Premier League Match 5 - Southampton 1 Ipswich Town 1

 

Remember the Name

Though we were not counting on the Manchester United game for any sort of guaranteed points, the fact that we have lost it along with the previous three games since the start of the season, means that this Ipswich home game is fucking huge. The natural excuse of “well we are a newly promoted side so what do you expect“ does not apply today for obvious reasons, those being that Ipswich got promoted with us.

Ipswich, like ourselves, haven’t won in their opening four games but the caveat to that is that the first two were against Liverpool and Manchester City and were therefore write-offs, but in the next two, they picked up a decent point in a 1-1 draw with Fulham and most impressively, picked up a 0-0 at Brighton last time out. To be honest, they have looked more adept at Premier League level then we have so far. Since last year they’ve added Sammy Szmodics  and Liam Delap (son or Rory) from Blackburn and Manchester City via Hull, respectively. Both of those players have got off the mark already but if you remember, we have our own Championship level flat track bully in Adam Armstrong and he scored in his first Premier League game for Saints.

Apparently, Saints were in for Delap and also for Jack Clarke, who also ended up joining Ipswich.  One of their headline signings was Kalvin Phillips, who escaped his Manchester City nightmare to sign for Ipswich for the season on loan and if fit, he will form a midfield partnership with Sam Morsy who is one of those players who plays with a cloak of invisibility, so the referees don’t see the 35 fouls he’s made during the game and he eventually gets booked with a minute to go.

Kieran McKenna was linked with various big jobs in the summer but instead, signed a new contract with Ipswich. It’s nice to see good guys get rewarded and not jump ship at the first opportunity. I do wonder if there was any genuine interest from the likes of Manchester United, or whether it was agent driven interest to push out the value of his new contract.  If it was the latter then I assume it worked.

McKenna has made it quite clear that the fact that they beat us twice last season doesn’t really have much to do with anything this year because of the turnover in planning staff at both clubs. He is right but he won’t stop the media talking about it. Ipswich will certainly see this as a game that they can get points out of.

All eyes will once again be on Russell Martin’s team selection for today. I would anticipate it being very similar to what we put out against Manchester United last weekend with the one enforced change of THB coming into the defence for the suspended Captain Jack. There may also be a change in midfield with Adam Lallana perhaps in line to start. I cling to the hope that once we win a game, then we will be aware of what is needed to win games in this division and will win a few more. It really needs to start today.

In the event, both THB and Lallana start and there are a couple more changes, with Ryan Fraser coming in for the disappointing (so far) BBD and there is also a change at fallback with KWP being dropped for Charlie Taylor.  That’s an interesting one because it gives us balance and a natural left back is welcome.  If it happened earlier in the season, KWP would’ve been picked on the right hand side ahead of Sugawara, but Yuki has proved himself more than capable, so deserves to stay in the team.

Away we go and it’s the opposition that shows first, keeping the ball and generally looking like a solid unit. All that changes on five minutes though as Fraser closes down clearance by Tuanzebe, and finds Fernandes, who finds Lallana on the edge of the box and he feeds a beautifully weighted ball into Dibling, whose first touch is immaculate he takes it away from a defender to create the space and he absolutely buries it, sending the keeper the wrong way. The boy is going to be a superstar. What a fucking start.

Saints Forward in 'Goal' Shocker

Ipswich try to get back into it immediately building up nicely down the right before the eventual cross from Burns is met by Szmodics with a completely free header but he goes full Championship and plops it straight to Ramsdale and on an unrelated note, the flag has gone up anyway.  Szmodics has another opening which is closed down by Sugawara at the expense of an Ipswich corner which we clear comfortably enough. Maybe a new, more savvy Southampton is in evidence as Ramsdale responds to the Ipswich pressure by going down for treatment to take the sting out things... or he might have been injured... though I doubt it.

We are not being helped in our desire to get hold of the ball by over-zealous officiating, in that every time we get near Ipswich, the whistle goes.  Surprisingly, it doesn’t do so when Bednarek wins the ball off Delap and then Dibling splits the defence superbly to put Archer through and he dances around the flailing Greaves and around Muric but the angle is tight and hits the face of the near post and sees it bounce obligingly straight back to the goalkeeper. Fuck.

As half-time approaches, Ipswich create again with Tuanzebe‘s cross finding non-defending left back Davis at the back post but it doesn’t get hold of it and it’s easily pushed aside by Ramsdale.  The corner is eventually headed away by Taylor on the other side and the next corner is played short to Hutchison who works the ball onto his left foot and absolutely hammers it but Ramsdale sees it all the way and helps it over the bar.

Half time and we’re winning, so not much to complain about.  It would be nice to have a bit more possession and be asking some more questions of the Ipswich defence because it really doesn’t look that great.  The message for the start of the second half should be to go and get a second goal and this is done.

Lallana - Still a Different Level

Lallana has largely been playing as the deepest of the midfielders, which allows Downes to run forward when possible.  One such surge sees the captain accelerate into the space and play the ball into Archer, who again does really well to make space against Greaves and O’Shea and tries to lift it over Muric as he lost his balance but it hits the keeper.

We seem much more in control than we were in the first half though there’s a moment of excitement for Ipswich fans at the other end as Hutchison plays Szmodics through to the right but he once again goes full Championship and lashes it into the side netting but the angle makes the Ipswich fans in the Kingsland Chapel corner momentarily think it’s a goal.  Ahhhhh!

Sugawara wins a challenge in midfield before lifting the ball over the top and Fernandes should go on and shoot but seems to shank it and the ball flies past Archer, who can’t get a touch.  57 minutes and it’s substitution time, with Big Les, Ross Stewart and BBD joining the fray and Lallana, Archer and Fraser going off.  Archer just needs a goal to be up and running, whereas Lallana and Fraser have probably done as much as they can given their respective fitness levels.  It feels a little bit too early though to be making a triple change.

With no Jack Stephens to get sent off this week, the new forwards at least have a chance to make a difference and Sugawara plays another good ball inbetween the defenders to pick up Fernandes run into the penalty area and he pulls it back to Brereton Diaz who lashes it well over the bar and he really should be working on the goalkeeper at least.

Ten to go and Dibling is off, replaced by Adam Armstrong and once 90 is up, Fernandes is off to be replaced by Joe Aribo.  Seven fucking go up on the board.  Fuck off - I was expecting four or five.  Ross Stewart comes back to defend and launches into a forwards tackle and concedes a free-kick on the edge of the box out wide.  In it comes, cleared out for a throw. Long throw into the box from Davis and headed out by THB, back in from Clarke and Hirst (son of David) heads goalwards but Ramsdale shovels it over the bar. 95 up and in it comes, headed out by BBD to the edge of the box and Morsy smashes it, Ramsdale has it covered, flicks off Aribo, top corner.  Misery.

Oh Just Fuck Off You Horrible Deflected Bastard

Oh do fuck off Ipswich. For fuck‘s sake. Gutted. Wouldn’t it have been nice just to fucking hang on for a change. No real threat from Ipswich throughout the whole of the second half and then a shot from the edge of the box that the keeper would’ve saved but it takes a little deflection and arrows into the corner. Just fuck off.  If he spanks it straight in the top corner then hands up and fair enough but that little deflection off of some part of Joe Aribo makes it ten times worse because it brings in the element of 'lucky bastards'.

Last week I spoke about the brutality of being in the Premier League and you therefore have to be brutal when assessing the performance and the players.  Both of these teams are going to struggle to stay up because of a lack of attack in quality in the final third. We had more quality than they did across the rest of the pitch and they had more physicality than we did. Our lack of second goal was of course the reason that the game was not out of sight and the one thing we know about Ipswich that is unchanged from last season, is that they hang in there and often nick something right at the end.  That will only take them so far however.

I still have a feeling that when Saints win a game, we will kick on and I also feel certain that we will finish above Ipswich.  Whether we find two more teams to finish above is questionable.. We were so close today to getting over the line and if we get the forward line firing, we do look like a team that is capable of doing it. Ramsdale is better than any goalkeeper outside of the top six. The back four that played today is solid. The midfield that played today is very well balanced and contains three very good players. The problems all comes with the front line.

An Off-Target Archer

It was brilliant for Tyler Dibling to score his first goal today and he will of course now stay in the team until he physically needs to come out for a spell. If there was any justice today he would have had a goal and as assist.  Cameron Archer is still yet to convince at Premier League level but he came close today but he really needs to be scoring one of those big chances he had.  Ryan Fraser worked incredibly hard defensibly but there is very little in terms of attacking output from him, and there never will be if he doesn’t take on his full back instead of turning back every single time.  Ben Brereton Diaz has offered absolutely nothing to the team in the opening five games of the season. He smashed one over the bar today but he gives me the impression that he is just coasting through games and needs to work harder.  Ross Stewart looked decent when he came on and offers something different to Archer in that he is more suited to playing up front on his own.  I feel there is more to come from him if (big if) he stays fit.  Opinions of his performance will be tarnished by the free-kick he gave away which very indirectly led to the equalising goal.  

Russell Martin will probably take some stick today because of his substitutions.   I thought the initial batch was ten minutes early but the players brought on and off were correct. When it was Tyler Dibling‘s time to come off, surely the better substitution would’ve been to bring on KWP and playing in front of Sugawara.  Armstrong was brought on almost as a defensive substitution because otherwise, Max Cornet would’ve come on.

The major positive today was the back four who looked decent and would have been deserving of the clean sheet that they very nearly got.  THB had his best game of the season and Bednarek looked a lot more composed than he did against Manchester United. The partnership that was our best one the Championship is unsurprisingly looking like our best partnership in the Premier League.  Charlie Taylor is a solid customer left back and it was really noticeable how many times he got his head to set piece deliveries into the box. Sugawara again put in a very solid performance at right back and justified his selection ahead of KWP.

Overall, I thought the performance today was more pragmatic. Ramsdale was prepared to go long and did so on numerous occasions.  It illustrated the good and the bad of that approach as balls running down on top Fraser really need to be have to be thought out a little bit more. He also played a lot of balls along the ground to Archer who showed that he is not particularly good at holding off defenders and looking after the ball.

All the attention will go to Tyler Dibling because of his superbly taken goal but for me the star man out there today was Matty Fernandez who mixes up high energy, positive passing and getting stuck in, which makes him an ideal midfield player. Adam Lallana played a brilliant pass set up the goal and he put in a real solid performance and was very influential from the deep lying role in midfield. Captain Flynn Downes was also excellent, and it was always good to see him driving forward with the ball which of some of the rest of the players could learn from.

Overall, this is a massive opportunity missed. The very definition of two points dropped. It’s not the end of the world given that there are six teams who have yet to win a game in the Premier League but in the same way that the Ipswich game became huge after the Manchester United defeat, the Bournemouth game next Monday becomes gigantic.

Up the Fucking Saints.