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

It is because it's a Saints player they are saying it was a fluke .......but if Rooney had done that SSN would be showing it every 3 minutes and the media in general would be lording him up.

 

That was my first game of the season last night.

It was reasonably enjoyable, I guess.

 

Can you go to every game from now on please?

 

If Martina had another hundred attempts he wouldn't be able to hit it like that again. But on this one occasion it came off; we were overdue a bit of luck and he's entitled to bask in the glory. Besides which, he showed he can play a bit without losing his positional awareness; both fullbacks finally got a bit of cover from the players in front of them though.

 

Well, just watched MOTM and am a bit disappointed that they didn't show more of what was our performance of the season. I'd urge anyone who didn't go to the game to watch the highlights on Saints TV to see the best of us (as well as the inept refereeing and general officiating)
How Koscielny didn't get booked for the body check on Mane I'll never know and the ref decided early on to book Long and try to stop him playing the way he can.
Now - to be contentious .....
It was easy to pick our best players, I'm going to pick the ones I thought were our worst -
Stekkers - didn't look particularly comfortable when put under pressure. Luckily he wasn't too much.
Cuco - great goal aside, he was caught napping a few times - Walcott had a free header from a corner and just before that Arsenal had another.
Mane - I know this will be unpopular, but he had the ability to go missing too often. However, in his defence, he was often crowded out but apart from that pass for Long's goal, he didn't get the ball through well enough.
Notwithstanding though - the whole team played with passion and confidence. At last. They need to pick it up again versus West Ham. Not an easy ask after such a high.
I expect Ron to make a few changes again to give some of the players a break. Whether Long can keep running again like that will be interesting. Can Clasie and Davis keep the midfield ticking and which big Vic will turn up?
I'd be happy with a clean sheet and whatever we can get.
Great performance and well done the crowd for getting behind them so well!

 

One conundrum, why did Bertie suddenly start taking corners, especially with JWP on the pitch and why has he not done so before?

 

Cos he whips them in from the right and Tadic wasn't on the pitch. JWP would be hitting an out-swinger from there. Bertie hit a good one from that side against Spuds but Jose didn't get his head on it like he did last night!!

 

Still trying to come to terms with this result.
Such a good all round performance from every player involved.
The silly mistakes, that have cost us goals in recent games, were eliminated, although there were two free headers from set pieces. When in doubt players were content to hit the ball into the crowd and regroup, with fewer attempted clearances, whilst off balance, being scuffed to Arsenal players to launch quick counters.
Even the substitutions were made at the right time, with each sub bringing something positive to the party.
My favourite, non football, moment of the game?
Clasie refusing to leave the pitch on the Kingsland side, despite the ref telling him several times to go off that way. He even stopped the trainers from going off that way by just pointing at the dug out and killing time, as he slowly walked off. Assuming the ref added 30 seconds for each substitution, I was surprised the ref only added 4 minutes at the end, as Clasie alone wasted 2-3 minutes in that one moment.
This, I think, is an example of Ron trying to kill off that "we're too nice" jibe he made at the team. We were so much more professional in the way we stopped Arsenal from playing, and killing time in general.
Buzzing.

 

I've just noticed Jose celebrates before it's even in the net!!!

 

Still to see it but delighted Clasie seems to have won some doubters over. You know we were saying it was a confidence issue and we needed a goal off someone's arse? Well turns out all we actually needed was a Cuco missile.

Now to keep that good buzz going for Monday.

 

Just a few thoughts, when you think how many minutes of pitch action Martina has had, he is never going to be up to speed, and thrown in at the deep end he did well enough. Mane was playing a different role than usual, he went missing? Well Arsenal lost him a couple of times. SD was perpetual motion and must be totally knackered, some will criticise JWP, but his best work was off the ball and mostly went unnoticed. I would expect some changes because West Ham are a different kind of team. Some of our most dangerous forward play came from Stecs delivery, the wind and bounce giving Shane opportunities to hassle and break. No Pelle to produce the knock downs so the strategy had to change, and for once it worked.

 

Mind you, after that, you lot are probably clubbing together for a one-way ticket to Sweden for me.

 

Wife? FLT have you been drinking already

 

Oh to get inside footballers heads! The team worked so hard and therefore revealed their talent.
Victor rediscovers tackling, looked so strong, played forwards when he could and briefly became a winger late on, Clasie showed a little of how good he might be, defending was excellent, any mistakes getting cover from elsewhere, Shane had a reason to run and run he did, Davo marshalled the midfield in the 2nd half and was everywhere. Great Team performance. Great captain's performance from Jose.

Question is, where does Grazziano fit into this? He makes us too static up front, Ron doesn't play 4-4-2 and Shane can't play this way unless he's No9.

 

35% possession and win 4-0.

Wow.

 

How good are we all feeling today? Boy did we need and deserve that. I sense that Martina has cemented some sort of cult hero status even though I predict him to only match Benali's career goals record. We needed something like that - an unexpected wonder goal to give us a lift and a platform to get a great result. I genuinely have no idea how we will perform next up but no matter what, yesterday proved that we are all in this together with the same aim. It was a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium - best I can remember for ages. All of our players bar none were superb. Let's leave the melt downs to Chelsea, Man U etc.

 

I'm sorry, but you can not abuse such powers as I possess. Therefore I will only turn up during our darkest hours of need. The boys must learn to survive and prosper on their own. But fear not, for I will always be watching from afar, my friend.

 

I think this season's Premiership has proved that what you do when you have the ball is more important than just having the ball.
We looked so well organised when they had the ball and transitioned to attack so well when we won it back.

West Ham have a lot of injuries, can we play like that again?

 

Actually, the only reason the ref allowed that was because Clasie pointed out that he was being substituted, not just going off to come back on again. Still, I hate to ruin a good story

 

I went to Sweden recently, where did you go? Stockholm is nice.