Tuesday, January 6, 2015

FA Cup 3rd Round - Southampton 1 Ipswich 1


When is 'in the area', not 'in the area ?'

It’s the FA Cup or as it has become for Saints in the last 38 seasons, the Cup of Endless Disappointment.  Usually we flicker briefly and look like we’re taking in seriously and this year is going to be our year and then we ‘do a Sunderland’ and turn up and can’t be arsed and get knocked out when we really shouldn’t.  One final in 38 years (2003) and no other semi-final since 1986.  Not very good.  ‘Doing a Sunderland’ will forever be associated with Pochettino and his attitude to the FA Cup 5th Round tie last season.  We were safe in the league and already nailed on to finish 8th and he decided to rest Rodriguez and Schneiderlin for a very winnable game and we were shocking and got beat 1-0 in one of the most lifeless displays I’ve even witnessed.  Pochettino’s interpreter obviously wasn’t good and the Spanish ‘I don’t give a shit about this FA Cup’ was translated as ‘we are taking this competition seriously’.

So, the luck of the balls gave us Ipswich at home in a very similar draw to last year when we got Burnley at home – a team in the top one or two of the Championship and with bigger fish to fry this season who will no doubt be resting more players than we will.  So, we may or may not get to see some of our ex-players like Bartosz Bialkowski and David McGoaldrought.  With McGoldrick I’m trying to give him credit that he as just part of a bad team under Jan Poortvliet but no – whilst he wasn’t helped by the incompetent manager, he was a really terrible footballer.

Disappointingly, Eljero Elia wasn’t available for this game and the injury that forced Sadio Mané off in the Arsenal game is going to keep him out for 6 weeks which rules him out of the African Cup of Nations.  Ronald is certainly going for it but the 11 names that are read out doesn’t include anyone who can play at right back.  Toby Alderweireld is on the bench and Maya is off with Japan so the candidates are JWP or Steve Davis.  The bench includes some kids like Isgrove, Seagrove and McCarthy.  The other McCarthy – Mick McCarthy has mixed and matched his team.  McGoaldrought is in there but Bart is on the bench.  They also have a youngster with a mildly amusing name called Tyrone Mings, who was released by Saints.  As the game is about to start I have a look for McGoldrick – I can’t see him but there’s a fat, bald bloke in the Ipswich Number 10 shirt who doesn’t look much of a threat.

When you have more or less a full first team on display, you want to see maximum effort from the first whistle to show that they give a rats and we start well, knocking it about before a Pellè heavy touch gives away a throw.  Ipswich are quite adventurous with 3 players in forward positions and we break on them through Steve Davis and he feeds Shane Long on the left who passes infield to Big Vic.  We all shout ‘shoooooot’ and Big Vic hits a daisy cutter from 25 yards, just wide of the post.

Ipswich are playing some nice one touch stuff when they get forward and some decent play sees the fat bald bloke who looks like he might have eaten David McGoldrick, free on the right but his cross fails to pick anyone out.   We drill the ball forward and Pellè, with arms flailing, gives away a free kick with the Ipswich bench and a few players giving it the ‘elbow’ to the referee who isn’t interested.  Ipswich take the free kick, play a 1-2 around JWP who is looking like a fish up a tree at right back and Mings gets to the line and chips over a cross which Ambrose meets and flicks a superb header over Fraser, dropping into the top corner. Ah, not in the script that one.

Tadic has taken it upon himself to get us moving and he plays a superb 1-2 with Bertrand to send the full back clear on the left.  His low cross is met by Pellè who tries to flick it into the net with his trailing left foot but drags it just wide.  Tadic then plays a superb straight pass through to Steve Davis who is clean through but you can probably guess the rest – straight at the keeper.  The rebound comes out to Long and you can probably guess the rest – half hit and blocked.

We are penning Ipswich back now and there’s some desperation in some of the tackling and we get a free kick 30 yards out just to the left of centre.  Up steps JWP and curls it over the wall and it’s heading for the bottom corner but Gerken gets down well to shovel it away.  The goal is coming though and duly arrives as JWP crosses from the right, Graziano heads down and whilst Berra and Gerken went ‘oh look, there’s a ball’, Morgan nipped in, stuck a leg out and knocked it into the empty net.

We spend the rest of the first half camped in the Ipswich half and the best chancer follows a very patient build up, a cross with the outside of JWP’s right boot and a volley by Ryan Bertrand which is deflected wide.  In the main, the build-up is too ponderous and the ball keeps ending up with Gardos and Fonte about 15 yards outside our own penalty area which is too deep.  Again we are suffering from having  makeshift right back as JWP is reluctant to make the usual forward run ahead of the bal that Clyney would make.  That isn’t his fault of course but I do wonder if Jason McCarthy may have been a better bet.

Half time and my son is not impressed.  He can handle the fact that we’re not winning but he can’t handle that the ritual vegetable soup is not being dispensed today as we have taken advantage of the decent pricing and turned up en masse and there wasn’t enough flasks to feed son, two daughters, mum, dad, a mate of mine and his three kids.  Deal with it boy.

The second half sees Ipswich struggling to get out of their half as we pin them back.  We breach the massed ranks of defenders as Tadic comes off the left wing and sends Long through the inside right channel.  As he nears the bye line he’s taken out by Mings who just charges into him.  Down goes Long and the ref gives a goal kick.  The trouble is that Long has anticipated the contact and even though it’s a clear foul, it looks like he’s made a meal of it.  Referees should be good enough to spot this but as we well know, they aren’t.

Long is doing what he does best and when ugly little scruffy bastard Stephen Hunt sells Mings short with a pass, Long is in and round the full back.  His cross is aimed at Graziano but it’s smashed away for a corner.  With JWP on the pitch there is hope that it will be good one but it’s the opposite of that, in that it’s shite and it’s already looking like we’re going to struggle to break them down.

There’s still half an hour to go and the ref dos us no favours again as Pellè plays a nice ball to get Bertrand behind the defence.  Murphy clearly grabs a handful of him and then lets go, Bertrand loses balance and the danger passes.  So, Bertrand stays up and gets nothing or he could go down and probably get booked for diving. 

Tadic is off to be replaced with Isgrove who immediately starts giving Ipswich problems by running at them and generally being a lot quicker than his little legs look capable of carrying him.  The next big chance comes on the other side though and brought incompetent refereeing to a whole new level.  Fonte plays Long through on the right and as he gets to the ball, Berra comes over and knocks him over.  I initially though he was going to book Long for diving but the ref is over and has given us the foul – that’s a penalty then cos it was a good yard inside the box.  No, free kick on the edge – absolute horse shit.  At the time I didn’t think it was a foul but once he’s given it he can’t hedge his bets a give a free kick. Fucking useless tosser – what the fuck are refs and linos actually paid for?

Time is running out but we get a few minutes extra to try and find a winner because Iggrove has been kicked in the head and has to obligatory big bandage fitted.  The man with the bandage comes closest in injury time as he runs at the defence, plays a 1-2 with Pellè on the edge of the box but then gets knocked with his enough to put him off balance and make him slice his shot wide.

Full time and 1-1 and bugger.  A replay at Ipswich sandwiched in between away trips to Manchester United and Newcastle was really not what the doctor ordered.  Can’t say that Ipswich didn’t deserve it though – we forced them back and they defended well and didn’t allow us a shot on target in the second half. Fair play to them.  I think it’s fair to say that they got a bit lucky with the Shane Long penalty shouts.  The first one was a clear foul and the second that was given as a foul was clearly inside the box.

The replay should not hold too many fears for us as one assumes we’ll have more space but I probably said this when we got drawn away at Sheffield United in the League Cup.  If we are to count chickens before they hatch, we have a home draw in the 4th Round against Crystal Palace.  The chickens that we all counted about the League Cup Semi Final are still all running about, shitting all over the carpet and refusing to be counted so I’m not going to speculate about the FA Cup 5th Round.

Back to the game and the experiment of the day of playing JWP at right back just didn’t work.  Defensively he was hardly tested but the goal came down that side and he never really attacked the opposition as he doesn’t have the pace to do so, preferring to cut back and either try and use the outside of his right foot to cross it or just pass it infield.  I was impressed by Steve Davis and Big Vic as usual and those two and Morgan prevented Ipswich getting out in the second half but there wasn’t much of a spark from anyone.  We were ok – nothing more or less and the consensus was that we were better in the second half to the first which is a bit odd as we scored in the first and forced the keeper into a couple of saves whereas Gerken didn’t even get his gloves dirty in the second.  We should still have won but it was pretty uninspiring stuff overall.  Bring on the replay.

Bring on Man United too.  We gave then the game at SMS earlier in the season having been far the better side.  If I could choose to win at SMS or at Old Trafford, I’d choose the latter so let’s fucking do it.  Their defence is shite, no other word for it so let’s put the midfield under pressure and get at it.  If we do that (and hopefully Clyney will be fit) then we have a very good chance.

Come on!!!


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