Just to make it clear I pressed "dislike" for the content of the post not for the person that highlighted it!
Toby will be a miss, but I'd rather he was out for a few weeks than Morgan. Yoshida did quite well both times he came on and we've also got Gardos. But we need Morgan back desperately. We'd have got something last night if we had Morgan in the side and we had 11 men on the pitch for the full 90.
The biggest disappointment for me wasn't the result, but the current injury situation (can we use the C word?)... If we're going to drop in the league, I'd rather it was because we weren't up to it, rather than because we didn't get a shot at it with our first team.
I only hope we have a decent side to put out against Sheff Utd. They will be up for it like it's a cup final. We will need a decent team out for that. We can then get lads back for the semi-final in Jan/Feb.
Yep. Let us remember, while we may slide back to 8th - good cup performances can still qualify us for European competition. It'd be nice to have a trophy in the cabinet again, too.
This. Let us not forget that we aren't even halfway through the season yet, so many more games to be played and it isn't like our first team are gone forever. Plus once we get the united match out of the way, burnley, palace and everton are up next which is a great opportunity to some more points on the board in preparation from the fixtures of death mark 2. Who knows what the team situation will be like going into that.
As has been said, the substitutions were forced on him really. The only one I think was wrong was putting on Mayuka. I think at that point we should have been thinking about getting a point rather than going for the win. This is the third game in a row now where we have piled on the forwards rather than putting more into the midfield. You have to create the chances before you can score them.
Let's win that cup game and get what we can (injuries dependent) from the league games until we have a strong squad back again. If the worst case is we slip down the table a few places, then I am convinced that once all are back, we will storm on again in the new year and drive back up the table. I still believe we will finish top 6. We have just lost to City and Arsenal which is not a disaster and although the next few weeks look tough if all these injuries are more than just the next game or two, I am confident that come May, we will be looking back saying "what a great season; if only we'd had a bigger squad to get through December" On the December fixture issue (Ron mentioned this too) I noticed when the fixtures first came out that we were due to play 3 league games in August/Sept and October, with 6 league games in December; it is mad and maybe time the league started to look at this.
It's great to see that so many posts are so positive, despite the result and having watched the game, I feel that Saints put on a great performance with plenty of character and determination. It was noticeable that it was the Gunners supporters reminding the ref re the final whistle, because they knew, we could have had one more attack and a goal in open play or a potential penalty in the making, even with 10 men. Re the subs used, whilst not impressed with either Mayuka or Mane, I feel that RK is getting to a position where he will know for certain what is going to happen in January. He knows, like most of the fair minded people watching the game, that a point was ours for the taking and even when down to ten, his subs should have provided sufficient cover to hold on to the point. Also it seemed that every time Arsenal went wide down the right we were giving them too much time and space; that's where the goal came from eventually. I reckon that the main objective now is to ensure all key players are able to fully recover and that even if (as likely more now than before yesterday) we see a point slippage, there are games the other side of Christmas that we will take points from, at will, with all players fit again and supported by a stronger bench when needed. As I have said before, RK always gives me confidence and only takes decisions fully merited by the circumstances facing him. Yoshida has had his critics but I felt he was quick and decisive. Davis was more effective than many have credited him with being and the back line immense. Until Toby went off, I could not see Arsenal getting through and if they did, well Forster, MOM by a country mile presented them with a brick wall across his posts. Lots to be optimistic about!!
Nice video, apart from the awful music, but what happened to the full-length save on the floor in the first half?
One thing that has damaged our progress are the International breaks, each time it has cost us our momentum and damaged some of our players.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/03/southampton-comfortable-skin-arsenal A complimentary piece about Saints from the Guardian.
Agree, FLT! Madness to have 6 games in one month and only 3 in others! Guess it's all about TV money is it? What are they going to do if Qatar goes ahead in November/December? Suspend everything and play 6 games September, October, Jan and Feb? Anyway, if, at the beginning of the season, someone had said to me that we would be 3rd or 4th in early December I'd have bitten their hand off (I'm like that - Rottweiler like sometimes!) We'll be fine, we always knew we wouldn't finish above Chelski and ****ty, but we can fight for anything between 3rd and 6th and I'll take that!!
