Carabao Cup 2nd Round - Cardiff 3 Southampton 5

 

Somewhere, Nathan Jones is Very Proud

Carabao Cup second round and Cardiff at the Cardiff City Stadium. Last time here we took our last remaining hopes of automatic promotion and threw them down the shitter. It was quite an amazing game when you look back on it. Cardiff had what amounted to their youth team playing, Saints scored and had 400 shots, missing all the rest of them and in the last 10 minutes Cardiff had two shots and won the game. It was truly one of those days where as a fan, you asked yourself the question “why do I fucking bother?”. The reason you bother is that of course within a month, we had one the play-off final at Wembley and what turned out to be one of the greatest days the club has ever had.

Today is two things. It’s a chance to put the stodgy start to the Premier League behind us for an evening and go out and try and score some goals and it’s also a chance for players not in the Premier League side, to really advance their chances of being so when the game against Brentford rolls around at the weekend. Most people will be focused on the new players with both Mateus Fernandes and Lesley Ugochukwu expected to start. There will also be a start for Cameron Archer and we should get to see the young exciting talent of Tyler Dibling and Sam Amo-Ameyaw.  It’s the front half of the team that I am really interested in given the pretty poor start of the Premier League season in that regard.

Russell Martin has hinted that there will be 11 changes today and he has also had a say about the clubs transfer activity. It was largely expected that a new goalkeeper would be in the door by now with the club having agreed a deal with Feyenoord for Justin Bijlow.  Everyone had got their head around that and then it ultimately fallen through because of an issue on the medical with an old injury that he had. The deal that the club had agreed with Feyenoord was an initial loan deal which was to become a permanent deal if he played 20 games. It’s a bit strange that the deal was structured that way because we knew he had had medical issues over the last couple of years and then we pulled out anyway. It looks like something worse showed up when he did his medical over here. I guess that in some ways we should be grateful that the medical process that we have, that led to assigning Ross Stewart, is being a little bit more stringent these days. On the face of it it’s a shame for the player who had said all his goodbyes to Feyenoord and prepare himself for a dream move to the Premier League.

Saints meanwhile have less than a week left of the transfer window end need to explore other goalkeeper options…. And spoiler alert, more on that later.  We are also of course in dire need of attacking reinforcements with wingers now being the main thing that we need as I’m sure that Russell Martin would like to play 4-3-3 and everyone who can play in those wide attacking positions seems to be really struggling at the moment.

Outgoing transfer news with Shea Charles joining Sheffield Wednesday on season long loan, which I think will be really good for him and for Sheffield Wednesday. Saints have got promoted one season two early for Shea to make much of an impact this season at Premier League level but this is certainly a loan for a season and nothing more, and he will be back with us next summer.

Also on the way out is Charly Alcaraz to Flamengo in Brazil and again this is a deal that seems to suit all parties. He is not a Russell Martin type of player and when that is the case that a player doesn’t fit in with the manager, then there needs to be a parting of the ways, especially if money is tight and the asset can fetch a decent fee. As far as we all have our own ideas of what we think the team should be but at the end of the day, we don’t matter and it’s the managers opinion that is paramount. You can though definitely argue that the team wouldn’t have scored less goals if Charly was playing in the opening two league games.  He looked a great signing when he first arrived in the Kamaldeen – Tall Paul Shitshow Transfer Window of January 2023 and we even gave him a new contract when we got relegated but it never really happened in the Championship and the loan out to Juventus was as weird as it was unsuccessful.  It’s easy to forget that the made the full Argentina squad for one game last season and it’s easy to let those early performances he put in, in the relegation season, cloud judgement on his abilities when there was no European club particularly interested in him this time around.  Charly seemed a good lad though and never disrespected anyone (apart from that Lazio player he tried to punch) so good luck to him.

Tonight we have the full eleven changes – Lumley, Bree, Taylor, Wood, Edwards, Ugochukwu, Dibling, Fernandes, Amo-Ameyaw, Archer, Edozie.  Even the bench is new with only Alex McCarthy from the first XI.  New names appearing include midfielders Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh and Romeo Akechukwu, both brought in from Irish clubs.

Saints are flying at the start and straight away you can see a marked difference about the way we are trying to play. Yes the opposition aren’t as good, obviously, but in the midfield both Fernandes and Dibling are looking to go forward at every opportunity.

Dibling has already had an early shot which has been saved when Bree picks him out with a ball forward which Nathan Jones would’ve been proud of because it had verticality he was always shitting on about and Tyler gets away from the defender before knocking it infield Fernandes on the edge of the box who takes a touch and then drives it past Alnwick in the Cardiff goal to make it 1-0 after about seven minutes. Hello.

The W Stands for 'Why Am I Not in the Team Yet'?

Cardiff respond of sorts as they win a free kick over on the left when Big Les is penalised for basically being strong and winning the ball back. Rubin Colwill optimistically tries to shot from the left wing which is not the worst idea in the world considering Lumley is in goal.. and he has been known to try and save free-kicks using his teeth instead of his arms (see Watford FA Cup away).  He does however save it and then launches it long and Archer flicks it on to Sam Amo who is clean through on goal and he skips around the keeper but goes too wide and a covering defender knocks it off for a corner. All positive stuff however and the value of quick attacking play and having a focal point striker, well illustrated.

Cardiff try again down our right with Reindorf burrowing into the box before turning out and knocking it back to Colwill about 35 yards out. No one closes him down and he just hits it. As Lumley looks at it, it goes left and then curves right and the goalkeeper is planted with no chance at all as the ball flicks off the crossbar and flies into the net. What a brilliant strike. Shite closing down but can’t really complain about that.

Back on it and Charlie Taylor is carrying the ball down the left and he slides a ball into the penalty area to pick up a Fernandes run, a backheel to Archer and another backheel back to Taylor, followed by a pass across the top of the box and there is Sam Amo, first time left footed and giving the goalkeeper no chance at all. Another brilliant goal.

I'm Sorry - He Just Doesn't Look Old Enough

Having gone ahead again, it is of course time to step off the gas with Cardiff being allowed to build up play down our left and the cross comes in and Lumley should either catch it or punch it but instead of that he flaps it back into the danger area, only it doesn’t get into the danger area because it hits Ronnie Edwards and bounces into the net. For fucks sake. What a shit goal.  Well this is fun – equal parts brilliant and shite.

Quite often at half time in these game, you see how much the manager actually wants to win the game and they might bring on the ‘big’ players that are on the bench.  As explained though, none of our first team are on there so away we go with the same eleven.

The one Saints attacking player who has not showed anything yet is Sam Edozie on the left but he has a chance when teed up by Big Les and Archer and he chopped the ball onto his right foot before passing it narrowly wide of the far post. Good effort but he has to score really.  It doesn’t take too long for us to regain the lead with Sam Amo passing across the top of the penalty area to Fernandes, who has the vision a knock it forward into Archer's feet, one touch, spin, bang, 3-2.  Great finish and all of a sudden I’m feeling better about our striking options.

The tactic of losing intensity once ahead and giving Cardiff opportunities has clearly been carried over from the first half as the dangerous Colwill picks it up just left of centre and chips it to the back post, a header down and then smashed in first time by Robertson, which gave Lumley absolutely no chance at all and this is all great fun but still shit and it’s now 3-3. Apparently, Robertson used to play for the Skates, which is nice isn’t it?  Twat.

The game can’t carry on at this pace and it dies off a little bit with just the occasional chance. Archer trust to liven it up by going on a solo mission which ends with his shot deflected wide.  Cardiff's next chance is a Nathan Wood production, as he fannies around with the ball and a halfway line, gets tackled by Reindorf who can’t get away because Wood holds onto his shirt and shorts for a good 5 seconds while play goes on and Ashford runs past the wrestling match and gets to the edge of the Saints penalty area and looks for all the world he’s going to make it 4-3 to Cardiff until Lumley partially redeems himself, getting a big hand to it and pushing it wide

There’s a couple of subs made and significance in those coming on and off.  Big Les and Fernandes have been taken off, presumably to be saved for involvement on Saturday and their replacements are Adam Lallana making his first Saints appearance for ten years and Armel Bella-Kotchap, probably making his last Saints performance before he disappears at the end of the transfer window.  With twenty to go, you would think the next goal is going to win it and Reindorf again causes Wood all sorts of problems before the ball drops to substitute Twose who absolutely smashes it and we’re all waiting for the net to bulge as it goes just wide.

With all the reshuffling that is going on with the substitutions, Ronnie Edwards has moved into midfield and not his fault but he’s look like a fish up a tree and so on comes Romeo Akechukwu for his debut and we now have a midfield three of 36-year-old Lallana, whose age is matched by adding together the age of the other two midfielders, Akechukwu and Dibling. Romeo looks like a powerful player and his first action is to burst forward from the halfway line before getting absolutely totalled.

It’s looks like it’s going to penalties now as we approach 90. Dibling has had half an hour off but he’s come back to life again, seemingly energised by the presence of Lallana who has basically completely taken control of the game. Some fancy Lallana flick that I don’t even have a name for, puts Tyler away and he gets tackled for a corner.  We work the corner short back to Bree, who tosses a hopeful ball into the box which is headed away back to his general vicinity and he goes in on the Cardiff players touch, gets in front of him and then just smashes it on the up and sends it flying over the goalkeeper and into the top corner. Ridiculously brilliant strike and Nathan Jones is sat in a pub in a small Welsh mining village in his Stone Island Jacket, proudly telling anyone who’ll listen that he taught him that.

Centre Forwards Are Useful

Still enough time for us to throw this away of course because that's what we do best but Cardiff’s first attack does an amount to anything and Saints are on the break through Dibling, who carries it forward before sliding it through to Archer and it’s an exact replica of the winning goal in the play-off final as Archer advances on the goalkeeper before drilling it across him into the far corner.  Again, a superb finish and this quite mental game is now 5-3 and all over.

Well, as said, that was great fun and absolutely mental. Cardiff fully played their part. They put out what was basically a second-string side and all praise of Saints players has to be put into that context. Cardiff scored an absolutely ridiculous goal through Rubin Colwill and the third goal was decent as well.

Firstly, it was a brilliantly entertaining game and it had all the ingredients for that to happen with committed attacking play, mixed with terrible defending at times from both teams. What I was most pleased about was that a number of the Saints players put their hands up for consideration for the First XI in the Premier League. Of those who played tonight I would say that Lesley Ugochukwu, Cameron Archer, Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes have certainly made Russell Martin think about who he sends out onto the pitch against Brentford on Saturday. Of those, I would say that Archer and Fernandes absolutely have to start. Elsewhere, there was a solid performance by Charlie Taylor and Sam Amo-Ameyaw certainly proved that he’s worth having on the bench in the Premier League. There were also good performances from a couple of substitutes. Adam Lallana came on and completely bossed the game from the central of the park and ABK looked a class apart. With both of those two you have to bear in mind the strength of the opposition.  Lallana is never going to be any more than a 20 minute player for us at the end of games and I’m convinced that this appearance of ABK was just to put him in the shop window and show that he is capable of playing football after his Hoffenheim medical caused that moved to be put off.  It’s a shame that he seems to have no intent to knuckle down and get on with it here but I think that ship has sailed.

Big Les was everything I wanted him to be in midfield. He gets about the park, he is strong, he makes tackles and he is relatively decent on the ball. Maybe not for Saturday but I can certainly see him and Flynn Downes both being in our midfield very soon. His relatively early substitution tonight certainly suggests he is going to play a role on Saturday.  If things work out then I can see them being augmented in midfield by Mateus Fernandes, who added some real class to the midfield, scoring one goal with a very good finish, having a big hand in the Sam Amo goal and setting up another for Archer and being constantly involved and looking to pass the ball into dangerous areas.

He had a chance to do the last of those because of the performance of Cameron Archer who had a quiet start before coming to life just before half-time, taking Fernandes pass and simply turning and hitting it with a directness not really seen from any of our strikers very often. It was so nice to see him occupying the defenders and being a focal point especially in the context of the game against Forest on Saturday.

I would still urge a bit of caution about Tyler Dibling. He had a superb first half but had half an hour at the start of the second where he gave the ball away virtually every time he had it when he got a little bit tired. He sprung back to life in the last 10 minutes and set up another goal, the fifth one for Cameron Archer.  He’s a brilliant young player but I would certainly still use him as a substitute for now but his minutes certainly need to be increased and I really wouldn’t complain if he did start.  It’s too simplistic to say this but basically in the Premier League, our defence is solid and our attack is terrible whereas in this game, the complete opposite was true.

Don't Close Him Down Then

Of the others, well Joe Lumley proved that he is the ultimate vibes goalkeeper. By that I mean that he’s a great lad, fun on the golf course, good sense of humour, gets his round in, everybody likes him, doesn’t make a fuss when he’s not playing, not very good but no one cares because he’s fourth choice. Fourth choice? Can you count? Bazunu, McCarthy, Lumley? Why is he the fourth choice?

Oh yes, just before the game, news emerged that we are almost certain to sign Aaron Ramsdale on a permanent move from Arsenal for £18 million quid initially. Fuck me, what a buy that is. It appears that Arsenal were more in favour of a permanent departure than a loan departure and that’s why we managed to steal a march on clubs like Wolves, who wanted the latter option. Personally, I think this also explains why we did the dirty on Justin Bijlow. I have course have no proof of that but it just seems a little bit coincidental. It’s a harsh way to treat a player if it’s true but this is a ruthless business and you don’t get anywhere by being super nice about everything.

James Bree… Take a bow son. What a brilliant fucking goal from a player who has done absolutely fucking nothing since he came to the club. He’s still not very good but that was a ridiculous goal and it’s a shame in a way that it didn’t turn out to be the winner. Goals like that are absolutely brilliant because they come from the most unexpected source. It’s not quite Francis Benali or Claus Lundekvam scoring after 400 odd games, but unexpected nonetheless.

On the other side of the defence was Charlie Taylor who was solid and I would certainly not have a problem if he started in the Premier League. It’s a toss-up between Yuki Sugawara and Charlie.  Yuki has done nothing wrong but whilst KWP is here, Charlie would give you a better balance of course being naturally left-footed. The good news is that we are covered in both sides if we lose KWP at the end of the transfer window.  A fullback pairing of Yuki and Charlie really wouldn’t be too bad.

The central defenders Ronnie Edwards and Nathan Wood both had good moments and moments they would prefer to forget. Edwards moved into midfield later in the game and proved that he can’t really play there and Nathan Wood just has to work to get the sloppiness out of his game. He does some good things and then does something monumentally shit but it was funny seeing him grab hold of a Cardiff player and not let go for about ten seconds after he fucked up. Ronnie was unfortunate with his own goal which he couldn’t really help bearing in mind Mr Vibes in goal, threw it at him from very close range.

On the wings we had Sam Amo and Sam Edozie. Sam Amo scored a brilliant goal and did some really good things throughout the game, proving that he should stay in the match day squad as the winger to bring on. He should certainly be ahead of Edozie in the pecking order who seems to have gone right off the boil when compared to the standard he sat in the middle of last season before he got crocked by that awful tackle by Jack Stacey up at Norwich. During the game I was pondering that there are three certainties in life-death, taxes and Edozie picking out an opposition defender with a cross. We could have seven players in the penalty area with one defender and Sam would pick out the defender. Every. Fucking. Time.

Over to you Russell. Time to change the team and the tactics for the Premier League game against Brentford on Saturday. Even if we don’t win, we need to have a fucking go and not set up to not have a shot and try and nick a nil nil. The difficult part of being a manager is making decisions that are going to be unpopular with some people and upsetting players who have been with you awhile but that’s the nature of the beast. This is top level sport and you have to be ruthless and there are a few Russell Martin favourites who will be severely sweating over their places for Saturday.  All of Adam Armstrong, Jack Stephens, Taylor Harwood Bellis, Joe Aribo and Will Smallbone are vulnerable because of the excellent performances put in tonight. That’s a good thing and that is how it is supposed to be. No one should be too comfortable.

Carabao Cup 3^rd Round Draw – Everton away.  Shit draw for the fans but this competition is all about the development of youngsters and giving squad players a game, so it’s probably a decent draw for that reason as it's a step up in quality from tonight.

Up the fucking Saints