OptiNews - Friday 13 to Thursday 19 October 2017

Sourced from Optimus trousers’ RSS Feed rss feed

The Ugly Inside News for Southampton

New content from (- The Ugly Inside News for Southampton)

| Saints Planning Barcelona Swoop In January ! | According to media reports in Spain Barcelona are bracing themselves for a January bid from Southampton for one of … 13-10-2017 |

Older content…

| The Ugly Inside TV ! Saints V Newcastle United Preview10 hours ago |
| Football Italian Style ! Palermo V Parmaa day ago |
| Saints V Newcastle United Dan’s Previewa day ago |
| The Ugly Inside TV ! Saints V Newcastle Opposition View With Newcastle Fans TVa day ago |
| Premier League Hint At Christmas Eve TV Fixture2 days ago |
| Shane Long A Doubt For Visit Of Newcastle2 days ago |
| Liverpool Release Glossary Of What Virgil Van Dijk Really Means !7 days ago |
| Saints Help Scupper Big Six Greed Plan8 days ago |
| Rickie Lambert Retires10 days ago |
| Saints Early Season Analysis !10 days ago |

...translucently dreamed up by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Premier League - Official Site article

DEFAULTVideo: On this day in 1996: Coventry 1-1 Southampton

Sourced from Sky Sports article

Premier League research reveals average ticket price to be £32 during 2017-18 season

Show/hide article…

Premier League research has revealed the average ticket price across the league this season to be £32.

Analysis compiled by the league and professional services company Ernst & Young, using data collected from all 20 clubs, shows more than half of all attending fans are paying £30 or less per match during the 2017-18 campaign.

It also claims that 34 per cent of all available Premier League season tickets have been sold below full price, owing to early-bird offers and loyalty discounts, saving fans a total of £10m across the season.

After clubs introduced a three-season £30 cap on away ticket prices last season, the research shows the average away ticket price will be £26, with 33 per cent of away tickets sold at a price below the cap.

Premier League Executive Chairman, Richard Scudamore, said: "The loyal and passionate support of attending fans is hugely appreciated by clubs, their managers and players, and the Premier League.

“This research shows the excellent value clubs are offering across the League and the impressive commitment of their fans. I hope it will challenge commonly held perceptions about the cost of attending Premier League football, and encourage even more people to consider going to a match.”

The research includes all parts of Premier League stadiums except hospitality areas, and includes all ticket prices include booking fees or admin charges.

Go to the original article…

...brazenly costructed by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Sky Sports article

Matt Le Tissier’s Newcastle double remembered ahead of Southampton’s Super Sunday clash

Show/hide article…

Southampton have been struggling for goals this season but a meeting with Newcastle should bring plenty of inspiration…

Saints legend Matt Le Tissier has a catalogue of memorable strikes - but two of his most famous came in the space of 27 minutes at The Dell in 1993.

Newcastle, who travel to Southampton live on Sky Sports Premier League on Nissan Super Sunday, were the opponents that October day.

Twenty four years on, we take a look back at Le Tissier’s memorable double against the Magpies…

Southampton’s “genius” couldn’t even get into the team. The Saints had lost eight of their opening 11 league matches to start the 1993/94 season and manager Ian Branfoot had done the unthinkable, dropping the club’s star man for Paul Moody.

“Ian threw Matty back to me and said, 'I’m not happy, he’s not working hard enough,” then reserve team manager Dave Merrington told the Telegraph in 2014.

“People would say Matt didn’t work hard enough but they would overlook one thing: he was a genius.”

The south coast club was used to relegation battles but the start of this campaign was particularly bleak.

They were held scoreless in five of their first nine games and had a nasty habit of throwing away leads. The decision to drop Le Tissier was supposed to spark the team into life.

But two late goals by Jostein Flo earned Sheffield United an unlikely 3-3 draw in early October before Phil Babb’s 87th-minute equaliser denied Southampton a precious win at Coventry a week later.

Le Tissier’s absence had failed to improve results so Branfoot swallowed his pride and recalled the forward for the visit of Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle.

Southampton, now second bottom, were sinking fast and the Sky Sports cameras were coming to town to document the misery.

With an hour gone and the score goalless, Branfoot called for Moody to warm up. The journeyman forward, who later became a hero at Oxford United and Millwall, had failed to fire when given the chance to replace Le Tissier in games prior. He looked set to get another opportunity.

“I’d been dropped for Moody for the five games before and I was brought back in for Newcastle,” Le Tissier recalls. “I remember seeing Paul warming up after 60 minutes and just thinking it would be for me.”

What came next was one of the great Premier League goals, a stunning individual run, a cheeky chip and a composed finish. Three years later Paul Gascoigne would pull off a similar trick against Scotland, a strike voted the best ever at the old Wembley.

“When I scored the goal the camera panned to Branfoot and I lip-read him saying, ‘Sit down Moods’. It was probably the second best goal in my career behind the Blackburn one,” Le Tissier added.

"It was a bit surreal because you don’t have time to think, you just react to defenders and the ball just kept landing in the right place for me to nudge it away from them.

“The finish wasn’t exactly what I wanted as it came off the bottom of my boot a bit but it was enough to wrong-foot their goalkeeper.”

Southampton predictably conceded 10 minutes later when Andy Cole equalised but that simply set the stage for Le Tissier’s decisive intervention.

There was less than three minutes left when he collected the ball from Neil Maddison, brought it under control on his thigh and blasted home past goalkeeper Mike Hooper from 25 yards.

“Looking back that was a huge turning point in my career because under Branfoot my career wasn’t really going anywhere,” Le Tissier said.

“I’m not sure he said anything to me after the game but I certainly didn’t need to say anything after that.”

The beleaguered Saints boss restored Le Tissier to prominence after the Newcastle game, even giving him the captain’s armband.

“I went on to score a couple against Aston Villa and then a couple more against Liverpool and strangely enough, given that had all happened at the end of October, by the middle of December I was made captain at Goodison Park, all in the space of six weeks,” said Le Tissier.

But it was not enough to save Branfoot, who was dismissed in early January and replaced by fan favourite Alan Ball.

Results immediately improved as the Saints rattled off four wins from five games, including a 2-1 away victory at St James’ Park, and they eventually survived by a single point.

Le Tissier would finish as the club’s top scorer with 25 Premier League goals, the highest league tally of his distinguished career. He was, in an otherwise forgettable campaign for the Saints, their genius.

Watch Southampton v Newcastle live on Sky Sports Premier League with Nissan Super Sunday coverage starting from 3.30pm

Go to the original article…

...latently devised by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Daily Echo article

COMMENT: Saints set for season defining period

Show/hide article…

Games against Newcastle, West Brom, Brighton and Burnley might not sound particularly glamourous or exciting, but for Saints they represent a season defining period.

It has been a stop-start opening couple of months to the campaign thanks to two international breaks, but the four fixtures that come before November’s fortnight off are crucial for Mauricio Pellegrino and his side.

If Saints have ambitions to achieve anything more than a season bumbling around in midtable, then they have to get points on the board, and probably around ten of them.

So far it has felt a fairly middling beginning to the campaign.

You wouldn’t say that Saints have done poorly, but you also would be hard pushed to make a case that they have done particularly well.

The early League Cup exit has certainly added a feeling of tedium to the season already, with much excitement sucked out, which is never a good thing.

Saints have struggled for a real feeling of momentum, or a sense of collective purpose as they try and fight the odds for a lofty aim.

And with no European football this season, it leaves just the Premier League campaign and, possibly, the FA Cup to provide the excitement that really is needed.

Of course a continued lack of goals has not helped the situation, but Saints have the chance to turn things around here and now.

Other than Man United, they have yet to really play a team of any great note this season, and have won just two out of seven top flight fixtures.

Once this run of four games is complete, and the November international break has come and gone, then the season really picks up some much needed steam as the fixtures start to flow quickly.

But Saints will be all too aware that on the horizon are multiple matches against teams established in the top six, who are not dropping a whole heap of points at the moment.

Getting the points on the board that will be required to maintain some kind of sustained push higher up the table at that time will be incredibly difficult.

Some argue that Saints may have already dropped too many points against non-top six rivals to do that.

However, the nature of the division means that outside of the top six there is likely to be a lack of consistency, and so all is not lost.

But it simply has to happen in these next four fixtures, or Saints will fall a long way behind facing a run of matches where consistently getting wins is very unlikely.

The club and the team could do with something to chase. It feels like things are drifting at Saints at the moment.

It is hard when you have achieved a lot over a number of seasons, perhaps over the odds in some ways, to keep a feeling of momentum. Eventually you do hit the glass ceiling and the only way from there is standing still, which is amazing but feels comparatively uninspiring, or downwards, which seems even worse.

Maybe Saints are just naturally levelling out, and getting through this period feels a little painful now but is required.

But with seventh place looking surprisingly wide open after Everton’s poor start to the season, there is no reason Saints should not be targeting it.

If Everton don’t suddenly get it together, then seventh, and potentially European football, will go to a club like Watford, Newcastle, West Brom.

And if they are going to challenge for it then why not Saints?

Indeed, given the fact they have finished sixth, seventh and eight over the last three years, Saints should, by rights, be strong favourites to do it.

Should they fail to put themselves in a position to seriously challenge for it when clubs like those listed above are then the season really will fall very flat indeed and there will be serious questions to answer.

There is still the chance to make it happen though.

For all the talk of the start to the season and the lack of goals, Saints do not need their whole year to be defined by it. They still have the opportunity to do something about it.

Of the next batch of fixtures, three are at home.

We know the goalscoring problems have been worse at St Mary’s, so what better time to put it right?

Saints have a great home record against Newcastle, and a good win on Sunday would set the tone.

You know West Brom and Burnley will visit St Mary’s and do exactly what Saints don’t like – namely defend deep and in numbers – but there is the challenge for Saints to overcome.

The only away game, at Brighton, is a derby match, but it’s hardly one that Saints should be fearing.

The moment really is there to be seized.

Whether Saints can do it is up to the manager and the players.

With so many of his squad disappearing away on international duty, Pellegrino will have spent a lot of time mulling over his options in the last two weeks.

Now is also the moment for him too, to be creative, to be bold, to try something different.

The same old, same old, has not yielded dividends, and while it is not time to panic, trying to change things slowly, though on the face of it a sensible plan, has really resulted in little change at all.

Do not, therefore, be surprised to see a change in formation this weekend. It could happen.

Pellegrino knows he needs to try and help his players overcome the mental block they seem to be running into at the moment, and that is one of the tools at his disposal.

As we saw with Ronald Koeman, it doesn’t need to be a permanent change. Just enough to try and find some momentum and confidence.

While there shouldn’t be desperation, there needs to be a recognition that the next four games are going to shape the season.

Do well and this could yet be a cracking year. If it goes averagely or worse then injecting any sense of enthusiasm or excitement into the campaign looks a forlorn hope, and that is bad news for Saints as a club.

Go to the original article…

...buoyantly originated by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Optimus trousers summary article summary

Summary of non-mainstream articles: 13/10/2017 11:03:27

| | Watch Southampton v Newcastle live TV on Sunday - Global channel listings | NUFCTHEMAG |
|

| Newcastle United: Scouting Southampton with Saints MarchingFANSIDEDNEWCASTLETOONS |
| | The Newcastle United Blog | » Paul Merson Predicts Newcastle’s Surprising Result At SouthamptonNEWCASTLEUNITEDWEBSITE |
| | Southampton vs Newcastle United prediction: Lee Ryder’s verdict for south coast clashCHRONICLELIVENEWS |
| | Mark Lawrenson predicts Southampton v Newcastle | NUFCTHEMAG |

...piggishly caused to be by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Who would you choose in your greatest ever #SaintsFC line-up?

It’s time to vote for the Fans’ Ultimate XI…

Retweets: 1

Favourites: 2

...obnoxiously originated by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Vote for the Fans’ Ultimate XI, which will form part of a major exhibition on #SaintsFC at @SeaCityMuseum in 2018: http://sfcne.ws/SFCUltimateXI

Retweets: 4

Favourites: 11

...lustrelessly costructed by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Optimus trousers summary article summary

Summary of non-mainstream articles: 13/10/2017 12:03:41

| | TV ! Saints V Newcastle United Preview - Southampton NewsTHEUGLYINSIDE |
| | Premier League’s Quickest Players 2017VITALFOOTBALL |
| | The Saints Walking Wounded Injury News 13/10/2017VITALFOOTBALL |
| | Southampton listed as 6/1 contenders to sign Liverpool’s Danny Ings; Wolves 8/1 outsidersHEREISTHECITY |

...handily sculpted by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

#OnThisDay in 1999, #SaintsFC came from behind to earn a last-gasp win over #LFC in the League Cup, at The Dell! :innocent:

Retweets: 0

Favourites: 4

...proudly fabricated by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Daily Mail article

Premier League team news, odds and stats from every match this weekend

Show/hide article…

Ahead of this weekend’s matches in the Premier League, Sportsmail brings you the latest squad news, odds and stats on every top flight fixture as it breaks.

Simply click on your team in the fixture list below to find out who is ruled out and who is making a return as well as all the key statistics surrounding your club’s fixture.

In or out? Keep up-to-date with all the latest team news and stats ahead of the weekend

Go to the original article…

...percussively brought to pass by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

LIVE: Watch #SaintsFC boss Mauricio Pellegrino preview Sunday’s #PL meeting with #NUFC: https://www.pscp.tv/w/bK9aODMxOTB8MW1yeG1tQmtPWUJ4ecA6GNzzqIkWCgX0u17O6lMhGahBBJn_ApK37FkE2SPD

Retweets: 4

Favourites: 6

...apprehensibly caused to be by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Mauricio Pellegrino reveals that @ShaneLong7 should be fit for #SaintsFC’s game against #NUFC.

https://www.pscp.tv/w/bK9aODMxOTB8MW1yeG1tQmtPWUJ4ecA6GNzzqIkWCgX0u17O6lMhGahBBJn_ApK37FkE2SPD

Retweets: 2

Favourites: 8

...comparatively made by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Pellegrino: "I will always be grateful to Rafa Benitez for what he has done for me, both professionally and persona… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/918820443557122049

Retweets: 1

Favourites: 3

...vaingloriously brought into being by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Pellegrino: "Perhaps we didn’t deserve to lose our last two games. It’s very important that we get a result against… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/918821362042630145

Retweets: 2

Favourites: 3

...opportunistically devised by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Southampton FC - Official Site article

Under-18s in a confident mood

Show/hide article…

The teenage Saints have been representing Austria, Wales and Norway, as well as various age groups in the Republic of Ireland set-up, but have returned to club football intent on extending their unbeaten run in the Under-18 Premier League.

“I think it is always nice for them as individuals to get recognition from their countries,” Butterfield commented ahead of tomorrow’s trip to London Colney. “It it something we promote as a club.”

"We want the boys to test themselves against good opposition, it will only improve their development. We’re pleased for the ones who got selected, but they are back now and focus switches to the Arsenal game.

“Some had the weekend off to recharge the batteries, and are now keen to prolong our momentum.”

Perhaps unnerving to some, ex-Saints defender Butterfield is convinced that his young charges will relish the challenge of facing one of the country’s most renowned academies, after convincingly beating Manchester City last month.

Talking about his squad’s preparation in the run-up to the fixture, Butterfield added: "Against the better teams in our league, on reputation, you rise to the challenge.

"Perhaps it brings more of a focus to the lads, in the lead up to the game. Particularly, the result against Man City has given everyone the belief that we can compete against the best academy teams.

“We’ve watched Arsenal’s recent games, and know what they’re capable of. We’ll show them as much respect as necessary, but equally try to impose our game on them. The boys are in a confident mood.”

Go to the original article…

...unconvincedly concocted by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Pellegrino: "#NUFC have improved. They defended very well against #LFC but I think we have the quality to break the… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/918823746865070081

Retweets: 0

Favourites: 0

...foresightedly devised by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Optimus trousers summary article summary

Summary of non-mainstream articles: 13/10/2017 13:04:06

| | Southampton express interest in United youngsterREADSOUTHAMPTON |
| | Saints Planning Barcelona Swoop In January ! - Southampton NewsTHEUGLYINSIDE |
| | Vital Preview - Premier League - 14th-16th October 2017VITALFOOTBALL |

...rewardingly carved by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from Optimus trousers’ RSS Feed rss feed

Read Southampton

New content from (- Read Southampton)

| Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur want to sign Steven Bergwijn from PSV | Southampton are keeping an eye on young PSV winger Steven Bergwijn, along with fellow Premier League side Tottenham … 13-10-2017 |

Older content…

| Southampton express interest in United youngster13 hours ago |
| Saints midfielder discusses new system under Pellegrino2 days ago |
| Barcelona transfer list Alcacer2 days ago |
| Southampton consider move for Hand2 days ago |
| Southampton star hopes to end 1000 minute goal drought3 days ago |
| Southampton striker suffers blow on international duty4 days ago |
| Southampton target confirms offer but says he doesn’t want to leave in January5 days ago |
| Which striker should start against Newcastle?6 days ago |
| Pellegrino pursuing former club Alaves for €500,0006 days ago |

...evasively made by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!

Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

Pellegrino: "#NUFC have improved. They defended very well against #LFC but I think we have the quality to break the… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/918823958237020160

Retweets: 2

Favourites: 5

...bawdily engineered by Optimus trousers...beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!