Meet the new season, same as the old season.
Here we go again with no fans in the ground and depressingly, things seem to be
going in the wrong direction with some lockdown measures being reintroduced. It
is quite spirit crushing if you let it be.
As a Southampton fan though, you should be quite buoyant going into the new
season with there being no real reason why it shouldn’t start like the last one
ended, with the team in very good form and showing very positive signs going
forward.
This starts today of course with a visit to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal
Palace who we have beaten here the last three years. You could look at that and
say that we should make it four in a row but you can also look at it and say
that we are due a defeat there. Palace are still managed by Roy Hudson who is
now 103. He got this job because he was from Croydon and he can see the ground
from his rest home. They’ve even
installed a ramp. Palace are a strange
club in terms of the managers that they have had. They had Pardew and then
Allardyce who are very old school of course, then tried to modernise a bit with
the appointment of Frank De Boer, which lasted a whole four league games before
panicking, being unwilling to maybe take a step back to go two forwards and
reverting to the old school again and appointing Roy Hodgson. You aren’t going
to be progressive with a manager like him but so far he has done the job that
he was brought in to do.
He has kept them in the division without them ever looking like they’re going
to get relegated, no last day battles for survival and that is probably where
he will keep them this season as well. It will be interesting to see how their
new signings gel. On the face of it they seem to have bought quite well so
hopefully we are playing them at the right time before they all get used to
each other. Eze will add some creativity which for the past few seasons has
stopped if Zaha wasn’t having a good game and the loan signing of Batshuayi
will give them more of a cutting edge upfront though Jordan Ayew actually did
quite well at the end of last season.
One thing that does annoy me is the perception that Palace have a very
thin squad and don’t spend any money.
£30 million Benteke not in the team suggests otherwise.
There is the subplot today of the Zaha and JWP issue – The Shithouse versus the
Dickhead. Zaha is a 28-year-old petulant
baby who famously got himself sent off at St Mary‘s and who should’ve been sent
off at Selhurst Park last year when he poked JWP in the eye at half-time. This incident was reviewed by VAR and nothing
happened. This would have been a red
card even in rugby… clear and premeditated contact with the eye area. Anyway – though he still wants away, Zaha
will be a threat this afternoon.
Team news and Saints are as expected bearing in mind that we know that Stuart Armstrong is out, with Will Smallbone taking his place. Moussa Djenepo is back on the bench so it will be interesting to see how many minutes he is fit for but there is no place for Sofiane Boufal with Nathan Tella making the cut.
Saints start going very well and pin Palace back in their half. There’s a couple of good crosses in from the left hand side from Bertrand into feet and we look very dangerous. The massed ranks of Palace defenders keep us at bay though. On 10 minutes there is a minor concern and Stephens wins the ball from Zaha but there seems to be a clash of knees and he stays down for a little bit before hobbling back into the action. The injury seems to break our momentum though and then we do, exactly what Dave Merrington probably doesn’t want us to do and give away a shit goal. We have the ball on the left wing with Bertrand and knock it back to the defenders. Romeu and Bednarek exchange passes before Romeu tries to play into Redmond’s feet. It’s a bit of a hospital pass and Redmond appears to be on his heels but anyway, Palace win the ball and away they go down the right hand side through Townsend with most of our team committed forward. You could hopefully rely on Townsend putting over a shit cross but on this occasion, he flights are perfectly and Zaha cushion volleys it into the net. Because of the way we’ve lost the ball, our full-backs are not even in the picture when the ball hits the net. An absolutely dreadful goal to concede.
The goal sets the pattern for the rest of the first half which is largely forgettable. We are not passing the ball through midfield with any pace and therefore not drawing fouls or even drawing the Palace players out of position and we create absolutely nothing. As we approach half-time it’s hard to remember Redmond or Samllbone even touching the ball, let alone doing anything creative that might give Ings and Adams a chance to do anything in the Palace penalty area. It’s comfortable for them and all in front of them and absolutely shit for us and the only hope is that we can get to half-time and sort it out in the second half.
In a half-time change that no one saw coming, Jannik Vestergaard comes on for Jan Bednarek. I can only assume that was for an injury. Anyway, Saints start the second-half reasonably well and it’s Vestergaard at the heart of it pinging some good balls from left to right hand side where KWP is always available.
We create straight away with KWP putting in a lovely low cross to Adams who plays a one-two with Ings before freeing Redmond and he really should burst the net with just Guaita to beat but he scuffs the ball straight to the goalkeeper and it’s a bad miss.
It looks like our task is being made ridiculously more difficult a few minutes later as there is a collision in the middle of the pitch between KWP and Mitchell, the Palace left back as they both challenge for a bouncing ball. On first view it looks like Mitchell wins the ball and KWB pulls out of the challenge but Jon Moss brings out a red card without even thinking about it. KWP just stands there whilst I swear at the TV and swear at Jon Moss bein being born but in line with the new guidelines this year, he goes to check the monitor because presumably he’s been told that his decision is fucking bullshit and then comes back and act out some hilarious farce where he shows another red card then gives a variation of the cricket dead ball signal, then issues a yellow card. Farcical or otherwise, we have at least arrived at the right decision.
A next chance comes from a free-kick delivered from the left by Bertrand which Vestergaard does really well to head down and Adams meets on the half volley from about eight yards and smashes it goalwards. It’s a brilliant effort but it’s an even more brilliant save by Guaita he reacts unbelievably to push it away. Bastard.
75 gone and time for the first change as Djenepo replaces Smallbone who has put over a couple of half decent crosses but not enough for anyone to be able to say that we haven’t missed Armstrong today. With Saints now pushing forward, we are now of course vulnerable to the counter-attack and a ball down the left hand side sends Zaha away and he advances unopposed to finish in the far corner and then the flag goes up. Another new initiative which is to play on for ages before the linesman does his job. Haven’t quite got my head round this one yet I have to admit. Again though, I will say that it was offside and the correct decision was reached.
Zaha is away again down the left and on side this time as he leaves Stephens for dead who is being hindered by the caravan he’s towing and luckily, Zaha’s more profligate side is on the show as he lashes out into the side netting with the whole goal to aim at.
There is a like for like change with 5 to go with Shane Long coming on for Adams and we create one more chance as Romeu’s crossfield ball again picks out KWP and his first time volleyed cross flicked goalwards by Danny Ings head but Guaita again reacts well to push it away to his right hand side. It isn’t happening today and in truth, I’d kind of given up on it for the last 20 minutes.
The sound you can hear is your bubble of optimism being burst.
We were sluggish and average and Palace was sluggish and average but the only difference was, they defended well, their goalkeeper made a couple of decent saves and they didn’t gift us a goal like we did for them. Should have been 0-0 really.
The goal we let in. Fucking hell. We won all those games away from home last year because we kept things tight at the back and we were dangerous going forward because we won the ball high up the pitch and then passed the ball quickly or we drew the other team onto us and attacked quickly from deep. A team as limited as Palace are never going to score unless you give them something and we had done to us what Ralph preaches to be done to the other teams in that we lost the ball near our goal, all got caught out of position, Palace passed the ball quickly and Zaha had the freedom of Southeast London to bury what turned out to be the winning goal. We were on the attack, both full backs forward and joining in and then we went backwards, lost the ball and everyone is up, 30 yards out of defensive position. Even after Romeu and Redmond had combined and given them the ball, our players that were back, still made it easy for them by not picking up runners. Bednarek was ball watching and didn’t mark anyone and Stephens was left with both Ayew and Zaha to mark and didn’t mark either as the cross floated over his head for Zaha to finish. I have to give some credit to Hodgson here as usually, Palace only have one striker but Hodgson playing Zaha up front with Ayew meant that Zaha was in the right place when the cross floated over.
After that, Palace who were content did she sit deep with 11 men behind the ball anyway, were even more inclined to do so and we only really created a few chances of note or game with Guaita making one brilliant save from Adams and only really looking even slightly worked by Ings header – and of course he had to pick up Redmond’s backpass. Our forwards still look lively when they got the ball but they didn’t get much of it with Romeu being painfully slow to pass the ball and Redmond and Smallbone offering absolutely nothing in terms of supply.
We were okay at the back when we were actually in position despite the fact that Stephens seem to be struggling to run off an injury for 80 minutes. McCarthy didn’t have to make another save after the goal that went past him but the damage was done. As I write. It’s just emerged that the half time sub was for tactical reasons. Has to be said that Vestergaard did pretty well when he came on and there’s an argument that he was our best player.
The other main talking point of the game was the red card issued to KWP by John Moss for a challenge but never even looks remotely like a red card on first viewing. Fair play to Moss for reversing his decision having looked at the monitor but there was no way that’s a red card in a million years. BT Sport really come into their own with their coverage having Dermot Gallagher in the studio who basically backed up his mate straight away and thought it was a red card. Gallagher perfectly illustrated at a stroke, all the problems we had with VAR last season. Hopefully this season will be different and today to be fair, the system worked perfectly.
Overall it was a typical Southampton FC start of the season which I certainly wasn’t expecting this year bearing in mind the shortened pre-season. It was in truth, piss poor but we’ve been here many times before and for balance, there are still many reasons to be optimistic about this season and these (in no particular order) are.
We have two full-backs in KWP and Bertrand who can both attack and defend and fit perfectly into the way that Ralph wants the team to play football. We haven’t had this for years.
We have a central midfield pairing in JWP and Romeu, which proved itself very adept at the end of last season and proved that the team can play we are than now departed Hojbjerg.
At the top end of the pitch we have two strikers in Ings and Adams, who both look like they can hit the net with some degree of regularity. We have always struggled with this and I cannot remember the last time we had two strikers make double figures in the league. This is the year.
We have two central defenders in Stephens and Bednarek who were getting better and better as a partnership towards the end of the season and we also have strengthened the area in the transfer window with the addition of Salisu who in time, will keep the other two on the toes and more than likely see them competing against each other to partner him.
We have a decent goalkeeper in McCarthy who this season will be pressured for his place a lot more than he was last season which will force McCarthy to maintain his form throughout the season, unless he wants to sit on his arse on the bench and watch Fraser Forster playing games.
We have a manager who is now fully committed to his methods, one style of play and one formation. Gone are the days of three at the back and overthinking things and we are going to have a whole season of knowing what we’re doing and believing in what we’re doing.. They know what is expected, it’s more ingrained and the automatisms are in place. Automatisms is a word I never thought I’d use in this blog.
On the downside, we are short on numbers in central midfield should either of the first choice pairing miss any games and there needs to be another potential starter in the mix to keep the JWP and Romeu on their toes. This is something that both Martin Semmens and Ralph, have identified and have promised to sort out by the time the transfer window closes in a few weeks. Get that sorted and in my opinion we can really go into the season with some optimism. I have been fortunate enough to speak to both Martin and Ralph, as part of my role on Total Saints Podcast and the thing that shines through when you talk to both of them is how much they believe in what they are doing.
Nothing takes away from the fact that today was shit, we had little inspiration and less intensity and of course, we gave away a shit goal but we need to draw a line under it and move on, starting with the Carabao Cup game against Brentford on Tuesday and the first home Premier League game of the season against ‘All or Nothing’ Tottenham. Let’s hope they leave with nothing.
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