Taking Southampton North!

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English Premier League - Game 5 - Arsenal FC (Away)


Back to the Premier League and it’s a huge clash with title rivals Arsenal. Gitschier is back for this one, as is Süle, who I have selected despite his lack of match sharpness. We should have enough to get some kind of result here today.

Dragowski had to be alert to tip wide Dragomir’s long range rocket at full stretch in the 11th minute.

In the 16th minute Walcott hit the bar with a thunderous effort from the edge of the box.

Dragowski denied Memphis in the 25th minute as the Gunners continued to pile on the pressure.

In the 65th minute Chambers created the best chance of the game as he put the ball on a plate for Vietto - who couldn’t beat Rajkovic! Brilliant save, but a terrible miss.

Fontaine went off for Candreva, who swapped with Jacobsen, before the corner.

Persson replaced Vietto in the 69th minute.

Wellington replaced Jacobsen in the 74th. He went to midfield, Ward-Prowse to the right wing and Candreva to the left.

In the 77th minute Zouma slid in to produce an incredible block on Persson after Chambers had picked him out at the near post with a low cross.

Sanchez latched onto a long ball in the 83rd minute but after cutting inside, he couldn’t beat Dragowski!

That was one of the more eventful nil all draws that I can remember. I’m disappointed that we didn’t win it, but at the same time I can be grateful that we didn’t lose it, as both teams created chances to win but none were taken. Vietto had a rare off-day, and Gitschier was quiet in his return to action. I’m sure both of them will be fit and firing soon. Man of the match was a real surprise…


POM: Hector Bellerin (Arsenal FC - 7.8, 0G, 0A)

Best Southampton Player: Calum Chambers (7.7, 0G, 0A)
 

Capital One Cup - Third Round - Swansea City (Home)


We should be able to get past Swansea in the Cup today. It’s an entirely different starting lineup to the Arsenal match, with my second choice players all getting a run out. We’re still the stronger side on paper in my opinion.

In the 11th minute Candreva’s corner was emphatically volleyed home by a leaping Persson to fire us in front!

In the 21st minute Lovell controlled a corner and laid it off to Persson, but his shot was turned aside by a diving Butland.

A long, angled ball from Ramalho in the 57th minute found Cullen in behind, but a flying Burtic tipped his half-volley wide!

Hamza Amrani made his debut in the 65th minute, replacing Rodriguez and swapping wings with Candreva.

Kranjcar and Velchev, the latter also making his debut, replaced Persson and Jurcik in the 74th minute.

In the 78th minute Kranjcar chased down a long ball from Prins and cut inside, before curling an effort just inches wide of the top right corner!

A very dominant performance, though Swansea were always just a goal away from opening things right up due to our profligacy. Still, a good runout for the youngsters, and we’re through to the next round.


POM: Antonio Candreva (9.0, 0G, 1A)
 
I've just started the 2023/24 Season.

Reed is the last remaining pre-hero Saint left now.
Man City just spent £117 Million on 6 players :(

On a side note, would you like to go up against the Saints of your future :P
 
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Herowolf said:
I've just started the 2023/24 Season.

Reed is the last remaining pre-hero Saint left now.
Man City just spent £117 Million on 6 players :(

On a side note, would you like to go up against the Saints of your future :P
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Wow you've definitely evolved then, I don't have Reed but still have some of the others. That's a heck of a lot of money though, is the league still challenging for you?

Sure why not, sounds like fun :P I'm expecting you to win since I've posted my tactics on here so often haha
 

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


Asensio is back in time to start against Manchester United today, though he’s short on match sharpness and remains unhappy. We have the team on paper to beat these guys, and anything less would be extremely disappointing. This is a big week for us, as our next two matches are Real Madrid and Chelsea, both of them away.

At half time, we led by 10 shots to 4, with 59% possession. 3 of United’s 4 shots were long shots, whereas none of our 10 were. We’d also had 9 corners!

7 minutes and 4 corners into the second half, we had our opener, as Laporte leapt highest to power home a header from Asensio’s delivery. 13 corners in 52 minutes, incredible stuff!

In the 68th minute we were suddenly in hot water, as Wanyama stupidly lunged in on Herrera when we were in no danger whatsoever, and deservedly saw a straight red card.

Gasperoni replaced Fontaine, and dropped into midfield alongside Ward-Prowse, where he was joined by Asensio. Persson replaced Vietto up top, as we lined up in a 4-3-1-1 formation.

In the 81st minute we were undone though, as Kaderabek’s cross found Herrera, who rifled a low half-volley into the bottom corner.

Nishimura replaced Chambers in the 85th.

We were hugely let down by Wanyama today, as his lack of discipline cost us two points, and gifted one to a direct rival. We were the superior team all match - they played 25 minutes with an extra man but were still dwarfed in the stats - but couldn’t hold out when reduced to 10 men. I hate gifting points to United.


POM: Ander Herrera (8.1, 1G, 0A)

Best Southampton Player: Marco Asensio (8.0, 0G, 1A)


Injury News...


Bertin has picked up an injury at Crystal Palace, and is actually out for 6-7 weeks, not 4-5.
 

UEFA Champions League Group Stage - Game 2 - Real Madrid CF (Away)


Last time we visited the Bernabeu, we came home with a win, as well as an aggregate victory. Still, today I’d probably be happy with a draw. A mix of key and rotation players takes the field in Spain, with one eye on our crunch league match against Chelsea in just 3 days time. Wanyama starts despite his ill discipline last match.

Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a simple volley at the back post after Danilo was given far too much time and space to pick him out with a cross.

Vietto picked up a knock and was replaced by Persson in the 41st minute.

At half time I replaced Rodriguez with Candreva, who swapped wings with Jacobsen.

In the 66th minute Dimarco’s cross was poorly dealt with, and Ward-Prowse teed up Candreva on the edge of the box. The Italian’s first time strike arrowed into the top left corner to restore parity! Sensational strike! What a way to pick up his maiden goal for Southampton!

Prins replaced Gitschier in the 73rd minute.

In the 75th minute a Real corner was literally passed around inside our box, before Brozovic chipped the ball to Ronaldo. Luckily, his header hit the bar.

From there I was happy to shut up shop and play for a draw.

And that’s what we got. A solid performance and result, with halftime substitute Candreva to thank for giving us a share of the spoils, in a fairly even match. This result gives us a slight advantage over Madrid in the race for top of the group, though we’ll likely need to back it up with a win at home. Time to turn our attentions back to the league and Chelsea. Hopefully Vietto isn’t badly hurt, though I have a nasty feeling he will miss our trip to Stamford Bridge at the very least.


POM: Antonio Candreva (8.2, 1G, 0A)
 

Injury News...


Sure enough, while he’s only out for 5 days, Vietto will be unavailable for our clash with Chelsea. We’ll have to play at Stamford bridge without our top two strikers.



Terje Jacobsen is a familiar winner of the Young Player of the Month Award, and he bags it again. The great man Brendan Rodgers has led Sheffield Wednesday to the top of the league and wins Manager of the Month for his efforts. Young striker Greenwood is performing well out on loan.

Cahill’s contract is mutually terminated as I can’t see him getting game time this season and I’d rather get rid of his wages.


Meanwhile in real life...Liverpool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

​
 
ninjaskill said:
Knocked out the tournament favourites Dortmund with an epic comeback after falling two goals behind twice

You forgot to finish it :P
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Thanks man :) Just for that I won't even mention the fact that we beat Man United 3-1 on aggregate in the RO16 before our epic Quarter Final performance against BVB
 
PatrickLFC said:
Thanks man :) Just for that I won't even mention the fact that we beat Man United 3-1 on aggregate in the RO16 before our epic Quarter Final performance against BVB
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That's so kind of you I won't even mention that United have won the last four league games. And are still in the FA Cup
 
Utd would have been smashed by Dortmund. Great character (oh no..) and passion by our players tonight! I feel like with any other manager it would have been over, but when you have a man like that on the sidelines..

On-topic: Good draw at the Bernabeu, if you draw 0-0 at home against them and you win the rest of the games you are a certainty of number one spot! :D
 
Kobe631 said:
Utd would have been smashed by Dortmund. Great character (oh no..) and passion by our players tonight! I feel like with any other manager it would have been over, but when you have a man like that on the sidelines..

On-topic: Good draw at the Bernabeu, if you draw 0-0 at home against them and you win the rest of the games you are a certainty of number one spot! :D
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Exactly, we have a manager now that inspires genuine belief, it's not over until it's over. I love that man. Ironic that we only started showing character after Rodgers had gone :P

Thanks mate, I'm happy enough with that result. As you say a scoreless draw or any win should be enough to clinch top spot, as we should be winning our other matches
 

There’s a few changes to my Sweden squad, with key player Quaison missing out through injury, though Augustinsson returns after overcoming his own injury.

Mourinho has been speaking very highly of me in his pre-match press conference

Kranjcar continues to dominate the Under 18’s League. He has 17 goals in 6 matches and is completely unstoppable. Today he put 4 past Chelsea’s youth side.
 

English Premier League - Game 7 - Chelsea FC (Away)


A massive fixture as we take on Mourinho’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. We beat them in both league fixtures last season, but they’ve won our last two meetings, in the FA Cup Final and the Community Shield. With three draws in our last four matches in all competitions - admittedly against Arsenal, Man United and Real Madrid - and the fourth one being a single goal win over Swansea, we’re not in the greatest form heading into this. It would be enormous if we could manage a win today. If we’d beaten United I would have taken a draw today but now I’m hungry for a win. Persson starts up top in the absence of both Vietto and Sindelar.

In the 7th minute we hit the lead, as Asensio played Gitschier in. The young German brilliantly turned his man and drew Courtois, before squaring for Persson to finish!

Cavaleiro knocked down an 11th minute corner for Oscar, but Dragowski made a flying save to tip his drive wide.

Chelsea countered from our 23rd minute free kick, and Oscar released Hazard, but his shot was tame and easily held by Dragowski.

In first half stoppage time Candreva picked up a cleared corner and raced down the wing with it. He crossed to Asensio outside the area, and then Ward-Prowse teed up Persson. His shot was blocked, but Ward-Prowse ran straight through and side-footed it from between three defenders into the bottom right corner! His first of the season, and what an important one it could be from the captain!

Diego Costa hit the post with his header from a 63rd minute corner.

Fontaine replaced Candreva in the 65th minute.

In the 69th minute Azpilicueta’s long throw was headed clear by Laporte, but Hazard carried it back to the edge of the box and blasted it through traffic into the net.

Fontaine picked up an injury a couple of minutes later, so departed in the 72nd minute to be replaced by Jacobsen.

In the 76th minute Mario Fernandes’ long cross was powerfully headed home by Hazard to square things again.

Wellington replaced Gasperoni in the 80th minute.

Well that was infuriating. We threw away a chance to make a massive statement today, as - not for the first time - we saw a two goal lead against Chelsea evaporate. Hazard snatched it away from us in a 7 minute period late in the 62nd half, during which we also lost yet another player to injury. I wouldn’t have been terribly disappointed with a draw at the start of the match, but after the first half there’s no question that’s a poor result. We will surely fall down the table once the later fixtures are played.


POM: Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC - 9.0, 2G, 0A)

Best Southampton Player: James Ward-Prowse (8.6, 1G, 0A)
 
Injury News...

To add to our woes, Fontaine will miss 3 weeks.

Lovell scores his first goal for England. A proud moment as he’s the best youth product of our own academy so far.



Tobias Andersson hit the bar early, but made up for it shortly afterwards as he won a penalty. Larsson bagged his first senior International goal from the spot. We were undone by a counterattack for Bosnia’s equaliser. Linus Persson became the second Saint to score his first goal for Sweden after coming off the bench to replace Andersson. A fingertip save from Begovic stopped another substitute in Forsberg from increasing our lead minutes later. Sweden’s first win under my stewardship, and it was a very pleasing one, away to a dangerous Bosnia & Herzegovina side that had beaten Belgium previously. An important result for our group standings, particularly with a trip to Belgium in just a couple of days.

 
PatrickLFC said:
Wow you've definitely evolved then, I don't have Reed but still have some of the others. That's a heck of a lot of money though, is the league still challenging for you?

Sure why not, sounds like fun :P I'm expecting you to win since I've posted my tactics on here so often haha
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It is still a bit challenging, I've sold a good few decent regens into other clubs in the Premier League to strengthen it. I've potentially sold the future Egyptian Messi to Brighton just to help them score against the bigger clubs :D

Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool and Man City are still the other best clubs. Arsenal and Tottenham have dropped this season. Brentford and pushing for 6th.
 
First victory with Sweden, congrats!
Bosnia seemed to put up quite a fight (it doesn't surprise me as they have a pretty solid squad) so good job on getting a win against them.

Chelsea is definitely your black beast when it comes to domestic competitions, the blues definitely know how to neutralize your lads... But a draw is better than going home empty handed at the very least.

Keep it up, the good results will come eventually.

.P.S.: Wow... The owls are overperforming this season...
 
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