Premier League Match 35 - Southampton 2 Bournemouth 1

Who is This Guy an Where Has He Been?

When I first started looking at the fixtures that we had left and how we were going to possibly get a decent enough total to give us a fighting chance of staying up, Bournemouth at home was one that was marked down as three points. Bournemouth haven’t beaten us at home since we moved to St Mary’s but did get pretty close when Harry Arter smashed his late penalty at a passing flybe jet last season.

Eddie Howe is a miracle worker to get them to where they are. It won’t be enough to get him the Arsenal job but if you judge a manager on what he achieves with the resources he has available then he is one of best. I know that sounds a bit backhanded but there’s not many Bournemouth players who I'd class as outstanding other than Nathan Ake. Fair play to Bournemouth for being safe for another season but the crunch will come when Eddie Howe goes. In order for Bournemouth to push on, they will need a better players than the likes of Steve Cook, Francis and Gosling so I guess the key to keeping Howe will be showing the ambition to upgrade on those guys and you don’t do that by paying fortune in wages on a four year contract for 48-year-old Jermain Defoe. The recruitment is the only thing I would criticise Eddie Howe for, assuming that he is involved in it, as aside from Ake and Begovic, they seem to have recruited a lot of players to put on the bench like Defoe and Ibe. For information for all you Cherry Boys out there, it’s just another game for us.

As it turns out though, we absolutely have to win this game. If we don’t get seven points from our next three games then I don’t think we have any chance at all staying up this season. I’ve given up hoping for a win I just hope for performance from players who actually give a shit. The two who I’ve picked out as being the two I’m most fucking annoyed with are Cedric and Mario Lemina. I knew there was no way that Cedric was going to get dropped as there are very few options but I didn’t think there was any way that Mr Rockstar would manage to get picked after his fucking shambles at Wembley last week. Imagine my irritation when I saw that he had kept his place and not only that, Hojbjerg being dropped instead of him And not only that, the blonde hair was back again. Shane Long was the other player left out to accommodate the return of Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic.

The good news is that we look up for it from the start – maybe it’s the incredible atmosphere generated by the plastic clackers.  Tadic turns Daniels inside out before crossing, causing chaos and both Bertrand and Romeu have shots blocked.  Both sides look vulnerable to the counter attack.  Their defence seems slow to get into position and Mousset up front for them is lightning quick.  Bournemouth have a circus midget playing at right back but he’s decent and his run and cross results in Bournemouth winning a corner as Mousset panics our defenders.

From the corner, Yoshida gets his head to it, Redmond flicks it over a player and finds Lemina and we’re gone – Redmond, Tadic and Lemina against one Bournemouth player.  It’s a situation from which both Newcastle and West Ham have scored against us recently and I’m expecting us to fuck it up but Lemina draws the one defender and plays it right to Tadic at the perfect time, keeper to beat, easy, 1-0.  He never ever looked like he was going to miss in exactly the same way that Shane Long never does.

My Public Enemy Number 1, Mario Lemina is having a stormer.  It’s quite bewildering after last week.  Tadic is having a stormer which is quite bewildering after the season he’s had.  Austin is having a beer and a kebab and gambling on the horses but all three combine and a ball runs to Lemina about 20 yards out and he smashes it, missile-like but unfortunately, Begovic has a clean view of it and saves well.

As we approach half time, Bournemouth haven’t really had any efforts on goal but they do when Ake spins cleverly when a ball drops in the area and pokes a shot goalwards which McCarthy kicks away.  More pressure from Bournemouth and Lemina again shows the value of being arsed and tracks back well against King but concedes a corner.  Over it comes, a flick on and there’s King at the back post for a simple finish and we’ve undone all the good work with ball watching.  Zonal marking seems to work well on the initial delivery but when it’s flicked on you have to react.  It’s been a decent first half and we really should be in front but as usual, we are not.

The second half starts with a poor Yoshida pass and Lewis Cook picks it up in midfield and with no closing down, he advances and hits it but McCarthy pushes it aside comfortably.  We got away with Maya’s error but Bournemouth don’t get away with Steve Cook attempting to chest down a McCarthy drop kick.  All Cook deos it present it to Tadic in midfield and with Austin and Redmond in support, Tadic advances and or once in his life, decides to shoot and with what almost looks like a left footed toe poke, fires it past Begovic and into the far corner.  Brilliant finish.  Scenes.  Who is this Tadic and where has he been?

Long is on for Redmond who seems to have started struggling and his fist involvement is to nearly score by accident as Austin has a shot and Long almost runs into it, deflecting it but unfortunately, it hits Begovic’ foot as he dives the other way.  Another good chance comes and goes as Tadic plays a superb diagonal ball over the centre backs to Bertrand who brings it down under pressure from the circus midget and can only poke it straight at Begovic.

The feeling that we might pay for these misses is compounded when Defoe comes on to try and earn some of the pension fund that Bournemouth are paying him in his twilight years.  He gets some stick for being an ex-Skate but I forgive him that as he was one of the players taking ridiculous amounts of money out of the club and ensuring the car crash continued.  Fancy getting paid Top 6 wages by a small club with a small ground.  Nothing much changes, including us missing chances, this time Tadic putting Austin in with a back heel but Charlie runs out of room after he’s put his pint down and hits the side netting which I guess makes a change from hitting the bar.

Hojbjerg is on for Austin which implies we are now in holding mode but Long and Lemina create a chance on their own by pressing and robbing the ponderous Cook but Shane gets the pass wrong and Bournemouth get away with it.  In the 89^th minute, JWP is on for Tadic and the board goes up from the fourth official – 5 minutes – fuck off.

The board going up seems to be the signal for Bournemouth to go for it and us to collectively shite our trousers.  It starts with Defoe falling over Yoshida in the box and half a shout for a penalty and suddenly, instead of blocking crosses, we are allowing everything into the box.  Fraser has a shot which McCarthy saves with his foot and the ball is pinging around the box before King smashes a shot at the River Itchen.  The respite lasts all of 10 seconds or so as Cedric gives away a free kick and from the free kick, Francis has a shot which is deflected wide as he appeals for a penalty in complete desperation.  Over comes the corner, Begovic is up (he’s scored against us before you know) and McCarthy punches clear.  Surely that’s the end?  Here they come again – a long throw into the box, headed up in the air and Fraser hits it, it deflects off Cedric and it heading for the top corner but McCarthy takes off and pushes it wide.  Not the best save ever but in the context of this game and the significance of it, the best save ever.  Surely that’s the end?  Here they come again, long balls, headers, cleared.  Finally it’s over.  Everyone with a Southampton allegiance in the vicinity goes mental.  Get in.

After five minutes which ages me about three years, the referee finally blows his whistle and fuck me, we won a home game for the first time since back in November and, before David Unsworth had been christened the fat PE teacher. Though it was nervy as fuck towards the end I think we just about deserved it, bearing in mind the chances that we had and the lack of efforts on our goal until the last few minutes.

Some players seriously stood up today to be counted. Dusan Tadic was absolutely superb, not only taking his two goals but his overall performance. He was so positive and I still can’t believe he had a shot for second goal instead of trying to pass it. The big shock to me was Mario Lemina who put in one of his on the “best midfielder in the country” performances. I have to say that I’m very happy he put in that performance and I’m trying not to think too much about all the times when he clearly cannot be fucking bothered. How can a player put in a performance like that just six days after playing at Wembley and basically not giving a shit. I’m guess he’s had the Mark Hughes Attitude Adjustment treatment during the week and been told what is and what isn’t acceptable.  Absolutely bizarre but as I said, I’m not gonna think about it too much because he was superb today. Within six days he’s played at a level that would make you happy for him to be sold for about £5 million and then he’s gone and played at a level that would make Jurgen Klopp book him a flight to Blackpool with £80 million quid in his pocket.

Also, there were very good performances by the three centre backs with Bednarek completely justifying the decision to not bring Jack Stephens back despite a couple of awkward moments against the lightning quick Mousset. Yoshida mopped everything up pretty well in the middle and Wesley managed to get through the game without a calamity. And of course we have Alex McCarthy in goal who has made such a huge difference to the whole team with his command of the penalty area and general unflappability. Considering how long he had been without a game for, he’s come in and has given absolutely no reason to even consider bringing Fraser back.

It wasn’t all great today with Charlie Austin back to resembling a player after having had 5 or 6 pints and Cedric hardly winning a single challenge and always managing to pick out the Bournemouth player or absolutely no one with every cross. Nathan Redmond started well but then made a couple of mistakes and seemed to lose any confidence that he might have had, until he got substituted.

The good news is that now we have a proper manager who recognises this sort of thing and does something about it and Shane Long’s introduction on the left hand side was exactly what was needed and he put severe pressure on the right hand side of Bournemouth defence, catching them with the ball once or twice and being on lucky not to score when he deflected Austins shot.  Playing Long wide means that he doesn’t get near the goal as often so it can only be a good thing.  I don’t know what the stats are but I’m willing to bet that the average bookings per game has gone through the roof since Pellegrino left and Hughes came in. This is no bad thing and it now shows that the players in the main are prepared to do what it takes. At least three of the bookings today were completely premeditated and deliberate with Bednarek and JWP not even looking at the referee after the committing their fouls because it was that obvious that they were going to get booked

I think we were helped slightly by Bournemouth having at least one foot on the beach but you only taken advantage of that if you play like a team which has something to play for which we haven’t in the main this season. Because we put the effort in we got our rewards today and if we can put in performances like that away at Everton and then away at Swansea then you never know.

Today’s win will be massive confidence booster for the players and with Hughes charge, you know he will be drilling into them that they need to keep this going and cannot afford to turn up at Everton and not give a shit. It was good to see a majority of the players flat on their arses at the end of the game with absolutely nothing left to give. That is what it should be like every game and it certainly is what it should be like in the remaining games this season.

Out of the post match interviews, Dusan Tadic provided the most interesting one saying that the training sessions were shorter and sharper and as a result the whole team was.  He also sang the praises of Mark Hughes, Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzweicki and said that Saints should definitely keep them for longer.  So it seems that it wasn’t just the fans that Pellegrino was boring to death. Makes you wonder even more what the fuck Les Reed was doing whilst this was going on.

The other results went our way with Swansea losing to Chelsea and more importantly and unexpectedly, Huddersfield losing at home to Everton which leaves them three points ahead of us, with a worse goal difference and fixtures away at City, Chelsea and home to Arsenal to come.  The Arsenal one may look like a potential 3 points but it’s Wenger’s last league game so let’s hope The Gunners send him off in style.  So, three more points should see us above Huddersfield and it would also see us out of reach of West Brom and leaving Stoke needing 6 points from Palace at home and Swansea away to overhaul us.  Of course, if my Auntie had a dick she’d be my uncle but after today’s results, you can see that just three more points might do it.  Let’s get them at Everton on Saturday.