EFL Championship Match 4 - Southampton 2 QPR 1

 

"Goal music Arma?  No one Told Me About That When I Signed!

QPR are the visitors to St Mary‘s today and we need to sort our home form out. A very quick piece of research told me that the last time we were in the Championship, we won our first TEN home games and overall, ended up winning SIXTEEN out of twenty-three.  Of course, at the end of that season we got promoted and so it stands to reason that we have to have a record somewhere near that at St Mary‘s if we are serious about getting promoted this season. We had a false start against Norwich and ended up drawing but today is no excuses. We have to put this QPR side away.

QPR started the season hilariously badly, being 4-0 down to Watford at half-time in the opening game, which they of course eventually lost. They followed that up with a win over Cardiff before falling to a narrow defeat to early-season pacesetters Ipswich Town. They are tipped to struggle this season because their financial problems are restricting any improvement to the squad. The familiar names include the ex-Premier League pair Asmir Begović and Steve Cook,  Begović well known for scoring against us when playing for Stoke and Cook, well known for getting absolutely tortured by Nathan Redmond every time we played Bournemouth. I expect he is even slower than he was back then. They also have Che Adams international striker partner in Lyndon Dykes but a recent injury makes his participation this afternoon unlikely.

Saints have had a very busy week since the last minute winner against Plymouth Argyle. It started with the completion of the acquisition of Flynn Downes for the season. Whilst he did not set the Premier League alight at West Ham last season, he has proven experience in the Championship and significantly, in a team managed by Russell Martin. Whilst he doesn’t replace JWP in terms of style of player and creativity, he gives us a bit of grunt and personality in midfield which has been missing at times this season already, where at times we have been just too nice. From what I have seen, admittedly, only on TV and YouTube, I can see him playing as a 6 and as maybe as an 8 at various points of the season. With the profile of player that West Ham are signing at the moment, I can see Flynn being available to buy next summer so this could well (if we get promoted) be a great move for everyone, the player, Saints and West Ham for that matter.

With Downes arriving on Monday the rest of the week was relatively quiet until we got to Friday and then it all went ape shit with early morning rumours of both Ryan Fraser and Mason Holgate were arriving on loan. By the early evening, both of those were confirmed but unfortunately it turned out that the club were pushing out some good news to hide some bad news later on.

Ryan Fraser was first in, a player who I have always had the opinion, was a little shit. Part of that was from his all-action relentless style of play and part of that it’s from the headlines that surrounded him every time he has moved club. Basically, there was controversy in the way he basically went on strike to leave Aberdeen to join Bournemouth a number of years ago and when he left Bournemouth, he refused to sign a monthly contract to play in the last few games of the relegation season in the Covid affected year, and Bournemouth ended up getting relegated. Not only that, he rather in tone deaf fashion, said that they might not have gone down if he had played.  Eddie Howe, the then manager of Bournemouth, was not best pleased of course so it must’ve been with great amusement in the Fraser household, when Eddie Howe became manager of Newcastle where Fraser had moved to. Whether it’s that or whether it’s the fact that Newcastle have just massively moved on, Ryan has found himself training with the under 23s for the last six months and nowhere near the first team picture. On the face of it, he is a decent Premier League level player who is looking to get his career back on track but until we see him in a Saints shirt, there will always be question marks over his attitude. I have very cautious optimism over this one but having just emerged from the season where a number of players had dodgy attitudes, I’m not sure it’s one I would’ve pursued myself. However, he is known to Russell Martin from his Scotland national team days so I guess we have to trust that.

Early evening saw the arrival of Mason Holgate on loan from Everton. It’s interesting because we were trying to do some business with Everton earlier on in the week but it turned out they didn’t have a pot to piss in and were trying to negotiate buying Che Adams for £15 million quid and paying next to nothing as an initial instalment. With that deal floundering, the deal for Holgate has gone through with us paying a portion of his alleged 70 grand a week wages for the season.  Holgate is the profile of player that we need, given that he is a experienced ball playing central defender who gives us more passable back up options as an alternative to Bednarek and Stephens.

Thanks for Not a Lot

Unlike Holgate,  Fraser was not a player in a position that we necessarily needed more players in but then it became apparent why he came in as Nathan Tella completed a move to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga for £20 million. On the face of it, it’s a great move for him, moving to a club playing Europa League football this season so in that respect, I can’t blame him for taking it.  However, the other way of looking at it is there we rescued Tella from the scrap heap when he was released by Arsenal and we stood by him when he did his ACL and didn’t play for a year.  We also gave him chances in the Premier League that he didn’t really take and then loaned him out to Burnley where he admittedly did incredibly well at Championship level.  This season was to be the year for him to pay a little bit back but it’s player first, club a very distant second these days.  I guess it’s a case of moving on another player who doesn’t really want to be here but he would undoubtedly have been an asset this season so in that respect it’s a shame.  It’s a big risk for Leverkusen as well because Tella is completely unproven at anything above Championship level.  At least he didn’t move to Burnley.

Back to today and the team news drops – from last weeks’ starting XI there’s no Tella of course and also no Che Adams who isn’t even on the bench, which basically means that two of our goalscorers from last week are not here. Into the team come Charly Alcaraz and it’s a full debut for Sam Amo-Ameyaw.  Can we keep this run going with a progressively worse starting 11 every week?  QPR manager Gareth Ainsworth has them lined up in what looked like a 4-5-1 park-the-bus formation so it’ll be an interesting test of our patience.

Early doors and it’s Edozie looking lively out on the left and he twists away from the QPR right-back Smyth,  who falls over in comical fashion before Edozie’s cross hits a QPR defender on the outstretched arm. There are big appeals for handball but whilst all that was going on, Adam Armstrong picked it up and saw his shot blocked for a corner.  Where’s VAR when you need it for fucks’ sake?  This is a joke by the way.

The game settles down and nothing much is happening until Jack Stephens goes down and it becomes immediately apparent that he’s not getting back up again.  ABK is he obvious like-for-like replacement on the bench but it’s Flynn Downes who makes his debut with Shea Charles dropping into the back four.

Five minutes later and we get given a free kick in midfield for a foul on Adam Armstrong.  A quick tap to short to Ryan Manning he slides the ball in between the right back and centre back to Edozie, who cuts infield onto his right foot and hits it and it goes under and through the ex-Skate Begovic and goes on its way into the net for Sam‘s first goal in professional football.  Get in.  We haven’t been great but we’ll take it.

It was just after this moment, that the ex-Skate knew he had fucked up

QPR immediately show bit of an attacking intent and actually get some players into our half to support Sinclair Armstrong up front.   Needless to say, we are all over the shop as Smyth gets a cross in from the right, which is half cleared out by Downes to Colback, who takes a touch and hits it first time and sees it skim along the turf, hit the inside of the near post and nestle in the opposite side of the net.  Great strike to be fair but my appreciation of it is tempered by the fact that we’ve conceded yet again, less than five minutes after we’ve gone in front – same as in the last two games.

QPR are now looking at the better side and we don’t know how to deal with them.  Chair picks up the ball on the left-hand side and dances across the top of the box before having a shot, which is superbly saved by Bazunu but there is Sinclair Armstrong to knock it into the net but before we can go ‘full for fuck‘s sake’, the flag goes up so it goes down as a great save by Baz…. Push it sideways though mate, please.

Half time and a very stodgy half of football from us, probably brought on by the changes we had to make in the side.  Adam Armstrong has not really been effective up front and Sam Amo is finding starting a game a very different prospect to playing the last fifteen minutes.  Downes has settled nicely in midfield and we need to be much better in the second half.  Oddly, QPR getting a bit more confident in themselves at the end of that half, might help us a bit.

The second half starts in much the same as the first half ended, with us not looking completely convincing. Alcaraz gets fed a hospital ball out of defence but doesn’t deal with it remotely well enough and we cough up possession with QPR breaking and the ball finding its way to Chair on the left hand side who has a free shot at Baz and drills it straight at him. Corner. Over it comes and it’s pure carnage with us again not getting the ball away and eventually finds itself with Smyth on the right, but instead of crossing he smashes it at the near post and hits the side netting.

Another QPR break and more pinball around the edge of the box with committed defending but the ball seems to find his way back to QPR the whole time. Eventually it’s worked wide to Smyth again and a better shot this time which crashes off the bar and goes off for throw on the far side. We are living somewhat dangerously here.

It’s time for a change how refreshing to have a manager who realises that.  Ryan Fraser is on for Sam Amo and Sekou Mara is on for Charly Alcaraz.  Adam Armstrong drops into midfield and Edozie moves right to put Fraser on the left.  The two taken off have both struggled to make much of an impact today.

Fraser immediately makes an impact of his own by putting the ball in from the left-hand side about three times and it puts QPR on the back foot with Saints now controlling possession all of a sudden. Some patient build up down left with Fraser again prominent and he lays the ball back to Manning who puts it over and Adam Armstrong takes a touch, the ball drops and on the turn he smashes one across Begović and into the far corner. Brilliant finish.  Goal music, I don’t care, get in.

With twenty five minutes to go, we enter a strange phase of the game where there’s too much time left to just keep possession but we seen reluctant to go all out for a third goal to kill it off.  We seem to keep turning back into midfield, rather than do the obvious thing which at this moment in time is keep giving the ball to Fraser.  However, there is a strange incident in which Mara is wrestled to the ground by Colback.  Mara quickly taps the free-kick through to Ryan Fraser who is clean through and tries to flick it over Begovic who gets a hand to it, only for the referee to stop the game and make us take the free kick again – this time of course, with all eleven QPR players behind the ball.  Bizarre.  Imagine if Fraser had scored.

As the game counts down it wouldn’t be Saints without some more dodgy moments and QPR break down our left and the ball across is half blocked by Manning but arrives at the feet of young QPR sub Sideshow Bob, who luckily for us, takes a shit touch and we calmly play out of defence and get away with it.  Ten points out of twelve. Get in.

Keeping Winning With an Ever Weakening Squad

Thank fuck for that, A home win and just about deserved on the second half performance though you’d be hard-pressed to argue that QPR didn’t deserve anything. Considering that the team had the attacking heart ripped out of it 24 hours before the kick-off, any win, no matter how narrow has to be applauded.

The first half was pretty average to be honest with Saints unsurprisingly, looking pretty toothless upfront. Adam Armstrong, having reverted to his favourite position, seemed to spend more time out of the box than in it and we didn’t have a focal point. Sam Edozie had a really good first half out on the left and thoroughly deserved his first professional goal. He perfectly gave the QPR right back twisted blood in the first half when he walked round him leaving the hapless defender flat on his arse.

Sam Amo on the right struggled to get into the game but will have learnt a lot from today all will be better next time. I honestly don’t think he would have started today if it wasn’t for the fact that Ryan Fraser only arrived yesterday.

We pulled our usual trick of scoring and then switching off and allowing QPR to equalise and for the rest of the first half, they looked the better side. The second half was eventually a different story with Flynn Downes settling in to his role in the centre of midfield and Shea Charles fitting in nicely alongside Bednarek who had sussed out how to play against the right handful Sinclair Armstrong, up front for QPR, who has that horrible (for a defender) combination of pace and power. Those three shutting the door on most of QPR‘s attacking efforts for the last half an hour and the bringing on of Ryan Fraser was key, with the latter being the catalyst for our winner. The only downside of Fraser coming on was that it moved Sam Edozie over to the right, where he was not nearly as effective, possibly because QPR’s left back Paal was decent.

It is quite bizarre how Adam Armstrong suddenly looks twice the player joining in from midfield than he does when he plays upfront. Our lack of attacking options however was perfectly illustrated by the fact that in order to drop Adam deeper, we had to bring on Sekou Mara, who simply reminded Sport Republic that we need another striker.  Armstrong clearly revels in space, be it behind the defence or in front of it.  He’s not great when under pressure when tightly marked.  In the four games so far, he was the worst player in our side when playing as a striker at Hillsborough.  Against Norwich he came alive when Che came on and he moved out left and had his best match of the season in midfield against Plymouth.

There were some strange performances out there today with Alcaraz probably having the worst game he’s ever had in a Saints shirt whereas Gavin Bazunu had one of his best. I was also very impressed by how well Jan Bednarek coped with Sinclair Armstrong and organised the defence after Captain Jack had gone off. It looks like a bit of a nasty injury for Stephens so the signing of Mason Holgate has come at exactly the right time.  Bednarek got very lucky to be awarded a free kick in the first half when he got caught out by Armstrong’s pace but he learned from that and kept the powerful youngster in check from then on in.

Ryan Manning had a strange one as well.  There were times when I wondered if he’d ever stopped a cross coming into the box in his entire career but then up he pops with two assists.  Every opposition manager will be targeting his side of the pitch as the season goes on, especially if KWP stays, and how he copes with that is going to be key.  He is undoubtedly a threat going forward though and so far, that is outweighing any defensive frailty.

QPR were decent and with better finishing would have got something from the game.  They’d maybe be helped if their manager Gareth Ainsworth spent more time running the team and less time waving at the away end.  Characters in the game need to be encouraged but I felt he overdid it somewhat and it made him look like a bit of a bluffer.  If I interact with the crowd it will make me popular and they won’t look at my actual performance too much.  It’s called ‘Doing a Lyanco’.

Over to Sport Republic. If Che Adams leaves this week as seems likely, he has to be replaced and you are not going to be able to get a player in on loan who anyone is going to want to let go, who is going to score 20 to 25 goals in the Championship. It’s going to cost real money. With Nathan Tella having gone as well, you could easily argue that 30 to 40 goals have been taken out of this team overnight. Good though Ryan Fraser was today, he is not going to contribute enough goals and the rest of the team is not going to contribute enough goals to make up for that.  We are one Adam Armstrong injury away from having to rely on Sekou Mara or on Dom Ballard stepping up from the youth team. Goals cost money and not having them costs places in the league table. Who remembers the end of 2016 when we tried to swap Sadio Mané and Graziano Pellè for Nathan Redmond and Charlie Austin and expected to score enough goals the following season. Didn’t fucking work did it?  In more recent times we replaced Ings with Broja and just about got away with it but when we replaced Broja with Mara, we got relegated.

The books have been balanced and in fact, the sale of Nathan Tella puts Sport Republic into profit regarding transfer fees. Some proper money needs to be invested now because we cannot keep letting the squad get weaker and weaker and expect to capitalise on this very good start to the season. 10 points out of 12 is very good indeed but the next two games are probably considerably tougher than what we’ve had so far, with a trip to Sunderland and a home game against those arrogant bastards Leicester City, whose fans are still unbelievably being arrogant, despite that not working out too well for them last season.  Today wasn’t great but and we rode our luck at times, but we got there in the end.

Today’s win was hugely important for the short-term overall mood around the place. I felt that the atmosphere in the ground was a little bit flat, probably caused in part by what had gone on the previous day and it would all of seems like an act of self-sabotage if we had not won. The win keeps everybody onside though and so we roll into the last week of the transfer window before next weeks game at Sunderland. A couple more additions in attacking areas and we can all feel very optimistic about the season ahead especially having got the first of hopefully many wins at St Mary’s.

EFL Championship Match 3 - Plymouth Argyle 1 Southampton 2

 

Che - He Has Missed From Closer Before

Two teams in the top six of the infant championship league table take on each other at Home Park, Plymouth today with Saints making the long trip down to the west country. For travelling Saints fans, the Championship this year is a bit of a nightmare because most of the teams are based in the north and it’s a fair hike to travel anywhere like that from Southampton. The temptation is to think of Plymouth as one of the closer games because it’s on the south coast but it’s a fucking long way, virtually the same as travelling to Stoke or Nottingham. The Championship is of course,  much more about match-going fans than the Premier League is, but when Sky get involved, you get a 12.30 kick-off time on a Saturday morning, which is not great for the travelling away fan, assuming that they live in Southampton which most of them in our case, do.  Does anyone who matters give a shit? Of course they don’t.

Argyle got promoted as Champions of League One and have made a very good fist of the opening two games, winning at home to Huddersfield and then getting a very credible draw away at Watford. The home record over the past couple of years has been ridiculous with just three defeats in the last 70 odd games. We will hopefully be a major test of that record this afternoon.

In their opening day win against Huddersfield, notable features of the game were the Argyle attacking players - Ryan Hardie in the middle, Morgan Whittaker, who came in from the right hand side and the Bali Mumba on the left, who scored a brilliant goal.  The other two scored as well so we’re certainly going to have to be on our toes defensively and certainly better than we were against Norwich.   Apparently, Argyle don’t have a reputation for being particularly good at set pieces, which of course is balanced out by the fact that we are absolutely shit at defending them.

With JWP now officially gone, our midfield reinforcements have not yet arrived with Flynn Downes having had his medical put back a couple of days due to illness.  Other midfield news concerns Will Smallbone, who it appears is going to be out for a month or so with the ankle injury picked up against Norwich.

The Photoshop Boys Have Had a Mare

The Romeo Lavia transfer saga seems to be resolved now with him deciding to join Chelsea, which on the one hand is really funny because it makes Liverpool have fucked it royally by pissing about and very obviously letting Romeo know that he was their second choice. It's remarkable that he got that impression considering they were prepared to bid more than double to sign a different player. He and Moises Caceido can have a chat about that at training at Cobham next week. Putting aside the amusement at Liverpool missing out on both players for a second, I find it somewhat surprising that Romeo has decided to join Chelsea, where he at best will be part of the rotation of the squad. The reason he joined us from Manchester City was because he wanted to play and he’s going to do that considerably less at Chelsea than he would’ve done at Liverpool. Good luck to him though. A good player who is potentially a fantastic player and who always showed the right attitude when many around him did not. It would’ve been nice to have kept him for a few more years but as with JWP, the club in general getting things so wrong means that it was inevitable that he would leave. At the end of the day, if you look at it clinically, we have signed a player for not very much, we have given him the platform, he has done well and we have sold him on for a huge amount of money. In terms of finance and that particular aspect of the clubs model, it’s a perfect story - basically tripling your money in 12 months.

It also. looks like we may be getting some more money through the door as rumours linking Kamaldeen Sulemana with a move away have gathered pace. Unsurprisingly perhaps, it’s to Monaco, the same team that his fellow Ghanaian Mohammed Salisu has ended up at. In another spooky coincidence, Kamaldeen has an injury which is clearly bullshit as well.  The fact is that the player never wanted to join Saints in the first place and only did so for the money. He showed what he could do in that glorified friendly against Liverpool on the last day of last season but that was more or less it. To be honest, I didn’t even consider him to be a potential squad member for the season. If for whatever reason a move doesn’t happen then there would be the opportunity for him to get his head down and he would undoubtedly be an asset but I don’t think anyone should really hold their breath on that one as it’s another example of a player who joined, who doesn’t really give a shit.

Kamaldeen Injury Update

Back to Home Park in the team news comes through and Charly Alcaraz is nowhere to be found meaning that Adam Armstrong is dropping deeper into midfield and Che Adams starts up front. Sam Edozie has recovered from last week and keeps place in the team. Saints are of course captained by former Plymouth Argyle youth player Jack Stephens.  The expected dangerous Argyle front three of Whittaker, Hardie and Mumba are all in place for what should be very entertaining game.

Adam Armstrong‘s first involvement was to pick the ball up in his new midfield position and turn and head towards goal before he was unceremoniously carted up in the air by a horribly shit challenge by Argyle centre back Scarr.  Agricultural doesn’t do it justice.  The free-kick is in prime JWP territory just to the left of centre but of course, he’s not fucking here so Stuart Armstrong had a go and it’s a decent effort, beating the wall but straight down the goalkeepers throat

We have half a shout for a penalty as Adam Armstrong’s cross is laid-back but by Tella for KWP bursting into the box and there’s some contact but there’s not enough of a challenge there to give that.

Our best chance goes begging as Edozie breaks down the left and squares it across the top of the penalty area to Che Adams who passes on the chance for shot and tries to pass it one more on to Tella but he doesn’t get his feet right and ends up scuffing the ball to the goalkeeper. Bad miss to be honest.

After a keystone cops moment when one Argyle player tries a shot and drills it up the arse of another one, the ball goes out of the left where left back Kessler, picks it up and he lets fly from the edge of the box and narrowly over.  That’s the closest Argyle have come all half but we haven’t been much better.

To be honest, that was a shit half of football. Saints were probably the better side but Argyle had their moments and had a few situations which could’ve been better for them but they lacked the quality on the final ball. Hopefully that continues but we need to do better.

Something has obviously been said at half-time but we are playing with a lot more intensity straight away. The first chance falls when the ball is played out to Edozie on the left flank and he lines of the full-back before going past him on his right foot and he attempts the curler for the far post which goes about a foot wide. Great effort.

Forward we come again with Adam Armstrong carrying the ball to the left of the penalty area before attempting to square it across to Manning but it’s too far in front of him but no worries, as Tella appears between two dithering defenders and smashes it first time left footed past Hazard in the Argyle goal to make it 1-0.  Get in and no, this one didn’t deflect in off of the back of Arma’s head.

And Turf Moor Goes Wild

Having done the hard work and got in front, virtually straight from the kick-off the ball goes out to the dangerous Whittaker on the right-hand side and he’s made more dangerous by the fact that Ryan Manning slips on his arse. Whittaker gets to the edge of the penalty area before squaring it and Hardie has lost KWP and Bednarek and meets is 6 yards out and can’t miss. For fuck‘s sake.

It looks for a second like it’s all going to go wrong as a through ball gets played through towards Hardie on the right and he gets to it before Baz before crashing to the deck.  Something didn’t look quite right with that and sure enough, the referee David Webb hands out a yellow card to the striker. When you see the replay, it’s fucking horrendous as he knocks the ball past the keeper and then drags a leg into him whilst already being about 3 inches off the ground in the full dive position. Absolute wanker.

The mentality under Russell Martin is for the team to keep trying to play decent football, regardless of what’s happened and we now get back on it and some decent play on the left ends with Manning crossing the ball along the top of the penalty area to where Stuart Armstrong takes one touch to immaculately kill the ball, before an almost lazy swing of his right leg sends it goalwards and pinging off the bar and over. Fuck.  Another chance goes from a glorious break out of defence as Edozie brings it away before finding Adam Armstrong who accelerates to the left before squaring the ball along the 6 yard line but Edozie was not quite committed enough to bust a gut to get in there at the chance passes by.

With Joe Aribo and Sam Amo on for Stuart Armstrong and Edozie, we win a free kick right on the edge of the 'D' when a Plymouth defender overdoes it, loses the ball to Tella and promptly trashes him.  With Stuart Armstrong having left the pitch, it comes down to Adam Armstrong to smash the ball through a rather pathetic wall and for the keeper has pulls out a fucking worldie, getting one hand to it and managing to get the ball up and over the bar. Fucking hell.  Hazard the keeper then falls on the resulting corner which caused a bit of a scramble. Maybe it’s going to be one of those days.

All Argyle seem to have by way of threat is Whittaker on the right hand side and he takes advantage of some questionable one on one defending by Manning to cut in onto his favoured left foot before trying to beat Baz at his near post and seeing the ball ping off the outside of the post and away.

Deep into the nine minutes of additional time and Sam Amo is causing problems down the right flank and wins a corner.  In it comes from Ryan Manning, headed up in the air and everyone stands and watches as Adam Armstrong fully commits to the header and it’s going in but Hazard gets a big hand to it but can only push it onto the chest of Che Adams who simply lets the ball drop before knocking it into the net. Plymouth appeal for offside and were off to Stockley Park…. Oh no we’re fucking not because we’re in a proper game now, the lino hasn’t got his flag up so it’s a goal and we can all go mental.

Even after our celebrations and the players dodge the missiles thrown from the home end, it should be nearly done but the referee decides to keep it going, seemingly just for the hell of it.  Baz punches away one ball that comes into the penalty area and after half-arsed clearance by Aribo, Whittaker turns it back in and it looks like they’re through again for an equaliser but Adam Armstrong turns up to poke it behind for a corner. Baz punches that away but Plymouth are still allowed to play on and Baz has to punch it away yet again. It’s a throw on the left-hand side but the ref is still playing ‘next goal wins’ and into the box again but this time, it’s too long and Webb eventually blows the whistle as the ball goes out of play.

Well,we made heavy weather of it but we got the win that we deserved over the one hundred minutes that were played. Che Adams once again proved that he is the Big Dog in this league and we really need to do everything that we can to keep him.  If not then he needs to be replaced with a similarly sized dog.  The post-match narrative was all about the piss-take offer that we had heard from Everton and I found myself thinking that if i was a striker with one year left on my deal, why the fuck would I go to Everton, who play shit football under a dinosaur manager and are probably more likely to be playing in the Championship next year than Saints are? If I was Che, I think I would be seeing out my contract and hoping that I have a better selection of clubs to pick from in the summer.  If he stays and rattles in 30 goals this season, I don’t see how he won’t have better options than Everton for the sake of waiting a few months.

When Saints lined up for the opening game of the season at Sheffield Wednesday, we had what looked like a Premier League level line-up. In between Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich, we had lost JWP and in between Norwich and Plymouth, for different reasons we had lost Smallbone and Alcaraz. It is a major positive in that we have managed to pick up two wins and a draw for our first three games.  It is beyond any reasonable doubt however that we do need to strengthen. We were forced to play our top goalscorer in midfield today which is not something that you want. One injury or suspension at centre back and we have Lyanco in the team and with the way cards are being handed out in this league, that’s a real possibility.  New skipper Jack Stephens, not exactly known for being a hard man, has been booked three times in three games so far.

Today we got the job done despite a pretty nondescript first half and I love the fact that in his post-match interview, Russell Martin picked up on the fact that we had very little intensity either with or without the ball in the first half.  I actually thought it was more noticeable with the ball, where we didn’t seem to have much idea how to create a chance with our centre forward barely touching the ball in the first half an hour. Tweaks to the attacking play will come but we certainly need to get the ball fed into the striker more often. We came flying out in the second half and deservedly took the lead from a lovely finish by Burnley’s Nathan Tella, which was quite out of keeping with the rest of his performance which was largely frustrating.

How many times you heard it’s said that a team is never more vulnerable when when it’s just scored and so it proved, with us taking about a minute and a half to concede from what was I think Argyle’s only effort on target. It all came from Ryan Manning slipping over on the halfway line but once he had done that, the marking in the penalty area was non-existent. We had a couple of half scares when Whitaker cut in and hit the post but to be honest, that was never going to go in and we had the horrific dive by Hardie, for which he was rightly booked. I love it how strikers protest when they have been caught red-handed. He might have scored but he was too interested in trying to drag his feet into the goalkeeper. Wanker.

As we wrapped up the pressure in the last 15 minutes, we nearly scored from Adam Armstrong‘s free kick and would’ve done but for a ridiculous save by Hazard in the argyle goal. Fair enough, that’s what he’s there for. Was an absolutely brilliant save but he couldn't stop the winning goal, which was another beautiful example as to why football is better without VAR as the Big Dog knocked it in. I honestly don’t think it was offside anyway but had we had VAR, we would have had to endure a good five minutes of extra bullshit before any decision was reached.

I Could Get Used to This

It was an interesting day on that score because the referee David Webb was consistent in his inconsistency. We had a shout for a penalty at the end of the first half, and absolutely fucking ridiculous incident where Shea Charles went up for a header, had his shirt pulled, which forced Shay’s arms upwards, the ball hit his arm and the referee booked him. That may well have been a penalty with VAR but it’s no justification to say that you want VAR because at the end of the day this is just an incident of where you want the referee to be better. David Webb also didn’t seem to know that the ball doesn’t have to be out of play before he blows the final whistle when after twelve minutes of the nine in injury time, he allowed Argyle to keep throwing crosses into our box.

Our best player by quite a long way was Shea Charles who dominated the midfield area, apparently with 109 touches of the ball and only giving the ball away five times. Carry on like that and he is going to be some player. He is not as dynamic around the park as Romeo Lavia but he is a bigger physical presence and playing that position it’s all about doing the right things consistently.  Adam Armstrong also had a great game into a slightly deeper position with his work ethic making up for any shortcomings he may have as a midfielder.

Plymouth Argyle were decent and if they sort out their squad depth then they will be comfortably mid-table or higher this season. They are clearly playing for the manager but it definitely seemed like Stephen Schumacher made a few too many substitutions in the second half because some of the players who came on, didn’t really seem to get near the pace of the game. There is no disgrace in that however because believe it or not, our players will be some of the best that these guys have ever played against. Of the three attacking players who were expected to be the biggest dangers, really only Morgan Whittaker stood out. Ryan Hardie scored but had his ridiculous dive and Bali Mumba had a bit of a shocker to be honest, comprehensively losing his battle against KWP who, in mitigation, will probably be the best full-back he’s ever played against.

So, seven points out of nine and at the time the game finished, we were top of the league. Next up is a home game against QPR which is certainly one that should see our home form up and running. Hopefully we will have some more reinforcements by then and Che Adams will have realised that he is onto a good thing here this season.

James Ward-Prowse Has Left the Building

 

The Inevitable Departure of James Ward-Prowse

To be honest, I knew this day would come from about January 2023, when in my mind, I accepted that Saints were going to get relegated at the end of the season. The day has now come and James Ward-Prowse has left Southampton.  It all aligned.

At 28 years old and absolutely at his peak, it was always going to happen for so many reasons.  The main one of course, is that he’s far too good for the Championship and there were always going to be Premier League suitors. 

Next up, he had recently found himself marginalised from the England squad and the inevitable feeling was that if he played for more high-profile club then he would certainly have been given more chances, despite never letting England down when he has played. It has always been this way. If you play for Southampton - you’ll get in the squad for qualifiers and friendlies but when it comes down to an actual tournament, you are not getting near the squad because an average player who plays for a bigger club and hardly gets any minutes on the pitch, will be preferred to someone who plays for Southampton who plays 90 minutes every week.  Playing for Saints makes you easy to drop to accommodate an Arsenal Reserve defender who was never ever going to play a minute at Euro 2020 for example.  JWP still harbours ambitions of playing international football and if you feel deep down that playing for Southampton in the Premier League is counting against you, it doesn't take a genius to work out what playing for Southampton in the Championship is going to do for your chances.

Get Yourself a Move to a Bigger Club

Financial reasons would also have played a part, from the clubs point of view, as he is the highest earning player at the club and as we all know, once you get relegated, the financial belt has to be pulled in a little bit more.  Also, after being at the club for twenty years, it would have been very difficult to stand in his way if a respectable offer (and this is a respectable offer) had come in

I’ve seen quite a few fans saying that he should stay for a year in the Championship and that he’s giving up his legend status but he isn’t really. Comparisons to long serving legends of the past don’t really stack up either.  Matt Le Tissier, as he has often admitted, would’ve left if we had got relegated and the last time I remember a comparable Saints player not leaving when we got relegated was Mick Channon in 1973.  That’s fifty years ago and football has moved on a bit since then.  Back then you could play for England from the second tier and the disparity in money and prestige wasn't there.  JWP could have stayed in his comfort zone here, that would have been the easy thing to do but he's chosen to shake things up and prove himself again. Taking the emotion of being a Saints fan out of it for a second, I would have been a bit disappointed in him if he had stayed.

JWP was always going to leave this summer and the only questions were where would he go and for how much?

The price that we were willing to sell him was always quoted at around the £40 million mark. The fact that we eventually sold him for £30 million tells you all you need to know about how accurate the press reported ‘expected fees’ are. In short, I find it very unlikely that any selling club is going to put the fee out there, so the figures are probably arbitrary. There was always a feeling that he would not be on the radar of the really big clubs, so it was always going to be one at Europa League level and the team in the end was West Ham, fresh off of winning the Europa Conference League and therefore qualifying for the Europa league next season and fresh from selling Declan Rice, so needing midfield reinforcements.

Going to West Ham is a bit of a risk. Yes they have European football this season but it always seems to be a club that lurches from one crisis to another. Even now it seems that some inside West Ham didn’t really want this transfer to go ahead and it’s David Moyes who is the transfers biggest cheerleader. It’s a risk because David Moyes always seems about two games from the sack at West Ham and there are plenty calling for him to go even now, having just won a European trophy. 

He also has to satisfy a new fan base, a fan base which historically has been very quick to turn if expectations are not met. JWP could have five dodgy games for Saints and the credit in the bank would mean that no one would really question him and everyone knew that his form would return. If he starts off with five dodgy games at West Ham then the knives will be out. If he does well though, many West Ham fans will realise that just labelling him as a free kick merchant was as ridiculous as Saints fans know it is.  Yes, he is outstanding at free kicks and they of course catch the eye but it’s certainly not a case of just because he’s outstanding at one thing, he is average at everything else.  The tracking back, the passing, the energy, the fitness.  He isn’t your Declan Rice replacement but will do a great job if partnered with the correct players in the centre of midfield.  Seeing him wearing a West Ham kit and doing little videos which end with ‘Come on you Irons’, will never not seem odd and maybe it’s just in my head, but he looked very awkward when doing it.

 

JWP and One of His Allies - Who We Got Rid Of

I attach no blame whatsoever to JWP. At 28 he has probably got four peak years left as a player and why would you want to spend 25% of that time at least, in the Championship?  The blame for his departure, completely lies with Southampton Football Club over the last three years, with the gradual decline over the first two of those and the complete shambles of last season which you can pin on any number of contributors – owners, managers, poor players, half-arsed players. If we play West Ham in the FA Cup this season, their fans will chant "James Ward-Prowse, He Left Cos You're Shit" and who could argue?  JWP has actually been captain for those last three years but no one could really point a finger in his direction.  You can only swim against the tide, carrying everyone on your back, for so long.

As a captain and as a player his performances were beyond reproach, despite the ridiculous workload that he was under. Basically, this was his brief - You have to be the captain, you have to score most of the goals, you have to provide most of the assists and do all that whilst playing as a deep No 6 because no one else is disciplined enough to do it.  By the way, you have to do all that whilst it’s a complete and utter shambles everywhere else with incompetent managers, poor standard players and players who don’t care oh and just to make it more of a challenge, over the last couple of years, we got rid of Nathan Redmond, Oriol Romeu and Fraser Forster, three of your biggest allies and three of your best mates.  

All we had to do to keep him was stay in the Premier League and we butchered it completely.  There is no way that he would’ve left if we had managed to stay up. It's a sad day but we, the club, made our own bed and now we have to lie in it.  Actions have consequences.  It's Saints fault he's not spending his entire career here, not his.

There's a Child on the Pitch, 2012

So, I feel that we have to remember what he’s done for the club and how much service he has given, wish him well and remember the good times.  JWP‘s first appearance of Saints came in 2011 when as a 16-year-old, he was picked to play in the League Cup game against Crystal Palace when Saints were in the Championship.  He also played in the FA Cup that season against Coventry and scored his first goal.  Nigel Adkins got us promoted and the opening game of the Premier League season in 2012 was away at Champions Manchester City and Ward-Prowse was on the teamsheet, as a 17 year-old.  

Premier League Debut at 17

From that moment in August 2012 to our relegation in May 2023, his career at Saints has completely encompassed the 11 seasons that we were in the Premier League and his only game outside the top flight was the opening game of this season at Sheffield Wednesday.  He’s had nine permanent managers in that time and they’ve all picked him regularly.

Significantly, he got regular game time under both Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman and when you consider the players we had at those times, to be an Academy lad of 20 to 22, getting games even as a substitute, in a team packed with internationals is no mean feat.  It's hard for Academy lads to get games when there is always the latest new flashy thing from Europe arriving to play in your position. Ralph Hasenhuttl was the manager who got him to toughen up and perform as a central midfielder in a two, something that never looked possible before.  Made captain after Pierre Hojbjerg left for Spurs and keeping his head above water and in the main, maintaining performance levels whilst the squad was getting weaker and weaker and seeing his number of goals and assists going up whilst everything else was crashing down.

Most people younger than 20 will struggle to remember a time when Saints put a team out on the pitch that didn’t have JWP in it, such has been his record of being available and being selected.  His last four seasons for the club have seen him play 38, 38, 36 and 38 Premier League games.  The four seasons before that saw 33, 30, 30 and 26 and you have to go back to that initial Premier League season of 2012/13 to find a season where he played less than 25 out of 38 Premier League games.

As our longest serving player, his leaving is a severing of the last playing connection to the last decent generation of young players who came through the club Academy. JWP of course broke through with Luke Shaw, Sam McQueen, Harrison Reed and Callum Chambers. Shaw and Chambers of course couldn’t leave quickly enough.

Don't Shoot From There, It's Miles Out

Having said that he is about considerably more than free-kicks, my personal favourite JWP moments from his 11 years in the first team of course, include some free-kicks.  The one against Spurs at St Mary‘s to win the game 2-1, the one at Wolves which was ridiculous and best of all, a non-free-kick moment - getting Wilfried Zaha sent off at St Mary‘s. Yes, JWP could be a proper shithouse. I find some comfort in the fact that though Zaha has now left Palace and JWP doesn’t play for Saints anymore, he will still be living rent-free in the heads of the Palace fan base next season.

Hi Wilf!

He's signed a four-year deal at West Ham but keep on eye on what’s going on in three years’ time.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he comes home but for that to even be an option, we have to get back into the Premier League and the only way we’re going to do that is if we move on from him and get things right, starting with adequately replacing him.

When some of these players who leave give it the “Once a Saint Always a Saint” upon departure, I replace the word “Saint” with something unprintable.  “Once a Saint Always a Saint” rings true for James Ward-Prowse however and hopefully he’ll be lining up against us next season in the league… and not because West Ham have been relegated.  JWP has moved on and so must we.

Club legend?  For me, he's up there and I wish him all the best.

EFL Championship Match 2 - Southampton 4 Norwich City 4

 

Gunn at St Mary's? - Of Course It Went In

The days after the Gillingham defeat have been a mixture of sadness, acceptance, annoyance and hilarity.

Sadness. After 20 years at the club, James Ward-Prowse decided to join West Ham and the club accepted a £30 million package for his signature. I have been preparing myself for this day since January to be honest, which was exactly the same time that I accepted that we were going to get relegated.  This is an inevitable consequence.  I was hoping that no one would come in or that he’d fail the medical (not very likely as he never misses a game) but sadly for all of us, he’s off.

Acceptance.  There was no way that at 28, JWP was going to drop down to the Championship if he had any opportunity at all to play for a half decent Premier League club, especially one that was in Europe. As I write, it’s not confirmed as a done deal yet but despite some rumours to the contrary, there’s no way he’s gonna make an appearance against Norwich today.

Annoyance.  Liverpool continued their very strange pursuit of Romeo Lavia by adding another few coppers to the bids they had made previously but then it all went batshit mental when they suddenly decided to offer more than double their highest pisstake bid for Lavia, for Moises Caicedo from Brighton, who of course plays in the same position. Basically, in that instant, they told Romeo that he wasn’t their first choice and it also implied that they were doing what Fulham did with Salisu and what Besiktas did with Lyanco in taking two deals forward and then binning one off if the preferred target went through to completion.

Hilarity.  So, Brighton accepted their offer for Caicedo and then a few hours later, Caicedo himself said he didn’t wanna fucking go there which leaves Liverpool right in the shit and then it got even funnier because as I write, it looks like both the Brighton and Southampton player are going to go to Chelsea.

It is however tough for Romeo Lavia who at the end of the day, is a 19-year-old kid who has had his head thoroughly messed with over the past few weeks.  Liverpool should be ashamed of themselves but we all know that they won’t be.

With news of JWP‘s almost certain exit, Jack Stephens was sworn in as the new club captain and one assumes, on field captain. Jack’s leadership skills have never been in doubt. His problem has always been keeping his performance levels high enough to warrant being a starter in the defence. That should certainly be a lot easier for him to achieve in the Championship. What can’t be argued is that he is a player of very good character who will take the role very seriously and I expect him to do a very good job.

Norwich are of course the club that Russell Martin played 300 games for and it was a widely assumed by those in the yellow part of East Anglia that he would one day be their manager. Not today. Norwich arrive with ex-Huddersfield post David Wagner in charge and are off the back of an opening day last minute win against Hull at Carrow Road.

They bucked to their own trend last year and stopped yo-yoing between the Championship and the Premier League by having a pretty shit season and finishing 15th. They looked decent in their opening game and you would expect them to mount a challenge for a playoff place at least this season. They have some exciting young players like Jonathan Rowe who scored a fantastic goal at the weekend and they mix that in with some gnarly old bastards have been kicking around the Premier League for years like Ben Gibson, Shane Duffy and Ashley Barnes - he with the face of a man licking piss of a stinging nettle. A horrible bastard to play against and despite now being 33, I am sure he will cause a lot of problems. Gibson and Duffy are of course going to be a threat at the set pieces which we are not very good at defending, to put it mildly

We have a JWP sized hole to fill in the centre of midfield and it seems like a choice between Stuart Armstrong and Shea Charles. This for me, is a massive game for us because our home form over the last three or four seasons has been absolutely shocking. I have hope however, that the Russball approach will enable us to have a better chance of winning home games and it’d be great if it started today to get the fans onside.  The atmosphere at St Mary’s for the last couple of seasons has been absolutely apathetic. With more people having bought season tickets this year, it will be great if we can hit the ground running and give everybody something to get excited about.

Five minutes in and Norwich attack down our right and the ball gets played in to Ashley Barnes chest and under a real weak challenge from Stephens, he is allowed to bring the ball down on the edge of the box and switch it out to the right hand side to Stacey. No one is close to him either and he takes a touch and chips over a lovely cross to the back post where the unmarked Sargent heads into the net with Baz having absolutely no chance at all.  Fucking hell – how simple was that and how dreadful was our defending?

Saints respond well to going behind and soon we have the waves of attacking that we saw up at Sheffield Wednesday. Alcaraz wins a corner with a shot from a narrow angle which Gunn pushes wide. We take it short and KWP’s cross to the back post is powerfully headed goalward by Captain Jack and Angus Gunn flaps it out into the middle of the penalty area allowing Bednarek to absolutely crash it back past him to make it 1-1. Excellent finish and what the fuck is this? Goal music? Piss off.

Saints are definitely on the front foot now and win a free kick on right hand side.  In it comes from Smallbone and Shane Duffy, for reasons best known to himself, gets the header all wrong and ends up patting the ball to the ground in the middle of the penalty area. Well, that’s always going to be given and so it was. So far, JWP has been replaced on corner duties by Smallbone and Manning and now it’s time to find out who is on the penalties.  Nathan Tella is the one with the ball but it’s that distraction technique and once the penalty area is cleared it’s Adam Armstrong who steps up to power the ball past Angus Gunn.

Let's Stand Off, Let Him Shoot and See What Happens

If there was a sense that we were now going to keep the ball and see this game out with no issues and win relatively comfortably, it lasted the entire two minutes it took for Norwich to kick off and work the ball to Sara upfront and us to allow him, courtesy of  a combination of Smallbone, Bednarek and KWP standing off, to turn and absolutely smash it past Baz to bring Norwich back level again. The lack of intensity in our defending is almost funny. Training cones all three of them.

With half-time approaching at the end of a very entertaining 53 minutes or whatever, Norwich win a corner on the right and it’s time to demonstrate how much better we’ve got a defending set pieces since the Sheffield Wednesday game but not a bit of it. Over it comes and there is the very average height Jonathan Rowe, completely unmarked about 10 yards out to loop a header over Baz and into the far side of the goal. I actually feel sorry for Baz– I’m not his biggest fan but he has had absolutely no fucking chance with any of these goals and has been horribly let down by those in front of him.

Half-time and there are a smattering of boos but mainly, the atmosphere is very positive. Good stuff.  That half of football was absolutely mental and the one thing you know for sure is that we are not out of this and that there will be more goals.

We get an early setback in the second half as Sam Edozie goes down and has to be substituted but after it initially looked like a bad hamstring strain, he got up and walked off fairly comfortably so hopefully it’s not too bad. Instead of calling on a replacement winger, Russell Martin brings on the big gun in Che Adams and moves Armstrong out of the left.

Like he did last week at Sheffield United, Che makes an impact straight away as he tries to slip a pass through on edge of the penalty area and the ball ricochets back to him off the Norwich defender before he absolutely drills it across Gunn and into the far side of the net for 3-3. Fucking get in. Now come on and fucking win it.

Stuart Armstrong has been dangerous all game with his forward running and he cuts in off the left and goes for the far post but just wide.  It’s more or less his last contribution as he is replaced with Shea Charles who instantly makes us look more solid in midfield, with Smallbone pushed up a bit.

Norwich are not sitting in however and from a free kick on the edge of the box, Baz saves well, Sargent knocks it back across and there’s fucking Ashley Barnes to turn it in but the angry bollocks is offside, I assume because he went early from the original free kick.  There’s another Norwich break as KWP goes down in their half but nothing is given and so we’re over-committed again and once we’ve made yet another balls of tidying up the danger, Sargent is streaking away on the right.  He tries to find Fassnacht who mercifully has a poor touch and Baz snuffs out the attack by diving at his feet.

Smallbone, having already been booked, like 75% of the players who have set foot on the pitch today, goes awkwardly into another tackle on the left wing and I would not remotely be surprised if this is another yellow card but that doesn’t happen but his game is over anyway because he has stayed down. When play restarts, we still have 10 and Norwich stream forward in the chaos about the ball into the box should be dealt with by Manning but he inexplicably gets his feet all fucking wrong and presents it to Fassnacht who buries it past the helpless Baz. Three minutes of normal time to go and we are 4-3 down but there’s no panic because you know there is going to be at least eight minutes added and so it proves.

Sam Amo has come on for the injured Smallbone and started making a massive difference out on the right hand side.  His ball inside finds KWP barrelling into the penalty area and down he goes under a clumsy challenge from behind and another penalty.  Fuck me that looks soft. Looked to me like he was running, knew the defender was behind him and just stopped. Is VAR going to overturn it?  no it fucking isn't cos we're having a proper game here.  Up steps Adam Armstrong again and even though you are usually less confident with a player taking a second penalty in the same game, I am absolutely more confident that he is going to score and bang, Gunn goes the wrong way and the ball rips past him to the other side. With two minutes of normal time to go we are treated to Saints players sprinting back to the halfway line with the ball. We want to win this.

Excited by the Goal Music, Arma Runs Back to the Middle.

Just maybe - another Amo break up the right and he skips past one and feeds it to Charly Alcaraz on the edge of the box and “we’re gonna win 5-4” and he sets off an effort with his right foot and “we’re not gonna win 5-4” as it curls about 6 inches wide of the far post. Fuck that would’ve taken the roof off if that had gone in.

Well that was absolutely mental. Easily the most entertaining game at St Mary‘s since the last one, against Liverpool on the last day of last season. Discounting that one because that that game was effectively a friendly with nothing riding on it, this was the most entertaining game I’ve seen at St Mary‘s since Ronald Koeman was in charge. It could’ve been even better if Charly’s shot had found the bottom corner in the last minute but regardless - what a fucking game.

Let’s start with the bad stuff – our defending was fucking shambolic to say the least. Even if you ignore the four actual goals we conceded, the way we set up and the lack of the intensity in our defending was hilariously bad. I was about to say we had a 4-0-6 formation but in fact it was more 2-0-8. The amount of times we lost the ball with at least half of our team in front of the ball was absolutely ridiculous. Will Smallbone does a great job at intercepting the ball in tight areas but in open field, we had absolutely no one doing anything defensive until they got to the centre backs. We did have a bit of a warning in pre-season when there were some games that our midfield just didn’t do any work defensively when we lost the ball. Replacing JWP with Stuart Armstrong changed the balance of things in the midfield.  JWP was always running back and putting tackles in and was prepared to track his man and play as an orthodox number six. Neither Stuart Armstrong or Charly Alcaraz are capable of that and though Will Smallbone does some really good stuff defensively - at the end of the day I can’t help but feel that he is much more suited to a more advanced position.

Defending?  Nah!

Russell Martin was spot on his post-match interview when he said there’s a balance that needs to be had there between committing bodies forward and having some sort of structure in place for when the other team wins the ball back.  How much was down to the midfield structure though and how much was down to us being just plain old shite in defence?  The four goals we conceded were all different shades of shite.  The first was allowing Barnes to bring the ball down about 20 yards out and lay it off under no pressure.  He laid it off to an unmarked and untracked fullback in Stacey, who crossed to to the unmarked Sargent at the back post.  The second saw Sara pick the ball up and turn and with Smallbone, Bednarek and KWP all watching him from a couple of yards away, he laced it into the corner.  The third was "oh will you look at that, a totally unmarked player with a free header from a set piece about ten yards out" and the fourth was a beautifully cushioned set up by Manning.

However, if given a choice between the safety-first crap and losing anyway, that we had to watch last season, or having the odd 4-all draw, then I’ll take this every day of the week. The attacking play at times was superb, and 31 shots in any game is a ridiculous statistic. So much for the doom and gloom merchants who assumed we were just going to pass the ball endlessly without having any shots.  We could have scored more and should have scored more.  We didn’t work the keeper enough but we certainly had a go.

Norwich were almost as bad as us with gift-wrapped goals.  Angus Gunn flapped out Stephens’ header for Bednarek to score the first and Shane Duffy must’ve known that playing basketball in your own penalty area is not a good idea.  Even though it looked like KWP bought the penalty at the end slightly, it was a clumsy-ass challenge by the left back who had come in from the wrong side. 

I loved the spirit we showed in the game.  We were behind three times remember and still came away with something.  Over the last couple of years, we’ve frequently thrown in a bad goal and then given up or lost without having a shot.  Not today and we got the point we deserved.

When he was talking about the balance of how we attack and defend in his post-match press conference, Russell Martin also talked about the fact that Flynn Downes will be arriving from West Ham and mention the fact that if he had been here, we wouldn’t have let in four goals today. It seems that that one is imminent, and it sounds like it’s going to be a loan with an option to buy.

There were over 30,000 in St.Mary’s today, which is quite remarkable really.  That’s the sort of football that will bring back the fans, as opposed to the pins-in-your-eyes shite of the past two seasons.  The atmosphere was decent as well, which makes a massive change for the better.  However, goal music can absolutely get in the bin.  This is not some new format cricket competition – this is probably the most authentic league in the world.  No VAR, no bullshit and we don’t need the abomination of goal music.  Get rid.  Rumour has it that we had goal music last year but we never actually heard it.

Four points from the opening two games isn’t bad but seven out of nine will be very decent indeed and it’s a visit to another newly promoted side next as we take the road West down to Plymouth.  They look decent in attack so we won’t be able to pull the shit we pulled today and get away with it.  However, they won’t have played anyone recently that attacks like we do.  Bring it on.