Match Day Thread Saints V Stoke City Sunday 21st May 3pm

Is it possible to be more specific as your general description of his injury could cover a wide spectrum of injuries with infinitely variable periods of recovery.

 

Shows what he knows, Saints to score at home?? Yeah right

 

Shane did it kicking himself after his penalty miss, bit of a shame he hit the target with that one when there have been so many cows arse and banjo moments for him this season

 

We will batter them 0-0

 

Claude says he doesn't know about player unrest. Says as far as he is concerned he is under contract with Saints. Pleased with player development this season. Concentrating on finishing strong and finishing as high as possible. He enjoyed the cup run which showed the quality of the the team, the fans and it was just the wrong result. He agrees with retrospective bans for diving.

Charlie will play a part against Stoke. If Gabbiadini starts he will take any penalty Saints get.

 

Shane Long will miss Southampton's final game of the season with a broken metatarsal. Cédric and Ryan Bertrand are both doubts. "They have some pain, some tiredness, but we will see this tomorrow and the day of the game to see if they are available."

 

But we will undoubtedly create some interesting possibilities.

 

It's crazy if Cedric doesn't play. He wasn't right after the non-penalty in the first half yet they kept him out there. It was obvious that he was only making things worse.

 

It was just a Twitter report, but subsequent messages quote a broken metatarsal.

 

If I remember correctly, that was Mane's first goal, and last smile in a red a white striped shirt.

 

We'll miss his goals....

 

So in all probability, would he?

 

What are his goals?

 

Having a meal at Losteria tonight and realised Shane long and Steven Davis are eating at the table opposite.

 

At would be nice to finally see Tadić, Redmond, Boufal and Manolo on the pitch at the same time. I suspect we would be a tad more dangerous in the attack with all of them on the pitch. But Puel won't do that.

It's safe to say now that Puel preferred formation is 4-3-3 and I actually think that he's not an inherently a defensive coach but rather a offensive oriented one, but what's limiting him perhaps in Southampton is a lack of player suited for his style of play, especially in the middle of the pitch. To make a 4-3-3 formation work, you need a specific type of midfielders - one's that a physically imposing, playing box to box and getting forward often, have an eye for goal and a pass, like to dribble the ball and barge trough opposition's lines. Can you think of any of our midfielders that fits that description or even comes close? I can't. The best feature of all of our midfielders is that they can recycle the ball swiftly and precisely and get it to more forward oriented player. And they do it, but offer very little or no support in the attack itself, and our forwards can do very little when it's them three playing against 5, 6 or more opposition player. And that's why we can't score a goal, and why we only looked truly dangerous going forward this season when we played in the 4-2-3-1 for those several matches. Because we essentially had one more player supporting the attack and it made all the difference. So it's either 4-3-3 with a renovated midfield or change formation to 4-2-3-1. I don't think Puel will change his style of play, so if he stays the next season we should probably look to buy at least one midfielder which would suit 4-3-3 formation, because with this personnel and Puel in charge i think we're destined for boredom.

 

Stoke are a weird team as they really seem that entertaining and appear to remain in the EPL to make up numbers. They have not been an entertaining team to watch for a long while, just an awkward kind of opposition. You don't really associate them with exciting football and if you think about them at all, it is probably because of their history with Sir Stanley Matthews or the excellent film "Marvellous" which was on BBC several years ago. Wonder if Neil Baldwin will being going to the match?

 

Shane Long is wearing a boot so looks like his season is done

 

Just read the thread. Dammit I thought I was itk on something