Carabao Cup 3rd Round - Portsmouth 0 Southampton 4 (FOUR)

Danny Ings, Fratton End, Tuesday

It’s here. Portsmouth versus Southampton at Fratton Park in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round.  It’s just another Carabao Cup tie right? Another game in the “What the fuck is it called this year” Trophy?. No it really isn’t. It’s a Game for great deeds to be done and to write your name into the history books.

For me personally, this game makes me first and foremost think about Steve Moran in the last minute in 1984, a goal which could potentially have got 15-year-old me in a spot of bother. There I was, being very, very quiet on the North Terrace at Fratton Park. Living in and going to school in Waterlooville at the time meant that it was the only way I could get to the game. A very tense and scrappy game and 0-0 in the 90th minute and I thought that this was probably going to be the best result possible for my personal safety but then, as now, you can never trust Saints to do what you want. Worthington to Armstrong to Moran, pandemonium in the away end.  To this day I do not know how I managed to keep quiet until we walked half a mile back to the car on the Eastern Road and were out of the city limits.

There is more personal history in that the first of probably a thousand of games that I have seen took place at Fratton Park in 1976. Saints had just won the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace and travelled down to Fratton for a mid week game which again, we won 1-0 in the last minute through Mick Channon. At that time, I was only seven years old but my dad remembers having to lie about what the Pompey fans were chanting about Channon who was of course, every Saints fans favourite player at that time.

The 1984 Steve Moran game was the last time that we won down there which is ridiculous. The four Fratton games since then have ended in two draws and two defeats. You could argue that in the social media age, it is even more important to win the Derby than it was before. The bollocks that was written after the David Norris equaliser the last time the teams met was quite astonishing but that’s what a Derby is all about when even a late equalising goal, in a season that you end up getting relegated and your rivals end up getting promoted, is worth celebrating for years.

We go there as favourites of course as befits our Premier League status and we should win but we won’t if the players are not aware of the situation and aware of the unique (feral) atmosphere that is awaiting them. By ‘unique’ I mean that taking a throw in will be like a scene from that ‘I am Legend’ film where Will Smith was being attacked by those mutated zombie characters.  On our last few visits to Fratton we have had players that just didn’t fancy it and if we have one or two of those, then we are going to be in trouble.

Pompey are of course crap this season. Things started to fall apart at the tail end of last season and they went to from being Champions elect to promotion certainties to automatic hope falls to play-offs to losing in the play-off semi-final… and it was fucking hilarious.  This season, with the departure of a couple of important players, has been pretty underwhelming for a club which was expected to be challenging for the automatic promotion places again. There is a long way to go of course but they just haven’t done it this season which is why Kenny Jackett, a manager with all the charisma of a spoon, is under severe pressure. He will know though that a win against the old enemy or certainly boost his stock with the Pompey faithful, get battered however and it could go the other way.   It will however be a Pompey team that should play at a much higher level than they have been in the league. We have to get out there, silence the crowd and not give them a sniff. They have absolutely nothing to lose so they are going to go for it unless of course all the players want Jackett out the door and the quickest way to do that will be to get hammered. We can only hope.

As I mentioned earlier, I lived in Waterlooville and this was from the age of eight until I was 23 so this gives me a slightly different perspective having basically spent a lot of time in the blue half of Hampshire.  For me, there are two types of Pompey fan. There are the ones that I know who are long standing mates and all as sound as you like and then there are the ones that I don’t know, the perpetrators of the Portsmyths, the ones who genuinely think Norris’ goal was the winner.  Now, thanks to that ‘Why I Hate The Scummers’ video on social media, there are a category all of their own, who think we stole their food. What? for fucks sake.

So who fancies being the next Steve Moran?

I was delighted when I saw the team sheet because there was no fucking around. A back four with Ryan Bertrand and Cedric on the wings with Yoshida and Bednarek in the middle. The usual midfield three were all present and correct and the only real surprise was upfront with Redmond not being deemed fit enough to start, Boufal being dropped to the bench and Danny Ings and Michael Obafemi starting the game. I have a bit of a downer on Michael because of his tampon tendencies of being in for one week and then out for three. Let’s hope he lasts the game.

Away we go and the usual ‘scummers, scummers, scummers’ comes down from the terraces. The touchline on the dugouts side has a bit of room between the side of the pitch and the rabid mob but the other side is very close.  Cedric is over there for the first half and when he goes to take the first throw-in and predictably it gets thrown down the line.  Fair play to Cedric as he refuses to go and get it.

We haven’t started particularly well and there’s a momentary heart-in-mouth moment on 8 minutes as Marquis runs at the defence and tries a show from fucking miles out which skims along the ground and hits the outside of the post.  A few minutes later and it gets dodgy again as Pompey get some joy out of chucking it in the mixer and it breaks to Pitman to strike and he catches it well but Macca sees it all the way and athletically tips it over the bar.

Pompey are winning a lot of second balls and nicking the ball off us in our and a half.  Another corner comes over and Pitman meets it.  Macca gets down brilliantly to save and it looks for all the world that Marquis must score but Bednarek smuggles it off the line and Macca eventually falls on it.  20 minutes gone and we’ve not been in it really.

Our first real attack sees Obafemi play the ball to Ings and his first time shot is blocked by McGillivray and ends up out with JWP on the left.  He feeds it back into Ings who sends two defenders for a hot dog with a turn and then drills it along the ground and into the far corner from the edge of the box.  Danny Ings, Southampton boy, legend status.  Against the run of play and I fucking love it.  1-0.

Danny Rehearses the Knee-Slide.  He'd need it again later

It’s nearly and probably should have been 2-0 a few minutes later as Adams plays a great ball to Ings and he’s 1v1 but hits the keeper.  The rebound falls to Hojbjerg who beats one defender with the shot but Hawkins has got back to block it and the chance goes.

The goal has seen a change in that Pompey don’t see as up for it as they did beforehand.  They still have a few moments, mainly through ‘get it in the mixer’ football as we fail with three attempts to win a header before the ball drops to the big donkey with the ponytail they’ve got and he shows zero technique in shanking it wide.

JWP is coming more into the game now and drives forward from midfield and shoots all the way along the ground.  McGillivray should hold it but is squirms out to Ings who easily beats the full back and pulls it back to JWP but Adams gets in his way and the chance goes.

Another goal before half time would be nice and Curtis gives the ball away to Adams in midfield who feeds Obafemi on the right who slides a brilliant ball in between two defenders to Ings for him to beat the keeper to it and dink it over him for 2-0 and this time it’s a full shithouse knee slide in front of the Fratton End.  Beautiful stuff.  It’s perfect so far – a relatively early goal and then another right on half time and in addition, a few of the Pompey heads have definitely gone down.

Half-time sees a little walk around the pitch by Pompey Derby legends. I recognise Yakubu I think but I hope they all sit down and watch the second half and see their team get absolutely battered.

The next goal is of course going to be vital and we start well with Adams setting up Romeu for quite possibly the worst shot ever which ends up as a scuffed chip about 20 yards wide.  JWP has a shot block and Pompey threaten briefly with Hanstraup getting down the left wing after we’d given the ball away but the excellent Yoshida blocked the cross.  Curtis is the next to get down the left and there’s a bit of pinball in the box before it falls to Pitman who is now completely fucked as he’s played 55 minutes and he kind of watches as Obafemi takes the ball off him whilst he tries to make up his mind what to do.  He compounds this slow brain manoeuvre by hacking over the Saints forward.

On the hour mark it finally gets a bit feisty as Marquis blatantly leaves a late elbow in Yoshida’s ribs.  It takes a lot to get Maya rattled but that did especially as Kevin Friend did his usual ‘fuck all’ about it.  The next time Marquis got it, Maya went to kill him, missed and Marquis dived out of the way without being touched.  Kevin Friend, who is of course all seeing, managed to book Ryan Bertrand.

The game is ticking by without too much alarm.  On 72 minutes we put the game to bed as Cedric brings it forward to Hojbjerg who feeds Ings on the left who burns the right back again and as he tries to beat the last defender as he cuts in, the ball falls loose in the area and there is goalmouth predator Cedric to toe punt it into the net. What the fuck is he doing there – fucking brilliant, 3-0, fucking have that.

To take the piss we now bring on Redmond for Obafemi (who doesn’t look injured) and Long is on for Freeman of Southampton, Danny Ings.  Shane fancies getting his name on the list and tries a shot from halfway down the Eastern Road which is an easy save for the keeper.

The Best fans in the World ™ are staging a bit of an exodus as the clock ticks round to 87 and it increases as Bednarek plays it forward to Redmond and he kind of flicks it to himself which totally seemed to throw Downing and on went Nathan, cutting onto his right foot before drilling it past the keeper from 20 yards.  Brilliant goal and we want 5!  This is beautiful, fucking beautiful.

We had chances on the break to score 5 because Pompey had given up with tracking back but Redmond was too wrapped up in the game to actually pass to any of his teammates but he can be forgiven. Four will do.  It’s a fucking huge margin and emphasized the gulf.

It was Fucking easy.

I keep hearing that Pompey should be proud of their performance. Fuck off. They got completely battered at home by their biggest rivals by 4-0. They were supposed to be the team that was more up for it and I’m sorry but they just weren’t, as soon as the first goal went in. Once the first goal went in, which was brilliant by Danny Ings, you can see the life draining out of two or three of the Portsmouth players who then had their heads down. Their heads went down – how about that? It was supposed to be us that were intimidated at fortress Fratton and us that couldn’t handle the occasion but it does look like their players just melted as soon as the going got a bit tough. Oh yeah, I’d be dead proud of my team if they done that in a local derby. How the fuck do you let your head go down in a game like that? Go and fucking kick someone and try and change something but don’t let your head go down for fuck’s sake. What a bunch of bottle jobs.

They had all the advantages and levellers they could’ve had with the pissing rain and being at home but they still got absolutely fucking battered and barely raised any sort of effort at all in the second half to get back into the game. I’m also hearing that we should’ve won because we are a Premier League side and they’re League 1. Whilst this is true, did they give a fuck about that set of circumstances when it was reversed in the FA Cup a few years ago…. No!  They beat us 4-1 then, with the team that eventually made them bankrupt. We have won by 4-0 today in a fair fight so fuck off – own it! So what if some of you stayed to the end and clapped after your team had just embarrassed themselves against the fucking scummers of all people.

Bednarek vs Zombies

I must however commend the Portsmouth crowd for the dedication in screaming ‘scummers’ at the Saints players when 4-0 down. It is particularly nice to see kids who are between 5 and 10 years old giving it loads whilst being watched proudly by their parents. Usually you feel sorry for kids who have just watch their team get battered... at home.... by their biggest rivals..... but not today.

The four goal winning margin equals the biggest win in any Derby between the two sides. The last time there was a four goal victory was in 1975 when we smashed them by the same score at the Dell. It is the biggest away win in the history of the South Coast Derby. How do you like all of that?  I guess now will get a deluge of “we’ve got more trophies than you’ - if you count ones that one before fucking war and “we’ve won more Derbies than you” - if you count the ones before the professional era (pre-1920)

It’s always the case that the Premier League team has difficulty opening few minutes and that was the case today and we didn’t play particularly well in that time but we still have to be grateful for a couple of good saves from McCarthy.  Of course all of the next bit has to be taken with a pinch of salt because of the opposition that we played but for me, Alex McCarthy again proved that he is Saints best goalkeeper. He looks a lot less likely to make a mistake then Angus Gunn and I for one would be more than happy to be back in the Premier League starting 11. There was also an impressive game from Maya Yoshida. We still had a few weaknesses in the air when Pompey were lumping balls into a box in the first half but we are like this is in the air even when we’ve got the 6 foot 6 bloke playing.  We had a proper left back today and he was beautiful.

Danny Ings proved again that he is our best striker and he now assumes legendary status after two goals and an assist at Fratton. The other Southampton boy in the line-up, JWP (yes I know he’s from Portsmouth) produced one of his best games for a long time and though Michael Obafemi was a bit of a mixed bag, the assist for the second goal was brilliant as was the shit-housing of the Fratton End. Che Adams again struggled and I think it’s maybe time to give him a little break to see if taking the pressure off for a bit will help him to come good. Cedric had a funny game. I thought he was a little bit rattled in the first 20 minutes with the proximity of the zombies on his side of the pitch but he certainly sorted himself out in the second half. I have no idea what he was doing there to ram in the third goal but fair play to him. Nathan Redmond again showed what he can do when one-on-one with and opponent but he did butcher a couple of chances to make it five, simply by holding onto the ball for too long rather than release a better option.

Ultimately, tonight‘s game was one that just had to be won and we did that emphatically. It wasn’t particularly tough and it wasn’t close as I thought it was going to be before the game. I reckoned without Pompey being as shite and as gutless as they were. Just 20 minutes of fight? In a South Coast Derby? You would maybe think not… because of the relative quality of the opposition…. but this will give the players, the manager and the club as a whole a boost which will not do us any harm at all in the following weeks when we do have a run of decent opponents to play against.  Again, despite the opposition, I feel that this game will be quite significant point in the season.  We played a formation that suited our players and it was round pegs in round holes. This is more like I expected us to look like after a pre-season with Ralph. We didn’t look disjointed at any point last night and actually looked like something resembling a coherent well oiled machine.  There was still dodgy moments in defence but let’s face it, we are always going to have those regardless of who we are playing against.

As for Pompey, I genuinely thought they would be challenging for promotion this year. I don’t know much about League 1 currently so all I can do is compare it to the standard that it was when we got promoted out of it. Basically, they are nowhere near the side that we were back then so I really don’t think there’s much chance on that score. There may be a chance of they didn’t have the manager who has the charisma of a spoon but let’s hope Kenny Jackett stays for a long long time to carry on the good work. I didn’t think much of many of their players individually. Marquis put himself about and at least showed some desire to rattle the Saints players. I expected Curtis to be a lot better than he was being a Republic of Ireland international and all that but he just chose the wrong option every time and then after he fucked up he just looked for someone else to blame. I thought I’ve got rid of all my pub analogies when Charlie Austin left but I can certainly bring them out again for Brett Pitman who did in fact look like a bloke who was 8 pints into his evening, weaving through a crowd of people trying to get to the kebab shop. Overall, you would have to say that the gulf between them and us is as big as it has been since the late 70s when they were in Division 4. 

Pompey fans of did themselves proud again.  They somehow try and claim some level of superiority because most of them stayed to the end and sang their 8 syllables and they try and twist Ralph's post -match words to make it sound like he was in love with them or somesuch bollocks.... but at the end of the day, one Pompey fan punched a fucking police horse. “That ‘orse was a facking scumma mate!!!”. The horse punching incident is the one that made the national news the next day so no matter how much you try and talk up your support, all anyone outside of the region will remember this game for regarding your fans is punching a fucking horse (and then of course getting the shoeing off the coppers that he deserved).

Next up we have Tottenham away in a stadium which is almost as nice as Fratton Park. They are not in the best of form at the moment and Mauricio Pochettino has the air of a man who doesn’t really want to be there anymore. Hopefully their Carabao cup experience of getting beaten at Colchester on penalties, will have some sort of negative effect on them and we can leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a positive result. Right now though, I don’t care. All I care about is that we went to Fratton Park and absolutely fucking battered them.

Whatever happens for the rest of the season, we will always have that.

Premier League Match 6 - Southampton 1 Bournemouth 3

Callum Wilson Working Really Hard for his Goal.

When is the draw against Portsmouth happened and the date was announced, a few people noticed that we were playing two South Coast sides in a row but not many did. No one with any Southampton affiliation really cared. The Bournemouth game is a home game in the Premier League and that’s it. It’s a home game against a team that we should certainly be looking to beat and that will be the disappointment if we don’t win. There won’t be any extra hurt if we lose to Bournemouth except for the fact that there are elements of their support that are trying to stoke this up as being some big rivalry, who are tinpot and annoying. Personally, I work in Poole and quite regularly pop into Bournemouth at lunchtime. I have seen Saints shirts around town and they have never been on a person who is running up from a baying mob of psychopaths. You see where I’m going with this? You do not create a rivalry just by being tinpot and annoying. It’s in the blood or it’s not there.

Both Saints and Bournemouth have had the same start of the season with two wins, a draw and two defeats. Due to this game being played at sky o’clock on a Friday night, a winner tonight would find themselves in the Champions League places overnight which will be a bit of a laugh. Eddie Howe, a manager who I mostly admire, is still at Bournemouth and still doing a good job. I do wonder occasionally when the bubble is going to burst down there and I am always a bit surprised by the eye watering transfer fees they seem to pay for players out of the Championship. I do feel that deep down there may be a bit of a comparison with Portsmouth in that they have had years of Premier League money without building a new ground to replace the very small one that they playing in and I do wonder if it all might go to shit very quickly should they get relegated. They shouldn’t get relegated of course but they, like ourselves are one of the 12 or clubs who can’t rule it out. Last year down here was a very entertaining game which ended in a 3-3 draw. It was entertaining because both defences were absolutely shit. Dan Gosling spent most of that game goading the crowd but as I haven’t seen his name on the team sheet recently, I’m guessing that he is injured.

The news coming out of Ralph's press conference was mixed in that it looks like Moussa Djenepo will be missing but Nathan Redmond could be back. If he is 100% fit then fine but if not, I hope we save him for the bigger game that we have on Tuesday night.

I expected there to be a traffic jam coming from Bournemouth towards Southampton at 5:30 but there wasn’t one, just like there won’t be an increased police presence around the ground tonight or any sort of special atmosphere. Was there any discussion about whether there should be a game where supporters traveled in a bubble with fans bussed in to a sterile area? I very much doubt it.

What the actual fuck?  He’s at it again – no left back on the team sheet so I can only assume that Danso is going to come back in at left back.  Good news is that Redders is back and will aid the attacking threat alongside Boufal and Adams.  Bournemouth have a couple of new players in Philip Billing who is a massive unit in midfield and Harry Wilson on loan from Liverpool.  One of their big money flops, Dominic Solanke is up front with the usual Josh King and Callum Wilson.

As if the horror of the team selection isn’t enough, we’re on Sky tonight so St Mary’s becomes a shit nightclub for five minutes with pyro and flashing lights and music turned up to distortion levels.  It’s really, really shit.

Saints have the majority of possession at the start but aren’t doing anything with it much.  Bournemouth’s first attack comes down our left and Cedric makes a horrific decision to press the player with the ball and leaves a huge space behind which the ball gets passed into.  We scramble it away for a corner and over it comes and you can tell when the ball has traveled about 5 yards that it’s ending up in the net.  It’s a ball just in front of our big guys who are all zonally marking the the 6 yard line and allows their big guys to attack it, one of whom, Ake, meets it unchallenged about 8 yards out. 1-0, garbage.

This makes you look around to see how hopeless we are.  Danso is like a fish up a tree at right back and Cedric is understandably cutting in all the time and we’re funneling into the areas where Bournemouth have Billing and Lerma mopping up everything.  Vestergaard looks even more clumsy than usual – especially when Angus Gunn gives him a short goal kick when Callum Wilson is right next to him.  We just about got away with that one.  Oh look it’s got worse as Solanke feeds King who strides on and scores comfortably.  2-0… or is it.  VAR time and of course as we know by now, in the ground we’re playing a game of trying to interpret the length of time it takes as that’s all we’ve got.  Offside and goal not given.  Lucky.

Ralph uses the let off to change the shape with Danso slotting in between Vestergaard and Bednarek and JWP being dragged to right wing back.  It’s slightly better but not much and having had a rehearsal at going 2-0 down, we do it properly and it’s one of those where the opposition go pass, pass, pass for 5 minutes with us not engaging with any player and King pulls it back, there is Harry Wilson who has come off the right wing, and arrived on the opposite side totally unmarked to sweep it into the net.  Vestergaard has tried to get to him at the last minute but too slow.

Hojbjerg at least forces Ramsdale into a save at close range and Redmond does likewise after Romeu (who had been magnificent so far) binned Wilson and set him up.  Half time and 2-0 down.  Boos ring around the ground and the irritating twats up the other end are loving it.

Half time and miracle of miracles, Ryan Bertrand is on to replace Danso and we have a team ready to kick off with all the players standing in the right positions and we look like a proper team all of a sudden – and that’s even before it kicks off.  Sure enough, for the opening 15 minutes we batter them with Boufal prominent a couple of times in a move which ended with Cedric putting over a good cross with his good foot from the correct side and JWP side footing over the bar.  Really should have scored that.

He has a chance to make amends as Hojbjerg puts Adams away on the left and he barrels into the penalty area and Steve Cook clumsily wipes him out.  The ref has given it but we go to VAR again and it’s confirmed.  JWP is on the pens and no messing, Ramsdale goes the wrong way, 2-1.

We’re in Stockley Park again a few minutes later as King goes over under a similarly clumsy challenge by Cedric and the VAR Official, Mr S.Wonder says that it isn’t a penalty.  I’m sorry but bollocks.  That was a clear foul and I’m sat 80 yards away.  Maybe we’re going to spawn something from this game after all.

Despite proving he can hit a dead ball, JWP is still struiggling with a moving one and after a Redmond burst on the right and a clever back heel from Adams, JWP sidefoots it over the fucking bar again.  Boufal is running the show now and is having his unplayable 20 minutes.  His left foot blast is saved by Ramsdale in true “one for the cameras” style and we recycle the ball to JWP who you’d think by now would be bored with hoofing it over the bar but not yet and over it goes.

Ings on for Adams and it makes a difference as the new man tees up Redders whose shot is blocked for a corner.  Ings next gets to the line and pulls it back to JWP who is too close to whack it into orbit but scuffs it at Ramsdale who saves it, drops it and re-gathers.

We’re getting a bit desperate now with time running out and we’ve thrown the Oil Tanker up front.  He causes chaos without touching the ball and Ings effort is blocked this time by Ake.  Boufal sees another effort saved as the clock ticks to 90 and it isn’t happening – big ball forward, Bednarek finds himself confronted by Gunn who for reasons only known to him, is ten yards outside his area, they both leave it and Callum Wilson walks it into the net so we now have a third entrant into the ‘Shittest Goal From Our Point of View” Competition.

It's a game that we lost because we gave away two shit goals in the first half and though we huffed and puffed and were better in the second, we book-ended it with giving away another chronically shit goal in the last minute.

Ralph had a fucking mare today. Danso has played a couple of times at left back and we’ve got away with it so hey, why not take it one step further and put him at right back, Cedric on the left and have both full backs out of position. Fucking joke. Both players were dreadful in that first half and most of it is not their fault. Playing players out of position is a surefire way of getting a disjointed performance though. By picking those two players and playing them where he played them Ralph managed to totally bugger our attack and our defence.

Whilst we’re on the subject of players out of position I’d like to know where Vestergaard and JWP play normally because they were fucking useless today. Oh – you mean they always play there.  Jesus.  Oh and the short goal kick thing…. for fuck‘s sake, passing the ball to Vestergaard when he is in close proximity of a striker is absolutely never ever going to be a good thing to do.

There may be some good comes out of the shambles of our own making because the difference when Ryan Bertrand was on the pitch, giving us a natural on the left hand side, was immense. Also, it was I think the first appearance of 4-2-3-1 this season which is a formation that suits the players…. Or was it 4-3-3… either way it was better as we looked like something resembling a coherent unit.

It was a strange game because the players were either very good or absolutely shocking and the shocking performances dragged us down. Boufal, Romeu, Bednarek and Redmond did not deserve to be on the losing side but when you have players playing as badly as Danso, JWP and Vestergaard and Hojbjerg basically giving the ball to Bournemouth every time he got it, you’re not going to win many games in the Premier League.

Didn’t Bournemouth have to work hard for their goals? For fuck‘s sake. Free header from a corner, free shot totally unmarked in the middle of the penalty area and goalkeeper and centre back running into each other on the edge of the box. Here you go lads, have three goals. Bournemouth weren’t even that good – they just waited for us to fuck up and then scored the simple goals that they were presented with.  Fair play to them, they won and deserved to as you can only beat what’s in front of you and what was in front of them was shite.

Another thing was that was worrying apart from the gifts, was that despite Boufal’s brilliance and Bournemouth‘s determination to keep trying to play out from the back when they weren’t good enough to do so, we still only scored once which was from a penalty. Sure the keeper made a few saves but most of those were pretty routine. JWP was driving me fucking mental. Before every game we see a warm-up where the players are practising shooting from the edge of the box but put JWP in a game situation and every shot he has from that distance flies over the fucking bar. Che Adams again, worked really hard but never looked like scoring.

This actually won’t do it any harm for the game against the Skates on Tuesday. Ralph know that having lost today, he is going to have to go all out to win on Tuesday and that means picking as close to his best side as possible. I don’t mind if Ings start ahead of Adams, Yoshida ahead of Vestergaard or McCarthy ahead of Gunn but I don’t want to see Shane Long or Jack Stephens anywhere near it. Me, I’d go with the same formation we finished with  - McCarthy, Cedric, Bertrand, Bednarek, Yoshida, Romeu, Hojbjerg, JWP, Redmond, Boufal, Ings

Spotlight on Ralph. When I looked at the Saints Twitter feed on Friday night, it was of course many references to the full back fiasco but one of the best ones in my view was one about Ralph thinking his philosophy is infallible and that it doesn’t matter which players playing which position as long as they adhere to his philosophy. It certainly does seem to go some way to explain why we have had this problem, primarily in the full-back positions this season. I doubt they would’ve been many Saints fans all journalists the cover the club that would not have been happy with Bertrand and Valery as the two full backs. There has obviously been some issue with Bertrand after he did have and admittedly poor game against Liverpool but is it really worth throwing other players under the bus. Danso in particular has been shafted and to a lesser extent, so have Cedric and Djenepo.  The farce at left back has really exposed Vestergaard as well to the point that soon Ralph’s going to have to make a decision about him. I really want to like the guy but he is too big at 6 foot 6 to get off the ground so any striker who can jump beats him in the air and of course he is incredibly slow and has the turning circle of an oil tanker.

To be honest, overall I have been a bit disappointed with the way that Saints have played this season. We’ve picked up some decent results but I wasn’t expecting us to be this disjointed. I expect this to be more of a finely tuned machine after a full pre-season under Ralph but that just hasn’t been the case. We look most disjointed whenever we try and play Ralphs preferred 4-2-2-2 formation. We might have the players to play but it certainly doesn’t work when you have makeshift full-backs and it certainly doesn’t suit two of Ralphs seemingly preferred starters in Vestergaard and JWP. The “George Burley when he’s been drinking” team selections need to stop or we will be ruthlessly exposed by the tough run of league games that we have coming up.

Before that though, all eyes on Tuesday when Ralph, with a win will be forgiven for anything that has happened so far. On the other hand… Let’s not think about that.

When I was leaving the ground, the way I felt kind of completely confirmed what I said at the start about the non-Derby status of this game. Sure I was feeling pissed off but I was feeling pissed off because we basically gave the game away to them and didn’t make them work hard for their victory. We lost because of a combination of poor managerial decisions and basic errors by the players. Honestly would’ve felt the same if we lost in that manner to any team outside of the big six.  Enjoy your moment Bournemouth.

Premier League Match 5 - Sheffield United 0 Southampton 1

And again.....

After Manchester United, came the international break but before that came the closing of the European transfer window. In the hope that other European Leagues would follow suit, the Premier League decided to end its transfer window before the season started which is actually very very sensible. However, unsurprisingly, we are out of step with the rest of Europe and all the other leagues just kept exactly where it was on the 1st of September because in their eyes, if the English clubs are prepared to give themselves a disadvantage, why should we stop them. It’s a bit like art imitating life really isn’t it?

Anyhow, what it meant was that Saints didn’t have to panic about getting rid of some of the deadwood as we had an extra month to do this with the added bonus that the players leaving would not be playing against us next season. Hence, Fraser Forster departed on loan to Celtic, Mohammed Elyounoussi surprisingly did the same, Wesley Hoedt went to Antwerp and Mario Lemina went to Galatasaray. #TonicLikeWarmPiss

I’ve always had a very dim view of the loan system and thought it was fundamentally wrong for a number of reasons but we are really using it to our advantage this season. Not in the same way that Chelsea do, which is to stockpile players to not let anyone else have them with no intention of them ever playing for the first team. In our case, we have loaned out a lot of players because they are either promising youngsters who need experience like Tom O’Connor or because they are overpaid overrated shit that we have bought without a receipt and cannot return them as not fit for purpose.

Firmly in the latter category are Hoedt, Lemina, Carrillo and Elyounoussi, none of whom have proved for a period of longer than a couple of matches that they are in anyway fit for purpose for a Premier League team.

Lemina has moved to Galatasaray on loan for the season and the more I think about this, the more I think it suits him down to the ground. For one they are the best team in an average league so they’re going to be on top of most games so there’s not gonna be the famous Mario disappearing act when things get a little bit difficult. It will be interesting to see how he goes in a few big games they have out there against Fenerbache and Besiktas.

Galatasaray are all about their mental fans and the atmosphere they create and the authorities over there obviously have no problem with their pyromaniacs virtually burning down the stadium every match. In short, it all looks very flash which will suit Mario down to the ground. Oh Fart no shit. The Instagram posts about the atmosphere and how brilliant it is have started and now he’s likening himself to a Lion and all that shit, like a poundshop Zlatan .... but I would still back him to fuck it up. You have to remember, this is a guy who is never really strung together more than a few games of first-team football in his entire career and the trouble with mental fans who create a great atmosphere is that they can turn pretty bloody quickly.

Galatasaray Pyromaniacs Set Lemina on Fire When They Realise He's a Fucking Waster.

Saints other great recent mistakes, Guido Carrillo and Mohamed Elyounoussi have been packed off on loan to Leganes, still managed by Mauricio Pellegrino, who are the only team that would be remotely interested in the striker and to Celtic, who were absolutely desperate for any sort of player it would seem. Good luck to them both. It will be interesting to see if a lack of pace, crossing ability, finishing, workrate or skill is an impediment for doing well playing for Celtic in the Scottish league.

The upcoming Pompey game is of course big news and both clubs and the police in their wisdom have decided not to make it a bubble game which is good in that it gives people a choice but as the previous bubble game was the only game ever at Fratton Park between these two teams that didn’t have any trouble, I am very very surprised by this decision. If you are expecting it to be absolutely horrendous down there then it won’t be as bad as you are thinking it is going to be but likewise, if you don’t think there’s going to be any problem and it’s just gonna be like any other away game then you are in for a bit of a rude awakening. Set your expectations accordingly. The tickets have been allocated in the usual way in that you have to have a season ticket and you have to have in the first instance, 10 away games from the start of last season. It is the way it has always generally been done so why is anyone surprised by this and why is anyone complaining?

England came to town and played at St Mary‘s for the first time since 2002 with a home game against Kosovo. Kosovo were supposed to be the minnows of the group and so this was a game that was scheduled away from Wembley but as it turns out the rest of the group is abysmally shit and Kosovo are actually the closest team to England in the group.  The game itself was like watching and under 11‘s game with a goal every few minutes, ending up as it did 5-3 to England. England are a strange side right now. The forward line is as good as anybody’s is with Kane, Stirling and Sancho but the midfield three, the back four and the goalkeeper all have massive room for improvement.  It’s better than it used to be but you still have this ridiculous scenario where it matters more who you play for rather than how you play or what you’ve actually done. James Maddison being both behind Ross Barkley it was never really done anything since he was a promising youngster and Mason Mount who has played a whole four games to Chelsea, really sucks. The irony is that Leicester will probably finish above Chelsea this year.

The England game was an opportunity for a certain celebrity Portsmouth fan to get himself some column inches. As you are no doubt aware, John Westwood turned up in his Pompey gear and was not allowed in. He then made a big play of the fact that he was a victim. It’s amazing how many news outlets just bought this without questioning why you’d wear club colours to an England game especially when said England game was going to be played in a place where wearing those club colours would be inflammatory? Would you get any Saints fans turning up in Saints gear to a representative game at Fratton Park? I really don’t think so and would it make the news if they weren’t a ‘famous’ fan?  Of course it wouldn’t and everyone knows this so why do the media lap it up, especially that arch arsehole Neil Allen of the Portsmouth News. No one seem to want to mention the fact that he pissed all over the seats the last time he was in St Mary’s as well – that’s Westwood, not Neil Allen.

The stewards allegedly said that they couldn’t guarantee his safety, to which Westwood said that he could look after himself. Westwood doesn’t care if he gets a slap off someone because he would be so drunk that he wouldn’t feel it anyway and he certainly doesn’t care about any people in the vicinity of him who might get caught up in any incident. You can tell that from the fact that he doesn’t care about others when ringing his fucking bell at every game which I have on good authority, pisses off the vast majority of Portsmouth fans who are unfortunate enough to be sat anywhere near him. I’m told that one of the things the Pompey fans hope for when they go to away games is that the game starts and with 20 minutes gone when he finally turns up, they find that he is sat nowhere near them.

Today’s opponents are Sheffield United, a newly promoted club with a few Saints connections. Chris Wilder the manager was, back in the midst of time, a Saints apprentice and they also having their ranks, Billy Sharp and David McGoldrick. Billy Sharp was a January signing in our season in the Championship when we got promoted to the Premier League and he chipped in with about 10 goals to take some of the pressure off of Sir Rickie and get us to the Premier league. He was somewhat unfortunate to get bombed out by Nigel Adkins before he really had a chance to show that he could handle the step up. His return to his home town Blades has seen him turn into a hero there, once more firing a team in to the Premier League but he once again has found him self mainly on the bench this season. Unbelievably, one of the players keeping him out of the side is David McGoldrick who was always fucking shit. He did have the misfortune of being the striker used in the infamous Poortvliet and Wotte season. Similarly with Bradley Wright-Phillips, I remember never being remotely confident when he got through one-on-one against the goalkeeper and he took some of the most embarrassing penalty kicks I have ever seen that barely reached the goal before the goalkeeper just picked them up. He has had a career knocking around League One and the Championship but he has somehow found himself as a Premier League footballer. Hopefully none of that will bite me in the arse later on today. I think the point would be decent today but it is an opportunity for a second away win in a row.

Once again Ralph named a team that has us scratching our heads. If it’s the preferred 4-2-2-2 then Yoshida is playing at left back. He has come in to replace the suspended Danso and Djenepo is in the side instead of Danny Ings. There is still no place for Ryan Bertrand who is on the bench but as the game kicks off we line up with five at the back with Moussa as the left wingback and Cedric on the right. Brave selection.

It’s an even start to the game with both sides finding each other out. Sheffield United are a far cry from the Brian Deane and Vinny Jones tough bastard side they used to have but I have a few lads who are not shrinking violets. Basham is the first one to show as he takes three attempts before finally bringing Boufal down and then moaning about it to the referee. The free-kick is swung in by JWP and headed clear, back in by Romeu and headed clear badly to Adams on the edge of the box and he absolutely drills it first time skimming across the turf and crashing into the right-hand post and away with the goalkeeper nowhere. I think Che is destined not to score ever. Straight from that chance, the Blades break up the left hand side and a ball is played in between Yoshida and Vestergaard but no worries, it’s McGoldrick who is clean through. Go on Dave, show us how shit you are and sure enough, straight of the goalkeeper. Absolute wank.

The next chance gave Che Adams another chance to prove that he is probably never going to score as JWP put in one of this brilliant crosses the curls in from the right behind the centre backs and Adams rises to meet it superbly, pounds the header down and into the turf and Henderson flings himself to his right and somehow keeps out. For fuck‘s sake.

Che is Never Going to Score

Ralph has made a lot out of emphasising that the likes of Boufal and Djenepo need to do more defensive work so Boufal finds himself in the right back slot and carts someone over. The free-kick comes over and it’s behind the defence and in steams Sheffield United player at the back post but no worries, it’s McGoldrick and the ball ends up in the crowd. He was offside anyway but it’s still shit.

We have one final decent chance before half-time as Djenepo picks up the ball on the right hand side and gets his head up well and square is it to Boufal coming in from the left but he doesn’t get enough on the shot and dribbles it straight at Henderson who is really not going to be beaten by that. Ralph makes a tactical change just before half-time with Cedric going to left-wing back and JWP to the right because the left-hand channel containing the attacking Djenepo and the oil tanker that is Vestergaard is getting absolutely pillaged. Still, we get to half-time at 0-0.

The first incident that of the second half is another oil tanker moment from Vestergaard as Baldock megs him on the right and Jannik just trashes into him. Yellow card and a freekick. Norwood again bends it in behind our line of defenders and the ridiculously expensive McBurnie bundled in at the back post. It looked offside in the middle at first view and sure enough, VAR helped Lee Mason to get to the right decision.  No argument.

Boufal suddenly started looking unplayable up front and the Blades defence can’t get near him he weaves his way past three defenders out on the edge of the box before making a bit of a bollocks of the shot and put in it well over the bar. We are building a bit of pressure now and win a corner which is delivered and Vestergaard’s header is saved easily by Henderson. Sheffield United try to play out but get caught and it’s Boufal who ball back and get it to Djenepo. He goes past Norwood who has hold of his arm but Lee Mason, to his credit, allows it to go on and Moussa shrugs off Norwood then sends the two centre backs for hotdogs and rolls it past Henderson from the edge of the box. It’s a brilliant goal which is going to guarantee every pundit selling him to top six club by the end of the evening.

The Blades efforts to get back into the game are led by Fleck who does seem to be a very good player, even though he is related that Robert Fleck twat who used to play for Norwich. Fleck has a go from the edge of the box and it goes just wide. Substitution time and Danny Ings is on for Moussa Djenepo who leaves to heroes reception but it’s the defenders you have to step up to the plate now with Bednarek blocking another shot from Fleck and McGoldrick once again living up to my expectations by missing from close range with Gunn blocking again.

Billy Sharp is on as a late sub but then Billy Sharp is off again as he closes down Armstrong (on for the clearly knackered Boufal) and whacks him just below the knee. It’s not as bad as the Andone one at Brighton but it’s pretty ropey and even though Billy complained a lot as he left the pitch, he really can have no complaints that are valid. From then on it was just a case of making sure we concentrated. Shane Long came on for the ridiculously unlucky Che Adams and 93, 94, yassssss!

Another away win. I could get used to this. Bramall Lane will be a tough place to come from many teams this season so to get out of here with 3 points really is a decent result. We dug in when we had to, rode our luck at times a little bit but we looked a threat going forwards at all times. It’s a huge change from last season.

First off I’m going to mention a player who I am not a huge fan of. In the past I have taken issue mainly with his defending but also with his taste in very tight shirts but today, Cedric Soares was brilliant. He played really well on both the right and the left hand side and the fact that he could switch with minimum disruption to left back meant that Ralph had a tactical flexibility to push Moussa Djenepo further forward from where he scored the winning goal. Switching Cedric to the left also plugged the horrendous chasm on that side where the Vestergaard and Djenepo’s defensive effort was about as alarming as it could possibly be. The Central midfield pairing was also magnificent today with Romeu and Hojbjerg both reading the game very intelligently and winning the tackles that they had to win. The amount of times that Romeu in particular was just in the right place. He doesn’t always get it right but today he was absolutely perfect in that role. Che Adams is going to score goals but he of course needs the first one to hit the net and he couldn’t get much more unlucky today than with the shot that pinged off the post and the excellent save by Henderson to keep his header out. In both of those incidents, Adams did exactly the right thing so it’ll come and I am of course joking about him never scoring. 

The flair in the side is of course provided by Djenepo (when he’s not left back) and Sofiane Boufal. Both of them are at times going to frustrate when they allow themselves to get crowded out and they run into trouble but on the flipside they can pick up the ball in zero space and do something amazing to get themselves free, never better illustrated than with the goal. Boufal had a 15 minute spell in the second half where he was absolutely unplayable and it’s great to have him back and playing like this.  Everyone was unsure about his play without the ball – well today he won the ball back by pressing a midfielder and that led directly to the goal.  Good man.

Ralph justified the selection of Djenepo at left back by saying that we want to get on the front foot but also acknowledged that he had to change something when Sheffield United started to get in behind on that side. It wouldn’t have been so bad but as left-sided centre back, Vestergaard is so slow so if the left back gets caught up field, there are huge spaces which he just can’t fill… not quickly anyway. I can see a time in the not too distant future with Danso playing that left-sided channel and Vestergaard is moved into the centre.

Sheffield United try to play football in an entertaining way and commit players forward to try and score goals. Sometimes though it doesn’t matter how good your tactics are when you are trying to implement them with players that are simply not good enough. McBurnie is a Championship player at best and McGoldrick isn’t even that. It was such a relief that all the chances fell to McGoldrick and he lived up to expectation and missed the lot. How the hell Billy Sharp is not in the team ahead of McGoldrick is totally beyond me. Talking of Billy, Of course he won’t remember his first game against Southampton since he left particularly fondly. I thought the red card was a bit harsh on first viewing but when you see it again you can see why Lee Mason sent him off. To be fair, Chris Wilder said he had no in issue with it.

Billy In Better Times

There’s not much point in talking about league tables at this time of the season but we have shot up to 10th and our next game is Bournemouth at home and we should be aiming for three points in that one. Following that we have the game against the Skates. Some people are saying it’s two local derbies in a row. Fuck off is it.

Premier League Match 4 - Southampton 1 Manchester United 1

Vestergaard is Not Messing About

Before the Man United stuff…

I heard the news today oh boy....

Carabao Cup third round draw, Number 20 Portsmouth will play number 17 Southampton. Fucking hell.... what a draw that is. There are several ways of looking at it. One is of course that we are a Premier League side and they are League 1 and we have a chance to go down there and put a few things right. There’s the two 4-1 defeats and there is a chance to make up for the last time we met which included David Norris’s last minute goal that he would never score again if he tried it 100 times. It will be a huge game and I bet there was a collective ‘fucks sake’ from the Hampshire police when that draw came out.

There’s also the fact that we have everything to lose of course. If we win then it is expected but if we lose then it’s fucking humiliating. All of the potential outcomes and the emotion around the fixture is what football is all about and the atmosphere at the game will be something else.  Win and the feel good factor goes through the roof, lose and everyone gets angry and it’s tough to turn that around.  Can’t fucking wait.  Having lived in that neck of the woods from age 8 to 23, I have a lot of Pompey mates so it’s a nightmare for me…. unless we win of course.. and if that happens then I will be a dick about it.

The last time we played them was in the Championship and we should have won both games, leading both late on in, ut I true Southampton fashion we managed to draw them both. Even though we got promoted at the end of the season and they got relegated, there are many of a blue persuasion who think they had the better of things that season simply because they scored a last-minute equaliser. Strange lot.

If we play well and all the players are up for it and not intimidated by the atmosphere, then we should win of course. It never works out as simply as that though so I can see it being a really tight game and one goal either way will win it. Anyone who thinks we’re going to go down there and win 3-0 or 4-0 is sadly mistaken.

Tasty

Believe it or not, we actually have some games before the trip down the M27, starting with a small matter of Manchester United at home today. United fans are going through the same thing but Liverpool fans went through at the end of the 80s which is watching a decline and having to get used to not being the best team in the country anymore. One could argue that Liverpool fans have never really accepted that they were ever not the best team in the country.

The Manchester United story of the last few years has been interesting, not least because a couple of years back, José Mourinho, one of the most successful managers ever in terms of winning trophies, said that coming second with the Manchester United squad that he had, ranked alongside his biggest ever achievements. At the time I put this down to Jose just throwing out a soundbite but what he said has proved to be 100% true. To be fair to the current manager, Ole Gunnar Solkjaer, he has at least made steps to try and rectify this with binning off some of the players who were clearly not of the required standard for a club that expects to be winning honours at European level. Hence, Lukaku, Sanchez and Smalling have all gone and the new signings of Wan-Bissaka and Maguire look decent. Daniel James joined for a relatively paltry £15million from Swansea and looks extremely promising and considerably better and some of the shit they still have remaining in the squad like Jesse Lingard. Whether this is down to Solskjaer making tough decisions or the money men at the top, or indeed the Ghost of Sir Alex, is open to debate but regardless of whether things are slowly progressing in the right direction or not, it’s hard to believe that Solskjaer should be in charge of a club of this magnitude.

So because it’s Manchester United, of course it is on TV and we have been given the stupid kickoff time of 12:30. My dad was completely unaware of this until he got my 11 o’clock “where the fuck are you” phone call. So, we eventually arrived at the ground after I had dropped him off and I’d had to run across the Itchen Bridge, at 12:31. Having missed the Liverpool game due to being on holiday, it was my first home game of the season and it has some how reassuring that some things don’t change when about 30 seconds after sitting down, I first heard Manbaby that sits behind me whining “I could see that from here ref“ because of course, Manbaby has superman style vision where he can tell if something is offside or not when it is 80 yards away.  Other things that don't change - The Northam are singing about a team two leagues below us when we're playing Man United

Once again it was a all a bit George Burley with no recognised left back – Danso being shoved there again.  On the other side there was a recall for Tight-shirted Boyband Wannabe Cedric and Sofiane Boufal came in on the left to replace the injured Redmond.  Other that that the team was as it was against Brighton.  Talking of left backs, Luke Shaw’s body has creaked again under the weight so he’s out again and Ashley Young is in the side.  Carlton Pogba is in midfield along with McTominay and an injury to Martial means that Mata comes into the side to play behind Rashford.  The referee today is Mike ‘All About Me’ Dean.

Whilst I was hoping for JWP at right back and Cedric on the left – it was the 4-2-2-2 formation which we have never looked comfortable with but we start well with Adams linking well with Boufal and he got a shot away which skidded just wide.  United don’t look that great but then what do you know, they build down their right and the ball is switch out to James on the left.  With Mata running on his outside totally untracked, Cedric has a decision to make and gets it wrong as he follows Mata’s run and by the time anyone wakes up, James is in the panlty area with no one closing him down and he rips a rising drive into the net.  Garbage.  JWP was fucking nowhere and Cedric made a horrific defensive decision.  10 fucking minutes was all it took for him to at least be partly to blame for a goal.

They’re really not very good but we’re not either – working hard but not doing much creatively.  It strikes me that we work so hard at winning the ball back high and probably practice that all the time but when we’ve got the ball we look ponderous.  JWP is playing against Ashley Young but he’s never going to run at him and Boufal has a few darts at Wan-Bissaka but he’s really good defensively.  He’s not usually great going forward but he gets in the box to meet a McTominay cross but volleys well over.

Ladies and Gentlemen – Welcome to the Mike Dean Show.  Danso is doing his best to get forward but gets caught out of position a bit when an attack breaks down and pulls back Perreira and gets a yellow card.  No issue with Mike on that one.  Literally five minutes later, McTominay pulls back Cedric on the right, free-kick and no card.  You couldn’t make it up really but Mike Dean does, every fucking time. I bet Dean hates VAR with a passion as it’s taken away a lot of his licence to be a complete prick on goal incidents.  He’s now reduced to being a prick on yellow cards and other less significant areas.

The first half comes to a close with James letting fly again and Gunn parrying the ball away with a strong hand.  Half time and it hasn’t been great.  Still to be convinced by this formation.  Cedric and JWP have crap, Romeu and Hojbjerg have been outnumbered in the middle and Ings and Adams have not linked up at all.  Hmmm.  It’s frustrating because United are shite.  Rashford has done nothing and Pogba is being Pogba.

Boufal tries to light the fuse at the start of the second half, swapping passes with JWP before teeing up Adams but he looks like a man low on confidence as he lashes at the ball and skews it wide.  He really has to get that on target.

Just before the hour, Boufal’s next dart wins a corner on the left.  Over it comes from JWP and Ings meets well and flicks goalwards only for de Gea to push it away.  Danso picks it up on the far side and tosses it back in and there’s the massive fucker with the headband to get above Lindelof and plant a header into the net.  At last, Jannik Vestergaard has scored and he’s off to the corner, jumping higher than he ever manages during a game.  It’s amazing what adrenaline can do.  Well played big man.

We now look the better side – Long is on for Adams and he and Ings immediately link up and we’re looking good and United are still average… and then Kevin Danso takes my brief moment of optimism and kicks it in the bollocks.  Actually, he takes out McTominay somewhere near bollocks level and it’s the easiest red card Mike Dean will ever give.  Fuck it.

Pierre has gone to left back, Armstrong is on for Boufal and then Yoshida is on for Ings and he goes to left back as we settle on a 4-4-1 damage limitation formation. At the heart of this is Oriol Romeu who is playing like a man possessed crossed with a lunatic.  Pogba does not fancy it one bit.

There are hairy moments of course.  Shane  Long long does Shane Long things coming back to help the defence, controlling the ball and then passing it straight to Pogba, allowing Rashford to force a save out of Gunn.  United have sent on the much hyped Mason Greenwood (see Macheda, Januzaj) and he falls over in the box but even Mike Dean knows that VAR won’t give that one.  Greenwood does bring one save out of Gunn and then Ashley Young of all people, goes pretty close with a curling effort from outside the box.  He’s still shit though.

In the end it’s a point which feels like a win against Manchester United and Mike Dean. Mike Dean was not the reason that we ended up with 10 men as he had no choice with either booking but Mike Dean managed to go the whole game without giving us a single decision that wasn’t 100% obvious. By that, I mean that everything that was even 1% debatable was given in favour of United. All that and 10 men and the fact that we were horribly disjointed at times and we still got a point.

I’m not having this 4-2-2-2 thing with the players we had out the pitch today. Pre-ninja assault, Danso did his best to get forward from left back but that was only one of the problems. JWP and Cedric were chronically bad over the right hand side both from an attacking and defensive perspective. The United goal illustrated this perfectly as JWP provided no cover whatsoever for the overlapping player and Cedric followed the overlap instead of closing down James, who by the time he smashed into the net was only about 12 yards out. Terrible decision-making by Cedric and a lack of basic defensive nous and understanding of some of his position by JWP.   In an attacking sense he was consistently too far infield she meant we had no outlet ball to the right hand side and if he did get wide, lack of pace meant Ashley Young, who is about 40, was never really tested. Meanwhile, though shining in patches, Boufal was struggling to get much change out of Wan-Bissaka on the left who fair enough, is an excellent defender – why not switch for a bit and have a run at Young? The first half also showed the zero level of understanding between Ings and Adams. Ings and Long linked up more in Shane’s first five minutes on the pitch than Ings and Adams did in the first hour. It looks to me that Ings and Adams are trying to be too clever and rotate positions.  Maybe just play Adams as a 9 and Ings as a 10 and save the complicated stuff until Adams has settled in a bit more.

With the score level at 1-1, at that point I actually thought we were going to win until Big Kev’s brain fart. Like I said, I have no issue with the two yellow cards that Kev got except Mike Dean allowing McTominay to do exactly the same thing without a yellow card.  Whilst I did enjoy his over the top support for Tranmere in the playoffs, he’s a fucking nightmare of a referee.

The positives today were a superb performance by Angus Gunn who didn’t have to produce any absolutely breathtaking saves but he did what he had to do very well and is growing in stature by the game at the moment. The two central defenders were excellent in the face of the pace of Rashford. Jan Bednarek was absolutely everywhere, winning every header and tackle and I was delighted for Jannik Vestergaard to get his long overdue first goal from the club and to put in a really solid defensive performance. He also managed to drill the ball right up Mike Dean’s arse as well which was probably the highlight of the first half.  Oriol Romeu, not usually selected in most Saints Fan Twitter Experts Starting XI… was a monster throughout.  As a team, we showed a lot of tenacity today, as we did last week against Brighton and overall it was a deent today bearing in mind we had Redmond, Djenepo and Bertrand all missing and Valery only fit enough for the bench. Though they are not what they were and probably never will be with Ole at the wheel, we got a good point at home against a team who will probably finish in the top six at the end of the season, especially if Mike Dean referees them every week.

Not that I wish to take anything away from Saints getting a point today but if I followed United I’ll be very disappointed with that showing. They showed absolutely no urgency whatsoever until we went down to 10 men and after that I showed a bit of urgency without showing any cutting edge whatsoever. You might as well just let Ashley Young cross the ball because he is fucking hopeless and he’s never gonna pick out one of his own players. Rashford was kept very quiet by our central defenders and James did next to nothing after his goal. The enigma which is wrapped inside a conundrum which is Carlton Pogba again showed some great touches but again just seem to be out for a stroll a lot of the game, getting caught in possession frequently and looking like he’s almost rather be anywhere else. I’d expect more from my £90 million World Cup winning player. Gone are the days when United used to be able to bring on world-class players from the bench. Now, it’s overhyped youngsters like Greenwood and Instagrammers like Jesse Lingard who is arse. Still, who fucking cares about them?

We need an answer to the Ryan Bertrand question before our next game which is after a well timed International Break. Danso will be suspended and we don’t want to play Hojbjerg there and it appears that Vokins has been declared to be not ready for first-team action. Ralph also has to get to grips with our growing tendency of having dreadful first half’s of games.  After the break it’s Sheffield United away, which is another game where we should be looking to pick up some points as is Bournemouth at home just after. Four or six points from those two games and we set ourselves up quite nicely for that cup game which everyone seems quite keen on winning.