please log in to view this image Wednesday 9th February 7.45pm Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Feels like a long time since our last league game, doesn't it? No injury news yet, but we seemed to get through the Brighton game unscathed. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Tanganga, Dier, Sanchez, Davies; Doherty, Winks, Hojbjerg, Sessegnon; Kane, Bergwijn. Subs: Gollini, Royal, Rodon, Reguilon, Skipp, White, Gil, Moura, Scarlett. League form: DWDWWL. Southampton: Forster; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud; Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, S. Armstrong; Adams, Broja. Subs: Caballero, Valery, Lyanco, Stephens, Diallo, Walcott, Elyounoussi, A. Armstrong, Long. League form: DWDLWD. Ref: David Coote. VAR: John Brooks. TV: BT Sport 3. How would you like to line up for this one?
How many of our goals will be ruled out in this match? I'm going to say only one this time. Sounds like a joke, but when you know that the refs and VAR will be going into overdrive to get ManU that last CL place it isn't so funny. Oh, and as the first contributor to the thread apparently I have to say "Paul Stewart". (Though it probably isn't relevant.)
If I were Conte my mindset would be to select the strongest possible starting XI and go out to get the result done and dusted by 60 mins, so that the two new boys can have a good 30 min PL baptism. My reasoning is that although Citeh is the biggie this month in terms of PL games, the game before may not be easy as Wolves are currently on a good recent run of PL form. Therefore the squad needs everyone up to speed ASAP.
5 games in 17 days with the last 3 on the road AC will need to rotate the squad , strongest teams starting the games sounds obvious but AC has made some strange choices in cup games , let's hope the new lads resolve some of the problems and we can keep a lid on injuries, forwards (kane) the main worry unresolved in the Jan window
Saints fan here. No doubt we caught a break in the reverse fixture at St Mary's but we've had our fair share of bad luck so it all evens itself out in the end. I'm making the trip to North London and looking forward to what should be a good game. Broja is unlikely to start as he picked up a knock against Coventry on Saturday and Lyanco is out for 2-3 months but he's not our first choice CB anyway. Livramento may not be risked as he played 90 mins on Saturday after several weeks out. My guess is we'll line up with: Forster KWP Bednarek Salisu Perraud JWP Romeu S. Armstrong Elyounoussi Adams Redmond Hopefully Salisu will play like he did in his last game when he kept Man City at bay almost single handedly and NOT play like he did last time we played you!
I think we’ll likely play a similar XI as the Brighton one, possibly the two new boys coming in for Winks and Lucas but they still may need another game or so from the bench whilst adjusting. If Dier’s fit he may come in for someone at the back, possibly Romero as he may not want to be rushed into starting too many games in quick succession. In the coming games though I’d imagine there’ll be random bits of rotation to ease fatigue. Sess and Doherty will get a start or two. We’ve basically got 4 first choice CBs fighting for three spots, with Rodon and Tanganga in reserve. The four CMs will likely find themselves in and out of the XI at times. Likewise the four supporting forwards to Kane, with the possibility of going Kane off in games if we have a nice lead, albeit that’s doubtful and we’ll just wait for him to get an injury then moan we don’t have a second striker…
Don't take it personally , but I hate this idea that it evens itself out. No it doesn't and it can't , as teams play each other only twice and whereas you might be unlucky in one decision and lucky in another, that doesn't translate into evenness among teams over a season.
Conte’s confirmed Dier, Skipp and Tanganga still out. Skipp our for about 10 days to 2 weeks… bollocks.
It clearly does not even itself out and you as a Southampton supporter should see that with your team getting the ****ty end of the stick many times that I have seen and I don't watch Soton that much. City & Chelsea are IMO allowed to get away with a lot when their players bring the opposition down and feign injury themselves. Then there are the United & Liverpool penalties! I'm not sure if the refs are bent, stupid or scared but either way I don't think it evens out.
I disagree, we've had our share of luck against bigger teams this season. Against you and against City when we could have conceded a pen. The simple fact is Mike Riley is really ****ing it up in charge, particularly with VAR. Referees aren't getting clear leadership from the top and it's showing. No referee is bent and they're not stupid. It's the same with referees as it is with players - you get a good manager and and you perform better.
You sound like a referee, why else would you categorically say that no referees are bent? We can't know that can we? You may well be right about leadership of refs because they have changed the goal posts on VAR a number of times BUT maybe it's just Spurs we have had 4 perfectly good goals ruled out recently against Chelsea and the number of times we have had the short straw playing United is almost too many to count. Other posters on this board can give you chapter and verse but I am not sure incompetency covers it.
With your problem aren't you supposed to follow that statement up with something like: I am a referee But I haven't refereed a match in 12 months
Ever since Mark "look at me everyone" Clattenburg openly admitted to reffing a game (Spurs v Chelsea) along the lines of a pre-ordained narrative, I cannot take seriously any suggestion that refs aren't massively open to being influenced toward a certain bias, even if that bias is usually small.
Untrue. He : 1. lost control of the game by the first quarter 2. spent the rest of the game making decisions contrary to the letter and the spirit of the game in an attempt to dig himself out of the hole he made for himself 3. concocted a narrative POST-MATCH in an attempt to deflect from the 90 min sh*t show he had presided over If the PGMOL had correctly punished him publicly for 1 and 2, there would never have been a 3.
He should never have been given the game in the first place. He should never have been given any game in the first place, but this one in particular. Getting him to ref a player who had accused him of racism was just stupid. That he had to have Ferguson dig him out of that hole just made it worse. His financial issues got him banned from the game for a year. He was in charge of one of the most openly rigged matches in European football history. He was not fit for purpose. Those that picked him were not fit for purpose.
