Premier League Match 2 - Southampton 1 Manchester United 1

 

You're Not the Referee....so Fuck Off!

For every club, there is huge difference between the type of crowds they get at home games and the type of crowds they get at away games in terms of knowledge of the game and passion for their team. Manchester United fans epitomise this in that they are dreadful Old Trafford but brilliant when they visit your ground. The problem, if you like, with Manchester United fans is the ones that never go to the games who have now been given a voice by social media. There were times last year when the team mirrored the fans and that they were dreadful at home but brilliant away from home and I think I read somewhere that is 27 games since they lost away from Old Trafford in the Premier League. Last year they had this annoying habit of being behind a half time and then having so much quality to throw on from the bench that they got away with it, never more so illustrated than at St Mary‘s last year when we outplayed them in the first half and were 2-0 up, only for them to throw on Edinson Cavani to completely change the game and what a surprise, we ended up losing.

That’s the problem with last weeks defeat at Everton for us. It’s not that we lost 3-1 to Everton because that’s a pretty standard result for us at Goodison Park, it’s the fact that we lost in exactly the same way that we lost about 20 games last season and on top of that, there were some very strange selections with two of last years undisputed better players being left out.  Today depends how stubborn Ralph is being I suppose. He deservedly got some criticism for last week and I wonder if it’ll make him take his heels in and leave Walker-Peters on the bench again. There is a decision that needs making in goal as well.

In contrast to our limp defeat at Everton, United started by smashing Leeds 5-1. Okay, Leeds played Bielsa suicide ball which you think he would’ve learned that you can’t do at Old Trafford but nonetheless, a 5-1 win, a hat-trick by Bruno Fernandes, four assists for Pogba and Varane and Sancho not even in the starting line-up - gives an idea of the strength they have.

Really, it’s ridiculous that we are even on the same pitch as them. Both teams start with 11 and there the similarity ends. They've signed multi-Champions League and World Cup winner Raphaël Varane to play in defence this season.  Varane will ultimately take the place of Victor Lindelof, who would walk into our starting line-up.  Meanwhile, we lost our main centre half from last season and it looks like we are replacing him with an unheard-of Brazilian player whose CV is quite frankly, nothing to write home about and doesn’t include multiple Champions League wins but does include two 7-0 defeats. As I write it’s not been confirmed but we can only hope that the scouts have seen something in Lyanco that no one else has seen so far.

On the one hand, Lyanco seems to fit the bill being a tall, quick central defender who is good on the ball but the question marks are the fact that Torino fans are not sorry to see him go and he seems to spend a large portion of every season injured. Put it this way, it’s a bit of a punt to expect this guy to solve all our defensive woes.

There was a niggling doubt, partly to do with the negativity from last weekend, that JWP with maybe move on before the transfer window closes but that was put to bed with him signing a new five-year contract which at least puts the Aston Villa fans back in the box for a little while. As we have found out all too often, having a long-term contract doesn’t really mean much as far as planning to keep that player for the duration of that contract but it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction even if it’s just protecting the value of the player.

I’m sure there are a lot of fag packet mathematicians out there Who will notice that we have brought in more than we have spent so far, without having an understanding of player wages and the effect of the pandemic on club finances. I’m hoping that the atmosphere inside the stadium today is good today but I’m not too hopeful because people seem to be looking for a reason to get angry these days.

Even if we can’t really be expected to compete with Manchester United on the pitch, we could at least pride ourselves in getting everything right off the pitch. The club didn’t help itself this week by firstly, botching the information on the Covid protocols for fans and secondly, not getting everyone’s season-ticket sent out on time when they had about three months to do so. It seems that all the concession tickets were the ones that had the biggest problems. The apology doesn’t seem to be very sincere either, blaming circumstances beyond the clubs control.  The implication is that the club couldn’t send a ticket out earlier because the presentation boxes weren’t ready. This is the marketing PR Bullshit World that we live in these days because take it from me, apart from kids under the age of about 14, no one gives a fuck about presentation boxes.

Today is a day when we just have to try and compete for 90 minutes. If we do that and get beat, then no one will mind too much but if we completely cave in and look like we haven’t got a clue what we’re doing, then it could be a messy afternoon. With the new refereeing protocols, which generally means being more lenient, then there is absolutely no excuse to not be getting stuck right in today.

Of course, we are back in the ground in force today.  The ticket shambles continues as the late arriving season ticket cards don’t fucking work in the new scanners on the turnstiles.  This means some poor sod steward has to type in a 12-digit number printed on every card, to let everyone in.  As for the Covid protocols – well, I did a lateral flow 'gag and dry heave test' and tried to scan the QR code on it into the soon to be mandatory NHS Pass Verifier app… and it didn’t work, saying the test was out of date, which it wasn’t, unless I’ve slept for a couple of years and it’s 2023.  More bollocks.

Team news and Saints are unchanged?  What?  You usually reserve that for a good performance and result in the last game.  United are on a funny one as well as Solskjaer has brought in Martial, who is average at best and Matic who is past it. 

Away we go with JWP kicking off to Stephens and he launches it towards Adams who is thrown over by Wan-Bissaka.  Free kick, 35 yards out, a long way left but worth a go and JWP does, with a bouncing effort that is on target but de Gea reacts to push it away.

United respond with a free-kick fired in from our left and it’s like someone has chucked a live grenade with the pin out, into the box. We are all over the place and no one gets anything on the ball as Lindelof misses it when he has an open goal in front of him Pogba has a go at it and it flies off of him and flips up and bounces off the crossbar comes down again gets headed goalwards by Martial and Salisu, who was in the goal at one point, manages to get something on it and get it away.  Keystone Cops defending with Benny Hill theme music.

We are a threat though with Djenepo getting away down the left and this time, there is a pass at the end of the spamming of the buttons on the controller and 25 step overs.  Armstrong aims for the far top corner and curls it over.  Down the other side we go with Livramento making Fred look like he’s running in treacle, before firing over his cross in front of Armstrong.

Tino and Fred

Another set piece comes in for United and Pogba this time gets up and heads it over the bar with what was basically a free header. Look lads, he’s 6 foot 4 and he’s got a fucking flag on his head. He isn’t easy to miss.  Keep defending set plays like this and it’s a matter of time.

Greenwood gets tackled by Salisu in the left back slot and goes down very easily. The referee decides it’s not a free-kick and on we go. We are building up down the right through Jack Stephens but we can’t go on because Bruno has done a one man surround the referee act and is pleading that it was a foul on Greenwood or that Greenwood is injured all that it’s a head injury or something. It’s not a fucking head injury but the referee buckles to Bruno and stops the game. With that, Stephens picks up the ball and goes into full shithouse mode, angrily gesturing at Bruno and generally losing his shit at the man who clearly wants to referee the game.  He has every right to be annoyed. Needless to say, Greenwood gets back to his feet and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him. Bruno may well be a brilliant player but he’s an arsehole.

A few minutes later and Bruno has the ball on the left hand side of the United defence and fannies about with it and Stephens goes in determinedly, wins the ball and Bruno goes flying and crying and waving his arms around of course. The ball goes onto Adam Armstrong and knocks it to Che Adams who tries a pot shot with his swinger of a left foot and it flicks off of Fred and arrows into the corner giving de Gea no chance.  1-0, get the fuck in. Bruno is going bright red with rage pointing and gesturing at the referee. Get to fuck and grow up.

Half time comes with a deserved 1-0 lead. This is an achievement but of course we have done this several times before, so there is a slight feeling of inevitability about the fact that United will punish us at some point in the second half and we will then collapse in a heap. There is a major surprise at the start of the second half, in that Ralph actually makes a substitution with Bednarek being summoned from the bench in place of Walcott. It looks for a second as if Jack Stephens has gone to right back and Livramento has pushed up the wing but no, not only have we made a substitution, we have changed formation as well, going to 3 at the back with Livramento and Perraud as wing-backs. The weakness of this formation on paper is that Moussa Djenepo is now part of a midfield three. Whatever happens, it is clearly a move to try and do something different for the second half and that has to be applauded.

We start the second half pretty well with Perraud breaking down the left and finding Adams. Who should shoot realy but instead, he takes too long before teeing up Livramento who blazes well over from 25 yards.  Sure as bears shitting in the woods though, just before the hour mark and we crack as Pogba dances into the box and finds Bruno, back to Pogba who pokes it to Greenwood who mis-hits his shot and somehow it goes through Salisu and past McCarthy’s feet. McCarthy appears to have dived the wrong way there so one can only assume there is a deflection on it. Bollocks. Now we have the twin challenges of not producing our usual second-half dropped pace shambles and also, not caving in in the face of a setback.  For a few minutes it looks like we are desperately trying to cave in as we allow Pogba to twist and turn with four defenders watching him but luckily, he drags it wide of far post

Ole makes the amazing tactical decision to throw on an £80 million quid player with Sancho coming on for Martial.  Hilarious.  Down their right they come and Wan-Bisskaka gets in a cross which Bruno heads at goal but McCarthy gets down to save well at the post.

Diallo is on for Djenepo and this is a great substitution because we immediately establish control in the centre of the pitch with three proper central midfielders in Romeu, JWP and Diallo. It doesn’t look the most creative, but we look much tougher to beat.  This is no slight on Djenepo who has had a decent game.

The next chance is ours as United casually try and play out from the back and Maguire dozes off, gets robbed by JWP who find Adams and similar to last week, Adams pokes it to Adam Armstrong who has to take it first time.  He hits it well enough but it’s pretty close to the keeper and is well saved by the diving de Gea. Bollocks. Saints continue pressurising and win a couple of corners on the right hand side and from the second of these, JWP‘s corner is flicked on by Adams and Armstrong at the back post can’t force it in.

With 10 minutes of normal time to go, there are signs that Saints are beginning to feel the pace a little bit with both of the new full-backs struggling with cramp. As it turns out, Perraud’s need is greater and so off he goes, with KWP getting a huge ovation as he comes on at left back.  From this point it seems like we are happy with what we have and we see out the remaining time and 5 extra minutes with relative ease.  The crowd have largely stayed to the end and the players get the applause they deserve.  That’s what 90 minutes of effort gets you.

It is not a win but it somehow feels like one. With a ridiculous unbeaten run away from home and the fact they smashed us 9-0 and the fact that they are Manchester United and we are Southampton, a point is a brilliant result and to be honest it was well deserved. It is absolutely a fair result bearing in mind the chances they had in the first half and the chances we had in the second-half. Could’ve lost, could’ve won.

There was a positivity about the team from start today which was nice to see. We got in United’s faces from the first whistle and never looked overawed and most importantly, we responded to the setback of them equalising and got back on top and had a better chances in the second-half to win it. Ralph must take a lot of credit for being proactive enough to make a substitution at half-time and change the formation.  It takes guts to do that when you are winning, regardless of what's gone before.

I have to admit I couldn’t believe it when I saw no changes to last weekends’ starting line-up but the first half team dug in well and did what they had to do. We rode out luck a little bit, which is mainly down to our bomb-scare set piece defending but took the lead that we took that into the half time break. United were always gonna come back strong in the second half over the first 10 minutes we didn’t look like we practised the three-at-the-backl formation a lot and ironically, once United equalised we actually started playing the formation really well and finished the stronger side. The big “if only” moment from our point of view was the chance that JWP and Adams created for Adam Armstrong which he will be disappointed not to have finished. It’s a shame that De Gea couldn’t of had one of his moments where he dived the wrong fucking way (much like McCarthy did on their goal). It would also been amusing because it would’ve been Harry Maguire dawdling on the ball which gave the goal away.

Amongst my queries about the starting line-up was Jack Stephens but he was absolutely brilliant today. Sure, there was the odd error in possession, but he brought something else to the team today with his refusal to allow Bruno Fernandes to referee the game and telling him what he thought every opportunity. His clear annoyance at Bruno‘s theatrics and badgering of the referee possibly explains why he got away with the challenge on Bruno that won the ball to start our goal.  As Alan Shearer pointed out on Match of the Day in the evening, there is no way that that is a foul given any set of rules in any era. It would’ve been given at Old Trafford but that’s another story altogether. Stephens is in the team I guess, because Salisu and Bednarek are seen as ‘stopper’ centre backs and Ralph’s preferred combination is one who is a pure stopper and one who can pass the ball. Of course, we have lost Vestergaard, so having seen it in the flesh today, I can maybe see the logic a bit more.  The question is whether Jack’s passing makes up for the defensive frailties that he has.  For today though, it amuses me that Bruno will be having nightmare about an angry man with a Cornish accent.

Manchester United and Manchester United media are of course going to town over the goal that we scored, saying that Stephens fouled Bruno in the build-up. Absolute bollocks. Ole is using it as a deflection for the fact that he got his team selection completely wrong and they dropped two points that they probably had down as guaranteed before the game. Stephens wanted the ball, Fernandes didn’t fancy the challenge and that’s all there is to it really. Also, referees are only human and it annoys me that referees don’t hand out cards to persistent whingeing arseholes like Bruno Fernandes but I’m convinced that all his histrionics only make it less likely that he’s going to get given a free-kick anyway. It was never a fucking foul.

It’s no surprise that the managers of the big clubs are reeling at having one of their advantages taken away. Salah has been diving around for about four years for Liverpool and Bruno does exactly the same for Manchester United. Surprise surprise, their managers are now moaning about the more lenient refereeing. They would be better off think about why the change in interpretation was needed.  They might find it was because players like Salah and Bruno were hitting the deck at the faintest touch.  One of the weapons that the smaller clubs have when they are playing bigger sides is getting stuck in to see if they fancy it.  That has been taken away for the last few years and now it’s back and the big boys don’t like it.  That grinning set of teeth Brendan Rodgers is at it as well for Leicester as he gave the opinion that Stephens fouled Bruno. What the fuck it’s got to do with him is anyone’s guess? In his defence, he was asked about it but when it had nothing to do with him but he should’ve just declined to answer because, I repeat, an incident in Saints versus United has fuck all to do with him.

Back on the pitch, Moussa Djenepo ran his nuts off and stayed disciplined until he had to come off around the hour mark. He was still a little bit erratic and why do one step over when 15 will do. I was impressed with his application and his spot in the first team is probably his to lose at the moment.  If he does it consistently, has some end product and of course, stays fit, then he’ll probably stay in the starting XI for now. On the other wing, Theo Walcott worked hard but again, nothing much was happening for him going forward and he of course was sacrificed for Bednarek at half-time.  

Fans and Players Celebrating Fred's Own Goal

The strike pairing is going to cause a lot of problems for our opposition this season.  Che Adams has notably grown in stature and confidence, now that he’s the main man and Adam Armstrong looks the perfect foil.  The new man sprints everywhere and defenders can’t hang about with the ball like United wanted to do today.  That, combined with Adams intelligence and improved hold-up play, means they will be creating chances for each other.  A bit of a pisser that Adams goal has been awarded as a Fred own goal but I don’t think he’ll mind too much.  Then we have Tino Livramento.  I still feel that the way forward is KWP at right back and Tino on the right wing but what a game he had today.  18 years old – ridiculous.

Nothing changes over the years. If a club like Manchester United fails to beat Southampton, there will always be an excuse or reason. It can’t just be that Saints put in a really good performance that merited the result that they got.  Wasn’t quite the same when we had two players sent off and you beat us 9-0, was it? Didn’t hear any Manchester United supporters bemoaning the shit sending off that Bednarek got and the appalling decisions by Mike Dean to not penalise Martial’s dive, nor the unproven disallowed goal for Che Adams in that game.

Anyway, on we go with a Second Round League Cup game against Newport County. We crapped out of this competition at this stage last year with a defeat to Brentford so that even though we will undoubtedly name a much changed team, we will be wanting to be in the hat for the next round and the players that come into play will have a point to prove if they are not currently in the league starting 11.  A team featuring Forster, KWP, Valery, Bednarek, Diallo, Redmond, Elyounoussi etc, should be enough to get through what will undoubtedly be a tricky game.  The positivity is back.  Up the fucking Saints.