Davis Back At Southampton
By: Martin |
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Well, a bit more good news for the Saints as keeper Kelvin Davis is returning.
To read the full article on the Saints official website click here.
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Category: Saints Team NewsMarkus Liebherr Is My New Savior
By: Martin | 3 Comments
Thank God. The Saints finally have a new owner in 61 year-old Swiss national Markus Liebherr. Everything has already been approved by both the administration and the Football League. I’m so happy, this is such a great relief.
To read the story on the Saints official website click here.
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Category: Saints Team NewsKelvin Davis To West Ham
By: Martin | 1 Comment
Well, with the recent onslaught of transferring players goes veteran keeper Kelvin Davis to the Hammers.
You can read the whole article from BBC Sport here.
Category: Saints Team NewsThe Bright Side of Relegation
By: Martin | Add Comments
This is my first post for The Offside and I am looking forward to covering the Saints. I have been a Southampton supporter ever since I first watched Le Tissier work his magic when I was a kid.
And we have a lot to talk about. Read the rest of this entry »
Category: Saints Team NewsSo, how was the first half?
By: Mike | 1 Comment
Quite good… aside from the shambolic goal, unlucky injury, woeful finishing and slightly harsh sending off.
Category: Match ReportsSaints in urgent need of patience
By: Mike | Add Comments
Firstly, apologies for the lack of posts – holidays and all that! Before going away I was subjected to the Blackpool game, the less said about that the better. More promising was the Birmingham game; albeit against less motiviated opposition in a less important match.
There are 2 things currently lacking that could suddenly see Saints become a force in the division, rather than relegation candidates. Firstly some defensive stability and nous – frankly this seems less likely with each game so let’s forget that for now. What Saints could improve is their gameplan when dominating possession, which on the evidence of the season so far, will be most of the time.
Currently Saints seem a little to eager to make the killer pass – against Blackpool Schneiderlin was doing a painfully accurate impression of Steven Gerrard on a bad day with hollywood passes finding the crowd every other minute. Hopefully the manager will impress upon the team that by working the ball around with a decent level of movement and control they will eventually create better openings.
It’s 6 games in 16 days coming up and we need to take at least 9 points from the 5 league matches if we’re to move away from the relegation zone. All of the games, home and away, are tricky but winnable – if we show the form we showed against Derby rather than Blackpool.
Category: Saints Team NewsDerby 0 Saints 1
By: Mike | 2 Comments
Saints got their first points of the season with an impressive performance and victory against freefalling Derby. Adam Lallana got the goal and there would have been more but for some weak finishing and good goalkeeping. Derby were poor and their lack of pressing allowed Saint’s passing game to click on several occasions.
Despite Derby’s struggles an away victory in the league is always a very good result so credit to the players and staff for the result and performance. Whether Saints can maintain their form on the ball and alloy it to better defending (especially from set pieces) will determine whether we can achieve anything better than a relegation battle this season.
Category: Match ReportsSaints 1 Birmingham 2
By: Mike | 1 Comment
Match Summary
Whenever Saints start the season badly (and let’s face it, that’s always) I often fall back to the old cliche “It’s a marathon not a sprint”. Well, as Paula Radcliffe showed this morning, you can still come 23rd in a marathon – you just hurt for longer. It’s still far too early to say how Saints will do this season but already it feels like a pattern has been set.
Saints passed the ball well for the most part with far more movement off the ball and more chances created then we’ve seen for the last few seasons. However, as at Cardiff, you always felt the taller, more powerful and more experienced opposition would eventually win out. As the game wore on, Birmingham realised that they didn’t need to chase Saints in midfield they could just pack their defence and attack confident that our defence would crumble before theirs.
Losing to two of the better sides in the league is no cause for alarm in itself, especially as we could easily have got results in both games. However, most teams in the Championship plays the way Brum did in the second half yesterday and we are too lightweight both in attack and defence to deal with it. The sale of Andrew Davies to Stoke, as looks likely from Poortvliet’s comments today, will mean the loss of the one player in our squad who could have improved yesterday’s showing markedly.
Ratings
Kelvin Davis: 6 – Made some fine saves when left exposed but still doesn’t command his area the way a top keeper would.
Lloyd James: 7 – Needs to improve his defensive positioning and resist the temptation to hit it long but some of Saints best moments came from his roaming down the right to link up with McGoldrick.
Chris Perry: 6 – Not the centre-back expected to threaten from set pieces so goal was a bonus but overall the defence was shaky, in part due to Perry’s weakness in the air.
Michael Svensson: 6 – Was dominant first-half but still needs more games. Possibly overcompensating for Perry’s lack of height in trying to win everything and is then being caught out of position.
Andrew Surman: 5 – I’ve always felt Surman is a better centre-midfielder then left-winger and he’s even more out of position at left-back. Improved slightly as game wore on but too easily beaten in the air and on the deck.
Simon Gillet: 6 – Gave the ball away a few times but showed huge work-rate across the entire park. Perhaps he would be a better full-back option with Surman moving into midfield?
Morgan Schneiderlin: 6 – Looked very classy on the ball first-half but couldn’t get involved second half when Saints needed someone of his quality to move further forward and create chances.
Adam Lallana: 5 – Started well enough but didn’t create enough in the attacking midfield role.
David McGoldrick: 6 – Always gave Saints an out ball and showed some excellent touches but never looked likely to continue his scoring streak.
Lee Holmes: 5 – Similiar to Lallana, made stuff happen when given the chance first-half but simply couldn’t provide the centre-foward with enough support.
Stern John: 5 – Looked very rusty and really stuggled to hold the ball up which is where he excelled last season. Also missed a very good chance just before Birmingham’s equaliser which would probably have reversed the result.
Manager: 5 – Obviously hamstrung by the experienced players who’ve left and the side initially looked good but failed to react to a far better showing from Brum in the second half. Failed to give adequate reasoning behind the lack of bench options – even if you’re doubtful over one of your defenders you need some attacking options like Wright-Phillips or Dyer.
Birmingham: 7 – Look like a good championship side, big and strong at the back with a stupendous number of options up front. No guile or creativity but that won’t matter until/unless they get promoted.
Ref: 7 – Didn’t have any major decisions to make, didn’t break up the play too much and generally did ok. The rotund linesmen infront of the Itchen was a bit flag-happy to both sides though.
Man of the Match: Cameron Jerome – The enforced change were he came on for Nafti really benefited Birmingham as he provided a powerful and pacy threat down the flanks and middle. Benefited from Surman and James trying to get forward and being caught out at the back but looks like he could cause havoc amongst Championship defences this season.
Category: Match ReportsExeter 1 Saints 3
By: Mike | Add Comments
Saints progressed to the second round of the Carling Cup after a tough away tie against League Two Exeter. Frankly we were the worse team in the first half, despite taking the lead through a Lee Holmes goal, but improved in the second and two David McGoldrick goals sealed a home match against Birmingham in round two. Stern John made his first appearance of the season and acted as an improved focal point for the attack, it’ll be interesting to see if Poortvliet plays both John and McGoldrick up front against Birmingham in Saturday’s league game.
Category: Match Reports
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