EFL Championship Match 4 - Southampton 2 QPR 1

 

"Goal music Arma?  No one Told Me About That When I Signed!

QPR are the visitors to St Mary‘s today and we need to sort our home form out. A very quick piece of research told me that the last time we were in the Championship, we won our first TEN home games and overall, ended up winning SIXTEEN out of twenty-three.  Of course, at the end of that season we got promoted and so it stands to reason that we have to have a record somewhere near that at St Mary‘s if we are serious about getting promoted this season. We had a false start against Norwich and ended up drawing but today is no excuses. We have to put this QPR side away.

QPR started the season hilariously badly, being 4-0 down to Watford at half-time in the opening game, which they of course eventually lost. They followed that up with a win over Cardiff before falling to a narrow defeat to early-season pacesetters Ipswich Town. They are tipped to struggle this season because their financial problems are restricting any improvement to the squad. The familiar names include the ex-Premier League pair Asmir Begović and Steve Cook,  Begović well known for scoring against us when playing for Stoke and Cook, well known for getting absolutely tortured by Nathan Redmond every time we played Bournemouth. I expect he is even slower than he was back then. They also have Che Adams international striker partner in Lyndon Dykes but a recent injury makes his participation this afternoon unlikely.

Saints have had a very busy week since the last minute winner against Plymouth Argyle. It started with the completion of the acquisition of Flynn Downes for the season. Whilst he did not set the Premier League alight at West Ham last season, he has proven experience in the Championship and significantly, in a team managed by Russell Martin. Whilst he doesn’t replace JWP in terms of style of player and creativity, he gives us a bit of grunt and personality in midfield which has been missing at times this season already, where at times we have been just too nice. From what I have seen, admittedly, only on TV and YouTube, I can see him playing as a 6 and as maybe as an 8 at various points of the season. With the profile of player that West Ham are signing at the moment, I can see Flynn being available to buy next summer so this could well (if we get promoted) be a great move for everyone, the player, Saints and West Ham for that matter.

With Downes arriving on Monday the rest of the week was relatively quiet until we got to Friday and then it all went ape shit with early morning rumours of both Ryan Fraser and Mason Holgate were arriving on loan. By the early evening, both of those were confirmed but unfortunately it turned out that the club were pushing out some good news to hide some bad news later on.

Ryan Fraser was first in, a player who I have always had the opinion, was a little shit. Part of that was from his all-action relentless style of play and part of that it’s from the headlines that surrounded him every time he has moved club. Basically, there was controversy in the way he basically went on strike to leave Aberdeen to join Bournemouth a number of years ago and when he left Bournemouth, he refused to sign a monthly contract to play in the last few games of the relegation season in the Covid affected year, and Bournemouth ended up getting relegated. Not only that, he rather in tone deaf fashion, said that they might not have gone down if he had played.  Eddie Howe, the then manager of Bournemouth, was not best pleased of course so it must’ve been with great amusement in the Fraser household, when Eddie Howe became manager of Newcastle where Fraser had moved to. Whether it’s that or whether it’s the fact that Newcastle have just massively moved on, Ryan has found himself training with the under 23s for the last six months and nowhere near the first team picture. On the face of it, he is a decent Premier League level player who is looking to get his career back on track but until we see him in a Saints shirt, there will always be question marks over his attitude. I have very cautious optimism over this one but having just emerged from the season where a number of players had dodgy attitudes, I’m not sure it’s one I would’ve pursued myself. However, he is known to Russell Martin from his Scotland national team days so I guess we have to trust that.

Early evening saw the arrival of Mason Holgate on loan from Everton. It’s interesting because we were trying to do some business with Everton earlier on in the week but it turned out they didn’t have a pot to piss in and were trying to negotiate buying Che Adams for £15 million quid and paying next to nothing as an initial instalment. With that deal floundering, the deal for Holgate has gone through with us paying a portion of his alleged 70 grand a week wages for the season.  Holgate is the profile of player that we need, given that he is a experienced ball playing central defender who gives us more passable back up options as an alternative to Bednarek and Stephens.

Thanks for Not a Lot

Unlike Holgate,  Fraser was not a player in a position that we necessarily needed more players in but then it became apparent why he came in as Nathan Tella completed a move to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga for £20 million. On the face of it, it’s a great move for him, moving to a club playing Europa League football this season so in that respect, I can’t blame him for taking it.  However, the other way of looking at it is there we rescued Tella from the scrap heap when he was released by Arsenal and we stood by him when he did his ACL and didn’t play for a year.  We also gave him chances in the Premier League that he didn’t really take and then loaned him out to Burnley where he admittedly did incredibly well at Championship level.  This season was to be the year for him to pay a little bit back but it’s player first, club a very distant second these days.  I guess it’s a case of moving on another player who doesn’t really want to be here but he would undoubtedly have been an asset this season so in that respect it’s a shame.  It’s a big risk for Leverkusen as well because Tella is completely unproven at anything above Championship level.  At least he didn’t move to Burnley.

Back to today and the team news drops – from last weeks’ starting XI there’s no Tella of course and also no Che Adams who isn’t even on the bench, which basically means that two of our goalscorers from last week are not here. Into the team come Charly Alcaraz and it’s a full debut for Sam Amo-Ameyaw.  Can we keep this run going with a progressively worse starting 11 every week?  QPR manager Gareth Ainsworth has them lined up in what looked like a 4-5-1 park-the-bus formation so it’ll be an interesting test of our patience.

Early doors and it’s Edozie looking lively out on the left and he twists away from the QPR right-back Smyth,  who falls over in comical fashion before Edozie’s cross hits a QPR defender on the outstretched arm. There are big appeals for handball but whilst all that was going on, Adam Armstrong picked it up and saw his shot blocked for a corner.  Where’s VAR when you need it for fucks’ sake?  This is a joke by the way.

The game settles down and nothing much is happening until Jack Stephens goes down and it becomes immediately apparent that he’s not getting back up again.  ABK is he obvious like-for-like replacement on the bench but it’s Flynn Downes who makes his debut with Shea Charles dropping into the back four.

Five minutes later and we get given a free kick in midfield for a foul on Adam Armstrong.  A quick tap to short to Ryan Manning he slides the ball in between the right back and centre back to Edozie, who cuts infield onto his right foot and hits it and it goes under and through the ex-Skate Begovic and goes on its way into the net for Sam‘s first goal in professional football.  Get in.  We haven’t been great but we’ll take it.

It was just after this moment, that the ex-Skate knew he had fucked up

QPR immediately show bit of an attacking intent and actually get some players into our half to support Sinclair Armstrong up front.   Needless to say, we are all over the shop as Smyth gets a cross in from the right, which is half cleared out by Downes to Colback, who takes a touch and hits it first time and sees it skim along the turf, hit the inside of the near post and nestle in the opposite side of the net.  Great strike to be fair but my appreciation of it is tempered by the fact that we’ve conceded yet again, less than five minutes after we’ve gone in front – same as in the last two games.

QPR are now looking at the better side and we don’t know how to deal with them.  Chair picks up the ball on the left-hand side and dances across the top of the box before having a shot, which is superbly saved by Bazunu but there is Sinclair Armstrong to knock it into the net but before we can go ‘full for fuck‘s sake’, the flag goes up so it goes down as a great save by Baz…. Push it sideways though mate, please.

Half time and a very stodgy half of football from us, probably brought on by the changes we had to make in the side.  Adam Armstrong has not really been effective up front and Sam Amo is finding starting a game a very different prospect to playing the last fifteen minutes.  Downes has settled nicely in midfield and we need to be much better in the second half.  Oddly, QPR getting a bit more confident in themselves at the end of that half, might help us a bit.

The second half starts in much the same as the first half ended, with us not looking completely convincing. Alcaraz gets fed a hospital ball out of defence but doesn’t deal with it remotely well enough and we cough up possession with QPR breaking and the ball finding its way to Chair on the left hand side who has a free shot at Baz and drills it straight at him. Corner. Over it comes and it’s pure carnage with us again not getting the ball away and eventually finds itself with Smyth on the right, but instead of crossing he smashes it at the near post and hits the side netting.

Another QPR break and more pinball around the edge of the box with committed defending but the ball seems to find his way back to QPR the whole time. Eventually it’s worked wide to Smyth again and a better shot this time which crashes off the bar and goes off for throw on the far side. We are living somewhat dangerously here.

It’s time for a change how refreshing to have a manager who realises that.  Ryan Fraser is on for Sam Amo and Sekou Mara is on for Charly Alcaraz.  Adam Armstrong drops into midfield and Edozie moves right to put Fraser on the left.  The two taken off have both struggled to make much of an impact today.

Fraser immediately makes an impact of his own by putting the ball in from the left-hand side about three times and it puts QPR on the back foot with Saints now controlling possession all of a sudden. Some patient build up down left with Fraser again prominent and he lays the ball back to Manning who puts it over and Adam Armstrong takes a touch, the ball drops and on the turn he smashes one across Begović and into the far corner. Brilliant finish.  Goal music, I don’t care, get in.

With twenty five minutes to go, we enter a strange phase of the game where there’s too much time left to just keep possession but we seen reluctant to go all out for a third goal to kill it off.  We seem to keep turning back into midfield, rather than do the obvious thing which at this moment in time is keep giving the ball to Fraser.  However, there is a strange incident in which Mara is wrestled to the ground by Colback.  Mara quickly taps the free-kick through to Ryan Fraser who is clean through and tries to flick it over Begovic who gets a hand to it, only for the referee to stop the game and make us take the free kick again – this time of course, with all eleven QPR players behind the ball.  Bizarre.  Imagine if Fraser had scored.

As the game counts down it wouldn’t be Saints without some more dodgy moments and QPR break down our left and the ball across is half blocked by Manning but arrives at the feet of young QPR sub Sideshow Bob, who luckily for us, takes a shit touch and we calmly play out of defence and get away with it.  Ten points out of twelve. Get in.

Keeping Winning With an Ever Weakening Squad

Thank fuck for that, A home win and just about deserved on the second half performance though you’d be hard-pressed to argue that QPR didn’t deserve anything. Considering that the team had the attacking heart ripped out of it 24 hours before the kick-off, any win, no matter how narrow has to be applauded.

The first half was pretty average to be honest with Saints unsurprisingly, looking pretty toothless upfront. Adam Armstrong, having reverted to his favourite position, seemed to spend more time out of the box than in it and we didn’t have a focal point. Sam Edozie had a really good first half out on the left and thoroughly deserved his first professional goal. He perfectly gave the QPR right back twisted blood in the first half when he walked round him leaving the hapless defender flat on his arse.

Sam Amo on the right struggled to get into the game but will have learnt a lot from today all will be better next time. I honestly don’t think he would have started today if it wasn’t for the fact that Ryan Fraser only arrived yesterday.

We pulled our usual trick of scoring and then switching off and allowing QPR to equalise and for the rest of the first half, they looked the better side. The second half was eventually a different story with Flynn Downes settling in to his role in the centre of midfield and Shea Charles fitting in nicely alongside Bednarek who had sussed out how to play against the right handful Sinclair Armstrong, up front for QPR, who has that horrible (for a defender) combination of pace and power. Those three shutting the door on most of QPR‘s attacking efforts for the last half an hour and the bringing on of Ryan Fraser was key, with the latter being the catalyst for our winner. The only downside of Fraser coming on was that it moved Sam Edozie over to the right, where he was not nearly as effective, possibly because QPR’s left back Paal was decent.

It is quite bizarre how Adam Armstrong suddenly looks twice the player joining in from midfield than he does when he plays upfront. Our lack of attacking options however was perfectly illustrated by the fact that in order to drop Adam deeper, we had to bring on Sekou Mara, who simply reminded Sport Republic that we need another striker.  Armstrong clearly revels in space, be it behind the defence or in front of it.  He’s not great when under pressure when tightly marked.  In the four games so far, he was the worst player in our side when playing as a striker at Hillsborough.  Against Norwich he came alive when Che came on and he moved out left and had his best match of the season in midfield against Plymouth.

There were some strange performances out there today with Alcaraz probably having the worst game he’s ever had in a Saints shirt whereas Gavin Bazunu had one of his best. I was also very impressed by how well Jan Bednarek coped with Sinclair Armstrong and organised the defence after Captain Jack had gone off. It looks like a bit of a nasty injury for Stephens so the signing of Mason Holgate has come at exactly the right time.  Bednarek got very lucky to be awarded a free kick in the first half when he got caught out by Armstrong’s pace but he learned from that and kept the powerful youngster in check from then on in.

Ryan Manning had a strange one as well.  There were times when I wondered if he’d ever stopped a cross coming into the box in his entire career but then up he pops with two assists.  Every opposition manager will be targeting his side of the pitch as the season goes on, especially if KWP stays, and how he copes with that is going to be key.  He is undoubtedly a threat going forward though and so far, that is outweighing any defensive frailty.

QPR were decent and with better finishing would have got something from the game.  They’d maybe be helped if their manager Gareth Ainsworth spent more time running the team and less time waving at the away end.  Characters in the game need to be encouraged but I felt he overdid it somewhat and it made him look like a bit of a bluffer.  If I interact with the crowd it will make me popular and they won’t look at my actual performance too much.  It’s called ‘Doing a Lyanco’.

Over to Sport Republic. If Che Adams leaves this week as seems likely, he has to be replaced and you are not going to be able to get a player in on loan who anyone is going to want to let go, who is going to score 20 to 25 goals in the Championship. It’s going to cost real money. With Nathan Tella having gone as well, you could easily argue that 30 to 40 goals have been taken out of this team overnight. Good though Ryan Fraser was today, he is not going to contribute enough goals and the rest of the team is not going to contribute enough goals to make up for that.  We are one Adam Armstrong injury away from having to rely on Sekou Mara or on Dom Ballard stepping up from the youth team. Goals cost money and not having them costs places in the league table. Who remembers the end of 2016 when we tried to swap Sadio Mané and Graziano Pellè for Nathan Redmond and Charlie Austin and expected to score enough goals the following season. Didn’t fucking work did it?  In more recent times we replaced Ings with Broja and just about got away with it but when we replaced Broja with Mara, we got relegated.

The books have been balanced and in fact, the sale of Nathan Tella puts Sport Republic into profit regarding transfer fees. Some proper money needs to be invested now because we cannot keep letting the squad get weaker and weaker and expect to capitalise on this very good start to the season. 10 points out of 12 is very good indeed but the next two games are probably considerably tougher than what we’ve had so far, with a trip to Sunderland and a home game against those arrogant bastards Leicester City, whose fans are still unbelievably being arrogant, despite that not working out too well for them last season.  Today wasn’t great but and we rode our luck at times, but we got there in the end.

Today’s win was hugely important for the short-term overall mood around the place. I felt that the atmosphere in the ground was a little bit flat, probably caused in part by what had gone on the previous day and it would all of seems like an act of self-sabotage if we had not won. The win keeps everybody onside though and so we roll into the last week of the transfer window before next weeks game at Sunderland. A couple more additions in attacking areas and we can all feel very optimistic about the season ahead especially having got the first of hopefully many wins at St Mary’s.