CHELSEA AT ST. MARY'S

After the reasonable performance at Everton, it will be interesting to see if Hughes gives some of Tuesday's team a chance on Sunday.

Any chance of a result??

Back from hols suitably relaxed which no doubt will have disappeared by about 5 on Sunday. Cannot see anything other than a Chelsea win, 2 - 0. Suspect Hughes will start with same league line up as most games so Hoedt and Vesterguard at the back and midfield not stroing enough. Hope he either goes 4411 with an extra player such as Romeau in the middle to protect the back our, or play Targett at LB with Bertrand in midfield on left side but doubt he will.

Oh dear...... watched on Sky and could see little to be impressed about. Gabbiadini seemed quite keen and probably worth gIving him a run in the team now. Otherwise, it looked as if Saints were there just to watch Chelsea play and not to get involved themselves. There has to be a dramatic change in attitude..... and soon.

Glad you enjoyed your holiday anyway Matty!!

Well Mike different view from the ground, thought Gabbadini was quite poor, yes he had a couple of shots on target but taken from some way our and both straight at goalie. Critically he never tracked back which when we are playing the top teams we have got to be willing to run and work for each other and afraid that is not Gabbadini's style. I knew we were in for a tough time with the team selection, effectively we played 5 2 3 meaning we were going to be overrun in midfield and that is exactly what happened. The full backs, Bertrand and Cedric simply didn't play far enough forward, and Redmond and Gabba didn't track back either so when playing Chelsea hardly surprising Lemina and Hojberg were over run.


The first 25 minutes were embarrassing, possession must have been 85/15 to Chelsea, think they had at least 6 corners and we struggled to even touch the ball. How Chelsea were not in front was a big surprise with near misses, blocks etc but think they tried to make it more complicated because we let them have the ball so much! Despite that we should have taken the lead with our first decent move, ball worked down the left, great cross from Bertrand and Ings from 3 yards out managed to blast over the bar. Not long after fell behind and Hojberg at fault as he has been before by losing the ball in a dangerous place, tried to be to clever 5 yards outside his own penalty area, lost the ball to a challenge from Barkley and ball was through to Hazard and in the net.

Discussion at half time was mist bring on Romeau to strengthen midfield and go with 4 at the back, taking Hoedt off was the fans choice but he seems to be Hughes favourite so he took off Bedanek who I thought had a good game. Think Romeau made more tackles in the first 5 minutes than half the team combined in the first half. We looked far better as a team and did create chances, Bertrand should have done better when well placed and we made the goalie work but then concede a really soft goal from a set piece, ball crossed in Giroud allowed, if not offside to run in at far post unchallenged to hook the ball back for simple tap in. That knocked the stuffing from the team though did have a couple of chances. Third goal really didn't make much difference.

Yet again referee showed the poor standard, while no major decisions wrong his approach to bookings was so one sided no true. every foul by a saints player resulted in a booking, yet Alonso had 2 fouls to his credit then body checked player yet no card, Chelsea full back towards the end probably worst foul of the game no yellow, for those that think no bias shown by referees towards the big clubs I see it week in week out, the old boys club of referees needs to be binned and bring in foreign refs which might just improve the performance of the clowns we have.

McCarthy 7 couldn't really do much about the goals,
Bertrand 6 had a decent game
Yoshida 6 had his usual gaff in the game but got away with it but fairly solid
Hoedt 5 for me he is proving to be a liability, doesn't keep calm, his distribution is woeful
Bedanek 6 for did okay a few good blocks
Cedric 6 did okay bearing in mind no cover in front of himself.
Hojberg 5 worked hard but to many errors in games but played better when Romeau was on
Lemina 5 again tough when just 2 in midfield but was disappointed he didn't do more.
Gabbadini 5 couple of efforts on goal but doesn't have the work rat to play the style Hughes wants
Redmond 5 did okay in flashes but again no goals no assists
Ings 5 looks our best striker but missed a sitter.

Subs
Romeau 7 why he didn't start I have no idea, best player in second half
Long 5 didn't really do much, first touch not good

Thanks Matty