Southampton v Sunderland St Mary's Stadium 24th August, 3pm kick off Saints face Sunderland in their first home match of the season, looking to make it 6 points out of 6. Lovren and Wanyama will make their home debuts, while Osvaldo will surely make his full debut. Sunderland come to St Mary's on the back of a 1-0 home loss against Fulham. Match Officials Referee: Lee Mason Asisstants: A Halliday, S Long Fourth Official: S Hooper Team news Saints manager Pochettino has decisions to make, with Osvaldo, Ramirez, Yoshida, Clyne pushing for a start. Can see Clyne and Yoshida returning for Chambers and Fonte, Osvaldo and Ramirez not so sure about. Sunderland may make several changes as Di Canio was not impressed with his team's finishing against Fulham! However they do have some good players, like Giaccherini, Johnson and Sessegnon. Fletcher is still out injured. Last time out West Brom 0-1 Southampton A last minute Rickie Lambert penalty gave Saints a deserved win at the Hawthorns. Saints also had a Lallana goal wrongly ruled out for offside. Sunderland 0-1 Fulham Sunderland were the better side but were punished for failing to take their chances and for poor defending from a corner. They left Kasami totally unmarked and he headed in the winning goal. My prediction for the match is a 3-0 win for Saints, with Lambert, Rodriguez and Osvaldo scoring the goals. I think we'll have far too much for Sunderland.
I'm so excited that I have got that strange knotted feeling in my stomach, it's only Wednesday! Why am I excited? No, not the game...I'm going to get to meet the real FLT!!! Oh...hold on...on reflection it's definitely the game I'm excited for.
------------Boruc Clyne--Yoshida--Lovren--Shaw ---Schneiderlin-Wanyama Gaston---Lambert---Lallana ----------Osvaldo Hope we play our best possible team. Think we will tear them apart and win 2-0/2-1 using a similar team to what started aginst west brom. Lallana and JWP to score. I can't see Sunderland creating much against us perhaps a lapse in concentration will let a goal in but I think defensive mistakes have decreased substantially under pochettino.
Everyone seems pretty sure Clyne will return but Chambers had a good game against Wesy Brom. I suppose the big question is does MP start with lambert and Depp upfront?
Chambers had a good game, but I think Clyne's game is more rounded. Pochettino's comments about protecting Chambers as he is young sounded like it was preparing the path for Clyne coming back in. You're right though, the big question is does Osvaldo start? Who knows, I'll be refreshing my twitter at 14:00 Saturday though!
Not ready to be brought back down to earth yet after what has been a very exciting couple of weeks. I'm going for a narrow 2-1 win.
Yet again a Saints youngster has come on leaps and bounds. Hopefully there's a space on the bench for either, probably Chambers is the best bet there, with Clyne starting. If he's ready, of course.
------------Boruc Clyne--Yoshida--Lovren--Shaw ----Wanyama--Schneiderlin Isgrove--Ward-Prowse--Lallana ----------Lambert Sunderland's defence is awful shaky. Let's give another young lad a debut. Osvaldo and Ramirez to come off the bench at some point.
That line-up looks decent. It also leaves us with the potential to introduce Chambers, Cork, S. Davis, Gaston, Rodriguez and Osvaldo outfield. Improvement.
Ward-prowse cant play as an attacking midfielder maybe in the defensive steve davis style but i would prefer davis for that and isgrove has done nothing to deserve being considered. Its good to see ward-prowse will be pushing davis for selection for this game but davis is the more talented footballer. Both are no where near the quality of lambert or gaston and i would prefer to see us play our best footballers
3-1 Saints. Ward-Prowse, Rodriguez and Ramirez. ================Boruc================ ==Clyne=====Fonte=======Lovren=====Shaw== =======Schneiderlin======Wanyama========= ===Ward-Prowse====Lambert======Ramirez===== ===============Osvaldo================ Subs: Davis, Chambers, Yoshida, Cork, Davis, Lallana, Rodriguez
Really? I think he's a very intelligent footballer. Can spot a pass in the final third, good running and work-rate and a good crosser too.
His floating crosses were too easy to defend. The two times i can remember him passing forwards in the final 3rd on saturday was when he lofted it to lallana against 2 much taller defenders and when he passed to lambert who received it at the byeline near the corner flag. His set pieces were sonetimes good and he put in one decent cross from deep. Not to mention the very good protection he gave chambers but i cant recall an instance other than sunderland away that he passed to a man in a dangerous position. And i would stress that that assist was a simple cross not a pass indicative of creativity. Against west brom was his best game and i would have to say that he showed intelligence in the way he positioned himself and kept possession but he hasnt demonstrated attacking threat yet
Fair enough, I would say. I thought he looked capable of being dangerous. He hit that rasping shot early doors, and played a couple of really neat passes into the feet of Lambert. I certainly think he has more technical ability than Steven Davis. I think Ward-Prowse is, and will continue to be, the better footballer of the two. The way I see Davis is, he gets stuck in and recycles possession. That's about it. Next season I'd be looking at moving him on most likely.
