Capital One Cup 4th Round - Southampton 2 Aston Villa 1

Two Miracles.  Maya Scores and Gaston on the Pitch

It’s bizarre being on the cusp of a quarter final having played just one round but here we are playing Aston Villa at home with the last 8 the prize for winning.  Of course, we got to the last 8 last year and the draw opened up with a game against a League 1 side and we blew it horribly but this year a few of the big sides have already gone out (Arsenal, Chelsea) and so have Spurs.  Villa at home is maybe more difficult that it could have been as Captain Bellend Tim Sherwood has been sacked afdter Saturday’s 7th defeat in 8 games and has yet to be replaced.  Bottom line is that this Villa squad looks very weak so Kevin MacDonald, in charge for tonight, shouldn’t make too much of a difference.

As always there is the not knowing how seriously we are going to take this competition, even though the club has declared it’s going to take the cups extremely seriously this season having spend almost the entire Liebherr era doing the opposite.  We have a stronger squad this season but it’s still a bit of a moment when Ronald throws 7 changes at us.  Mercifully, Stekelenburg is one of the four, along with Virgil, Graziano and Big Vic who completes his rehabilitation from the transfer window dummy spitting episode by being named captain for the night.  There are starting places for Maya at right back, Caulker and Targett in defence, JWP and Romeu in midfield and Juanmi and The Great Gaston up front.  On paper is looks like a decent side but why 7 changes?  Villa have rested a few as well but as they’re near the bottom of the league you wonder if it matters.  On paper again it looks ok. Agbonlahor and Gestede up front looks alright with pace and aerial ability between them.  Regular centre backs Richards and Lescott are missing though so that might be good for us and I’ve never rated either full back Hutton and Richardson.  Guzan is a decent keeper as well when he’s not doing a Boruc and passing balls straight to attackers.

Away we go an immediately we’re a shambles at the back as Targett appears to have an aversion to getting the ball clear which we eventually manage when Virgil takes charge.  Villa are set up in a 4-4-2 with the obvious intention to get crosses in to Gestede.  The equally giant Caulker should be able to deal with anything that comes in and for now the delivery isn’t good enough.

The first real action is an attempt is from Villa as Bacuna worked his way in from the right, beating Targett twice before firing at Stekelenburg at a comfortable height for him to push away.  Everyone in the stadium then had 25 minutes which they’re never going to get back as the level of excitement varied between none and zero.  We had a brief flicker of excitement when we won a free kick 30 yards out on the right but Gaston’s effort was always going over the bar.

As first halves go, it was really, really boring and now it’s over.  Hopefully Ronald will be able to breathe some sort of life into the team otherwise we’ll be looking at a long night of extra time.

Someone’s obviously had a word with Maya at half time about full backs needing to get forward and he’s off, breaking at speed with the ball.  He plays a 1-2 with Gaston and from the edge of the penalty area, drills it with his left foot and sees it beat the last defender and Guzan and just inside the post.  Great finish and off he goes to celebrate with enthusiasm that is never matched by strikers when they score.  So, 1-0 and what have Villa got?  Not a lot.

We get a bit of pressure down the right but Saints are working hard to keep the lead and not give Villa a sniff.  No one is working harder than Juanmi.  He may not have done much in an attacking sense but hammering back and executing one of the best sliding recovery tackles I’ve ever seen, at least shows a massive commitment to the cause.

Agbonlahor turned up for the first time and attempts a right footed curler which Stekelenburg walked across to and pushed away for a corner when he really should have caiught it.  Villa’s soon-to-be-departing assistant manager obviously sees this as a sign that Agbonlahor is in good form and substitutes Gestede who has actually looked like he might have a goal in him.  On comes Scott Sinclair who retired when he joined Man City a few years back and has never really got back on the horse since.

The subs are on for us with Davis and Tadic on for Ramirez and Juanmi.  Davis going into the centre with JWP pushed to the right hand side.  The introduction of the two subs instantly raises the level of performance of the team with Davis in particular adding some purpose.  One cross from Tadic is headed over by Pellè and the next is controlled by the big man with his back to goal and he turns the defender and curls an effort over the bar.

The second goal soon arrives as Davis won the ball in midfield and quickly fed Tadic on the left.  He delayed his cross for just long enough for Graziano to peel off the back of Clark and then chipped a perfectly weighted cross which the Big Beautiful Italian crashed into the net on the volley.  Brilliant goal.

The game was dead and buried now and job done.  Alcopop Grealish was on by this stage and caused a few moments by running at Maya but the Villa attacks were sporadic and in the main unthreatening until the 94^th minute when Jordan Ayew – the shit Ayew brother, went down under a challenge for Virgil to concede a penalty.  Bloody hell – that looked very soft as he appeared to get the ball.  Mind you, there was no need to make the tackle as he was facing the wrong way.  Anyhow, up stepped Sinclair to send the keeper the wrong way and make it 2-1.  There was just enough time for us to kick off and lose the ball and that was that.

I guess that the end justifies the means as we are safely through to the quarter-finals despite making seven changes.  We were able to do this, not by playing particularly brilliantly ourselves but courtesy of the fact that Villa were dreadful.  It might look close with a final score at 2-1 but it really wasn’t.  They just seemed content to pass the ball about without going anywhere. Every time they try to play any sort of progressive football they just gave the ball away. The odd pot shot and comfortable save for Stekelenburg and that was it. That cocky little shit with the tampons for shin pads, Grealish looked decent when he came on but other than that they were very poor. What the hell has happened to Agbonlahor? He has terrorised us before with his pace, tenacity and movement but he looks like he's been smashing down pies and pints as he barely moved. I don't even think he's 30 yet but he played like he was about 42.

Once the first goal went in, any self belief that Villa had totally disappeared and it was very comfortable from that point on.  It doesn’t matter who they get in as manager as they have a very average selection of players which they cant change until January so it’ll be case of staying in touch until then and hoping that two or three new players turns them around.   It has to be said that they were beaten by two superb goals that we scored with excellent finishes and lovely assists, especially the one from Tadic.

Most of the post match interviews centred around Maya Yoshida and his goal. When Steve Davis scored at Chelsea, we kind of knew we were going to win and win your makeshift right back plays a 1-2 and smashes a shot into the corner from 25 yards with his left foot, you kind of know it's going to be your day.  The decent performers today were Virgil, Romeu and Tadic was excellent when he came on.  Gaston did ok with some really good touches and running with the ball and if it’s a shoot out between him and Juanmi then I’d take the Uruguayan any time.  Juanmi worked hard and the tackle on Hutton was brilliant but I still don’t really see it.  As a small striker he needs to either be lightning quick, very strong or very skilful and he hasn’t proved any of those yet.  It was his best appearance for us by far however.  Not having his best appearance was JWP with even his delivery from corners being well off the mark.

The draw.... Liverpool at home in the quarter final. This will be interesting because

a) The Klopp bandwagon will be hurtling at 500mph by then even if he still hasn’t won a league game

b) They put out a very inexperienced team against Bournemouth tonight – will they do the same against us?

c) Clyne, Lovren and Niveatwat.

Home draw and avoiding Man City... You gotta be happy with that.

That's not till December though. We have the visit of Bournemouth to St Mary's.  I’ll let tophers decide whether it’s a derby or a rivalry or whatever.  For me, it’s a home game against a team that is struggling down near the bottom who have been tanked 5-1 in their past two league games and we should be winning this one.  Their management will be trying to stress the importance to the morale of their fans and their fans will be giving it the large one in the build up like they always do and our job is to send them back home with the same result as they usually get.