striker

Kane was pretty much running free in the box. At the end all he had to do was get above Gabbi to head it in.

All that own goal did was wake Spurs up

Did Gabbi miss that?

Can't blame him really, the way he's been pushed down. He just doesn't get enough time under MP, especially now that Long is ahead of him. https://talksport.com/football/transfer-report-southampton-striker-manolo-gabbiadini-target-italian-club-bologna

No Gabbi, Yoshida, Lemina, or Boufal. Yoshida is not even in the squad. Not that it matters really, but my starting lineu would have at least 5 different starters.

I'd like to see 2 upfront also, but I think it will be just Long. I'm really not onboard with Long over Gabbi, but its clear MP likes Long much better.

Yep, I need to find someone. I don't want to be stuck rooting for Redmond after all

I watched the match and I actually felt good for VVD when he scored the header, good for him. I have no ill will. He also got a 9 grading by some reports I read.

Teams aren't just going to give us players, they are going to negotiate to get the best deal. They likely know we are desperate.

Uh oh, then we're screwed.

I'm going to go way out on the limb here and predict a 0-0 tie. 18 more 0-0 ties and we stay up!

If we play 0-0 every match I think we can tie our way to 16th. Gabbi for Long, for me.

That looks like a nice team [sarcasm off]. I guess we are looking ahead to CP already.

I'd sell my girlfriend to Liverpool for £75M, I'd even throw in the dog.

Sad truth is that this season, like last season, Austin will likely only play 1/2 the year but end up being our top scorer. If he lasted a full season he'd score 15-20 goals.

Exactly. It's not luck that surprisingly happens when Austin plays instead of Long or Gabbi. He creates the chances that the others don't. Everytime he comes on we suddenly look dangerous. The players know this.

Thats a little harsh. In addition to Everton and WHU, he did put us ahead vs Bournemouth, Arsenal, and Huddersfield. We just didn't hold on. He's also leading the team in goals with 6, and by a margin. I'm not saying he's Kane, but he is a serviceable, starting PL striker. I also have seen no indication that Gabbi is as good, and if you have to create a whole strategy to get Gabbi going thats not ideal either. Austin did come into MP's formation, with all its issues, and succeed. Gabbi did not.

Well at least Austin made it two weeks longer than last season. Something like December 23rd vs December 11th.

I don't believe for a second it was intentional. It should have been a card and was a big thing, but its also a product of playing aggressively. I would rather see our strikers attacking the ball than laying back. I have no issue with this.

They are saying 2-3 weeks for Austin from what I have heard

We can sit here and say if Austin made that goal, etc., but the real problem is we are too dependent on Austin to score goals. To Puels credit he said this last season. If Austin scores 1 we score 1, if he scores a brace then the team gets 2. We are hanging on every Austin shot, and I get the feeling the team is too. Austin creates a bunch of shots and scores his share of goals off of them, but MP needed to do something to get more shots from others. Whether that means different players on the pitch like Boufal, or a different formation like 2 or 3 up, its his call. MP has not done that, and now Austin is out for a few weeks so MP is really screwed.

Terrible draw, needed to get 2 points. Austin should have made it 2-1 for the brace. Then again he did score and he does create chances, so I can't get too down on him. However now that he's out for a while where will the goals come from? Tadic and Redmond were very poor. Yes Redmond had that one nice run, but the rest was crap. Tadic's best play is faking and falling down, but the ref's seem to be on to him now and ignore it. Boufal, especially with Austin out, needs to play every match

There are 4 matches between now and Jan 6th. Austin will likely miss all of them.

Roaming free in the box

Tadic and Redmond.