Premier League Match 14 - Southampton 2 Leicester City 2

Saints in "In-form striker" Shocker!

After the steaming pile of shit that was the Liverpool game, it’s good to have another game in a few days and it is Leicester City at home. Okay, it’s not the easiest game we could’ve had but it’s one that is certainly winnable and one which we have to approach in the right way because they are a decent side.

Typically, we are playing them just as they have started playing well again with good win in Europe against Legia Warsaw and a home game against Watford in the snow, which they have just won 4-2. I think I can safely say that we are a better team of them both Legia and Watford. We cannot afford to going to this game with any sense of inferiority.

Leicester have been inconsistent this season and before these two wins, they were a few murmurings about whether or not Brendan Rodgers was the best man to take the club forward, bearing in mind the expectations were a lot higher this year given that they won the FA Cup this last year and signed a bunch of new players in the summer.

Two of the new defenders that they signed this season were of course part of our 68 goal conceding defence from last season with both Ryan Bertrand and Jannik Vestergaard rocking up at the King Power. I have no issue with either player because they both left on good terms without being dicks about it and they both were good servants of the club, especially Bertrand who we got seven years out of for an outlay of £10 million quid. He really should’ve played a lot more times for England than he did but for some reason it seemed that his face didn’t fit. It was a classic case of the Southampton player being in the squad for all the qualifiers when it came down to the tournaments, he was left out in favour of someone shit like Ashley Young playing out of position.  Bertrand gave us six good years and it was only last year when it seem like he was going through the motions in the final year of his contract. Jannik’s three years had been a massive mixed bag.  For a year and a half of it he was a disaster but he turned it around, won the fans over in the main and put in some really good performances. When he was good he was very good but when he was bad, my God.  If your team is playing well and the midfielders are constantly putting pressure on the opposition then he is fine but if the midfield is on the opposition of got time to pick their head up and play the ball in behind him, then you’ve got problems because as we all know, he does turn round like an oil tanker. I’m only talking about both of these players because they used to play for us as it is unlikely that either will make it onto the pitch on Wednesday as they seem to be permanent fixtures on the Leicester bench.

Similar to Saints in many ways, the increased number of players at Brendan Rodgers disposal has led to muddled thinking at times and too much tinkering which has in turn produced inconsistent performances and results. I definitely feel that Brendan is one who believes his own hype a little bit and probably thinks he can put any 11 players out on the pitch and it automatically work. If Brendan wants to start dicking around with his first choice team for this game then I’ll be very happy if he leaves Jamie Vardy out who even at 34 is still their best striker, though I have to say that Patson Daka has looked very good in their Europa league games. It’s a bit strange that Kelechi Iheanacho is back to being a bit part player this season, having been the main man in the second half of last season, who seemed to score every week.

St Mary‘s is cold. Of course the walk to the ground was cold and the concourse was cold but when you were in actual view of the pitch, it was a different level of cold altogether. Rain in the air as well, lovely. The team sheet showed two changes from the Liverpool game with Lyanco and Broja dropping out to accommodate Redmond and Tella.  It’s a bit of a surprise that Tella is preferred to Elyounoussi but I’ll live with that. Vardy is playing for Leicester along with Maddison and Barnes. Youri Tielemans, one of their better players, is injured so Soumare partners Ndidi in midfield. Predictably there is no place for either of our old boys Bertrand and Vestergaard, and the big man was the only one on the bench.

Come on.  Leicester have proven this season that their defending of free kicks is absolute shite, so it’s interesting that when we get one about a minute and a half in, JWP doesn’t arc it into the box like it normally would. Instead he plays at short to Romau, who picks out Bednarek at the back post and his nod across the box is met by Adams but the header goes straight at Schmeichel.

Is a good start for Saints as they build from the back through Livramento and the ball find its way to JWP on the halfway line and he just gets his head down and drives towards the penalty area before eventually running out of space and Ndidi concedes a corner. We are certainly mixing it up with Tella taking the corner short to JWP, taking it straight back and  and playing it across the 6 yard line. Salisu turns it goalwards, Schmeichel gets down well to save but it’s anybody's is it pops out and Bednarek swings a leg at it and knocks into the net for 1-0. What a fucking great start boys.

Ten minutes later and Lookman on the left hand side clearly pulls back Redmond but is allowed to play on and eventually Leicester win a corner on the right hand side. Over it comes from Maddison, it’s half cleared before finding its way back to Maddison and he does really well to get a cross back in,a bit of pinball and Ndidi smashes it goalwards, McCarthy parries it straight back out into the middle of a goal and there is Jonny Evans to ram it into the empty net. Bollocks. It’s annoying because her move started with a clear foul by Lookman but Saints have had several chances to get the ball away properly and just haven’t done it.  Not convinced by the goalkeeping either. Put that one down as preventable.

The goal doesn’t seem to affect Saints too much though and KWP is finding good positions on the left and he tries to curl one from the edge of the box but just wide the far post.  We keep going though and another corner and another clever set piece move which ends with Redmond having a shot blocked. Saints win it back about 30 yards out and play the ball out to Redmond on the right hand side and he gets his head up and curls are quite brilliant cross over the defenders away from the goalkeeper and onto the head of Che Adams and the man in the relatively hot run of form, scores again to put us to one up. Two goals in one half, what will they think of next?  Kasper Schmeichel throws a tantrum and blames his defenders.  He’s just like his dad, only not as good and I’m sure he knows it.

Leivester really aren’t all that.  The body language is poor and some look like they can’t be arsed.  We have to take advantage and have great chance for a break after Bednarek’s clearance finds Redmond on the right hand side and his excellent flick sends Adam Armstrong away.  A ball in front of Tella was needed on the left hand side but he played the ball behind him so Nathan had to stop get the ball and then by the time he came to shoot had no momentum and just dribbled it straight at Son of Peter, in back pass fashion.  A classic illustration of how to turn a good chance into a difficult one with one shit pass.  Still, half-time and 2-1 up.

Half times at St Mary‘s are usually pretty uneventful things, the most excitement coming from visiting the toilet or maybe daring to get in a queue for a hot drink but not today. Nigel Adkins was on the pitch to pick up his Forever Saint award. I’m not gonna lie, I got a bit emotional listening to him. He clearly still loves the club and was visibly moved by the support that he got from the fans. What an absolute top bloke.

There was an unwelcome distraction at half-time as well because the second half was delayed for about 10 minutes because of a medical emergency in the stands which turned out to be heart-attack. Best wishes to whoever it was and I hope they made a speedy and full recovery.

Anyway, time for the second half finally and Leicester have made a change with the absolutely shocking Soumare going off to be replaced by a 5 foot 2 double-barrelled player by the name of Dewsbury-Hall. Robert Jones gets on my tits straight away in the second half because the first time the midget gets involved in a tackle, of course he ends up on his arse because he is tiny and the referee completely buys it and gives him a free kick for being lightweight.

Leicester have definitely started the better in the second half and Maddison starts a move by leaving JWP for dead on the edge of his own penalty area before striding up the pitch, the ball goes from Dewsbury-Hall to Barnes to Thomas and back to Madison who sits Livramento on his arse and beats Romeu’s lunge to crash it in the near post. 2-2. Bollocks and fucks sake, revisted.

There is the unmistakable feeling of deja-vu in the air.  Rodgers has made a change and the momentum has shifted, while Ralph has not and we are treading water, not looking a threat going forward and struggling to get anywhere.  When the change comes it’s another mind-fucker.  Tella going off is fair enough but it looks like the 3-stiker bollocks is back as Broja comes on.  Redmond moved from right to left and Adam Armstrong dropped to the right wing.  Why?  Explain?

With 20 minutes to go it’s anyone’s game but KWP embarks on a funny five minutes. He starts by giving the ball away and then having got back in position, gets not made by Ayoze Dickhead Pérez, who finds Barnes on the right and side who is clean through and he really has to score but fair play to McCarthy, that’s a great slave to push that wide.

Having caused all manner of issues with his first substitution, Ralph corrects it by taking off Adam Armstrong and bringing on Elyounoussi so at least now we have players playing in the right positions and all of a sudden we look half decent again.  However, KWP’s funny five minutes isn’t over and he picks up the ball on the edge of the box and tries to knock it back to McCarthy but instead of that, knocks it off Salisu and presents Jamie Rat Bastard with a clear run on goal. I wasn’t exactly expecting him to miss but miss he did.  Unlucky Rat Bastard.  What a shame.

Elyounoussi drags an effort wide after a good run as Saints suddenly look like they want to win it again as the clock hits 90.  There’s a glorious chance in the last couple of minutes as Adams plays the ball into Broja in front of goal but rather than hit it with his left foot, he tries to turn onto his right and the chance disappears. From that Leicester break up the right hand side through Patson Daka and Pérez on the edge of the box shoots but the ‘Fingers in the Ears’ twat hits it too close to McCarthy who makes the save comfortably enough.

Full time and I’m quite relieved to get a point. Whilst the first half was very good, the second half was pretty non-descript from us. We seem to to take about 40 minutes off before coming to life in the last five minutes.  Again, for me, Ralph took too long to react when Leicester had wrestled the control of the game and the first substitution he made no sense at all.

I didn’t think our defence look particularly well organised today and all four players seem to have a mistake in them. We of course got very lucky when Rat Bastard had a free effort on goal which in seasons gone by would have ended up in the net. We got lucky there that Rat Bastard put it over the bar.

Nathan Tella did well in the first half but faded at the start of the second and he was definitely the right man to take off at that point but it should’ve been Elyounoussi that came on and not Broja. That substitution also moved Nathan Redmond from the right wing to the left and he proved yesterday for me that he is better on the right hand side. The cross that he put over for the second goal was superb, quickly crossed in with his right foot curling away from the goalkeeper and very difficult to defend.  On the left hand side he would’ve had it in his mind that he would’ve had to chop onto his right foot and then he probably would’ve found a defender in the way and turned round and gone backwards. Let’s face it, he doesn’t need much encouragement to go backwards and play safe.  He too was great in the first half but faded in the second.

Che got yet another goal to add to his recent run but Adam Armstrong looked bereft of confidence in front of goal again, scuffing a couple of efforts and never really looking like adding to his two goals so far this season.

Leicester put in a very strange performance. They looked a bit disinterested in the first half, illustrated best by James Maddison who just looked like he couldn’t be arsed – maybe he always looks like that. He came to life in the second half and scored a great goal at the near post in a move that he started and finished. Fair play. Brendan wasn’t very happy with their first half performance. Look mate, you chose Soumare to start the game and you are still no nearer to sorting out your deficiencies with set pieces. I bet he’s still gutted that he missed out on the Manchester United job to Ralf Redneck.

A word for the referee Robert Jones. And the word is “shit“. Didn’t look like he really knew what he was doing from the first minute to the last. I’m prepared to put up with a little but when Leicester brought on that little midget substitute Dewsbury Hall at half-time, Jones bought it every time he got knocked off the ball. It’s not a foul just because a player weighs about six stone.

A point at home to Leicester is probably what most people would’ve settled for at the start of the game and it’s not a bad result. It turns into a good result of course if we beat Brighton on Saturday.