Pre Match Report. City v Southampton. Filbert Street.

Saturday Oct. 16th. 1999

Enter 'The Saints'

Peter Gilbert 14.10.9

Dave Jones the Soton manager has actually put a good little team together down at the Dingly Dell and instead of heir customary struggle on the hook of relegation, they are in fact in the throes of something of a renaissance.
The players signed have done well especially Hassan Kachloul and Marian Pahars both of whom are firm favourites with Saints fans.  Where and how these foreign jewels are discovered is quite beyond me.   I mean do you go on a scouting trip in Morocco or a bit of a wander round the Ukraine?   No of course you don't. Their agent rings you up and tells you what a great player his lad is, but it's a heck of a gamble and instead of ending up with a top flight player at a bargain price you can end up with a white elephant or camel in Kachloul's case. So to have a player like Emile Heskey on your books, born and bred in Leicester is today not far short of a minor miracle.
They are playing particularly well at he moment but then so are we, so we could be in for a humdinger of a game. Their own home grown talent is James Beattie and he performed brilliantly in the second half of last season, so he's one to watch especially after that freakish goal he scored against us at the Dell. Their 'keeper Paul Jones plays in inspired spells but on other occasions he can let plenty in too.  Of course our 'keeper Tim Flowers started his career with them, but they had Shilton once, so we're quits now.
Le Tissier is not finished yet and with Mark Hughes and Stuart Ripley in good form they could be a real threat going forward.
However if we get at 'em they might capitulate and let in a hat full . They're still a bit erratic at the back with Monkou and Lundekvam well capable of having an 'off' day.
The midfield is the key to our game at present and we should be able to pose them plenty of problems.

Forecast: Home Win.

Did You Know?

1. Southampton FC were formed in 1885 by players from St Mary's Church YMCA, hence their nickname The Saints.
2.They've never won the Championship but they finished second on 1983-84.
3. They won the FA Cup in 1976.They have never won the League Cup----- WE HAVE !!!!
4.The Dell is the smallest capacity of any Premiership ground, it's full at 15,352 so just for the this week we needn't be embarrassed about'The Cow Shed'.
5. Their top goalscorer last year was Egil Ostenstad who amassed a total of 8 goals.
6. They've had some very famous players on their books over the years: Peter Shilton, Terry Paine, Kevin Keegan, Mick Channon, Alan Shearer, Tim Flowers and (er ahem)......Carlton Palmer and the talking suite Barry Vennison, who has recently re-invented himself yet again this time after a 'lip job'.