[STORY] Oh when the Saints...

[samsami]

Will Saints be able to conquer Europe?

Breaking news

Manager Samsami Sungo has changed his mind! He has just signed a new one-year contract at St.Mary's to try and lead Saints to greater heights! The contract could possibly become extended to two years.

[samsami]

A new one-year contract

After a highly remarkable season we finally had success in the Premier League, even though it took until the very last day of our fifth year before we secured the title. The Guardian successfully captured the tension of that memorable match day when Chelsea lost 3-4 to Man City and we defeated Spurs 2-0 at St.Mary's.

You can relive all the action here:

Spoiler!

Saints v Spurs and Chelsea v City - as it happened

0 min: Finally out come the players! Handshakes all round and we're about to set. Saints have no less than four subs in their starting line-up because Kongolo, Bender and Clasie are banned while Lallana is injured. Van Dijk, Soares, Wanyama and Tadic are replacing them. Chelsea have no injury worries. With bookmakers they are the favourites for the title.



1 min: And we're off, on this overcast day! It's 17°C and the fans are more than excited, but the players are clearly very, very nervous! Last year the title slipped from Saints' grasp for the second year in a row. They won't want that to happen again, but that knowledge will only make them more nervous. Chelsea, on the other hand, have won the title these past two years and they are keen to win the Premier League for the third consecutive time, especially since they have been knocked out of all cups this year and they certainly don't want to end the season empty-handed!



5 min: Both teams are playing very cautiously. As long as there are no goals at Stamford Bridge and also no goals at St.Mary's the title will go to Chelsea again - and only because they have scored three more goals than Saints have. The difference in goals for and goals against is exactly the same: +45 for both teams!! Any goal in either match could tip the balance!! This is a bad day for most fans' hearts (but a good day for cardiologists!)





6 min: A free kick to Southampton. Sturridge was pushed by Kane! What was Kane doing there?? It's in a dangerous position and Goretzka lines up the free kick and fires it in, but the shot looks to have taken a deflection off the wall and it has gone just wide!



11 min: Goal!! Alexis Sánchez has scored for Saints!! Sánchez played a one-two with Soares and got into the area, drove the ball at goal and he scored!! Edwards never saw it!! And with this scoreline Saints actually win the Premier League!!





16 min: And a goal at Stamford Bridge!! It's Chelsea who have scored!! Agüero was knocked to the floor by Delph and the referee awarded a penalty. Agüero stepped up himself and scored the penalty that has put Chelsea back at the top of the virtual table! My goodness! With 74 minutes remaining this could be one exciting afternoon! But for now we are back where we started with both teams leading 1-0. There will surely be more goals to come though.



20 min: Another goal at Stamford Bridge!! This time for for Man City!! Within five minutes Dos Santos has cancelled out Agüero's opener with a horrendous strike which silenced the crowd at Stamford Bridge. But this is all very good news for Saints, of course. There was some cheering at St.Mary's when they got the news!



29 min: Wow! Mario Götze was just denied a great goal! Somehow he was left unmarked when he received the ball from Abdennour. It was a perfect pass and Götze struck the ball on the half-volley, but Edwards managed to turn it behind! Great goal keeping there!



33 min: Man City has scored a second goal!! What is happening?!? An avalance of goals here! It was Pröpper this time who hit the ball in low and found the net!! Begovic was stranded and helpless to save it so City is now leading 1-2! And at St.Mary's fans are celebrating Pröpper's goal as if they have just won the Premier League!! There is still almost an hour remaining though, but if truth be told it is beginning to look good for Saints!



37 min: A red card for Spurs!! Alli has just been sent off after head-butting Wanyama in a moment of total madness!! What was he thinking!?! The football gods are definitely smiling on Saints today!





45 min: Half-time at St.Mary's! The crowd got what they wanted. Saints are up 1-0 and Chelsea is losing at Stamford Bridge!



45 min: Goal!! Chelsea has just equalised!! Giménez hit the ball ahead of Hazard in the area and Hazard, finding himself with plenty of time, shot on the volley and scored an excellent goal in extra time. It's 2-2 at Stamford Bridge!!





HALF TIME: Saints 1-0 Spurs; Chelsea 2-2 Man City.

With these scorelines Saints win the title but it is so incredibly close and literally anything can still happen!! We all need a little break right now!!



46 min: We're off again! No changes in the line-up for Saints or Chelsea. The question is, will there be more goals in the second half?



52 min: Chelsea has scored again!! Agüero scored his second and Chelsea's third goal with a superb volley!! This means that Chelsea are now back in the driver's seat for the Premier League title! And this time it's the crowd at St.Mary's who are silenced. Less than twenty minutes ago they were so close to winning the title!! The balance keeps tipping!



59 min: Nothing much is happening at St.Mary's currently. Spurs cannot do much with ten men and Saints seem unwilling to take any risks. But with Chelsea leading 3-2 at Stamford Bridge Saints will have to score a second goal now! Merely defending is not enough anymore.



68 min: Van Dijk has hit a crashing drive from a distance but he scooped it over the crossbar. With just over twenty minutes remaining tension is mounting!!





70 min: And another goal for Man City!! Incredible! Kolarov fired in a freekick from 20 yards out and scored!! It's 3-3 at Stamford Bridge!! Tension in both stadiums is now unbearable! Saints are leading the virtual table again but there are still 20 minutes remaining, plus extra time.



71 min: Goretzka has scored for Saints!! The talented midfielder blasted the ball towards the top corner and he has found the back of the net!! Saints are leading 2-0 now!! In a matter of just two minutes the scenario has changed completely again and now Chelsea will have to score twice in order to retain the title, because surely Spurs won't score at St.Mary's? Not with ten men they won't?



77 min: A yellow card for Van Dijk who has upended Leandro Damião. The players are clearly getting more nervous by the minute! Chelsea still need two goals, but stranger things have happened as they very well know at St.Mary's.



83 min: Chelsea could score any minute! They get scoring chances but they are so unlucky today. They know they need two goals so they are in a rush!



86 min: Goal!! It's another goal at Stamford Bridge and it's Manchester City who have scored again!! It's all over! Chelsea were attacking ferociously when City countered. Pröpper was left unmarked and he did not fail when he got the chance!! City are leading 4-3 now. It's all over for Chelsea! Surely the title will go to St.Mary's!!



FULL TIME: Saints 2-0 Spurs; Chelsea 3-4 Man City.

And it's all over!! And the unbelievable has happened! Southampton Football Club have won their first trophy since they won the FA Cup 44 years ago - and this time it is that most coveted trophy of all!!





Saints have won the Premier League title!



Fans at St.Mary's are delirious as they celebrate Saints first piece of silverware in decades!

Meanwhile, at Stamford Bridge fans are leaving the stadium, many of them crying their unbelieving eyeballs out...

It was the best year ever for Southampton!



Mario Götze is our star player and the club's top scorer with 24 goals this past season. A remarkable achievement for a central midfielder! He was also named Man-of-the-Match ten times. Alexis Sánchez scored 22 goals as left winger. In comparison, Daniel Sturridge only scored 11 goals.


Fraser Forster has been invaluable and he actually received the European Goalkeeper of the Year award!



So why sign a new one-year contract? There were a number of reasons, fan pressure being one of them. But the main reason was a desire to help the club achieve success in Europe - provided the Board would address the lingering squad depth issue!

And the Board have responded and said that they are indeed prepared to look seriously at the club's squad depth problem. They are also continuing with their plans to enlarge the stadium, which has puzzled many since attendance has never been all that high at St.Mary's. But perhaps that will change now?

Spoiler!

But more importantly, Saints are actually already considering negotiating to sign none other than Karim Benzema, the striker who has scored no less than 24 goals for Real Madrid this past season!

[ebfatz]

Good Luck! It's gonna be tough. Will you do it inside two years. I don't know. You've got close previously but will you be able to go the extra step.

Interesting choice in Benzema.
Gotta be getting on a bit now surely.

Thought Selke would have been top of the shopping list!

[Redknapp69]

Focus fully on CL this year?

Benzema is a great shout

[samsami]

Good Luck! It's gonna be tough. Will you do it inside two years. I don't know. You've got close previously but will you be able to go the extra step.
Interesting choice in Benzema.
Gotta be getting on a bit now surely.
Thought Selke would have been top of the shopping list!

Selke will cost 20M or more, Benzema only 5.25M so that means there will be money for a couple more players.
Besides, Liverpool will not want to sell Selke after a year, certainly not to us!

Focus fully on CL this year?
Benzema is a great shout

CL is first priority, but we need to win the Premier League again as well of course!

[ebfatz]

Sacrifice the League Cup would be my advice.

Definately not the priority anymore.

[Mark]

Curious as to why you've started a new thread? It's the same save game/story?

[Kingsley]

I guess if it is a one (or two) year contract, you're not that bothered about Benzema's age, provided he still has the stamina for 90 minutes every week. Do any of your squad have any skeletons in their cupboards that Karim can blackmail (allegedly) to top up his salary ?

Anyone (Sturridge ?) departing to make room for him ? Should we expect to see some more Dutch players arriving ?

[samsami]

I guess if it is a one (or two) year contract, you're not that bothered about Benzema's age, provided he still has the stamina for 90 minutes every week. Do any of your squad have any skeletons in their cupboards that Karim can blackmail (allegedly) to top up his salary ?
Anyone (Sturridge?) departing to make room for him? Should we expect to see some more Dutch players arriving ?

Yes that correct, Benzema is cheap because he is 32 but he scored 24 goals for Real Madrid so he will be useful for one or two years.

And we can get more players. We have over 20M and Benzema only costs 5.25M.

[samsami]

Benzema signs with Southampton

Saints have signed Karim Benzema! Will he be the goal machine which the club needs? While other world class strikers were not interested, Benzema was more than happy to join Saints!



At least the fans are excited! And they certainly hope that Benzema is not the only new player to join the club this summer now that the European adventure is about to begin in earnest!

[ebfatz]

Let's hope he does better than his predecessors.

[Redknapp69]

Should bring that all important CL experience!

[samsami]

Saints ready for Europe?

The Board kept their word and Saints signed two new players in the summer months.

Steven Bergwijn can play as right winger when Lallana needs rest, which happened a lot last season. Bergwijn is still very young, but he is also extremely talented!

Spoiler!

In addition to Bergwijn we signed Alphonse Aréola from Paris Saint-Germain! The 27-year-old French goalkeeper is potentially as good as Fraser Forster according to many pundits. Even so, PSG were willing to part with him for only 1.2M.

Spoiler!

With our three new signings (Benzema, Bergwijn and Aréola) we have the necessary squad depth; the players are all happy again and looking forward to the new season! The only exception is Aleksandar Mitrovic...

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi also made the headlines again!

[kuy]

Bergwijn looks cracking, I had him on a save with Cordoba and he did well for me (not sure if it's the same DB though). I hope that Benzema lives up to his promise - with a one-up-front formation, a striker who really fires could make the difference for you

[Mark]

Some good signings there. More quality instead of quantity

[Kingsley]

Definately 3 players there who will be in your thoughts for the starting 11. If Benzema works, he will be a great signing

[samsami]

Some good signings there. More quality instead of quantity

Yes, we need enough quality. Lallana was always too tired after each match. He has to run a lot as winger! And Benzema is hopefully a goal machine! Mitrovic and Sturridge were mediocre. As you can see above, Sánchez and Götze score by far the most goals. If our new striker does that as well we have a great team now!

[samsami]

Bergwijn looks cracking, I had him on a save with Cordoba and he did well for me (not sure if it's the same DB though). I hope that Benzema lives up to his promise - with a one-up-front formation, a striker who really fires could make the difference for you

I fully agree. Bergwijn may even be better than Lallana! We'll see.

[samsami]

Definately 3 players there who will be in your thoughts for the starting 11. If Benzema works, he will be a great signing

All three can play but Forster is too good to be put on the bench! So Aréola will only play in some matches.

[kuy]

All three can play but Forster is too good to be put on the bench! So Aréola will only play in some matches.

Does this mean the end for Stekelenburg? Or will you look to keep three quality keepers for your assault on Europe?

[samsami]

Does this mean the end for Stekelenburg? Or will you look to keep three quality keepers for your assault on Europe?

Stekelenburg is getting on in age and he is player/coach right now.

[ebfatz]

Was Messi not interested?

Imagine him playing on the South Coast!!

[samsami]

Was Messi not interested?
Imagine him playing on the South Coast!!

Nope. He was one of the ones that were not interested.

[samsami]

Benzema scores in friendly against Ajax

Our first two friendlies showed that we are still a bit rusty, although it was good to have Benzema score the only goal in his very first match against Ajax Amsterdam.

Spoiler!

In our second friendly Benzema was more or less invisible, but we still won the match. Götze and Ward-Prowse found the net against Feyenoord Rotterdam.

Spoiler!

Hopefully these two games helped us get ready for the first challenge of the season, the FA Community Shield match with Leeds at Wembley. It's the ideal chance to immediately win another trophy again.

But of course, what we really want is win the Champions League!

[Kingsley]

That boy Messi has an impressive record

I guess that Ajax was a must win, but I'm surprised you didn't throw Feyenoord a late equalizer

Southampton v Leeds in the Charity Shield it could only happen in champ.