The View from the Home End

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I think I am still in shock from what happened on Tuesday night, still smiling and confident we can take on the world. The home fans are a little  confused, given their last performance at Villa, and ours in the CL. Whatever happens this fixture is my excuse to drag out my favourite picture of Shane Long, so its not all bad.

Now COME ON CITY !!!

Team Selection

Forster
Clyne – Fonte – Alderweireld – Bertrand
Davis – Wanyama – Schneiderlin
Tadic – Pelle – Mane

My Favourite

Weird how Saints being second is no surprise now …..it’s still a ****ing surprise to me

And the rest…

Aguero – one word

City look pretty good

I thought they have looked good, far more possession, 22+ shots on goal, half on target. better in every department against a very good side in Swansea

******** they do, Swansea could have got something as City have a squad full of players ready to fall apart in any given away match. Zero to be scared of there, we need to go for them like QPR did.

Watched the Man C vs Swansea, good game but – Jovatic is a diving cheating asshole, what a disgrace

3 man midfield for me

Southamptons form is dipping as expected and they are beginning to struggle as we saw in their snatching a late equaliser at Villa. Errors are starting to creep in at the back as we say Monday night and their once rock like defence is starting to look shaky. Man City are due an away win after some patchy form and have such fantastic players they have to click sometime and I think they will on Sunday. Dorkish prediction Southampton 0 City 4

I think we’ve done OK, at home, against Citeh the last couple of seasons. At least they will come to play football so we have a chance. If Steven Davis isn’t fit it has to be Cork in midfield Mane on the bench as a possible game changer.

If we have any aspirations of winning the league this is must win we cannot afford to drop further behind Chelsea!

Short of an earthquake at Stamford Bridge, no-one stands a chance of catching Chelsea, so Citeh are a team to beat …if we are serious about finishing ” top four “.

We need alternatives to seeing Pelle double-marked, so Long should be selected, and providing we can defend as well (as we have done), we should get a result, but a draw wouldn’t be a disgrace, either.

This will be a very tight game but I can see us winning by the odd goal in three.

Winning this would be a massive statement. Must contain Aguero/Toure

We have no aspirations of winning the league.. That’s why, for us, this game is kind of like ”pressure is off”. We accumulated 26 points after 12 games, that’s bloody remarkable to be honest. Let’s just go into this game and see what happens, if we lose, we lose. We’ve given ourselves a huge platform to full back on to ensure we can still be in the top 6 hunt.

Anything less than a thrashing is good for me.

ShaneLong

Quite fancy our chances in this one, infact I fancy our chances against all the big boys at SMS – bar Chelsea. Citeh aren’t all that, they have their weaknesses and we can exploit them. If we can make sure that Aguero doesn’t get any service they will have lost a huge amount of threat.

How about a Saints win whilst supping a few beers, and then a good thrashing by a Dominatrix dressed as a nun …. ticks just about every box that you’d want ticking

They look so mentally weak. Defence panics, outmuscled on crosses. Wont be happy with anything but a win really. Hope they come back to beat Bayern, then enjoy the praise and get complacent yet again.

We weren’t great last night against Villa, City are playing one of the top 3 teams in the world tonight. We will more than likely lose to City, but a draw or better would be an absolutely incredible achievement.

On the other hand they haven’t beaten us at home the last two seasons and we are (arguably) a better team this season and they are (arguably) not as good as the last two seasons. I’m more confident of getting a result against city at home than I am of Arsenal away.

was hoping aguero got a knock tonight…ffs, he is pure class

Ageuro is to City what Suarez was to Liverpool.

Aguero is on fire,the defence will have there work cut out Sunday

nothing that a win against Bayern Munich will do for your confidence LOL….oh shyt

Personally I think we are going to lose heavily. We are due one.

Ha LOL well lets hope Aguero slips on some wet decking in his back garden or something before Sundays game

Completely disagree. Perfect for Saints IMO, let them celebrate that all week. They’re a top side but they just don’t show the right mentality and focus away from home in the league. Looks like the classic back down to earth with a bump scenario.  They showed plenty of frailties in that game and really struggled to breakdown 10 men until the last few minutes. Keep Aguero quiet and we’ll win. He’s brilliant, but we have dealt with him ok at home the last couple of seasons. He only managed 1 goal against Gazzaniga which should embarrass him.

How the heck are we going to stop Aguero, it just isn’t possible. I fear we’re in for a thrashing after tonight’s City morale booster. Prepare for a drubbing chaps. Most pessimistic I’ve been all season. 0-4 if we’re lucky, sorry Ron but can’t see how we’ll ever get the ball off them.

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Southampton v Manchester City - St Mary's Stadium

do you really think they will be ‘celebrating’ that win all week? these are the champions. They don’t become champions twice in 3 seasons by ‘celebrating’ wins all week. We will have to be at our very best to get anything on Sunday. if we show up, I fancy us to get at least a point. I cannot see us keeping a clean sheet mind so we will have to be far, far less wasteful in the final 3rd than we have been in the last couple of games

Despite an abject performance at Villa I strongly fancy us to beat City.

City are beatable if you cut off Aguero’s supply. The rest of them are nothing special. Bayern mugged themselves tonight, City were down and out before Bayern tossed the game away, a game that didn’t mean anything to them anyway. Schneiderlin\Wanyama\Cork + our defence will not be giving them the kind of freebies Bayern did tonight.

Hopefully we’ll also keep 11 men on the pitch for the full 90. And have Andy Townsend Silenced.

Not just me that noticed the ‘get in!’ when Aguero scored the winner then. It’s bad enough when he does that stuff commentating on the England matches.

Having watched them closely for several years, they frequently don’t turn up in away games. That still means we have to play well to win, but the fact is we aren’t such a big game as Bayern Munich, they won’t have given us any thought until tomorrow at the earliest and have a lot of egos who think they will beat us without maximum effort. It doesn’t take a genius to see. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don’t, but there is nothing to be afraid of with them.

Yes you give Aguero a chance he’ll probably take it, but you shouldn’t be letting anyone get clean through at this level anyway. You can’t see us keeping a clean sheet because you’ve just seen Aguero score three and your opinions rarely stretch back further than an hour. We’ve been very tight at the back this season so if anyone can keep a clean sheet against them maybe it’s us.

Again, QPR were all over them and really should have won. It’s a very difficult game for City and they can’t just come and sit back. They’ve failed to beat us twice at SMS so far with what I’d consider better City teams and lesser Saints sides. Will be a fascinating game.

Bayern gave them three goals. City didn’t win this Bayern lost. I have every confidence in a result in our favour on Sunday.

Clive T – ‘a completely different Man City side will turn up at Southampton now’ and ‘this result may kick start their season’ doesn’t paper over that their defence is shocking at the moment. Don’t know why but Zabelata a shadow of ten player last season. Kompany is a media darling but has also been prone to some howlers and always seems frustrated with colleagues. Really hard to predict as if they play their best of course will be hard to live with but they haven’t been at their best many times. Last night one player got them out of it with what were gifts. Bayern weakened 10 men with nothing to play for gave them a lesson.

Yes it’ll be a tough match but we can get a result. Bayern ran rings round them with slick fast passing and movement and only lost because of casual lapses. We mustn’t stand off them and slip into slow sideways build-up. Their defence is suspect against pace and direct attacks. Then cut off the supply to Aguero (Morgan and Vic take note), attach Toby to Aguero with leg irons and job done.

Get up for the fight. Cannot be beaten before we even enter the pitch.

I think saints will really be up for this and have probably had their eye on it for some time. It’s the first real challenge and test of our top 4 credentials. A win will really beef up our challenge and give us huge confidence going into the next games. However, a defeat won’t be the end of the world. I’d take a draw.

City beating Bayern could be a blessing for us. It keeps the distraction of the Champs Lge going a bit longer.
My concern is our last few performances have started to tail off a bit, but I’m putting that down to the way teams have played negative football against us. City certainly wont, they will come for the win and wont be scared to cross the halfway line. This will make the game more open, then we’ll see what we’re made of.

Not sure if a City win was good or bad for us but, Bayern did not have to win the game and they had 10 men for most of the match.
One thing is for sure though, we need to put in a much better display than we did against Villa. Aguero was the difference for City, apart from him they looked ordinary.

Typical media getting carried away – they beat a team that had been down to ten men since the half an hour mark 3-2 due to defensive mistakes…it was hardly the performance of the season was it?!

Got to try and stop Aguero somehow. No idea how you go about that really, the bloke seems to be unplayable at present. I really love watching him play, such a fantastic player. I don’t feel confident about this game, then again I rarely do about any game.

I thought Bayern were top class last night, managing to out possess an expensively assembled City side for all the game with only 10 men. it shows the level we would have to step up to IF we were to make the Champions League

Who is the ref? Could have a significant impact as there are some who follow the unwritten rule of favouring the big clubs with all 50/50 decisions. It’s going to be high tempo and very tasty. If we get an even handed and impartial referee I think our fitness and team spirit will see us remain 2nd after the game and shut up the nay sayers for a few more days. At least a draw I reckon. A win would be epic.

Davis should, and will, start if fit. Last thing to do against City is completely sit back. We need to play our normal game and go back to the system that has got us up to 2nd in the first place.

They’re Man city you probably could count on one hand the number of clubs they think are better than them and we certainly won’t be one of them. The general feeling from their fans that they just have to turn up to win always makes getting a result against them much more fun and if we lose…………..well it’s man city isn’t it.

Hopefully City play Jovetic up with Aguero and just Toure and Fernandinho in the middle but I am sure they have learned their lesson on that and will play 3 in the middle against us.

Before I go :)

http://www.90min.com/posts/1587691-former-manchester-city-forward-shaun-goater-criticises-southampton

 

 

 

 

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