Hello all and welcome back to another match day thread by Saintsfcfan. Well things are starting to look rosy once more after a fantastic 1-0 against the snake followed up by a cracking 2-0 win at the Emirates to send Saints into a two-legged semi-final showdown with the defectors. Saints will be on cloud nine after reaching the semi-finals whilst Palace are 2016's worst performing side in the top four leagues of English football. Points to a home win doesn't it. This is arguably the least important of our upcoming games, with a must win or must 0-0 draw game against Hapeol on Thursday coming up. Nevertheless Puel will rotate once more and we can expect to see a solid side line up against Palace. Palace have lost six games in a row and Pardew faces the chop if he doesn't turn things around pronto. Their last outing saw a drab affair at the Liberty, where only 9 goals were scored in a 5-4 last minute defeat to Swansea. Seriously chaps the premier league is about excitement, not this dross. Saints vs Palace is surely one that anything other than 3 points would be disappointing. My line-up Forster Cedric Fonte VVD McQueen (save RB for Thursday) Hojbjerg Romeu Davis Sims Austin Redmond Boufal on the bench. Prediction: it's Saints so we will huff and puff and eventually get a 3-1 victory. Austin, Redmond and VVd to score. COYR!!!!!!!
Saturday 3 December Crystal Palace v Southampton Referee: Neil Swarbrick Assistants: S Ledger, M Wilkes Fourth official: P Tierney
I said that about Hull but we must have learned our lesson there. No mercy! Guarenteed 3 points, like Hull. We must have learnt our lesson there. Any team can turn up. No slip ups please.
If we carry on playing and winning like we have recently, we'll lose our underdog status, and other teams will start to prepare for us, rather than assuming that "It's only Saints, they've lost all of their best players, haven't they?", before being outthought by Claude, and outplayed by academy graduates. I'm not complaining, but I do enjoy the shocked surprise from other teams' fans who realise, too late, that we can play football here in the far south
I'd certainly play JWP for this. Palace have been awful defending set pieces recently. I'd probably give Virgil a rest too.
Mentioned in the PL thread Pardew is reckoned to get a £5 million payoff if sacked. He's done well with this payoff stuff really.
Claude doesn't do weak teams, he combines a strong core of players with youth well, so that's why we don't see strong one match, weak the next, then strong again. We have strong, slightly less strong, strong. Expect a good team against Palace, and a good team against Beer.
In real terms the Hapoel match is far more important than our two-legged affair in the New Year with Liverpool, as things stand. That might change come 1000pm on Thursday. Back to the game here. Strongest team and 3 points as Southampton have a very busy schedule now and the NY, that might last all the way to May (fingers crossed) with two games a week, FA Cup, FA Cup replays, two-legged EL knockout match (hopefully), plus the usual diet of PL matches. And throw in another daft International break in the spring!!
Great for the fans to have the games come round thick and fast. There isn't long to wait whether we want to push on after a win or recover after a loss.
Call me old-fashioned, but I would guess the players prefer lots of games as well. Virgil seemed as fresh as a daisy at the final whistle last night, and he has hardly missed a game. Yes, if you get a knock you need time to recover, but a fully fit player needs to play football.
They might be in a poor form of late, but they're not a bad team, there are some quality player out there. In front of the home crowd, trying their best to turn their fortunes around - I reckon it's going to be a difficult match for us.
Forster, Cedric, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Davis, Sims, Boufal, Austin. Bench: McCarthy, Yoshida, McQueen, Clasie, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Long. 3-1 Saints!
What's up with Targett...the usual hamstring? Whatever happened to metatarsals....no one got them anymore or are they out of fashion.
Isn't that worrying? We usually lose the games we are confident about. However Fonte will want to score....he seems to have a bet on with Bertrand.
