Did Pelle Have His Best Ever Saints Game Against United
Graziano Pelle has had a few critics but he answered them all in fine style against Manchester United with some saying it was his best ever Saints game.
Following Rickie Lambert was always going to be a hard act to follow and i'm sure that Graziano Pelle was aware of that when he joined Saints just over a year ago.
What e would not have been expecting though was the level of animosity that some supporters would show to him, in only his second Premier League game and his first at St Mary's after only 15 minutes some sections of the crowd were cheering him ironically every time he won a header.
Luckily he then went on a scoring spree that showed just what he could do, but for a vocal minority that was still not enough and even at West Brom last week there were those who screamed abuse at him as if he had just robbed their grandmother.
Im still not sure why some Saints fans seem to hate the man with a vengeance, it is mercifully only a handful, but for some whatever Pelle does will not be enough, that is fair enough they are entitled to their opinion, but what I cant understand is the frothing at the mouth abuse they feel the need to hurl at him as he is trying to score goals for Southampton Football Club.
Last season he scored 12 goals in the Premier League, that was a superb total, indeed only 9 players scored more than him last season in the League and the total is even more impressive when you consider that he does not take penalties or free kicks.
Yes he had a barren spell but he never gave up trying or running or doing his job and that is a good sign for a striker.
This season he has started the season well and has hit 4 goals in only 6 Premier League games including the two against Manchester United yesterday and surely this game was his best so far in a Saints shirt.
Apart from the two well taken goals he put in a great all round performance, he never stopped running, he worked hard, he closed down defenders and he was a target man for the team, his link up play was superb and he helped get other players into positions to try a shot.
Anyone who has been a critic of Pelle would find it hard to argue that he as not the Saints man of the match yesterday and hopefully his display will have silenced some if not all of those who can do nothing but fling abuse at him.
If Pelle can keep in this form and those behind him can start to gel as a team then it won't be long before we are back to firing on all cylinders
What to read next:
Preston AwaydazeOur visit to Deepdale is on Saturday, with a 12.30pm kick off, and once again we’re live on Sky Sports. As the name Preston North End suggests, the stadium is a mile or so to the north of the town centre.
Leeds ease to comfortable win over DerbyThe game played out as most of the fans on both sides would have predicted, apart from the identity of the two goalscorers. It took a while for us to break down a stubborn Derby County defence, but once we had scored the two goals there was only going to be one way this game was going to finish.
Leeds drawn at home to Harrogate in the FA CupTonight’s draw for the third round of the FA Cup threw up several local derbies, and the most enticing of all must be our all-Yorkshire clash with Harrogate Town, with the two clubs being only 15 miles apart.
Disappointing Leeds go down at BlackburnOur defeat to Blackburn Rovers has caused plenty of moaning on social media, while Daniel Farke has blamed our hectic fixture schedule. But it was a shame the team picked the game with our biggest travelling support of the season to serve up one of their worst away performances.
Blackburn AwaydazeThis season’s trip to Blackburn Rovers is tomorrow with kick-off at 1.30, provided the pitch has dried out enough after last week’s postponement. Once again it looks like we’ll be taking the biggest away following in the Championship this season.
Farke sees room for improvement despite victoryLeeds duly went back to the top of the table with a fairly routine victory over Luton Town, but Daniel Farke thought the win should have been even more emphatic when he spoke to the BBC after the game.
Leeds fighting spirit wins through as we beat Swansea to go topLeeds were twice behind in this incredible game at Swansea City, and then seemed to have victory snatched away right at the death. But each time we fought back and our sheer determination finally secured the victory that we needed to finish the weekend on top of the Championship.
Swansea AwaydazeOur visit to Swansea City is on Sunday with a 3pm kick-off, and once again we’re being televised live on Sky Sports, which will be handy for those of us who can’t get to South Wales on a Sunday.
Farke complains bitterly about Firpo suspensionWe had a surprise yesterday morning, as we found out that that Junior Firpo had been given a three match suspension as a result of an incident in the match at Millwall. Our manager has complained about the short notice when he was preparing his team to face QPR, and about the FA’s process itself.