Match Day Thread Southampton vs Vitesse 30/07/2015 8.05pm KO

Well yes of course I know it's a squad-game these days, but at the same time it is important to know your strongest, most in-form starting eleven, for those games when anything less won't suffice.

And I wasn't suggesting it to be a choice between Pelle and Long. I don't think Long should be our no.9. That should be between Pelle or J-Rod.

Something like...

Long - Tadic - Mane
------- J-Rod --------

So much pace!!!

 

Mane in the hole. He's the main man these days.

 

Yes ok Fran, don't over do it, or we'll have Tom waxing lyrical next

 

Re. Pelle; we all know his limitations,but that grgreat larruping rocket of a shot absolves him from all criticism concerning last night's game. I won't hear one word said against him today.

 

Mane on the wing. Everybody sing.

 

too late.

I get your sentiment, which is why I keep saying I love the fella... he just does my nut in. For us to progress, he needs to progress.

 

I thought the referee let too much go. There's letting the game flow and then there's taking the piss with it.

Pelle has to be the centre forward imo, and I don't expect any rotation there until he needs resting. The best players were Yoshida, Wanyama, Mane, Long for me. Clasie was by far and away the weakest of the night. Let's hope he improves fast.

 

I was watching Ron's reaction, he seemed quite surprised that it actually went in!

 

I think 32,000 people, including Pelle, were surprised it went in!

 

OK so while everyone else is handing out summaries i might as well throw my tuppence into the mix on a few points.

Stekkers: Looked good when called upon and good distribution. I dont expect any of the miracle saves that we got from Boruc but i also don't foresee any of the calamities we got from Boruc. So far he looks like a solid keeper and an authoritative presence in the back.

Maya: Looked great and I would be more then happy to have him as a regular starting CB. The one thing I notice is whenever he is targeted by the opposition as a weakness he seems to respond fantastically. He's capable of the odd clanger but when he's actually being targeted he seems impervious in his resilience.

Cedric: Nathaniel who???? Seriously, despite having the look of someone who should be on some sort of registrar he was fantastic last night. Great first touch, great movement and solid defensively..looks like the next unearthed gem.

Vic: Immense..that is all

Clasie: Wasn't great, but i wont hold anything against him. He's been at one club for 15 years so I imagine it will take some adjusting. I just hope he's not seriously injured

Mane: Fantastic. He will be the difference for us in many games this season (barring injury.) He's so agile and nimble that he can change the outcome of a game based purely on his inventiveness and creativity.

Juanmi: I like him. He's got good vision and a cool head as displayed by the third goal. He had barely touched the ball at that point but when the ball rebounded to him he unselfishly improvised the best possible outcome for the team.

I wont comment on the rest but overall there weren't any glaring weak spots so I'm pretty happy atm.

PS: Also good work by the ref. No cock-ups and allowed the game to flow freely...well done.

 

Getting back to Dorset was a bit of a ball bag last night due to roadworks & road closures & so on - but no matter, as our wonderful 3-0 result cushioned that blow by some considerable margin.

Big Vic was MOTM for me - just solid as a rock throughout; was hugely impressed with Maya too - he really has come on leaps and bounds as a player.

I really do love how Shane Long chases everything as well - he seems to not believe in the concept of an unwinnable ball.

 

Owls have special feathers to help them fly silently as they hunt....I like to think that Shane is our own stealth footballer.

 

Good summary..

 

Been thinking over the game today and I thought the ref deserved a comment. He let the game flow last night, ignored theatrics and actually allowed sliding tackles unlike so many refs who seem to believe football should be a non-contact sport.

 

not you as well Romsey... Fran has already started a ref love in.... Tom is going to struggle to cope. Refs getting credit and Clarkson, May and Hammond back doing a TV show.

 

Excellent game - start of term atmosphere helped as well.

Only one fly in the ointment. Game declared to be a sell-out. Poor old grandmother being turned away at the ticket window when she tried to buy one - I think she said she'd travelled by train with grandson to see the match. Deeply upset.

Then inside the ground, a few hefty areas in the Itchen with empty seats. A minimum of a couple of hundred in chunks that I could see. Attendance 30,800. What's going on there?

Vin

 

Yep, the ref was good.

I feared (rightly or wrongly) when they said he was a young Spanish referee, that we'd have a stop-start encounter littered with cautions and maybe a red card or two. I was wrong. He handled it very well.

 

They said there were tickets for the restaurants (can't remember what they call that)...could those spaces be for those.

 

Of the 1,500 (or whatever it is) tickets for the away tie, 600 have been given to staff of the football club. I guess there must have been something similar going on with the home tie. Maybe some of those given tickets couldn't be arsed to attend.

 

Just found out the result and got all the emotions in one go. Nervesargghhhhyeahhhhwooooo amaze balls. Bet it was amazing to be there.