Match Day Thread Manchester United vs Southampton 11.01.2015

I... I... I agree, I think. Well at least I can actually see it happening BUT only if we're not subject to bad luck ie, excessive injuries. A few injuries are inevitable of course but maybe keeping a healthy bench, the odd bit of luck here and there - my god who knows, we could even snatch 3rd in a tight race and be drawn against Barca before the summer's out!

Hang on, I just need to sit down again.

But at least there are huge factors not down to just luck, and it's everything Koeman keeps mentioning post match - ability, belief, organisation. It's those things that truly make me think "Why the hell not?".

 

Nigel used to say don't get too high when we win, and don't get too down when we lose. I listened to this.

Well sod that, Nigel was wrong

BLOODY GET IN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We were screaming at the TV when we saw RVP slam the ball into the ref in anger and we were amazed that Dowd, who was hapless throughout the game simply took the abuse. No wonder players are loosing all respect for refs when they don't respond to abuse because it's a big name player playng for a big name team.
If a rugby player had done this he would have been straight off and suspended for months.
Bet this never gets into the media

 

Safe from relegation in January has a nice ring to it.

 

What the heck is going on lads and lasses. I go away on New Years eve and the saints become 6 points better off before I can get back home. Maybe I should stay away then? All donations to achieve this will be most welcome

 

Oh and well done the lads a first rate performance!!

 

Danny Murphy on talkSport is trying to sell all our players again!
Snipers too good for us, Clyne is the best English RB, Ryan B is proving he can play for a bigger club than us, same for Toby A, Pelle is a great target man that a lot of the big clubs could do with......on and on. Then having encouraged the dismantling of our squad (again) says I hope they can hang onto some of their players
Scouse b****rd!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Its weird. Its like the players somehow exist outside of the team. How can they be too good for the team that they actually are?

Everyone is still seeing us as usurpers and not the real deal. I used to like this as it meant that we were always being underestimated but if it results in our team being dismantled again I will be mightily miffed. Its impossible for the players not to be aware of these comments and, despite what happened to last season's abscontees, have their heads' turned.

What would be nice for once is to hear that 'so and so' is the perfect player for Southampton in their push for the title, or some such codswallop.

 

This is unbelieveable!
I'm looking at the fixture list and I find myself thinking, "the first game that looks un-winnable is away to Chelsea in March, and the second is he last game of the season at Man City..."
Everything else looks winnable. We've got Liverpool, Spurs & West Ham at home, so definitely wonnable. Maybe Everton away will ba tough if they push on the great performance they showed on saturday...

 

We are not in the market for the massive names, yet we find great players at the next level who can play for us (sometimes even finding them at 9 years of age). We are showing what can be achieved if you accrue suitable players for your style, then train them in that style. I think we are inspirational to other teams...there is another way to build a team. Saints in the past were rag, tag and bobtail...a few good players and some okay players...now we are a real team.

You can't buy a couple of our players and be Southampton. I think we are at the level now when players will want to come and, whisper it quietly, will want to stay. Not every player will want to move at the first opportunity as some seem to think.

 

I know there was another thread about the poor standards of refereeing in the Premier League, so I won't go on TOO much, but Dowd (who, I mistakenly thought, is one of the most experienced refs in the PL) was utterly appalling yesterday. As you said DL, Van Persie should have gone off, Pelle was clattered every time he got the ball, there were numerous incidences of fouls against Saints players which weren't given and he was so biased to Manure that it was a joke. WHEN is FIFA or the FA going to give referees the tools to actually bring these players down to earth? (rhetorical question - I know the answer ....never).
I played rugby for so many years and, whether you like it or not, you don't give the ref verbals (although, sadly to say, it appears to be creeping in) and it should be the same in football.
VP is a nasty piece of work - very happy if things are going his way, but sly digs, kicks and petulant outbursts - I would have loved to have seen him red carded last night.

 

Anyone know anything about Toby? I hope we're not going to be without him for an extended period. Looked like a hamstring, which could be a long time, couldn't it?

 

Probably a few weeks.

 

Walked into uni this morning, people commented on how happy I seemed.

Found out the session had been cancelled, so just walked home. Still chuffed and nothing right now is bringing me down.

 

Just seen Tadic on Sky screaming 'Too strong, too strong' at the camera as he came off. He was right for most of the game, but Mata had chances at the end...I was worried even after the match finished. Also when Tadic couldn't find his shirt, Gary Neville said that he wouldn't put him on....glad Ron's the manager

What are the odds that Tadic's shirt is offered in a competition?

 

I think he might have given it away. I'm sure he walked off bare-chested again at the end.

 

Morning View on Sky intend to ask if Saints are title contenders!!! I'm delighted it is being asked, but my answer is not THIS year.

 

Absolutely right Fran, and the reason you can't become Southampton by buying our players is that the Academy boys from the tiny tots upwards are all schooled in the same system. As we have seen, you can fit new players into that system given the right coaching (thanks be to Ron almighty) but take them elsewhere and they become headless chickens. Watching Luke Shaw yesterday, he hasn't improved one iota from last season, whereas I bet if he had stayed he would be genuinely world class by now.

 

Listened to last night's 606 in bed this morning, and during the last few minutes there were a couple of Saints fans. The second one was given a few seconds to say how happy he was about the performance, and that was considered enough before the programme signed off. The first one was disgruntled because he anticipated the headlines today would be all about ManU's poor performance. Plus he cited the London media and even the BBC [I think he really meant TV football media in general] as having a big club bias and a lack of respect for SFC. Both perfectly sound points of view backed up by empirical evidence. His views were met by the radio version of scratched backs of heads, bewildered looks and the mumbled well we don't.

It's a shame the chap left it this late in this particular season to cite his opinion because this is probably the first weekend that I have seen Southampton FC being taken properly seriously by the national written media, when it comes to performance and aspirations, if not the TV media.

Footballorgin did their usual full match replay, but they also included SKY's post match analysis on a separate file:

http://www.footballorgin.com/2015/01/manchester-united-v-southampton.html

Throughout the match, co-commentator Gary Neville was practically gushing over Saints overall performance, and particularly their defensive organisation. So it came as a bit of a shock to me and I suspect, presenter and Saints fan Ed Chamberlain, that after also praising Saints in post-match analysis he gave us no chance of finishing in the top 4. The truth is, is that he can't contemplate it happening. That's his own big club bias kicking in. Jamie Carragher was more obvious about it. After Chamberlain had reminded him that he'd given Saints 'no chance', earlier in the season, to which he admitted he was wrong, but said he was rarely wrong, he then almost gleefully [he was grinning at Chamberlain] said that although Saints had a chance, they wouldn't finish in the top 4, and that the players would go to other clubs at the end of the season. This wasn't so much of a prediction as a desire for it to happen.

The glass ceiling, which Saints are pushing at so hard the cracks are beginning to show, is driven by the biggest clubs, and consciously and subconsciously being peddled by the TV media and the pundits. It takes a lot to have Liverpool and ManU rivals Carragher and Neville to actually agree with each other on almost anything. Generally, they will find some difference. But, on Saints, they closed ranks like a well organised army. I happen to think we've got their opinion on the retreat.

 

After we scored, United had a good 10 minute period where they created two good chances for Mata trough Blind's crosses. Koeman reacted by introducing Reed in 80th minute, to close Blind down. And from that moment on, United had no idea how to break our defense, and just hoofed the ball from deep to Fellaini, which was dealt easily by Gardos and Fonte.

Just shows how easily Koeman outsmarted Van Genial.