Southampton v Aston Villa pre-match thread - Saturday, January 30th, 8pm

[Risso]

I literally have no idea on this one.
We could win, we might draw or they could beat us.

Thanks Mystic Meg, now about those lottery numbers!

[Gareth]

            Martinez
Cash Konsa Mings Targett
          Luiz McGinn
    Trez Barkley Grealish
             Watkins

Heaton, Engels, Elmo, Taylor, Sanson, Nakamba, El Ghazi, Traore, Davis

As many have said we need to not give away silly free kicks in JW-P range, likewise conceding corners has to be last resort

Would go with Trez work rate to start over Traore, bringing him on for last 20, if Barkley not 100% after 2 quick games after his injury would advance McGinn & bring in Marvellous

Would be unfair on Ramsey to miss out but I’d guess likliehood is either Sanson won’t get international clearance in time or someone will be out with a knock after laying those cloggers on Wednesday night so he will probs be in.

Looking forward to this and the West Ham games - two decent but not spectacular teams should be v competitive

[fbriai]

I fancy us to get revenge for the result at our place. I'm going 1-2. Ings for them. Watkins and Barkley for us.

[The Edge]

I think that Burnley defeat has dented our confidence, and they will definitely test our zonal marking 2:0 however I have a slight hunch that Watkins might get a hatrick 2:3 I’ve got splinters

We don't know yet if the Burnley game has affected the players confidence but it has dented the fans confidence. I agree about the zonal marking though. Burnley did their homework and got their rewards. When that giant scored against us at Villa Park I think it was McGinn marking him (trying to) from a corner. That can't be allowed to happen. As great as our defensive record has been this year zonal marking from set pieces scares me.

[not3bad]

Bogey side Southampton?  Need a win with three losses in four. More ruthless please Villa, it’s the only thing missing from our game!

This ^^^

[Drummond]

I think that Burnley defeat has dented our confidence, and they will definitely test our zonal marking 2:0 however I have a slight hunch that Watkins might get a hatrick 2:3 I’ve got splinters

We don't know yet if the Burnley game has affected the players confidence but it has dented the fans confidence. I agree about the zonal marking though. Burnley did their homework and got their rewards. When that giant scored against us at Villa Park I think it was McGinn marking him (trying to) from a corner. That can't be allowed to happen. As great as our defensive record has been this year zonal marking from set pieces scares me.

Some fans. That result against Burnley was just another one of those games. Southampton are in a tricky patch but they've been good this season. I think we'll be fine.

[in exile]

2-2

[dicedlam]

Sadly, I can't see anything more than a draw for this one.

1-1 Watkins.

[Nunkin1965]

I think that Burnley defeat has dented our confidence, and they will definitely test our zonal marking 2:0 however I have a slight hunch that Watkins might get a hatrick 2:3 I’ve got splinters

We don't know yet if the Burnley game has affected the players confidence but it has dented the fans confidence. I agree about the zonal marking though. Burnley did their homework and got their rewards. When that giant scored against us at Villa Park I think it was McGinn marking him (trying to) from a corner. That can't be allowed to happen. As great as our defensive record has been this year zonal marking from set pieces scares me.

Some fans. That result against Burnley was just another one of those games. Southampton are in a tricky patch but they've been good this season. I think we'll be fine.

I have to say that I've got no problem at all with our progression. And that's what it is. Progression.
We lost against Burnley after a fantastic first half showing and they were always going to come back at us. Sometimes you just have to give the other side some credit rather than just blaming every single issue as a fault of ours. We'll lose games.
We've made amazing progress and people need to be patient.

[LeeB]

4-1 to us.

We're due a game where everything goes in for us, fuck me we've been on the end of a few this season, the reverse fixture being the prime example.

[Allan C]

I think that Burnley defeat has dented our confidence, and they will definitely test our zonal marking 2:0 however I have a slight hunch that Watkins might get a hatrick 2:3 I’ve got splinters

We don't know yet if the Burnley game has affected the players confidence but it has dented the fans confidence. I agree about the zonal marking though. Burnley did their homework and got their rewards. When that giant scored against us at Villa Park I think it was McGinn marking him (trying to) from a corner. That can't be allowed to happen. As great as our defensive record has been this year zonal marking from set pieces scares me.

Some fans. That result against Burnley was just another one of those games. Southampton are in a tricky patch but they've been good this season. I think we'll be fine.

Exactly this. It was a defeat but they do occur!!! We’re a million miles from where we were last season and in honesty we could have been 5 up at half time. I havnt lost confidence in them and I’m sure the team havnt either

[SoccerHQ]

Bogey side Southampton?  Need a win with three losses in four. More ruthless please Villa, it’s the only thing missing from our game!

We've beaten them the grand total of once since they came back up in 2012.

Think that amounts to 11 games now so not a good record at all and we always massively struggle v their press. They made us look like a proper championship team in the two games last season (when they were only narrowly above us) and I thought we were really poor v them in first half at VP although going 4-0 down with the goals they scored was a bit of a freak occurence.

Will be interesting team news. I thought Trez is a cert to start as with their front 3 we need to make sure both FBs don't get exposed. Suppose it's a question then if we take Traore out or just move him a bit centrally and take Barkley out. Perhaps Sanson will start aswell but think he's more likely to be on the bench.

I think after the defending the other day we'll be far more cautious and play it like we did at Leicester and Wolves and not just attack for the sake of it. 1-1.

[SoccerHQ]

Hopefully we’ve gone a long way from last season which was one of our worst performances all year.

Don’t give away free kicks and corners if possible after what happened at VP, I’m assuming that giant centre half will be playing for them.

I’ll go a tight 0-1 for us.

Vestegaard been out for a few weeks and won't make our game apparently so that's a bonus as was too easy for him to score the first at VP.

They weren't great v Arsenal missing their first choice FBs although I think Ryan Bertrand was only suspended so will be back.

[OCD]

Smith likes a settled side so I expect the 11 to be the same. Trezeguet could have had a hat-trick in the reverse fixture.

[Deano's Mullet]

Definite bogey side in the early Premier League days but that was primarily because they had bloody Matthew  Le Tissier. He loved scoring against us and even when we looked like beating or drawing against them he’d grab a last minute goal for them. The only win that stands out in my memory of recent meetings is the one at St Mary’s under Lambert where we had three shots and won 3-2.