Southampton vs Everton

One day, this club may get to the bottom of our perpetual sizeable injury list. Of course we have more than one player particularly vulnerable to injury but even so. Lucky we got some players in recently.

Doucoure is a miss, but perhaps leaving him out until March would be prudent given he's had a few knocks this season. I know we'd ideally have 'The Duke' back for Citeh, but even at our best we would struggle to beat them so give him an extra few days.

The middle of our defense is more of a concern, if we manage to get through the next month with only Holgate, Keane and Branthwaite as options it would be a right result. Gbamin may even get a game if we're short there - that might be a good thing for him bearing in mind his injuries too?

He’s articulate about all the players, reasonable and gives good honest information about injuries etc

So far so good albeit early days!

Would love to have Doucoure back, but I feel like he rushed his return earlier this season and hope the same mistake isn't being made again.

Good news about Mykolenko. But Kenny deserves to keep the LB spot for the time being.

Didn’t exactly work against Newcastle, but that was down to two unfortunate injuries in first half.

You play on merit not name.

COYBs

Sounds easy but it’s never easy as the injuries take a toll but great spirit often compensates for missing key players.

Then we have Calvert-Lewin, Gordon, Alli, and possibly Iwobi, Townsend, and El Ghazi vying for the remaining two spots.

What shirt is Demarai wearing? A special one for a tournament in Texas?

Let's hope Iwobi has found his footballing talent. COYB – let's put 2 fingers up to the most boring fucking fans in Premier League history. I hate that slow drawl "Oh When The Saints" fucking song.

The team did not drop their heads as they might have done in the past and Newcastle played with an intensity that reflected their league position, supported by an incredibly vocal support.

Okay, we lost - but to imply that we imploded is very unfair.

If this XI continue to perform well and stay fit, then it is going to be very challenging for the likes of Gray, Dele Alli, Doucouré, Godfrey, Patterson, Mykolenko to walk into the starting XI. If I had told you that 2 weeks ago, you would have called me certifiably mad!

For the game tomorrow, both teams have had a full week's preparation so it should be an interesting contest. We beat Southampton 3-1 in the opening game of the season. I look forward to seeing a decent performance and a positive result at St Mary's. Let's hope the weather doesn't spoil the day.

Unless Everton are prepared to travel tomorrow, by plane (still in 50 mph gales) then I can't see the game being on.

This will be a a good game between 2 teams who will want to get on the front foot and attack. At yesterdays press conference a reporter who hadnt done his homework asked Lampard what did he know about Armando Broja who is on loan at Southampton from Chelsea. Lampard said he knows the lad well and in fact gave him his debut when he was managing Chelsea, from his comments Frank rates him very highly.
I thought Lampards comments when asked about his thoughts on a DOF being brought in to the club. He said first he would like to have a lot of input into that decision if thats the way the club wanted to go in, although I got the feeling he isn't a great fan of the DOF role. He also said if they go in that direction its important the role of the DOF is clearly defined and also he has similar ideas to the manager.

Obviously a big danger tomorrow is Ward Prowse from dead ball situations, so no silly free kicks in and around the 18 yard box. Also if given space he can deliver a killer pass, so will need to be watched, I also like Armstrong up front. But they will have plenty to worry about from us now we have become a more attacking team under Lampard. I know Lampard said it would seem obvious after such a good win to keep the same team, but also suggested that seeing Southampton play a different way to Leeds they would have to take that into consideration.

If it does go ahead the conditions will mean it'll be a difficult game for both teams and probably not a great game of football. Maybe time for Pickford to get his first goal with a wind-assisted clearance!

Coach or plane, both tricky weatherwise.

The squad have had another week with Lampard and his team, another week to digest what and how he wants them to play and set up.

We are still perilously close to the Bottom 3 and, with Man City on the horizon, we need another confidence-building performance and result before Pep's boys come here.

Hopefully Lampard can instil consistency into this bunch.

We have to guard against a let down again as we all know Soton are doing better and will ne a tough nut to get something out of.

Lot's of if's for that to happen but one of them is Iwobi who finally showed some form so if the defence can keep a clean sheet again then we have a shot at all three points.

The corners and free kicks need to be limited as Keane and Holgate still look vulnerable in the air.

It sounds a tough call whether to get up at some ungodly hour Saturday morning to make such a long haul, possibly in vain.

What is tomorrow's forecast like? Will the worst of this blow out by KO?

At least if the game is postponed, our coach tickets will still be valid for the re-arranged game. I believe the worst of the bad weather will be gone by early hours tomorrow morning.

Lampard's biggest selection headache will be Iwobi. Drop him to the bench and risk destroying last Saturday's huge boost to his fragile confidence or start him and risk him returning to his usual form. After his presser comments, I think he'll start with an unchanged side, especially as Mykolenko's mind might be more focused on events back home in Ukraine.

I couldn't give a Hassenhutl about Southampton and we now have some decent options off the bench despite all the injuries. I'll go for a well earned draw, but dream of getting a much needed away win. My mind keeps returning to being behind the goal in the Park End and seeing our 8 goal demolition of them at Goodison in bad weather many years ago, so COYB.

Robin Reliant, or 3-wheel Bubble Car?

Amazing how well they hold the road, even in the most adverse of conditions.

Were you able to squeeze Big Rob in the Robin?

I like the look of Lyndons team but I wonder about playing Seamus behind Jonjoe in a four man MF in place of Iwobi.

A win would be great for my brother Charlie, who remains very ill. It looks like there will be some months of rehabilitation in the Walton Neuro Centre, but that is better than how things looked last weekend. Many people left messages of support on here, or contacted me privately. Thank you so much.

There was also a great video message to Charlie from Frank Lampard, which showed something of the nature of our new manager.

Worst of her wind is gonna be overnight apparently so while the players may have a bit of a hairy flight, our game should hopefully be subjected to nothing more than a light breeze. As some others have said on here already though, a postponement may not be the end of the world from our point of view.

If it does go ahead then a point would be another step in the right direction. I don’t fancy us tomorrow and I feel without a home crowd to roar us home, a draw is the best we can hope for. I’m going for a nil - nil bore draw.

2 clean sheets on the bounce ? I can dream I suppose !

Onward Evertonians.
Full support 💙

The atmosphere at St Mary's stadium is nothing compared to Newcastle. We will be in full voice, selling out the away section behind the goal, so will be heard loud and clear by the Everton players.

Unlike at Newcastle, where we are stuck up in the gods, and unlikely to be heard very much by the team.

I'm going for a 3-1 win.

Lampard was saying he doesn't have an issue with that and that all sorts of gamesmanship go in in the Premier League.

“ The gels contain maltodextrin and are absorbed within 10 minutes, giving the players a boost just in time for the last 20-or-so minutes of the match.

“On the eye, there has been a significant improvement when it comes to remaining competitive in matches,” The Athletic’s Dan Sheldon wrote”

We should have our own Duracell Juice ready for our lads too, when they get their fake 65th minute injury.

Why should we concede that advantage to Southampton?

I'm pretty certain, having seen the seating layout of the new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, the away fans are stuck up in the gods in the corner, so neither on the side or behind the goal.

If I remember correctly, it was a freezing cold day and once home and warming up in the bath and listening to the radio, it was one of those occasions when not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Nowadays, I would struggle to remember what I did last week. Eight tomorrow would be good but will be very happy with a hard-won point.

That 68-69 season was just great in terms of the quality of our footie, the pinnacle of the Holy Trinity. Apart from winning the league the season after….!

Actually Southampton had some good players on the field, well-known names at the time, including Jimmy Gabriel, Terry Paine, Mick Channon, Ron Davies, and Bobby Stokes who a few years later scored the winner for them at Wembley to beat Man Utd in the Cup.

However they had John McGrath at centre-half and it is fair to say he did not play well. I learned a new expression that day: "yard dog" to describe his efforts as the goals went in.

We only finished 15th that season when the league was won by Derby County with 58 points from 42 games. Don't Man City need about 100 points from 38 games to win the Premier League?

Neither Royle nor Johnson managed to get to double figures for league goals that season, and a whole host of well-known players from the past failed to start even half the fixtures, including Alan Ball, Colin Harvey, Brian Labone, Tommy Wright and Keith Newton. No idea why so many missed games but maybe our current issues with injuries is nothing new.

'Robin Reliant, Jay. And wearing my Batman outfit.'

A tight squeeze all round, then?

Now if you could hire a Robin suit for tomorrow...

Best not, eh?

https://www.borehamwoodfootballclub.co.uk/uncategorized/what-a-very-classy-gesture-from-the-peoples-club/

Stan, as you probably know, we played wonderful football in that period, but we’ve never been appreciated as the best footballing team of the sixties. Champions twice. A joy to watch.

Thanks for that link. It's an amazing gesture by our club. I've no idea how much a full first team squad kit would cost, probably easily in excess of £2k or £3k. Let's see if this make the national press?

Duncan Ferguson threw around £5k behind the bar of two pubs prior to the Villa game, yet very little mention, if any, in the national press, whilst that RS Klopp gives away about three bottles of beer to fans as they return from an away game and it's everywhere. I don't care what anyone says, as a club we are far far superior to them.

I don't know what to expect tomorrow. I was so looking forward to the Newcastle game and then apprehensive about the Leeds game.

I will take a well fought draw but would love a win.
COYMB

That's why they're obsessed with us. The Ev living rent free in their round heads.

Let’s hope a good Everton victory, in days gone by we did well at the Dell, but we’ve not do everything so well at St Mary’s.

Still there are many of them Soton supporters who go on about the Highbury semi final.

UTFT!

We can't compete with them for quantity of trophies, but they can't compete with us in terms of highest quality of football ever seen in Britain, perhaps until the Arsenal invincibles and the current Man City.

The comparison between us and them in the '60s is the same as today's comparison between Man City and them. Superior quality versus workmanlike. They hate that comparison, which is why they try snide comments about City, and why they're still obsessed with us even though we've not been great for a long time.

They've never had a Colin Harvey or Kevin de Bruyne.

We go to win tomorrow. Simple; take the momentum from the last game.

Slightly off track, but I watched the interview with Joe Edwards. Music to my ears.

When at Chelsea and coaching the academy teams, he was not always under pressure to win games, mostly develop players.

He spoke about playing higher and pressing higher. Winning the ball more often in the opposition half and less in our own. Keeping the ball away from our goal and closer to the oppositions more often.

On training, not talking about having a philosophy and briefing or trying to coach that into the entire group. A way of playing, yes, but breaking players out into smaller groups and even down to individual level. For example Ashley Cole taking aside players who play in his position. Individual coaching.

And trying to install a winning mentality. It won't come overnight, and they know that, but that is the aim.

All words I know, but encouraging and uplifting nonetheless. And he has been there, seen it happen and played a key role in delivering success. Very shrewd move by Lampard who is still relatively inexperienced in coaching / managing. But he's surrounding himself with people who are.

I distract, I just had nowhere else to put it.

I'll over-confidently go with the 3 - 1 prediction.

But after Newcastle, and our woes on the road, I won't be overly disappointed with 2 - 2. Just give the travelling blues a performance to make their long day out worth the effort.

Certainly we can be cautiously optimistic but we need to start positively and not just try to contain them just because they are the home side.

That may not be part of the Lampard strategy but we know how our defensive liabilities like to give up silly goals and put the team behind the eight ball.

They will try to capitalize in the air with Adams an Broja so we cannot give away silly free kicks.

With the chance Barcodes may lose at West Ham and Norwich sure to get thrashed by RS a point from this game wouldn't be too bad.

It will be a process but we have a body of knowledge, experience and ambition which promises much. How refreshing.

Gerry #73, great catch, my friend, and what a lovely gesture by our club.

And for their right-back, Kane Smith, they should gift him a #2 with his hero Hibbo's name on the back.

Hope all you folks are surviving the storm okay. For the record, I had a Typhoon Eunice in my family. It was the nickname of my grandfather's youngest sister. We could always calm her down with Scotch. I wonder if the UK weather forecaster tried that on Storm Eunice.

I think we also paid for all their supporters travel and wined and dined their players and families for a couple of days.

With the attendance money, I think they earned enough to keep them going for a season or two?

Class. Hopefully Boreham Wood will be able to place a significant order for their fans. I imagine it will be one of the biggest days – if not the biggest day – in the club's history.

It would be great for their fans to be able to buy the shirt to celebrate the event – as well as being another good revenue stream for them. Brilliant for Boreham Wood either way though.

I am gutted because I was going to get tickets to this game but my son had a football tournament which has now been cancelled due to the weather!

I would stick with the same team that beat Leeds, agree with other posters who say this is a much bigger test of Frank's reign.

They have Broja who looks a real handful, Adams is showing form and you must never rule out the excellent Ward-Prowse.

Walcott hat-trick anyone? What a waste of money he was! I'm going to stick my neck out and say we win 1-2 in a hard-fought match, end to end, and we pinch it with 5 mins to go through Richarlison.

Can't wait to have Doucouré, Godfrey and Gray also back. Then we can really use the squad to change the game.

Feeling fairly confident after last weeks display, and believe we now have the confidence to be a match for most sides. Saints are on a good run-let's end it !

COYB 💙💙

Duncan @93, has that ticket been snapped up?

As for the game, it's got the makings of a good one. If we play like we did at Goodison, then we'll give them a game, alright. That's all I ask of them, is "go for the throat!"

As for the outcome, if we win, that's brilliant! So long as our confidence doesn't burst like a balloon if luck (and the effin VAR) goes against us.

Go at them, boys!

Refreshing to see and, if Joe's half as a good a coach as our White Pele, then Everton will improve.

Renewed optimism today, and I'm confident of an Everton victory at Southampton.

They go to every Everton game, Kevin in his wheelchair can't wait to get to these games, just lives for the Blues. When we win, Kevin will play all the past Everton victories, sing his head off with Everton songs, helped by a few cans of lager.

Sonny, my grandson, had to move into the back bedroom when he was at school because he got little rest with Kevin's singing. I hope early tomorrow morning when I get up to relieve myself, I hear Kevin singing loud, clear and very happy. Come on you Blueboys!!

A friend is being ordained a Deacon today, so I shall miss the match, though I will be sneaking updates.

I am more optimistic than usual, but a bit concerned that gel could be a deciding factor. Gel being an addition to long-suffering Toffees. . . could only happen with Everton.

COYB. Let's turn up and, as has been said, have a real go.

After watching the Joe Edwards interview, I agree with Paul @102. I thought Frank Lampard's first interview was good and this is definitely up there with it. There is a cohesive thought process finally here at Everton. Long may it continue.

The latest training video highlights the impact the new setup has already established. The team are actually communicating with one another and seem to be enjoying it. Quite a bit of banter too.

I'm really hoping for a good result today.
COYB

Not so sunny now! Think I'll be getting a bit wet crossing the bridge! I'm 20 mins away from St Mary's as well, unfortunately going with family who are Saints fans! Hope the travelling Toffees arrive on time!

It looks like a team of manager and coaches, who want to win and know what it takes to do it. Very impressive man, as is Frank Lampard. What I really liked as well, is the importance he gives to play the football that us supporters will give our all for. Early days, but great signs for the future here.

Dave's post just epitomises how the power of our supporters is something else. Kevin sounds a brilliant lad!

Joe Edwards Interview

Another good watch is this week's training ahead of the Saints game.

Everton Training

Look out for some nice banter early in the piece between Calvert-Lewin and Jonjoe Kenny, then Anthony Gordon and Richarlison.

I know these clips of training are selective and snapshot, but you can see a real intensity in the one-touch passing drills. There also appears far more animation and laughs than was the case under Benitez.

They look sharp and happy.

I often wonder whether the unquestioned loyalty of these superb fans is truly appreciated by both players and the Club alike. The players travel down in style, usually in a luxury coach or plane with every amenity at their behest, and getting paid megabucks where fans do not have such luxuries, and have probably shelled out a good proportion of their money to get there.

I thought Joe Edwards was extremely impressive. We'll have hard times, no doubt, but we'll have more Good Times.

Frank and Joe have come from a winning environment and they'll make sure our players have that same desire. Hard times for a while, but Good Times ahead, I think. (I've just said that... dopey bugger!)

Yet I’m impressed about how everyone is so much more upbeat on match day chats. Talking about uplifting feel good stuff like Everton buying Boreham Woods Kit for the FA Cup, fans helping other fans of all walks of life to make it to the game, the efforts fans are making despite the weather and reminiscing about past glories! Long may that continue.

The one thing I noted this week about Everton was how much fun and how happy the players looked training. As Jay Wood alluded to earlier, there were smiles, playing fun games like volleyfootball and corner flag golf, actual recorded banter (JJ Cruyff and my goal no my goal) as well as lots of hard work on drills. It was a great watch the training video and so uplifting! I’ve watched it 5 times because it’s that enjoyable. Haven’t seen a training video like that for a long time!

And the Joe Edwards interview was boss too.

I know he's only had a game and a half but I've seen enough – you were right and I was wrong – my apologies to you!!

I think that will happen again more often, at Goodison Park.

That said maybe he’ll instruct our players to watch out for the fake Saints injury scenario and catch a breather / electrolyte gel / Duracell juice boost at the same time.

Alternatively for comedy gold he could instruct all our players to collapse and feign injury at the same time as the fake Saints injured player in the 60-70 min mark. Yet that’s highly unlikely to happen! 😆

Both Kenny and Iwobi would be very unlucky to miss out, especially Kenny. I'd rather have Alli though than Iwobi given Saints are strong with Romeu, Ward-Prowse and Armstrong in the middle and we'd benefit from (hopefully) a bit of bite and snarkiness from Alli.

Iwobi probably better suited to home games.

Both Joe and Frank have talked about Franks meritocracy philosophy in terms of training and games. So I’d be surprised if JJK and Iwobi don’t start to be honest.

I wonder whether Frank will set up the same team that started the Leeds epic win in a 4-2-3-1 formation or 4-4-1-1. Then Richarlison can drop a bit deeper off Dom to press and harry the Saints defenders like he did as well as any of Gordon and Iwobi against Leeds. It would also allow Frank to sub Dele on for DCL later on in the game, as Dom returns to fitness, pushing Richi up front - without changing the formation in game which he did last week. Yet from last weeks game I would say the front 4 are quite fluid in attack. So a 4-4-2 could be in operation again as far as pressing without the ball, yet be more creative when without the ball to find the spaces in between the lines for the two 6’s Allen and VDB to pass into. The training drills on YouTube show Allen and VDB operating as a pair and Gomez and Duke as another pair in the centre of the passing drills. This has been a common theme in the training videos released so far.

As for beating the Saints press, it appeared in the Leeds game that Holgate and Keane were instructed to get it to Allen / VDB or fullbacks if it was easy to or go route one if it was not via themselves or via Jordan, and if in doubt kick it out. That worked better than trying to play out from the back all the time. Route 1 defence from the centre backs was more solid if less attractive and worked. With DCL in the team as a focal front man flicking it on or holding the ball up, It also allows the team to get the ball into the opposing half quickly to allow our nimble attacking quartet to attack with the ball or do the pressing and harrying if we don’t retain possession - as far away from our goal as possible. That’s my view anyway

I remember something Sir Alex Ferguson said that I always found interesting. When asked the question how do you pick a line up week in and week out with the myriad of options, Sir Alex responded (Para), "It's the easiest part of the job, really. The lineup picks itself. The players decide the lineup by how they train all week."

Frank, to me, seems to adopt this philosophy and puts a lot of emphasis and importance on training mid-week, and then decides his lineup based upon said training.

So for me, I'm done worrying about who's starting and who's playing where. At least temporarily. That's up to Frank, and the players have probably already decided who's playing based upon how they trained all week.

COYB

Your idea of collapsing would be worth the entrance fee.

If we did that, it would never, ever be forgotten. It would be one of the funniest things I'd ever seen in sport.

It'll never happen, by man would that be hilarious.

If we don't pick up points today, we have Man City next week, and although I'll hold to hope, you'll be hard pressed to find many who give us a chance in that one.

If we don't pick up points, we'll most likely be right back in the mess we were in prior to the Leeds game.

We need points today.

In my opinion the meritocracy philosophy underpins how Frank and Joe and all the staff are helping to improve confidence both individually and collectively.

There’s no chance under Super Frank as far as I see it, that if a player has a bad game he’ll be ousted out of the team for a few weeks, whether he loves the club or not and trains hard every day; hung out to dry by the manager in a press conference for having a bad attitude; put on the bench for a game with no chance of playing despite when the team is playing poorly and then flogged to a rival team to help out your ex rs mate for a bargain price in the next transfer window!!! That sort of negative control freak management doesn’t install confidence in your team and your players in my opinion. It’s just downhill at bobsleigh speed after that.

Cold shoulder and constructive criticism works for a few players; yet praise after a good game, training efforts rewarded and constructive support and coaching works for many many more whether you’re a premier league footballer or anyone

What has changed is the likelihood of earning results/points. Inevitably some more losses to come but we now have hope and potential. We didn't have that before.

Whatever the result today, we can almost guarantee not seeing a Benitez-like performance. That for now is its own result.

So, despite having (a certain amount of) faith in Lampard it’s hard for me to trust these players. So until they go on a winning streak (5-6 games) I simply don’t believe their hearts are in it.

Sorry for pissing on anyone’s parade but this is what it has come to. I make no predictions as this is a very good Southampton team that can beat anyone on their day. Let’s see which Everton side turns up.

Just not seeing Rafa is a breath of fresh air for me.

Jim @ 130 -

I just now watched that Joe Edwards interview. What an impressive young man. All I could think of while I watched the interview was that I'd be entirely happy if HE were the manager! Now, I don't mean he should be, what I'm trying to say is that Joe Edwards, based upon what I saw, is going to manage some club, somewhere, in the future and for now I'm very happy we have him, based upon that interview.

For the first time since Roberto (yes, yes, I know...) I'm entirely happy with our coaching set up. That's a long time to go without really feeling the love. I tried with Silva and Koeman, but their style of play pissed me off too much. And Fat Sam and Rafa the less said the better. Never warmed to either of them.

I think it's just wonderful to be full of hope and excitement again.