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Southampton v FC Midtjylland Build up thread.


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Seeing that the Everton game was stone cold garbage, I'm hoping for a good recation performance in this one...

 

 

Alpine Saint prediction

 

 

Saints to win 2-0 against FC Mintyland of thursday, with Reed and Romeo playing a half each to gain fitness. Followed by a Lazy Sunday win against Watford.

 

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Agree with wanting Reed to play a part at some point in the game.

 

Good chance for Romeu to get some minutes too.

 

Pretty stretched at the back - I imagine Martina will come in - and *maybe* Caulker is fit to feature? (I can't remember what Ron said his prognosis is)

Edited by SuperSAINT
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What is the standard of football in the Danish League as they have currently played 5 won 4 drawn 1 and sit top of their league?

 

Those predicting a comfortable win must have prior knowledge of the standard as they are impressive stats.

 

I am a danish Saints fan, and i do understand your curiosity. They are a great team in Danish standards, but i doubt they'll be a real challenge for the saints. The match they draw were the one at Friday against FC Copenhagen (I am a fan of FC Copenhagen), and FC Copenhagen has previously proved that Danish teams can do well in Europe. They have won against Man United, played 1-1 with Barcelona, beaten Galatasaray 1-0 and so on. But FCM have no experience from Europe, and i think it will be a big challenge for them. Last season they got smashed by Panathinaikos, who FC Copenhagen have previously won against both 2-0 and 3-1.

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What is the standard of football in the Danish League as they have currently played 5 won 4 drawn 1 and sit top of their league?

 

Those predicting a comfortable win must have prior knowledge of the standard as they are impressive stats.

 

I have to admit that I'd never heard of them until the draw - just assumed Copenhagen where to Denmark what Celtic are to Scotland. At any level P5 W4 D1 is pretty impressive, and

having played 5 league games and 2 or even 4 (?) Euro games their fitness / match sharpness should be ahead of ours.

 

Hopefully the diaster of Saturday will have focused a few minds and we put on an impressive professional performance and run out with a 2 or 3 goal margin and no goals conceded.

Seems the euphoria of the 1st game has worn off and tickets seem to be going much slower, and of course Saturdays game won't have helped much, and even at 15 smackers the lure of TV /Pub won't help either.

 

Travelling back from Dubai and hoping my trip will get off to a winning start!!

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What is the standard of football in the Danish League as they have currently played 5 won 4 drawn 1 and sit top of their league?

 

Those predicting a comfortable win must have prior knowledge of the standard as they are impressive stats.

 

 

Well they lost in the Champions League qualifyers to a cypriot team. Don't think the Cypriot league is too clever. In the previous round they won against a Gibraltan team 3-0 on aggregate.

 

They currently have three players in the Danish national squad.

Pione Sisto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pione_Sisto

Jakob Poulsen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Poulsen

Morten Rasmussen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morten_Rasmussen_(footballer,_born_January_1985)

 

We "should" win quite comfortable and I'd expect a team of similar quality to Vitesse

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Stek; Martina, Jose, Caulker and Matt; Juanmi, Vic, Romeu, and either Davis or Jay Rod; Pelle and Mane the team for me - so 5 changes, we must rotate the squad before what will be a really tough game on Sunday at a place we do not exactly thrive upon….

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How about...?

 

--------------- Steklenberg -----------------

 

Cedric ---- Fonte ----- Caulker --- Martina

 

----------------- Romeu ---------------------

 

---------- Juanmi ------- JWP --------------

 

---- Mane ------- Pelle --------- JRod ------

 

Subs: Gazza, Targett, Yoshida, Wanyama, Reed, Davis, Long

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How about...?

 

--------------- Steklenberg -----------------

 

Cedric ---- Fonte ----- Caulker --- Martina

 

----------------- Romeu ---------------------

 

---------- Juanmi ------- JWP --------------

 

---- Mane ------- Pelle --------- JRod ------

 

Subs: Gazza, Targett, Yoshida, Wanyama, Reed, Davis, Long

 

Same issue as Everton and Newcastle, awfully balanced team IMO with too many attackers with no defensive instinct.

 

I would play as close to the starting midfield as possible and get them into some rhythm. 4-3-3 but with a proper midfield three.

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How about...?

 

--------------- Steklenberg -----------------

 

Cedric ---- Fonte ----- Caulker --- Martina

 

----------------- Romeu ---------------------

 

---------- Juanmi ------- JWP --------------

 

---- Mane ------- Pelle --------- JRod ------

 

Subs: Gazza, Targett, Yoshida, Wanyama, Reed, Davis, Long

 

Juanmi Dosen't play CM

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I think he has to go with the strongest line up to encourage understanding which was lacking against Everton. So I'd go with the 11 that finished the game (other than maybe swapping martina for Cedric with a plan to ensure Reed and Long get playing time at some point. Maybe bring Caulker on later too.

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Be interesting to see what Koeman does. Big game at the weekend, so i'd suggest a fair amount of rotation midweek

 

Stek

Soares Fonte Caulker Targett

Reed Romeu

Juanmi JWP JRod

Long

 

Watford is no bigger than any other game and I would place higher priority on this one. I'd expect a very similar team to the Everton game but with J Rod and Romeu probably starting ahead of Long and maybe Tadic.

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I'd rather play Yoshida at left back than that useless teenager Targett who bottles challenges. It's a case of Yoshida being less bad with Fonte & Caulker in the middle.

 

Start Romeu and I think we could grind out a 2-0 win.

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--------------Stek----------------

Soares--Fonte--Caulker--Targett

------Wanyama-----Romeu------

------------JWP/Davis-----------

----Juanmi-----Pelle---Mane---

 

01) Be defensive first, pair Wanyama and Romeu

02) Get Caulker in for Yoshida

03) Let Cedric and Targett play, build their confidence back up

04) Put JWP or Davis in an offensive posture, distributing (the Clasie spot in the future)

05) play Mane on the right, can be creative and won't require the need for Targett going forward

06) hope that Mane and Cedric link up better together than Cedric did was Tadic

07) Give Juanmi a go on the left (can Juanmi play on the left?), if that is not working, take out Juanmi at half, move Mane to the left, bring in JRod on the right.

 

I have to admit I am a bit flummoxed over what is our best front three at the moment and what players best link up with the MF and fullbacks we have available today.

 

Two months from now I am imaging this as our strongest lineup, although if in form, it could be Tadic on the right for JRod.

 

--------------Stek--------------

Soares--Fonte--VvD--Bertrand

------Wanyama-----Romeu----

--------------Clasie--------------

----Mane-----Pelle-----JRod----

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Do we really want to progress to the group stage ?

 

We look to have our hands full sorting out our Premier League effort. 6 group matches will be one helluva distraction and drain of energy...

The logic in that argument suggests we should voluntarily drop back down to league 1 so we can find it easier to win games. The whole point in trying to finish high in the Premier League is to qualify for Europe.

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The logic in that argument suggests we should voluntarily drop back down to league 1 so we can find it easier to win games. The whole point in trying to finish high in the Premier League is to qualify for Europe.

 

I know. But can we really sustain the effort if the team is eviscerated every summer ?

 

I think there are genuine concerns that this summer is different from last; we've brought in quantitiy so have a deeper squad, probably to address Europe, but we've lost quality.

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We will go through to the group stages. With that, our league form will suffer a little and we will be middling around the table.

 

We will have an upturn in form when we are out of Europe and finish around 10th. Which is fine by me

 

Ronald will leave in the summer as Holland will be very average in the Euro's and they come calling.

 

it all starts again.

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We will go through to the group stages. With that, our league form will suffer a little and we will be middling around the table.

 

We will have an upturn in form when we are out of Europe and finish around 10th. Which is fine by me

 

Ronald will leave in the summer as Holland will be very average in the Euro's and they come calling.

 

it all starts again.

 

At which point do you enjoy it?

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Same issue as Everton and Newcastle, awfully balanced team IMO with too many attackers with no defensive instinct.

 

I would play as close to the starting midfield as possible and get them into some rhythm. 4-3-3 but with a proper midfield three.

 

Agreed.

 

We are definitely not right in midfield at the moment.

 

I would start like this for Thursday:

 

Stek

Cedric-Fonte-Caulker-Yoshida

 

Reed-Romeu

JWP

Mane, Rodriguez

Pelle

 

Bench:

 

Gazza, Targett, Wanyama, Davis, Juanmi, Long, Tadic

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Agreed.

 

We are definitely not right in midfield at the moment.

 

I would start like this for Thursday:

 

Stek

Cedric-Fonte-Caulker-Yoshida

 

Reed-Romeu

JWP

Mane, Rodriguez

Pelle

 

Bench:

 

Gazza, Targett, Wanyama, Davis, Juanmi, Long, Tadic

 

I think that it is of paramount importance that Vic and Romeu build up a strong partnership. We should not be meeting Watford without establishing a strong midfield, which will be the working core of the team. that shields the defence, and creates atacking opportunities. Vic could be rested in the second half though to give Harry a chance.

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I can't see us not starting with Wanyama and Romeu given the vast improvement in the second half on the weekend - if we had a centre back who wasn't Yoshida and had started the game at half time we'd have probably been ok.

 

We don't need to worry about tiredness yet but I can see some humpings in our future if/when we play top 6 sides after group stage matches.

 

I take no pleasure from pointing out I've been talking about the team (not the squad) being weaker and "Schneiderlin and Alderweireld sized holes" for weeks, even when we were winning, but there it was.

 

Very pleased with Romeu, somewhat disappointed with the people who haven't yet worked out the problem isn't Cedric (or even Targett), but the big gaps in front of them where we're narrow in the middle and the wide attacking midfielders aren't defending deep enough nor the narrow midfielders wide enough. Plus obvs Yoshida v Lukaku, not like we've seen that before, he gives the guy 2 yards and beats him to everything.

 

Bringing Rodriguez on on Saturday was akin to throwing in the towel, we'd already proven that trying to outscore them just leads to us getting nailed on the break.

 

Oh, and we didn't play 4-3-3 at any point on the weekend, again.

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I know. But can we really sustain the effort if the team is eviscerated every summer ?

 

I think there are genuine concerns that this summer is different from last; we've brought in quantitiy so have a deeper squad, probably to address Europe, but we've lost quality.

 

Well it might be worth waiting just a few more games before drawing any conclusions on quality. Toby left a hole for sure but with a choice between Cedric and Martina at right back I dont think we will miss Clyne. I was very impressed with Romeu on Saturday and with Clasie in the wings I am optimistic that we can perform at the same level as last season. Another centre back will help with that confidence of course.

 

Playing two games each week with the squad we have should not really be a problem for professional footballers. It's not like they are sitting around doing nothing with one game per week - they still have to train hard.

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Do we really want to progress to the group stage ?

 

We look to have our hands full sorting out our Premier League effort. 6 group matches will be one helluva distraction and drain of energy...

 

Is this the same as your ''let's throw automatic promotion and concentrate on the playoffs?''. That went well.

 

I must admit, I feel slightly calmer about the situation when Alpine starts to insert his pearls of wisdom.

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:lol: After 2 league games?

 

TBF Ronald came out after the game and said that Targett has been unwell and has been playing through illness, so his levels will be lower. And let's be honest, he looked frighteningly off the pace on Saturday. May be worth getting him to sit out for this one.

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TBF Ronald came out after the game and said that Targett has been unwell and has been playing through illness, so his levels will be lower. And let's be honest, he looked frighteningly off the pace on Saturday. May be worth getting him to sit out for this one.

 

Sometimes these illnesses can be deceptive, especially if it's a virus. You might feel ok but the muscles aren't up to full effectiveness and your brain is not as sharp. Was he also affected for the Newcastle game? He wasn't quite on the ball in that one either.

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Seems a bit iffy to me, surely if they can't sell out their allocation they should be given back to home fans not passed on to a team with tenuous links at best!

 

It'll be for the same block though. They've only got 46 -48 and as they aren't expecting to bring more than 200-300 then it's tickets that wouldn't be able to be sold onto Saints fans anyway.

 

Slightly more than a tenuous link though.... Same owner.

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