I don't think Football had been invented when the European continent was still attached to Africa mate . . .
Good game, Soton battling well and Howard has been forced into some fairly relentless shot stopping. Puncheon looks like a really strong player.
Southampton have absolutely dominated Everton. In a way, I'm glad we don't have to play them again in the League.
Southampton could easily be 2 or 3 up at HT, they have bombarded the Everton penalty area, to their credit Everton have defended really well and Howard has made some point blank saves. Great game, brilliant to see Soton giving it everything. I think even if Everton score, they will believe they can come back into it. Should be a cracking 2nd half.
They have a relegation battle on for the rest of the season, so they will be motivated. We have to play QPR and Wigan in the last few games, so there are going to be some tough relegation scraps that we'll be involved in still.
Everton are beginning to drop off. Not including this they'll need to win about 9/10 games out of 15 to get top 4. Can't see it happening with Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and United all to play at home, and City are overdue a result there like we were. Withstanding that they'd have to win all their other games and keep fingers crossed. Can't see it.
It's scary to think there's players in these 2 smaller teams who could improve us. That Southampton LB looks a real talent. We all know how good Everton's LB (Baines) is. That's weird. An LB with the initials L.B Fellaini could get in any PL side, Howard would probably start in goal for us, Jagielka would make a good utility player for us, even someone like Osman would be handy.
But we rarely capitalise on others slipping up, so even with those tough fixtures, they are still in with a shot. The main problem though is definitely Spurs. I think it's safe to say you've got 3rd place wrapped up.
I wouldn't go that far. If Arsenal can win it's only 8 points. 8 points is easily recoverable given we still have Liverpool, United and City away but you'd need 1 or 2 quality players to be signed for that to happen. Chelsea 45 Spurs 41 Everton 37 *Arsenal 34 70-points should be enough for top 4 given form all 4 clubs this season. Chelsea probably only need 8 wins and a draw from the remaining 15 fixtures. 9 wins out of 15 to be safe. In February/March we have more than enough winnable games. Spurs have all the momentum at the moment and unlike us, you have to play them away, they have an excellent home record in London derbies. Failure to pick at least 7 points from your next 3 games (all of which are at home) and I can't see a top 4 finish for you. I'm not trying to WUM but I just don't see where-else the recovery would take place. Once the CL kicks in you'll be playing midweek and it'll only get harder. Your March looks daunting to say the least: Spurs (A) Everton (H) Bayern (A) Swansea (A) Reading (H) Your last 5 games are also all against sides that will all have something to play for. * denotes game in hand.
Soton played a 4-2-3-1 this evening, while Everton played 4-4-1-1. In the eight occasions Everton have played 4-4-1-1 against teams playing 4-2-3-1, they've only won twice.
Disagree, I think it's got weaker as a result of the transition to more continental style of football. Everybody is trying to play like Barca of 3 years ago but without the attention to detail in defence, as a result we're seeing a lot more goals and a lot more away wins due to teams being opened up on the counter. United - with this midfield - to be top on 56 points (more than any other United side has had at this stage) says it all. Chelsea, Everton, Spurs, Arsenal - none of them had/have a prolific striker. Just a few seasons ago we had Darren Bent playing for midtable Sunderland scoring 24.
