The Gaffer confirmed at his press conference today that Ayite, who was pretty anonymous on Tuesday night before coming off after half-an-hour, is out with a thigh injury. Kalas apparently had a touch of flu and Mcdonald 'a knock' for that game although both made the bench, and I assume are available. We can probably forget to remember the drubbing Southampton gave us in the friendly during the International break earlier in the season; they fielded a strong side and Jokanovic a makeshift team to give people game time. What's sure about Saturday is that Pellegrino, without a win in ten games, will put out his strongest possible team. For himself, Jokanovic has a reputation for respecting the FA Cup. Add to that the importance of maintaining momentum, the fact that there's a week of recovery time before heading to Middlesbrough and I'd expect him to do likewise. Nonetheless, he's still got a few dilemmas. Fredericks and Ojo just don't seem to get on with one another. At centre back, Kalas isn't as strong as last season but Odoi, while composed and with a great leap for a wee man, is vulnerable in that position. Piazon brings an aura of solidity. He finds spaces. his quick passes create chances and he must be in contention to start. And how could Kamara possibly be dropped after the last two outings? Yet there's a gut feeling that Fonte could be the more productive of the two against Premiership opposition. Going out on a limb with the goalie (there's some sort of unwritten tradition to play the second string man in cup games) but fairly okay with the others to start - ..............................Button............... ..Fredericks.....Kalas.......Ream....Sessegnon... ............................McDonald...... ................Cairney..........Johansen.... ......Kebano..........Kamara.......Piazon... PS Crossing my fingers about young Sess.
I'm thinking also that Southampton will put out a strong team as another defeat will get the fans backs up even more and it sounds like there will be 4,000 away fans or more at the game. If we can get an early goal or two their manager will have the crowd against him. So I hope Slavisa takes it seriously. The above line-up looks good, but Jokanovic might give a few others a work out. Let's hope he is not trying to make a point about the quality of our squad by wanting to lose this game, that for me would be a negative against him.
The man in the middle today is Michael Oliver. please log in to view this image The powers that be must be expecting fireworks to have appointed the high profile Oliver. Obviously we haven't seen him for some time, so two snippets to jog the memory. Remember the penalty not given when Danny Murphy was brought down late on in the game we lost 1-0 at Old Trafford? The young Oliver denied Jol's claim that he had bottled it. Or the time he sent Sparky off for kicking a water bottle in our 1-1 draw with Wolves? Hughes complained and Oliver was banished to the Championship for a while. For the record, in 22 games so far this season, Oliver has handed out 85 yellow cards, 5 reds and has awarded 7 penalties.
Ah well, that wasn't very good while it lasted. The impression around me was that the team the Gaffer selected just didn't believe they could win and this filtered throughout the crowd giving a really flat atmosphere. Cairney not in the squad didn't help either. Jokanovic told BBC London after the game that he and Bettinelli were injured. Yet other reporters say he told them they had been rested. Take your choice but no question Tom was missed. Norwood and Johansen worked hard but the passing by both was awful. Overall we were .. pedestrian. Fair play, when we dropped to three at the back and Norwood went to defensive-mid in place of McDonald, there was an improvement. But no threat. How the heck can we go the whole game, with getting on for 60% possession, and only have 7 shots at goal !? Indeed that was where the fan's groans, moans and apathy mainly came from. Only 1 of those was a shot on target to boot and only 1 forward (Piazon) had a shot !!! Oh, by the way Jack Grimmer got the winning goal for Coventry to knock out Stoke.
I said it before I think Norwood slows our game down and his passing is poor, not a fan of him and McDonald in the same team. Today's game our passing was poor. Thought the substitutions were wrong, strange and in reverse order that they should have been made. Not the confidence boosting game I thought it might have been.
I'm really struggling to pick a man of the match for that incredibly frustrating 90 minutes. Just about everyone had their good moments, but just about everyone fell short on more than one occasion as well. Inspired by Shane Long's workrate, Southampton made us pay for overdoing the negative possession-based backwards passing and once again we were failing to make our good approach play (when it happened) count. I disagree, SuperBri, about Norwood. His passing was erratic today, the worst I've seen from him, but I still think he's one of the more forward-looking midfielders when picking a pass. I made a point of watching him today specifically with the 'slows things down' criticism in mind, and I genuinely can't see that he's any worse than anyone else on that count. He hit one superb long distance cross-field pass to Sessegnon in the first half; he also made a handful of other passes that were every bit as bad as that one was good, but others (Fredericks and Ojo, for example) were just as guilty of inconsistency today. What do we need? More purpose to our possession, more focus on playing forward and getting shots away early once we've carved out a chance. And a new centre-forward, left back and goalkeeper along with the Kalas who played last season, not the inferior doppelganger who has taken his place. Man of the Match? It probably goes to the only player who enhanced his status as a result of that performance: Tom Cairney.
Hey Fulham fans! Enjoyed my trip to your ground today, it is nice to go to a friendly game where everyone has a chat before and afterwards, like I remember from our League One and Championship days. Thought that Saints played OK but Fulham never really troubled us. Was your team lacking many first teamers or do you feel that the Southampton just had a little bit more quality today?
Your lot seemed to be playing well within themselves, Wizard. Loved the banter Ryan Bertrand had with the fans in the second half. That wasn't our strongest team - no Tom Cairney - but close. Those that were out there didn't trouble you simply 'cos to a man they were shot shy!
Haha, what did Bertrand say/gesture? I have always liked Cairney as a player, good luck for the rest of the season, where do you think that you will finish?
