Read On... all will become clear-ish ! As the season finally started on Saturday, I was looking forward to the game against Yeovil and expecting us to win. I fully appreciate what league we are in now and all that but at risk of sounding patronising, we’re playing Yeovil and we should win and anything less will be a piss poor result. Clearly there was a feel-good factor around the club with Nigel Adkins having got his first win and the never ending positivity he seems to exude, seemingly having an effect on all (except a lot of our supporters of course).
Unsurprisingly, there were no team changes from the Sheffield Wednesday game aside from Jose Fonte returning to the bench. Yeovil manager Terry Skiverton would no doubt have reminded his players of the two games against us last year when we won in the 94th minute at Huish Park and won courtesy of two ridiculous penalty awards at St Mary’s.
The game starts with Yeovil on the front foot and on five minutes we’re lucky to get away with a clear Harding foul in the penalty area which should certainly resulted in a spot kick for the men in green. A lucky escape, which is evened up on 15 minutes when Sir Rickie, who is of course, without a goal from open play this season, gets as close as he has yet to breaking that duck when he takes in a Puncheon pass and smashes a shot against the bar which unfortunately, comes down on the wrong side of the line from our perspective.
For the remainder of the first half there were a few chances per side but nothing that you ever really thought was going to end up in the onion bag. Consequently, as has been the case with a large percentage of our matches this season, we arrive at half time at 0-0. Nigel has looked round the changing room and seen Alex Chamberlain yawning and drinking a cup of hot milk. It’s his bed time and this means that it’s Guly time (a bit like Hammer time but without the irritating fucker in the silly trousers).
With do Prado on the right wing, Saints start the half badly as Superkelv comes flying off his line to try and reach a ball he’s never going to get to, forcing Radhi Jaidi to use his extreme pace to get back and clear off the line.
Saints Player – that technological masterpiece has stopped playing silly buggers and is actually working which means that I can hear Dave Merrington in all his glory. I think he’s developing Motson Syndrome which is laymans terms is the early onset of senility. The off –the-ball running of Lee Barnard is being analysed and Dave says “Ooh he’s very clever, making that Jinxy the Cat run”. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT DAVE!!! In a second I am reminded about how bad he was when he was our manager and now I see why. “Now Franny, I want you to be Muffin the Mule, Doddsy can be Spike the Dog and Matty can be Willo the Wisp”.... anyway....
I’m still recovering from Jinxy the Cat when Schneiderlin, playing further forward than usual, runs at the defence and lays off to do Prado, who turns and rifles the ball in at the far post. We’re winning and it’s Guly Time U Can’t Touch This (Look it up if you’re under 30).
We really should use our superior quality to go on and get a second as Yeovil push for an equalizer but instead of that, we stop passing the ball, which is what got us the lead in the first place and start seeing who can hit Sir Rickie from the farthest away. I imagine that Dan Seaborne could have a good go at that but instead, he tangles with a forward who collapses and gives the ref a chance to make up for missing the penalty earlier on which he duly does. So – two wrong decisions make a right do they ref ? Twat. Penalty despatched with Superkelv going the wrong way, 1-1.
Jinxy the Cat is replaced with Adam Lallana in an effort to re-introduce a passing game but it doesn’t really work. We have a couple of chances as the clock ticks down and Guly comes closest when he cracks one against the post. The ball ends up on the edge of the box where we get fouled and get a free kick in Sir Rickie range. Unfortunately, Sir Rickie hasn’t really got a range at the moment and smacks the free-kick into the wall. Soon afterwards, the ref gets one right and ends the game. Fuck it.
Nigel’s post match interview is quite scathing of the way we started playing hoofball and also how we conceded a cheap penalty. He seemed to be digging at Seaborne for giving it away which is a bit harsh as it wasn’t a bloody foul anyway. However, in my view, Seaborne is comfortably our 4th best centre half out of 4 so if it means Fonte and/or Martin are back in the team next week then happy days.
Positives? Of course there is the Gulyman who got a goal and nearly got two in his first real half of football in the league. Lallana got some more action on the road to full fitness and Sir Rickie is getting closer to hitting the target which he needs to do because if he doesn’t, we are really going to struggle to kill off teams even if we really dominate them. Highlight of the day though was the performance of Schneiderlin who Nigel seems to have got playing further forward and is encouraging his to be more offensive in his play... and I don’t mean kicking someone up the arse which is what he did at Yeovil last year.
There will be some that say that we should be happy with 4 points from these two away games but whilst I would have agreed before Saturday – having won the difficult one, we should have won this one. To put it in context – to get back to the points per game ratio needed for automatic promotion, we’re going to have to win something like 8 games out of the next 10 so dropping points like tonight is not something we can afford to do. It’s a bit reminiscent of last season – midweek trip to shitty ground in pissing rain 1-1 not good enough.
Sorry to go on about this but Jinxy the Cat was the cat in Meet the Parents (Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro) and I can’t imagine for the life of me that Dave Merrington was referring to that and even if he was.... what the hell is he on? Also, I have never seen a cat anywhere that runs or looks like Lee Barnard who has never to my knowledge, coughed up a furball, eaten a mouse or cleaned his own arse with his tongue. On that note, bring on Bournemouth, currently in an automatic promotion spot having won yet again tonight.
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