League Cup 2nd Round - Newport County 0 Southampton 8

 

World's Biggest Smile Spotted in South Wales

Carabao Cup night and a second round trip to Rodney Parade to play Newport County. I remember Newport County going bust at some point in the late 80s and before that I remember them in the European Cup Winners Cup Quarter Final and a memorable game against East Germany’s Carl Zeiss Jena. A reformed club is now back in League 2 after a stint in non-league and last year lost the play-off final so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they rest a few players for tonight because a Carabao Cup run won’t be their main target for the season.

I don’t know any of their current players but in the squad I do note that Newport have a player called Priestley Farquharson which is an absolutely marvellous name to rival Forbes Phillipson-Masters who Saints fans of a certain vintage will remember.  I’m not expecting Saints to be at full strength either because as Ralph has said himself, we have a better squad depth now so more opportunities to rotate for games like this one. That’s not to be saying that we will be taking it lightly.

Newport have a decent cup pedigree and have either knocked out or gone very close against some very good sides over the last two or three years. Having lost in the second round last year to Brentford, who were at the time from the Championship, we don’t want to be doing that again.  There’s a bit at stake for yours truly in this game as well because one of my best mates supports Newport County from his current home in Auckland, New Zealand.  We are talking on Skype on Saturday morning, so I really don’t want us to lose.

In the event, Ralph makes nine changes from the starting line-up against Manchester United at the weekend with just JWP and Jack Stephens retained. They were joined in the team by Forster, Valery, KWP, Bednarek, Elyounoussi, Diallo, Redmond and Tella and there was a full debut for Armando Broja. It’ll be interesting to see how ‘up for it’ a number of our current second-string players are.  There’s also some great news in the opposition ranks in that Priestley Farquharson is playing.

It took all of nine minutes for things to start going our way as Redmond cut across from left to centre and absolutely smashed in an effort with his right foot which pinged off the bar and straight back out it was controlled and casually stuck into the net by Armando Broja. What a start, both of the team and the new lad up front.  The Newport fans think it’s offside – it isn’t.  Trust me lads, you’ll be glad there’s no VAR.

Keeping Adams and Armstrong on their toes

It should’ve been 2-0 after that but Redmond showed his bad side, picking up a sloppy pass out of defence by the Newport left back and instead of rolling it across for Tella to have a tap-in, he drilled it wide of the far post.

Tella has his trademark big smile on his face after 20 minutes when a move that was started by Valery on the right hand side found its way to Elyounoussi and his first time ball put Tella through just the left of centre and he drew the keeper before calmly slotting in at the near post. The acrobatic celebration was a nice touch as well. The Newport fans seems to think it’s offside, which is embarrassing because it’s on side by a mile.  It was so far onside it probably wouldn’t have even gone to VAR.

Another lightning break and somehow the ball doesn’t end up in the net again but this time, you can’t blame Redmond for it because he did everything right cutting inside on his right foot and curling for the far corner and it was a really good save by the keeper to push it wide.

Having had a couple of sighters already and narrowly missed both times, it’s not a surprise to find KWP attacking once more from left back. Having chested down a crossfield pass by the touchline, he advance unopposed to the corner of the penalty area and then she smashed it at the near post and everybody including the goalkeeper missed it. 3-0, game over, piece of piss.

Half time and so much for the giantkillers.  Unless something drastically changes in the second half we should be looking to at least double the scoreline by the end. Probably won’t and it’ll probably end up being 3-0.

A couple of minutes of the second-half and we are on our way to more as JWP plays a lovely ball down the channel to Broja, who cuts in and hits it from a narrow angle. The keeper parries it out into the middle of the goal and it’s bundled into the net by Elyounoussi, who has reacted quicker than the defender. I think that’s his first ever Saints goal.

Blink and it’s five now as JWP again plays the ball on the ground in the channel and this time there is no middleman needed as Elyounoussi takes it on and drills at the near post once more.  The goalkeeper Townsend is beginning to look a bit shell-shocked and he really isn’t being helped by those in front of him.  No one closed down JWP and Elyounoussi was unmarked.

From the kick-off, Newport give the ball away straight away to Diallo, who advances with it before picking out Tella, who in turn, knocks it onto Broja who casually curls into the net from the penalty spot. 6-0, 55 minutes.  Class finish that.

Ralph is obviously feeling sorry for Newport at this point because he decides to remove Tella and Broja and if they are second choice strike pairing then Obafemi and Long are the fifth choice. The goals somewhat predictably dry up until five minutes to go, when Redmond produces a lovely right foted finish from the edge of the box with a smartly taken snap shot.

There is actually some action near our goal at 7-0 as this big monster striker that Newport have, ran into Fraser Forster as he was trying to catch the ball. Ever so slightly agricultural but no harm done and there’s still time for one more as Diallo finds Elyounoussi who once again, drills it past the keeper at the near post for his hat-trick. Somehow, I think the keeper needs to practice that.

Playing in Scotland Prepares You For Games Like This

Well that was slightly unexpected but very nice nonetheless. You have to say first and foremost that Newport were desperately average and as everyone knows, you can only make up for a chasm in ability by working harder and the team with the better players and they just didn’t. Despite only being able to beat what was in front of them, it’s nice to see Saints be ruthless and 8-0 did not flatter us in the slightest.   It was a case of “we lose or we learn” bearing fruit.  We obviously learned from getting tanked 9-0 a couple of times that it’s very difficult if the opposition keep their foot on the throat. 

The other thing today illustrated is that we do have a squad now and this is how these sort of games are supposed to go where the second string players come into the side and have a point to prove. Often in the past, all our second string have ever done is prove why they are the second string but today was different. Broja, Tella, Elyounoussi, Diallo, Valery, KWP and Redmond all caught the eye as attacking players, so they did all that they could possibly do, given the opposition. Now it falls to Ralph to know how and when to use them in Premier League matches.

I'd like to sound a note of caution in that last year, Ralph got taken in by Nathan Redmond playing well against Championship Bournemouth and as a result, left Che Adams out of the team for the FA Cup semi-final and that one really didn’t work out.  It was reassuring to hear Ralph say that you can’t read too much into this game compared to the Premier League challenges ahead.  I have to say fair play to Mohamed Elyounoussi, who I have not been the biggest fan of, to put it mildly - it'll be interesting to see if this goes towards getting him any Premier League minutes.

The only disappointment is that we didn’t score the magic nine but you can’t have everything. If Broja and Tella had stayed on then it almost certainly would have happened.  Anyway, through to the next round where we have been drawn away at Sheffield United which should give us another chance to progress.  Good luck to Newport for the rest of the season and especially Priestley Farquharson.

I’m off to get ready for my Skype call on Saturday morning.