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What amazes me about Shaw is his deceptive pace - he goes past players, yet looks like he is jogging. And difficult to knock of the ball - can`t believe he`s only 17.
He has a loose dribbling style compared to the others so he moves just as quickly with the ball than without it. Rodriguez is similar
I wouldn't bet on it. I'd expect the U21 players to be on the bench, I'd be very surprised if any of them started.
If Shaw is out then I'd like to see Targett given a shot (although I've been wanting him to be given a go for a while now), although wouldn't be surprised to see us throw Yoshida out there or some such since we are playing Stoke.
Would be great to see young Mr Targett and would be a boost to the youth team players to see yet another youngster get promoted into the first team. It will also encourage talented youngsters to come to Saints Academy knowing that if they are good enough that they will get a chance of getting into the first team unlike the "big clubs" where the best they can hope for is being leant out to second rate clubs.
It is really somewhat of an important game as we could move up quite a few spots in the standings, and that would positively impact the club's finances and ability to attract transfers. But I just can't get worked up over it. I'm just happy to watch a game for once without the spectre of relegation hanging over it. So I'm going to enjoy the relaxing feeling. I mean, I probably should care but I got nothing left. Fortunately for the team, it doesn't matter whether I care or not. I suspect Pochettino will have them out there fighting to win, and if so they should. I'll predict 3-1 Saints. I just hope no one gets hurt playing against Stoke's thug football tactics. But even then, it's a relief that we are playing Stoke now as maybe they will relax a bit and if someone does get hurt they will have time to recover.
I thought Matt Targett was tiny, he looks bigger than Shaw and Clyne in the training pictures, hope he gets a run out as I think he will be to it if any of the recent academy players are anything to go by. I feel we will beat Stoke regardless of how many academy prospects we include.
I would have thought if Shaw was a doubt then they would stick Clyne at LB, Fonte and Hooiveld at CB with Yoshida at RB. Will be nice to see some of the U21's get a run out too.
There's the video of the players arriving at Sunderland and they are walking down some stairs [1 minute in], and Luke Shaw has his arm around the shoulder of a teammate who I don't recognise, off-hand, so it's obviously an U21 laddie, but Luke is bloody enormous in comparison. Here it is: [video=youtube;Z3VNNMKbPxI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3VNNMKbPxI[/video]
