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Everything posted by aussiesaint20
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Like a drink? Love the Saints? You may be able to help..
aussiesaint20 replied to aussiesaint20's topic in The Saints
No need to rush in all at once... Kenya and Thailand have now been added as well as extra venues in Spain and the USA. -
I'm on a mission to compile an ultimate GlobalSFC list of Southampton friendly pubs around the world. Off to a good start, however, I need the assistance of our SaintsWeb community to really make this list shine. Seeking suggestions from those that have travelled mid-season and watched the Saints abroad, to those currently based outside the U.K. I'd even be happy to add pubs around England(outside of Southampton), as the idea is to connect Saints fans who aren't able to get to the ground every week. Anyway, here's the list: #GlobalSFC venues Currently have Southampton pubs/bars listed in Australia, Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Spain and the US of A.
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Young Saints fan and journalism student - Paddy Mustafa
aussiesaint20 replied to aussiesaint20's topic in The Saints
ARTICLE #2 from OZ - as published on our Aussie SaintsFC Facebook page. Pochettino Shows His Class As the 90 minutes drew to a close at Craven Cottage, two mangers; the England manager alongside the Southampton boss, were smiling. The other was resigned to defeat. The game had not gone according to Rene Meulensteen’s plan; it was not what he had envisioned the night before. Roy Hodgson would have been impressed again, while Mauricio Pochettino stood proud of his player’s performance. It is true that his starting eleven was not his best; however there was still an abundance of class on the field. Darren Bent is a proven Premier League striker; Scott Parker, Steve Sidwell and Damien Duff are all players with a wealth of Premier League experience. Combined with the solidarity of Brede Hangeland and the energy of Lewis Hotlby, this team allowed Fulham fans to be quietly confident of a first Premier League home win since the start of the New Year. The first half would have encouraged the home support, with only Artur Boruc preventing Fulham taking a first half lead. Saints on the other hand, dominated possession in the middle of the park yet could not find the killer ball through, something Saints fans are far too used to. Victor Wanyama, a surprise inclusion for many, looked off the pace and sloppy with cheap turn overs. It wasn’t clicking for Southampton, so what changed? Well, most would point to the substitution of Jack Cork for Wanyama and would be right to do so, but the tactical tweaks from the manager made all the difference as Southampton ran away easy winners. To begin with, Jack Cork began controlling the midfield by himself, allowing Morgan Schniederlin to provide an extra body forward (note the bicycle attempt). The next tactical tweak was the formation of the front 4, Jay Rodriguez played in his favoured number 9 role, with Lambert dropping into a modern day number 10 position. Adam Lallana and Steven Davis flanked Lambert either side with continuous interchange. This structural change allowed Southampton to apply more pressure on the hosts, nicking the ball back quicker and finding spaces in between the defensive lines of Fulham. All three goals were created through pressuring Fulham to give the ball away, combined with swift counter attacks and some wonderful passing. Each goal had a distinct home-bred English feel to them (enjoy that, Roy?). The build-up to this game was all about the Meulensteen era at Fulham; however, Pochettino took all the plaudits with his tactical changes winning Southampton the game. More games like this for the Argentine and Real Madrid’s interest will continue to grow. So onto Stoke, a team Southampton have yet to beat since returning to the Premier League. They are certainly a different team under Mark Hughes rather than the long ball tactics of Tony Pulis, so what can Southampton expect? While the long balls have disappeared to an extent, Stoke’s physicality has not changed, just watch the way they out muscled Manchester United last week. The ball is played on the floor, with players such as Marko Arnautovic and Oussama Assaidi (both scored famous winning goals against Man United and Chelsea respectively), alongside new signing Peter Odemwingie providing the width. Former Saint Peter Crouch will again lead the line for the Potters with two goal hero Charlie Adam playing in behind. Pochettino will have to choose between Jack Cork and Victor Wanyama to start alongside Schniederlin, with the former most likely to start. Calum Chambers will be assessed after limping off at Craven Cottage, with a very impressive Nathaniel Clyne in line to start due to his absence. Sam Gallagher will be unavailable due to personal reasons (my condolences Sam), other than that Southampton will line up the same; the game coming too soon for the returning Dejan Lovren and Gaston Ramirez. With poor weather expected, Southampton needs to remain patient; keep the ball on the deck and hustle Stoke without the ball. The deeper we can push Stoke, the harder it will be for them to get out and up the pitch. Beware the returning Crouch; it’s no coincidence that players score against old clubs. Expect Nathaniel Clyne and Luke Shaw to have solid games, with the previously mentioned Stoke wingers not strong defensively. This could be one of those games were a single goal wins, a free kick from Lambert, something special from Lallana even. Let’s hope it is Southampton’s day, with a great chance to move above Newcastle as they play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Patrick Marshall Mustafa P.S Thanks for all the support SAS, it really does mean a great deal and it gives me the confidence to keep writing. All comments I have taken into consideration, positive, negative and neutral comments. Please keep them coming, even if they are negative! More articles coming soon! -
Young Saints fan and journalism student - Paddy Mustafa
aussiesaint20 replied to aussiesaint20's topic in The Saints
In relation to the opening people have mentioned above: "Apologies in advance, this article was originally going to be called “Dani Osvaldo: The Conundrum”, but after watching the Gaffer’s press conference last night, I was reminded what an amazing club Southampton truly is." The 'article' was originally meant to appear just on our Aussie Saints Facebook page. So I probably should have removed the explanation/intro before posting his work on here as it was more an informal explanation of the topic choice, rather than an actual introduction. Thanks again for all the feedback -
Young Saints fan and journalism student - Paddy Mustafa
aussiesaint20 replied to aussiesaint20's topic in The Saints
Thanks for the feedback! A great way for Paddy to learn and improve. As for the name, I can confirm it's all real. Some of us get lucky in the name pool - others don't. Richard Head for example. Anyway, I'll be sure to post up his next article when written. -
Young Saints fan and journalism student - Paddy Mustafa
aussiesaint20 replied to aussiesaint20's topic in The Saints
Thanks for the feedback! This is exactly the sort of thing we're after. I'll make sure Paddy jumps on here to have a look at all the comments - both positive and negative. Any other advise for an aspiring sports journo? I'm assuming having a presence on Twitter would be one.. -
Hi guys, one of our younger fans, who attends almost all of our 2am kick-offs has just started studying as a sports journalist in Melbourne. He plans to compile weekly articles related to Southampton and he/we would appreciate any feedback - both positive and negative that can help him improve in his chosen field. The following is copied from our Facebook page, where the online article was first published - if you, the esteemed readers of SaintsWeb are happy, I'll use this thread to feature and source feedback future articles. Thanks in advance for your help! The more Saints fans we can get into high media circles, the less sh*te we have to put up with. ****SAS JOURNO**** The following article was written by 18 year old Melbourne based Saints fan, Paddy Mustafa. Paddy is In his first year of a sports journalism course and will be writing guest articles for our social media pages and website. Feel free to share his work if you like the content and/or leave a comment to discuss what's written or offer feedback. Thanks SAS! The Beauty of Southampton Apologies in advance, this article was originally going to be called “Dani Osvaldo: The Conundrum”, but after watching the Gaffer’s press conference last night, I was reminded what an amazing club Southampton truly is. To begin a quick re-cap over the last month, Cortese resigned; crisis at Southampton (media). Katharina Libherr takes over and scares us all, yet provides us with joy following her public commitment to the Club, new temporary chairman; all is well at Southampton (media). This is then followed by a training fight, loss of players due to suspension and injuries; crisis at Southampton (media). Finally, all is combined with some solid performances as well as some frustrating ones. It is fairly safe to say that January was not part of Mopo’s plan, yet somehow as Southampton supporters, we are not even surprised. I was extremely interested in the Gaffers press conference last night because of all the speculation of transfer rumours. It was clear to see from Pochettinos responses’, that Dani Osvaldo is likely to go, joining Danny Fox, Tadanari Lee and Aaron Martin. To put this in perspective, it’s about 20 million Euros heading out, with nothing coming in. I was beginning to worry, but Poch seemed remarkably cool, calm and collected about the situation. At least three players of that four were on the Premier League list, leaving us three players short compared to other teams. Then, out of the blue, Poch revealed a perfect hand, 4 aces, and a move which blew the poker table right open. To quote the man himself, when asked what players he was looking for, he smiled, and simply replied “they are already here”. It was at this point that I remembered why we all love Southampton; the ability to bring young players through the Academy and get them playing first team football. Poch explained that Sam Gallagher will now be getting regular runs; Matt Taggart will step into the Senior Squad, with two others accompanying him. What club could boast such an Academy, that a 15 million world class striker (debatable for some I know) could be replaced by an 18 year old whom the rest of the Premier League have not heard of? Southampton, that’s who. I don’t feel the need to list our past stars from the Academy, but perhaps present a message to the Southampton supporters who feel we need signings. Every club could use star signings; we are no different. However, to be able to use our Academy to generate quality footballers who can play in the Premier League and be successful, is a wonderful gift that no other club has access to in England. I’m sure you’ll all agree that it’s so exciting to see what the future holds for our talented youngsters as we continue to build as a Club. And hey, perhaps with more youngsters, we can save money for transfers…as long as we spend it on the right players. Patrick Marshall Mustafa
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Much appreciated Tim! For those that want to see them and many more, just head to Global SaintsFC If you've got any images or content from your time supporting Southampton from abroad, feel free to add them on. We've recently had a picture in from a Saints fan living in Saudi Arabia. There's also a list of individual supporter groups under the 'Notes' section. From Kenya to Australia through to Dubai. Also working on a list of Southampton friendly pubs around the world - so if you know of any, let me know!
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Thought it might be a good exercise for SaintsWeb posters to quickly mention where you live(if it's outside the UK). Would be great to see just how far and wide our support reaches these days and potentially a chance to discover Saints fans in your area! Already some incredible images coming through on the new GlobalSFC page, which showcases the best fan images from around the world - feel free to add your own! GlobalSFC on Facebook
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If you're in the States or may travel there in the future, please get on board the FACEBOOK: United States of Southamptonfc and TWITTER: @USASaints pages. Our current Saints friendly pubs include: Chicago - Fado Irish Pub New Orleans - Finn McCool's New York - Legends Bar If you know of any other Saints friendly pubs around the States, please let us know and I'll add it to the list.
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California Saints
aussiesaint20 replied to USA SaintsFan's topic in Overseas Saints / Supporters Groups
Might be able to track down more on these pages - FACEBOOK: United States of Southamptonfc TWITTER: @USASaints -
Watching Saints in New Orleans
aussiesaint20 replied to Dangermouth's topic in Overseas Saints / Supporters Groups
FACEBOOK: United States of Southamptonfc TWITTER: @USASaints -
Villa game in Vegas
aussiesaint20 replied to NY Saint's topic in Overseas Saints / Supporters Groups
For future reference - FACEBOOK: United States of Southamptonfc TWITTER: @USASaints -
Hi Kampala Saint. Would be interested to hear from a Saints fan in Uganda. I write articles for the Match-day Programme about our supporters all around the world and also help out with the SaintsFCKenya Facebook page. If you get a chance, please send me an email. saintsletiss@hotmail.com Cheers, Trevor.
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Was looking through bookmarked YouTube videos and came across this one from Markus' first game at St Mary's. It's almost impossible to watch without getting emotional. Be interested to hear what people's highlights are since the day of this video. We'll keep it to a top 5 as I could honestly reel off 100 without pausing. The last four years have been nothing short of incredible, long may it continue! Markus Liebherr, Forever a Saint.
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Was unexpected, but class. Was hoping someone might have put it up on the net, but can't find it anywhere.. In the hope of sparking conversation - Victor's been a great signing for us, but the 'showboat' isn't exactly his strength. What other players have had moments that could be considered completely out of their footballing character? Delap and Crouch come to mind. Any others? I guess any of Rickie's rare misses easy misses could be put in that category. Likewise with Suarez not being a cu*t. Nominate away!
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Possibly well wide of the mark, but the name does fit.
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What supporting the Saints means to you?
aussiesaint20 replied to aussiesaint20's topic in The Saints
Hahaha, I had a feeling this would be one of the first replies. In all fairness to the young lad it's an incredible different set up over there. It's basically Top 4 or nothing, somewhat sickening. There's also some scary stats involved in the Asian markets and one that doesn't bode well for our long term success on the pitch(factoring in that clubs spend their revenue effectively). There's a Liverpool supporter's group in Hong Kong with over 950,000 members! Once these clubs start working out how to capitalise on the incredible amount of global revenue available, we will be massively up against it. So every fan we can get in our corner is a little win for the future. -
This brilliant story popped up on our Facebook page and I thought it was worth sharing(some might disagree). It's written by 18 year old Hong Kong born Kelvin Szeto. He has been in Oz for just over a year for study and recently connected with our Sydney Saints group to watch matches. Like many from his part of the world, Kelvin was originally a supporter of a 'Big 4' team, but thankfully he's now seen the red and white lights. This is his observation from Saturday night and what being a Saints fan means to him: "I dont normally type much as i m not gd at expressing myself. but It was a very meaning game to me and I was very emotional abt the draw... As you may knew , I was an United fans when I was small, until I watched my first live EPL game at St.Mary last November ( as most ppl in HK tended to support Big Clubs). It was a bit weird feeling for me when i was watching saints playing with United which i supported for 10+ years... its kinda weird feeling like u r watching your girlfriend fighting with your ex lol. Back in Nov,2012 , When i first went to the stadium, i didnt feel i m part of the club but after the game , the passion from fans and the players touched me. Afterwards i started to chase for Saints and yes, i m not an experienced saints but i m proud for my choice to be a saints. I was in a sports bar in Sydney with Southampton Australian Supporters Supporters, even we were 1-0 down , i still have full faith in saints and the team proved what we are capable in. we played wonderful team football and our team spirit is awesome. From great saves from King Boruc , how Victor frozen Fellaini and the tackle Morgan to Welbeck to shots made by Adam and lads... It was just awesome team football. We hug and congrats each other after the game , I was so emotional , i feel like i belongs to the club and the reaction i had after game really confirmed it. I never regret my choice for becoming a saints . I wanna thanks the friend of mine who brought me to St Marys and all the fans from Itchen Ends , without them , i wont be who I m . I wish we keep smiling till the end of the season. COYR" Personally, I'm loving life as a Southampton fan at the moment and wouldn't give it up for the world. Having observed all sorts of different supporter groups in Australia, I have a feeling that this recent success means a lot more to us, than it would your typical global Liverpool/Manc/Chelsea fan, which is why I've never been envious of their expected success. It's also why I never get sick of hearing stories of our support from around the world. If anyone feels like sharing their own 'Saints supporter story' I'd love to read it and I'm sure I'm not the only one.