Speechless
Over the last few years they have had a team that has been built on defence and built on the organisation of Conor Coady who is one of the best at organising a back three. Coady has now moved on to Everton, so now it’s down to the likes of Max Kilman. Leander Dendoncker has moved on this transfer window as well, probably something to do with the fact is Belgian and not Portuguese. They have signed a couple of forwards in Guedes and Matheus Nunes who are unsurprisingly Portuguese and Sasha Kalajdzic, a 6 foot 7 striker who amazingly, is not Portuguese.
Every time we play Wolves I always mention their Super Agent approach to recruitment that they have where virtually every player is Portuguese and every player comes in through Jorge Mendes. Every so often they sign someone for a ridiculously over inflated price or they do the same when selling, and every time I think it’s very questionable. Let’s leave it there.
Since the last game we had the closing of the transfer window and deadline day, or as it should be known, “Dildo in the Ear day“. To cut a long story very short, DITE Day saw us recruit Juan Larios, Sam Edozie, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Duje Caleta-Car. Going the other way permanently were Yan Valery and Oriol Romeu and out on loan for the season went Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek. Some very exciting talent and some pragmatic signings coming in during this transfer window and we have got rid of a load of players who were very questionable when it came to what their contribution was going to be over the following season.
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Iconic
The first outgoing was Oriol Romeu who was sold to Girona, in the heart of his Catalonia homeland. It looks like Saints bent over backwards to allow this move to happen for him as a reward for the seven-year service that he had given to the club and exemplary attitude he displayed throughout. What a guy and it’s genuinely sad when a player like him leaves but if you look at it brutally from a playing perspective, he’s lost his place this year to an 18-year-old and though he would’ve undoubtedly have played 10 to 15 games this season, he wouldn’t have been first choice and that, combined with a desire to go back to Spain and particular to Catalonia, made this a good move for all parties. How Oriol never got sent off plan for us is one of life‘s mysteries but he has had some fantastic moments in a Saints shirt. The three incidents that spring to mind are the Jack Grealish incident from the game against Manchester City last season, when little Jackie apparently waited for him in the tunnel, the Raphinha tackle which he made at full pelt after a 50 yard recovery run and when everyone outside of Southampton thought he was public enemy number 1 for a particularly bad tackle on Mason Greenwood, which I think everybody would now be applauding. Ori left a particularly classy leaving message and there shouldn’t be a single Saints fan anywhere that begrudges him his move and I hope that we invite Girona over for a pre-season friendly next season so people can show appreciation for what the man did for the club. One of the good guys at a time when there are not many good guys in the game.
When Yan was The Man
Yan Valery was in the last year of his contract at Saints and unlikely to get another one. He wanted to play at right-back but Ralph clearly didn’t want him to play at right back and though he had a chance of minutes when we were playing a back three, now we are not and basically there was nowhere else for him to play. Again, this strikes me as a move that suits all parties and he too has returned home this time to Angers, near his home city of Paris. He too has had some good moments in the shirt, particularly the long-range missile that he caught David de Gea out with at Old Trafford.
I Be the Cornish Maldini and You can Fuck Roight Orff mate!
Out on a season long loan to Bournemouth went Jack Stephens. To be honest, the way Bournemouth have started, he will improve them if given a run of games. It makes me laugh when I read Bournemouth fans saying that they think Chris Mepham is better. He isn’t, because he’s shit. Jack is one of those guys that you wish no ill will to and I hope he goes there and does really well but it will ultimately be in a losing cause as looking at their squad at the end of the window, they have absolutely no fucking chance of staying up regardless of who they appoint as the next manager.
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Bednarek Leaves Staplewood on Deadline Day
Also out on loan went Jan Bednarek. I couldn’t quite understand why we let him go on loan to Aston Villa to cover for the injured Douglas Costa for a season. Surely, we should’ve said buy him or fuck off. However, there have been a few rumours about his attitude and the fact he didn’t really want to be at the club this year and the fact that he refused to play against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-final last season did seem to be a bit of a turning point. Another turning point was that basically, when we abandoned playing with three at the back and took him out of the defence, the defence improved massively so the writing was on the wall and he was likely to spend most of the season with us on the bench. He has been going downhill for the last year or so and has become a very passive presence in the defence and had started this season in the same crap form he ended of the last one in. Never one to lead the defence, even when he was the most experienced player in it and I can’t imagine he’ll be missed.
After four years at the club though, there really was no need to make the absolute fucking knob headed statement that he did make saying he was delighted to be moving to a bigger club and it was important to him to go to a place where he could improve. Absolute prick. First off Jan, you are only on loan so they are going to see you play and if you play like you’ve played for us for the last year, they will be sending you back without a second thought. Then you will have to rebuild some bridges that you’ve just burnt down. I can understand people having a pop if you leave a club permanently but not when you’ve only gone out on loan. Fucking idiot. I guess this shitty attitude was one of the main reasons why we booted him out the door though I do admit that Villa are probably a bigger club than our Carabao Cup XI where Jan would be getting a game.
Incoming…. Ainsley Maitland-Niles. I’m on record as saying that I thought this wouldn’t happen because he turned us down once before but we have decided to offer him a second opportunity and this time he has taken it. A full England international let us not forget, capable of playing in both full-back positions and in the centre of midfield, so in terms of positional profile, he is absolutely ideal, covering for both the departed Romeu and also for the injured Livramento. It’s a season long loan with an option to buy so it’s up to him really. He’s at an age now, 24, where he really has to make it happen.
A further raid on the Manchester City Academy brought to two more youngsters south in the shape of Sam Edozie and Juan Larios. Edozie is primarily left winger and Larios a left back. All we are hoping is that they are anywhere near as good as Romeo Lavia and if so, Larios will certainly give Perraud competition for the left back spot and Edozie has a real chance of staking a claim in our problem number 10 positions.
Right on 11 o’clock, having booted three centre backs out of the door, we had one coming in the shape of Duje Carleta-Car, a Croatian international who performed well at the Euros. He is another big unit standing 6 foot 4, with a decent turn of pace so on the face of it, he sounds like a similar profile player to ABK and Salisu to play in the centre of defence. There is a school of thought that having found a centre back partnership, why do we need another high-profile one like this. Well, the injury to Lavia shows you that you can’t over play these young players, so you need to have a good option for rotation should ABK or Salisu need a break at any point.
It has been a massively busy transfer window for us and one which we emerge from with a much stronger squad in terms of quality. A number of stagnant players have been shipped out and replaced with young, hungry players. Yes we could probably have done with the striker/winger that we needed and there is an obvious issue if Che Adams gets injured. We desperately needed a clear out and this has been amazing effort for one window and I can’t imagine many have any issue with any of the players who have left.. Nathan Redmond and Theo Walcott are still around and won’t contribute much, but everyone else is gone, either permanently or for the season. What we end up doing with the likes of Thierry Small, Dynel Simeu, Will Smallbone, Nathan Tella, Jack Stephens and Jan bloody Bednarek at the end of the season, is anyone’s guess.
Back to today and no real surprises in the team news with Aribo coming in for the injured Lavia and JWP dropping back next to Diallo. Our bench includes three of our very new signings with Maitland-Niles, Edozie and Larios all included. Caleta-Car’s international clearance has apparently not come through yet. Wolves have indeed given a debut to the new giant striker Kalajdzic in place of Raul Jimenez.
The game starts in the usual way that it always does against Wolves with the first physical challenge of any nature whatsoever leaving a Wolves player rolling around in agony before getting back to his feet and being perfectly okay. Wankers to a man.
The first goalmouth action is all of our own making but in a bad way as Adam Armstrong sells Diallo a bit short and Diallo gives it away in midfield. Wolves attack quickly on the right hand side with Perraud out of position having run forward and Nunes picks out Neto and we are waiting for the inevitable goal but he drags it wide.
Aribo is making some good breaks forward from midfield and his cross from the left is deflected by a Wolves hand out as far as Adam Armstrong on the edge of the penalty area and he bends one wide of the far post. Not a bad effort and now Saints are looking better with Elyounoussi putting Adams away on the right hand side and it gets to the line and belts it across and Aribo’s flick is blocked by Neves.
Saints are having a good little spell now with Aribo and KWP combining down the right hand side which allows KWP to get the cross over, which is blocked by the knee and then arm of Nathan Collins but as we all know, we aren’t getting a penalty for that even though the ball coming off his arm from his own shit touch, stops the ball going through to Adams at the back post. We do get a corner though and we should go from there as JWP is delivery perfectly picks out ABK 15 yards out with a free header but he nods it wide.
Wolves do actually look better going forward than they usually do with Nunes and Neto causing problems. When they win a corner, the problem is the giant Kalajdzic, and he heads wide from one in the typical fashion of a player who is not used to having to jump.
At the other in Neves gives it away in midfield and we break with Elyounoussi with Adams ahead of him but in typical Moi fashion, he takes too long to release the ball, so Adams has to check back to stay on side and when he does eventually release it, all the angles have gone and the attack dies.
Half time approaching and a Saints attack breaks down as Elyounoussi tries to flick it through to Adams and Wolves break fast down our left. Perraud closes down the ball carrier Neto, but Diallo has not tracked his runner Nunes, who gets down the right-hand side delivers a low cross which meets the run of Podence at back post,... a run which has not been tracked by anybody, and he bobbles a finish over Bazunu and into the net. Lucky bastard. If he’d heard it properly then Baz would’ve saved it. Fucks sake.
Even with half time only a minute away, we create another chance as Adams muscles a defender off the ball and via Adam Armstrong and Aribo, the ball gets laid back to Ward-Prowse to have a shot from the edge of the box and with unerring accuracy, he picks out Che Adams arse with the shot.
Half-time. Here we fucking go again and I expect we’ll get about 15 minutes of actual play in the second half as they roll around and shithouse it.
The first 10 minutes of the second half don’t amount to much so Ralph and the Brains Trust goes to the bench and we take off our two worst performing players in Diallo and Elyounoussi, for Moussa Djenepo and Stuart Armstrong.
We immediately start putting pressure on with Stuart Armstrong to the fore, running at the defence and playing Aribo through on the right. He smashes it across and Jose Sa makes a complete bollocks of it and palms it up in the air and it comes down about a yard out to Che Adams who can’t miss and he knocks it into the net in untidy fashion. Doesn’t mater… get in!!!. Oh shit, it does matter - disallowed. What the fuck? Oh fuck me, he’s missed it with his head and bundled in with his arm. Dear Oh fucking Lord.
Unperturbed, Saints come again with Stuart Armstrong having a cross blocked and then volleying a second one over and Adams gets up brilliantly above Ait-Nouri and thumps a header on to the bar. Fuck me, this isn’t happening.
We’ve gone 4-2-2-2 now with Sam Edozie, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sekou Mara all on with Perraud, Adam Armstrong and Aribo making way.
Wolves are still dangerous on the break with Guedes sprinting into the box and being muscled out of it by ABK and collapsing like a sack of shit. The referee doesn’t want anything to do with it but he does want something to do with Rúben Neves a second later, who hacks Edozie down after he went round another Wolves player and picks up the most deserved yellow card you’ll ever. It’s the sort of challenge that I would absolutely have no problem with people getting sent off for because it’s totally premeditated and you are just wiping someone out. In a classic case of whatabouttery, Neves is pointing to the other end of the pitch and the ABK challenge – as if that’s relevant you fucking twat.
Edozie isn’t bothered and the next time he gets the ball, he nutmegs Neves and burns the full back and gets the ball in but we’ve got no one in the box, which considering we’re 1-0 down with a couple of minutes to go, is ridiculous. Full time.
And it’s happened again, another fucking defeat against the play-acting, time-wasting Wolves team. Also today of course, they have the luck on their side with the finish by Podence being a complete fluke and us and Che Adams conspiring to miss two of the clearest, simplest chances you will ever see.
The bottom line is we deserved the point from that game and we created two gilt-edged chances to get a point. Hitting the bar from 5 yards with a header was bad enough but the one where he only had to nod it into an empty net and managed to handball it was on a different level altogether. It’s such a shame that for all Che’s improvement this year, sticking the ball in the net is still a bit of an issue. It was good to hear Ralph backing him afterwards, mentioning his improvement and also that it was the first bad miss this season. His importance to our attacking play this season has been massive and this doesn’t change because of one off bad day in front of goal.
ABK and Sali Show How To Handle The Massive Bloke
The positives today were another really good performance by the centre back pairing of ABK and Salisu. JWP had another good game in midfield and a couple of the substitutes in Stuart Armstrong and Sam Edozie really added something for the time that they were on the pitch.
We really should’ve scored in the first half as well but Elyounoussi butchered a couple of breaks simply by being too slow to do what he needed to do, like he always is. This is never going to change with him, and Ralph and the coaches need to accept this. Diallo didn't take his opportunity to step up in Lavia's absence and I full expect Maitland-Niles to start next week.
I don’t blame Ralph for being totally pissed off with the fact that we lost today. I don’t think he personally did a lot wrong but the inexplicable misses in front of goal change the whole picture and change everyone’s view of the game. If those chances go in then no one is complaining about anything in the starting line-up and no one is complaining that we didn’t sign another striker in the transfer window. I’m afraid today is one of those that we just have to put down to one of those things however cliched and fucking annoying that sounds.
A hectic week which has been mainly positive ends on a sour note with our usual defeat against an incredibly irritating Wolves side. Onwards to the next game at home to Brentford, who have started this season pretty well and have just stuck five goals past Leeds. Bring it on and up the fucking Saints.
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