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The Saints Are Coming!!!- The Game Crashed

A Southampton Story...
Started on 4 September 2013 by marc07ex
Latest Reply on 7 September 2013 by marc07ex
  • POSTS13
  • VIEWS6207
 
marc07ex's avatar Group marc07ex
11 yearsEdited
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Mauricio Pochettino leaves Southampton


In a surprising turn of events, Mauricio Pochettino has resigned from the southampton post after just six months in charge citing the difference with the club and has wished best of luck to the club in their future. The Club Chairman, Nicola Cortese has stated that the new manager will be revealed soon.

Paul Gascoigne, The new Southampton Manager

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To the surprise of everyone, Paul Gascoigne, the former england international has been appointed the manager of the club. Gascoigne 45 years of age is seen as a controversial choice by Mr. Nicola Cortese who is fighting Alcohol Addiction,worth mentioning. The supporters have gathered in the stadium protesting the appointment of Gascoigne stating that the club is making a big mistake appointing him as manager. Cortese sent assistant manager, Jesus Perez to calm down the fans and to believe in them.

The Southampton Website released the following statement, "The Club has appointed the former england international after Gascoigne made a determined effort to fight alcohol addiction and is hopeful that Gascoigne will lead the club to glory. Gascoigne will be on a 1 year contract worth 23500 pounds a week."

The fans seem confused and infuriated with the gamble the chairman has taken. Will Gascoigne be a hit as Cortese has hoped for, or Will the controversial figure lead the club to a deep abyss. The fans can only hope right now.

Gascoigne Denies Press Conference


Paul Gascoigne has denied the oppurtunity for a press conference but rather he sent a message directed to the fans of the saints in his facebook page.

"Well, I may not be the perfect manager for the club at the moment but believe me I will give it all my best. I will try to improve my reputation which has already been so much tainted and be an important member of the club staff. You may hate me now but I'm sure I will make you all proud soon enough. Let this man atone for all the mistakes that has been committed and even if i work hard and my team work hard, your support will be more important to us as you are the one who lifts the team's morale through your cheers. So Give me a chance to prove myself for this great club. On the side note, Southampton will be playing 5 friendlies and then I will meet you in a press conference before our first league match against Chelsea at the stamford bridge."

The Southampton board has stated that the club will be training in their facilities away from the fans in order to evaluate the squad and the transfer targets so that the club can prepare in the way Gascoigne has envisioned the team to be playing without any more trouble to be created and in order to let the situation cool down.
marc07ex's avatar Group marc07ex
11 yearsEdited
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Southampton Transfer Updates


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Inside sources have informed that southampton has completed some deals before the end of their pre-season. Gascoigne seems to have got rid of some of the players and brought some exciting young players.

Here are more details...


Transfers Out.
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Billy Sharp to Fulham for 4m
Guly Do Prado to Cagliari for 2.7m
Jos Hooiveld to FC Groningen for 2.8m
Danny Fox to Celtic for 3m
Aaron Martin to Ipswich for 400k
Kelvin Davies Out on loan with a future fee to Blackpool.

Transfers In.
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Carlos fierro from Chivas for 3m(Awaiting Work Permit)
Samuel Umtiti from Lyon for 3.9m
Jose Sanchez Mino from Boca for 4.1m
Maxime Gonalons from Lyon for 5m(on 12month installment)
Josh McEacharan from Chelsea for 5m(on 24 month installment)

From the business that has been done, it seems Gascoigne seems to have been trying to get more young blood into the team while getting rid of players that he considers not useful to the team. Inside sources have told that these might be the end of southampton's transfer dealing unless a good value for money is available. However some dealings might still be possible if Morgan Schneiderlin moves to liverpool who seem to be interested in the player.
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Pre-Season Round-up


Southampton has completed the pre-season without any injury scare and Gascoigne is hopeful that the important players will be ready for their first game of the season against THE BLUES at Stamford Bridge. The Team is using a 4-1-2-1-2 formation for all their friendlies and the team is gelling quite well as of now.

Here is the formation being Used.

While here is the result of their pre-season Friendlies and some of their up-coming fixtures.

So Its a really difficult start to the season for southampton with Chelsea(A), Followed by Arsenal(H) and Liverpool(A). So can southampton record a good start to the season or will their season crumble at the beginning of the season???

A Look At the First Team

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The team is good enough for a mid-table finish barring major injuries to key players. Players like Gaston Ramirez, Pablo Osvaldo, Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin will be important to the team. While there are some decent players in the team like Artur Boruc, Jack Cork and so on. However Hopes will be high on Luke Shaw and other youngsters.

Next Time its Gascoigne's First Press conference.
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Bold= Press Questions
Normal= Paul Gascoigne

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Mr. Gascoigne, Welcome to your first press conference as well as your official unveiling to southampton supporters. So why did you reject the first press conference for your unveiling???

Well, Thank You. There were some certain factors that needed me to reject the first Press Conference. First the supporters weren't ready at the time as they were not convinced I was a logical choice and I agree with them even I would have hesitated to appoint someone who had such an awful history taking charge of my team. Honestly I would not have let myself get anywhere near the team. I was moved when Mr. Cortese approached me and I decided I needed to get my life back on track and do something that would make myself worth something. Second I wanted the supporters to calm down, some set of good results in the friendlies would make them get behind the team as well and change their hearts towards me and ease off a little pressure off the team. Also i needed as much time as I could get to know my team better and evaluate what's best for the team without much of the distraction to deal with.

So have you overcome the severe alcohol addiction problem???

I have to admit that its really hard to stay sober when you have been drowning yourself in booze for the past decade and more. But I have changed myself. You can see that I have been sober for a very long time now. Infact i haven't had a single drop of alcohol in me since I took over this job. You can figure out how hard it is and you can see how committed I am to this job. So You can say I'm over it.

How was the pre-season and how did the team work with eachother?

Well the pre-season was more than decent, on the good side. The team was able to win all their pre-season matches and the team morale is high. The team looks compact at the back except for some occasional hiccups which will be sorted after more matches. The attacking unit seems to be working quite well now and the mid-field is getting used to a more passing and pressing game. The team is gelling well, Not may first-team players I have brought to disrupt the team-work so they are doing well.

How has the transfer business worked out? And will their be another signing? How good are your signings and what do you hope from them?

The transfer business has been good. We have captured some good players for the future. We have balanced the books by selling some players and replacing them with better players. The team is set to play well and I expect them to do well. As for further deals, its unlikey we've got some good balance in the team and with the league games starting i don't think I would disrupt the team balance but I cannot rule out further deals as we are always trying to improve our squad, if a player with good value for money and team is available we will use our funds which is available to us. As for my signings, Samuel Umtiti is probably our second best defender after Lovren and he's still a youngster. I can expect him to be the best defender in the premier league in a couple of years and who know he may become the best in the world. Gonalons, well when he was transfer-listed we jumped at him straight away as he can be quite valuable for our team and provides us with experience, the chance of good depth and more variable style of play. Juan Sanchez Mino is a very good wingback and I am sure we can rotate him with Shaw and he is quite versatile as well and can cover the midfield positions when required. McEacharan is an excellent english youth product and he will be quite an important player for us in the near future and now will be a backup player for us now. Fierro is a good striker who provides us with depth and has quite some potential as well.

How about the right-back position? With only Nathaniel Clyne on the team who can play there, don't you think that re-enforcement is needed in that position?

Well, we've been playing Steven Davies out there in pre-season and he's training for that position. He's looking good to challenge Clyne in that slot with his passing and defending game so we have cover there unless a major injury crisis occurs. Also there isn't much option in that place in the market and It's better to have some versatile player and we've got one.

What do you think about today's transfer market?

Its inflated and its hard to buy players for their market value. You have to dig deep in the scouting area to find value for money players or risk end up paying double the amount for a decent player. But I hope this inflated market will soon be back to normal.

You are seen as a controversial figure by most football fans in general. How does it affect your mentality? And what do your team think of you in general?

Controversial?? Well I haven't had a word with media since joining for more than a month. I have remained patient. Controversial would be someone like Jose Mourinho but the fans love him and their players support him well as well. Think of me in the same mould but on a smaller scale at the moment. You can think that I'm Controversial, I couldn't care less. I just want to win and become addicted to winning and thats my mentality whatever others think and the players know what I want from them so they respect the vision that I have over their playing style. Controversial I may be but on the other side Driven I am to improve this club.

So you've been playing a winger-less formation of 4-3-3 hybrid in the english football which is rare and where does it leave Adam Lallana, the captain who's a winger himself? Can you explain some of your style to us?

Adam Lallana is quite a versatile lad, he will fit into my system. You just have to wait and watch. He's the motivator of the team and he is pretty much an important part of my plans. As for my system, wingers aren't really that important in this modern game. In the past the wingers used to provide width to the team but now they cut inside making them pretty much a attacking midfielder. I want width and I will use my full-backs and wing-backs for that purpose. Modern wingers operate as second strikers like Ronaldo or attacking midfielders like Hazard, so I'd rather get a full striker and a attacking midfielder into the team which are more available and suitable for the team and make the team operation more fluid so that it compensates for the lack of wingers and the team will press and keep possesion. And this formation will be suitable for all the teams all over the world not just for the english football. As for physicality, a player with better technique will thrive in a more physical league barring injuries. So I think It will be a sucess.

How do you vision the club in the near future?

Well I envision the club with great success in the near future with the possibility of european football in the coming few years. It maynot be possible at the present time but the club will take tiny but strong steps to make it happen but as for today, we want to avoid relegation first, then make a mid-table finish, and maybe possibly end up in the top half. So that's what I'm targetting, all in little baby steps, No Overambitious thoughts.

Southampton seem to have had the toughest starting fixtures with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool as first 3 fixtures what are you hoping for the club in those fixtures??

The start will be tough, sure but it also provides us with the chance when these clubs will have to gel with new signings, we will give it our best but these clubs are realistically among the top 5 sides in the league so if we can scrap away a win against any one of them it will be marvellous. But there is also a chance that we might suffer heavy losses against them and the team morale may go down so low that we might not recover. So we'll be trying to avoid that as its the crucial period for us. Its hard but we're hopeful. we've had good pre-season so we're in good mood. We'll fight till our last breath.
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Month Of August


Southampton has started the season with two draws, away to Chelsea and at home to Arsenal. Both the game could have been won as the saints were awarded the penalty at 87th minute which was well saved, in a game that chelsea dominated. At home to Arsenal, Pablo Osvaldo was the hero at the start by giving Southampton the lead but turned villan as he missed 3 clearcut chances after Giroud has leveled the scores. The Game saw southampton take the game to arsenal and they should have been able to pull off the victory given the chances created.
Southampton had their first victory of the season against doncaster in the league cup.

Transfer Update

Morgan Schneiderlin has been sold to Liverpool for 12m
Fernando has been bought from FC Porto for 9.75m
Fernando found himself transfer-listed at FC Porto after requesting transfer after tottenham submitted a bid which was rejected by FC Porto but tottenham didn't made another bid after he was transfer-listed.

Here are the major transfers in this transfer window.
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Great start to your story, and interesting choice of manager. I will follow :)
1
2013-09-05 08:04#133485 Walter : Great start to your story, and interesting choice of manager. I will follow :)

Yep. He was a real great footballer and seeing his life like this, I just wanted him to be in good shape. Well he can be here in this story if not in real life.
'gwan Gaza!! Great player in his day... unfortunately I think he's a lost cause now.
1
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The Month of September


The Month started with yet another draw for Southampton against Liverpool at Anfield. Even though Southampton created a lot of chances, they were unable to get the winner there.

After the match, Gascoigne stated,"Its really frustating when you come close to victory against yet another great team and squander your chances at the end. If we're gonna be a good team we need to finish those chances. Look at teams like Manchester United, they win a lot of matches in the dying minutes. And if I am gonna be happy with these results then its a big disappointment for me because when we create these chances at the end we need to win. But its not a bad result is it? But we need to win to get with this momentum. A loss with get all the morale down to the perfect zero."

Southampton then recorded their first win of the premier league season against Norwich away from home with a 3-1 victory giving Gascoigne with his first victory in the League who seemed ecstatic with the result considering the bad performance from the goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

The next match pitted the saints against Crystal Palace at home which proved to be a hard-fought victory for Southampton with a single goal from Jay Rodrigues. Even though the game was totally controlled by the saints, Palace Goalkeeper Speroni seemed virtually unbeatable while Southampton Goalkeeper Boruc made mistakes after mistakes.
Gascoigne had this to say after the match,
"When goalkeepers like Speroni perform they can save you the match but when our goalkeeper performed like a big log then we should consider ourself lucky to be winning."

The game also brought injuries to two key players for southampton,
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Rickie Lambert- Out for 3 Weeks
Fernando- Out for 2-3 Weeks

The Next match against stoke at home was won easily by the saints after Pablo Osvaldo scored four goals in a match. But Boruc again made quite some mistake which could have led to 3 or 4 goals.

Gascoigne after the match singled out Osvaldo for praise while critisized Boruc and called him to perform or rot on the bench.Southampton currently undefeated sit on the 3rd position in the League while they have qualified for League Cup 4th round after defeating Crawley from the goal by Carlos Fierro.


Samuel Umtiti Grabbed the Barclays Young Player of the Month for September.
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The Month of October

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The month didn't start well for southampton as Luke Shaw and Steven Davies were injured and out for 15-20 days each

Brave Southampton Finally Lose

The start of the month brought a defeat against Swansea away from home where they went down 1-0. The game was as competitive as it gets and Southampton will have felt they at least deserved a draw if not for an error-prone goalie who let the whole team down yet again. Southampton who had a goal by Jack Cork scrapped citing offside and an appeal for penalty turned down has finally lost.
Gascoigne after the match,"We didn't deserve to lose but No fairy tale lasts forever. We had played well but we knew the defeat will soon be on the horizon but not like this when we had a goal scrapped and a clear penalty shout turned down. So we will have to work hard and gather some momentum starting next match. About penalty decision, It was poor refereeing. As for team performance it was great but I might just need to find a new goalkeeper if Boruc is making these sorts of mistakes that cost us the game. So we will be looking in the market soon."

Southampton Manager Warned by the FA

The FA has warned Gascoigne for the comments about the penalty decision and for lashing out against the referee after the end of the match.

The second game of the month was a home game against the strong Manchester City team which ended in a 1-1 draw though the match was controlled by a resolute southampton side who had 13 shots on goal in the entire match compared to 6 from the Citizens. The headlines were yet again grabbed by the Southampton Goalie whose another mistake led to the equalizer from the Citizens just when they thought the great victory was on their pocket.

We need a new Goalkeeper and we are looking in the market
said the Southampton Manager.

The Next match was against West Brom away from home which ended in a 1-0 victory from a Osvaldo goal. Juan Sanchez Mino was forced out of the game through injury leading to Lallana playing the full hour as a left-back as Luke Shaw was still not back to full fitness.

Southampton are also through to the Quarter Final of the League Cup after defeating Sheffield United.

Southampton has announced that Goalkeeper John Ruddy will be Joining Southampton in January in a deal worth 5m.

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The Month of November


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The month started with some really good news for Southampton fans as the club provided 22 million pounds for the january transfer budget. The Club also accepted the request from Manager Paul Gascoigne to improve the Training facilities. The Expansion of St. Mary's Stadium has also been started which will lead to the increment in seats with the new total of 37181 seats.

First Match of the month against sunderland was won easily with four scored and one conceded. Captain Adam Lallana who started the match at Left-back looked really good in the position scoring a goal in the victory.

Lallana then again started the match away from home against fulham at the leftback position but it was Osvaldo who took all the plaudits as he scored a sensational hattrick to give southampton a easy 3-0 win.

The next home game against Tottenham was totally dominated by the saints as they ran out 2-1 victors while also hitting the woodwork an amazing 3 times. Lallana started the match again at leftback ahead of Luke Shaw and Juan Sanchez Mino both having returned to full fitness.

The Club announced the affiliation with the russian club Rostov after the match.

The next two matches Everton at Goodison Park and West Ham at Home were drawn 1-1 each. Even though they controlled the match against West Ham fielding the youngster(next match was against Machester City in the League Cup Quarter Final), they were unfortunate to receive just a point. However the match at Goodison Park was nowhere near good when Fernando earned an early bath after being sent off(after elbowing Pienaar), The saints were lucky to leave with a point.

The best part of the news was that Southampton are through to the semi-final of the league Cup with a dominating 4-1 victory against a strong Manchester City side while having just 35% of the total possession in the match.

Paul Gascoigne about the month, "Well we had some great results against three very good teams but the match against Everton showed that we still need depth in our squad while we're one man down and we never deserved to win against them. Against West Ham, We should have won, even with these youngster but they really shut us down while scoring on the mistake of our goalkeeper. But it was great to get through to the semi-final of the league cup and now if we can win it, it will guarantee us to play in europe and it will help us with getting a few quality players and for the reputation of the club as this generation of players at southampton are ready to show the world that on our day, we can surprise even the best team in the world."

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Barclays young Player of the Month- Victor Wanyama.

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Barclays Player of the Month- Dejan Lovren.

So my laptop needed to be fixed as the primary drive was causing some problems and the window didn't even start so I think this might just be the end of this as I needed to reboot the whole system and I didn't have the backup. So I guess this is it for this story just when the tactics were working so greatly.

You are reading "The Saints Are Coming!!!- The Game Crashed".

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