Well I had a decent run last season before our pre-season clash with Palace put an end to it so I'll try and get us up and running again. We take on Chelsea so pressure is off really. Well it would be if we hadn't lost our last 6 league games. I would take a point right now. No KWP for Saints so Stephens will most likely fill in at RB. Abraham went off injured against Newcastle so he's a doubt for them.
Well no one could have anything to moan about on here if I did. I think the match summary would be something like: Southampton 6-0 Chelsea Ings pen 8, pen 22, pen 45, pen 60, pen 72, pen 88 Giroud sent off 1
I'm trying to work out if Abraham being injured is good or bad. It will probably mean Giroud starts and he always scores against us. BUT he's always scored coming off the bench. His impact off the bench has been insane against pretty much everyone.
As you say, a game against Chelsea would normally be a pressure off game and if we get anything from it its a bonus. However having lost 6 in a row, we could really do with coming away with something. Even just a point to finally get to 30 points (and to stop the losing run) would feel like a weight lifted and take the growing pressure off of Ralph and the team. The positive thing is for the first time in what seems like a long time we have no midweek game and so the players get a bit of a breather and maybe even more importantly Ralph has time to work with the team. KWP being out seems to really unbalance us, but again at least Ralph will have time to work on that.
I like this, I like this. We're cunningly countering our run of bad luck with refs and VAR, by using a ref to do our match thread. IT'S GENIUS. Why didn't we think of this before? I'd absolutely take a draw on this one, and I worry if Werner has remembered how to score. But it would be so very Saints to regain our own form against a side in good form. COYR!
Stephens playing RB bothers me but it won't nearly as much if we actually adapt the system to suit his capabilities, even without a major change of shape. He cannot fulfill the role of a fullback in our system, and I'm not even talking about with the ball. I would like to see him playing mostly in line with the CBs when in our base shape. With the ball we can move some responsibility of width to JWP. We will be hamstrung massively but less so than we were against Newcastle. It will undermine our press which is essentially focused on setting a trap on opposing fullbacks with our own, but so be it. Needs must. Ralph is in no hot water nor on thin ice or any such metaphor with me, but adaptability is the next thing he must prove - to become as good a manager as he could be. The mystical 'Plan B' that almost every manager is accused of lacking is an incredibly difficult thing to summon in the middle of matches, with so much in flux and and so much in the dark hands of luck and momentum and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At times managers are as helpless as we all are. But given time to prepare there is no excuse for sending a team out without the answers they need. So I hope Ralph finds his answers.
Not confident ahead of this one, KWP will be a big miss. As people have said, can't expect to take much off Chelsea but we kind of need to. I do worry what a big loss here would do to an already fragile squad.
Good ref for this one. Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Simon Hooper. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton.
Anthony Taylor is one of better Officials, a bit "old school" but normally doesn't want to be the centre of attention.
It almost seems that with all of the games in such a short period of time we have lost the ability to press which is a massive part of our game. I have a Liverpool supporting mate who said that MiniMetro is a really good signing for us. He did say however that he needs to be played in the right position which is playing off the main striker and not as a winger. His exact words when I asked him were: ‘In between the lines I think, no 10 really but can be wider. But not a winger’. I’d really like to see if this is true instead of seeing a player who hasn’t scored for 14 months playing alongside Ings...