Premier League Match 12 - Southampton 2 Liverpool 3

Yeah, Alright then.... Played the Ball Hasn't He.

What you really don’t want when you’re bottom of the league and you only have four points from eleven games, is a visit from a team who have won fifteen out of seventeen this season in all competitions. Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve got today with Liverpool visiting St Mary’s. It was hoped that Liverpool would have some sort of Jürgen Klopp hangover this season and that his replacement, Arne Slot, was going to be the next Erik ten Hag, plucked from Dutch football and finding the step up rather too much. Somewhat irritatingly, Slot has had none of those problems and you could argue quite convincingly that Liverpool are a much better side this season.

This has been done without them signing a player who has made any impact, with Enrico Chiesa being the only new arrival, and he hasn’t played. What Slot has done is some rather obvious things. Ibrahima Konaté is now Virgil van Dijk‘s regular partner in the centre of the defence and proving what everybody else apart from Jürgen Klopp knew already, that he was considerably better than the likes of Joe Gomez, Jarrel Quansah and Joël Matip from last season. He has also sorted out their defensive midfield issue by using last year signing Ryan Gravenberch in that role which allows the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominic Szoboszlai to play further forward. Also in the mix this year is Curtis Jones who has made massive strides from the player that he was last season and now has a very good chance of cementing himself as an England starter, let alone a Liverpool starter. So, I wanted Liverpool to be having a mid-table nothing season but it really isn’t going to happen based on the start they have had so far. There is a bit of a cloud hanging over them with Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander Arnold all being out of contract at the end of the season, but for now, there are no issues with the form of any of those players.

I wish we had their problems. Well, post Wolves - Russell Martin is still here which was always going to be the case once we got a couple of days past the Wolves defeat it seems that was always going to be the case. Looking ahead, we have eight games before the New Year and that will mark exactly halfway through the season. I would suggest that we need to be on 15 points by the time we reach the New Year or else we have absolutely no chance of staying up. The international break has done us no favours with two of our regular starters coming back injured. In fact, Aaron Ramsdale didn’t even get to join up with England as a broken finger required an operation and it still not known how long he will be out for. Jan Bednarek picked up a knee ligament injury whilst playing for Poland so that at least means that Jack Stephens will be in the team in his natural position, rather than shoehorned in elsewhere.

He will be partnering England new boy Taylor Harwood-Bellis Who evoked the spirit of Rickie Lambert on his England debut by coming off the bench and thumping a superb header into the net. It will probably be our Southampton moment of the season. The thing that I took from the goal was the quality of the cross by Jude Bellingham. As soon as it left his foot, I knew that Taylor was going to score because the ball was always going to drop just over the central defender and the Saints man was lurking at the back post. Brilliant stuff.

We had some feedback from PGMOL about the shockers we had at Wolves and they basically said that they were right and in both cases, the correct decision was made.  What's the point?  If you're not going to take responsibility for an incorrect use of your own processes then what is the point?  At least in all likelihood, we won't have the shit to deal with next season.

If we want to have any chance of keeping players like Taylor, Tyler Dibling, Aaron Ramsdale and Matty Fernandes, then we need to stay up and that starts today, no matter how hard this game looks on paper.  So, Russell has some decisions to make with the line-up and when it drops, the team news is a bit of a WTF moment. Tall Paul is starting a Saints game for the first time in nearly 2 years and Russell Martin’s saviour Ryan Fraser, is also in the team and it looks like he’s playing a left back, which will be interesting as he will be up against Mo Salah.

As the game starts, the immediate surprise is that Flynn Downs appears to be lining up in the middle of a back three, which leaves Fernandes playing a lot deeper than he normally does in midfield next to Lallana. Regardless, Fernandes obviously has a license to push forward and when THB finds him in the centre circle and he takes off towards behind Liverpool‘s midfield, but skims the shot straight at Kelleher.  We have however, had a shot and it’s on target so hang out the bunting.

Liverpool‘s first effort is not long in coming and created down the left by Gakpo, who creates room for cross before floating towards the back post and over the horribly out of position Wee Man.  Despite rising to the enormous height of five foot five, Wee Man misses it and Salah brings it down and blasts it at McCarthy, who stands tall to knock it away.

Liverpool build-up the pressure and we are unable to get out for about 10 minutes. We are grateful for Darwin Nunez who goes down injured when there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him which eventually causes the referee to stop the game and for us to re-organise. Once the game is stopped, the big prima donna is up on his feet.  Dickhead. He’s obviously a very good player but he’s definitely not at the same level as Liverpool’s other forwards and he is, as mentioned, a dickhead.  Our centre forward is Tall Paul and he’s started well, holding the ball up and using it well and then he gets in a spot of bother on the edge of our area and casually gets out of it by twisting, chopping and falling his way past three Liverpool players before executing a no-look pass out to KWP.  Brilliant stuff.

Moment of the Season So Far

Lallana is of course playing against his old team and is clearly very popular with their supporters, but he puts a bit of a dent in that with a flying head-on lunge on Gravenberch, which is miles away from the ball. Liverpool don’t make a meal of it where usually the ref would be surrounded, and it’s only a yellow card, but it was one of those ones where you could’ve had no complaints if he was sent off.  I’m waiting for the inevitable VAR check but it never happens and it’s hard to see why not. Saints half clear the free kick to the edge of the box where Fernandes loses it to Szoboszlai, and his effort is easily held by Macca.

McCarthy easily fields another daisy cutter, this time from Bradley before rolling the ball quickly out to Fernandes on the edge of the penalty area despite the fact that he has three Liverpool players up his arse. Fernandes is just about keeps the ball and knocks it back to Downes on the six-yard line And he produces a horrible shank of a clearance to the edge of the box where Szoboszlai takes a touch before easily placing it past McCarthy and off the far post.  For fucks sake, another ridiculous fucking goal we’ve conceded.

Having made things more difficult for ourselves, the tactical response from Russell is to shuffle the deckchairs on the sinking ship, which KWP and Wee Man swapping sides though there is a benefit as Saints win a corner when KWP’s low cross is flicked away and from the corner, Dibling eventually finds Downes in the box and one of the villains of the Liverpool goal, turns and hits it and Kelleher makes a really good save. To the surprise of no one, Lallana hits the deck again and he’s not getting back up and off he goes to be replaced by Joe Aribo.

Tyler Dibling is beginning to come into the game a little bit more now and picks the ball up in midfield and drives at the Liverpool defence leaving defenders in his wake before Robertson sticks his leg out and cuts him down on the edge of the box. Time stands still and the referee seems to be buffering before he realises that he has to make a decision and eventually points to the spot. Just before the referee blew, Robertson had been arguing that it wasn’t even a foul and now he’s arguing that it was outside the box, the rat faced little prick.  VAR will tell us, as that’s infallible and here's the transcript...

Hi there Stockley Park

Can’t believe we’re using PGMOL resources, reviewing a Southampton penalty claim against Liverpool!

Yeah… but last week, the Maths Teacher gave one and then it got overturned

So what?

I was thinking about that before I blew up and gave it just now – so you can overrule it.

OK, we’ve had a look and the contact is clearly outside the box…Yes, but Robertson’s touching the line

What are the rules?

Fuctifino?

[Fanfare sounds]

WE WILL CONSULT THE HOLY PGMOL RULE BOOK!!!

Err. Where’s the rule book?

[Muffled noises whilst they look for rule book under takeaway boxes]

Shit, Howard’s got it...

Where is he?

He’s busy writing last weeks’ apology letters

Shit, ok, on-field decision stands

But we disallowed one of Southampton’s on-field decisions last week and then said we were right, even though that was clearly bollocks

Yeah, better let this one stand, we can get them back later.

After all that we can finally take the penalty and up steps Armstrong.. and it’s shit, straight down the middle and Kelleher saves it but he pushes it back out and Armstrong stuffs the rebound in despite the goalkeeper getting another touch.  Doesn’t matter how it ends up in the net and so we are deservedly level.

We get to halftime relatively comfortably and that’s been a good performance so far apart from the shit goal we’ve given away. We pretty much have gone to toe with them and it’s not been too bad.  Tall Paul has looked decent upfront and has proved to be a bit of a handful and we’ve responded well to the setback of giving the shocking goal away.

Five minutes into the second half and Gakpo runs across the back of Tall Paul as he advances up the pitch and down goes the big man and this looks like a bad one, with him making the ‘substitution’ sign as soon as he hits the deck.  He tries to get up to walk off but sits down again, and eventually they have to get some guys over with lifting equipment to get the big man back to his feet. Off he goes but surprisingly it’s not Cameron Archer who comes on but Lesley Ugochukwu which means Tyler Dibling being pushed further upfront with Armstrong

Dibling‘s first involvement afterwards is to pick a ball up from Fraser and drive forward from the halfway line, past a few players before getting to about 30 yards out and smashing one left footed narrowly over the bar. What a player.  Make the most of him while you can.

Meanwhile, Darwin is a shit Andy Carroll but he is still dangerous and manages to win a corner as his shot which was no doubt not going near the goal, was deflected away.  In it comes in McCarthy rises highest, in confident fashion before dropping the ball and Stephens stabs it away to Wee Man on the right.  He plays a lovely ball down the line to Dibling who turns and chips over to put Armstrong through.  Armstrong‘s first touch is predictably poor but he retrieves it and turns around and finds Fernandes in acres of space in the penalty area and Portuguese just calmly slides it into the net giving Kelleher no chance. Fuck me, we are winning.  Amazing scenes.  How do we handle this scenario then?

More attacking as we bring the ball out from defence and find Fernandes, who plays an optimistic ball between the defenders trying to pick up Armstrong’s and out comes Kelleher, misses the ball and trashes into the Saints forward. Surely that’s worth a look at? Anyone? no? Fernandes is on his knees because he can’t believe it but the ref is having absolutely none of it.  He’s given a free-kick the other way for something.  Meanwhile at Stockley Park.

Shall we look at that?

What?

Kelleher trashed Armstrong with no ball anywhere near

Has the ref asked us to look at it?

No

And we’ve allowed them to have one today already?

Yes

Keep quiet, nothing to see here.

Back up our end and Salah chips a lovely ball over the top but luckily for us, he’s found Nunez who tries to pick out Diaz at the back post but manages to make a bollocks of a pretty simple cross and it’s behind him.  No let up though as Gravenberch then picks up the ball on half way and chips it over the top of the defence to meet the run of Salah who almost controls the ball goalwards, which wouldn’t be a problem if McCarthy had not come running out of his goal and stood in fucking no man’s land.  He's so far out of position he's closer to the Liverpool fans in the corner that to the goal. It’s a horrific piece of goalkeeping and another present. 2-2.

Archer and Sugawara are on for Armstrong and Fraser and Salah, who has now come to life after doing nothing all game, swings across over a cross with his left foot and Sugawara gets himself in a horrific position and the ball bounces off of some part of his anatomy and hits his hand And from my view in the Chapel End, about 10 yards away, it’s a clear penalty and an absolute certainty that the referee is going to point to the spot which he duly does. Another certainty is that Salah is not going to miss an even though McCarthy goes the right way he gets nowhere near it and we have found a way, to throw away our lead and then go behind.

And we Find Another Way To Lose

Saints half and puff but we pretty much know the game is done at this point.  We get to 90 and Liverpool break away and Diaz on the left, crosses, which flicks off of Fernandes and lands with Salah all of six yards out and he smashes it first time against the inside of the post and away.

And before the minimum eight minutes is up, the referee blows his whistle and we’ve lost again. To be fair, we played pretty well today considering the opposition and we at least carried a goal threat but if you score two goals at home, you should be picking up at least a point and the reason we didn’t is because of horrific mistakes on all three Liverpool goals. The goals conceded today were nothing to do with the system, they were down to horrendous mistakes by experienced players. Yes they are encouraged to take risks and play but they have to realise when it’s on and when it just isn’t and not just throw yourself into the flames and hope it all works out.  Goal 1- McCarthy playing it short to Fernandes on the edge of the penalty area when he had absolutely nowhere to go with it, which ended up with Flynn Downes scuffing it along the ground straight to Szoboszlai.  Goal 2 - McCarthy horribly misjuding the floated ball over the top and Goal 3 - What on earth was Sugawara doing for the penalty.
 
The team looked very strange on paper with the main concern being Ryan Fraser at left back but to be fair, Wee Man did a decent job on the left before switching to the right and it was his replacement, who most people including myself would’ve picked from the start, who gave away the third goal.

The other headline was a start for Paul Onuachu who was excellent upfront and did everything that he could’ve done with regards to battling and holding the ball up and bringing other people to play the injury looks bad though and it would be horrible if having waited so long for his chance, he spends a long time on the sidelines as he deserves a run in the team. Beating four players and then pulling off a no look pass is the sort of thing that gives you cult hero status even if you never actually score any goals or anything like that.

It wasn’t obvious from the team sheet but Flynn Downs playing in the middle of a three-man defence seem to be very left field but it worked pretty well, shit first goal aside and it’s certainly something we may see more often with Bednarek being injured and none of the other central defenders being trusted. Playing Downes in defence of course relies on us having someone else to put in the centre of midfield and Adam Lallana only lasted 25 minutes today but a positive was that both Joe Aribo and Lesley Ugochukwu did decent jobs when they came on

Two players who did not deserve to finish on the losing side were Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes, who were both absolutely outstanding. Fernandes has deserved a goal for a while now and it was a brilliant team effort today that he finished off to give us a short-lived 2-1 lead. Dibling was a constant menace whenever he got on the ball and world-class defenders had no idea what to do with him. It makes an absolute mockery that he’s been left out of the team recently and it was good to see him play 90 minutes today.  On top of the shambles last week it's just more evidence of a totally broken system.

Again, we find ourselves talking VAR and referees.  We could have had a penalty in the first few minutes as Konate ran over Armstrong, we did get one after a five minute check, when Robertson fouled Dibling on the edge of the box and then we didn't get one we should have got when Kelleher trashed Armstrong.  Apparently, he instantly gave a pull by Armstrong despite both players having hold of eachothers shirts.  Very decisive refereeing, well done.

At the end of the day, despite there being a lot of positives, it’s another defeat and the league table does not make pleasant reading and if this season was a car journey, the bridge that is just around the next bend has fallen down and Russell Martin is still driving the same road as before, refusing to turn off. Yes there is a long way to go but as said at the start, unless we can get up to about fifteen points by the New Year, we are completely fucked and that target means getting eleven points out of the next seven games and as we all know, the fixtures are not easy, starting with Brighton away next Friday. Brighton is of course Russell Martin’s hometown and he really has to go there and get a result or else he might not be getting on the coach back to Southampton.  If that comes to pass, at least he’ll have a short walk home.  Interestingly, Leicester have decided to pull the trigger on their manager today with Steve Cooper leaving so Russell must be nailed on favourite to be next.

Apparently, no one has ever stayed up having had 10 defeats out of the first 12 games so we are already needing snookers after less than a third of the season. Russell pointing out that we broke records last season, which is a statement that doesn’t exactly give me the level of comfort that he might think it does.  Actions Russ, not words.

Up the fucking Saints