Formerly Burnley, now a Saint
In the two days between the Carling Cup win and the Burnley away match, there was just time for Dean Hammond to sign a new contract, becoming the latest player to confirm that he likes what’s going on here at the moment.
It’s the start of a busy week for us with this game, Cardiff away and then Watford at home. We’re top of the league now and if we can still be there after the Watford match then that would be signal a pretty bloody good start to the season. I reckon we’ll need 6 points from the 3 games for that to be a reality so you have to bank on getting 3 of them today against a Burnley side who have struggled so far having lost a few players in the summer, including of course, Danny Fox who is in our side today. It’s also claimed that they lost Jack Cork to us as well but this is of course, bollocks. We signed him from Chelsea as no one else made a bid for him.
Nigel has reverted back to his League line up for this match meaning 10 changes from the team v Preston but none whatsoever, including the bench, from the Birmingham game last Sunday. Burnley have a decent couple of strikers in Jay Rodriguez and Charlie Austin. The former allegedly turned down a move to us and the latter always scores against us. They are of course managed by Eddie ‘Bournemouth for Life’ Howe who has a demeanour that makes Morrissey seem cheerful whose cheefulness must have been tested by players being sold from under him in the summer.
As kick off nears, I’m in my usual away game situation of listening to the radio, about to receive the first exposure to Merringtitus. Big Dave used to play for Burnley of course and Laurence Herdman talks to him about that. Dave talks about the Burnley people demanding good football which they may well have done when Dave was a player, back in the days of German bombs dropping on factories.
In a fairly even start it was Saints who provided the first excitement as Fox went down the wing and delivered a cross which Sir Rickie should have headed at goal but nodded it down to the Gulyman whose effort was blocked. Burnley’s first chance was all of our own making as a suicidal short ball from Davis was intended for Cork but intercepted and Fonte was forced to block the subsequent effort from Austin.
Davis was at it again a while later with a big flap at a cross from our right which ended up being returned from the left and we got very lucky as the ball flew off a Burnley forward who saw it late and therefore stabbed it wide. Saints were struggling to get a foothold on the game and Corky had obviously had a dream last night that he scored from 40 yards against his former club but sadly his effort was crap.
Another having fun against his former club was of course Danny Fox who was getting booed every time he got the ball. Having a minor handbags incident with Trippier probably wasn’t the best way to endear himself further to the Turf Moor faithful.
Richardson and Fox were providing well from the full back positions and from a Richardson delivery from the right, Lallana found space and demonstrating Johnno Pace heading technique by sliding one off his face and wide. Merringtitus is raving about the performance of Big Jos in the back 4 and opining that he is improving every game, whilst also ont being too complementary about the contribution of the Gulyman who has spent 45 minutes giving the ball away. Another thing to mention about the radio commentary was the performance of the main commentator (Herdman I think) who kept referring to Burnley as West Ham, I assume because they had a couple of ex-West Ham players and they play in claret and blue. Talk about Amateur Hour.
And so ended a half with plenty of endeavour from both sides with little or no efforts on goal. Nigel had obviously had thoughts along the line of Big Dave and so the Gulyman did not appear for the second half and it was time for some more ex-Burnley players as on came Bald Psycho, meaning a try out of the infamous narrow midfield.
The plus side of the formation is that you gain more control in the middle of the pitch but the downside is that your full-backs can be horribly exposed when no midfielder gets far enough across to help them out. For the first 10 minutes of the second half we only seem to be getting the negative side of the equation as cross after cross flashes across our goalmouth whilst Kelvin remains resolutely nailed to his goal line like the Monty Python Dead Parrott.
The seemingly inevitable happens as a cross is boomed over from our right flank, Big Jos doesn’t get off the ground and is beaten in the air by Rodriguez and the knock down is forced home by Austin who managed to score from behind Fonte who seemed to be ball watching. Bugger, 1-0 down.
Burnley haven’t won at home all season and the realisation that thay might be on their way seems to grip them as Saints come roaring back, led by Frazer Richardson who cut onto his left foot before hammering in a low shot which Grant pushed away, getting lucky that it didn’t fall to an onrushing Saint. It’s Frazer again a minute later as Connolly cleverly plays him in down the line and he produces a peach of a cross which Sir Rickie would usually bury in his sleep but this time he thumped the header into the ground and up and onto the bar. It’s a pretty bad miss to be honest.
Despite the close shaves, Nigel isn’t happy and so Morgan Schneiderlin comes on for Deano. The chances keep coming as Fox digs out a great cross which again slides off Lallana’s forehead and goes wide. Adam makes it a hat-trick of crap headers a few minutes later as Fox this time puts it right on his forehead and this time the header is met correctly but directed a foot wide of the post.
Danny Fox knew that if he kept going down the wing and getting crosses in that sooner or later, one of them wouldn’t go to Adam. There was 10 minutes to go when Fox crossed, Sir Rickie flicked on and Morgan Schneiderlin of all people, controlled before smashing it high into the net giving Grant no chance at all.
Burnley had a bit of pressure following the goal but in the main there was only one team looking like winnign it and the one chance you always get arrived in the 90th minute as Sir Rickie played Lallana in with a lovely ball. As he went to shoot he was clearly pulled back and then shoved by Trippier which forced a tame shot which was easily saved. You have to say that it was good defending as he got away with it but in truth it should have been a penalty and would almost certainly have been a red card.
Final whistle and a draw it is. Adam Lallana isn’t finished though and manages to get himself booked for continuing the argument about the penalty he should have got. It’s an odd one really as you can evaluate the result in several ways. We were 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go, so a draw is a decent result… we had chances to win and were the only team going to win in the last 10 minutes so maybe a draw is a bit disappointing … we played a team near the bottom and only got a draw ….we played a tough Northern side in a false position and came away with a decent point. The bottom line is that we’ve got a point and we’re still top of the league so that’ll do.
Nigel took a chance at half time to try and force a win and we ended up going behind and having to save the game. Personally, I’d have left it how it was for the first 20 of the second half or just swapped Chappers for Guly and played him on the right with changing the formation but I’d rather have a manager who has the courage of his convictions and tries to be positive and make things happen, rather than one who sits on his hands until there are 5 minutes to go. The Solent guys were slagging Nigel for playing a narrow midfield and conceding the wings and us letting a goal in, whilst conveniently forgetting that it was another sub who got the goal. Eddie Howe sounded slightly less suicidal that normal in his interview as it was, according to him, their best performance of the season. Cheer up Eddie as I predict Burnley will climb the league in no time with the strikers they have and be a decent shout for a playoff place.
Of course, the goalscorer was a surprise but it shouldn’t be really. I’ve said since the first time I saw him that he should play further forward and use his ability to create and score himself. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if both Morgan and Chappers are in the team on Wednesday at Cardiff and I can see Deano being rested and today being deemed as being one too many Gulyman away day disappearing acts. In Nigel we trust for what will be our toughest game of the season so far.
Formerly Burnley, now a Saint
No comments:
Post a Comment