Match Reports
Watford Home Drew 1 – 1
Saints were without the injured Bertrand for the season’s opener against Watford, but other significant names were also missing: Wanyama, Pellè and Mané (all sold) plus Fonte (sitting on the bench, more likely pending contract conclusions than as a result of Euro 2016 over-exertion). Joining Jose on the sidelines were Clasie and Højbjerg, kept out […]
Pre Season Holland
Ronald Koeman’s legacy to the 2016/17 season was an American and Dutch pre-season, with the transatlantic element played behind closed doors. It wasn’t much better for the opening game – against Eredivisie club PEC Zwolle, but played up country with visiting fans clearly not welcome at a non-league ground. Stay away messages were never going […]
End of Season Summary by Eric Shadick
After his team failed to beat Everton, Ronald Koeman said that they would need to win their last four games to secure European qualification. Mission accomplished, even if Manchester City had their minds more on Madrid, Crystal Palace theirs more on the F.A. Cup, it was a good time to play Spurs and there’s never […]
Crystal Palace Home Won 4 – 1
You don’t have to have been around too long before the Liebherr era to remember last day of the season dramas that always involved a desire to maintain the status quo rather than progress. However, Saints had a Europa League place to play for as they faced Crystal Palace with an almost unchanged side – […]
Spurs Away
Spurs lost their discipline as well as their outside chance of the title when playing Chelsea, with the outcome being that Dembele joined Alli on the FA’s naughty step, ruling him out of the Saints game. Tadić shot wide and Forster saved well in the opening exchanges, but the Southampton stopper was badly at fault […]
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 […]
Become a Member
Become a member of London Saints from as little as £6.