Match Day Thread Southampton v Cardiff - Saturday 9th Feb 15:00 pm

Time to build some league momentum, here's hoping for a good run !

Kick off: Saturday 9th February 15:00 pm
Location: Saint Mary's
Officials (thanks SaintDon): Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistants: Stephen Child, Harry Lennard
Fourth official: Tim Robinson

Southampton:

Team news: Maya Yoshida will return from Asian Cup duties and will be pushing for a recall along with Højbjerg, while Ryan Bertrand may finally be available for selection. Danny Ings is a big doubt for the game and could be replaced by Shane Long or Charlie Austin. Mario Lemina and Obafemi are still out.

Win probability: 54 %
Top scorer: Danny Ings (8)
Games since a clean sheet: 4
Games since a Saints home win: 1
Current position: 16th
League form: DWWDD

Cardiff:

Team news: Steve Morrison is out. Cardiff are likely to name an unchanged side from that which beat Bournemouth 2-0.

Win probability: 20 %
Top scorer: Callum Paterson and Bobby Reid (both 4)
Games since a clean sheet: 0
Games since a Cardiff away win: 4
Games since a Cardiff away defeat: 0
Current position: 18th
League form: LDLLW

Outlook: Ten games and 63 days after a dismal defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium left Southampton in 19th position with only nine points from 16 games there has been a complete turn around of fortunes for the south coast club. The defeat left the Saints in a nadir position with the solitary goal of the game coming from a defensive error, as newly appointed coach Ralph Hasenhüttl helplessly watched on. Since that game Southampton have been on an upward trajectory taking 15 points from the ensuing nine games climbing out of the relegation zone and currently on a five game unbeaten run. The rejuvination of The Saints can be solely attributed to the coaching and energy breathed into the club by coach Hasenhüttl. His revitalisation of the Club has seen players transformed and youth players given their chance. It is testament to his ability that most of the players that started that fateful game 63 days ago will be on show once more.

Meanwhile, the 1-0 victory on the 8th December took Cardiff to the elated heights of 14th place, however since then they have gradually slipped back into the relegation dogfight with a winless January and a chaotically tragic transfer window following the disappearance of newly signed striker Emiliano Sala five days after joining The Blue Birds for a club record fee.

Cardiff have only managed five points and a solitary win on the road in twelve games this season and sit in 19th position in the away form table, while Southampton also sit in 19th position in the home form stats yet will be confident following their unbeaten streak and three games at home since a defeat. Prediction 2-1

 

All things considered it might be a good idea to win this game.

 

We are going to ****ing smash them .........probably

 

This will be a good measure of our progress. Woeful in the away fixture - as were Cardiff, have we improved enough to get the better of them. Redmond as a False nine for this? Do we have a striker worth fielding?

 

Four points ahead or two points ahead, this was always a must win game, hopefully it won’t take long to get over the injury time penalty.

 

Put this here, rather than the Burnley thread, because we need to get some positives to take into the Cardiff game. Annoys me how sometimes the video doesn't come with the quote...Ralph was saying that after a few days we will realise that we got 2 points against tough opponents rather than dwell on what we lost.

 

McCarthy
Bednarek-Yoshie-Vestergaard
Vallery - PEH - Romeu- Berty/Targett
JWP - Redmond
Someone (if Ings not fit)

 

Gunn;
Valery, Bednerak, Vestergaard, Bertrand;
Romeu;
JWP, Pierre, Armstrong, Redmond;
Austin.

 

It's close to being a must-win for us, and a must-not-lose for them. But we're not quite there yet. Particularly in Cardiff's case, because they're currently in the middle of a very nice run. Starting with yesterday, until they take on Chelsea on 31 March, their most difficult game is arguably Wolves away on 2 March. (Although they do need to take advantage of such fixtures, because they then have a hell-ish end of the season, starting with that Chelsea game.)

As I said before the game yesterday, draws against Palace and Burnley are good draws is coupled with a win against Cardiff. But without a win against Cardiff, they just become wasted games. As we saw last season under MP, draws help to keep the points ticking over, but they're never going to pull you clear of danger. I'd rather we were ticking over with these draws, with another three or four points already on the board. And beating Cardiff and Fulham would put us in that position (in addition to the important fact that we'd be beating the exact two sides who we need to ensure don't catch us).

Cardiff will come looking for a point, and won't be interested in keeping possession. Pressing them won't generally be an available tactic for us. It might be a very rare game where I'm happy to see us revert to a back four, mainly in order to get Armstrong in playing behind the strikers.

 

So far our results under Ralph have been good...especially as midfielders have started to score...for the first time for ages we can have some confidence going into a game. The drawback is that our immediate 'rivals' are also getting points...we could have done with a win against Palace or Burnley....though I admit that is greedy as I doubt anyone expected us to beat Leicester and Everton. Would have been better to draw those games and beat Palace and Burnley.....but that isn't our choice.

Losing to Cardiff could drop us into the relegation zone again...now I know we are capable of climbing out again, but I'd rather not be in that position. For God's (and Fran's) sake, get some space between us and the bottom three Saints!!

 

If anyone's brave enough to look up the table - we're only 10 points off 8th! The only problem with finishing 8th is we'd have to sell Redmond and PEH and find a new manager (so I'd be happier with 14th)

 

Yep important thing as we are above the line is not to lose to those immediately around us. Draws not ideal, but better than gifting them 3 points and us none

 

Things wouldn't look quite so tight right now if we hadn't gone and lost to Cardiff and Fulham already this season! Doh. Need to make sure that doesn't happen again. Ideally by beating them, but I'm also confident we'll pick up some more unexpected points this season in the games against the clubs in the top half.

 

Have we gone a bit early on the match thread?

 

It’s too late now, Pandora has opened the box!

 

why? are Saints planning a friendly before the Cardiff game?

 

Only 1 win from 13th, it's a crazy season...

 

“I knew a girl called Pandora once. I never saw her box though.”

Any guesses?

 

was her surname May?

 

Not really crazy, been like this the last few seasons. It’s what happens when the top 6 are so dominant and everyone else is pretty even