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Southampton v Manchester City Your Report added at 09:11:14
What a great game we played yesterday. Very unlucky, but I don't feel disheartened like I did after the Arsenal game. I can't imagine Pep's had to face a team like this outside the big 6. Our press was immense and we did not give up, we were pressing City until the 90th minute. Stand out performances from our whole team again. Vestergaard's range of passing is so good. Theo is relishing his no 10 role on the right, it allows him to get forward and take up a central position.

City having that world class quality just nicked the game, no team plays better then them against the press, their players have the ability to play a low, hard 30 yard pass when under pressure. If we play anywhere near this good against other teams this season we'll have no problem picking up results.

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Southampton v Manchester United Your Report added at 08:36:08
Looking at each individual player. Ward Prowse was probably our best player today. Aside from his set pieces, he's become such a quality player at controlling the game and playing the right passes. Che Adams had another good game, every week his becoming our stand out performer. His ability to hold the ball up and bring others into the game is up there with the best in the league at doing this. His range of passing is also insanely good.
Djenepo is a very intelligent player, he plays in areas that creates space and stretches the defence., something that I don't think Redmond or Walcott really do. However, his final pass and decision making is still lacking. And it's clear he doesn't have that same connection as Redmond does to have a dangerous partnership with Bertrand down the left.

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Oldham Athletic v Salford City Your Report added at 10:10:53
We've unlocked our biggest problem on the first game of the season. We cannot break down organised teams who "park the bus". Palace sat back and defended virtually for 90 minutes and barely passed the ball around. And that suited them, there were a few times they tried to play out from the back and we looked sharp with our high press.

I think the tactics were just wrong and left us vulnerable. You can see why Redmond and Smallbone didn't really get into the game, they were coming inside to bring palaces full backs in, to create space for our full backs get forward and receive the cross field pass. This leaves two problems, when they get the ball they have no support and if we lose the ball, we're vulnerable to being countered. Also, leaving our slow CB's so high up the pitch meant it was so easy for Palace, who didn't even play very well. Wilfred Zaha could've scored a hat trick because of this and he was barely in the game.

As for individual performances, Romeu isn't a good midfielder or passer of the ball. He must have given the ball away 4/5 times in dangerous places (one which lead to the goal), I even recall him not even looking where he was passing it for one of the goals. Redmond wasn't great, he doesn't really bring anything to the team. I think this needs to be a make a break season for him. He might have the odd 8/10 game but more often then not he's a 5/10. Very wasteful, his final ball is awful and so is his finishing. Ings and Adam's were very quiet up top. Adam's did a good job at holding the ball up and bringing others into the game. Credit to Guaita for making some very important saves.

I don't think that our best players being away on the international break for 10 days before the match would've helped with preparations.

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