He's Alright This Fella
Three weeks off all done and our trip to the Amex to play
against Brighton, who currently sit three points and one place above us in the
table. I really thought that they were going to sink down right towards the
bottom three but they have managed to do what they’ve been doing for the last
couple of seasons and win enough games 1-0 to just about keep their heads above
water. Last time we played them was of course when they snatched a 2-2 draw
after being 2-0 down, courtesy of two horrific dives, one by Montoya to win a
free kick that they ultimately scored with and one by Duffy to win the penalty
they equalised with. I feel that we owe them one.
The break was caused by the FA Cup 6th Round which we abdicated from a while ago and the international break. In the FA Cup, Brighton got through to a semi-final against Manchester City which was gifted to them by the Millwall goalkeeper letting in a goal which an Under 10 goalkeeper who are never played in goal before would have stopped. Though I don’t see them much, Brighton still seem to be this team that sets up not to lose in every game and rely on 53-year-old Glenn Murray to score all the goals or knock down balls for others. It’s all pretty limited and it will be interesting to see whether anything has changed since I last saw them play. To be fair, I think they have tried to bring in some more time on the players but the likes of Jahanbakhsh and Locadia haven’t really set the world on fire since they arrived. They still have Anthony Knockaert who is a horrible little twat and a very one footed one at that.
The main talk of the international week as far as Saints were concerned was JWP initially not getting a call up. Southgate justified this because he wasn’t a first-team regular until recently.... but Ruben Loftus Cheek has never been a first team regular and Fabian Delph has played 10 minutes since Christmas. Once more, it proved the theory that you’re better off as far as England selection is concerned, being a barely used substitute for top six club than you are being a regular for anyone else. As it turned out, the big clubs pulled a few of their players out of England squad as usual and so JWP did eventually get a call up. He was an unused substitute in the 5-0 win against the Czech Republic but got 15 minutes at the end of the 5-1 win in Montenegro. Fully deserved given his performances and hopefully it’s not taken too much out of him and he can play a serious role today.
On approach to the Amex on a slightly shit park-and-ride bus, I see the team news and it appears that Vestergaard must be injured as Armstrong has basically come in to the team in place of him. Danny Ings is also back to partner Redmond upfront so it looks like it is Ralph’s preferred 4-2-2-2 system. Brighton appear to be playing Murray upfront on his own so are clearly seeing this game as a must not lose. Hopefully they will have one eye on the FA Cup semi-final next weekend.
It’s a hustle and bustle start the game but straightaway you can see that the three Brighton central midfielders are not going to get forward to support Murray so unless one of the wingers gets close to him then they are really not going to be much of a threat. Saints settle down and start to play some football with Valery getting into a crossing position on the right hand side. He overhits the cross but it’s picked up by Redmond who cuts in past Montoya and hammers a shot at the near post which is a decent effort but Ryan is right behind it and pats it down easily enough.
We then have one of those shots for a penalty which at the time you don’t think much of but when you see it back later, you do wonder if we should have made more of appealing for it. Armstrong put it out to JWP who whips in a cross. It’s too far in front of him but Ings crashes the deck as Montoya has run across the back of his legs. A big club at home probably gets given that particularly if it’s Kevin Friend refereeing.
Armstrong is on fire which hopefully won’t ruin his hair, which is beautiful. Bursting down the left hand side he makes a mug out of Montoya before playing a great ball inside to Ings. If Ings was sharp then he hits it first time but unfortunately he takes a touch which allows Duffy to throw him self in front of the eventual shot.
Brighton meanwhile are just concentrating on launching the ball up to Murray and the 57-year-old can’t do it on his own. Despite outnumbering us in midfield they are ponderous and Redmond nicks to ball off of Propper and drives forward, exchanging passes with Ings before crossing to Armstrong who takes a good touch on the edge of the box but again, the very committed Brighton centre backs throw themselves in the way.
Half-time and we have undoubtedly been the better side and it’s actually been quite a decent performance. We look like we will create openings to score and at the moment Brighton don’t appear to have anything. Murray is being well marshalled by the two centre halves and Jahanbakhsh and Knockaert don’t appear to have touched the ball after the first two minutes.
We are six or seven minutes into the second half and Brighton are trying to play out of defence on the right hand side. Montoya and Bissouma manage the fuck it up between them and Hojbjerg nicks the ball. Armstrong finds Redmond who runs at the defence and weights a perfect pass into Hojbjerg who has continued his run and the skipper pokes it past Ryan with the outside of his right foot and it’s all gone a bit mental in the away end. A textbook Ralph Hasenhuttl goal – win the ball high, take advantage.
The break was caused by the FA Cup 6th Round which we abdicated from a while ago and the international break. In the FA Cup, Brighton got through to a semi-final against Manchester City which was gifted to them by the Millwall goalkeeper letting in a goal which an Under 10 goalkeeper who are never played in goal before would have stopped. Though I don’t see them much, Brighton still seem to be this team that sets up not to lose in every game and rely on 53-year-old Glenn Murray to score all the goals or knock down balls for others. It’s all pretty limited and it will be interesting to see whether anything has changed since I last saw them play. To be fair, I think they have tried to bring in some more time on the players but the likes of Jahanbakhsh and Locadia haven’t really set the world on fire since they arrived. They still have Anthony Knockaert who is a horrible little twat and a very one footed one at that.
The main talk of the international week as far as Saints were concerned was JWP initially not getting a call up. Southgate justified this because he wasn’t a first-team regular until recently.... but Ruben Loftus Cheek has never been a first team regular and Fabian Delph has played 10 minutes since Christmas. Once more, it proved the theory that you’re better off as far as England selection is concerned, being a barely used substitute for top six club than you are being a regular for anyone else. As it turned out, the big clubs pulled a few of their players out of England squad as usual and so JWP did eventually get a call up. He was an unused substitute in the 5-0 win against the Czech Republic but got 15 minutes at the end of the 5-1 win in Montenegro. Fully deserved given his performances and hopefully it’s not taken too much out of him and he can play a serious role today.
On approach to the Amex on a slightly shit park-and-ride bus, I see the team news and it appears that Vestergaard must be injured as Armstrong has basically come in to the team in place of him. Danny Ings is also back to partner Redmond upfront so it looks like it is Ralph’s preferred 4-2-2-2 system. Brighton appear to be playing Murray upfront on his own so are clearly seeing this game as a must not lose. Hopefully they will have one eye on the FA Cup semi-final next weekend.
It’s a hustle and bustle start the game but straightaway you can see that the three Brighton central midfielders are not going to get forward to support Murray so unless one of the wingers gets close to him then they are really not going to be much of a threat. Saints settle down and start to play some football with Valery getting into a crossing position on the right hand side. He overhits the cross but it’s picked up by Redmond who cuts in past Montoya and hammers a shot at the near post which is a decent effort but Ryan is right behind it and pats it down easily enough.
We then have one of those shots for a penalty which at the time you don’t think much of but when you see it back later, you do wonder if we should have made more of appealing for it. Armstrong put it out to JWP who whips in a cross. It’s too far in front of him but Ings crashes the deck as Montoya has run across the back of his legs. A big club at home probably gets given that particularly if it’s Kevin Friend refereeing.
Armstrong is on fire which hopefully won’t ruin his hair, which is beautiful. Bursting down the left hand side he makes a mug out of Montoya before playing a great ball inside to Ings. If Ings was sharp then he hits it first time but unfortunately he takes a touch which allows Duffy to throw him self in front of the eventual shot.
Brighton meanwhile are just concentrating on launching the ball up to Murray and the 57-year-old can’t do it on his own. Despite outnumbering us in midfield they are ponderous and Redmond nicks to ball off of Propper and drives forward, exchanging passes with Ings before crossing to Armstrong who takes a good touch on the edge of the box but again, the very committed Brighton centre backs throw themselves in the way.
Half-time and we have undoubtedly been the better side and it’s actually been quite a decent performance. We look like we will create openings to score and at the moment Brighton don’t appear to have anything. Murray is being well marshalled by the two centre halves and Jahanbakhsh and Knockaert don’t appear to have touched the ball after the first two minutes.
We are six or seven minutes into the second half and Brighton are trying to play out of defence on the right hand side. Montoya and Bissouma manage the fuck it up between them and Hojbjerg nicks the ball. Armstrong finds Redmond who runs at the defence and weights a perfect pass into Hojbjerg who has continued his run and the skipper pokes it past Ryan with the outside of his right foot and it’s all gone a bit mental in the away end. A textbook Ralph Hasenhuttl goal – win the ball high, take advantage.
He's Alright This Fella
Oh look, Brighton have decided to try and attack now. It’s a bit pathetic really that they need to let in a goal in order to try but here they are. Within five minutes, Montoya cats in from the right unless one fly with his left foot which pings off the angle of post and crossbar and I’ll tell you one thing for certain, Angus wasn’t getting anywhere near it. .Brighton recycle it and a cross gets hoisted into the box and Gunn comes and drops it to Propper who senses Hojbjerg in close proximity and so collapses on the ground like a fucking wanker and appeals for a penalty. Get up you pathetic little fuck and luckily Michael Oliver isn’t having any of it
65 minutes gone and of course, bearing in mind it is his first game back, we have to take Danny Ings off. Hang on a minute, it’s not Charlie Austin coming on, it’s Sam Gallagher. I can’t help but feel that this is a decent shout by Ralph as Big Sam will certainly keep the Brighton defence occupied more than the Lager and Kebab Boy would. Straight away he proves me right by chasing down the goalkeeper and managing to smash into Ryan and being a bit unlucky as the ball span off him for a goal kick.
It’s all Brighton now but for all their pressure, they just have a shot from Locardia which is almost like a back pass by the time it reaches the keeper. We send Jack Stephens on for the excellent Armstrong and revert to our three at the back formation and there is a slight scare went Barnardo attempts a spectacular volley but can only stuff it into the side netting. Stephens of course is having his first involvement since the Arsenal disaster and it’s good that he digs in strongly alongside Yoshida and the magnificent Bednarek.
Sims is on for Redmond as we approach the 90 and Brighton have the one chance that the chasing team always seems to get when Gallagher gives away a dumb freekick halfway inside our half. In it comes and Duffy is stretching for it but unlike St Mary’s when he similarly dived on the ground, there is no one near him this time and the ball runs through to Gunn. One more corner to survive and the ball ends up running through to Angus again and that is it, a fucking massive win.
“We are Staying Up, I Say We Are Staying Up” – over come the
players for the loudest “Oh When the Saints” of recent times. As the players disperse – it’s Ralph
time. He fucking loves it doesn’t he? What a boy.
For once in my life I’m going to give a neutrals opinion because after the game I got this text from my mate who is a Leeds fan, who was in the Brighton end and the text reads ‘you deserved to win because they didn’t even try and attack until you scored’. That pretty much sums it up for me. Yes, Brighton put us under pressure in the last 20 minutes, they had the one shot that hit the bar and forced Gunn into one very routine save and other than that they did absolutely nothing of any consequence and totally deserved to lose. I cannot understand setting up to draw a game at home against Southampton. I actually felt a little bit sorry for Glenn Murray in the first half. He was getting balls smashed at him from 50 yards away, winning them, usually against Yoshida and then Bednarek took the ball off him as he had no player within 40 yards to pass it to and you could see him looking round in a “what the fuck am I supposed to do” manner.
It wasn’t brilliant from Saints but it was enough. We were the better side pretty much throughout, scored a goal and defended when we had to. 1-0 away from home, thanks very much. I wasn’t too sure with the 4-2-2-2 formation in the first half as a few players, notably Valery and JWP didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to be doing but both settled down well eventually. Losing a defender at least allowed us to bring Armstrong into the starting line-up and he was excellent. The return of Danny Ings who though rusty, gave us an intelligent movement upfront and a little bit of pace which we have been lacking in recent weeks with Lager Kebab Boy upfront. The introduction of Gallagher ahead of Austin was quite telling. I really want Sam Gallagher to do well but it just looks like it takes him just that little bit too long to do anything, the classic being when he had a chance to shoot but took a split second too long and the chance was gone. Likewise, he goes up for headers but always just that split second after the defender so he doesn’t win nearly as many as he should for a player of his size and athleticism.
Elsewhere, aside from a few straight passes, Hojbjerg and Romeu despite being outnumbered by Brighton’s three in midfield, ruled the roost and our own argumentative married couple, Bertrand and Redmond contributed very strongly. It was a good all-round team performance, no 10/10 individual performances but no one less than a 7 either.
I don’t get to many away games these days but the real stars of the show with the fans. The fans were absolutely magnificent from the first whistle to the moment that Ralph finally disappeared down the tunnel after taking the ovation. Absolutely brilliant and it was an absolute privilege to be amongst you all.
What can you say about Ralph? The man, the myth, the legend. 1.5 points a game. That’s absolutely nuts considering he has taken the same squad that Hughes had. Again it proves what I have said all along which is that the manager is the most important person of the club. If he knows what he’s doing then it makes an absolutely huge difference. We have to try and keep him as long as possible. We have to give him the money in the summer to buy in the players that he wants. It’s not going to be five signings because he doesn’t want to work with a huge squad as has already been established. It’s going to be hopefully one or two quality players. If we sign players that Ralph wants then they are not likely to join if Ralph intended to jump ship after year. The club has to make this happen or else will be back with the lottery once more.
Elsewhere, Burnley and Crystal Palace picked up wins this weekend which was bad news but As I write, Cardiff have somewhat unluckily lost to Chelsea who scored two goals in the last 10 minutes including one of the most horrifically missed offsides in the history of the game. Neil Warnock is throwing an absolute puce faced rage at the referee. Good old Colin. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke. I had a bit of sympathy for them until I remembered that as soon as the plane went down, they started trying to find a way not to pay the Sala transfer fee. We are now five points clear of the bottom three and hopefully Colin can fuck off back to the championship.
Next up is Liverpool at home. Liverpool, currently top of the league and a massive chance for us not only to put further daylight between us and the relegation zone but also a chance to fuck up the Scousers. We will be the most popular team in England outside of Liverpool and Portsmouth and the football media. That would be a real shame wouldn’t it?
For once in my life I’m going to give a neutrals opinion because after the game I got this text from my mate who is a Leeds fan, who was in the Brighton end and the text reads ‘you deserved to win because they didn’t even try and attack until you scored’. That pretty much sums it up for me. Yes, Brighton put us under pressure in the last 20 minutes, they had the one shot that hit the bar and forced Gunn into one very routine save and other than that they did absolutely nothing of any consequence and totally deserved to lose. I cannot understand setting up to draw a game at home against Southampton. I actually felt a little bit sorry for Glenn Murray in the first half. He was getting balls smashed at him from 50 yards away, winning them, usually against Yoshida and then Bednarek took the ball off him as he had no player within 40 yards to pass it to and you could see him looking round in a “what the fuck am I supposed to do” manner.
It wasn’t brilliant from Saints but it was enough. We were the better side pretty much throughout, scored a goal and defended when we had to. 1-0 away from home, thanks very much. I wasn’t too sure with the 4-2-2-2 formation in the first half as a few players, notably Valery and JWP didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to be doing but both settled down well eventually. Losing a defender at least allowed us to bring Armstrong into the starting line-up and he was excellent. The return of Danny Ings who though rusty, gave us an intelligent movement upfront and a little bit of pace which we have been lacking in recent weeks with Lager Kebab Boy upfront. The introduction of Gallagher ahead of Austin was quite telling. I really want Sam Gallagher to do well but it just looks like it takes him just that little bit too long to do anything, the classic being when he had a chance to shoot but took a split second too long and the chance was gone. Likewise, he goes up for headers but always just that split second after the defender so he doesn’t win nearly as many as he should for a player of his size and athleticism.
Elsewhere, aside from a few straight passes, Hojbjerg and Romeu despite being outnumbered by Brighton’s three in midfield, ruled the roost and our own argumentative married couple, Bertrand and Redmond contributed very strongly. It was a good all-round team performance, no 10/10 individual performances but no one less than a 7 either.
I don’t get to many away games these days but the real stars of the show with the fans. The fans were absolutely magnificent from the first whistle to the moment that Ralph finally disappeared down the tunnel after taking the ovation. Absolutely brilliant and it was an absolute privilege to be amongst you all.
What can you say about Ralph? The man, the myth, the legend. 1.5 points a game. That’s absolutely nuts considering he has taken the same squad that Hughes had. Again it proves what I have said all along which is that the manager is the most important person of the club. If he knows what he’s doing then it makes an absolutely huge difference. We have to try and keep him as long as possible. We have to give him the money in the summer to buy in the players that he wants. It’s not going to be five signings because he doesn’t want to work with a huge squad as has already been established. It’s going to be hopefully one or two quality players. If we sign players that Ralph wants then they are not likely to join if Ralph intended to jump ship after year. The club has to make this happen or else will be back with the lottery once more.
Elsewhere, Burnley and Crystal Palace picked up wins this weekend which was bad news but As I write, Cardiff have somewhat unluckily lost to Chelsea who scored two goals in the last 10 minutes including one of the most horrifically missed offsides in the history of the game. Neil Warnock is throwing an absolute puce faced rage at the referee. Good old Colin. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke. I had a bit of sympathy for them until I remembered that as soon as the plane went down, they started trying to find a way not to pay the Sala transfer fee. We are now five points clear of the bottom three and hopefully Colin can fuck off back to the championship.
Next up is Liverpool at home. Liverpool, currently top of the league and a massive chance for us not only to put further daylight between us and the relegation zone but also a chance to fuck up the Scousers. We will be the most popular team in England outside of Liverpool and Portsmouth and the football media. That would be a real shame wouldn’t it?
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