Match Reports
Manchester City Home
Mayday has different attractions for different groups of people, for example the Morris Dancers seen performing on my way to the station, or the Saints fans at the Civic Centre celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Cup win. This Mayday was also matchday, thanks to the TV schedules that upset the Manchester City management […]
Aston Villa Away
In a week when Aston Villa lost two players to internal discipline and two board members to a row with the Chairman, would they also lose a tenth consecutive match? The signs were there from the start that Southampton would not play their traditional role of fall guy in these situations as it took nearly […]
Everton Away
Southampton’s own web site, no less, reminded everyone of the club’s woeful record at Goodson Park: two wins in thirty two attempts, and most of the thirty that got away were defeats, including a couple of embarrassingly heavy ones. Ronald Koeman is only responsible for one of the losses, but the latest game at Everton […]
Newcastle Home
Davis was unavailable for the home game with Newcastle and with no obvious like-for-like replacement beyond Tadić, who was likely to play anyway, that meant a choice between a more attacking or more defensive midfield: manager Koeman chose the former with Long playing in front of a back four. It soon proved to be an […]
Leicester Away
Manager Koeman seems to have fallen into a couple of defensive systems, one at home and one away. So it was that the five at the back ploy was chosen to take on Leicester, and they were needed to keep the league leaders at bay in the opening exchanges. Saints survived thanks largely to the […]
Liverpool Home Won 3 – 2
Obviously Ronnie had to restore Fonte to his starting line-up after suspension, but Saints were otherwise unchanged to face Liverpool. This rare selection stability might have produced early results when Long outpaced Lovren only to collapse under a challenge from behind when well-placed to either shoot or pass to an unmarked Pellè – a clear […]
Stoke Away
I can’t say for certain when Saints last had to cope with two players suspended for sending off offences, but I suspect you’d have to go back to the days of Osgood and Williams and the aftermath of a notorious match at Ewood Park. This year, though, Ronnie had to go to Stoke without the […]
Oh When The Sankts – St. Pauli V Eintracht Braunschweig
With hardly any top level games postponed these days and F.A. Cup dates kept free, it’s rare to have a midweek league fixture. It always was rare on the continent, including in Germany where such an event is known as ein Englischer Woche – an English week. However, the Bundesligas had a midweek round when […]
Sunderland Home
Injuries to Austin and Long sustained at Bournemouth made it almost inevitable that the strike force of Tadić, Mané and Pellè would start against Sunderland, and after all they had contributed to the eight goals scored in last year’s equivalent fixture. Martina also got an unexpected start in a back four, and with other players […]
Bournemouth Away
All change again in the Southampton team chosen to face Bournemouth in the near-derby, with the headline tweaks being a return for Yoshida and a place for Mané alongside Austin and Long. The home team don’t have the depth of squad for such niceties, but they served up what was always expected of them with […]
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