We shone in the south coast sunshine.

So, I settle in for Southampton away sat on the couch and as I see the line up I am pretty happy for a change, as apart from Navas for Zaba and always the question of Bravo I am completely happy with the line up that accommodates all our top level players with Fernandhinio holding, by relegating Sterling to the bench, as maybe an impact player, putting Kev on the right. Finally it is great to see Vinney back.

So the game starts and I am excited to see some good quality football from us and although not looking devastating we look good and I just wish this spine had played together much more and got used to playing more with this set up changing only for injuries and tiredness.

As the first half played out although showing promise and some great interplay at times we just didn't have the final ball to unlock them. With players of note being Otamendi who showed great composure as well as great levels of skill at times. Indeed just the mere presence of Vinne seems to have relaxed him into a better player. For some personalities work better as the support man rather than the main man, and some personalities which were just built to be the main man! The other thing of note in this half being another decision we didn't get, in the penalty, which I think just about was one and we once again don't get the break!

The second half starts and we start lively playing good football which is very easy on the eye as everyone looks so comfortable on the ball, but again we just don't seem able to quite convert it. However we for once this season looked assured and that was thanks to the leadership of Vinney, something only him and Zaba can do to our team. Then from all the nice little boys and touches from Silva and alike it is Vinney from a corner who delivers with a great headed goal which I cheered louder than I have done in a while! Great to see! Indeed his presence on corners makes such a difference and is an area of our game where we have seemed impotent this season. For that's what Captains and talisman do for your team and what I have been banging on about all season for it is as much in the mind as the body.

So we then settle even further into our groove and, with only the odd scare, soon move to two with a great decisive breaking goal by Sane. A goal that also highlighted that Kev on the wing and Sterling on the bench simply adds that greater certainty to the outcome!

Then the third comes soon after with some delightful play from Kev again as he stands it up beautifully for Sergio to finish, something Sterling simply wouldn't do!

Well I have been calling for this set up and these subtle changes for months and finally have it, and am delighted to say on this 3-0 away performance, that may I add was very easy on the eye, I told you so! Yes I started off saying Kev in the middle and Silva on the wing and I still think this is interchangeable dependant upon the game and form, as Silva is looking like his Maestro best in the middle at the moment! I just wish he could finish as he again missed two good chances! I so wished we had figured this out earlier and the season could have been a lot different! I just really hope Kompany can get fit and be the player we all know he is week in week out, injury free. For MOM was definitely him on his individual performance, his timely goal, his effect on the whole team and his effect on his centre back partner who for me was the next in line for MOM, well done Captain!

Finally I am going to end with the fact we couldn't help the fact Kompany was injured but we could have helped the fact that the only other player with this ability is Zaba and should have played him more for the Captain like effect. Combined with the midfield change that saw our best talent playing together and sured up by a true holding centre mid. Just look what a holding centre mid has done for Chelsea! Ending with the stat that Kev on the wing today now has 30 assists the most in the premiership for his final ball/decision is so much better than Sterlings for Sterlings lack of composure has left at least 10 goals on the pitch this year, probably the same amount of assists maybe more and at least that many premiership points as a result!

Anyway great result, happy days, and all the above is why!

The Couch.

Who the Hull are you?!!

As any good Englishman should I'm going to start with the weather, which was bloody gorgeous seeing Me and the Mrs walking there and back basking in the sunshine!

Once there we were shown a much changed side, but any worries of that were somewhat dampened by the fact that it was Hull at home! We started bright enough, not devastatingly good, but not bad at all. However we just couldn't quite finish of our pressure, so in the end a Hull defender did it for us! To be fair though the build up pretty much deserved a tap in from someone! Navas (picked again at right back) used his pace to great effect with a perfectly timed overlap that was measured with a perfectly timed pass from Silva (I think?) that simply cut them in two and from that Navas delivered an 'un-Navas' like cross right into the danger area! Then as they always say just get it into the danger zone and anything can happen and it did! 1-0 and the least we deserved for our pressure.

Once again we were immediately warned of the yin and the yan though, as some pretty piss poor defending from said right back let them in at the other end! With any better side being on the pitch it would have represented the equaliser immediately! But luckily it was only Hull!

Half time came and we were relatively satisfied and pretty well entertained. The second half arrived and it wasn't too long before we were off our seats again as some great work from Sterling saw Aguero finally put away our second. Indeed I have been quite harsh on Sterling this year, and mainly due to his awful finishing, but you know if you can keep him out wide and as a provider not a finisher then maybe he will prove me wrong and come good. However I simply don't think he has the temperament at this level to be on the end of chances regularly.

Once this goal had gone in we were cruising, some would even say show boating, and Delph's goal simply added to that with it's blockbuster finish! I also liked his post goal urge to the crowd to keep singing, which did what he hoped. Now if he could stay fit I think he could offer himself as competition to Fernandhinio and I think I'd like to see that. However what he highlights is that although everyone in the media is calling for a big clear out there is almost an argument for every player as to why they might stay and suggests we have underperformed this year somewhat, which I guess in a transition period is to be expected. Here I must also state it was only Hull but let's see what some of the other games tell us, for a year ago I would have definitely got rid of Kolarov and still would as a full back yet today he was solid as a centre back, and can he still help as a squad player? Zaba I'd still keep for a multitude of reasons, but I'm worried he won't! Can he teach Navas to defend? Clichy is now back in favour which I am glad of. Yaya has turned it all around somewhat! Finally Vinney like Zaba we owe him whatever he wants to do. Indeed the only three I would definitely say need to go are Bravo, Sagna and Nolito.

So at three you start to think are we actually going to get a clean sheet, then they get one chance and that question is answered! Maybe it was needed though so we don't start to paper over the cracks at the end of the season of our defence and goalkeeping this year! Soon after we hear the final whistle and overall have been well entertained in the sunshine, but essentially we have learnt absolutely bugger all, because Hull were shit!!!!!

Third Tier, Colin Bell Stand.

Another one slips through the net!!!!

So, I watch the match in a pub just outside Euston station mainly full of gooners and one other city Fan. Mrs by my side playing on her phone completely disinterested, as we spent the last night in the capital taking advantage of some 10 quid train tickets and a booking.com hotel deal for a night to do the things she likes which was the theatre and a museum and if I do this I get no grief about the football! So it's a no brainer and I secretly don't mind it either!!!

Anyway the game! We start well against a soft arse Arsenal team who were there for the taking with the goal from Sane. However something just isn't quite right with us at the moment mentally. Before the game when I saw the line up I turned to my wife, who could have just as easily been a brick wall such is her enthusiasm and stated we have 4 potential captains on the bench in Kompany, Zaba, Yaya and Kolarov, but not one on the pitch! Then asking the question what is this Navas move. Me I repeat from my last post play Zaba, then play fernadhinhio and Yaya in the middle and between Kev and Silva work out who is going on the wing or interchange and finally drop Sterling to the bench with Navas not even figuring. If we had done this we would have crushed these bunch of fannies!!

But instead we keep letting them back into it and only seem to raise are game once they score?! So another two points wasted in a season of missed opportunities which are ability deserves but our tactics and mentality do not.

Strange season this but still enjoyed it a lot more than the depressing Pellegrini era and still fully behind pep, he just needs to figure out a couple of things about us and our subtleties as a team and a club!

A pub bench next to the Mrs down south!

Another one slips through the net!

So, I am back in my seat to watch a premiership game for the first time in what seems like forever and I am expecting the scousers to do what they have done the last few times they have played us and come out all guns blazing giving us no time on the ball, slightly unnerving us. However this time that didn't happen as they looked a bit burnt out! Yet we just couldn't score! Some of this I put down to the horrendous refereeing from that young upstart idiot Oliver who again makes me ask the question why is the whole establishment so against us?! Add to that no luck, no bounce of the ball, no pen and it was the same old story of this season as we don't convert early pressure going into half time at 0-0. Everyone looks a bit out of sorts and none more so than king Kev who had definitely miss placed his crown! A guy who when he first burst on to the scene made every cross and pass count was now failing to complete them for fun!!

No surprise that Oliver gives them a penalty (the rage I felt for him this day was intense, and I'm sure physically unhealthy!), and who pops up boring 'bitter' James Milner, a guy I used to admire who now I hate and am glad we now boo him! He scores for his oh so amazing new club that are so much better than us in every way hey James?!! Do us a favour 'Bitter' James Milner piss off back up the M62 to that much better place!!! However no doubt he probably still just lives around the corner though! He could probably get a 15 quid cab ride home! Like I have said before he burnt bridges he didn't need to, loads of city fans loved him as a player including me and felt for him. Indeed I always said he should have redefined himself with us and it eventually took a strong manager to put him in his actual place! Of which he has two (holding centre mid and full back), now in these positions he could have strived to be the best! Not box to box, the pocket or the wing, not in a billion years!

Anyway, he scores and does a half arsed attempt at not celebrating then eventually celebrates, and with that we are once again behind against the run of play! Par for the course this year. Then this forces a change as Yaya comes off and with the addition of Sagna, who played awful may I add, he releases Fernandhinio to hold and we immediately look more balanced and Kev seems to settle down a bit eventually unlocking Aguero in the 69th and it's all back on! But like a firework that looks like it's going to have an almighty bang but in the end just lets of a weak fart of a noise and just fizzles out, we once again fail to fully deliver on our promise! We simply don't deserve any better this year. So all done, with 2 points dropped and title definitely gone, talking of what might of been as well as what one would like to do with Oliver if you somehow stumble across him!!!

Third tier, Colin bell stand