Match Day Thread Southampton v Arsenal Saturday 26 December ko 7:45 pm

If Shane Long was a consistently good finisher he'd be a hell of a player. Hopefully we can use the Long/Mane option more often when Pelle needs a rest.

 

I think that the decisive factor was playing in a 4-4-2 formation. They couldn't cope with pace and work rate of Mane and Long.

Give Cuco a bloody medal!

 

More or less hilarious than the four or five week Saints bedwetting session on here, though?

 

Wow what to say about that?! Pretty drunk so not read anything else but a few points for me....

- Mane back to his best tonight absolutely terrified Arsenal they had 3/4 players round him at times

- Cuco... what a ****ing hit son! The angle from behind the ball shows the swerve n how true he it. Best individual goal by a Saints player for quite some time imo. Also thought he defended well against a very good side...

- On the subject of defending I think that's the best we've defended this season. Not just talking about back 4 but as a team; we were first to every second ball n just seemed like we wanted it more which is what us fans want to see

- I dont normally agree with managers criticising players though sometimes it needs to be done. So I think Ron deserves his kudos, he got a hell of a ****ing reaction tonight!

Last of all Merry Christmas, what a result for us and I love all of you ****ers on here!

Up the ****jg Saints

P.S. I havent proog read this n pretty drunk so alologies for any spelling mistakes, you'll just have to try wprk it out

 

Oh and for a general (non Saints bias) point of view this shows exactly why Arsenal won't win the league

 

That's where those good performances over the last five games went! Always very good players, just lacking confidence and belief. Big team games like football are always challenging when there are so many interdependent mentalities. COYR

 

Another cracking photo.

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Jeez, ur drunk! I couldn't write that well sober! Well done. Friggin result to nite mate!

 

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Haven't watched MOTD yet (saving it for later this morning) but it was good to see the players finally turn up and do what we all know they can. Clasie was great for the 60 minutes he was on - put himself about and never stopped. Vic was finally the player we saw last season and everyone played so well.
I think that Ron had told the guys that they couldn't hsve Xmas dinner until they won and they responded. You could see the confidence coming back after Cuco's wonder strike.
Fair play to them and shame on the "supporters" who criticised everyone over the last few weeks.
One point - interesting that Ron felt he could leave Gaston on the bench even though we were winning so well. Perhaps he is stubborn after all ?

Now we need to continue the run and get a point at West Ham. The players will be exhausted - we need to allow for that

 

Some comments around the web saying that was a fluke (BBC for a start). No way was that a fluke, he meant that, you can just tell...

 

Impressive performance. Liked the 'bite' the players showed; not advocating dirty play but the intensity they showed; Clasie at one point 'toe to toe' with Flamini spoke volumes about how they wanted this one badly. Long gave 'as good as he got' and maybe a little more... but it was the old Saints we saw last night. Pace and precision in passing and chasing down lost causes. Playing Long and Mane in behind Arsenal was more than they could stand. Its an option we seemed to have been forced into with the Pelle injury. TBH, some of us have been advocating a change in the attacking lineup and now Long has the opportunity to make his case.

The crowds appreciation when Mane came off was excellent and he seemed genuinely appreciative of it. The crowd seemed in excellent voice too - well done you all that lent your voices. Must have been a huge boost to the players and hopefully sets them up for WHU.

Missed the first 20 mins as I had a nap before kick-off (23.45 kick off here) and the wife had to wake me from a heavy sleep: turned on the TV to see the opening goal; sat there still half asleep and not sure if I was awake at all; especially when the showed the goal sorcerer. I swear 2-3 mins later I was still asking myself if I was awake!

 

I love the predictive text that turned goal scorer to goal sorcerer in Romsey Saints post....I agree, he was a goal sorcerer

 

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20151227-gallery-southampton-4-0-arsenal-2869897.aspx

The gallery from last night's match. Haven't been able to look at one for weeks....enjoying this one.

 

Cuco admits that that was the best goal he has ever scored.

 

Funny thing is that when I saw the team my first reaction was that Ron had given this game up; the best he was hoping for was a 0-0 and that the 'big guns' would be back for the West Ham game. Just shows what I know.

What a match. I don't want to get too carried away though because , bizarrely, that was the worst defence I've seen this season. No team should be so constantly caught out by the same up and over pass. Fair play to our midfielders though for reading the wind and putting it in the right spot time and time again. For all that, those passes were made to look good by Long who chased everything and seemed to outpace everyone too. For all Pelle's strengths we could not have played in that manner with him. It would have been the high ball down the middle and I suspect the Arse centre backs would have played him out of the game.

And then along comes Tadic and we go up another notch, we could easily have had 5 or 6 in the end. You can see why Arse want Wanyama!

All in all a great way to round of Christmas.

 

We've been pedestrian to say the least this season at times - the defeats, of course, but the Villa game scared me as much as any. Defenders hate pacy players who run at them. And bloody hell did Sadio and Shane give us that? Message to midfield seems to be to not prat about, hit the channels. Looked a different team last night. I can even tolerate listening to Reds fans boasting about their "great win" against Leicester today!