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

EFL Championship Match 43 - Cardiff 2 Southampton 1

 

Bottle Jobs

We’re in a situation now where every game is more important than the one that preceded it.

With every game that goes by and every three points we add to the tally, the more the pressure grows and the more important the game becomes. After the defeat to Ipswich and especially after the draw against Blackburn, we all assumed that we were done and the media certainly assumed that and more amusingly, the fans of Ipswich, Leicester and Leeds also assumed that.  But, we are still here and win today at Cardiff and we are officially right back in the mix going in to a game against Leicester at the King Power on Tuesday night. That is for another day, obviously.

Today we take on Cardiff City, who are safe for another year in the Championship. They’ve never really been in serious danger of dropping down the season but got the results they needed over the last few weeks to make sure no one was anxiously looking over their shoulders in their part of Wales. When they visited Saint Mary’s earlier on in the season, they kind of just turned up, did nothing, and got beat 2-0 with a brace of goals from Adam Armstrong. Then as now, the manager is Erol Bulut, who one way or another seems to be coming to the end of his reign at the Cardiff City Stadium.  A man with a history of not lasting too long in jobs has apparently upset the owner and every time you read anything on a forum about Cardiff, their fans are usually using words like lacklustre, boring, dull, defensive. We hoped that when we played Preston a few days ago, that they would not put up much of a fight as they had nothing to play for and we must hope that Cardiff make our job easier today. It’s less likely when you are away from home of course but hopefully we get to see where an early goal will take us.

It was confirmed that Gavin Bazunu‘s injury was a season-ending one and his ruptured achilles tendon is it going to mean the best part of a year out. Whilst he’s not everyone’s cup of tea as a goalkeeper, you have to remember this is a 20-year-old kid who has a long road of rehab ahead of him and how you rate him as a goalkeeper is irrelevant at this point.  All the best to Gavin in his recovery. What this means for us in the short term is a choice to be made between Alex McCarthy and Joe Lumley. With McCarthy haven’t been chosen against Preston and keeping a clean sheet, I would actually be completely staggered if it was anyone other than McCarthy in between the sticks today. Hopefully we can restrict Cardiff as well as we restricted Preston on Tuesday night. The 11 that started against Preston all deserve to start today, So let’s see.

Oh shit – Flynn Downes is injured and despite receiving praise for his performance as a sub against Preston, it’s not natural replacement Shea Charles coming in but Will Smallbone as the Number 6.  That might be ok as Cardiff have a host of injuries so their team is going to be a bit scratch and a bit young so hopefully we’ll dominate the ball and the lack of grit in that midfield won’t be an issue.

Saints tear into Cardiff from the kick-off and it very quickly looks like men against boys. Some snappy passing down the left and KWP drifts in from right back and plays an incisive ball into Stuart Armstrong and the Scotsman with the fine hair works the ball on his right foot and curls it away from Horvath but it smacks against the post and out.

More of the same with Stuart Armstrong again on the left, driving forward and feeding Adam Armstrong, who cuts in and shoots, parried out by Horvath to the edge of the box where Joe Aribo is waiting and he does well to keep the shot down and it flies past the keeper for 1-0.  Come On!

And it Was All Going So Well

On, on – starting with McCarthy and Stuart Armstrong picks at the ball in midfield and chips one over the defence and Aribo competes for it against the defender and the ball breaks to Che Adams who is right in front of the goalkeeper and in the red hot for he's in, he could’ve taken it round him or he could’ve slotted it but instead of that he scuffs it straight at the goalkeeper in a demonstration of whatever the opposite of clinical is.  Che has another go a minute later as Cardiff have a throw on the left and cough up possession and Stuart Armstrong plays Che clean through on his left foot and we all know what happens when he has the ball in his left foot… but today is different as he’s in great form…. and under challenge from the last defender he slices in madly wide from right in front of the goal.  Fucking hell.

Again we build up from the defence and Adams plays a lovely ball around the corner towards Brooks but the full-back Tanner gets there first and knocks it back to the keeper at a very awkward height. A shit Horvath touch later and Adam Armstrong piles in with the keeper and the ball breaks to David Brooks with the keeper on the ground but with the ball on his stronger left foot and an open goal to aim at, he moves it left and has an open goal to aim at and …. he takes it left again past an invisible player … and Horvath gets back to scramble it wide with the final touch coming off Brooks himself so we don’t even win a fucking corner. What is ridiculous is the Brooks at two chances to put that in the net and in the end he doesn’t even get a shot away despite have two open goal chances to do so.

No, Don't Shoot, Got to Make Sure

Half-time and despite missing a ridiculous amount of chances, it still shouldn’t be an issue because Cardiff don’t look to have anything and Saints are totally in control.  How many times have we said that though?  The second half starts with Bree on for Manning for what I assume is an injury.  Aribo chips a ball down the right to Adams, who digs out a superb cross fizzing along a 6 yard line and Adam Armstrong comes in at the back post and heads it from five yards but puts it in the only place where the goalkeeper can possibly save it, which he duly does. Anywhere but at the middle of the goal at mid height and it’s 2-0 but you know, this is Saints on a bad one.

Still we carry on with Brooks feeding Adam Armstrong and he takes his time as rolls it to Smallbone on the edge of the box and he has all the time in the world to casually wave his foot at it and pick out a spot on the advertising board five yards wide of the goal, and that’s what he does.

Cardiff have thrown on a couple of subs, one of which is Diedhiou and he’s causing a few issues as Cardiff have their first spell of anything in the game.  Down our left they go and past KWP as he’s trying to stop two players and over comes the cross, Meite swings a leg at it and it’s going wide but it goes straight to Diedhiou at the back post, unmarked and he scores easily.  Would you fucking believe it?  Even with the old cliché’s of “you’ll regret missing those chances” – this one is particularly ridiculous.

We’ve lost control of midfield as Smallbone, Aribo and Stu all start looking tired and the sub is made in this area and it’s Aribo off for Rothwell, which makes us worse and will not give us any further control in midfield.  Predictably, it’s Cardiff in the ascendancy now and after a Bednarek foul out on the wing, Cardiff sling the ball into the mix, in comes the unmarked header, saved by McCarthy and an almighty scramble and we get away with it because THB throws himself into the melee to block.  Proper committed defending.

More subs and it’s just throwing stuff at the wall time now as it’s three wingers coming on.  Smallbone, Arma and Brooks are off and it’s Kamaldeen, Edozie and Wee Man on.  Wee Man is in midfield so the combination is Rothwell, Stu and Wee Man.  So, basically, we have six forwards on the pitch.  Ok then.

Sulemana is on a mad one.  He gets booked straight away for pulling back someone.  Then he commits another foul and could quite easily get a second yellow.  Then he ventures into he penalty area gets in the way and managed to get a knee in the face off Stuart Armstrong.  Bednarek puts him in the recovery position but he manages to carry on after a few minutes, which is mental.  If he’s knocked out then get him off.  If he’s faking it then get him off and play with ten.

Cardiff are coming now and we’re not doing anything because no one can win the ball.  They switch the ball out to the left to Ashford, one of their youth players who looks about 15 and he cuts past Sulemana’s pathetic challenge, but the Saints man does make the effort to jog alongside him.  Rothwell backs off and Stuart Armstrong jumps away from the challenge as Ashford hits and hopes and it flicks off Bednarek and gives Macca no chance.  Wankers.

One last chance as Adams gets away on the right and gets the ball over and Stuart Armstrong takes a touch and then shoots and then collapses in agony as a defender blocks it. Four minutes later and he’s off on a stretcher and thoroughly miserable end to a miserable day.

Wankers. It’s the hope that kills you. Having won those games to get ourselves back into contention, we faced quite possibly the easiest assignment against Cardiff Youth and Reserves and we totally shit the bed.  As soon as there’s a chance to achieve something, bottle it and how very Southampton that is.  I genuinely thought we were destined to keep winning and take advantage of everyone else falling over but oh no.  When will I learn?

On the face of it, it’s easy to blame Russell Martin for going for the Will Smallbone at six to replace the indispensable Flynn Downes but whilst that drew a sharp intake of breath from everyone, is that really the problem here today? The bottom line is like at Ipswich, we were exceptional for the first hour of the game, totally controlling the midfield and creating and endless stream of chances for the forwards and they missed the fucking lot. Is it Russell Martin’s fault that Che Adams is clean through and hits the goalkeeper when it was easier to score? Is it Russell Martin’s fault the David Brooks has an open goal to aim at but instead of that he decides not to shoot and allows the goalkeeper to get back? Is it Russell Martin’s fault that Adam Armstrong can put a header a high or low or just inside the post but instead of that heads into the only area of the goal where the goalkeeper can possibly save it?  No, it’s not the managers fault that those three (and others) pissed away every chance that we created today.

Behold - I Give You 4-0-6

What is Russell Martin’s fault is the way we managed the game from just before Cardiff scored their slightly fortuitous equaliser and in the last half hour.  Russell said afterwards it was absolutely criminal not to win that game with the chances we created and that if you don’t score then you have to defend your own box. He is of course correct. Martin cannot be blamed at all for the fact that we missed a stack of chances but the defending our own box, well, I don’t think he can really hide from all the criticism for that. He picked a midfield that can’t tackle and when he could’ve shored up, even before Cardiff scored, by bringing on the bonafide defensive midfielder who might have given us a platform.  Instead of that he brought on Joe Rothwell who is a contender for the biggest nothing player I think I’ve ever seen. Here we have a central midfielder who can’t run, doesn’t tackle, has no defensive discipline and on top of that, today he couldn’t pass the ball. He reunited the infamous Rothwell, Smallbone, Stuart Armstrong midfield shit triangle combination that has been proven many times not to work.  Then he made it somehow worse by putting Wee Man in midfield.  The 4-0-6 formation won't win many games.

As I said earlier, I do not get it when Shea Charles gets praised for his performance against Preston and Russell talks him up as the Flynn Downes understudy - fast forward a couple of days and Flynn Downes is unavailable and Charles sits on the bench and watches us lose and kill the automatic promotion hopes stone dead.  So, Charles was unused and the subs that were used after Rothwell - Sulemana, Edozie and Fraser were all slightly differing levels of shite, 2 out of 10 performances from all four of them. These are our game changers ladies and gentlemen.  They all made the team worse and we would have been better off making no second half subs.

A terrible day was made even worse with the possible long-term injury to Stuart Armstrong who has now probably played his last game in the Saints shirt. We can only hope at this moment but that injury is not as bad as feared but being stretched off with your shirt over your face is never a good sign.  It’s a sobering warning to players who let their contracts run down as well.

Once again we proved ourselves to be incredibly soft. All the opposition has to do is to have a little bit of possession in our half and they inevitably score.  Yes, both Cardiff goals today had a large element of fortune about them with the first goal being a shot that was going wide that fell to the goalscorer and the second being a huge deflection.  What did we do to make those goals difficult to score?  Nothing.

First goal – yes it’s lucky but he’s free in the six yard box and James Bree is ball watching and KWP didn;t do enough to cut out the original cross.  Second goal was of course a big deflection off of Bednarek but Ashford should never of been allowed to get that shot in, in the first place. As Ashford makes his way across the pitch, three of our players do nothing and just watch.  Where is the body on the line defending? We don’t do it. The body on the line defending was all at the other end where Cardiff earned their own likely win by defenders and goalkeeper chucking themselves in the way of everything and riding their luck. This was Cardiff youth and reserve team. a cobbled together unit that have never played together before and we fucked it, completely. So, I blame the manager for the horrendous game management after Cardiff equalised, but the vast majority of the problem is on the players.

As said, Southampton FC drag you back in and actually have you believing that everything is going our way and things are going to work out and we were going to achieve something amazing, only to find a way to somehow bring it all crashing down again. Playoffs it is.   Tuesday against Leicester could’ve been a massive battle with everything on the line and now it just isn’t. They managed to grind out win against West Brom today and we did the opposite, losing to Cardiff Youth and Reserve team. Pathetic.

The most worrying thing about today was that when the pressure is on, we can’t do it.  Playoff games are massive pressure.  Up the Fucking Bottle Jobs.

EFL Championship Match 19 - Southampton 2 Cardiff City 0

And again...

Third game in a week and here come the Welsh, with Cardiff City arriving at St Mary’s. It’s ironic that Cardiff are the visitors in a week when it became apparent that there was still an issue over the compensation argument between Saints and Cardiff‘s nearest and dearest neighbours, Swansea City.  There could be a bit of Swansea related edge to the game today as well of course with Russell Martin, Flynn Downes and Ryan Manning all having represented the Swans against Cardiff as recently as last season. Russell Martin himself has four wins out of four against Cardiff whilst manager of Swansea so I’m sure he’s going to get a very friendly welcome from their fans today.

It became apparent after the game against Bristol City on Wednesday that the injuries to Moussaldeen Djenepomana and the one picked up by Ross Stewart, were going to keep both players out until after Christmas at the earliest and whilst that’s bad news on both counts but that’s what you have squads for and Saints have the players that will hopefully step up.

Cardiff’s headline signing this summer was of course their old boy Aaron Ramsey, who left and had a pretty good career at Premier League level with Arsenal. He’s on the lap of honour of his career now which is why he came back to Cardiff and shock of shocks, he’s been injured for months so we won’t be seeing him today. Manager Erol Bulut arrived at the club in the close season having managed three teams in the Turkish Superlig, including Fenerbahce but he’s never lasted anywhere more than 6-18 months even though the results have got have been okay. This kind of suggests a manager that falls out with the board.

Saturday and it’s fucking cold as I take the walk across the Rupert Lowe Itchen Bridge towards the ground. It’s lovely up here as the cold wind blows. Lots of shelter from the elements up here. Not.  The team news saw Che Adams named in attack, which I guess will mean the diamond midfield played in the second half against Bristol on Wednesday.  Ryan Manning is again preferred to James Bree and Shea Charles is in again ahead of Will Smallbone, who must have a knock because he’s not even on the bench. With the two injuries mentioned, Sam Amo is back and Tyler Dibling finds a place on the bench for the first time in quite a while.

Away we go and Saints are on it from the start – it’s our ball and you’re not having it.  Ten minutes of that and Baz to Bednarek, who carries it forwards down the left before picking out Manning, high on the left wing as the fullback needs to be with a diamond midfield.  There’s a blur of passes on the edge of the box – Stuart Armstrong to Adams to Downes to Alcaraz to Adam Armstrong, one touch, left foot, top corner from the edge of the box.  Fucking brilliant goal and Mr Gerritforward a couple of rows behind me chokes on his pie.

Immediately after we score is always a concern but Saints are dominating the game and even if we don’t have the ball, we win it back before Cardiff can do anything with it. Manning knocks it out to the left to Stuart Armstrong, who plays 1-2 with Alcaraz Perez who is cynically taken out with a forearm smash in the face by Tanner but Stuart Armstrong carries on gets the cross over, which flicks in the air off a defender and there is Adam Armstrong to nod into the empty net from a couple of yards.  15 minutes and two goals up and all the travelling Cardiff fans who have just found out that there trains have been cancelled must be wondering about getting absolutely murdered in this game.  It’s not been the best 15 minutes for them.

Maybe Cardiff are hoping that the fog really comes in but they do build up quite nicely down the left before pinging a ball over the top and suddenly, Grant is in behind THB but Baz is off his line superbly to dive in and head it and the follow-up shop from 35 yards is comfortably cleared by THB.  Normal service is resumed with Bednarek switching out to Stuart Armstrong and his cross is fumbled by the goalkeeper Runarsson and Adam Armstrong has a free header at the back post which he can only direct back to the relieved goalkeeper.

Baz's Ball

Saints drop off a bit for the last ten of the half after that and Cardiff have a bit of a spell with a cross coming in from the right and it’s met by Grant at the back post on the bounce but he can only spoon it over the bar.

Half time and lovely.  Two up and comfortable.  Another goal would make it completely dead but it’s going to take a hell of an improvement by Cardiff to even make this interesting for them. Second half and Saints start to play straight away, knocking it around finding Adam Armsatrong wide on the right and he slides it across and Che Adams smashes it into the net first time but the flag is up straight away and judging by the lack of complaints, he is very obviously offside.

Cardiff are still here though and break down the right as KWP overcommits and Grant gets to within 30 yards and goes for the far post with a low effort which only goes just wide. Really good effort to be fair.  The first substitutes happen on the hour, with Aribo and Fraser coming on for Armstrong in Alcaraz.  Aribo immediately looks lively (do not adjust your sets) and picks up cross from the right by Shea Charles and drills it low onto the outside of the post and wide.

Adams has had a few Trampolino moments today but there’s a good bit of hold-up play and he sends Adam Armstrong away and his cross to the back post it’s just nudged by a defender which takes it away from Wee Man Fraser’s little legs and he can only slide in and hoof it over the bar.

Aribo twinkletoes through two players in midfield with before putting a ball through to Fraser who instead of shooting, tries to tee up Adams who falls over his own feet in missing the ball and the the ball in his trampoline nose.

The chances just keep on coming as a THB diagonal out to Fraser starts the move and Fraser goes directly across the pitch and finds Adams and onto Armstrong and it should be a hat-trick but he drills it straight of the keeper who shovels it over the bar

With Mara now on for Adams as we try and see the game out, Mara brings out the party tricks to find Fraser, before trying to shut himself and 25 yard when he really should’ve passed it to the slightly irate hat-trick seeking Arma.

Adam Armstrong dribbles in the corner to waste time but Cardiff fuck it up and he manages to wriggle along the goal line before crossing it back for Fraser who hits his sixth shot in 20 minutes straight at a defender and with that, the ref decides that Wee Man is never going to score and that it that.

Well that was about as comfortable and easy as it’s ever going to get in any league game. Cardiff never threatened at any point and the only thing we can possibly complain about is the fact that we should’ve scored about six.  Adam Armstrong, with one brilliant goal and one poachers goal in the first 15 minutes, killed the game and from that point on it was just damage limitation for Cardiff but quite how we played the whole of the second half without scoring is beyond me. The game was another one that highlighted that we are a very good side but a proper centre forward to play with Armstrong, who can stick the ball in the net makes us an excellent side that would certainly be looking at a top two place come the end of the season.

Right from the first whistle today you sensed that Saints meant business and even the Mr Gerritforward critics of the style of football the side are playing these days, can’t have been anything but impressed by the first goal, starting as it did with Gavin Bazunu and being passed all the way up the pitch until Adam Armstrong picked it up just to the right of centre and curled it into the top corner with his left foot. It’s an absolutely outstanding goal, whatever way you look at it.

Lessons have clearly been learnt from previous games where we haven’t pushed on and it took all of four minutes to knock in the second goal with Charly Alcaraz and Stuart Armstrong combining for the latter to cross the ball which was deflected up in the air for the captain to heading past a helpless goalkeeper. Game over and managed very well for more or less all of the remaining 80 minutes or so.

Besides Adam Armstrong who will take all of the plaudits from publications that can’t think past the goalscorer, Flynn Downes, Shea Charles and Ryan Manning all had superb games. We are kind of getting used to it with Downes at the moment but Shea Charles looked a hell of a lot more comfortable in that number 8 role than he did against Bristol City in mid-week. Those two add some proper strength to our midfield and allow Stuart Armstrong to do what he does best and try and unlock the opposition defence. Will Smallbone has certainly got his work cut out to get his place back in the side from Charles.

Ryan Manning actually looked like a proper full-back today who was more about defending than attacking. He was so much closer to his man today and there wasn’t the usual Manning Chasm down our left side where he is so far infield that the winger can have a cup of tea and a bath and still cross the ball in unopposed before Manning gets out to him. He was excellent today and didn’t put a foot wrong.  This is probably another benefit of James Bree doing well in his position for a few weeks and Ryan having to up his game.

And finally and most surprisingly, Joe Aribo was superb when he came off the bench for Stuart Armstrong and now I’ve said that, I’m off for a lie down. In mitigation, it was favourable conditions with Cardiff just looking for the final whistle at that point, but he used the ball very well, looked very dangerous, looked a natural in that position in midfield and get this…. showed some energy.  Though it was in less minutes, Sekou Mara also took advantage of the situation and put in a good cameo.  Both of these players will have done themselves a lot of good in the eyes of the manager who wants players to come into the team when they are given their chance and perform and show they can be trusted to do so, like James Bree did a few weeks ago. Now, the two of them have to do it again in their next performances, no matter when it is or how many minutes it’s for, because until they do that, they will always be seen as a bit of a risk and I will be rolling my eyes and whispering ‘fuck no’ to myself when they come on.  Even though he has been unlucky to be left out of the side at the moment, James Bree is not really seen as a risk anymore, whereas he was before the recent run of games.

Russell Being a Shithouse Whilst at Swansea

It was a good day for Russell Martin and he acknowledged that afterwards but the key thing for me was that he revealed that he gave the lads a hard time at half-time because they had let Cardiff get a toehold in the game in the last 10 minutes of the first half. To do that, even when you are 2-0 up and relatively comfortable, for me anyway is the mark of a manager who wants to continuously drive standards and won’t tolerate any slippage.  He also gave it some back to the Cardiff fans, reminding them of how many times he has beaten them in a row now and also giving a reminder of his Swansea days with what may or may not have been a re-enactment of the 'Swim Away' gesture that got him in a bit of hot water when he was Swansea manager.

Onwards and a tricky game next week away at in-form Watford who only have one defeat in their last nine and that was to Leicester, but with a full week to prepare, I expect us to get the result to keep us in touch with the other teams up near the top. Everyone won today but as I continually say, it’s only your own results that you can control so do your thing and the league table will look after yourself.

We have been waiting for a comfortable win and today we got it.  Up the fucking Saints - and bring on Wesley Hoedt next week.

Premier League Match 26 - Southampton 1 Cardiff 2

Ralph Shuts His Eyes and Hopes It Was Just a Bad Dream

Because we have had such a shit season, we are looking at the relegation zone and trying to find three teams that are definitely worse than us. I think we can safely assume that Fulham and Huddersfield are going down to the Championship and the 3rd team most people would pick to be relegated with them would be Cardiff City. However, they have shown, particularly at home, a capability to win tight games and they have a spirit that the other two teams do not. So, they are definitely the most likely to escape out of the current bottom three and as we stand, are only two points behind us so we really need to win this game today.

Cardiff have of course been touched by tragedy this last few weeks with the disappearance of Emiliano Sala in a light aircraft crash, who was on Thursday confirmed as the body pulled out of the plane that was located in the English Channel. This is a horrific story. Sala was of course a striker they signed from Nantes but tragically, he will never get to play for Cardiff.  As tends to happen, the tragedy seems to have galvanised the club concerned and it was no surprise to anybody that they beat Bournemouth at home last week. The emotion around the death of the striker is just one additional thing that we must play against today. Because of what happened, most neutrals will be wanting Cardiff to stay up, even though they have Neil Warnock as their manager. Rest in Peace Emiliano Sala. I wish you could’ve been making your debut today.

All that was newsworthy at Staplewood this week was that Maya Yoshida  returned from the Asian Cup in which his Japanese team got to the final before losing to Qatar. The recruitment policy that was put in place as soon as Qatar bribed their way to the the right to hold the World Cup in 2022 is obviously bearing fruit. With Maya returning. It will be interesting to see if he claims back his starting spot from Jack Stephens. Ralph has already pointed out that the last time we kept a clean sheet was the last time that Maya played.

If we lose this game we are probably going to be back in the bottom three whereas a win will see as five points clear of any trouble. We could really do with the latter Ralph please, if that’s okay with you.

The team announcement is interesting because Ryan Bertrand is back in place of Matt Targett. Maya Yoshida has had to settle for a place on the bench and the striker role was filled by Shane Long. Now of course, I hope it works but Cardiff are going to play deep so there’s absolutely going to be no space for Shane to chase lost causes into so I’m not convinced that this is going to work.

Before the game I watch the shooting drill because it’s right in front of me and if you don’t watch it, you can fetch a ball in the face.  I find it interesting because you can tell the players who take it seriously and they’re the ones you would expect and the one’s you would have down as good pros.  JWP usually scores, Valery and Gallagher also, Redmond also etc.  Charlie Austin – corner flag, Austin again – row Z.  I hope he doesn’t get on today.

From the kick-off it appears that we’ve got Jack Stephens playing in midfield when we have the ball which is a new twist and he gets involved to start the first decent chance of the game as Valery makes good ground on the right hand side and the ball eventually ends up with Stephens who slides in Bertrand whose low cross is cleared for a corner.  For some reason we’ve got Berty taking them from the left today so it’s an outswinger which is cleared.  We are looking like we may have some joy as Redmond fastens on to a good ball over the top and from the left hand side he cuts past the defender before shanking it past the near post.

After these bright spots though, the first half degenerates and we make no impression against the massed Cardiff defence.  The left back Bennett looks shite but when either Valery or Redmond gets past him, the cross is cleared with ease.  Cardiff are offering nothing with just long throws from Gunnarson which cause the usual havoc.  The ball lands in the same place every time so why not put the giant Vestergaard there instead of expecting Valery to compete in the air for it?  Half time and 0-0 and patience is a virtue and all that.

We have a tendency to start second halves well how as a result of having a half decent manager and there is more intent as Hojbjerg tries a shot from distance which is comfortably saved by Etheridge.  The next chance is similar as Valery pisses past Bennett again and smashes it at goal but again has drilled it straight at the keeper.

Cardiff then have an attack which doesn’t involve a long throw and win a corner.  Over it comes from Ralls, Paterson wins a header and fuck off for fuck sake. 1-0 down with Bamba, unmarked, knocking it in from two yards.  A few minutes later, the hapless Long is off and Austin is on.  Great.  Let’s see if he brings his warm up shooting drill form to the party.

It doesn’t take long to find out as Valery picks up the ball in our half and set s off on a run and just keeps going.  The midfielders aren't getting back to him and the defence is backing off.  On he goes and hits it – Etheridge half blocks with his legs and it falls to the master finisher, 5 yards out with the keeper nowhere – a scuff, cleared, an airshot and then the similarly useless Elyounoussi (on for Vestergaard) hits it and it gets blocked wide for a corner.  Over it comes and to compound it, a free header for Austin, over the bar.  Fuck sake!!!

Five to go and Gallagher comes on for the excellent Valery with JWP going to right back.  JWP has the next effort as Austin drops his kebab, falls over it and we get a free kick.  Up steps JWP and tries to bounce it past Etheridge low down but the big keeper is equal to it.

90 minutes are up and we are sliding to a pathetic defeat and Romeu puts Redmond away on the left and he trashes past two players and wins a corner.  Over it comes from JWP, a flick on off of Austin’s pint of Stella and there is Stephens at the back post to apply the finishing touches with an almost identical goal to Cardiff’s opener.  With 5 minutes going up on the board we still feel that we can win this.

From our next foray into their half, a big punted clearance and it falls to Stephens on our right.  Under a bit of pressure he decides to try and play it forwards but just presents it to Cardiff.  Forward they come working it out to our left and panic stations set in.  We’re all over the shop with players frantically trying to get back.  A cross comes in and Bednarek half heads it away, in again, a scramble and Zohore scuffs at it with his studs and it rolls along the ground and into the corner of the net.  Two attacks, two goals.  Fuck – just fuck!  Full time.

I don’t know what to say. I really really do not know what to say. I’m fucking speechless. Having rescued a point against completely dismal opposition, we then manage to throw them another goal. It’s absolutely spectacularly unbelievable. Not only that, it’s the same player who does it. Jack Stephens – hero to zero, scored a goal to bring us back into it and then he made a colossal fuck-up which gave the ball to Cardiff from which they ultimately scored. Absolutely fucking ridiculous. So we score to make it 1-1 and the attitude was obviously about going to win the game which explains why Stephens didn’t just clear that ball and instead attempted some sort of ridiculous pass which ended up going straight to Cardiff player. Unfortunately it's a pattern with Jack.  It's like Maya a few seasons ago in that every game there's at least one colossal fuck up which invariably ends up in our net.  Cardiff barely got in our half other than a few long throws in the first half and two goals they got in the second.

In my opinion, Ralph had a shocker today. Cardiff were always going to play like that and they were always going to defend deep so why the fucking hell we play Shane Long upfront is completely beyond me. Let’s face it, the guy is fucking useless anyway but when there is no space so he can’t chase balls behind the defence then he’s even more fucking useless because that’s the only thing he can actually do. He actually didn’t start the day too badly – he turned up at the ground on time, got his kit and boots on alright, did the minutes silence and the team huddle in a reasonable way and was fine until the football got involved.   Particularly from when the second-half starting to when he got substituted, he was playing like a man who just wanted to be put out of his misery. When things are going badly for him, he starts diving around and the referee doesn’t buy it because it’s pathetic and then he starts giving the ball away 3, 4, 5 times in a row and it’s unbelievable that a Premier League footballer can be that bad …. oh hold my beer,  here comes Charlie Austin. The fat and unfit couldn’t give a fuck player who was lashing balls into the crowd during the shooting drill in the warm-up… an absolute embarrassment to the shirt. The master finisher as I’m sure he likes to call himself, after Valery had run 60 yards with the ball and given him an open goal, which he totally made a bollocks of.

So, I fail to see why Long was picked today as a massed deep defence necessitates a physical presence up front so you have the option of getting crosses in from the wings or for playing the ball in high. Playing tippy-tappy shit when you got a striker with the first touch of a trampoline is never going to fucking work. And the substitutions were fucking abysmal. The other game changer who came on with Austin was of course Elyounoussi who yet again provided no evidence that he has got any single ability which might make him anything approaching a premier league footballer. He did fuck all again. The positives today were provided by Valery who was excellent and Bednarek and Vestergaard who were decent.  The severe underperformers were Ryan Bertrand who looked the second most unfit player behind Charlie Austin and Pierre Hojbjerg who was dreadful and spent the whole game passing the ball to the opposition or to empty space, proving that concussion protocols had not been adhered to.

Did Cardiff deserve to win? No they didn’t but they made less catastrophic mistakes than we did at the back and didn’t miss any open goals. We are undoubtedly better than we were but we are still carrying this incredibly soft underbelly. The last game we kept a clean sheet in was when Maya Yoshida was last available so get him back in the fucking team as soon as possible. As far as I’m concerned, up front we have to play either Sam Gallagher or Michael Obafemi when he is fit in the absence of Ings. Out of the three forwards available today, Gallagher is the only one it might improve with coaching or a run of games in the team. Long and Austin are what they are and they’re not going to improve from the level that they are currently at which is not good enough.

We have two weeks and a day until our next fixture which is away at Arsenal. In that time, we need to get Danny Ings fit and hopefully in a state where he can play the majority of the game. Following that we have Fulham at home followed by Manchester United away and Tottenham at home. The fixtures suddenly got a lot more difficult so a run of games where you only got two points out of Crystal Palace, Burnley and Cardiff gets put into context.

This is Southampton. No one ever said it was going to be easy.

PS…  Southampton fans have attracted a lot of negative headlines over two complete pricks thinking it was cool to pretend to be aeroplanes in the Emiliano Sala minute.  They will be identified and banned and good riddance.  In the Family Stand where I sit, I had about six, 5 to 6 year olds sat next to me and they were immaculate during the silence.  I guess the moral of the story is that people no matter how young know how you’re supposed to behave.  Still, I hope that the two arseholes who were acting up felt really cool when they got called out for it.

Premier League Match 16 - Cardiff 1 Southampton 0

"We Win or we Learn" - Ralph Finds Out That We Learn a Lot

Ralph Hasenhüttl’s first game is a trip to Wales and the Cardiff City Stadium. There is a sense of optimism in the air but I would temper that by saying that he really has only had one training session with the team and he has the same shower of shit squad to deal with that Mark Hughes had, so I’m not expecting miracles. Personally, I would be quite happy if we got out of here with a draw today.

Media coverage of Hasenhüttl’s arrival has been mainly positive with many decent articles to be had on his style of play and his man management skills. On the other hand, you have those that just want to compare him to Liverpool’s manager and call him the Austrian Klopp or Klopp of the Alps or whatever. Just fuck off. It would be really nice if not everything had to be about Liverpool in some way.

I spent the morning of the game trying to second-guess what the team would be bearing in mind that Ralph Hasenhüttl has recent experience of the Bundesliga, the Champions League, the Europa league and he had also seen our pathetic effort again Spurs on Wednesday. I really cannot see Yoshida and Stephens being anywhere near the starting 11 so I guessed Vestergaard would start as Ralph would know him from his time with Borussia Mönchengladbach last season. I quickly gave up as once you get past Cedric, Vestergaard, Lemina, McCarthy and Hojbjerg, I had no real idea. In the event he really shook up it with Targett and Valery and at full backs alongside Vestergaard and Bednarek in defence. Oriel Romeu was back in midfield alongside Hojbjerg and Lemina with a front three of Armstrong, Redmond and fucking hell... Well I guess Ralph can’t have been too impressed with Gabbiadini’s efforts on Wednesday because Mr High Pressing high-intensity himself, Charlie Austin is in the side. I think we can safely say we’ve seen the last of Steve Davis in a Saints shirt because he was nowhere to be seen despite the bench containing three central defenders in the two that tanked on Wednesday and Wesley Hoedt.

Cardiff of course are managed by the recently turned 70, Neil Warnock or Colin Wanker as fans of anagrams know him. Fair play to the guy for making a decent fist of the season so far and having strung a few home wins together, Cardiff have given themselves a chance whereas after the first five games it look like they had none whatsoever and would be relegated by January.  They’re better than us anyway. Neil has been saying the right things in the build up, saying that Southampton have the best squad in the bottom half of the Premier league. On paper maybe we do, but on the pitch where it matters, he is sadly mistaken.

So, I’m expecting miracles, not.  We do almost get one with our first attack as Targett puts over a good ow ball from the left and Austin moves.. yes moves in front of his marker and flicks it goalwards but wide.  I know it’s not a goal but it’s a moral victory.  Cardiff’s first attack really should result in a goal with Valery making a mess of a high ball and Bednarek having to bale him out.  The relief was short lived however as it’s crossed back in and Arter really has to score but as befits a man who once put a penalty out of the ground at St.Mary’s he has no composure.  Interesting though that he was completely unmarked.

On 11 minutes Cardiff win a corner and when it comes in it’s utter carnage and the fat looking Paterson can’t get a decent opportunity on target.  Cardiff and Warnock will have noticed that we can’t deal with their favourite tactic of raining the ball down on the defenders and this time it’s Bednarek’s turn to fuck up when he tries to bring down a ball that comes down with snow on it, loses it to Paterson and a combination of Valery and McCarthy snuff out the danger.

The rest of the first half is more even.  Armstrong is guilty of taking too long to shoot when Vestergaard puts him away with an opportunity, seeing his shot blocked for a corner.  When the wind-assisted corner comes in from Targett, Austin takes a swing and it loops up, bounces down on top of the bar and out to Lemina who is 15 yards out and he displays no technique in slicing it over the bar.

The second half starts and Valery, on a booking and having a mare, is off and replaced by Stephens who I expect will display his versatility to the new boss and be dreadful in a second position.  With Ralph’s words no doubt ringin in their ears, we start the second half quite well and look the better side.  Enter the referee who is Mr Jon Moss – or Fat Unfit Jon Moss as he should be known.  Always 30 yards behind the play and if he isn’t he’s got so little oxygen left in his brain after running a bit, he can’t see further than 5 yards, yet alone have enough puff to blow his whistle.

After some play on the left, Redmond gives it to Armstrong, who cuts past Camaraso who dangles a leg out and over goes Armstrong.  Looks a cast iron one on first watch and on the second viewing it’s one that’s given more often than not.  Moss doesn’t get a second look of course, he just waves it away like the fat twat that he is. Armstrong is raging and his next contribution is to lose the ball in midfield and see it lumped forward.  No worries as Vestergaard is in control and knocks it back…. Fuck, he’s virtually trod on it… rugby tackle now… nope, falls over and Paterson is through and he scuffs it past McCarthy and into the net.  Fucking hell.

Gabbi and JWP are on for Austin and Armstrong but we’re done.  You just know we’re done.  Cardiff are the better side and having efforts on goal but we survive and now we’re into the 90^th minute and Redmond on the attack and into the penalty area.  He turns away and gets brought down, inside the box.  Moss is for once right there – this is more obvious than the Armstrong one – no penalty – useless fat twat.

Well fuck it. Another defeat against desperately poor opposition.  Sadly, it was too much to hope for the Ralph would be a miracle worker after five minutes on the Training Ground. I liked the look of the starting line-up but inexperienced players at full backs killed us and then there was the Gift Horse.

Yan Valery can be excused to a degree as it is only his second game and we didn’t really have anyone playing in front of him to give him any protection against the Cardiff wingers. Matt Targett however is 23 now and not a kid any more but he plays like a naïve trainee.  He has a fair amount of first team experience for ourselves and Fulham so he really needs to do better than he did today.  His defensive positioning is comical at times.  As if you didn’t know already, he is nowhere near the level of Ryan Bertrand.

Vestergaard was a strange one, competing well in the air and whilst he looked shaky, I didn’t actually think he was shockingly bad until the Gift Horse moment and Bednarek also had some shaky moment but was mainly leaving everybody wondering how we was ever left out.  Vestergaard’s game however, will only be remembered for the Gift Horse and the goal that we conceded which was absolutely horrific from the big but not so Great Dane.

Vestergaard - The Gift Horse

The midfield looked good in patches with Romeu doing what Romeu does, particularly well in the first half and Lemina and Hojbjerg doing some good and some bad with Lemina missing a very good chance in the first half and Hojbjerg being guilty of giving the ball away to cheaply and too often. Austin looked okay upfront for the first 10 minutes but then he really resorted to type. There were times when you could see that Redmond and Armstrong were buying into the new managers’ philosophy and aggressively closing down Cardiff in wide areas but they were getting no help from Austin who was just loafing about in the middle. Hasenhüttl must’ve been rolling his eyes into his head watching the lack of effort out of possession from his centre forward. I really thought that bearing in mind he actually tried on Wednesday, Austin might have put a shift in today but the 20 minutes of running on Wednesday probably fucked him for this game. I half expected him to put a real shift in and pull a hamstring after half an hour and be out for five months.

As it stands at the moment, I totally believe in Ralph’s philosophy and believe that it will be a success if we don’t get relegated this season and there is a major churn of players in January and in the summer. I just wonder if being 100% committed and working constantly for 95 minutes a game is going to be beyond a fair percentage of the players that we have at the moment.  He's got a week now to work with the players and I expect it'll be fairly different against Arsenal on Sunday.  We may well still lose but we're going to have to accept that if it happens and trust in the man to get it right in the not too distant future.

The bottom line is that today, we lost to one of our main relegation rivals, like we did against Fulham, because we made a catastrophic error in defence.  We can’t do anything about the defenders we have or the lack of striking options we have until January at the absolute earliest so I can see it being a really bumpy ride until then at least. Ralph wants to play with a back four but we haven’t got two central defenders who are good enough when paired together. He also wants to play with one main striker and with Ings injured, we haven’t got anyone to do that job either so it’s not going to be easy. If Ralph Hasenhüttl can get this lot playing and get us into mid-table then forget Klopp, forget Guardiola - he deserves the Manager of the Season award.

Premier League Match 34 - Southampton 0 Cardiff 1

The new range of Saints 'End of Season' seats were proving popular.

When we played Cardiff at the City of Cardiff Stadium, we won 3-0 and the fact that Gazza kept a clean sheet was much more surprising than the news that Malky MacKay got sacked straight afterwards.  Vincent Tan, Football Administrator Genius, then flexed his muscles and appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the back of some success in the Norwegian League which is about the same standard as the Skill league where Pompey will hopefully be next year.  The Tan masterstroke has seen Cardiff go from ‘above the relegation zone’ to well and truly ‘in the relegation zone’ and now looking odds on to return to the Championship that they had spent so many years trying to get out of.

Talking of football administrators, it was leaked accidentally on purpose by the club that The Don was paid nearly £2 million quid a year as CEO which was higher than nearly all CEO’s of football clubs.  Ok, so we went up two divisions under his stewardship but another facet of CEO work is bringing in commercial revenue and it was leaked accidentally on purpose that ours was lower than all other Premier League clubs and .... wait for it.... Brighton and Watford.  What?  How is that possible?  The inference is of course that The Don alienated a lot of people in the business world and they wouldn’t deal with him which maybe goes partway to explaining Katharina’s desire to act and sort things out and now of course, the new board is on a charm offensive.  Maybe you’ll finally be able to buy a Saints shirt from somewhere else other than the club shop.

To the charm offensive and the club have heavily subsided the upcoming Swansea away trip so tickets and travel are a fiver each and also, they’ve secured a £10 a head refund from Newcastle who overcharged us in relation to their own fans in identical seats.  Top work from the board.  The next win will be the return to stripes for next season and let’s hope the spirit of generosity extends to Season Ticket prices being pegged where they are at the very least.  Living in a country where we have politicians who promise much and deliver nothing or who give something and then take something much better away, it makes it hard not to be cynical sometimes so let’s hope all these things continue and Ralph Krueger and the new board can really make a mark.

The new more open and approachable nature of the current board of course means more information is out there for the media to cut and paste and twist.  We have to publish accounts so the fact that we own £27million in transfer fees in the coming year was there for all to see but the media probably would have been too lazy to look for it.  However, Hans Hofstetter mentioned that figure as a headline so now that gets quoted as the figure that we’re selling Luke Shaw to Man United for.  The other headline he gave about ‘no need to sell any of our players’ was of course ignored.  It really is laughable..... and annoying. I try and ignore it but it still seeps in.

Back to the team on the pitch and the worst fears were confirmed regarding J-Rod’s injury being a ruptured cruciate.  Life just isn’t fair sometimes and he misses the World Cup and the start of next season.  These days of course, this isn’t a career threatening injury so he should make a full recovery and be a good as before.  It does however mean that we are more likely to have to suffer Danny Welbeck at the World Cup.  Who’ll replace him in the Saints side for the rest of this season is the question – it should really be Gaston Ramirez but the rumours are that he’s injured so who knows.

The team news is in and Gaston is fit and is the only change in the 18 as he starts.  Cardiff have picked a very tight looking 4-5-1 formation so they’re obviously here to soak it up and try and nick it so it will either be 0-0 for ages or we’ll score early and end up winning easily.

Cardiff have obviously won the toss and decided to swap things around and we’re kicking the wrong way towards the Chapel.  You can see how the pattern of play is going to be immediately as Cardiff retreat behind the ball and leave Campbell on his own up front about 40 yards from the nearest Cardiff midfielder as Saints pass the ball around.  The first ball into the box by Shaw is not dealt with convincingly and to be honest, Cardiff look there for the taking.

The first laugh of the day comes when we get given our first free kick and the Cardiff fans sing ‘same old English, always cheating’.  To be fair, they don’t have many English players in their side but there are certainly more English than there are Welsh.  We continue to create opportunities but can’t get past the last ditch tackle or block which inevitably comes in, this time from Cala as Sir Rickie expertly tees up Lallana.  It is looking like it will be a matter of time though but it’ll have to wait for now as Steven Davis actually has a shot but it’s rubbish and going sideways.

Campbell has already fallen over three times but the next time he gets the ball he is trashed by Lovren and Cardiff get a free kick on the edge of the box.  Whittingham has a go but Gazza is across to punch it clear.  Up the other end we create a chance for Adam Lallana who hits it as well as he hit that one against Newcastle a couple of weeks back but this time it flies straight down Marshall’s throat.  Marshall should really have been worked a few minutes later as a Davis cross was met by Sir Rickie but he couldn’t quite climb high enough above the midget Fabio and so the header flew over the bar.

Cardiff were beginning to live dangerously and a harmless looking ball was left by Marshall and both his centre backs inviting Sir Rickie to stick it in the empty net but Marshall took responsibility in time and hacked it clear.  Then Lallana played Gaston in on the left and his shot took a deflection off of Caulker and up onto the bar and away.  Bollocks!

Lallana was involved again for the next chance when he was taken out by Cala on the edge of the box and up stepped Sir Rickie to curl it over the wall and towards the bottom corner but Marshall had read it and got across quite easily to save.  The ball went across to Shaw on the left but his cross was shite and straight to Marshall. Another chance came and went as Lallana fed Sir Rickie on the left but he ended up poking a shot at Marshall which he clawed away at the near post.

Shaw is away down the left again and past the hopeless Theophile-Catherine at tight back and crosses it.  The ball is passing in front of Caulker and towards Steve Davis but Caulker sticks his left arm out in front of him, controls it with his arm and clears it.  Jon Moss is the referee and I tell you, he’d have been better off staying as the drummer in Culture Club and hanging around with Boy George.  How the fuck can this not be given.  Does he move his arm towards the ball... yes, does he do it on purpose... yes,  can I fucking see it from where I am... yes.  No penalty, fuck off.  It’s not as bad as the Bradley Johnson one at Norwich earlier in the season when he spiked it like a volleyball player but it’s pretty bad.

Every time Cardiff come forward, their attack is halted by Frazier Campbell who invariably falls on his arse under no challenge whatsoever.  It doesn’t stop them winning a succession of corners and on all of them, Gazza is decisive and punches the danger clear.  Cardiff actually committing bodies into our half allows us a break which ends with six players in the Cardiff penalty area but the ball is with Corky and he tries a shot.  Corky really shouldn’t be allowed to shoot if there are women and children behind the goal.

The half draws to a close and we go in at 0-0.  We’ve played ok to be honest with Gaston looking lively aside from a couple of loose passes as half time approached.  The lack of goal is a slight worry and I’m still shaking my head over the non-penalty which was ridiculous.

The first 10 minutes of the 2^nd half were scrappy with no change in the outlook of the two sides.  Saints attacked, Cardiff parked the bus and tried to get something going on the break.  Shaw lashed one into the side netting and then from a rare Cardiff attack , Mutch fired one in from 20 yards which Gazza punched clear in slightly unorthodox fashion.  I don’t care how Gazza saves them as long as he just gets something in the way.   Chambers got free down the right and fired over a rare good cross which was just too high for Sir Rickie who headed it over the bar.

Wilfried Zaha came on for Medel and had nothing to do with Cardiff taking the lead.  It all started with Jose Fonte who played a shocker of a pass when under no pressure to Chambers which was picked off by Daehli.  Chambers decided to wrestle down the Cardiff player who was going nowhere and give away a free kick.  Whittingham curled it into our box and it bounced around before Chambers produced a weak header to knock it out to Cala on the edge of the box.  He knocked it past two half-arsed challenges from Morgan and Davis before swinging a boot and giving Gazza no chance as it flew past him.  To be fair it’s a brilliant goal by the centre back but yet again – we’ve given it to them.

Having fallen on his face with no one near him, Gaston hobbles off to be replaced with Big Sam which gives us another goal threat and I assume means Sir Rickie dropping back a bit.  Also on is Nathaniel Clyne in a like for like swap with Calum Chambers.

Time seemed to fly by as we produced absolutely nothing aside from a lot of passing about in front of 10 Cardiff players.  Opportunities to shoot came and went as both Morgan and Davis elected to pass when they really should have just lashed it.  Morgan did produce a superbly weighted chipped pass which was met by Gallagher and Marshall spread himself to block really well.

With just the one sub left and some urgency being required, Corky is replaced with Guly, a player who wouldn’t add any spark or energy if he had 240 volts put up his arse.  I don’t mind him as a player but he’s really not an impact substitute.  We have another decent chance as an attack is cleared out as far as Clyne who takes it infield and shoots with his left foot, only to see Marshall fly across and beat it away again.

86, 87 and here comes the timewasting substitution as the little blonde Norwegian lad goes off to be replaced with Craig Bellamy which at least gives us a hate figure for the last few minutes.  The bombardment of the Cardiff goal consists of a corner which no one can get on the end of and that’s about it and the feeling that I’d had from 70 minutes onwards that we were never going to score is going to come true.

It nearly got worse as Zaha broke away on the left and managed to bundle past Jose and then evade Lovren’s lunge bofore seeing Gazza produce a very good save to deny him a goal.  The loan system is a continual bugbear of mine but I wish he played for us as he’s just what we need - maybe David Moyes will flog him to us to get him away from his daughter. The final couple of minutes saw us produce absolutely nothing and so the game limped to a conclusion.

Well that was shit wasn’t it?  You can divide the game into thirds – we were decent in the first, average in the second and downright shite in the third.  It should have been the Alamo after Cardiff had scored but we managed the grand total of two shots, one from Big Sam and one from Clyne.  Two shots in half an hour when 1-0 down at home to a team as limited as Cardiff. – that’s shite whatever way you look at it.   We all know however that we’d have won if we’d got a goal in that first half an hour and we would have done if it wasn’t for a fucking blind referee again.  How obvious a handball does it have to be?  A goal then would have meant Cardiff had to come out and attack and left us with more space.  As it was however they could sit back and let us pass it about in front of them.

J-Rod missing was huge for us, not because Gaston was poor (far from it) but we didn’t have any pace to get in behind them and we didn’t seem to have anyone who wanted to shoot.  Everyone wanted to pass the ball and we were always trying to thread a killer ball past masses of defenders.  Steven Davis drives me nuts with this – if he had an open fucking goal from 5 yards to roll a ball into, he’d pass it to someone else if he could.  The pace and width was all to be provided by the full backs and they both had shockers regarding crossing the ball.  Things improved when Nathaniel Clyne came on but it was too little too late.

It’s hard to criticize Mauricio regarding the non-use of young players but today really could have done with some pace on the bench in the form of Omar Rowe or Sam McQueen.  What was the point of Guly being on the bench?  He’s not an impact player and he’s not going to be here next year so why not give someone a game who may light up the place.  These games are hardly meaningful are they regarding our overall finishing position.

It was good to hear Mauricio in his post match interview that possession without end product was useless.  It’s good to hear him say that as there have been times when it seems like we value possession over everything.  Gaston played well for half an hour and then a few mistakes started creeping in as half time approached and in the second half he did nothing and got injured, again.  I have to mention Gazza in goal who had no chance with the goal he conceded but dealt with everything else with the minimum of fuss and made a very good save from Zaha at the end after he’d turned Jose Fonte inside out.  Fonte’s shite pass to Chambers led to the free kick which led to the goal so the Portuguese Man of War’s form is not improving.

It’s hard to begrudge Cardiff the win as they were comfortable in the last half an hour but it still probably won’t save them from the drop.   If they do go down, I’d definitely add Marshall to Caulker on the list of players who I’d be quite happy to see at St.Mary’s next season.

Next up we have Aston Villa away who robbed us at SMS earlier on in the season.  It would be nice to beat them next week, especially as they are getting that squeaky arsehole feeling that you get when you’re near the bottom, losing most weeks and teams are catching you.  Would I like to see Villa go down?  Oh yes.