Premier League Match 30 - Leeds United 1 Southampton 1

 

What Happened Next?

After another international break we are back in the room with a trip to Elland Road to face relegation threatened Leeds United. Well, I say relegation threatened when in fact, they have 29 points and probably only need about 5 more to secure a third season in a row in the Premier League.

Leeds have had a perfect combination this season of not taking teams by surprise anymore, not strengthening their squad sufficiently in the summer or in January and having long-term injuries to their best players. Their best players are of course Patrick Bamford and Kalvin Phillips have been missing for the majority of the season. Any club outside of the big boys would struggle with their best striker and best midfielder missing and their predicament this season has reminded me a little bit of us last season when we had virtually no defenders and then Romeu got injured, ironically on the cabbage patch they call the pitch at Elland Road.   Apparently it’s better this year.

One thing to say in Leeds credit is that they have not bitched about their circumstances and have just got on with it, not calling a single game off for Covid related reasons which they undoubtedly could’ve done before Christmas. Instead of that, they showed integrity and fulfilled the fixture list with a team of young players and took some hammerings but fair play to them for at least turning up. Remembering that about Leeds makes me remember the shambles of the Covid call-offs and how I still strongly believe that every team that called the game off should be deducted three points.  Thanks to the FA being useless though, they officially broke no rules.

Leeds of course have had a change of manager with the iconic Marcelo Bielsa being replaced by American, Jesse Marsch. I don’t know too much about Marsch other than he’s spent time in German football and has been in the same building as Ralph Hasenhuttl before, when he was at RB Leipzig. For me it’s a real shame that Bielsa had to be replaced but the couple of results that Leeds have got under Marsch probably justifies the decision as those six points I’ve gone a long way to putting them in the relative position of safety that they are in now.

The international break was interesting from a Saints perspective because having scandalously been left out of the original squad, KWP got his overdue called up and played in both England games against Switzerland and the Ivory Coast at right back. There wasn’t a massive amount of defending to be done in either game and he can be very happy with his first two appearances for England.  It’s all pretty academic because you know but no matter what he does, he is not going to get in front of James, Alexander-Arnold, Trippier and Walker in the pecking order.  In a way, it was a shame he didn’t get a go at left back where there are fewer choices, just a big fat one in Luke Shaw.

Join Southampton, Play Games, Get Rewards

JWP formed part of an excellent midfield three against the Ivory Coast along with Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham. There was the perfect balance of steel and style, running with the ball and passing amongst the three of them and it stood out as an absolutely perfect combination for playing competitive games for England.  Of course, it’s highly unlikely to happen considering that JWP plays for Southampton and he’s up against the Liverpool captain and Kalvin Phillips, who Southgate will always prefer because he’s seen as more defensive.  There was also a rather bizarre like call up for Fraser Forster, who didn’t play in either game but it would’ve been good for his confidence to be back with England squad even though it was as a result of a couple of late drop-outs from Ramsdale and Johnstone respectively.

Back to today and Saints have to use memories of last year as motivation for this year. Last year at Leeds we were excellent in the first half and should’ve been ahead but then we conceded a goal at the start of the second-half and got absolutely battered after that and deservedly got humped 3-0.

There’s always a bit of a worry after an international break that Ralph has had too long to think about what he’s going to do for a particular game and there is certainly a raised eyebrow or two with Stuart Armstrong being left out and on the bench and Ibrahima Diallo being picked to play in midfield. Diamond midfield perhaps? Let’s see.  Leeds have Kalvin Phillips on the bench but Raphinha is fit and they also have Daniel James who they signed for £30 million quid from Manchester United in the summer. It seems like they blew their whole summer budget on a very hit and miss winger. I wonder if they’re regretting that now.

Saints find themselves in trouble early on with KWP getting clearly fouled by Luke Ayling on the right hand side but Anthony Taylor doesn’t give it and so they break and a couple of passes later and James is through in the inside right channel but Salisu gets across and times the challenge well to concede a corner.   Any Salisu challenge in the penalty area that doesn’t concede a penalty is a good challenge.  Over it comes and there is the obligatory free header at the back post, this time from Llorente but it bounces down and wide and he really should’ve done better.

There then followed a period of absolute carnage around our penalty area as a couple of shots are blocked and then Livramento should clear but instead of that he slipped on his arse and Leeds create another chance which is blocked and eventually goes out to Klich and he puts it wide via a deflection off a Leeds arse.

Tino bursts away down the right hand side before getting a low cross into the box. It’s behind Che Adams but he adjusts to knock the ball back to Elyounoussi who can’t get enough on it with his first time effort which goes straight at Meslier with the Unfeasibly large head.

It’s a rare respite though from the constant Leeds pressure. Our midfield is nowhere and we don’t seem to be adapting to our change of formation and Leeds just piss through and we are fortunate that Daniel James is rather brainless and runs offside before receiving a pass from Raphinha. His shot is saved by Fraser but even if it had gone in it would’ve been offside. We get a bit of extra goalmouth incident though because the linesman can’t be arsed to put his flag up when it was clearly offside.

Another corner to Leeds and in it comes and more carnage as it hits the near post and bounces out. It gets knocked high into the 6 yard box and Bednarek goes crashing to earth before it drops for Harrison to stick it in the net. Leeds fans celebrate but again there is no alarm as Bednarek has received a two-handed shove in the middle of the back which kind of explains why he didn’t deal with it.

It looks like we are in for a Broja classic as he gets put away down the right hand side and is clearly dragged down by Cooper but Anthony Taylor once again decides but he can’t be bothered with refereeing today and allows Leeds to play on. Would’ve been a clear yellow card if he could be bothered to give a foul.  Anyway, Leeds go on and play it down our right hand side with a ball getting switched to Raphinha who decides to take on KWP and Romeu and manages, via a couple of very fortunate bounces to bundle his way past and he stands a cross up which Fraser paws out and Harrison swings a boot at it and via the outside of his shin, bobbles it into the net. What a fucking shit goal - the main issue with it of course is that we should’ve add a free kick up the other end. Broja is quick and Cooper is not and he knew that if the Broja got away from him then he was dead. Cheers ref.

Saints appear to have been woken up by the perceived injustice of the Leeds goal. The ball is clipped into Broja on the left hand side of the penalty area and despite Llorente being all over him he manages to keep possession and KWP finds Romeu.  He plays a cute pass through the defence to share Adams who tricks his way past the last defender superbly and flicks the outside of his right boot at it but Mega-head gets down to make a brilliant save and Elyounoussi can’t force in the rebound.  Fuck.

The corner comes in and it’s our turn to have free header is with Romeu knocking it back into the danger area twice before Adams tees up KWP on the edge of the box on his side footed effort goes narrowly over the angle of post and bar.

Half-time comes and whilst ten minutes ago, I was convinced that Ralph had to change it and go back to the regular 4-2-2-2 formation, for the last 10 minutes we’ve been the better side so it wouldn’t surprise me if he stays with it for a little while. Diallo and JWP have got to get themselves closer to Romeu and the full-backs need to get higher because we are just too easy to play through at the moment.

"I'll Just Lie Down Here Lads"

The first incident at the start of the second-half is all about KWP and it’s mental as he gets through two challenges plays a 1-2 with Diallo and just keeps going, bundling past 3 or four players before the clumsy and shit Ayling hooks him over on the edge of the penalty area. Mr Ward-Prowse - it is time for your curtain call.  This is in the perfect position about 5 yards outside the box and just to the left of centre. Leeds line-up a wall and Dan James lies down behind it, presumably because of all the times that JWP has tried to go under the wall. That would be none by the way. With James facing his own goalkeeper, what it does give him is the perfect view as JWP steps up and as predictably as you like, spins it up and over the wall and into the top corner with the keeper getting the faintest of touches but no chance.  Get in.

Saints now look more the likely to score again as we play across the top of the Leeds penalty area but Romeu slightly overhits the pass that could’ve given Tino a shot at goal and he has to cross it and though Broja meets his low cross he doesn’t get the right connection of it as he is in front of the near post and the ball spins wide.

The only real danger to Saints is when we give the ball away cheaply which we do as Adams and Diallo leave a shooting chance to each other and away go leads through Rodrigo and he gets his head up and finds Raphinha but luckily, Leeds most technically gifted player has a nightmare from the edge of the box and lamely chips it over the bar.

He’s also involved in a heart-in-mouth moment as Diallo runs over the back of him on the edge of the box but thankfully, Anthony Taylor is nothing but consistent and gives nothing.  One of those that doesn’t get overturned if it was given and also if it wasn’t.  With lots more huff and puff but no goalmouth action, both teams seem to settle for a draw.

The first thing to say is that it was definitely a fair result for both teams. It was a strange second-half in lots of ways in that there was lots of energy in the middle third in particular but not much quality in the boxes which meant apart from JWP’s standard free-kick, there was little or nothing for either goalkeeper to do.

The first half was very disjointed from our point of view with our midfield shape seemingly giving us more problems than it was actually solving. The narrow three ended up getting strong out so Romeu was kind of left on his own in the centre of the pitch and was very easy to bypass. Diallo in particular in that first half was a passenger both when we had the ball and when we didn’t.

The Leeds goal was a mixture of strange refereeing, lucky bobbles for Leeds, poor goalkeeping and a lucky scuffed finish. At the time I was raging at Anthony Taylor for not giving us a free-kick when Broja was fouled at the start of the move, but to be fair to him, he was consistent throughout, not giving anything unless it was obvious. It worked in Leeds favour there and in ours with the penalty shout against Diallo.

As I’ve said, the tactical set up in the first half just didn’t work and I felt pretty sure that Ralph was going to change it at half-time but the last 10 minutes of the first half saw us begin to dominate the game a bit, which I guess is why he left it as it was, even when Romeu went off for Armstrong. I guess it’s another case of the end result justify the means and because Leeds were going into this game on the back of two wins and we were going into it on the back of three defeats, to stop the rot against a team with a bit of momentum is a good result.

JWP will take the plaudits because of a standard free-kick for him. It will blow up all over social media because as unbelievable as sounds, most of those outside Southampton don’t know how good he is.  KWP had a tremendous game at left back as well, cementing what has been a fantastic week for him. There were some lovely touches by Elyounoussi in the first half as well but he faded in the second and Adams and Broja both worked hard without any luck or end result. Adams in particular was unlucky not to score in the first half.  I was impressed with the performance of Jan Bednarek, who also had a good week, having qualified for the World Cup with Poland.

36 points with 8 games to go it’s a decent number of points and now it’s all about finishing in the top half and maybe working out one or two things for next season.  It was interesting today that none of Redmond, Djenepo or Walcott even made the bench with Tella and Smallbone being the preferred options.  Maybe it’s a pointer, maybe not.  Ralph tried to explain it away as tactical but I’m sure the players in questions don’t see it like that.

Next up we have Sportswashing FC at home – no, not Bournemouth.  Chelsea are going into their midweek Champions League game against Real Madrid on the back of a 4-1 home defeat by Brentford.  It’s an interesting time to play them for sure.