"In a few years, I'll be a twat"
Well, we managed to get ourselves mentioned in a Radio Solent fans forum though bizarrely, it was one for Bournemouth. Bournemouth chairman and well known End of a Bell, Eddie Mitchell surpassed himself by telling their fans to “Go and support Southampton” if they didn’t like his way of running the club. Eddie - It’s odd that the world over, fans are never happy if all they ever see is everything that is not nailed down being sold, combined with ever worsening results. Yes Bournemouth fans should be grateful for what Mitchell did for them in the past and as long as things are moving forward then fine. That will only go so far though because as soon as things start slowing down, let alone rocketing backwards at an alarming speed – then most fans will lose the long term memory.
Also of course, the transfer window slammed shut and we acquired Jos Hooiveld, a Dutch centre half who was not getting a game for Celtic. I’ve never heard of him but then I’d never heard of Steve de Ridder either and he looks like he’ll contribute well this season. Jos is a left sided centre back and it looks like he’ll be challenging Dan Seaborne for a place but maybe not just now.
Dan of course, became the latest ‘footballer out on the town’ victim when he was discovered unconscious on the pavement outside a nightclub (Is ‘Junk’ the one that used to be ‘Burbanks’ or ‘Spermbanks’?) with a severe head injury. No specific details have been forthcoming other than mentioning progress which is thankfully being made. What the fk is going on in my town? I’m 42 and skint so my nights in town on the lash are not very frequent but have I just been living in a bubble my whole life or is it just getting worse and worse? I lived in Waterlooville as a teenager and so went out with my mates in Southsea and Portsmouth, where there always seemed to be a slight edge to things and the feeling that something could kick off. Southampton always seemed a much safer night out (my Skate mates thought so too) but now it just seems to be like a fucking war zone. A 24 year old lad has gone for a night out and has ended up in intensive care and it’s just wrong.
How Dan Seaborne is as a footballer is completely irrelevant at this point and it annoys me when I’ve seen this debated in the aftermath of this incident. Also of course, you get the internet warriors practicing for their future careers as writers for the Daily Mail, posting third hand rumours and completely made up sht. If you were there and saw it then go tell the police, if you weren’t then shut the fk up as no one with any intelligence is impressed. Best of all, I’ve read the views of people professing to be Saints fans who take the moral high ground and use this and the Lee Barnard incident as some sort of stick to hit out at the culture of Southampton Football Club. I’ve never read such utter, utter toss is all my life. To paraphrase Eddie Mitchell – “Go and support (insert club here)”.
All that matters is that Dan Seaborne makes a speedy and full recovery. End of.
Today we have the visit of Nottingham Forest who of course have the Dutch accented Schteve McClaren as manager who has a very mixed managerial record to say the least. Good at FC Twente in Holland despite the accent, average at best at Middlesbrough, terrible at Wolfsburg in Germany... and then there was England. My dislike for him started when he was No 2 to Sir Alex at Man Utd when SAF first stopped giving interviews and McClaren was wheeled out to be a smug tosser after each Man Utd victory. Anyway, far from Man Utd and England, he now presides over a squad with David McGoldrick in it, the only player I’ve ever seen have a penalty saved when the keeper had time to dive one way, get up again, walk over the other way and then pick the ball up.
McGoldrick was a sub but our team was showing a few changes. Out went the full backs and in came Danny Fox and Jack Cork got shoved to right back with Morgan Schneiderlin taking his place in midfield. Fox for Harding wasn’t unexpected but I was hoping Richardson had a minor knock and it wasn’t a case of playing a player out of position in order to shoehorn another into the side. Nigel had gone for Jos Hooiveld to partner Jose Fonte so there was 3 changes in the back 4. The bench included Ryan Dickson for the first time this season and Chappers was back as you always need a bit a bald psycho option for later in the game.
Seven minutes of nothing much and then out of nowhere and with their first attack of the game, Forest took the lead as Miller charged down the Cork-less right hand side of our team and was allowed to cross by Fonte not getting tight enough. The cross was only about 4 yards out but it took out the keeper and Derbyshire couldn’t miss. I don’t think any of our three players mentioned covered themselves in glory but it all stemmed from having a makeshift right back.
We’re reaching a level with Saints now where you know that they won’t give up and that they will come back but this time they surpassed themselves and managed it within 30 seconds and The Gulyman threaded a lovely ball through to Connolly who fired against the keeper and the ball popped up for Sir Rickie to bundle in from close range. 1-1, sit down, shut up!
For the next 20 minutes or so, we were Barcelona in red and white and we threatened to tear Forest a new one and have the brolly man doing that red face, ginger hair combination which looks so good. Excellent passing football all over the shop with both the Gulyman and Lallana looking threatening on the wings. Connolly was unceremoniously dumped on his ass on the edge of the box and Danny Fox and Sir Rickie stood over it. Danny asked if he could take it, Rickie said “do you know who I am” and curled it just over the bar.
2-1 was coming though and it arrived with a superb build up down the right hand side with Cork feeding the Gulyman whose excellent first time flick was picked up by Connolly on the right wing. His cross was flicked on by Lallana to the back post where Sir Rickie steamed in and bundled in the header despite the best efforts of keeper and defender who were both left in a heap on the ground.
Something strange happened after that as we flooded forward again and won another free kick off of the increasingly desperate Forest defenders. Sir Rickie on a hat-trick and a free kick just left of centre... here we go... and he let Fox take it, who chipped it up for Fonte to head wide. On the half hour, whilst waiting for a corner to come over, Camp on Connolly got in a bit of a spat and were warned by the ref. Camp then quite clearly makes a move to shove Connolly out of the way and they both got booked by the ref, therefore proving that he wasn’t actually watching and didn’t see it.
Whilst the Gulyman and Lallana had been great going forward, they weren’t really at the races defensively with Fox in particular being left to his own devices against two players. Regardless, it was still totally against the run of play when Forest came up with an equalizer as Miller put Derbyshire away, again down our right, who crossed for Majewski to tap in, in a virtual carbon copy of the first goal. It nearly got worse for us as Miller was put through, only to be denied by a great tackle from Fox which not only got the ball, it also made the striker throw all his toys out like a five year old when he didn’t get the penalty he didn’t deserve.
For the first time at home this season, things were not going to plan and so up piped the Chuckle Brothers with the whiny one going “I don’t like this new senner aff, why deee do thaaat” and the Moronic one trying to make an amusing anagram out of Jos Hooiveld’s name. For the record, big Jos was doing ok as Miller is a big lump. A lot of his headers were more ‘up’ than ‘away’ but at least he was getting to the ball and it looked like he could play a bit. Half time was up on us but not before Connolly ended up with the ball following a Forest defensive shocker and smashed in a shot which Camp parried away. A great half of football, only spoiled by the fact that we really should have been winning.
Miller continued being a pain at the start of the second half, getting his head on a free kick from the left and forcing the re-emergence of Superkelv as he took off to his left and pulled of a great save down at the post. It’s all Forest now with Saints reduced to playing on the break. We look dangerous when we’re attacking though and both Lallana and Schnedierlin force saves from Camp with long range blasts.
Personally I was pleased when Miller got injured and had to be replaced and on came McGoldrick. There’s always that fear that your former player (especially one you didn’t like) will come back and bite you but if you’re being logical, you remember why you didn’t like him much in the first place and that was because he was shite. Nigel decided it was time to tighten up the flanks and replaced the Gulyman with Chappers so we went to a diamond midfield with Hammond and Chappers right and left, Morgan at the back and Lallana at the front.
Saints immediately came more into the game with Deano and Chappers digging in strongly. Sir Rickie blasted in another free kick which the keeper parried out to Adam Lallana who skewed his shot wide from the edge of the box. Up the other end we were trying to give the game away as Kelvin had a mad moment. Firstly, he gave Fox a hospital pass when he had a player up his backside. Fox returned it back to him at which point, Davis should have just wellied it but no, he decided the best thing to do was to try and dribble round the onrushing forward. Needless to say he lost it and down went Derbyshire like he’d been shot. I looked at the linesman, waiting for the flag across the chest but he pointed our way so our free kick. Over comes the ref and Derbyshire got booked for diving.
Much to Forest’s amusement, we go straight up the other end and get a free kick with de Ridder (on for Connolly) being shoved over on the edge of the box. Danny Fox put over a great inswinging free kick and up went a load of players at the back post. One was head and shoulders above the other though and Sir Rickie got something on it to power it into the top of the net. Get in!!!!
He remaining 12 minutes were played out without Forest getting near our goal again, thanks to some magnificent keep ball, powered by Deano, Chappers and Morgan in the midfield. Five minutes of injury time!!!! What !!!!, No problem, 12 home wins in a row.
McClaren afterwards was predictable to say the least, bellyaching about the two stonewall penalties they should have had. Yeah, alright Schteve. The Fox tackle on Miller was 1000% not a penalty and the linesman was 10 yards away for the Derbyshire incident. Managers under pressure always pick out incidents and play the ‘unlucky’ card. Just listen to any Steve Cotterill press conference if you can stop laughing long enough to hear it properly. Today was a pretty even game but overall, I think we just about deserved to win – the stats say more shots, more on target and more corners. Schteve says Forest dominated... berk.
Nigel was delighted with the win and the application of the squad but he’ll surely know that some of the defending really wasn’t great. It turned out that Richardson was injured but no news of why Butterfield wasn’t available. Jos Hooiveld had a decent enough debut and will only get better. He didn’t really look match fit as expected but he battled through to the end and we need him to really put it in with Radhi Jaidi being injured and the Seaborne situation. On that note, the great news from Nigel was that Dan Seaborne was out of hospital and heading home which is more or less the perfect end to a perfect day.
Nigel was spot on in his assessment that Forest will be a good side in this league this season. Regardless of their current position, they are a decent side and we’ve beaten them with a makeshift back 4. Next up, Birmingham at home which is another tough one but at SMS, would you bet against us?
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