I laughed at this post from elsewhere: "Harry Redknapp slunk into St. Mary's Stadium on his 66th birthday like a dog who'd just sh!t in the kitchen. He had no reason to expect a welcome here, having overseen a relegation from top flight football that ultimately resulted in the club's near liquidation. To add insult to injury he then cravenly abandoned Southampton to chase tax payers cash at bitter rivals Portsmouth, which again ultimately resulted in near liquidation. However it appeared at first that the Southampton fans were willing to let bygones be bygones. Barely had the match started the home crowd launched a rousing rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song and Redknapp appeared visibly relieved by this tribute. He stood for a moment smiling with his hand aloft, as if to grasp a brown envelope from the heavens, but as the song reached it's crescendo the home fans pointedly refused to name the twitchy faced tax evader and instead sang "Happy Birthday... Pochettino" in reference to their Argentinian manager who coincidentally shares a birthdate. Redknapp's saggy face drooped like a spent penis. He looked about himself confused and disorientated until assistant coach Steve Cotterill ushered him back to the dugout like a homeless man ejected from Selfridges. Almost immediately Southampton scored the first of their six goals."
I hope Shaw is fit. If he is not then Richardson/Clyne would seem a good option with Forren on the bench. I hope we don't see Fox on the bench. He just is not up to the PL level. Jos did not have a great game against NU. Does he stay or does Fonte come in. Look forward to seeing MP's decision on that one. Punch/Jrod is a tough one as well. I like the way JRod chases down but Punch seems to have that bit more going forward. Which ever does not start is likely to come on though. Gaston should remain a sub. Davis seems a bit steadier at the moment and I think we will need a steady influence in the first half.
I thought Jos was actually ok, considering the quality he had against him, and his own limitations of playing against pace. He was just unfortunate to be hit by Fox's clearance. Not the best record in the Premier League to equal. I thought he also should merit in the fact that he didn't give Fox what for after his own goal, but actually seemed supportive to his teammate. He went up in my estimation, despite that ill-fortune.
Jos has been quite good since regaining his starting spot, but his decision-making against Newcastle was wanting; his best attribute is his tendency to make the simple, obvious play, but two or three times he dithered on the ball in really dangerous positions. Defensive lapses tend to be sins of omission rather than commission, but Jos was guilty of the former, which for me is a bit more damning; it's one thing to fail to track a run or get your positioning wrong, but forgetting the cardinal rule of defense ("thou shalt not do something unnecessary that actively creates a goal-scoring opportunity for the opposition") is grounds to be dropped. The own goal wasn't his fault, but the other lapses certainly were.
Sporting Life website have backed QPR to win. Their reasoning....because QPR have to start a run of wins to stay up...seems very similar to Lawro's that they have to win sometime. Sporting Life also say that, although we beat Man City, we shouldn't get carried away as it was only our second win in 12 games. No mention of how few losses we've had. Of course QPR can win, but these pundits should at least use reasoned discussion. Thank heavens for guest pundit on Sky...he's going for a Saints win because we are at home and QPR's big signings are not firing because they are unfit. He adds that a draw would be okay for us but not QPR. Bookies are backing us as well (I only believe odds when they favour Saints...otherwise they are idiots).
Bookies don't often get it wrong. QPR are about 3/1 to win tomorrow. On all known form we should beat QPR at home around seven times out of ten. Just pray tomorrow is one of those seven!
I need a good slapping from Cortese...I can't forget how often Old Saints would mess up in a game like this...we even tried to do it at the end of last season. Need to get our first goal under our belt.
If Jos plays can see him scoring from a set piece. He's overdue a goal in the away end! 33/1 has to be worth a fiver!
Interesting what the article says about attacking players from Argentina needing a year to settle in Europe. Perhaps they take that long for England too. Maybe next year Gaston (yes, I know he's not Argentinian) will become the player we expected after all.
"Bereft of ideas at half time, trailing 4-0, Redknapp seeks solace at the bar with a snack. Only to find that Lens, our new signing as 'catering manager' has spat in his puka pie".
Hope we win and convincingly (obviously!). We want to continue to show improvement from the team and individuals from now until the end of the season to get us nice and excited for next year. I believe we will be comfortably safe before the last weekend, but I would start to panic if we lost to qpr. Just need to get the points our performances deserve on a regular basis, can accept dominating and dropping points every now and then but not 4 out of 5 games all of the time. Wins are the only result to push us up the table and we need to learn how to do this consistently. Team should be the usual but I would bring in fonte for jos and Ramirez should start. Attack early get the lead then we can shore it up and set the tempo with fresh legs, Davis, jwp and whoever is left out from lala, jrod or punch. Good options on the bench for controlling a game but not necessarily to alter a game to get a win in my opinion.
I'm in 2 minds about davis vs gaston to start. Also about lallana vs j-rod. But here is my team; -------------------Boruc------------------- Clyne--------Fonte-------Yoshi------Shaw -------Schneid------------Cork------------ Punch-----------Davis------------Lallana ----------------Lambert-------------------- Bench: Kelv, Fox, Gaston, J-rod, Mayuka, Jos, JWP Think we should absorb their attack and press to tire them in first half, Gaston on for davis at 60, similar time J-rod on for lallana. Provided shaw doing ok leave him on, if we have the luxury mayuka on with 15mins to go. Prediction- 3-0 win, early goal then lots of pressure. They have one disallowed os. 2nd half goal then a last minute screamer from gaston to seal the win. Arry to tender his resignation at FT, Lens to cheer loudly from behind the snack bar (where he was de-briefing his catering team on another good performance).
I also find all the QPR to win opinions ridiculous. Just because they have to start winning, doesn't mean for a second they actually will. I mean, on what basis, in logic, is that opinion coming from..? QPR are not a very good team. They are a bunch of individuals and they are not in very good form. Saints are a pretty good team and although they are playing well, they aren't quite getting the results. OK, I see a tiny chink of light for the mystics there, but given that scenario, surely the logical opinion is that Saints will have enough to win because QPR are poor enough. Not the other way around.
It's not just his iffy-sounding performance vs Newcastle that makes me want to leave out Hooiveld, it is also the fact that in my mind QPR's main threat is Remy pace. Look at how QPR played on his debut - which was also an away game (vs West Ham). Very much a case of balls over the top, with Remy hanging on the last defender. If Jos starts, then Remy and Harry should have a brain cell between them to work out that it's Jos he should be hanging on. I would not back Jos in a foot race with Remy. Now ok granted, I don't think we play as a high a line as the West Ham defence were doing that day. But the danger (ie Remy's pace and various QPR midfielders being able to pick a pass) is still there. If we can keep Remy quiet, then the only other QPR threat that I can see is from set pieces. And that is as much because of our inability to defend them recently, as it is the likes of Samba and Zamora in the air.
A very good point about Hooiveld and one I hadn't considered. I would not be comfortable with Hooiveld playing against Remy.
Is no one concerned that Mauricio said Shaw was a doubt...and others. Which others? Headless chicken has nothing on me at the moment
