got off to a flyer, scoring a magnificent free kick just 45 seconds into the match! An absolute beauty!

In the 9th minute we were pegged back though, as Dragowski spilled a tame shot from Mikel, and left Agbonlahor with a tap in.

In the 12th minute we sprung a counter attack from a corner, and Davis released Rodriguez, who raced clear, his touch taking him wide of the keeper Guzan, but he hit the side netting.

In the 21st minute it was Long’s turn to race through, and he fired high and wide. Nice to know his Southampton form hasn’t abandoned him.

Two minutes later he skipped past Palombo but was denied by a good save from Dragowski.

Some great passing between Davis, Clasie and Wanyama was followed by a clever ball from the Kenyan for Rodriguez, but the striker was denied by Guzan from close range.

In the 49th minute Rüdiger produced an excellent last ditch block on Rodriguez after Juanmi found him in the area.

We made a triple change on the hour mark, replacing Davis, Rodriguez and Juanmi with Cazares, Kießling and Tadic.

In the 91st minute, Fonte headed a Ward-Prowse corner back to Kießling, whose header smashed into the crossbar! Aargh!

Another really frustrating result as we once again failed to make our chances count, and drew with a much weaker team at home. Aston Villa actually ended up having more shots, but the quality of our chances was much higher, and we really should have done better.


POM: James Ward-Prowse (8.4, 1G, 0A)
 

UEFA Champions League Group Stage - Game 3 - Galatasaray (Home)


Galatasaray are a quality side, and with the form we’re in, there’s a strong case to be made that they are favourites. I’d really like a win here, but I’d rather one in the league.

In the 12th minute Clasie picked out Pjaca with a brilliant raking pass, and the winger showed great composure to slot inside the near post and pick up his first Saints goal!

30 seconds later a nasty tackle forced our goalscorer Pjaca off with an injury. A real shame. Tadic was his replacement when play finally stopped.

In the 20th minute Sneijder, from inside his own half, sent a ball over the top for Burak Yilmaz, and the striker did the rest, taking it wide and beating Forster at his near post. Forster should have done better but it was great work from Yilmaz.

In the 24th minute we were back in front! Ward-Prowse’s corner was cleared back to him, and he sent in a low cross to Clasie near the edge of the area, and the Dutchman rifled a low volley into the far bottom corner. Exquisite strike!

In the 41st minute it was back to square one though, as Podolski’s first time volleyed cross was redirected by Yilmaz in the 6 yard box, leaving Forster with no chance.

In the 51st minute Cedric played a great ball for Ramirez, who kept it alive inside the box, and was promptly hacked down - penalty! Milik showed excellent composure to slot it home for his first Southampton goal!

Zivkovic replaced Ramirez in the 68th minute.

In the 73rd minute Clasie departed to a standing ovation, having put in another outstanding performance. Slattery was his replacement.

Ward-Prowse sent a great shot whistling inches past the top corner in stoppage time.

A good win in the end, and a much needed one, though it wasn’t without it’s moments of frustration. Clasie (9.0, 1G, 1A) and Ward-Prowse (8.9, 0G, 1A) were both in supreme form once again, and midfield is really not a concern for me at the moment. Pjaca’s early injury could be though - hopefully it’s nothing serious. We’re actually in an excellent position halfway through the group stage, with 7 points. Schalke trail us with 6, and Monaco in third have 2.


POM: Jordy Clasie (9.0, 1G, 1A)
 
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