And a Terrace Chant is Recycled (sort of)
A trip to the Amex Stadium set in the South Downs near Falmer
which is a place that has been very good to us nearly every time we have
visited in the past. When we came here and won 1-0 last season it was a game
that majorly set us on the way to surviving in the Premier League and it turned
out that Brighton with much more under threat of getting relegated then we were
but they survived despite not scoring any goals and made the correct decision
to sack nice guy Chris Hughton.
The appointment of ex-Saint Graham Potter is an interesting one but a manager who has worked his way from the Swedish fourth division to the Championship and into the Premier League has to be respected. He isn’t going to be able to work miracles and suddenly turn Brighton into a comfortable mid-table side but I expect them at least to have a little more attacking threat that they had for the whole of last season. Potter came to Saints as one of a long line of players who was going to take Francis Benali's place at left back and never managed it. He was ok without ever being first-team regular material.
For my sins I had driven to the game and parked at Brighton Racecourse and I was talking to a few Brighton fans on the park-and-ride bus on the way to the ground and they seemed very optimistic about the season ahead, almost overly optimistic it seems. Time will tell I guess. We had a quick wander around the outside of the ground before refusing to pay £7.50 for a bacon burger. Fucking delusions of grandeur London-by-the-Sea. Fuck off.
Whilst our performance against Liverpool was better than the one against Burnley, it still yielded zero points so there is pressure on this game to get a result first of foremost, especially with Manchester United at home being our next game. The team news filtered through and it was kind of odd. There was a debut for Kevin Danso but when you looked down the team sheet there was no left back with neither Bertrand or Vokins. Cedric, who has been known to play left back in the past was on the bench so we initially didn’t have a clue as to what formation we were going to play but then the news came through but it was the 4-2-2-2 formation (same as last year here) with Danso slotting in at left back. Hmmm... Can’t see him flying up the wing and putting over a cross with his left foot somehow. Bertrand apparently had an ankle knock and Yoshida had been left out to accommodate Danny Ings who was back in the side to partner Che Adams upfront.
Potter is obviously trying to evolve Brighton as Glenn Murray, all 47 years of him was not in the starting line-up. Up front they had Andone and Maupay, the later being a new and relatively expensive signing. They appear to be playing with three central defenders as joining the usual arsehole combination of Dunk and Duffy was Dan Burn who is similar in size and speed to Jannick Vestergaard.
We start off relatively well and create the first opening but Ings fails to pull the trigger from the edge of the box and eventually gets crowded out. After about 10 minutes or so. the problems that we have with our line-up today first become apparent. Danso has started really solidly at left back as you would expect but he is totally right footed so that stifles any attacking play down the left hand side because all he does when he’s not clearing it is pass it inside to Vestergaard who then feeds into Romeu, back to bednarek and repeat and we don’t actually go anywhere with any pace. On the right hand side, JWP has started poorly and he’s not really attacking with any intensity nor helping Valery out with any defending.
Brighton eventually come into it and Montoya should do better with a header from the penalty spot after there’s been an overload on Valery down his side and the cross finds the Brighton full-back totally unmarked – the Southampton Way. Half an hour in and Brighton are now looking the better side but this is not because of anything specifically good that they are doing, it’s because we are dreadful and continually giving the ball away. A lot of the problem is caused by a lack of movement by the front players. I had to specifically look to make sure that Che Adams was actually on the pitch.
The game changed on the half an hour mark with the first real challenge of the game and it was a fucking ridiculous one. Andone just flew in on Valery and stamped down somewhere up near his knee. Kevin Friend who is not my favourite referee saw it clear as day and off you go pal. What a fucking idiot. It’s worth pointing out at this point that despite the assault, Andone was applauded off by many Brighton fans and received a handshake and I consoling pat from his manager as he fucked off down the tunnel.
The appointment of ex-Saint Graham Potter is an interesting one but a manager who has worked his way from the Swedish fourth division to the Championship and into the Premier League has to be respected. He isn’t going to be able to work miracles and suddenly turn Brighton into a comfortable mid-table side but I expect them at least to have a little more attacking threat that they had for the whole of last season. Potter came to Saints as one of a long line of players who was going to take Francis Benali's place at left back and never managed it. He was ok without ever being first-team regular material.
For my sins I had driven to the game and parked at Brighton Racecourse and I was talking to a few Brighton fans on the park-and-ride bus on the way to the ground and they seemed very optimistic about the season ahead, almost overly optimistic it seems. Time will tell I guess. We had a quick wander around the outside of the ground before refusing to pay £7.50 for a bacon burger. Fucking delusions of grandeur London-by-the-Sea. Fuck off.
Whilst our performance against Liverpool was better than the one against Burnley, it still yielded zero points so there is pressure on this game to get a result first of foremost, especially with Manchester United at home being our next game. The team news filtered through and it was kind of odd. There was a debut for Kevin Danso but when you looked down the team sheet there was no left back with neither Bertrand or Vokins. Cedric, who has been known to play left back in the past was on the bench so we initially didn’t have a clue as to what formation we were going to play but then the news came through but it was the 4-2-2-2 formation (same as last year here) with Danso slotting in at left back. Hmmm... Can’t see him flying up the wing and putting over a cross with his left foot somehow. Bertrand apparently had an ankle knock and Yoshida had been left out to accommodate Danny Ings who was back in the side to partner Che Adams upfront.
Potter is obviously trying to evolve Brighton as Glenn Murray, all 47 years of him was not in the starting line-up. Up front they had Andone and Maupay, the later being a new and relatively expensive signing. They appear to be playing with three central defenders as joining the usual arsehole combination of Dunk and Duffy was Dan Burn who is similar in size and speed to Jannick Vestergaard.
We start off relatively well and create the first opening but Ings fails to pull the trigger from the edge of the box and eventually gets crowded out. After about 10 minutes or so. the problems that we have with our line-up today first become apparent. Danso has started really solidly at left back as you would expect but he is totally right footed so that stifles any attacking play down the left hand side because all he does when he’s not clearing it is pass it inside to Vestergaard who then feeds into Romeu, back to bednarek and repeat and we don’t actually go anywhere with any pace. On the right hand side, JWP has started poorly and he’s not really attacking with any intensity nor helping Valery out with any defending.
Brighton eventually come into it and Montoya should do better with a header from the penalty spot after there’s been an overload on Valery down his side and the cross finds the Brighton full-back totally unmarked – the Southampton Way. Half an hour in and Brighton are now looking the better side but this is not because of anything specifically good that they are doing, it’s because we are dreadful and continually giving the ball away. A lot of the problem is caused by a lack of movement by the front players. I had to specifically look to make sure that Che Adams was actually on the pitch.
The game changed on the half an hour mark with the first real challenge of the game and it was a fucking ridiculous one. Andone just flew in on Valery and stamped down somewhere up near his knee. Kevin Friend who is not my favourite referee saw it clear as day and off you go pal. What a fucking idiot. It’s worth pointing out at this point that despite the assault, Andone was applauded off by many Brighton fans and received a handshake and I consoling pat from his manager as he fucked off down the tunnel.
Potter consoles his striker after he tried to break someone's leg
Mercifully, having been on the end of a potential career ending challenge, Valery is ok and carries on with the boos of Brighton fans ringing in his ears. What a bunch of clueless cunts. However, far from tilting the game in our favour, the fact that we have a man advantage makes us go to shit and Brighton look the far more likely to score culminating in a corner being headed home by Lewis Dunk but a Brighton player on the goal line has clearly impeded Angus Gunn and/or is miles offside. I find it unbelievable that the linesman cannot give this decision without referring it to VAR but upstairs we go. I’m looking at the big screen at the opposite end of the ground and for some reason, I am expecting to see pictures of the actual incident but of course they are reserved purely for the television audience and so those who have paid money to be in the ground get to see absolutely fuck all aside from a dark blue screen with the words ‘checking goal’ written on it. No one seems particularly stressed waiting for the outcome but as it goes on to about 30 seconds, you do begin to wonder that it isn’t as clear cut as you think it is. Eventually the foul on the goalkeeper or the offside is given but we have no fucking idea why the goal has been disallowed really as it is not communicated to anyone inside the stadium. It happened right in front of us and we have no idea so Brighton fans up the other end will be totally in the dark
The first we knew about it. (Note: nice to see that Brighton already awarded the goal!)
Just before half-time, Redders picks up the ball on the left in midfield and set off with intent towards the Brighton penalty area, skipping past couple of challenges, getting to the edge of the box and firing in a decent effort that Ryan saves comfortably. More of that please and not this pedestrian tippy tappy bollocks that goes nowhere.
Half time and to be honest, we have been fucking dreadful. Danso has been solid enough at left back but of course offers nothing going forward and the passing between the lines is painfully predictable and slow. JWP is having an absolute shocker over on the right wing and since the red card, Brighton have the 6 foot 6 inch immobile Burn playing as an orthodox left back so surely we need to get someone with a bit of pace down that wing to run at him. Has Che Adams actually been on the pitch? He has probably had about two touches of the ball in that half of the worrying thing for me is that him and Ings, who has been the better of the two, are making me think that it’s like having two Charlie Austin’s is out there. One can only hope that the extra man will tell in the second half.
No subs at half-time so nothing changes for the first 10 minutes before Ralph decides he has had enough but when the substitution comes, it’s a bit of a strange one with Valery being hooked, JWP dropping back on the right and Moussa Djenepo taking up station on the left. It’s kind of hard to tell but it looks like we have gone to a kind of 4-3-3 with Djenepo in midfield with Hojbjerg and Romeu and Ings, Adams and Redmond up front. Whatever the formation is, it doesn’t matter as Ings picks up the ball on the right and switches it quickly (that’s the key word) out to Djenepo on the left. The new man only has one thing in mind and sets off directly towards goal before from 25 yards, curling a fantastic effort into the far top corner giving Ryan absolutely no chance at all. Mental in the away end. Absolutely fucking brilliant goal.
For the next five minutes, the Seven Nation Army refrain is belted out with ‘Whoa Moussa Djenepo’ for everyone apart from the annihilated bloke in front of me who has his own version for Moussa Gazeppo. That’s gonna wear a bit thin by the end. We nearly put the game to bed straight after that as a ball drops to Adams from a corner but his point blank is well blocked. The game passes by without too much more goalmouth action there are more substitutions with Locadia and fucking Glenn Murray coming on from Brighton and Boufal and Armstrong replacing Adams and Ings who have been better in the second half. There is major ‘shit your pants’ moment as a corner is flicked on and Locadia, finds himself free just to the left of the goal. Gunn flies out in a big star-shape and Locadia can only smack it against the outside of the post, showing exactly why Brighton shouldn’t have paid all that money for him.
Djenepo saw another shot blocked from the edge of the box and Redmond drilled an effort just wide and it’s all groans as Armstrong wastes a glorious chance to put the game to bed when he’s played through by Redmond but he managed to hit Ryan as he came out. We do recycle the ball though and eventually it came down to the guy with more ability than anyone else as Boufal lined up Montoya on our left and a quick drop the shoulder gave him half a yard before firing a ball across the goal for Redmond to come in at the back post and knock it into an empty net. Another superbly crafted goal. Give me those 3 points - Get in.
We have a further chance to really rub it in and make it 3-0 right at the end when Boufal goes on a mazy towards the box and arch tosser Lewis Dunk just launches him over. In front of a celebratory away and, JWP completed his very poor match by curling the free-kick miles over the bar and taking out a celebrating fan. No one cared.
Oh what fun it is to see Southampton win away as the song goes. Talking of songs, Moussa Djenepo / Gazeppo is being serenaded and Ralph went through his full celebration repertoire and we left the ground to mingle with lots of Brighton fans who weren’t suddenly as optimistic as they had been on the way in.
First things first – we won so the end justifies the means. It has to be said though that we were absolute shit in the first half and showed a bit of an inability to think on our feet once the sending-off occurred. Post-half time chat, the second half was much better but it took the introduction of the substitutes to give our attack a little bit more spark. Ings and Adams were pretty dreadful in the first half but both are better in the second and Ings in particular had a really good half hour or so before he was substituted, setting up the first goal superbly. We are going to have some fun this season and hopefully Ralph can find a way of getting Djenepo, Boufal and Redmond in the same team. In a 4-2-2-2 it means that one of Adams and Ings can’t start and probably JWP as well.
Djenepo looks like a proper player as he has the pace and flair going forward but he’s also not shy of putting in a defensive shift and Boufal in his cameo showed just how good he can be when he picks the ball up in the right areas and it certainly leaves you wanting more. As usual, the media appears to have gone into hyperbole mode and Moussa is now the new Sadio Mane because he's playing for Southampton, is African and has scored a goal.
Danso was very very solid in defence but obviously playing in the wrong position and I don’t know who Ralph is trying to kid when he says that Danso was going to play there anyway even if Bertrand wasn’t injured. I’m not having that for a second. It did limit our options going forward but maybe today, against what is still a very limited Brighton team, packing the team with tall strong players was the way to go.
As for Brighton, well they are better than they were last season and at least will show a little more attacking intent than they ever did with Hughton. They are still not very good though and they’re opening day win at Watford has been put into context by the fact that Watford have lost every game so far. Having 10 men certainly affected them but they still have very very little upfront and I would predict them certainly being in the bottom six at the end of the season.
Special mention for Kevin Friend who today - was not a twat. He saw the red card tackle and sent him off and basically, wasn't a twat. Yep, Kevin Friend had a day off from being a twat. Well done Kevin.
The win for us means we can come out swinging against Manchester United next week. It’s not like playing Liverpool or Manchester City where you basically have no chance as United have huge weaknesses in their side and of course, lost at home to Palace today. United are still obviously a huge club and if there’s any favourable refereeing decisions to be made to then you know that they will get them but if our players can step up to the mark then there is absolutely no way that Solskjaer will out-manage Ralph, so we should going to that game with some optimism. Bring it on. The season has just started.
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