Premier League Match 16 - Southampton 0 West Ham 0

Richard, I'm Blaming You for Putting Shane Long on.

Now for one of the games that we never win, against West Ham. It doesn’t even matter what ground the game is played in as we always lose and we’re always shite and they always beat us the same way, home or away. What they have done over the past few years is play on our soft centre and have two big guys up front, one of whom is Michail Antonio who for two games a season turns into a cross between Usain Bolt, Mike Tyson and prime Brazilian Ronaldo and we go home with nothing. Jack Stephens in particular has had nightmares against Antonio in the past and he is certain to be starting today so hopefully, he can erase some of those nightmares.

West Ham are finally having the season that they should’ve had in each of the last two seasons, with the money that they’ve spent finally being translated into an acceptable level of performance on the pitch. They have good players all over the pitch, the pick of them being Declan Rice who seems to be a certain starter for England in Euro 2021. They have bought well in the last year also with Jarrod Bowen proving to be a good signing from Hull and Thomas Soucek becoming a bit of a goalscoring midfielder and forming a good partnership with Rice.  Coufal at right back is decent and complimented by the always consistent Aaron Cresswell on the left. Strong central defenders in Ogbonna and Balbuena and with the aforementioned threat upfront, they are a handful. Antonio hasn’t been fit for the last couple of months but you just know he’s going to be back… you just know it. David Moyes has had a long managerial career and you can be fairly sure that he is not going to change anything about the way the West Ham normally play against us.

Saints will at least be boosted by the return of Oriol Romeu from suspension and it will be interesting to see what happens regarding who partners Che Adams upfront.  Danny Ings has been seen in the training photographs but you wouldn’t expect him to start so I really hope that it is Theo Walcott and not the Irish Papa Waigo.  An advantage that we have today is that we have had an extra day to recover, three days as opposed to their two. That should of course, work in our favour.

Kick off approaches and the teams are announced as so is the fact that Ralph is at home with a Covid positive family member.  I have a nightmare that it’ll be Kelvin Davis in charge but a pre-match interview with Ralph, from his toilet by the look of it, confirms that the main man pitchside today is Richard Kitzbichler.  There are sure to be some interesting pronunciations of that from the Amazon Prime commentary team.  As it turns out, Danny Ings starts, Romeu is back and Djenepo comes in for Armstrong.  Moyes has shuffled his pack at West Ham, I assume because of the turnaround so it Fredericks and Dawson coming into the defence and Antonio is on the bench where he will hopefully stay.  Sebastien Haller is up and even he usually scores against us.

I feel that Saints need to start the game pretty well because with all their changes, West Ham are going to be a little bit tentative to start with. We do make a bright start with JWP playing a ball over Cresswell to where Adams is looking suspiciously offside so there’s not much excitement as He chips the ball to Ings, who produces a superb touch to nip in between Dawson and Ogbonna before passing it into the net. I’m absolutely convinced that this is going to get given us off side so there’s no point in getting excited despite the fact it was a brilliant finish and sure enough they put a still on the TV and check - Adams looks offside but then you look across the line to Fredericks at right back and all of a sudden it looks fucking close as their feet are in line but as is always the case, the forward is leaning towards the goal and so it’s one of the good old armpit offsides.

Saints are pressing well and are the better side without creating much.  Walcott is a threat but no one else aside from KWP is really providing any sort of threat.  35 minutes gone and we build again down the right hand side through KWP and he finds Walcott who puts in a good ball into the middle, where Ings tries to flick into the net but it’s saved by Fabianski. The replay proves that this would’ve been fucking offside as well.

West Ham begin to show as the half draws to a close and Yarmolenko gets down their right, gets to the by-line and chips the ball across to where Fornals knocks it back and Fredericks meets it but his header is somewhere between garbage and pathetic and just plops straight down at McCarthy when he really should’ve scored.

A West Ham corner provides a talking point a few minutes later as Adams competes with Dawson in the air and when the ball drops, Dawson takes a swing at it to try and smash it at goal but instead of kicking the ball, he manages to kick Adams head. Che reacts by literally pulling a bit of a face and then getting up, rubbing the back of his head and getting on with it. It’s just one of those moments that makes you think what would happen if Bruno Fernandes, Jack Grealish, Son Heung Min or Mo Salah had been on the receiving end of it.  Air ambulances and priests reading the last rights and all sorts.

There is a minor scare just before half-time as West Ham produce a decent bit of football down the left hand side and when the cross comes over, JWP mis-controls and Lanzini turns and shoots well over the bar. It’s the last action of a half that has been pretty woeful from a footballing perspective. Not much spark from either side and just flat. The worry is that you look at the players that West Ham have got on the bench and you know that Bowen, Benrahma and Antonio are going to come on at some point.

Saints have a decent piece of possession at the start of the second-half but it’s all very slow and we work it from the left hand side over to the right and Walcott puts in a couple of crosses before finding Romeu who takes a swing and hits it and there's momentary heightening of the excitement level until you realise that the ball is exiting the earths atmosphere.

Che Adams has not had a great game but can be grateful that his head is still attached to his shoulders and he is the first one to be hauled off and there’s obviously been some interference down the line from Ralph’s toilet flush or something because Kitzbichler is bringing Shane Long on. "What’s the fucking point of that when you need a goal?" is the question that springs to mind.

Jack Stephens is playing well at the back, doing his best to step into Vestergaard’s Size 28 shoes with regards to passing the ball. There are a couple of pings over the top of the full-back to KWP which worked and then he feeds one along the ground and finds Walcott about 40 yards out and he turns and advances a bit before drilling a shot that Fabianski has to save. Theo has been our one bright spark up front this game is getting better all the time. To illustrate this, Walcott picks up the ball from Romeu, runs at the defenders, gets tackled by Rice and KWP ends up hitting a left foot shot which is comfortably saved.

Having sent on Benrahma and Bowen, we are treated to the sight of Antonio warming up. Fucking sit back down. In the meantime, Saints bring on Armstrong for Djenepo who has in truth contributed very very little but there’s been a change in the general direction of play now and West Ham are looking by far the most likely team to score. Soucek looks like he’s going to get a shot away but while he was waiting for the ball to come down, Bertrand nips in to produce a very good clearance. 

There in five minutes to go when Antonio starts the move and sends Bowen away down the left and his cross into the box causes chaos and Jack Stephens heads the ball straight up in the air and when it comes down, Benrahma and he manages to work enough space to blast in a shot from 6 yards but luckily, Alex McCarthy has thrown the big star shaped thing and it hits him and we managed to clear it. Jack certainly owes Macca a pint for that one.

The final action of the game kind of sums it up with West Ham getting a free kick about 35 yards out on the right wing and instead of putting it into the box where they have been creating opportunities because we don’t seem to know how to defend free kicks in wide areas, they play it backwards and then by the time the cross comes into the box, the final whistle has gone to end a very average tired looking game.

Christ that was tough to watch. In truth, we shot our bolt in the first 20 minutes and when we didn’t score it was always gonna be difficult from that point on. Unlike the Fulham game a few days ago, I am happy to get out of that with a point. I thought David Moyes managed his resources very well, picking a team to contain us in the first half and then throwing on Bowen, Benrahma and Antonio to try and win it in the second half and to be honest, they probably should’ve done. The fact that they didn’t win it was down to a superb save from Alex McCarthy.

Saints were blowing out their arses for the second half with some players looking in desperate need of a break. Che Adams was playing like he didn’t know what day it was, even before he got an accidental boot in the head accidentally from Craig Dawson. Ryan Bertrand looked like he was running through treacle the whole game and was tackling like a tired player with no composure. Overall, the defence was pretty solid apart from the one mistake near the end and deserved another clean sheet. Whenever we give away free kicks in our half though we do look like a complete accident waiting to happen. We never clear the ball, it’s either offside or it’s a very good chance of scoring for the opposition.  We are getting away with it but it seems to be more by luck than judgment.

Theo Had a Great Game Despite This Reaction to the Covid Vaccine

Our best players were both playing down the right hand side with KWP and Walcott being the only ones who really caused West Ham any problems from a defensive point of view. Walcott in particular seem to be carrying the attacking threat on his own for large periods of the games with Adams out of sorts and Djenepo basically just existing over on the left wing without actually contributing very much. It was undoubtedly a massive bonus to have Danny Ings on the pitch and for him to complete the 90 minutes but he is not up to full speed yet, though he did show an absolutely filthy touch to take out the two West Ham central defenders before scoring the goal that was disallowed for offside against Adams, and offside which was a hell of a lot closer than I initially thought it was. In an ideal world, Danny would’ve been saved and brought on as a sub but you can see why he started. Shane Long was our first substitute off the bench and it was quite frankly embarrassing. The concept of bringing him on to add fresh legs was a complete waste of time because he didn’t add any impetus whatsoever. There was one incident where we’d been under pressure for a period of time in our own half and we actually managed to turn West Ham round and Fredericks was in his own corner and facing the wrong way and all Shane had to do was not foul him and we would’ve won a throw right next to the corner flag but oh no, he just cluelessly ran through the back of him.  Maybe a youngster would do that with over enthusiasm but an experienced pro?  Really? I was absolutely swearing my fucking head off and I reckon I can pretty much guarantee that Ralph was doing the same at home in his toilet.

I imagine that for the neutral this was a pretty desperate game but it’s too many games being played into short space of time and in Saints case in particular, our squad is not big enough to cover it. It’s no coincidence that we have started to look tired with a combination of our style of play, our small squad and playing two games a week for the first time this season.  We need another left back in the January window even if it’s just to try to give Bertrand a break from time to time and in my opinion we also need an alternative to Ings and Adams for the same reason, if none of Tella, and N’Lundulu and Obafemi are thought to be up to the task.  The lack of form being shown by Armstrong, Redmond and Djenepo must also be a slight cause for concern.

Another thing that occurred to me today that Mohammed Salisu has not played football for ten months. He hasn’t played for the B team and he hasn’t make it onto the pitch in any of our last five matches. We could have a scenario where one of the central defenders gets injured in between now and the Liverpool game and he has to make his debut marking Mo Salah. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

As mentioned, Liverpool at home is our first game of 2021 and it definitely is one where anything we get is a bonus. Overall, 2020 has been a good year for Southampton Football Club in terms of progress on the pitch and they shouldn’t be forgotten even though the last couple of results have been slightly disappointing. We will get back to winning ways soon (but maybe not next week) and a quick look at the league table sees us 3 points off 3^rd place so it’s pretty good really.

Happy New Year.  Up the Fucking Saints!

Premier League Match 15 - Fulham 0 Southampton 0

 

Shane Long - Offside from Birth

Boxing Day and a trip to Fulham who started the season like they might as well not bother turning up for matches and they would be better off conceding every game 3-0. Much to the surprise of most however, especially me, they are now making a decent fist of it and, whisper it quietly, have an outside chance of staying in the Premier League at the end of the season, partly due to the improved form and partly due to the number of shit teams down the bottom. They will be looking at Sheffield United, West Brom and Brighton and thinking that they can finish above those three.

Scott Parker was a player that I always liked and he is turning into a manager that I like as well and if he manages to keep Fulham up, then as far as I’m concerned, it’s a Manager of the Season candidate we are looking at.  He’s not present today as a family member has had a positive Covid test so it’s Stuart Gray in the dugout.  Decent guy but he’s in the ‘Saints worst manager ever’ conversation along with Steve Wigley, Jan Poortvliet, Mauricio Pellegrino and a few others.

They basically appear to have a pretty decent first 11 but once you dip below that that they are dreadful, especially defensively. It’s just as well for them that the captain Joakim Anderson, somehow got away with a red card he picked up against Newcastle recently. It was strange because having already been booked, he pulled down Callum Wilson for what was a clear second yellow. The controversy arose because Wilson took three steps and then dived into the penalty area. Anderson’s ban being overturned is another example of the shambles of the people who administer VAR.  Not only do they get it wrong on the day, but people review it and get it wrong afterwards.

Up front they usually have Aleksander Mitrović, who is always a handful but he hasn’t scored many goals this season and nor has the alternative Ivan Cavaleiro.  They have Bobby Decordova-Reid who has put a few in the net and seems to be the best source for goals even though he plays as kind of a right wing back. Ademola Lookman has been decent recently and is maybe beginning to make good on the promise that he has had for the last three years. In midfield recently they’ve had Anguissa who looks like the sort of player usually plays for West Ham, all big and athletic and recently he has been partnered with Mario Lemina who can’t of course play against us because he’s a fucking waster… I mean because he is unable to play against his parent club. Rumour has it that Fulham have an obligation to buy him if they stay up so let’s hope that they do string together enough decent results to make that a reality, after today.  Another in the Fulham ranks is of course Harrison Reed who was never going to get a run of games at Saints. It’s a shame the way it panned out as far as we were concerned because I feel that if he had been given the run of games that should’ve been given in 2017, instead of us signing Jordy Clasie, then the outcome may well have been different. Not to be of course but after today, we wish him well.

There in a few rumours of unfit players coming out of the Saints camp this week. Redmond, Ings and Vestergaard are all doubts, along with the suspended Oriel Romeu. This may well give opportunities to any of Jack Stephens, Ibrahima Diallo, Mohammed Salisu and Stuart Armstrong. Having not got results in the last two games against Arsenal and Manchester City, today is one where we certainly need to show our usual away form and come away with three points. Anything less will be disappointing, regardless of who we have out on the pitch.

Team news and what the actual fuck is that?  Shane Long starts… fuck off!  Why?  He’s looked absolutely useless in his few minutes this season and hasn’t played for the B team so why?  Must have had a hell of a week in training.  His inclusion has me so baffled I almost fail to notice that Vestergaard is out and Jack Stephens comes in.  I feel that it would have been Salisu if Romeu wasn’t missing as well.  So, the spine of Vestergaard, Romeu and Ings is now Stephens, Diallo and Long.  Hmmm.  Then bench contains several options that I would have used before calling on Shane Long but that’s why I write blogs and do podcasts and don’t manage the team.

The opening ten minutes is really poor from us, mainly featuring underhit passes which put the team in trouble.  Fulham are cutting through midfield relatively easily and get to the edge of the box and Lookman has a shot which deflects and goes straight to McCarthy. It’s a bit of a worrying opening to the game to be honest as this seems to be so much space with our press not really working properly. I’m quite happy when the Fulham keeper rolls the ball 5 yards to start a move but Fulham find a way forward because Armstrong is asleep and build up our left and we are lucky that Anguissa ruins what was a great flowing move with a big air shot.

Our first real opening comes courtesy of Harrison Reed who you could always trust for a rash tackle about 30 yards out and he brings down Che Adams which gives JWP an opportunity from the free-kick. It is literally right on the edge of his range but he steps up, does his usual and it’s over the wall and flying towards the top corner but maybe with a touch of the goalkeeper or maybe not, it pings off the bar and bounces down to where Che Adams is steaming him with an open goal but somehow, he completely misses the fucking ball and Fulham get away with it. When they show the reply, you can see that the ball has bounced down of the crossbar and basically done a leg break whilst Adams watches. It’s a bit like Mike Gatting trying to bat against Shane Warne all those years ago.

That’s more or less it for the first half and it’s pretty uninspiring stuff.  Too much long ball hopefulness aimed at Shane Long and we don’t really look like scoring.  Nor to they mind so this has 0-0 or 1-0 written all over it.

Saints first threatening move of the second half is created by Theo Walcott who picks up the ball in the centre circle and just drives at the retreating defence. Defenders are scattering everywhere but when he’s reaches the edge of the box and it’s time to pull the trigger he tries to slide a ball through to KWP and kicks the ground and so it goes nowhere. Fucking shoot man. Fulham break down our right hand side and the cross comes over and with Stephens otherwise engaged marking a big empty space, Ivan Cavaleiro, doesn’t add to his one goal in 37 games with a breath-taking example of 50p head and the ball ends up nearer the corner flag than the goal.

There is a moment of excitement as a long ball forward from McCarthy is flicked on and then knocked down by Adams and Shane Long, fair play to him, meets it well 25 yards out and drills it goalward but unfortunately it’s straight at the goalkeeper who easily tips over the bar.

Saints are definitely the better side now and the ball is swept out a Bertrand on the left hand side by Bednarek and he tries a first time side footed volleyed cross and it runs through to the goalkeeper. Play goes on and word comes over the TV that it is being looked at as a potential penalty to Saints. Fulham carry on and an eventual shot from Lookman is deflected wide by Bednarek’s head for a corner. Play stops and they then show the replay and Aina is leaning into the ball with his arm outstretched which it hits and therefore go straight through to the goalkeeper. Fulham are waiting to take a corner of our end and we are surely about to be given a penalty at the other end and then they say that the VAR referee reviewing it is Fat Jon Moss. They show the replay again and to me, that looks like a clear handball. There is an element of doubt of course because no one knows what the fuck the handball role is any more. Jon Moss was clearly tucking into a plate of Christmas leftovers was he just warmed up in the microwave so clearly couldn’t be arsed to look at it for too long and so we went with the non-decision of the useless referee on the pitch. Wankers.

Unperturbed, Bertrand puts in a really good early cross behind the defence and Shane Long reacts to smash it first time into the net. As he wheels away he has a look towards the linesman and you know what’s coming. Offside by a yard, fuck.

KWP, who has been excellent out on the right, decides to take matters into his own hands and picks up the ball from the ball and drives directly at the penalty area. He is right on the edge of the box and gets completely taken out by Loftus-Cheek.  Surely the only decision to be made is penalty or free-kick but the referee decides that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the challenge that has got nowhere near the ball and just clattered the man and so it’s another non-decision and play on.  It’s embarrassingly bad refereeing.  It was that close to the edge of the box that you wonder if it should be reviewed for potential penalty but of course it isn’t, probably because Fat Jon Moss would have to put down the mince pies he’s stuffing into his fat face

Five to go and another move down the right with the ball flicked through by Long to Adams and his low cross is met in the middle by Walcott who has come in off the left wing and side foots it past the goalkeeper. 1-0, get the fuck in there….. Oh for fucks sake, here comes Jon Moss again. One look at a still tells you that Che Adams was about 4 inches offside when he received the ball before he crossed so yet another one chalked off. It’s the correct decision but for fucks sake.

We’re into extra time and Ralph makes a couple of pointless substitutions, neither of whom touch the ball and there is just one bit of action left as Stephens does really well to throw himself in the way of a goal bound shot by Aina with just seconds remaining on the clock.

The main word that springs to mind is “frustrating”. To be honest, Fulham were shite and we only needed to be a tiny little bit better than what we actually were and we win that game comfortably. The bottom line is that they didn’t make McCarthy make a single save and we had two goals disallowed, one of which was for a very tight offside and we had a penalty shout mysteriously not given.  More on that and the performance of the refereeing dream team later.

We were obviously disrupted today, with three very influential players from the spine of the team all missing. The selection of Shane Long was mystifying but in all truth he didn’t do any worse than expected, he just lived up to my low expectations. The Irish Papa Waigo produced one brainless offside followed by an overhit cross in the first half was peak Shane Long but he did take his disallowed goal very well but once again, he was comfortably offside, water is wet and bears shite in the woods.  It’s the way that he does it with monotonous regularity that is the artform in it all.  Jack Stephens grew into the game after looking shocking for the first half. He did have a couple of ropey moments with totally losing the player he was supposed to be marking and consistently under hitting passes but he got through the game without having a complete shocker, so for that we can be grateful seeing as it was his first game for quite a long time. Ibrahima Diallo was easily the best of the three, producing some nice touches, some nice turns into space and some good little bursts forward. He did look a little bit lightweight at times and occasionally got muscled off of the ball but that’s the sort of thing that experience teaches you how to deal with and he will only get better. Overall, it was a decent debut.

For all Diallo’s good performance though, it looks like he is the most likely to be left out for the next game because both Vestergaard and Ings are going to be out for a while but Romeu will be back from suspension next week.  We missed Vestergaard at both ends today, both as a target for set pieces and also for his passing out of defence.  There was too much hit and hope from the back today and not enough into feet, probably to play to Long’s heading ability.

I thought JWP had an excellent game trying to drive us forward and the defence was relatively tight, even allowing for the poor opposition.  Both KWP and Bertrand were really good going forward but I don’t feel we got enough from the wide players with both Theo Walcott and Stuart Armstrong being frustrating with Armstrong just being a one-man possession recycling machine for Fulham and Walcott always threatening to do something but being let down by the final decision.  Che Adams will be disappointed he didn’t score following the rebound from JWP‘s free-kick but the fact was that we looked pretty blunt upfront and you were always struggling to see where a goal was going to come from.

Ralph seem to settle for a point with about 20 minutes to go which was for me, a little bit disappointing. Making your first substitute in the 91st minute and then another one after that seemed rather pointless unless it was just to run the clock down which is not what we should’ve been doing in this game. I know we had players missing but we really should’ve been looking to win this game today right up to the 95th minute.  We could have done with Djenepo on the left for the last 20 to run at the very dodgy Aina and maybe Tella or N’Lundulu for the last 15 to replace Long.  Indeed, from the very start we looked like a team that was hoping to sneak a win, rather than one that was going to ignore the adversity of having players missing and prove that we were better than them. A point away at Fulham is not a disaster but it should not be painted as anything other than a slightly disappointing result. I do believe that with a full team, we win today relatively comfortably but even with the side we had out today, we certainly should’ve had enough to beat them as they really weren’t very good at all.  It’s a good point if you’re a relegation struggler against a fellow struggler but we’re not – we’re better than that now.  I found all the “good point on the road” stuff from the players on social media slightly grating as well.  They should be disappointed with two points dropped – hopefully they are in private.  It’s about mentality.  You have to stay humble and not be arrogant, but you also have to have a winning mentality.

Now we have to talk about the referee today. Robert England is not fit to be a Premier League referee. He is simply not good enough. He produced an absolute catalogue of mystifying decisions for both sides and today and when you back him up with Jon Moss as the VAR referee then you’ve really got no fucking chance. I have no idea what the handball rule is anymore but from Bertrand’s volleyed cross, Aina leans into the ball with his arm out and deflects it straight to his goalkeeper.  It’s not in a natural position and he gains a clear advantage because the ball just goes straight through to his goalkeeper instead of fizzing across towards other Saints players. How the fuck is that not a penalty?

Having been given that slightly fortunate one at Brighton, I did feel that we’d have to accept some shocking VAR decisions in future games but we’ve had one in every game since.. Against Arsenal we had Holding running straight into Djenepo, we had the Sterling handball against Manchester City which would certainly have been given at the start of the season and now today’s one which would have been given at the start of the season and should’ve been given now.  Maybe another five points as a result of all that lot and then we’re 2^nd instead of 9^th. Remember when VAR was going to take away a lot of the injustices.

Next up is one of our graveyard games, West Ham at home. Due to the sudden influx of Tier 4 Covid ridden Pompey bastards into Southampton just before Christmas, we now find ourselves in Tier 4 so no fans once again. I had maintained my 100% record in the ticket lottery anyway so I can’t say that it affects me that much. In front of the fucking TV again – talking of which, the big white banner that Fulham had covering the seats on two sides of the ground meant that it was like 90 minutes of playing Spot the Ball.  Someone really should have thought that one through.

Premier League Match 14 - Southampton 0 Manchester City 1

The Best Playmaker on the Pitch and a City player

Manchester City arrive at St Mary‘s in rather a strange place. Ever since Pep Guardiola has been the manager, they have always been this force of nature and played incredible football and if you were not careful, they would smash you out of sight but something has changed this season and the atmosphere seems to be different. I fully expected Guardiola to leave in the summer but instead, he signed another two year contract but regardless of this, it wouldn’t surprise me on any given morning to see that he’d resigned. On the pitch, he appears to have tried to tighten things up and not be so easy to score against and as result, they are not scoring as many goals. Of course, they are still capable on any given day of tearing any team a new arsehole but I’ve seen a couple of their recent games, against Manchester United and against West Brom, where they just didn’t seem to have much inspiration in the front third. It’s absolutely crazy when you think about it because they still have Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and a cast of billions to pick from. The injury to Sergio Aguero has definitely been keenly felt because he gave them the cutting edge that Gabriel Jesus just doesn’t. Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden have found themselves more often than not sitting on the subs bench along with Ferran Torres, who looks a very exciting replacement for the departed Leroy Sane. In midfield they’ve been using the rather pedestrian looking Rodri and have spent their usual £100 million on defenders in Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake, both of whom look pretty average from afar.

Saints are going to the game in a confident frame of mind of course but this is going to be a very different game to the one we faced against Arsenal on Wednesday.  There isn’t much rotation of the squad and the one change sees Moussa Djenepo given a start with Stuart Armstrong being rested on the bench.  We’ve had a third and hopefully final vote on the 5 subs thing and it was defeated yet again, the compromise (probably to get Klopp to shut the fuck up) being that teams now have 9 subs on the bench instead of 7.  For us, this means a place for Shane Long and Nathan Tella.  Yes, the rules have to change now for Shane to make the bench.  City’s team and squad is fucking ridiculous – Torres, Sterling, Bernardo Silva and de Bruyne… and that’s just the forward players.  The only thing even is that both teams start with 11 players.  Today’s referee is Mike Dean and he’s a twat.  If the best referees are the ones that you don’t notice, then it follows that Mike Dean is the worst.

Away we go and a good start and we are not sitting back, with the front six all pressing high.  It’s going to be interesting because a defence that includes Kyle Walker and John Stones is going to have a good chance of having a mistake in it.

For the first 15 we are knocking the ball around confidently as well but then we have a little phase of giving the ball away too easily and City win a corner when de Bruyne’s shot is blocked by Vestergaard. We survive the corner but they were another one as Adams gives the ball away and then Cancelo fires in a shot from the edge of the box which McCarthy saves well.

We seem to got over our wobbles for a bit and then Ederson launches forward and Bednarek heads down his midfield but City win the 2^nd ball and break with Bernardo Silva finding De Bruyne and De Bruyne picks out Sterling superbly in the middle and he’s unmarked. Fuck.

Our response is good to be fair and we carry on trying to impose ourselves on City. Vestergaard pings a lovely ball out to KWP, leading to Walcott’s first time shot being parried by Ederson and it flies out past Ings before he can react. Another chance as Adams turns well in midfield and finds Djenepo and his cross is headed back across by Walcott and Ings throws himself at it and heads wide.  He was impeded by Dias’ foot being up around his head but it’s Mike Dean so nothing doing.

There’s another decent opening a few minutes later as Bertrand gets the ball out to Walcott on the right and his cross looks like it’s going to be met by Adams but he fails to get any contact on it.  The look on his face afterwards tells you that he should have done.

The ball is with McCarthy but everyone’s looking at the half way line where Danny Ings is sat down.  Oh shit.  A quick chat with the physio and off he goes for another spell on the sidelines.  Shit, shit, shit – please don’t be the knee.  I’m expecting Armstrong or Redmond with Walcott up front but it’s Nathan Tella who comes on.  Bit of a surprise but go on lad.

Half time and 1-0 down.  We’ve played well however but I’m wondering how the second half is going to pan out with us playing our third game in six days and with both Romeu and JWP falling foul of yellow cards from Mike Dean in the preceding 45 minutes.  No further changes and away we go with a City break and Torres gets played in on the right hand side but he shoots across McCarthy and just past the far post.  A sigh of relief as a second City goal is going to kill this stone dead.  They have another go and De Bruyne plays a one-two with Sterling which carves us open again and eventually it ends up with Bernardo Silva who luckily for us, wasn’t born with a right foot so his eventual shot would barely have reached the goal if McCarthy hadn’t smothered it.

We have a shout for a penalty as City clear a corner out to Sterling near the penalty spot and it hits his outstretched arm via his thigh.  We need Mike Dean to give this so that VAR can they try and prove is was an error but nothing doing as you’ve come to expect. Redmond is on for Djenepo but it appears he has his boots on the wrong feet or his feet on the wrong ankles or something.  On the other side, Saints break through an excellent driving run from KWP who feeds Tella who plays in a great ball between keeper and defenders and Stones, slides in, knocks it over Ederson but it’s just too high for Adams to get his header on target as he fell backwards.

As we enter the last 5 minutes we are clearly knackered and City are breaking almost at will.  McCarthy makes one outstanding save from Gundogan but other that that, the fact that City don’t score is down to them pissing about.  They take 10 passes when 2 would have done before Mahrez volleys over the bar from 6 yards.

N’lundulu for Adams for the last knockings but we’ve not got enough about us to create another chance.  We do get the pleasure of watching City timewasting during injury time which I guess is an indication that they respect us and just want the game to end.

Well bollocks. We didn’t deserve to lose that really. It’s funny but we played considerably better than we did last year when we beat them 1-0. However, we did give them a bloody good game and I know I sound like a broken record and a shit on about this a lot but when you look at the relative costs of the two squads then you have to say we did amazingly well. Put it this way, I guarantee at their lowest paid player will be getting paid more than our highest-paid one, certainly in the starting 11‘s.

Ultimately we lost the game because we switched off for a second when Ederson launched that ball forward. It was not the great visionary forward pass that the media will have you believe it was because the end of the day it went straight to Bednarek but his header wasn’t great and it dropped into midfield where City reacted better than we did and piled forward with great intent and unfortunately it was Kevin De Bruyne on the right wing and not Kyle Walker who would’ve fucked it up. De Bruyne picked out Sterling who it cleverly made space for him self by stopping and he swept into the net.  They had other chances of course that they will point to but they’re always going to have those.

We had chances ourselves through Adams and Ings and there were a couple of occasions where we took the wrong options and passed when we should’ve had a shot. On another day, with another referee instead of Mike Dean, we could’ve had a penalty as well. It is true that the high foot on Danny Ings as he went to the header would’ve been given in any other area of the pitch but you very rarely see penalties given for that but the handball by Sterling is fucking mystifying to me. I’m hearing that it’s not a penalty because it came off another part of his body first. Is that the rule now? If so, what complete bullshit. The ball comes out to him and he tries to control it with his thigh and cocks it up so it hits his arm which is outstretched.  He’s gained an advantage because if it doesn’t hit his arm then it just rolls out to the edge of the area where one of our players could’ve come in and smashed it in the net.  I feel that it’s one that Mr Dean would have given against us and VAR wouldn’t have overturned it.

Though we were better in the first half, I was impressed by how well we played in the second-half, particularly given that JWP and Romeu were on yellow cards which were correctly handed out by Mike Dean. City should’ve had a couple more players on yellow cards, particularly Cancelo who was using any means necessary to stop Theo Walcott but Mike Dean was at his random worst today. “Random” is not a good word to associate with a referee but it’s a good one for Mike. Mike Dean can give handball against KWP from 50 yards when it hits his chest but he can’t give one against Stirling when he’s 10 yards away and actually hits his arm.

It's All About Me and Don't You Forget It

It’s nice to get some positive press with people now beginning to realise why we have been in and around the top four this season and we will continue hopefully to stay in the upper reaches of the table. City will of course finish above us and so they should but we should remember that in the last few weeks we have played Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City and though we have only got one point from them - with a bit more luck we could’ve got six or seven.

The injury to Danny Ings is a bit of a bastard but appears it’s not a recurrence of the knee injury but a slight hamstring strain which does quite often happens after the injury. Today, Ralph threw on Nathan Tella on the back of scoring four goals as a striker for the B team. It was a bit of a punt considering there were many other options he could’ve used including Walcott, Redmond, Long or N’Lundulu and in the main, the youngster struggled to get involved but he did look good when he got into wide areas and played in a couple of really nice crosses. I would anticipate that for our next game against Fulham on Boxing Day that Theo Walcott will be upfront again.

Speaking of Walcott, he was absolutely excellent today with more of the direct running that has characterised his second coming at Southampton. The way he has adapted to a different way of playing at his age is superb really. I read an article during the week and suggested he was only bought here was cover but now he’s become an essential part of the first team and you can see why. He is one of many players who are outperforming what was expected of them at the start of the season. KWP has gone up a different level at right back, Romeu has in midfield, Che Adams has up front but the most ridiculous step-up has been for Vestergaard who today was absolutely ridiculous, picking out full backs and forwards with monotonous regularity, either with snappy passes along the ground or 40 yard pings over the top.  Put it this way, If Virgil van Dijk had played even one of the crossfield passes Vestergaard pulled off today, the media would be talking about it for years.  He’s come a long way since I wondered if he was only bought because there was a high lightbulb to change in the changing room and we couldn’t afford a fucking ladder (© Me – Leicester 0-9 game).

Having put into pretty good performances against Arsenal and Manchester City and come away under rewarded in terms of points, we now have a game against Fulham on Boxing Day which is probably all anyone is going to have to look forward to on over Christmas because our country is fucked. A couple of months ago Fulham would’ve been a guaranteed win but not now as they are putting some results together and look like a side that may even have a chance of staying up. Suddenly it’s a big game. Fulham will be without Mario Lemina which will make them stronger as well. It is an important game for us – they all are but it’s the sort of game we have to go and win so bring it on.

Happy Christmas from Tier 2.

Premier League Match 13 - Arsenal 1 Southampton 1

 

Theo Triggers the Anti-Celebration Mob 

One of the big six in an away game so of course, we don’t have much chance, or do we? Traditionally, The Emirates and before it, Highbury have been an absolute fucking graveyard regarding Saints getting anything out of the game but without fear of contradiction, we will never have a better chance than today to get something out of an away game against Arsenal.

Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, despite having won the FA Cup at the tail end of last season, have been absolutely shite this season, struggling to find a balance between defensive solidity and being a threat in attack. They still have Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang so they should be pretty good in attack though he’s been less mobile this season because of being weighed down by all the money in his pocket from the new contract he got.  Joking aside, he can’t do it without the service and that’s been the problem. Nicholas Pepe has been a £72 million flop so far and Mesut Özil has not even been included in the 25 man squad, partly for football reasons and no doubt partly because of his public support for a certain world leader. 

The transfer policy has been slightly strange with too much influence seemingly held by Kia Joorabchian - I mean, they sign Cedric Soares for fuck‘s sake, who joined Willian as new signings who are greatly overpaid for what they bring to the table these days. That’s a bit harsh on Willian because at least he was good once upon a time. Cedric has of course never been a good defender, never been good at crossing the ball and never been good at anything really, apart from Instagram. It looks like he may have a chance to prove me wrong on that front because with Hector Bellerin being injured, he might even get a game to actually earn some of the ridiculous money has now been paid as part of his four-year deal.

Arsenal lost at home to Burnley at the weekend and currently sit 15^th in the league so Arteta is under enormous pressure and it’ll be interesting to see whether the board continue to back them out or whether they pull the trigger. Sol Campbell is clearly a standout candidate should they do so.

Saints have a clean bill of health in the Sheffield United game so there is no reason to assume that much different will happen regarding our team selection. There has been some chatter about possibly rotating with this game tonight and Manchester City at home on Saturday but football is littered with examples of teams losing the game that’s in front of them because they’ve been planning for the one afterwards. One game at a time has never been more relevant.

And so it comes to pass as Ralph names the same 18 as the Sheffield United game which of course means Theo Walcott playing against Arsenal where he spent 12 years of his career.  Considering that he always got stick from the ‘special’ element of the Arsenal fanbase, it will be interesting to see how he goes.  Arteta has rung the changes and the Arsenal starting XI looks better than of late with Willian, Lacazette and Xhaka all missing.  In the event, there are not enough injured players for Cedric to make the team so his status as 3^rd choice right back is confirmed with Maitland-Niles deputising for Bellerin.  Cedric is therefore 3^rd choice behind two younger players.

Away we go and ridiculously for a big club playing at home, Arsenal are very passive from the kick-off and let us have the ball and we knock it about and get into the game straight away. It’s really weird as they look absolutely terrified to commit anybody forward to try and put us under any pressure.

We’ve just gone past quarter hour mark and Vestergaard slides the ball into midfield and Adams holds off two players, Gabriel and Elneny who both over commit, before turning and putting the ball in front of Walcott who is clean through on goal with just Leno to beat. You wouldn’t necessarily have the most confidence in Theo from here but he never looks like missing and he does absolutely brilliantly, chipping it directly over Leno and into the net. What a fucking beauty as he wheels away and celebrates like you fucking should do whenever you score a goal for your boyhood club.  I can imagine the Arsenal Fan TV Gooners yelling “YOU CELEBRATING… WE FUCKIN’ MADE YOU A BALLER BLUD”… or something.

Arsenal seem to have woken up a bit and there is a minor scare as Saka is given too much space on the left hand side and he cuts in and drills it across and Bednarek has a go at scoring an own goal but luckily it hits McCarthy and goes for a corner.

As said before, Pepe cost £72 million. Pepe is shite. I mean there isn’t even a debate. He is shite. I mean, for £72 million quid I expect a player to be able to chip a ball 10 yards and not over hit it by 50 yards over the far side. Arsenal recycle the ball and when it comes to Pepe, he swings his left foot at it and drills it straight to McCarthy again.

The rest of the first half is strange.  We are out-passing them and look by far the better side but we’re not creating any chances, usually because there’s a misplaced pass in the final third.  Walcott is terrorising Tierney and Saka on our right but we’re not asking enough questions.  Half time arrives and you know that Arsenal are going to be better in the 2^nd half but also that another goal probably kills this with Arsenal’s current state of mind.

The second-half starts and we’re slow out of the blocks and it only takes 5 minutes for it to all go a bit pear shaped with a ball being drilled out to Saka on the left hand side. Walcott is first to him but he bounces off and Saka goes away from KWP and Romeu knows he has a choice of absolutely wiping him out or letting him go so he lets him go.  The ball goes to Nketiah who knocks it to Aubameyang who finds himself clean through in front of goal and he’s really not gonna miss from there.  Bollocks.

The goal seems to have woken us up and suddenly we’ve started to get on the ball again. When we do this with intent, Arsenal can’t really live with us and we build up to the edge of the box before Adams catches the shot beautifully but it flies straight to Leno.

From our next attack, Gabriel trashes through the back of Adams and then kicks the ball away and gets booked so you do wonder about a players mental capability when from McCarthy’s next kick, Walcott brings it down and turns and Gabriel drags him down to pick up the most obvious second yellow and off you go mate.  Moron.

More Celebrations

There is half an hour to go and whilst we’re waiting for everything to be sorted with the red card, both Armstrong and Walcott go off to be replaced by Redmond and Djenepo. Arteta’s response is taking off Nketiah and bringing on David Luiz so they are now playing 5-2-2 and sitting back. Saints now have 10 Arsenal players in front of them all times and all working the ball left and right but it all seems a little bit slow.  Out of nowhere, Romeu gets his head up and picks out exceptional run from Redmond from the left wing and he meets it on the volley, scoops over Leno and it hits the bar and stays out. It’s a good effort but he will feel he should’ve scored.

I’m beginning to think it isn’t going to happen but then Djenepo finds himself in the penalty area and Holding just runs straight into him.  Tierney doesn’t give it and I’m waiting for VAR to stop the game for the next minute or so but nothing.  I begin to think I must have imagined it. You can tell Arteta is not thinking straight with the pressure because he thinks it’s a good idea to send Cedric on for the last 10 minutes which is a sacking offence in itself. Redmond immediately lines him up and goes past him as if he wasn’t there and then smashes a shot at the near post which unfortunately is the wrong side of the post and into the side netting.

In the 93^rd minute, Kieran Tierney goes in for a challenge with Djenepo and goes down like a sack of shit and his dad Paul Tierney gives him a free-kick. Over it comes and Holding meets it and loops a header onto the bar whilst everyone watches.  That would have been fucking ridiculous if that had gone in.  Full time.

It’s an indication of how far we have come that I am mildly pissed off because we didn’t win against Arsenal at the Emirates. I always say that a point against any of the big clubs is a very good point but there is still part of me that cannot fail but we disappointed with only get a point today. We were brilliant for half an hour at the start of the game but then it all got a bit pedestrian until Arsenal equalised but then we woke up and were the better side again and getting back on top when the red card happened. Once the red card happened, Arsenal just defended the shit out of it and settle for a point and we didn’t have the invention or pace in our play to break them down. We still could have won of course but it seems like we were hoping for it rather than going out all guns blazing trying to make it happen. When the red card happened, Ralph immediately made a double substitution. Redmond was going to come on for Armstrong anyway but he also took the opportunity to throw Djenepo on for Walcott. At the time I thought it was a really attacking move and we were really going to go for it but it didn’t really materialise. Both of the substitutes had their moments, Redmond hit the bar of course but more often than not, the pair of them were let down by taking on one player too many, in Djenepo’s case or by crossing the ball about 4 foot off the ground at the first man in Redmond’s case.

Of course, we should’ve had a penalty with 10 minutes to go when Holding just ran straight into Djenepo and bodychecked him to the floor. It was clumsy more than deliberate and it but it’s definitely a penalty in my book. He has literally just ran into him, nowhere near the ball. I could always accept that it won’t get given if there are 60,000 Arsenal fans in the crowd and no VAR but for fuck’s sake. How can that be looked at and not given us a penalty.

Arsenal were shit, I mean in real shit. They had one bright player and that was Saka who of course, set up their goal. He beat three players to set up that goal and someone should’ve taken him out. I firmly believe that if the game had stayed 11 versus 11 that we would’ve had a better chance of winning it that it was 11 against 10. They even brought on fucking Cedric to try and close the game out – that’s how shit they are at the moment. They won’t be shit for very long and that’s the point, this was the perfect time and I can’t help but feel that we wasted the opportunity a little bit.

Knobhead Celebrates Playing 5 minutes #BellEnd

Theo Walcott had a really good game and was at the heart of most of Saints better attacking moments. He finished the goal brilliantly, in a manner that makes you wonder why he’s finishing is so erratic at times. He was calm, totally in control and knew exactly what he was going to do as he went through on goal. He also drew the foul which meant Arsenal were down to 10 men. Che Adams had another marvellous game up front, holding up the ball superbly, being a handful throughout and of course setting up the goal. Again, no one played badly throughout the team.

Next up is another of the big boys who are struggling a little bit at the moment, in Manchester City. As I write, the City of Southampton has dodged the bullet and are still in Tier 2 so 2000 will be in attendance for that game. I won’t be one of them having already received my hard-luck email so more armchair supporting for me.  Bring it on.

Premier League Match 12 - Southampton 3 Sheffield United 0

 

And We're Back in the Ground

If ever there was a game that was tailor-made to bring us crashing back down to earth then it’s this one at home to a Sheffield United side have only got one point all season. Combined with that is the fact that this is the first game with any fans back in the ground and as you know, there was a narrative a while ago the Saints fans were somehow responsible for our home form. I was thought that this was bollocks but I guess we’ll see.

Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United took the division a storm last season and you could’ve argued that he should’ve won Manager of the Year instead of that German bloke with the teeth, bearing in mind the resources Wilder had to work with. They did start to fall away with the restart after the long break and unfortunately, they have carried that form into the season losing 10 out of their first 11 matches.  You know that they are going to win at some point and you have to think that they are due a change in fortune because they haven’t lost any of those games by more than one goal. With a striking roll call that includes David McGoldrick, Oli McBurnie, Lys Mousset, Rhian Brewster and 34-year-old Billy Sharp, one goal is usually all the opposition needs.

This summer they splashed £24 million on Rhian Brewster, a striker who had only played 20 games at Championship level, in another example of Liverpool getting an obscene amount of money for their squad players who are probably never going to be good enough to play for them. Unsurprisingly, Brewster has looked like the step up is a bit daunting for him, what with playing for a struggling team but, for the amount of money if they have shelled out, they really need him to score about 15 goals this season, or else they are really going to be up against it.

Let me get this right, I love Billy Sharp and when I look back on it, it’s one of the things that I wasn’t terribly impressed with Nigel Adkins about, not giving Billy a chance in the Premier League for Saints. All water under the bridge now I’m sure and Billy has spent the last eight years playing for his boyhood club and cementing his place as a club legend. Now however, he’s looking his age.  Last year, at the other end of the pitch they had Dean Henderson on loan, who has gone back to Manchester United and they’ve replaced him with Aaron Ramsdale from Bournemouth who is the kind of goalkeeper who pulls off eye-catching saves on shots that he really should save but seems to have zero presences, especially on crossed balls.

I like Chris Wilder and winding up Jurgen Klopp should always be appreciated. With him being a former Saints apprentice, I really hope he survives regardless of what happens with the Blades this season. I have nothing against them at all and hope that they do stay out but to stay up for the position that they are in at the moment will take a monumental effort and hopefully that won’t start until after today.

There was a few soundbites from the fans forum that was held this week featuring Martin Semmens, Toby Steele and Ralph Hasenhuttl - The main one being that Alex Crook is full of shit and just makes it up and has no facts. Well colour me surprised. This means that the Danny Ings and Ryan Bertrand contract extensions are not as imminent as Alex Crock (of shit) was making out.  Personally I think it’s good when the media are called out occasionally as we now live in a culture where quite often, the news is driven by the media rather than reported by it.  It’s all well and good until you consider the scenario where journo makes something up which is reported on a Sky platform, which causes odds to change and brings in loads of bets on Sky Bet.

Moving on and today it does however appear that we have a clean bill of health going into the game so they really are no excuses. It’s been an interesting week on social media as well with some of the lucky 2000 being unable to realise that it might actually be pissing people off who didn’t get a ticket. Then you’ve had the ones who have been going on for weeks about football not being the same and not wanting to go back until they can drink 15 pints and jump all over their mates again. Surprisingly enough, when offered a ticket, these people have not turned it down. I’m searching for the word to sum these people up. I can’t think of one so I’ll have to go with “wankers“. It is especially galling when these wankers get tickets and others (including me) do not. I will say that I am genuinely happy for the vast majority of got the chance to go to the game.

Team news and we’ve gone with the side that finished against Brighton with Ings coming in for Djenepo and Walcott dropping to the left wing.  The bench is solid with the main news being that Dan N’Lundulu is preferred to Shane Long and that Mohammed Salisu has been seen in St Mary’s.  The Blades have brought in Jagielka and Billy Sharp, who are 72 between them.  McBurnie is playing and he’s shit.

Away we go and the Blades have 5 at the back and are sitting in, hoping that McBurnie and Sharp can do something up front.  Unsurprisingly, it’s Saints with all the possession and we create some half chances through Adams who has a couple of shots blocked and then Romeu tries a wild swing from the edge of the box which goes miles wide.  Adams then turns superbly away from his marker and plays Ings through.  He tries to poke it through Ramsdale’s legs but the keeper wins and it’s offside anyway.

Armstrong and Walcott swap wings and Vestergaard changes it up from 40 yard diagonals and steps into midfield, sends one defender for a hot dog and play in Ings who wins the corner off Jagielka. The corner comes over from JWP and Vestergaard meets it under challenge and heads is just wide.  There was a time when he didn’t get anywhere near any corners but now he looks disappointed if he doesn’t score.

Enda Stevens decides to try and play football in midfield but falls over and loses the ball and stops Walcott streaking away by grabbing the ball with his arm. It’s only ever going to be a yellow card but Saints basically had a two on one break so I think you could argue that he has deliberately prevented a goalscoring opportunity. I don’t blame him but maybe that’s a rule that needs looking at.

As I’ve said, Oli McBurnie is shit. He is also a nasty little prick, taking out Bednarek in the air and then hitting the same player with a late tackle which goes unpunished by the referee. So, two cowards challenges and McBurnie’s next action is to be tackled by KWP and throw himself to the ground in a big swan dive. Unfortunately for the twat, when he lands he seems to have dislocated his shoulder or his collarbone or something like that. What an absolute cock.

35 gone and KWP is fouled out of on the right and JWP whips in the free-kick. Jagielka heads it up in the air when Ramsdale really should’ve come and claimed it and no one really challenges Bednarek for the dropping ball and then Ramsdale and Egan seem to leave it to each other as Adams gets to swing a leg at it and pokes it into the net. A bit of a strange goal but who cares?  Not I, not the 2000 and 1-0 up.

Half-time arrives and another goal really should do it. Sheffield United can’t be that bad again and start the second-half quite well and after about five minutes I find myself saying a sentence I never thought I’d say “they will be a better side with McGoldrick on“.  Then it happens, McGoldrick is on for shit McBurnie who is still obviously feeling his self-inflicted injury two minutes after half-time.  Sheffield United win an actual corner and over it comes from Fleck and Egan heads it way over the bar. Billy Sharp get a good reception which he acknowledges, as he’s replaced by Rhian Brewster.

Saints are stepping it up now and it seems like it’s going to happen and then it does as Armstrong breaks, plays a 1-2 with Ings and shoots and sees it take a horrible deflection off of Jagielka and wrong-foots Ramsdale into the net for 2-0 and 3 points.

Walcott’s direct running is causing all sorts of problems and one run down the middle sees him get trashed by a combination of Ampadu and Egan. JWP takes it of course but it’s at the outer limit of his range and it just flicks the top of the net as it goes over.  There's another opening as Adams tries to set up Ings with a clever ball but the rusty King of the Scummers is offside once again Ramsdale’s save is once again unnecessary.

Redmond is on for Walcott for the last 15. Adams is fouled on the right hand side by 48-year-old Jagielka and JWP’s freekick goes right across from right to left where Redmond picks it up, plays a 1-2 with Romeu and then passes it into the far corner of the net. Brilliant goal.

It's Better When Long is Not on the Bench

A couple more subs with Diallo and N’Lundulu coming on for Romeu and Adams and with a bit of luck, big Dan could have scored with his first touch as he closed down the keeper and blocked the clearance.  For the last 5 we passed it about with Diallo and KWP in particular showing some lovely footwork to keep the ball against some Blades who couldn't cut their way out of a paper bag.

A textbook win for the mighty Saints and up to 3rd in the league. Goal in the first half, goal in the second half and then put the icing on the cake at the end, all the while keeping quite possibly the most comfortable clean sheet you could ever keep.  Completed it mate.

It was a great day for Ralph.  Not only did we boss the game from start to finish more or less, but significantly, we put three substitutes on who all contributed in a positive way. Nathan Redmond of course got his goal but Ibrahima Diallo and Dan N’Lundulu also looked the part when they came on.  Ralph had a tear in his eye when celebrating in front of the fans at the end as well – what a guy!  I found his post match interview very interesting, especially the part about using the six months without fans to change things and make every aspect of the team better with no fan pressure.  I absolutely guarantee that a lot of teams and managers wouldn’t have even given this a thought and these are the sort of advantages that we need to take as of course, we can’t spend huge money.

Today, we had obliging opponents.  Sheffield United were absolutely fucking dreadful from start to finish and I don’t think Alex McCarthy even had to get his kit dirty or be remotely bothered by anything that was going on in front of him. Having said that Sheffield United strikers weren’t very good, we saw five of them today and they were all varying degrees of Championship and League 1.  Oli McBurnie was of course the highlight. What an absolutely massive weapon.  Billy Sharp hasn’t got it at this level any more and then we had David McGoldrick, who actually looked the best out of the five and that tells you all you need to know. Lys Mousset didn’t have much time to be fair but they need to see if they’ve got the receipt for Brewster. Look at the effort N’Lundulu put in to try to make things happen when he came on and he looked lively and interested throughout. Brewster just stood there. Pathetic.  There’s an old adage that says that you are only as good as your strikers and if that’s true, then Sheffield United are fucked. 

Elsewhere, they were just really average with Phil Jagielka looking every year of his 38 and Sander Berge leaving you wondering how on earth he’s got the fairly decent reputation that he has got.  Slow and clumsy and he must’ve got caught in possession about 5 times.  Ramsdale did ok but didn’t take command of the first goal which turned out of course to be the most important one. Much though I’d like Sheffield United to stay up, they haven’t got a chance if they carry on playing like that. They weren’t so much toothless in attack, they didn’t have gums or a jawbone either.

Che Adams was of course the scorer of the first goal and in my opinion he was our best player today and with some really lively and inventive forward play and totally deserving of the goal he got. Stuart Armstrong was back on it today I feel that Walcott also did a good job with his direct running. He knows he’s probably going to get hacked over but he does it anyway, takes the hits and keeps on getting up. It was a decent first performance by Walcott in front of some of the St Mary‘s fans.

Danny Ings did look a bit rusty, as is to be expected but leaving him on for the whole 90 minutes will still be a good thing and it’s only going to get better from here on in.  Another positive is that we scored three goals without him getting one.  It goes without saying that JWP and Romeu ran the midfield and the back four did everything they had to do, which admittedly wasn’t much.  There was some superb running and dribbling by KWP and some excellent passing as usual, by Vestergaard.

Today’s game was on Sky Sports and the coverage was very enjoyable because of the presence of Efan Ekoku as the co-commentator who was absolutely excellent. No cliches and calling out McBurnie‘s dive for what it was. So much better than Alan Smith. It’s a noticeable thing that when we have commentators and pundits who come from lower down the football pyramid and not the usual suspects, it is a lot better. I’ve thought the same of Matt Murray and Chris Iwelumo recently. These guys actually do their research and know more about the “other 14” than your Big six pundits can ever be bothered to find out.

Up to 3rd place in the league and the lowest place we can possibly be at the end of this weekend is 4th. How long before we officially become part of the big six? Ha ha - maybe if Arsenal get relegated. And it’s Arsenal at next at The Emirates, where we never win. They will have 2000 fans in place (Edit: they won’t) so they will have the same number of vocal fans that they normally do. Bring it on.