Not the best time to be playing Southampton

[Canaries Utd 0]

6 points from the last two games, they will be buoyed, we''ll have to be at our best. I really hope we go 4-4-2?

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

I have always seen this as a very hard fixture. That said they have won over a poor QPR and a Newcastle who seem in free fall.  Both Norwich and Southampton will be wary of each other i could see another draw

[splutcho 196]

To be fair, not the best time to be playing us either!

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

So in our last 2 games we''ve beaten the league leaders and drawn at the team in 5th, both results well deserved. We shouldn''t underestimate Soton but we shouldn''t be intimidated either.

I would bet my mortgage on us going with 4-5-1

[Redders Right Foot 22]

this is not the best time to be changing our shape. 6 undefeated in the league and 7 all comps.

soton are very strong going forward, we are going to need the back 6 (back 4 + Tettey/Johnson) filling in the places they have been to try and stop them from scoring.

at the other end of the field, their defending is in my opinion weak, although they looked good today I''ll put it down to how terrible newcastle looked. quick counters might be the way for us. 4-4-2 allows them to be able to counter us like they have been, if we can force them to try and play the ball more, hoolahan, pilks, snoddy, and holt can easily be released forward for hopefully some one-on-one situations.

[ZLF 335]

one thing we should not do is change formation, its the thing our improved form has been built on.

More of the same, high tempo and commitment and we should as a minimum avoid a defeat, which is a perfect outcome

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Canaries Utd"]6 points from the last two games, they will be buoyed, we''ll have to be at our best. I really hope we go 4-4-2?[/quote]no chance of 442

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Canaries Utd"]6 points from the last two games, they will be buoyed, we''ll have to be at our best. I really hope we go 4-4-2?[/quote]no chance of 442

[Gingerpele 0]

Pretty good time to play them, would you expect Southampton to win 3 in a row?

Someones run will come to an end, either we stop them from winning and continue our unbeaten run, or they win and stop our run.

We are on a much more impressive run of games than then, beating Arsenal, Stoke & Man.U, away draws at Villa, Reading and Everton.

They will be confidant, perhaps even think its an easy win for them, but its not. With every game that we don''t lose we are just that much harder to beat. Unbeaten runs are better than winning runs in my opinion, there is a lot more pressure when you''re winning. If Southampton had drawn today, it''d have been unbeaten in three for them, but they won so its two wins in a row. They should be happy with a draw, the more games they don''t lose the less likely they are to go down.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Our getting a result at Southampton hinges for me on our not giving the ball away cheaply. They will look to build up a head of steam which we need to disrupt.

[TheRock 192]

Any chance of having Turner and Ruddy back? I think we''ll play from the back, try and take it slow like we did against Liverpool (hopefully not as bad as that performance)4-5-1. We''ll have to flood the midfield in order to stop Southampton going forward. Solidness by mass pressure (like against Arsenal) will be needed.I''m going for a 0-1 score''n''sit-on-it. [H]

[Number 9 0]

Agree with Ginge, they will be overconfident, we will play as at Reading, chances are we will take one or two of our chances this time.

2-0 or 3-1 to City.

[York Canary 29]

Must-not-lose rather than must-win for me. Would love to have Ruddy back as he''s in the form of his life and even though Bunn is rated quite well, Ruddy is on it at the moment and takes charge of the defence with Bass. Turner would be great to have back as well and hopefully we won''t be caught out of position at the back as many times as against Everton. Get to half-time level and that''s a good start as they''ll start to worry and tire as they try to chase it at home

[Mr Jenkins 0]

I agree with Ginger too, the likelyhood of Southampton winning three in a row is very slim. We should go and play to our normal formula and let them worry about us. If they become to overly confident there should be some joy for Anthony and Wesley. I think we will win.

[Jacko 0]

We''ve undefeated in 7 and have beaten 3 of last year''s top 4 in that run. This works both ways. We are a team to be respected on current form.

[K Lo 246]

What''s more impressive? An away win at bottom QPR & a home win at Newcastle (14th)orAn away draw at EVertone (5th) and a home win at Man U (1st)Granted, it may not be the best time to play Soton but they''re probably not as good as Everton or Man U.

[Zak Van Burger 0]

[quote user="Cambridge Yellow"]We''ve undefeated in 7 and have beaten 3 of last year''s top 4 in that run. This works both ways. We are a team to be respected on current form.[/quote]

Not the best time to be playing Norwich!!

[pete_norw 0]

[quote user="Zak Burger"][quote user="Cambridge Yellow"]We''ve undefeated in 7 and have beaten 3 of last year''s top 4 in that run. This works both ways. We are a team to be respected on current form.[/quote]


Not the best time to be playing Norwich!!


[/quote]

With respect, Southampton have had a lucky break, QPR everyone comes away with 1 or 3 points and Newcastle are going through the Pardew Syndrome right now,  and I think this could be our first away win.

[Tumbleweed 106]

Soton looked very good on MOTD, but it was difficult to really judge as NCL were so poor. They stood off too far, were disorganised, and their central midfielders failed to pick up Lallana, Puncheon and Ramirez. Anybody would have looked good yesterday and their two goals were both indirectly from goalkeeping errors. Having said that it will give them huge confidence and we can expect a really tough game. Lambert is a Holt type player who will get in the faces of Turner/Bennett/Bassong.

 

The keys are  (i) at full back where Garrido and Whitaker mustn''t get caught on the overlap so Snodgrass and Pilkington need to work hard and provide extra cover down the flanks like happened against Man Utd; and (ii) Johnson and Tettey must watch Puncheon and Lallana like hawks, they like to get forward and will overrun a static or distracted central defence. 

 

This is one I would be happy with a draw from, but we can nick it or lose it so I see all results possible.

[beardface69 0]

Southampton seemed to have got there act together but that''s there only clean sheet this season so they do leak goals !! Why change anything yes we seem to lack some goals but were still capable of scoring the odd goal so stick with what has servered us so well the last 7 games !!

[paul moy 235]

Well, our priority will as usual be on defence and Southampton''s will be on attack, so they will be given the initiative by our tactics, but will also be riding on a wave of confidence at home after two excellent wins. I have always said that Southampton will come good and surprise a few people in the Prem and this match I see them winning purely because their strength is in goalscoring and ours certainly is not. I hope I''m wrong though and that we can succeed in frustrating them to scrape a draw.

[......and Smith must score. 1,596]

[quote user="Gingerpele"].....Unbeaten runs are better than winning runs in my opinion, there is a lot more pressure when you''re winning.......[/quote]Can''t see that GP.A team can go on a six match unbeaten run but end up with the same points as they would if they only had a two match winning run.Plus the goal difference would also improve.I think most players must love the '' pressure '' of a winning streak......the longer it goes on the more confidence they gain and the more they think they''re invincible.

[lake district canary 0]

Each match that goes by with a win or a draw is a good thing, regardless of how it is achieved.  As long as we carry on as we have been, some of the chances we create will start to go in more.   We know the players out there have goals in them.    It will be the icing on the cake of Hughton''s regime - improve the defence and make us hard to beat, then get the goal scorers going again.  

Why not start at Southampton.  The pressure will be on them to win - but we''ve beaten Arse, MU, Tott, Stoke, drawn away at Everton, Reading, AV.   Everything is in our favour - as long as we turn up and play like we did in the second half at Everton.   

[splutcho 196]

I see Paul Moy is throwing his toys out because Hughton isn''t Lambert again.

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="splutcho"]I see Paul Moy is throwing his toys out because Hughton isn''t Lambert again.[/quote]

Hardly, as I think Lambert would find it difficult to get a point there even if he was still here.  

[Nicko 0]

I think its an excellent time to be playing southampton. Unnaturally high confidence, complacency etc. Rather than a low confidence team who have been waiting for this fixture...