EFL Championship Playoff Final - Leeds 0 Southampton 1

We've Had Worse Days

The day is here and I spent a bit of time yesterday looking at some of the previews of the ‘neutral’ pundits in the media. Trouble was, I couldn’t find any. That bastion of impartiality the BBC, were carrying an interview with Michael Brown, who, for those who don’t remember, was a very bang average clogger midfield player, who used to play for Leeds… and Portsmouth. With those two things on his CV, it was absolutely no surprise who he thought would win and who he thought was best equipped to deal with the Premier League.  He’s not alone however as everyone has gone for Leeds to win and the reasons are usually because "they’re the bigger club" and nothing to do with football or logic or anything they’ve all seen with their own eyes this season as the two wins we’ve had against them already were largely dismissed.  "Not relevant" says everyone. We will see.

My own preview is here

https://leagueoneminus10.blogspot.com/2024/05/efl-championship-playoff-final-preview.html

It’s always a bit of a worry getting anywhere on public transport these days but especially to a large sporting event. Carnage on the train up there with several smaller stations missed out along the route, which no doubt will have stranded some people intending to make the trip, but we get to Waterloo and across to Wembley Park. All of the designated Saints pubs we walk past are absolutely rammed with massive queues just to get in. Fuck that. Into the ground at 1:30 and a much more civilised atmosphere where you could get a beer in the concourse without having to fight your way past thousands of people.

The Way it Was

As someone who is old enough to remember the original Wembley, nothing will ever beat that walk from Wembley Park Station up Wembley Way, as it was known then, towards the twin towers at the other end. Both old Wembley and new Wembley are amazing once you get within view of the pitch, the actual scale of the thing is still incredibly impressive, even though I’ve been there a few times.

Wembley has no WiFi that I could find and of course, no signal on the phone and so it’s only when the teams are displayed on the screens that I find out that we have the same team as the last game against West Brom.  David Brooks up front with Arma but both Che and Ross Stewart on the bench.  The left-hand side will be patrolled by Wee Man.  I am delighted that Daniel Farke has gone for the same 4-2-3-1 that hasn’t worked against us twice, in those irrelevant wins that we had.  All four of his forwards in place as usual.

Ground filling up and atmosphere building.  From where I am it’s impressive to see the red seats turn into a red and white army off to my left and I was even impressed by the sight of the Leeds fans in white to my right. As kick-off approached, any positive impression the Leeds fans had made on me changed, when it became apparent that three rows behind us was a hospitality box full of Leeds fans.  Fucking tremendous. Hospitality at football – I know it’s a necessary evil, but it will never be anything other than anathema to me.  Over £100 quid for a ticket just to have that lot there.  Needless to say, they were loud, pissed up arseholes, who hadn’t had enough prawn sandwiches to soak up the beer  So, it was going to be an exercise in ignoring them and in particular, ‘Fat Bastard’ who was the loudest of the lot. “You’re only here to see the Leeds” was his on-repeat opinion. Fuck off you dick.  In the words of Kevin Keegan – “I would love it if we beat them… love it”.

Warm-ups, national anthem, let’s go.

It’s a back five when Leeds have the ball but when we get it, both Fraser and KWP are pushed well up. We don’t start too cleverly with Stephens trying an over ambitious ball into midfield and Leeds, roared on by their very loud fans look very energetic.  The big switch to the left looks to be a tactic we will go with, with Wee Man up against Archie Gray. Gray show superb composure the first time we try it before running in the Downes and the ball flying out for a goal-kick.

Leeds have a bit of possession which results in Archie Gray getting away from Downes in the middle of the park, but he gets to the edge of the box and then drags his shot wide. More dangerous looking play by Leeds with Gnonto at the heart of it but he plays a 1-2 with Rutter and then dribbles in a shot which McCarthy just picks up.

We have not been great so far and have not put anything together but that all changes when THB picks up the ball from McCarthy and brings it forward before chipping a ball superbly into Aribo, on to Wee Man, a first time ball into Adam Armstrong on he left.  He tries to pull it back to Smallbone who gets tackled. It bounces out to Aribo who should pull the trigger but doesn’t and the danger passes.  It feels kind of significant though that a couple of quick passes and we got right through them and they didn’t have much composure in defence.  Gnonto decided that the best way to defend was to pretend he is injured and sit on the ground until he realised that the referee wasn’t going to stop the game.

Saints are now having a little bit of controlled possession.  Aribo is bought down on the edge of the box by Gnonto as he tries to release a pass, to give us free kit 25 yards out and just left of centre. Smallbone on the free kick and gets it up and over the wall and towards the top corner but Meslier sees it all the way and there’s not quite enough on it to cause a serious problem. The tide has turned though

The ball is with THB at the back and he pings it into Downes, who flicks it round the corner first time to Smallbone. As the Leeds defender Ampadu closes, Will pokes it through his legs and Adam Armstrong is away and clearly being played onside on the Leeds defence on the right. He takes it on and I have this feeling that he is never going to miss. Out comes Meslier looking tiny, and Arma rolls it past him into the far bottom corner of the net. Fucking get in.  I'm not even worried about VAR on that one as he’s miles onside.  Having told everyone near me to ignore the Leeds fans behind us and just enjoy the game, I was somewhat hypocritical in turning round and giving it both barrels with associated hand gestures to the now very quiet hospitality box  Fat bastard is not interested in engaging.

And the Leeds Hospitality Section Goes Quiet

Virtually straight from the kick-off, Brooks gets involved in a tangle with Firpo and hits the deck. There doesn’t look to be too much in it but after treatment, Brooks is holding his arm in an uncomfortable manner and there’s no way he’s gonna be able to carry on. He tries for a bit but the next time he’s involved he’s down at the deck again and his arm is clearly fucked. I’m expecting Adams to come on but it’s probably too early given his fitness levels and so on comes Sam Edozie.

Edozie and his fast feet is clearly going be an issue for Firpo and he goes past him for the first time and no surprise that Firpo brings him down. In comes Smallbone’s free kick from the right and it a training ground move with Armstrong darting to meet it and turning and hitting it.  Meslier gets down to make a good one handed save and the rebound is very inviting but Jack Stephens can’t get there before a Leeds boot clears it.  In order to stop the Leeds break Wee Man decides to drag down Gnonto, which I think he got away with but tapping the ball away sealed the yellow card.

Half-time, half-way there and the twats behind us have all gone in for the prawn sandwiches whilst we reflect on the first half job well done. Whilst the possession and general flow of play has been fairly even over the half, Saints have undoubtedly looked the most dangerous and of course, we are winning.  What have Daniel Farke and Leeds got?

We start the second half briefly the better but then Leeds wake up due to an unlikely source as Rodon strides forward from the back getting a lucky deflection as he bundles past Aribo and it looks for all the world like he’s about to score before THB steams into the tackle. It goes out to Summerville on the left and he curls his effort well wide.

Rodon tries again with a pass from deep. but this time his pass is intercepted by Downes and Aribo sends Edozie away on the left.  He gets to the edge of the penalty area and cuts in onto his right foot and goes for the top corner and high and wide and fuck… that would have made it more comfortable.  Never felt confident he would score and he really should have done better.

Wembley Mean Time is taking hold now and there is some sort of time vortex shit going on.  The first half flew, with a minute elapsing every thirty seconds.  What happened to that?.  I glanced at the scoreboard expecting it to say’75:00’ or something…’57:00’.  For fucks sake.

Ten minutes on and Che Adams is on for Ryan Fraser, who has been excellent and it looks like Edozie is dropping into Wee Man’s role on the left. You can tell Che is a little bit rusty as he comes back into midfield and takes a horrendous first touch and then has to bring down the Leeds player he has gifted the ball to. The free kick comes in and it’s shite, straight to McCarthy who catches with ease. Not long after that, Sam Edozie is showing the after effects of not playing much recently and suddenly having to play at Wembley, as he goes down with cramp to be replaced with Ryan Manning.

Leeds have brought on Dan James for the disappointing Summerville and looks very direct and dangerous.  We're nearing 90 minutes after what seems like an age and he picks up the ball on the left-hand side and plays at almost accidental 1-2 off a combination of Rutter and Bednarek before a smashing in an effort, which flies over McCarthy and it crashes down off the bar and out. Fuck me that came out of nowhere.

40,000 Southerners Collectively Shit Themselves

The Wembley slow-time vortex has finally reached 90 minutes and there’s a nasty clash of heads between KWP and James and whilst they are being patched up, the board goes up to show there are nine additional minutes. It’s two minutes before the game gets going again so I’m sure I wasn’t alone in looking at the scoreboard and knowing the game is going to end on 101 minutes and that seems years away.

James is certainly the most dangerous Leeds player, even with new medical head gear, as he gets on the end of a pull-back from fellow sub Jayden Anthony and his first time effort is well pushed away by McCarthy in what was his first save of the game. It’s getting to the stage of the game now where we are madly celebrating anything and shithouse substitute Connor Roberts playing a shit ball out of play under pressure from Aribo nearly rises the roof.

100, 101 and the whistle goes for free kick to Leeds in their own half. Adam Armstrong thinks it’s the final whistle so he’s got his shirt off and twirling it around his head but he puts it back on pretty quickly as Meslier pumps the ball forward one last time. THB gets up as he has done all day and thumps it away with his head and the whistle does go. Fucking hell we’ve done it.  The players to a man sprint to our end of the pitch and it’s mental.  Bodies everywhere, fantastic. 

Russ Remembers Getting Released by Norwich in 2017

What a place Wembley is when you win. What a place Wembley is when they put Leeds fans directly behind you and you win. Unbelievable scenes. Just looking around there are people going through every available emotion. It’s brilliant.  My local hospitality box is very quiet, with the incumbents all back inside.  Get your moneys worth of prawn sandwiches lads.

Time for the trophy lift and Russell Martin doesn’t join in as Jack Stephens goes to collect and raise the trophy. It’s a brilliant moment. Russell is then fully involved with the boys get back to the pitch and the celebrations with the fans can properly begin. It’s amazing stuff.

No Caption Necessary

Sometimes you can go to a game and play well and not get the result you want and you can come away from it thinking that it was okay and we will get the result next week. There was no 'next week' on offer today and it was all about the result and all about winning.  It maybe wasn’t the best game ever and it maybe wasn’t the best fluid attacking performance but it doesn’t matter a shit. We won, end of. Next season doesn’t matter right now. Yes, we are in the Premier League and everybody will be projecting us to go down and the media outlets that all fucked off when we got relegated will probably want to write about us again. None of that matters. Today was about completing this season in the 49th game and achieving what everybody set out to achieve at the start of the season, which was to get Southampton back into the Premier League. We’ve done it and we deserve it.

If you just look at this game as if it was a normal game, then it wasn’t the best. It was an even first half with us of course taking the lead with a goal that came straight out of the playbook of things that are likely to happen against Farke’s Leeds. The Leeds midfield was nowhere with Smallbone picked up the ball, so Ampadu shot out of the defensive line like it was a game of whack-a-mole or something and when the ball was poked through, he laughably turned and appealed for offside when Rodon and Gray were ten yards behind him.  Adam Armstrong did the rest and he was never going to miss when confronted by Meslier. We got so close to making it comfortable at the end of the first half when Adam Armstrong again was free and his shot was well saved by Meslier and no one managed to force in the rebound.

The second half was just nervy and we didn’t do enough when going forward. Edozie should’ve buried the game but put a good chance wide and then it was all Leeds possession, but they didn’t really do anything until Dan James came on. The shot that hit the bar was a terrifying moment, or it would’ve been if it didn’t just come out of nowhere and other than that, Alex McCarthy just had one saved to make. It was relatively comfortable as holding on to a 1-0 lead ever is.

Everywhere you look you can find fantastic performances and stories. Alex McCarthy has gone from nowhere to being one of the heroes of the season in the space of five games, and there’s probably a very good chance that he’ll be offered a new contract now.  KWP has kept the much-hyped Summerville incredibly quiet for three games this season. He didn’t want to know and probably realised he was getting nothing today from the first whistle.  Ryan Fraser put aside any desire to be an attacking left winger to really dig in strongly at left back when we didn’t have the ball. Superb performance from the Wee Man.

Wee Man Being The Highest Off the Ground He's Ever Been

Our three centre backs did their job superbly. Jack Stephens looked a bit nervous in the first five minutes but after that he, Bednarek and THB were all absolutely magnificent and barely gave Rutter or Piroe a kick, whilst also helping out the full backs. As he confirmed in an interview straight after the game, THB is now at Southampton player, with a £20 million obligation to buy having been triggered by the promotion.  I mean, we didn’t need any more brilliant news today, but it never hurts, does it? 

Oh Look, We've Got Some Business Done Early

It was unsurprising that Farke persisted with those four players but none of them are what you want when the chips are down and none of them are really going to help out the midfielders. Downes, Aribo and Smallbone all understood the assignment today once we went ahead, and that was to not get caught too far in front of the ball and all three of them had excellent games. We of course need to make the signing of Flynn Downes an absolute priority. Never fall in love with a loan player they say… too late for that.

Adam Armstrong, what can you say. Once again he had moments in this game where his touch wasn’t very good and he just gave a possession back too easily, but when it matters this season, he has been there to stick the ball in the net and for someone who has had games this season where he’s been so random with his finishing, today he was ice cold when given the chance and as I said earlier, he was never going to miss.  Elsewhere - has Che Adams played his last game for Saints? Has David Brooks played last game for Saints? What’s happening with Stuart Armstrong?  I’m sure all will become pretty clear, pretty quickly.

Russell Martin afterwards was very keen to give all the credit to the players and he talked about how he wasn’t particularly exciting appointment for everyone. He is too modest. He’s brought everyone together within the club and whilst there are some fans that will never be convinced, even after today, it’s been a fantastic ride so far.  We had moments under Ralph but the club appears to be in a better place than at any time since the Koeman days.  He made mention that we’d like to keep Alex McCarthy, Stuart Armstrong and Che Adams as well as Flynn Downes and Wee Man. We will see.  Lots of work to do on unloading players we don’t want so we can pursue all the ones we do.

A word for Leeds. 90 points is a ridiculous amount to get and not get promoted. Their fans showed up in huge numbers and made it a brilliant atmosphere throughout. I feel sorry for every single one of them who turned up to support their team in the away end. I do not feel sorry however for the hospitality dickheads behind me. I hope you enjoyed your prawn sandwiches and I hope it cost you a fortune and now you can fuck off.  I’ve seen it argued that the Leeds team didn’t really show up but that’s a bit disrespectful to us – nothing new there.  The truth is that we didn’t let them play and our mentality was better. The big players who Daniel Farke relies on with his absence of tactics, really didn’t do it because they weren't allowed to do it.  Gnonto and Summerville seemed to lose heart, maybe beaten by the previous two games. Piroe did nothing apart from shirk responsibility and Rutter was all flicks and tricks with zero substance. Dan James however, was brilliant when he came on and I’m glad he didn’t start.  My advice to those who do previews of big games is to maybe think about it all a little bit from a football perspective, rather than just picking the bigger club.

An additional bonus of winning of course is that by the time you’ve waited for the trophy lift and every player to vacate the playing area, all the Leeds fans had gone, so there’s none of that horrendous queuing up at the tube station with opposition fans giving you the big one (Chelsea 2019). By the time we hit the streets of Wembley there were virtually no Leeds fans about, apart from those stuck in traffic jams.  There was one guy trying to start a fight with random Saints fans out of his car window.  He wasn’t having a good time and I assume, not looking forward to the drive home when he eventually escaped gridlocked Brent.

Personally, we found our way to the Green Man on the hill for a couple of pints and then it pissed down and everyone piled in to the makeshift shelters to sing songs about Rickie Lambert, Gabbiadini, Russell Martin and E-I-E-I-E-I-O, up the football league we go. What a brilliant day. 

Whether you’ve been to a few Saints games or if you’ve been to two thousand, today will be up there with your best ever days as a fan. 1976 probably tops it but nothing else in my opinion and it would take another Cup final win at Wembley to beat it.  A win at Wembley to actually win something tangible and get promoted to the Premier League is pretty much as good as it gets.

Up the Fucking Premier League Saints.