Sam McQueen

 

Sam Jumped the Highest at Swansea in 2018

With the sad news of Sam McQueen being forced to retire at the age of 26, I’ve gone back through the old blogs and pulled out some bits and pieces.  The thing that comes back to me when you read this stuff back is how committed he was in whatever game he played in, be it in the Europa League or in the early rounds of the League Cup.

I seemed to write a lot about hoping he’d get a chance which is the tragedy of it all really.  He deserved better than what’s happened.  On the positive side, he played both games against Inter Milan and was also on the pitch in THAT Gabbiadini away game at Swansea when they cancelled our hotel reservation and we won to stay up.  Therefore, he was involved in three of our most significant games over the past 10 years.

There is one comparison to Wayne Bridge in there... one of our own who started as a winger and became a full-back.  Sam had made an appearance for England Under-21s and was learning the defensive side of the game and it would have been great to see how far he could have gone as he had the attacking side of being a full-back.

He is one of our own, born in Southampton, so it has been nice to hear that the Club have done all they can for him and hopefully, will continue to do so with whatever comes next for Sam.

All the best for the future, Sam.

NOTE: The dates are the dates the blog was published, not the match day.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018 – League 1 Minus 10 Player Review 2017/18 Part 1
Sam McQueen has always looked good to me in any game he has played and in a season where some attitudes have been questionable, he always looks decent in that regard.  He is one that needs more games next season but if we have two other left backs then I would like to see him loaned out for the first half of the season to see how he gets on at a Championship club.

Thursday, May 10, 2018 - Premier League Match 37 - Swansea 0 Southampton 1
18 minutes of normal time to go and McQueen is on for Tadic and Tammy Abraham is on for Swansea.  The rest of normal time ticks by with not a lot happening.  Swansea are doing very little and with Abraham on it’s just going long and Hoedt and Stephens are standing up to it well.  Gabbiadini is making a huge impact up front.  He gets on the ball, he shields it, he holds on til he wants to release it and then he plays it simple and we keeper the ball, draws any sting out of Swansea.  He slides a great ball inside the full back and Shane is away and with McQueen free in the middle, he hits it into the near side netting.  Agh!!!

Tuesday, April 24, 2018 - FA Cup Semi Final - Chelsea 2 Southampton 0
Bertrand almost totally failed to provide any attacking impetus down the left hand side and looked like he was completely playing within himself. Jay-Z himself, Mario Lemina was a fucking disgrace. It actually makes me angry that this useless fucker was selected to represent Southampton at Wembley.  I was born in the city, I live here, this is the team representing me and we’ve got this guy representing me.  Why not select someone who it would actually mean something to like JWP or Sam McQueen. 

Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - Premier League Match 31 - West Ham 3 Southampton 0
Hughes said in his post match interview that he learned a lot about the players that he has and I think we can safely assume that Hughes will act on what he’s learned, unlike Pellegrino who said he learned and then did nothing. Flaky lightweight players like Boufal, Tadic and Redmond don’t keep you up, it’s players like Romeu, Hojbjerg, McQueen, JWP and Yoshida. It may not sound like much but these are the closest we have the likes of Francis Benali, Jason Dodd, Neil Maddison, Tommy Widdrington, David Hughes, Chris Marsden. None of them were great players but the sort of players you need in a relegation battle.

Friday, December 29, 2017 - Premier League Match 21 - Manchester United 0 Southampton 0
The second half starts in much the same vein as the first ended. United are only dangerous from a long ball or a break away after we’ve had a corner so when Rashford gets free on our right it’s looking a bit scary until McQueen hammers back and puts in a great tackle.  The biased commentary is incredible.  If that had been Boufal getting tackled then it would have been ‘should have released it, no end product’ etc but because it was Rashford there is silence.  No criticism of Rashford and no praise for McQueen.

Friday, August 25, 2017 -EFL Cup 2nd Round - Southampton 0 Wolves 2
Pellegrino got this game completely wrong. Any formation that relies on wingbacks, need you to have good wingbacks and whilst McQueen had his moments in the first Half and got some crosses over, Pied was completely and utterly lost from the first minute to the last.

Thursday, May 25, 2017 -Southampton FC Player Reviews 2016/17
Sam McQueen - A revelation and justifying Claude’s reputation for developing young players.  At the start of the season he was a winger who wasn’t going anywhere in particular but conversion to left back has been the making of him.  Struggles defensively a bit when the ball is banged forward and he has to compete physically but has all the attributes of a modern full back in charging forward and getting the ball over.  Seems to have a great attitude and in some games has been our best player when other more experienced players looked like they really couldn’t be bothered.  The debut in the San Siro will live long in the memory and it’ll be interesting to see him develop next season.  He was however, subject of the ‘Most Ridiculous Link to Liverpool’ award after something like three games.  Highlight – San Siro debut, Norwich at home in FA Cup – only player who gave a shit.  Low – being linked to Liverpool.

Thursday, April 6, 2017 - Premier League Match 29 - Southampton 3 Crystal Palace 1
Did we handle Benteke… no quite frankly.  He won every single header but Palace didn’t get enough players round him frequently enough so we were usually able to pick up the 2^nd ball and clear the danger.  Fraser continued his recent improvement in goal and Sam McQueen was solid enough though I did feel he got caught out a bit on the Palace goal

Saturday, January 21, 2017 - FA Cup 3rd Round Replay - Southampton 1 Norwich 0
McQueen who has been our best player by a mile, has a decent dig from the left which is well saved. 

As we started the dreaded count down to the final whistle and another half an hour, Redmond picks it up on the left and drove forwards.  He overhit the straight pass to pick up McQueen’s run but the Man of the Match just got there and knocked over a great first time cross.  Long meets it from 5 yards and unbelievably heads it straight at McGovern, a couple of players bundle in and it ends up apologising over the line.

The defence did what they had to do defensively which was next to nothing.  I thought Jack Stephens did ok but on the rare occasion when Lafferty got near enough to put pressure on, Stephens wasn’t dominant or imposing at all.  The best player on the pitch was Sam McQueen who was excellent in both attack and defence.  He deserved the assist for the goal and was a constant threat down the left.  We have to find him a place in the league side, possibly playing in front of Ryan Bertrand on the left.

Saturday, December 3, 2016 - EFL Cup Quarter Final - Arsenal 0 Southampton 2
I think that at the start of the season, we all thought the squad was a bit thin and in some areas it is but the emergence of McQueen and Sims has been a massive bonus.  Tonight for example, those two breaking through meant that Redmond could have a rest. 

Friday, November 25, 2016 - Europa League Match 5 - Sparta Prague 1 Southampton 0
Off the pitch since the Liverpool game, fans have had to deal with at the Alex Crook bullshit machine saying that Liverpool are going to sign both Virgil and Sam McQueen from us with Daniel Sturridge coming in the other direction. Hold it right there for fuck's sake.

Away we go and almost immediately, McQueen threads a ball down the line to Long who bundles past the full back and squares it to Clasie who could shoot but presents an easy chance to J-Rod who takes the shittiest of shithouse first touches and instead of tapping in, tries to dribble round a defender and loses it.  JUST FUCKING HIT IT MAN FOR FUCKS’SAKE!!!

The players that leaves who had relatively decent performances (and a couple of these are 'at a stretch') are Hojbjerg, Romeu (who was sorely missed from the start), Forster who was looking unconvincing but at least made a couple of saves and Sam McQueen who was easily our man of the match.

 

Sam Learns About Italian Football

Sunday, November 6, 2016 - Europa League Match 4 - Southampton 2 Inter Milan 1
Hojbjerg brings it down on his chest and tries to bundle past Perisic and the ball bounces up and hits him on the elbow.  Penalty given.  Absolute bullshit decision.  There’s some sort of scuffle going on as the Italians protest and from the other end I can see McQueen take a slap in the face from someone.  The ref is looking straight at it and calls the offender (Candreva) over and bottles it with a yellow card.  A good three minutes have gone by before Tadic steps up and it’s a shite penalty at a comfortable height and just right of centre with Handanovic going the right way and saving it easily.  Fuck off… half time.

Three minutes later and it all goes proper mental as Tadic and McQueen work an opening down the left and Tadic gets a yard and crosses low and it takes a deflection off one Milan defender and that seems to confuse Nagatomo at the back post and he stands there like a twat and it bounces off his hip and loops past Handanovic and into the net.  Cheers mate, 2-1.

There were many great performances in the second half but some players did it for the whole 90 minutes, in particular, Sam McQueen, Virgil, Maya, Pierre Hojbjerg and James Ward-Prowse

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - Premier League Match 10 - Southampton 0 Chelsea 2
Bertrand is knackered and is replaced with McQueen and Tadic, who I remember from the first three minutes is also off, with Højbjerg coming on and the two new guys combine to create our best chance with McQueen’s low cross coming in, Austin beating a defender to it, the flag going up and Charlie sticking it in the net.  Would have been great but for the bit about the flag.  I didn’t even get out of my seat as it was that obvious.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - Premier League Match 9 - Manchester City 1 Southampton 1
This all meant that Sam McQueen’s (£0m) first two away games were against Inter Milan and Manchester City. 

We are defending really well but we can’t string enough passes together to put them under pressure and for the first time in a few matches, we’re just launching it from the back with no real plan.  McQueen does well to bring the ball out and finds Davo who loses it on halfway to Fernandinho who plays a great ball to their left to Sane who is behind Martina who has dozed off.  He has time to pass it across the box and Iheanacho arrives to sweep it into the net.

It was a difficult afternoon for Sam McQueen and Sane and Sterling both gave him problems but he stuck at it and it was another decent performance from the youngster.

Sunday, October 23, 2016 - Europa League Match 3 - Inter Milan 1 Southampton 0
J-Rod does better work as we approach the half hour, picking up a clearance just over half way and poking the ball out to McQueen on the left.  He puts over a great cross behind the defence and J-Rod goes in with keeper Handanovic who gets there first and it rebounds off the Saints man and rolls towards the goal.

At the other end of the pitch, it’s interesting that suddenly Virgil is getting a load of attention as the media wake up to how good he is.  Maybe one positive from tonight will be that he lost Candreva for the goal so maybe the boys with the big chequebooks will be put off. I may be clutching at straws here.  I was very impressed with Sam McQueen particularly in the first half and Maya had a decent game.  Cuco?  Yeah, let’s leave that one for now.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - Premier League Match 8 - Southampton 3 Burnley 1
It’s all us with Burnley struggling to get out of their half and then Targett sits down and obviously isn’t getting back up again.  Claude immediately summons Sam McQueen from the bench and on he goes.  It’s refreshing in the extreme as our previous manager, the Lying Dutchman, would have put Yoshida on and played him out of position

McQueen is looking decent for us but Franny would certainly get a game ahead of Stephen Ward if I was picking the team.

Burnley respond with nothing and they’re all over the place, allowing Tadic to dissect the right back and centre back and put McQueen in.  Over he goes as he cuts across the defender, penalty.  It’s the first penalty with both Tadic and Austin on the pitch since the infamous squabbling children episode but no arguments this time.  Charlie, Heaton the wrong way, 3-0.
 
The final chance is down to another great break down the left and McQueen delivers a superb cross on the run which J-Rod meets at full pelt at the back stick but he can only scuff it into the ground and Heaton saves again.  Full time, happy days.

I also have to mention Sam McQueen who though he had absolutely fuck all to do defensively, terrorised the right hand side of Burnley's defence and put a succession of great crosses and of course, won the penalty as well. Made me think of Wayne Bridge who of course, started as a left winger and eventually became left back. He did OK for himself.

MOTD moved onto our penalty and basically said that McQueen dived, no mention of how well another Saints youngster played on his debut.  Yes it was a soft penalty but compare and contrast the reaction to that penalty and the one Luke Shaw won against Saints earlier in the season.  The same kind of challenge, a slight touch and over he goes but no one even mentioned the possibility that Shaw dived. 

Friday, July 31, 2015 - Where Did the Pre-Season Break Go?
The fitness building continued with a 1-0, last minute closed doors friendly at Staplewood against Brighton with a surging run by Sadio Mané ending with a tap in by Sam McQueen.  Then it was off to Holland on the Koeman Nostalgia Tour, taking in many of the destinations of his career including matches against Groningen (where both Koeman brothers started their careers) and Feyenoord. 

Thursday, December 18, 2014 - Capital One Cup 5th Round - Sheffield United 1 Southampton 0
Mayuka never seems to even touch the ball suggesting that he has no awareness or football brain whatsoever. What is the point of him being on the bench?  We loan out Gaston Ramirez and keep this fucking idiot?  I know he’s probably not on big wages but what the actual fuck is he doing on the bench when Ryan Seager or Sam McQueen cannot possibly be worse.

Monday, July 28, 2014 - Nice Quiet Pre-Season Part 2
Tadic made his debut in the first Dutch friendly and Pelle in the second.  The first game saw a 4-0 win against Hoensbroek with goals from a Sam McQueen deflected effort, a Calum Chambers header, a Billy Sharp penalty, and a Steve Davis long ranger.   The inclusion of Billy Sharp in this tour has been slaughtered by the bedwetters who know best and who fail to consider that Koeman may want to actually look at all the senior pros with his own eyes before deciding who makes the squad this season.  I don’t think he’s up to playing in the Premier league but if Koeman thinks otherwise and puts him in then fair enough.

The second game against Sporting Hasselt, saw Graziano Pelle take all of five minutes to score his first after Isgrove put it on a plate for him and before half time he notched again at the near post from a McCarthy cross.  The second half saw further strikes from a McQueen header from a Chambers cross, an own goal, a Mayuka penalty after Sharp’s chip and chase had been handled and a Gallagher tap-in after a Sharp effort was blocked

Monday, February 17, 2014 - FA Cup 5th Round - Sunderland 1 Southampton 0
There is always a nagging doubt about cup games and the team that Mauricio is going to put out though and here is comes….  In goal, Kelvin Davis – fuck off… Clyne, Shaw, Yoshida, Hooiveld…. Ok I can deal with that one as Jose had that injury to his leg and Dejan’s not fit yet… Wanyama… yep, fair enough, Davis, Ward-Prowse…. Bit odd to have both of them in there…. Lallana, Guly…. Whaaaaaat!... Lambert.  Subs…. Gazzaniga, Fonte… oh so not injured then…. Schneiderlin, Chambers, Rodriguez, Cork… all of whom would be playing if this was a league game …. McQueen.

On comes McQueen for his debut.