EFL Championship Match 18 - Southampton 1 Bristol City 0

Behold, I am Magnificent!

One benefit of being in the Championship and having no international breaks in the near future is that if you have a shit result, then you will probably only have to wait three or four days for the opportunity to put it right and that’s the situation that we find ourselves in today with a visit of Bristol City to St Mary‘s, just a few days after the shambolic shitshow of a second half at Huddersfield. Bristol City come to us on the edge of the play-off places which is probably a bit of an over achievement with the squad they have, so fair play to them.

They changed manager relatively recently, which was a bit of a surprise from the outside, with ex-Saints boss Nigel Pearson being manoeuvred out the door and replaced by Oxford United’s Liam Manning.  Manning has so far won one and drawn one of his two games in charge but this will of course be his biggest test so far.  Known for favouring a possession-based style, it’ll be interesting to see the match-up today.  

Big Nige was manager of Saints at the end of the Michael Wilde season which was the season that saw Stern John almost single-handedly keep this up with two goals in the last game of the season against Sheffield United.  Pearson was brought in to rescue the situation after Whisky George Burley had literally pissed away the first three-quarters of the season and though he only won relatively few games, Pearson kept us up. Then, Rupert Lowe came back and because he knew best and because Pearson was relatively popular (and no one sang any songs about him swinging from a bridge), didn’t give him the job and gave it instead to Jan Poortvliet, who was up until recently, unquestionably very high in the “Worst manager we’ve ever Had“ stakes.  After last year, he went down a couple of places.  Pearson was very similar to Mark Hughes in that he did the bare minimum and kept us up but unlike Hughes, was not offered the job for the following season which probably saved him from being sacked about ten games in, which of course is what happened to Sparky.

Team news today will focus on whether Russell Martin’s annoyance at the result and performance against Huddersfield, translates into any team changes from the start. I would say that Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ryan Fraser are under the most threat out of those who started on Saturday.  In the event, Fraser was replaced with Alcaraz and there were two that were more surprising with Smallbone and Bree, making way for Charles and Manning.

Away we go and two minutes gone and there’s a bit of an altercation on the right hand side with Adam Armstrong and Sykes squaring up and after a slight push by The Saints captain, Sykes throws himself about 10 yards and performs about three rolls. It’s absolutely fucking pathetic by the Bristol man but it’s enough for Keith Stroud to brandish a yellow card at Armstrong. It’s one of the positives of the Championship that you don’t get as many diving shithouse players as you do the Premier League but Sykes now has his card marked as far as I’m concerned.

The first chance of the game comes from a THB diagonal which doesn’t quite reach Sulemana but the clearance gets nodded back to him and he’s away in on goal, cutting in from the left but his finish is ultimately, crap and just rolls to the goalkeeper.

There is then another incident involving Sykes as KWP is the slightest bit late to a tackle but down goes Sykes with the maximum effect and once again, the referee buys it at the Saints man gets a yellow card. This is the first referee this season who is really getting on my tits and we’ve only had fifteen minutes.

Sulemana and Alcaraz combine through the middle to tee up Adam Armstrong who takes too long to get a shot away and it’s blocked for a corner. The short corner is eventually crossed in by Stuart Armstrong and bounces out for Adam Armstrong to smash over the bar.

When Bristol bother to venture out of their half they actually show some promise, finding good space out on the right wing in the Manning Chasm and the cross is headed out by the aforementioned Manning.  In comes the corner, flicked on and Conway has a free header at the back post about 5 yards out and just casually nods it over the bar.  That was really shit from us and luckily, really shit from Conway.

Having not done so so far, it’s time for us to actually work the goalkeeper with Stuart Armstrong picking up the ball in midfield and driving straight towards the penalty area before letting fly and though it makes the keeper work, it is ultimately straight at him.

Sulemana and then goes down with no one near him and it looks like he is morphing into Moussa Djenepo and this looks like a hamstring.  Off he comes and on comes unmistakable figure of the man wearing Adidas Trampolino boots. Yes folks, it’s Che Adams. We now at least have a centre forward with Adam Armstrong moved to the left and Alcaraz to the right.

Bristol decide to commit some players forward and look dangerous, working a decent opening once more in the Manning Chasm and when the cross comes in there is absolute carnage and Sykes meets it at the back post and gets it on target but Bazunu flies across towards the post to claw it away. Great save and the first thing he has had to do today.

After a decent move and a crap effort on the turn from Adams, Bristol City get through yet again, this time with a long ball over the top which finds Conway clean through against Baz but the first touch is bad and gives Baz the chance to dive at his feet with his hands and make an impressive save. Impressive because hardly any goalkeepers do this anymore as they usually come launching out with their feet and don’t really want to even do that because of the amount of players who just dive and get you sent off.

Half time and zzzzzz.  Dull.  We didn’t play with enough pace to trouble them and they just stifled the shit out of it and waited for mistakes.  Must do better and there are no changes as the second half starts.

How's This for Goal Threat ?

We build up down the left with Manning finding Adams and then Alcaraz and he looks to have put Adam Armstrong through but his touch is bad and it runs across him and he ends up out on the right where the edge of the penalty area meets the goal-line. He manages to turn and almost casually picks out KWP on the edge of the box and he takes one touch to control, two more to nudge it left and then just like at Preston, curls it left footed giving the goalkeeper no fucking chance at all.  What a brilliant fucking goal and call me a bastard but I always find it quite amusing when people are queuing for a shit burger, some shit coffee or some shit lager and they hear the goal music.

The first thing I thought of when that goal hit the net and Bristol City kicked off again, was how important it was because Bristol City will surely have to come out a little bit more now and we will have to learn the lessons from Saturday and push for a second goal which should make the rest of the second-half a lot more entertaining.

For a few minutes it looks like the floodgates will open but Adam Armstrong’s touch again lets him down but his battling qualities win the ball back off a dithering defender before he drills it straight at the keeper. In the carnage that follows, the ball was eventually teed up for Alcaraz to smash wide from the edge of the box.

Stuart Armstrong then aims a pass at namesake Adam who knows he’s offside, so he leaves it and Shea Charles is the rather unlikely figure closing in on the ball in the penalty area. He is tackled however and it bounces to KWP who should just absolutely smash it but instead he tries to tee up Captain Armstrong who duffs the effort through to the goalkeeper

With time running out and aware that the energy usually dips around this point, Russell Martin made a double substitution with Stuart Armstrong and Shea Charles being replaced in the midfield engine room by two players who don’t have an engine, Will Smallbone and Joe Aribo. Fucking hell.

We win a free kick on the right side when Flynn Downes is trashed by a lazy challenge. Adam Armstrong‘s freekick is nodded away but no danger because Ryan Manning picks it up and tries to find Aribo but the pass is an absolute fucking beast and doesn’t reach him and Bristol City break through Cornick and I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy Joe‘s chances of catching him.  Joe and his caravan doesn’t catch him but Flynn Downes does as he steams back from absolutely nowhere to nick the ball and get fouled in the process. Brilliant play by our future signing from West Ham.

Four minutes extra to be added and Bree is on for Manning but the expected Bristol City onslaught doesn’t happen at all and Saints keep the ball pretty well, winning free kicks and corners down the other end until the final whistle blows.  Get in.

A phrase you’re going to hear a lot about this game is, “a win is a win“ and it absolutely sums this game up as far as Saints are concerned.  When you were playing a team who have no real interest in doing anything other than sitting in formation about 25 yards from their own goal, then all you can do is win the game and move onto the next one.

It isn’t going to be particularly entertaining because it takes two teams to make an entertaining game and with Bristol City, it was never going to be entertaining because their game plan from the first whistle was basically to sit in and hope that Saints give away opportunities with mistakes. To be fair, it nearly worked because if it wasn’t for Baz being on top form and City forwards shitting themselves at the vital moment, they would undoubtedly have scored in the first half.  

The frustration in the first half was that on the rare occasions when City committed any players forward, we would break the lines and if there were three or four City players the wrong side of the ball, we didn’t progress it quickly enough or switch play and just allowed them to get back behind the ball again.  Within about 30 seconds of the game starting, it was obvious that City‘s plan was to get everyone behind the ball and defend deep and narrow so we had to play a little bit quicker and a little bit more expensively to take advantage if they were caught upfield at all.

Their limitations became apparent after they went 1-0 down, when there was no discernible change to the way that they were playing and they basically settled for a 1-0 defeat from 46 minutes onwards after KWP’s goal.  We did that ourselves, many a time last season when we had loads of time to get back into it but in the end, don’t even have a shot.  If I’d been a Bristol City fan and I’d been made that trip to an away game, I would be very pissed off with a second-half performance and the lack of intent.   We did keep the ball very well in the second half but City just kind of let us do it.  They could have tried pressing high or even gone direct but for me, they didn’t try anything and made it easy-ish for us.

Baz Saves Us From the Second Half From Hell

The first half however, belonged to Gavin Bazunu. His two vital saves in the first half set up the win and if either of those had gone in then we probably would’ve lost 1-0 and the second half would have been absolute murder because City would’ve just sat with eleven men behind the ball for the entire second half and strangled the shit out of it.

Flynn Downes had a superb game in midfield… we are very lucky to have him and that’s really hope that this loan turns into a permanent transfer at some point in the future.  No West Ham – he’s definitely not good enough for the Premier League and you should snap our hands off for about £7 million.

Also not good enough for any Premier League pariah in January is KWP, who had his usual solid game at the back and found the time to get forward and smash in another superb left-footed goal. We do unquestionably have a lack of goal threat, so any goals from any source are most welcome.

Having not set the world alight with the substitutions against Huddersfield, Russell Martin had a better day today in my view. Bringing on Che Adams for Kamaldeen Suledjenepo was a good move because it gave us a focal point in attack that we just didn’t have before he came on with Charly playing centrally as a false 9, so this enforced substitution was in a sense, correcting that.  It probably would’ve been even better if we had brought on the real Che Adams instead of the impersonator who has been wearing the Saints number 10 shirt since the transfer window closed.   The good news is that it’s nearly time for January window so we might get a few goals out of him before then.  Today though, again the touch was awful and it almost felt like it was worth a round of applause every time we actually kept possession after Che had touched it.

"And Then I Put Two Players Who Can't Run in the Engine Room..."

It got better after half-time and there was a slight tactical switch and we went to 4-diamond-two formation with Adams and Adam Armstrong ahead of Charly Alcaraz, who was a lot more prominent in the second half.  Russell Martin’s next play with substitutes was to display bollocks of steel when at 1-0, with 15 minutes to go and needing more energy, he replaced the still energetic Stuart Armstrong and the solid Shea Charles, with two midfielders who can’t run in with the never-knowingly-sprinting Will Smallbone and Joe Aribo, a man who took his Apple Watch back because it thought he was dead.  If I had been Bristol City manager, that would’ve been the trigger to really press high and try and swarm all over the Saints midfield. Luckily, we got away with it because of the aforementioned acceptance of a 1-0 defeat.

A Win is a Win… Three points and onward we go to Saturday and the visit of Cardiff City to St Mary‘s. We now have a ten game unbeaten run with seven wins and both of those particular stats need to increase by one at the weekend.

Up the Fucking Saints.