Well done Saints. Two goals, clean sheet, through to the semi-finals. Two queries- Who is that wearing the number 2 shirt, and what have they done with Cedric? And secondly, can we stop passing directly to opposition players in midfield? We got away with it today against L1 opposition. We won’t be so lucky against better teams. The fans sounded great on the TV, so well done all those who made the trip in this weather.
Poppy had just jumped on my lap when Cedric scored. She's now sitting out in the hall glaring at me as I yelled and clapped so loudly that I must have terrified her. Sorry Popps but I love Cedric even more than you at the moment
Training has stepped up big time btw. Hughes isn't taking any ****. Looks like Pellegrino let more than the match day stuff get far worse. Heard players were exhausted after their first training session with Hughes.
I jeered Redmond for losing the ball, a moment later he threads the best pass of the ball the whole game to gabba for the penalty. Hopefully Mark can get him playing well again.
That's the difference, we carried a greater threat today because of his intelligent movement. He will score goals simply because Hughes knows how to exploit his talent whereas Pellegrino couldn't and just saw him as a liability to the defence.
I think Gabbiadini should probably have had more game time this season but it's not some great injustice that he hasn't. He doesn't contribute that much beyond goals and was pretty anonymous when he started 8 of our first 11 games. I also don't think his confidence has been damaged by being dropped after scoring because that simply hasn't happened. He's scored 4 goals all season and hasn't ever been dropped the game after scoring. He scored once against West Ham and started the next two games. He scored twice against Newcastle and started the next three games. He scored once against Burnley (after coming off the bench) and was on the bench again for the next game. He was finally dropped earlier in the season for Austin, a decision that was completely justified by Austin's goals. You can argue Gabbiadini should have started after Burnley but you can't be dropped if you're not in the team to begin with.
Agreed. MP2 knew what he wanted but getting the players to learn his style was just taking too long. Hopefully, given the time he has left this season, Hughes will play to existing strengths and we will see the best from the likes of Gabbiadini, Carrillo and Redmond
Well, he did a lot of god things but could not finish. Isn’t that Shane Long? I am not trying to trash Gabbiadini by any stretch. But if Austin can get healthy and be available, does he get the start? And then who plays with him? I won’t complain if Gabbiadini becomes a starter going forward. But I won’t complain if he doesn’t either. I don’t think there is a clear cut choice.
