Carabao Cup 3rd Round - Everton 1 Southampton 1 (Southampton win 6-5 on penalties)

 

I've Been Diving the Wrong Way Since Before You Were Born Son

Time for the Carabao Cup all-Premier League mega clash between Everton and Southampton, being beamed live by every broadcaster all over the globe. Or not as the case may be. Everton are currently 20th and Saints are currently 19th in the Premier League, both with zero points. Everton have been different to Saints in that they have got themselves into winning positions in their last two games, having been 2-0 up in both of them and have spectacularly managed to lose both.

Back in the day, both teams would’ve seen this game as a chance to improve morale and get that winning feeling back again to give the league program a boost but these days, with virtually all Premier League teams changing 10 or 11 of the starting players, that’s not really relevant anymore.

Sean Dyche needs to win this game because there is a growing clamour for him to be sacked because Everton of course, are still a big name, even though they have been pretty shit for a number of years. Dyche did a good job with them last year and overcame points deductions, without which, they would’ve finished comfortably mid-table. Another preseason of financial weirdness has happened though with important players like Onana moving on. They are still battling with PSR restrictions and have been involved in some of those “Cheating In Plain Sight” deals, swapping youngsters with other PSR threatened clubs like Aston Villa, for ludicrously overinflated fees. I guess if the rules allow it then you can’t complain though not exactly in the spirit of things bearing in mind the reason that the rules were brought in.

Whatever team Dyche puts out will of course carry the Dyche hallmark of being physical and pretty direct so maybe it’s not a game for us to put out a bunch of kids.  The incoming physical challenge is one reason why Saints team selection will be interesting because since the Cardiff game in the last round, the status of a few of our players has changed. Matty Fernandes and Tyler Dibling are first team starters, as are Cameron Archer and Big Les. Joe Lumley is now no longer required to bring the vibes to the Carabao Cup so I am sure that we will see Alex McCarthy in goal today.

Team news and we do indeed see McCarthy and there are just two players who could reasonably expect to start against Ipswich on Saturday.  THB captains the side and there is also a place for Big Les.  Other than that, it’s the usual ‘reserves’ like Bree, Taylor and Wood, the recently dropped like Armstrong and Aribo and the fitness seekers like Cornet, Fraser and Lallana.

Away we go and the pattern of the game is obvious straight away with Saints having possession but then looking very shaky whenever we don’t have it.  Dyche is still reassuringly old skool in his approach.  His goalkeeper gets the ball, the defenders push up to halfway and he thunders it up the pitch towards a big unit striker.  Beto is his name and they signed him for £30m after they’d tried to sign Che Adams from us for £15m but we weren’t happy to accept £1 a year instalments.

Our first effort is from a Taylor cross which deflects up to the edge of the box and is met by Aribo flying in but he must have had his eyes shut because a perfect 50p header flew well over the bar.

Beto, for it is he, has the first shot of the day as he picks up the ball inside the box and from a tight angle, drills it at the near post but McCarthy easily pushes it wide.  Another Everton attack and Lindstrom is blocked by Wood and wins a corner. McNeil puts in the in-swinger, which is flapped at by McCarthy, kept alive be on the back post by O’Brien, headed goalwards by Keane and nodded into the net by Doucoure, who at least has a good Grace to use his head this time, instead of slapping in his hand like he usually fucking does. Bollocks.

Saints respond pretty well but get caught on the break again with Lindstrom running through from the left hand side before trying to open up and curl it into the far corner but instead of that, he passed it straight to McCarthy. Another chance as Everton build down the right and a pass in behind the hopelessly out of position Wood, who appeals for offside but THB clears up before his line-breaking pass finds Big Les, who turns and again plays forward to Fraser who gets absolutely trashed by the young impetuous Everton full back Dixon. In it comes from Taylor and THB is free at the back post to head powerfully down and bouncing into the top corner.  1-1, Get in.

The game settles down again into the same pattern of Saints possession and Everton waiting for us to screw up close to our goal.  There is minor excitement as Cornet shows a bit of what he’s about by flying in from the right and lashing wildly over the bar with his left foot.

Half time and that was OK I guess though it’s hard to square off that we have apparently had 77% percent possession and six shots to their seven.  So, say it was 45 minutes…. That means we’ve had the ball for 35 minutes and had 6 shots, so just under 6 minutes of possession per shot.  Everton have therefore had the ball for 10 minutes and had 7 shots, so roughly 1.5 minutes of possession per shot.  Lallana has been different gravy in midfield with his skill and ball retention but no more as he’s off the be replaced with Fernandes.  I assume this will mean Les playing a bit deeper.

Wood has gone a good 20 minutes without a mistake but 15 of that was spent in the dressing room at half time.  His lightweight, off-balance effort at defending puts us right in the shit and a flick on by Beto sends Lindstrom through and going behind beckons until McCarthy meets him and superbly blocks the effort again.

Saints are offering a bit going forward but not too much. Matty Fernandes jinks past the right back before finding Wee Man and he bundles his way through and through and from a narrow angle, goes for the far post and the goalkeeper sticks his foot out and deflects it away.

In pretty quick succession, the forward line is changed with Armstrong, Cornet and Fraser all going off along with Big Les and in their place emerge Ross Stewart, Tyler Dibling, BBD and Flynn Downes.

Saints are looking to get the ball out to Tyler Dibling at every opportunity as he’s now up against Ashley Young, who is twice his age.  Young has just come on as a sub to a crescendo of abuse from Everton fans, which was aimed at the manager for bringing him on for a striker – even though the striker in question was Beto, and he is shit.  Downes eventually does find Dibling, who weaves past two players as if they weren’t there before cutting in and lashing over the bar.  He's at it again straight after, lining up Young and going past him as if he's not there and into the area and Young has a nibble and over he goes.  Penalty surely..... corner, fuck off.  One thing for sure is that he didn't play the ball so that's a penalty or a goal kick or you've just fucking bottled it.  Where's VAR when you need it?  Oh yes, this competition doesn't bring in VAR til later in the competition, as opposed to the FA Cup that uses it when the ground has capability.  Shambles.

Three minutes of injury time and can we just be put this out of its misery. It’s largely been a shit second half and bring on the penalties so there is at least a bit of excitement.

Fernandes up first, I have confidence …. Bang, no problem and high past the goalkeeper down the middle. 1-0

Michael Keane…. he’s a big donkey but I reckon he’s going to score this and…. he comprehensively sends McCarthy the wrong way. 1-1

Ross Stewart… will probably get injured running up to this ball.  Here he comes… Virginia gets a fingertip to it but he’s not keeping that out, 2-1

Dwight McNeil, got his mouth hanging open but that’s no reason to expect him to miss… miss it you fucker….. no problem and McCarthy the wrong way again. 2-2

Ben Brereton Diaz.  I assume he’s going to show us what we were missing on Saturday and… sure enough, right-footed and drilled past the goalkeeper who goes the wrong way. 3-2

Ndiaye for Everton and … Groundhog Day as McCarthy emphatically goes the wrong way again.  Whatever is written on his water bottle is clearly wrong. 3-3

THB…. Hmmm, don’t like centre backs taking one.  Come on Captain…. Bang, absolutely drilled it past Virginia, who is competing with Alex in the ‘going the wrong way’ stakes. 4-3

Lindstrom… this has to be a chance as he’s shit himself every time he’s seen the posts today and oooooh close.  No, Macca’s gone the wrong way again but it’s hit the other post and bounced in. 4-4

Joe Aribo looks cool but left footed kickers always worry me…. but he scores easily enough as the keeper once again goes the wrong way. 5-4

Jack Harrison to take the fifth and easy…. with McCarthy again showing maximum commitment to going the wrong way, flying through the air and gracefully landing in the opposite corner to the ball to keep up his 100% record. 5-5

Sudden death and down to the people who you don’t really wanna take one and it’s James Bree.  He strikes a good ball so I’m hopeful and … easy, Virginia goes for a hot dog again in the wrong direction. 6-5

Ashley Dung steps up. He’s always been shit and this is a chance…. and McCarthy stands his ground and sticks a hand out and deflects it onto the post and we are through.  Get in.

You Can Still Get Excited About Winning a Carabao Cup Game

Well that was fun in the end and a perfect illustration of how one average penalty and your goalkeeper finally going the right way, can change the entire feeling of an evening.  Small margins and all that. The game itself was pretty torrid to watch and it was one of those ones where we have 75% possession and have less shots than the opposition.   Too much sideways and backwards and this was acknowledged by the manager afterwards.  The main problem was is that we couldn’t get the ball through to the forwards players and didn’t stretch the Everton back four enough during the game.  One issue was that we seemed slightly unwilling to pass the ball forward for whatever reason and another issue was that there were not many options higher up the pitch.  

Part of that was because Adam Armstrong has completely lost his confidence from last season.  He very rarely came short to receive the ball and he never attacked dangerous spaces in between defenders and spent most of his time standing behind defenders so there was absolutely no option to get the ball to him.  It looks to me that he has completely accepted that he is not good enough at this level but he absolutely needs to get that out of his system otherwise we may as well put him behind some glass, like a fire extinguisher with ‘do not break until relegated’, written on the front of it. You may very well not be good enough at this level but you at least have to have the mindset that you are good enough. It wasn’t solely his fault of course, Ryan Fraser and Max Cornet both showed flashes on the wings but Fraser was too willing to turn back and not take on his full-back, whereas Cornet is still trying to work the rust out of his game after his long injury.  Fraser was particularly frustrating, playing as he was against Everton fullback Dixon who was incredibly rash.  I liked his enthusiasm because he played the game at 100 miles an hour but steaming into tackles every single time at full pelt is not going to end well and indeed, that is where our goal came from.  The free kick that led to our goal was a forward pass from THB to Les, a turn and forward pass to Fraser, who ran at the full back and got trashed.  All positive, forward-thinking bits of play.

In midfield, everyone did well on the possession front but there was a lack of intent to play forward and nothing much when we got to the edge of the box. Joe Aribo played furthest forward of the three, making a complete bollocks of one decent headed chance in the first half but was on the whole ineffective regarding goal threat, as was big Les and Adam Lallana. Somewhat mystifyingly, Lallana played the deepest of the three with big Les attempting to be a box-to-box midfielder which on the face of it, doesn’t appear to be his game. Adam Lallana was wonderfully neat and tidy in his 45 minutes but I would have liked to have seen him in a more creative role with Big Les deeper. It’s not as if Everton were playing a lot of football in midfield.

The tone of Everton‘s performance was set by their goalkeeper Virginia, who was the very antithesis of the modern goalkeeper who plays the ball short to his defenders. Every time Virginia got possession he just screamed the ball as hard as he could towards Beto, Everton’s big but useless £30 million striker who was at least causing a few problems for Nathan Wood with his physicality.

Sad to say, Nathan Wood was bullied all over the place as usual. He is a tidy footballer but he really needs to get in the gym because there’s not a striker in the Premier League who wouldn’t be able to just manoeuvre him off the ball. THB had a decent game at the back and I thought it was a very good idea to make him captain as he’s going to be playing in the Premier League on Saturday and it can’t have been anything but a boost to his confidence. The goal he scored will also have done that. He had a couple of loose moments but in the main stood up well to the somewhat limited one-dimensional Everton approach. James Bree and Charlie Taylor were what they are, solid and unspectacular. Bree struggled early on against Dwight McNeil but grew into the game and ended up as one of our better performers. It’s a shame for him that he has KWP and Sugawara ahead of him for the right back position so no matter how well he does, he is never gonna be more than a Carabao Cup player this season.

THB - Back on Track

And then there’s Alex McCarthy. Having spectacularly and emphatically dived into the opposite corner to the ball for the first five penalties, he managed to make himself a hero by saving the decisive one from Ashley Dung.  It was a bit like a striker who misses five chances and then scores one off his arse and it turns out to be the winner.  His contribution to the Everton goal was a bit wet but he made a couple of decent saves in the second half when Everton got through and can be pleased overall with his nights work.

Of the substitutes, the obvious stand out was Tyler Dibling. I didn’t particularly want him to be involved tonight but he was more or less the only player to get anyone off their seat in the second half.  One move cutting in from the right wing before firing over the bar was excellent and he should undoubtedly have had a penalty in the 90th minute as he pulled exactly the same move that he pulled on Diogo Dalot at the weekend and Ashley Dung carted him over. Maybe I’m missing something here but I am amazed that no one appealed for that.

This game is of course, small beer compared to what we’ve got coming up at the weekend with the visit of Ipswich Town. Relegation six pointer in coming and we are going to need everyone - manager, staff, players and fans to step up. We need those three points.

Up the fucking Saints

Premier League Match 4 - Southampton 0 Manchester United 3

 

Well This Was a Turning Point

Two weeks off for an international break and here we are again back at St Mary‘s for a Sky o’clock kick-off against Manchester United. Actually, it’s a TNT o’clock kick-off but you know what I mean. I guess you could call it our chance to put down a marker to the rest of the Premier League in the first game of the weekend.

Manchester United of course will be looking on it as their opportunity to correct what has been a stuttering start to their Premier League campaign. Last week they got gubbed 3-0 at home by Liverpool and the vultures will certainly be circling around Erik ten Hag again if he doesn’t win today. Some would call it refreshing that United have backed their manager to start another season and some would call it foolhardy. United new owner Jim Ratcliffe always seems to make matters worse for himself every time he opens his mouth and is still in the honeymoon period that was never afforded to the Glazers when they took over. United’s transfer window has seen loads more money being spent as usual with the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazroui and right at the end, Manuel Ugarte brought in to complement the collection of good players that they already have. 

Russell Martin’s press conference this week saw him speak about the need to balance out loyalty towards players and what they did in the past against where they are now. Some people interpreted this as declaring loyalty to the players who got promoted no matter what, but I read it in a very different way – I saw it as him saying that loyalty for past achievements only goes so far and it’s about the here and now and the here and now is the Premier League and it is brutal.  It’s a very different level to the Championship and a very different assignment.  The players who I think are very much under pressure are Adam Armstrong, Joe Aribo, Will Smallbone, Jack Stephens and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who all played very big roles in the promotion campaign. They all have that in common and also that they have all struggled thus far in the Premier League.

This concept of weighing up when to remove popular players when the level or the assignment changes is not a new thing. When we got promoted in 2012, Nigel Adkins almost immediately brought the axe down on Billy Sharp and Dean Hammond, two of the players who had been crucial in us getting promoted. Sorry, things have changed – off you go.  Others like Jos Hooiveld, Danny Fox, Frazer Richardson and Richard Chaplow weren’t long for the South Coast either.

If you go back even further to 1976, Bobby Stokes scored the most important goal in the clubs history, to actually win a trophy, but did you know that he only played 11 further times for Saints because the assignment became different.  Lawrie McMenemy had to build a team to be consistent and get promoted into what was then Division One, and it wasn’t just Stokes who went. Within 12 months, I think there were only two of the Boys of 76 (David Peach and Nick Holmes) still at the club. Adam Armstrong is Bobby Stokes and he is also Billy Sharp. He’s Bobby Stokes because he scored a ridiculously important goal for the club and he’s Billy Sharp because he can score goals in the second tier. He has to prove he is more than them and Russell Martin has to decide whether he is.

All eyes on the team news and big changes – Aribo, Smallbone, Armstrong, THB all gone, replaced by Ugochukwu, Fernandes, Archer and Dibling and a change to a 4-3-3 formation.  On paper it looks great and you can’t really argue with it.  A small concern over the centre back pairing but you can’t have everything.

Saints start the game well with Dibling taking a pass from Sugawara and rolling past Dalot and driving towards the box before taking it on to his left foot and curling one for the far corner, forcing Onana into a decent save.  KWP then gets down the left and pulls one back but there's no one there. 

United look dangerous though when they attack and Zirkzee really should’ve done better when he’s stretched for a Diallo cross and could only scuff the ball through to Ramsdale.

Even Jack Stephens Got Closer to the Ball Than That

In the main though, it’s Saints on the attack and and from a Sugawara corner, Big Les rises and shoulders it over the bar when he really should have scored.  More attacks in the opening half hour than we’ve had all season combined... and Dibling again picks up the ball on the right and drives at Dalot, going past him on the outside before Dalot dives in as Dibling takes another touch and carts him over. It’s the most obvious penalty ever but we still have to wait five minutes for Bruno to stop fucking whining.  Ben Brereton Diaz has the ball but it turns out he’s only looking after it until they decide it was in fact well inside the box, and he hands it to Cameron Archer.  Archer looks like he visibly shrinks and it’s a short run up, low scuffer, absolutely shit to the goalkeepers right but it’s nowhere near the corner and Onana just falls on it. It’s still pops up again and Archer has a chance with a header but Onana is comfortably on his feet by the time the ball arrives. Bollocks.

Straight up the other end and Zirkzee has a go from long range and Ramsdale tips it round the post.  Eriksen takes a short corner to Bruno and his cross into the box is met by De Ligt with an absolutely free header at the back post and it’s a simple task for De Ligt to head it across Ramsdale and into the far corner.  Fuck off.  Everyone in a red and white shirt is just looking at eachother.

Saints initially respond well, and we go down left with BBD finding Fernandes, who finds Downes on the edge of the box, who falls over…. Lightning break by United and Rashford cuts in from the right and forces another good save from Ramsdale.  United overhit the corner, Diallo picks it up and rolls a simple ball to Rashford at the top of the penalty area and no one really closes him down as he shoots and it nestles in the far corner. Fucking hell. Game over.

If ever there was a graphic is illustration of how you need to take your chances then that was it.  It’s such a pisser. We were comfortably the better side in the opening half an hour and deserved to be ahead. If the penalty goes in then we are probably at half-time 1-0 ahead and looking forward to having a right go at it in the second half. Missed the chance and this is what happens at Premier League level. Absolutely brutal and the game is more or less done.

The second half sees no changes and it’s a bit like poking a dead dog with a stick… go on, do something. Getting a goal back may conceivably put some pressure on them but it quickly becomes apparent it’s just a case of whether United will score another or not. Rashford, now playing with a bit more confidence tries a long-range effort which Ramsdale tips over the bar.

Russell makes some subs with an all-new forward line of Max Cornet, Ryan Fraser and unbelievably, Ross Stewart. I’m guessing that Stewart is coming on so we can at least get something tangible out of the game and I’m sure Adam Armstrong was sat there not really wanting to come on anyway.

Lallana is also on and trying to get on the ball but before the subs have any real chance to make an impact, Sugawara and Fernandes combine to give the ball away and United break down their left through Garnacho and Stephens comes hurtling across, less like the Cornish Maldini and more like the Cornish Vinny Jones and wipes him out. It looks high and dodgy in real time and the referee is straight out with a red card. Surprisingly, there is a feeling of injustice in the crowd but to me it looked slightly high and out of control and I’m not surprised it’s red card at all.

Fernandes comes off with THB coming on and it’s damage limitation from here on in and Ramsdale learns what it’s like to be the coconut in the coconut shy and he performs a few miracles to keep the score down until Dalot gets played in on the right hand side, THB plays everyone onside and when he rolls the ball back and Garnacho smashes it into the roof of the net. The third goal doesn’t elicit much more than a shrug from yours truly. I feel gutted for Aaron Ramsdale though who doesn’t deserve this.

There are many elements that go to make up a good football team. I’m going to focus on two of them, namely the ability to take your chances when you are on top and how you respond to setbacks. The vital moment today is of course the missed penalty. If that goes in then we would have been a totally deserving to be 1-0 ahead and would probably have held that lead until half-time. As it was, it doesn’t go in and instead, we are 2-0 down and the game is over.

Eyebrows would’ve been raised with a starting lineup with Russell Martin being good on his word and freshening things up. To be honest it is exactly the starting lineup that I would’ve selected myself.  Stephens or THB was the only slight issue for me but with THB’s form, it was a toss of a coin on that one.  The starters tore into the game and made a real good fist of things up until the pivotal moment. Flynn Downes and Lesley Ugochukwu bossed the midfield, the full backs got forward well, Matty Fernandes was bright and best of all, Tyler Dibling had Diogo Dalot, an experienced Portuguese international and experienced Premier League player, absolutely on toast. He had already sat him on his arse once and when he took him on a second time, was carted over for the penalty which should have brought a reward for our enterprise in the first half an hour.

There was a pause for shit housing, mainly by Bruno Fernandes. Why we had to wait so long was bizarre, when it was the clearest penalty you’ve ever seen and all that time passed by with Cameron Archer waiting to be given the ball to take the penalty. When he stepped up he didn’t look remotely confident, didn’t hit it in a particularly confident fashion and Onana made what was quite a simple safe.  The disappointing thing is that BBD has a 100% record from penalties and didn’t take it, whereas Archer has apparently never taken one before. Until the award of the penalty, we had put as much pressure put on the Manchester United goal as we had put on the opposition defence in all three of our previous games combined with crosses flying across the box and the United defence looking severely stretched. All that changed once Onana grabbed Archer’s weak header off of the rebound.

The first two United goals were shite from our point of view.  A completely unmarked De Ligt, courtesy of Stephens dozing off and playing everyone onside and from Archer’s half arsed closing down on Rashford, giving him the angle he needed to bend one into the far corner.

In the second half we needed to go out and scored the first goal but didn’t force Onana into any sort of serious action which was a major disappointment. To be honest, United completely controlled the flow and tempo of the second half and would’ve scored more but for Aaron Ramsdale and some good last ditch defending. Russell Martin substitutions were fair enough given the way The game was going at 0-0 but it was never really going to turn things around and before the subs had chance to do anything, Jack Stephens got sent off. I don’t really see how anyone can argue that it wasn’t a deserved red card seeing as how the initial contact was on his knee. After that of course it was damage limitation which we managed to do until the last minute when United picked their way through on our left, thanks to some unaware defending by THB and Garnacho fired in a third which was harsh on Ramsdale in particular.

Yeah, Don't Think We'll Appeal This One

Because we are dealing with the harsh reality of Premier League football, I feel that we have to be harsh with the way that we look at the players and how they performed. For starters, Aaron Ramsdale is a proven Premier League level performer. I have no real idea what made him sign up for this but some of the defending in front of him today must make him ponder his career choices and want to return and sit on Arsenal‘s bench. The central defensive pairing of Bednarek and Stephens has been tried many times before at Premier League level and it has always failed.  Russell Martin has now seen at first hand that it just doesn’t work and the two of them get pulled about all over the place. There was some good moments of defending by both of them at various times but as a pair it just doesn’t seem to gel. It’s trendy at the moment for managers to talk about ‘moments’.  This is fine in an attacking context but defending is not about ‘moments’, it’s about consistency. As the game went on you could see that their brains were fried and when you get tired, the basics go to shit, like the decision-making and the passing. Stephens tired lunge at Garnacho was a perfect illustration of this, crude and high and off you go.  Bednarek’s passing radar just went completely in the last ten minutes.

Both full backs offered a fair amount in an attacking sense to start with but KWP in particular was continually found with space behind him which United exploited. He wasn’t helped however by his winger and more on that later.  Sugawara was part of a good partnership with Dibling on the right and is looking like he will adapt pretty well tot his level of football.

I did feel that the set-up of the central midfield needs tinkering with a little bit. Downes and Big Les seemed to take it in turns for one to run forward whilst the other dropped into the number six role but they seemed to leave us a little bit too open, even in the first half an hour when we were generally on top. Big Les showed a lot of promise but tired after half time.

Ben Brereton Diaz had a couple of decent contributions in the first half hour but then totally disappeared.  Worst of all, he didn’t provide any cover whatsoever for KWP on the left and basically has to do more than that to justify his inclusion. He obviously should have taken the penalty because he couldn’t possibly have produced a tamer effort than Cameron Archer. Archer had a difficult afternoon but you would expect any striker who is not used to the Premier League so have a difficult afternoon against De Ligt and Martinez who have international caps galore for Netherlands and Argentina respectively.

Matty Fernandes started really well as the most advanced midfielder, getting forward to support Cameron Archer whenever he could and being able to pull the strings up against Christian Eriksen and Kobbie Mainoo - again, two international players. He did fade in the second half but what I liked about him was the fact that he never stopped trying to make things happen.

Best of all was one of our own Tyler Dibling, who fully justified the managers faith in starting him and was a constant thorn in Diogo Dalot‘s side until he cramped up in the second half and had to come off. As long as he can adapt to the physical demands of Premier League football then he will definitely be getting regular minutes this season.  Brought a brilliant save out of Onana and won the penalty.  Also, when he couldn’t get forward he kept the ball very well and he played with a lot more defensive responsibility than BBD did over the other side.

Talking of adapting to the physical demands of football in general, Ross Stewart found his way onto the pitch for his first minutes at Premier League level and did okay. His mere presence was enough for ten Hag to panic slightly and bring on Maguire, so that Ross wasn’t playing against Lisandro Martinez. Unfortunately, the red card happened before we could really get any crosses into the box for Ross. Adam Lallana also made a bright cameo off the bench and briefly looked like he may allow us to get hold of the ball and start putting United under pressure again… but the red card did for that.

All in all, another learning day at the office. When you are a newly promoted side you do not put home games against Manchester United down as ones where you should get points from but having lost this one, the home game against Ipswich next week becomes huge because we really cannot afford to lose that one. I saw signs today in the opening half an hour that we can get some points on the board but it of course needs to happen soon and we need to respond to any setbacks a lot better than we did today. As a team today, I saw a lot more to give me hope for the months ahead in terms of the team structure and balance.  We at least gave us something to get behind. Yes, we conceded simple goals but we at least carried a goal threat and had a chance of winning for a short period of time at least.

Before the Ipswich game, the fringe players will have their chance to put their hand up for selection as we travel to Everton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

Up the fucking Saints.

Premier League Match 3 - Brentford 3 Southampton 1

Standard Start to Life as a Saints Goalkeeper

Brentford away at the Gtech Community Shit Corporate Name Stadium.  Apart from the shit corporate name, there is a lot to admire about Brentford and the way they have performed in the last few seasons, firstly making the Premier League and then thriving in it under the expert management of Thomas Frank.

No matter how much I try there is nothing to dislike about Frank.  Last year he had to deal with the Ivan Toney situation with his gambling ban but he kind of shrugged off the loss of his most home high-profile player and guided Brentford to safety, relatively comfortably. This year they have started with a win at home to Palace and a defeat at Liverpool, both without their talisman striker who has now decided to commit career suicide and disappear off to Saudi Arabia.  I have no idea who he has signed for and I couldn't give a shit and nor could he.  It’s a sad state of affairs when players in their prime decide to take the money and run. Most Brentford fans are happy to see him go because the saga has been all anyone has talked about for the last year or so.

So, let's stop talking about it.  The actual Brentford team is worthy of discussion with Johan Wissa, Kevin Schade and Bryan Mbuemo being very dangerous strikers. I’ve always been impressed by Christian Nørgaard in midfield and though they appear to have four central defenders at the back with no full backs - the reason for that is the long-term injuries that have befallen Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry. Yes, Thomas  Frank has certainly had a lot to deal with and has still managed to keep Brentford‘s head above water. There is an alternative universe starting 18 months ago where sport Republic appointed their former Brentford manager to take over at Saints when Ralph Hassenhuttl left. Instead of that, we went down a different route and we are only just recovering.

To that end, the transfer window closed the day before the game and we quite ridiculously managed to add Aaron Ramsdale as a permanent signing. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet just how huge this is for a club of our size with the Premier League being as it is these days. 12 months ago he was Arsenal‘s first choice goalkeeper as they finished second in the league and was second choice for England and putting as much pressure on Jordan Pickford's status is England number one as anyone else has done over the past few years. Mikel Arteta had other ideas though and Rambo become second choice to former Brentford keeper David Raya and here we are. We have been the beneficiaries of Arteta's hard-nosed decision which got him no further up the league.

Also through the door at the end of the window, late into the night when everyone had gone to bed, was Maxwel Cornet on loan for the season from West Ham. We have taken a bit of a gamble here because he’s basically not been fit for the last year and a half and has not done anything at West Ham since he moved from Burnley.  He really isn’t going to find it easy to get into the team. Whilst Cornet was a punt from left-field, we also had the feelgood story of Ryan Fraser signing on a free transfer. The Wee man is back and his popularity is there for all to see. He too will find it hard to get in the team but we are certainly struggling less with winger today than we were yesterday.

On that score, one of our struggling wingers, Sam Edozie was rumoured to be joining Rangers on loan for the season but for whatever reason, it didn’t happen.  Would it be rude to suggest that it looked like it was going to work and he couldn't make his mind up and there was no end product.  As I write, ABK and Tall Paul are still here, as is Kamaldeen Sulemana. It’s hard to see any of those players getting anywhere near a Premier League squad this season.

We have ended the transfer window with about 29 players who could reasonably expect to be in the first team squad. It’s too many but with the Turkish and Saudi transfer windows still open, we could see some more outgoings in the next few weeks.

To today and team news and a very loud "meh" from me.  Ramsdale makes his debut but other than that there is no changes.  Same formation and no one that impressed against Cardiff made the side - so no Archer, Fernandes, Dibling, Ugochukwu etc.  Best we can hope for is that Armstrong and Brereton Diaz have slightly less than the 50 yards between them today.

One thing that surprised me about the Ramsdale deal is why he would want to play behind the defence that is going to give him absolutely shit loads to do. I guess it’s a chance to look impressive. That comes to fruition within two minutes of the kickoff as Damsgaard puts in a dangerous cross from the right, which dissects our defenders and Mbuemo is bearing down on goal but Ramsdale is off his line really quickly to block. Brilliant start to the new man.

When we stop panicking, we make good ground of the right and KWP bears down on goal from a narrow angle. As we all know, KWP is our main goal threat in this formation and his shot his blocked by the foot of Flekken.  Smallbone swings over the corner and Aribo must score as has the simplest of jobs nod it into the net… but he gets in too early and the ball is just behind him, meaning he still gets something on it and it loops over the keeper towards the back post, hits the bar and drops down. There are half arsed appeals for a penalty but no chance.

Brentford look very dangerous on the break whenever we give them the opportunity and Mbuemo gets through again but he’s put off by Ramsdale and the ball runs away for THB to hack it clear. Next attack for Brentford and Wissa pulls some sort of freestyle turn out of his locker on the edge of the box before hammering in a shot which Ramsdale catches dismissively.

One difference to previous games is that Saints do actually look threatening when they go forward. A Brereton Diaz flick puts Aribo away down the left and his low cross into the box is cleared for a corner. Smallbone takes time off from running in treacle to put over a decent corner and it’s a free header for Jack Stephens a few yards out but he nods it over the bar with no fuss.

The 50 yard gap between our strikers is not there this week. BBD is still mainly playing wide left but Arma is in the middle and that nearly pays dividends as Aribo sends BBD gallivanting forward from the halfway line and he puts Arma in behind the defence but there’s absolutely no conviction and in the end, despite being ahead in the race, he doesn’t manage to get in a shot and Pinnock and Ajer combined to let the ball run through to the goalkeeper. And if you were being cynical you would say there was a chance to go down when Pinnock lunged in but not taken.

We haven’t had a fuck up as yet but KWP gets too close to Aribo and presents the ball to Damsgaard about 30 yards out and he races forward and tries to square it but THB gets across and gets a toe on it to knock it back to Ramsdale. Fist pumps all round and great defending in the end.

Ramsdale gives it short to Bednarek who takes a couple strides forward before passing forwards to Stephens, taking Schade and Wissa out of the game. Stephens plays it straight back to THB, just bringing the two Brentford forwards back into the game and closing THB down aggressively. THB should of course put his fucking foot through it but freezes in the headlights and loses it. Schade takes it on and smashes an effort against the near post and the rebound falls kindly to Mbuemo to run into the net. Fucking hell.

Saints respond and win a corner and when it’s headed out, because of course it hits the first man, Sugawara let’s fly from the edge of the box but it straight down Flekken’s throat. Saints have some urgency about them now and Downes wins the ball high up before finding Sugawara on the right. His cross deflects perfectly and it lands four yards out straight to Adam Armstrong and all he has to do is side foot it into the net but no, big lash, misses it, hits his standing leg and bounces the wrong way. Fuck me

Half-time and Russell Martin has clearly seen what I have seen and Smallbone and Adam Armstrong are both off. Smallbone has dropped a solid 2 out of 10 performance in midfield, demonstrating treacle running whenever possible and generally not being involved because, you know, Premier League level athleticism and all that. Adam Armstrong has had two good chances to score and failed twice. It’s not just the fact that he’s failed but how badly he has failed, not getting a shot in twice. On come Fernandes and Archer.

The new boys are in on the action straight away with Fernandes turning on the edge of his own penalty area and driving up to the halfway line before sending BBD away on the left. He takes the ball back and tries to slot Archer through and it’s a brilliant effort just a couple of feet in front of him allowing Flekken to pick it up. It’s significant because there is more attacking invention in that move then we have seen in 2 1/2 league games so far.

As we approach the hour mark, Russell Martin again goes for it with Tyler Dibling coming on to replace THB. One of the central defenders had to come off but personally I feel that the captain should’ve been looked at.  It’s still fairly even. Mbuemo has a shot blocked our end before BBD has one the deflect from the corner that we waste, of course.

And then it happens again. Stephens and Bednarek try to knock the ball around with KWP and both of them go for the return pass with Bednarek trying to flick it to Stephens who is right next to him. Needless to say that doesn’t end well then by the time I open my eyes again, Mbuemo has stuck it in the net. Fucking hell what’s the point?

The game is over now because there is absolutely no way we are scoring two, but regardless, Dibling begins to make his mark down the right hand side dribbling in from the wing before hitting it with his left foot, forcing Flecken to parry it away to the offside Sugawara who lashes it over the bar anyway.

Brentford‘s next attack wins a throw over in the left-hand corner and it’s launched in towards all the 6 foot 6 central defenders they’ve got, flicked on and there is Wissa to bundle the ball and Ramsdale into the net. No question of it being a foul and that’s a hat-trick of absolutely fucking shit goes we’ve let in.

Lallana is on for Aribo and much to the annoyance of the contingent who are still determined to give him a hard time over what happened 10 years ago, he is again in a completely different level of class. With him, Dibling and Fernandes on the pitch we certainly have three more players who can all play at Premier League level. Lallana is immediately involved twice in the move that sees a Fernandes effort blocked by the keeper at close range.

As we approach 89 it’s now the Tyler Dibling show as he skips past players for fun before lending the ball to Lallana and getting it back. Superb vision to chip it over the defence to pick up Lallana’s run, nodded down and Sugawara crashes it into the net with the outside of his left foot. Absolutely brilliant goal. Pointless in the context of this game but at least we have our first goal of the season.

The end and sigh! That will possibly be the easiest win Brentford will have all year. They didn’t actually have to do anything to win that game other than press our defenders and wait for them to fuck up.  All three goals we conceded were absolute jokes.  For the first one, Stephens chose to go back to THB which is the first mistake because it should never have gone back to him. The second mistake is that THB didn’t put his foot through it and instead, lost the ball and there you have it.  THB really struggled at the back. There was some good play, bailing KWP out the shit exactly two minutes before coughing up the first goal. As I said before though, it’s far too easy to put all the blame on THB for that goal. You really have to look at who put him in the shit in the first place. THB will get there in the end but at the moment the learning curve is very steep.  Personally I feel that he needs to be playing regularly in a back four to have the best chance of reaching his potential. 

For the second goal, Bednarek and Stephens both go for the same ball and then Jan tries a deft little flick in the centre of the defence which gives the ball away and we let in another goal. That’s the sort of flick that a number 10 would play to flick the ball through to a striker and it’s an absolute fucking joke to try and do it on the edge of your own penalty area. This shows how much the pace and the pressure in the Premier League gets to players when a 60 cap Polish international makes a mistake and a decision like that.  The third goal was shit defending from a long throw. Okay, that can happen against Brentford because of the height they’ve got in their team but it’s another poor goal. So, three gifts and you aren’t gonna win any games if you do that, especially when you’re as average and blunt in attack as we are.

So, three shit goals conceded by our previously pretty reliable defence. What of our previously failing attack? In the first half we had chances to be fair but Adam Armstrong just illustrated again that he’s not good enough when it comes down to it in the Premier League. He had two 'attempts'  in the first half, which ended with not having any conviction when running through for the first one and then playing an air shot 6 yards out when any connection would’ve been a goal. At least he was in the middle today and had a couple of opportunities, and not out on the right wing. Ben Brereton Diaz stuck to his brief on the left hand side and basically did fuck all and he has not done enough to convince anyone as yet.

What Ben did do in the first half was occupy the space that KWP should’ve been running into from left wing back. KWP was instead though, being the third centre half because Jack Stephens was loafing about in midfield and getting in the way.  This is one of many things that we did today that is simply not going to wash at Premier League level. You can just about get away with Jack waltzing into midfield in the Championship but not in the Premier League. Quite frankly it’s embarrassing.  Why go in there to be an extra passing option to break the lines, if all you're going to do is unbreak the lines and go backwards.

By Saints standards, Russell Martin has an embarrassment of resources bearing in mind the investment in the squad in the summer. He has to be brutal with some of his decisions.  I think we have the players, despite still being a bit lacking in attacking areas, but he has to make some tough calls on certain players that he would rather not have to make.  Adam Armstrong looks completely lost at this level. it doesn't matter that he scored the goal at Wembley - this is a different assignment.  Will Smallbone played like he was 45 years old, second to every ball, jogging back behind the play and basically all the things that we suspected would happen when he played against Premier League athletes. It’s a shame and it’s not his fault but that’s just the way it is. You need to be athletic in midfield at Premier League level and Will just isn’t and he never will be.  Joe Aribo started the game well but completely died after about 25 minutes and though he looks promising in patches, it’s just not enough. Again, the issues of playing both Smallbone and Aribo as a combination in midfield when neither of them can run... it will never work.  There are better options than both of those two with Fernandes, Ugochukwu, Dibling and even Lallana all queueing up.  At a push, you can fit in one of Smallbone and Aribo but not both.

When we eventually changed the formation at 60 minutes, we started to look better as an attacking force. Cameron Archer had decent initial impact before fading as we failed to give him the ball. Mateus Fernandes was the same but his quality is there for all to see and there is a player there who should certainly be integrated into the starting 11. Adam Lallana as expected, added some quality when he came on but the game was gone by then.

Tyler Waltzes Past Defenders As Per Usual 

After the Cardiff game in mid week I said that we need to be cautious about throwing Tyler Dibling into the starting 11 but after his performance against Brentford, I have changed my mind a little bit because this is a team that needs a spark and he is it. He put in an absolutely ridiculously good performance from the bench, playing mainly from the right wing, beating a succession of players, created numerous crossing opportunities and was majorly responsible along with Lallana, for creating our consolation goal, which was expertly put away by Sugawara.

Su-ga-wa-ra, Southampton Goal Machine

Sugawara is an interesting player.  I feel that when we inevitably go to a back four, he needs to come out the side and we need to move KWP to right back and bring in Charlie Taylor on the left. It was a brilliant goal that he scored but in a back four the spotlight he’s going to fall more in his defending and today it really wasn’t very good, especially in the first half.

The way Saints play and the way that Russell Martin wants them to play was always going to come on the serious examination in the Premier League and so far, all the pundits are being proved correct. One definition of playing out from the back is what we do which is keeping the ball 30 yards from our own goal and trying to entice the other team onto us and not being afraid to pass the ball into midfield and then pass it back to the defenders. I don’t think that’s on at Premier League level because our defenders are not good enough to deal with the extra pace and intensity that in general, Premier League attackers have. Once you break the lines at the back, you cannot afford to unbreak it and bring them all back into play again.

Another definition of playing out from the back is basically when the goalkeeper gets it he plays it short but if it’s not on he doesn’t do that and looks to distribute it another way, either drilling a pass towards someone or hurling it out with a long throw to someone. I feel that’s fine and that’s where we need to land, not with the play at all costs approach which we seem to have at the moment. So far, in three games, we have conceded five goals. If you forget the long throw for a second the other four have all been caused by us basically giving the ball away within 25 yards of our own goal.  The number of goals we have scored as a result of playing out stands at zero.

We scored today by picking our way through an 11 man Brentford defence which as it stands, is the only way we are going to score because our build up is just too slow.  With the international break now upon us, we simply have to use it to get a four at the back system nailed down. I genuinely feel that it would help us in the Premier League. The defenders won’t have so many options to knock the ball around at the back so will have to pass it into the midfield and it allows us to have another attacking player on the pitch.  Obviously there's much more to it than that but that's just for starters.

It’s not the end of the world that we lost today. Obviously it’s not ideal and it’s only a completely wasted day if Russell Martin does not learn from it. Quite simply, he has to and I think we are about to find out exactly how ruthless he is prepared to be. He proved it last season with the Lumley/McCarthy decision, the beginning of Holgate decision and this season he’s proved in part that he doesn’t have favourites by not having Ryan Manning anywhere near a Premier League squad. I think he will prove is ruthlessness again by the time we come back after the international break.  We need him to.  

Up the fucking Saints