Southampton - Nottingham Forest

[Sausage Roll]

For those who subscribe to The Athletic, this is a damning write-up of Southampton and their appointment of Nathan Jones. Their fans' comments show that they're almost universally unhappy with the appointment too. I like them as a club but for selfish reasons hope he takes them down.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

For those who subscribe to The Athletic, this is a damning write-up of Southampton and their appointment of Nathan Jones. Their fans' comments show that they're almost universally unhappy with the appointment too. I like them as a club but for selfish reasons hope he takes them down.

Maybe Im in a minority of 1 but I dont get that. Even if Jones looks and acts like someone who has just been punched in the face he did a fantastic job at Luton. He has been thrown in the deep end at Southampton in his first PL job in a struggling team that has had most of its key players stripped out. They would be bottom under most managers IMO.

[RedBeard]

Watched the game last night and we were super for the most part, my key takeaways:

- Defence looking solid and organised. 2 to 3 months back I wouldn’t have put Joe near our starting line up, but his aggression, aerial ability and leadership were vital last night.

- Attack starting to look more dangerous, BJ starting to fire and Awoniyi clearly being more physical and aggressive up top as he should be - I reckon Cooper has had a word in his ear about putting it about a bit more; it is paying dividends as he was such a handful.

- Game management was a bit dicey for me, sitting back and making no attempt to get out or keep the ball for the last 15 minutes is too long, better sides will punish that approach 100%. That said, it was a massive fixture and the nerves were understandable, hopefully we’ll have more belief as we accumulate a few more points.

All in all, looking more like a ‘team’ vs 11 players and it’s just wonderful to see.

Final point, Scarpa - he didn’t have many touches but what he did have gave a glimpse of quick vision and distribution abilities, which every team craves in the final third! I just think a bit more measured expectation may be required however, the article in the Post today was farcical in my opinion. He will still need time to get to grips with the pace and physicality of the league, he’s not the pacey / explosive type of player and finding the space he needs in pockets will be his biggest challenge.

Cheers!

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Watched the game last night and we were super for the most part, my key takeaways:

- Defence looking solid and organised. 2 to 3 months back I wouldn’t have put Joe near our starting line up, but his aggression, aerial ability and leadership were vital last night.

- Attack starting to look more dangerous, BJ starting to fire and Awoniyi clearly being more physical and aggressive up top as he should be - I reckon Cooper has had a word in his ear about putting it about a bit more; it is paying dividends as he was such a handful.

- Game management was a bit dicey for me, sitting back and making no attempt to get out or keep the ball for the last 15 minutes is too long, better sides will punish that approach 100%. That said, it was a massive fixture and the nerves were understandable, hopefully we’ll have more belief as we accumulate a few more points.

All in all, looking more like a ‘team’ vs 11 players and it’s just wonderful to see.

Final point, Scarpa - he didn’t have many touches but what he did have gave a glimpse of quick vision and distribution abilities, which every team craves in the final third! I just think a bit more measured expectation may be required however, the article in the Post today was farcical in my opinion. He will still need time to get to grips with the pace and physicality of the league, he’s not the pacey / explosive type of player and finding the space he needs in pockets will be his biggest challenge.

Cheers!

Spot on!

[inside right]

BJ's play was interesting. 

Against Chelsea when put through he shot tamely at the keeper instead of crossing to Awoniyi. 

Against Southampton when put through in identical position he crossed to Awoniyi who scored.

Had he realised his Chelsea error - had Steve had words with him after the Chelsea game or in  training. I suspect the latter judging by the way the two celebrated the goal.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

BJ's play was interesting. 

Against Chelsea when put through he shot tamely at the keeper instead of crossing to Awoniyi. 

Against Southampton when put through in identical position he crossed to Awoniyi who scored.

Had he realised his Chelsea error - had Steve had words with him after the Chelsea game or in  training. I suspect the latter judging by the way the two celebrated the goal.

Totally different in my opinion. Last night Brenna was far wider and his best option was clearly to cross where he could see Taiwo bombing in.
Vs Chelsea he was more central to the goal and crucially he had Tiago Silva one of the best defenders inthe world blocking the angle for the cross. His best option was to shoot and I thought he got a decently hit shot away on target.
Also Coops in his interview after said he had told his players to be brave and take chances so Brennan fully within his rights.

Finally hope most can see last 2 games Brennan has been an constant threat rather than an interested spectator. Really really encouraging from him.

[Plymouth red]

Worth pointing our that it wasn't until the new year last year than Johnno became a key figure in our promotion push and worth remembering that that was his first season at that level.

This season appears to be similar and hopefully he is now more acclimatised to the prem.

Got to remember that two years ago he was playing league one.

Scarpa looks useful though. Would like to see a bit more of him but he's certainly got an eye for a pass.

[Camms]

Thought Johnno was great yesterday along with Boly, Taiwo and Lodi.