Isn't it ridiculous how one result can lift the mood of this board. The loss on Thursday was annoying because of the way we played, so today's win is great because of the way we played. Teams win and lose but how it happens matters to fans. Well done Claude, real managing! Like he's interested in my opinion!
Now that is utterly pathetic. Saints supporters have been keeping tabs on our youngsters and Josh Sims has been watched since he was about 2ft nothing, which wasn't that long ago actually [he's had a growth spurt in the last 2 years]. Amongst a lot of stand out youngsters, Josh has been knocking on the door. To be fair, I didn't realise he was quite ready, but it appears he is [been elsewhere today so didn't see the game]. There's no way that lad is going anywhere.
wow that is interesting on Josh. I expect Ward-Prowse to step to a great extend for the last 2 years. I know Koeman didn't play him well, but he is supposed to be the next Lampard. What do you think of him this season under Mini Arsene?
I think we all did and better than even the win was seeing Saints playing exciting, attacking football Who wants a bet that we'll be last om MotD though?
Just underlines what someone said/knew about Koeman having his best 11 and subs bench, and not really interested in the bigger picture at Saints regards the great youngsters coming through.
The issue with Prowsey will always be his lack of goals from open play. Today is a perfect example of that. His overall play has improved though and he's getting a bit more stuck in. He has a fantastic delivery from dead ball situations, too.
Ward-Prowse has been a slow burner. When he made his debut a few seasons ago he was good enough for Saints of then. Since then, the squad has got progressively stronger and sometimes James hasn't been able to keep pace with the improvement. But this season he has just started to up his progress, and he is a significantly better player to the one of last season. Still can't really shoot unless the ball is dead on the round, but that's his one genuine weakness, and lot's of players can't do that. And they don't have his excellent dead ball skills either.
As I have said many times before. We have a decent amount of young players I think can make it. Glad Puel actually gives them a chance to prove themselves.
To be fair to Ward Prowse, he may miss "easy" chances from open play, but he gets in those positions regularly (scored v West Ham etc) which is something we need from our midfield. Once his finishing improves, he'll definitely chip in with more goals. We already know how well he can strike a ball.
Prowsey , Sims and Pierre were my men of the match today, great energy and passing. That's a helluva young midfield, bodes well for the future with Hesketh and Reed too.
Slightly weird scenario, in that I think we deserved to win but also Everton deserved not to lose. If it was possible to take four points from a game, a 3-1 split would have been fair. Probably Cedric's best game for us, although he still comes behind Pierre (and, naturally, Virgil) in my MOTM stakes. And whilst JWP didn't cover himself in penalty box glory, he again has shown me that he should be ahead of Davis in the pecking order this season. Frustrating to again be missing chances, but it's loads better than not creating them in the first place. And of course the fact that we won the game anyway very much helps! Slightly surprised that Long didn't come on for Austin 10 minutes earlier.
