Remember Me ?
Yeovil at home and let’s not beat about the bush here – we have to win and we should win comfortably. Whilst relatively speaking, Yeovil’s form has picked up recently, they should be there for the taking, especially as they have a few injuries which include Paul Wotton who did a hamstring on Saturday, the kind of injury which plagues all athletes with explosive pace.
Nigel tinkered to the extent of one change with Aaron Martin coming in for the rested Jaidi, who will no doubt be back for the Bournemouth game on Saturday. Talking of which – on the Radio as I was driving to the game, they interviewed a few fans and staff of Bournemouth and all they were talking about was the Saints game at the weekend. Let’s hope they take their eye off the Exeter away game they have tonight. The bench saw the return of Dan Seaborne and Jonathan Forte or Jonno Pace as he appears to be called in every interview Nigel gives about him. Nigel’s latest buzzword is ‘alehouse’ which he used to refer to both the goal we let in at Walsall and the one Yeovil let in last week against Huddersfield. I wonder if he knows the Bill Shankly quote about Saints being an alehouse team. Whilst we’re on the subject of interviews, I wish that our manager and players would stop all this “We are Southampton and we’re everyone’s Cup Final” bollocks. Have a bit of humility chaps as all it does it wind up the opposition and make us look stupid when we lose to Walsall etc.
The first 10 minutes was as scrappy as you could wish to see but it was obvious straight away that Yeovil were not very good. On 12 minutes they won a free kick and it was one of those moments when you see professional footballers do something so ridiculous that it really makes you wonder what on earth they do all week when they are supposed to be training. The free kick was about 25 yards out, to the right of centre. Three players stood over the ball so there I was thinking that they must have worked on some elaborate routine. Player 1 ran over the ball to the left, Player 2 ran over it to the right and Player 3.... tapped it along the ground, straight into the wall of Saints players. Genius.
Saints had a free kick of their own on 15 minutes with a goal and managed to execute it a little bit better than Yeovil. It was strange in the fact that only two players moved. The kick was from the right wing about 40 yards out, Barnard made a run, Butters slid the free kick through to him and Barnard finished across the keeper. If you were in any way connected with Yeovil – you would be mortified at conceding such a preventable goal.
Saints were trying to play out from the back and in doing so, were highlighting a major limitation with the central midfield players as neither Chaplow nor Hammond want the ball passed into them from the defenders. Martin attempted it and Chaplow skewed a pass straight to a Yeovil player before having to hammer back and concede a corner. There was no movement from anyone so the ball usually travelled across the back four and was then hoofed, usually by Davis, usually to no one in particular.
Half time and my God, what a shite performance that was. Still, winning is the key and this was illustrated by the fact that Bournemouth were losing at Exeter.
Nigel’s half time team talk had obviously contained a request for more aimless rubbish as that was the order of the day after the restart. Saints always looked the more capable though as Chambo fed Lallana who put a perfect cross onto the head of Lee Barnard to head in for 2-0. It was nearly hat-trick time a minute later as Barney was again put through by Lallana but this time the keeper got a block on it and the chance was gone.
It was all Saints now and it was no surprise when a 3rd goal arrived courtesy of Chamberlain who picked up a loose ball in midfield and drove forward before lashing a ball into the net, via a deflection which left the keeper trying to dive in two directions at once.
There was a brief interlude and a rest for everyone else when Chambo got the ball in the nuts. I swear that Butterfield and Fonte were having a bit of a giggle but then, there is something about a football hitting testicles which is always funny, as long as the testicles in question aren’t yours. The Kingsland comedian who came out with “can’t have hurt that much cos they haven’t dropped yet” should be applauded.
Saints used the bench with Chappers, Chambo and Lallana making way for Gobern, Richardson and Jonno Pace. The formation kind of went to shit with Sir Rickie dropping into the hole and Butters going into midfield. Chances kept coming though with Gobern firing a decent volley just over and not falling over as he hit it.
Kelvin Davis, who had up to this point kept a clean sheet just by standing there, had his one thing to do for the game when a hopeful cross from the left nearly ended up in the net as he flapped and fumbled it onto the bar. To be fair, he was under pressure from the nearest Yeovil player who was about 30 yards away. His confidence was then tested when Richardson tried to clear a ball up the pitch left footed and managed to hook it horribly and send it straight back to Davis who then had to deal with it.
Oscar Gobern was showing up well in the middle of the park and from a decent tackle, won the ball and send Jonno Pace on his way. With Barnard screaming for a square pass and a tap in for a hat-trick, Jonno ignored him and ran straight into the keeper, without ever looking like he was going to score. I hate to say it but with his physical appearance, the number on his shirt and the lack of goal.... Bradley Wright-Forte.
BWF showed a nice trick or two over on the left wing before being unceremoniously hoofed up in the air by a clearly irritated defender. He managed a couple of spins and a pirouette before landing.
So, 3-0 and easy really. Didn’t play well but didn’t really have to. Before the game, Yeovil were saying that they’d miss Paul Wotton and it’s easy to see that he would have been their best player today. They were very very poor and seemed to have no idea how to approach the game. I dunno about not having a Plan B, they didn’t seem to have a Plan A. Still, it was nice to see Wotton on the pitch at the end, shaking hands with the Saints boys.
So on we roll to Dean Court and a meeting with the Moaning Dorset Bstrds. I have a feeling that their fans would rather win this game than get promoted. Nice that they lost today and if we manage to get the first goal on Saturday it may really knock them back. If we beat them then we go above them on goal difference and we will still have 2 games in hand. A draw won’t be a bad result but the form of Peterborough and Huddersfield demands that we go for the win... which I’m sure we will.
Bring it on!!!
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