Match Day Thread Sat 15 Feb. 15.00 - Plucky Little Southampton vs. A “Big” Club from Liverpool - no, not that one!

If storm names ever get as far as 'O', storm Oriel is going to be a biggun

 

You left out the 'Hey Jude' La, la, la, la,la, la, la before Shane...

 

Can't really complain. Like Brendy said the other week, we're bang in mid table. Unless we do something really special we're not going to be top of the order.

 

Regarding the Romeu handball I think we got away with one TBH. We'd be fuming if that hadn't been given for us.

 

Excellent advantage played by the referee for our first goal BTW.

 

We had similar about 10mins later but hasn’t been shown on the highlights

 

I am ot sure if I agree with this statement. If you look at the top of the table, the league is dominated by Liverpool and Man City. Their only serious contender at the moment is Chelsea. If you look at the teams below, then I think anyone is capable of getting in the top six. Wolves and West Ham have shown this potential this season. We have also seen in with Leicester win the league and do well last season. A Top Six finish is not so far out of the top realms as some might believe.

Regarding yesterday's performance, I thought that Southampton could not live with Everton and the visitors should eaaily have been two nil up. They were playing us at our own game. For the remainder 75 minutes plus injury, I felt we wrestled control back from them to the point that Everton looked a totally different team and were abject for long periods of the second half. I was glad Shane scored whilst also having to conclude that our performance was totally professional. The opening strorm was managed and the game always seemed to be under our control during the interval.

Watching Everton yesterday was fascinating. You just wonder how this team will fair next season. It is only possible to see positives with Saints under Ralph for the next campaign as long as we keep the suqad together. By contrast, I have a suspicion that Lampard has got his work cut out with a squad which gave away two soft goals (there were 3 defencers around Long when he scored!) and am not convinced that the managerial merri-go-round up there is the right solution. Everton are pehaps the one team who could benefit most from learning about Ralph's Revolution.

 

Brilliant header from Long for his goal!

 

I like the match report on got which describes us (and them tbf) as an abjectly average side.

I used to like Everton fans but they had a real brain burp over the war chest and look at things in almost as distorted a way as their red chums now.

Lampard has a real job on there.

 

"Watching Everton yesterday was fascinating. You just wonder how this team will fair next season."
In the championship?

 

I am reading their match thread now and they are furious about the penalty.

Some half hearted mumbling about the similar incident for us. Some saying “watch them give this one” - but no one then saying “oh at least they are consistent” when it wasn’t given

Lots banging about the ref having instructions. Moaning about every decision against them, howling for yellows for us and saying “if that were Liverpool”.

I am not sure I can imagine what agenda they think the refs have against them. When we make similar comments here it is pretty much always when we are playing an established big 6 side which I think makes them slightly more reasonable. It is at least somewhat plausible that the someone wants to money clubs that bring all the overseas viewers in to do well. Fixing Saints to beat Everton though?

Only about 25 minutes into the game on their thread so it hasn’t fully turned against them yet

The build up was fun to beat. A mix of delusions, overconfidence and also stubborn refusal to directly admit Saints might win - lots of “we would do well to get a point” and not “I think they have a good chance of beating us you know”

 

Watching Everton yesterday was like watching us during our capitulation through the second half of last season.

A 10-15 min flash of something promising but nothing would come of it, followed by complete abject capitulation.

 

I've felt for a long time Saints were fine margins from being a very good team. I think they have now closed those fine margins. The result is going from a relegation battle to an outside chance of qualifying for Europe.

I don't know about anybody else but my perception now, compared to before Christmas, is Saints can beat anybody outside the top three and with the top three I am thinking we can get something out of those games. Saints are a very good team.

It was also nice of Everton to give Forster a day off yesterday for his recent good performances

 

I'm amazed that that was Stu's first PL goal in ten months.

 

I think that there are worse teams currently in the league to save Everton the embarrassment of relegation this season. The analogy with Saints' recent past regarding promising starts is exactly along the same lines as I was thinking. However, I am not sure we have been quite an inept as Everton were in the second half yesterday. The appointment of Lampard seems an odd fit. I think Lampard has the makings of a good manager but he strikes me as an awkward fit at Goodison. It will work if they give him sufficient time yet Everton seem quite fickle with their appointments. If there is no immediate improvement next season, you sesne the Everton fans will become impatient.

Once prediction for next season. I think Dele Ali will not last long at Everton. He is the kind of player who will end of playing for a team like Stoke. Someone on the radio made a comment about how far away he is from getting another England cap. He did not even look Premier League quality yesterday.

 

Everton have City, Spurs and Wolves for their next 3 PL fixtures, before playing Newcastle.
I might review my thoughts that they might stay up because of their potential to score goals.

 

I said a few weeks ago they've got a really tough run of fixtures and don't rule them out for relegation.

 

March is very important for them. Pick up a couple of wins, or a win and a couple of draws, and I still think they'll be alright. But because April looks really nasty them, it will get very interesting if they do continue to struggle through March.

 

Watford v Everton could be a massive game in a month's time.

 

We've taken 16 points from our last 9 games. At the start of last season we were top with 16 from 8.