Match Day Thread Southampton away

Best performance in 18 months for me.

 

Must admit I felt less confident before this one than the cup game against West Ham, but what a performance from the whole team, hard to pick a MotM, all of them executed superbly, special mention to Moses that bloke is what we have been needing for years and guess what he has been in our back pocket but we never realised it. Kante, also Costa, I could mention them all it was very good. Costa's goal... wow!

 

Indeed against a good defence too.

 

Hazard has to be my MoM he was a livewire for us 9/10 Matic was huge as was Luiz & Kante.

 

some key numbers.

4 cleansheets in a row after 7 years. Thank you JT & Ivan.

Kante have lost only 5 PL matches. 3 to Goons & 2 to Pool. That is something we need to fix & improve sooner.

 

Costa is now top goalscorer in the prem, never saw that coming either.

 

Luiz and Moses to win us the league!
Great performance.Happy bunny.

 

i thought Kante is going to get us to the promised land (top 4).
But Moses is actually doing it now more or less like Kante & some.
Shades of Wigan player is back & some.

Up the Super Eagle!!

 

He's one of our few on loan successes for ages.

 

Loan agreed - but not so sure about Success.
He hardly got a look in any of the loan teams.

Infact he was used as a chip to make Sterling, Arnautic & Payet better in all his loan teams.

Moses is 100% Conte & 0% Loan if you ask me.
He is like a 50M pound player now.

 

What I meant was the loans bought him on and made him what he is now.

 

Great performance, always a hard ground to go to.
Moses has been a revelation this season, such a good player and a hard worker.
Key squad member now, for sure.

 

True Ginge loans gave him some opportunity. But easily could have made it better if our reps did some analysis.

He made 19 appearance for Pool, 21 for Stoke & 20 for West Ham - mostly subs in these games.

 

Something is happening that's for sure. It's not only Moses that's firing, but Matic, Luiz and Cahill, all look like they have had a talent implant, and Hazard has had the fast tap turned back on !! Add Costa, Alonso to that list, and we're are starting to look like a team that has rediscovered its' will to win and its' togetherness. In fact every single player excelled in this game ,a true team effort that shows just how important it is to enjoy the moment. Absolutely top marks to Conte for getting the players believing.

 

I don't want to tempt fate but, Costa is looking more disciplined lately, like not getting into trouble, and it is actually turning him into a better player. He has always had the work ethic and passion, but recently seems to channel that energy and passion at the right targets. I saw at the end of the game today he almost had a love-in with everybody, a happy Costa is a worry for opposing defenders, indeed any opponent anywhere on the pitch because he did his fair share of defending in the first half.

 

Matic, Costa and Hazard always had it, they just downed tools last season for reasons we will not know until a book is written.
Cahill is much happier now he has speed alongside him, he has always been a good CB but had to chase around a bit too much to show it. I am impressed with Alonso, had never heard of him until this season but he looks the part.
It wouldn't surprise me if you won the league this season, maybe even with a degree of comfort.
After the first 3 games I said in one of my posts that Chelsea were the only team that had started the season looking like a "team", by that I didn't mean you were playing the best just that you actually played as a unit. Now the talent is starting to show through.

 

That is quite an endorsement Diego and I hope you are correct. After 3 games we were level with United and City. United then lost points and have continued doing so, City remained unbeaten for some time after and we were unfortunate, very, to draw with Swansea after Cahill was mugged in broad daylight by Fer. Had the officials seen that in the same way as most of us did then we would be 2 points clear at the top as we speak. Losing to Pool and Gooners may have been the catalyst that Conte needed to introduce his preferred system/style call it what you may but it has turned us into a team that seems to be fighting for each other, something I have not witnessed for a while. It is early days but if Conte keeps this up, dare I say we may be playing CL football next year. Forza Azzurre'

 

Good points there esp the losses to Gooners & Scousers - it's the old saying about you learning more from defeats than you do from victories. Have to admit that I'm pleasantly surprised and encouraged by our turnaround in performance - long may it continue.

 

Exactly - blessing in disguise. Thanks to Cahill's mistakes Conte went another level.

 

A bit harsh Stan, it's takes time to get players to come together and now Conte has woven a bit of magic yesterday's performance shows just how far the team spirit and collectiveness has grown. Yes before there were many individual mistakes but these are now a thing of the past and the growth of team spirit is amazing.