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

[Clampy]

I'd try and keep to the same side if possible mainly because of how bloody good we looked in that first half against Burnley. I wouldn't blame Smith if he decided to mix it up though what with it being our 4th game in 11 days. Like a few have said though, tough one to call.

[Rory]

4-2 to us, after going 2-1 down in the first half.

[Risso]

With 2 runners in McGinn and Sansom, we might me more capable of playing Traore.

Overall I prefer Barkley starting to Traore. Not because he's necessariy in better form, but I think Jack is so much better on the left than in the number 10 position, which is where he gets shifted when Ross is out.

[OCD]

Could Traore play as a 10?

The idea of playing with a 3 of McGinn, Luiz and Sanson is an interesting one though especially with how Southampton line up.

[Risso]

Could Traore play as a 10?

The idea of playing with a 3 of McGinn, Luiz and Sanson is an interesting one though especially with how Southampton line up.

I think you need your 10 to put in a shift, even more than is required as a wide forward.  Barkley did this at Leicester to very good effect. Traore is very skilful but still doesn't quite do enough in my book to be a regular starter. I wouldn't be putting him more centrally until he's learned to give Cash a bit more support.

[Matt C]

Trez for Traore maybe?  Not sure, my guess is he’ll go with an unchanged side.

[Lastfootstamper]

Trez for Traore maybe?  Not sure, my guess is he’ll go with an unchanged side.

I think we'll be unchanged. Performance wise, it's hard to fault our first half display of last time out. A lack of ruthlessness was all that prevented a cricket score at the break.

[Villa Lew]

If we play like we did against Burnley in the first half, then we're gonna win this in a canter, would start with the same team and hopefully will get to see Sanson sometime in the 2nd half. The good news is we won't need to worry at corners about defending against a 6 feet 8 inch giant, I understand Vestergaard is still not fit to come back.

[Astnor]

I hope we can produce some of the magic they showed 1. half at Burnley, then I hope they dont fell into not so sharp defending as they did 2. half at Burnley. As we lost that game Smith should be free to make changes in the team. Southampton away can be difficult and with what happened at Burnley I would try a formation with a midfielder with more defensive qualities than Traore instead of him - unchanged else. Please win so I can say "we where the better team, you cant deny it!". .

[jwarry]

Come on boys we owe them one for the defeat earlier in the season

[tomd2103]

We haven’t done well against them since returning to the top flight.  From seeing them last season, they play with a diamond or tight four in midfield and really push their full-backs on.  Given that we have looked vulnerable defending down our right side this season, I can see them causing us problems if that continues tonight. 

Need to be switched on defending set pieces today as they caught us cold earlier in the season.

[SamTheMouse]

Fucking hate Southampton. They always seem to do well against us, ever since the Le Tissier days.

Not optimistic.

[Mister E]

Trez for Traore maybe?  Not sure, my guess is he’ll go with an unchanged side.

I think we'll be unchanged. Performance wise, it's hard to fault our first half display of last time out. A lack of ruthlessness was all that prevented a cricket score at the break.

A lack of ruthlessness and more solidity i the second half - Trez coming on earlier would have helped.

[SheffieldVillain]

Really looking forward to this. I reckon it could be a cracker of a game (don't blame me when it's a dull 0-0). Two very decent sides.

2-2. Watkins and McGinn for us.

[SoccerHQ]

Fucking hate Southampton. They always seem to do well against us, ever since the Le Tissier days.

Not optimistic.

We were unbeaten against them from December 1994-December 1999, included 4 straight wins at the Dell in those seasons. Then wins dried up a little but we still didn't lose that many in the next few seasons.

Become a massive pain in the backside since 2012.

Everton result made me more confident for this, reckon a few of the squad watched it at lunchtime and that will give us a boost as win and we go 1 point off them.