Premier League Match 7 - Arsenal 3 Southampton 1

 

Well That Dream Lasted 3 minutes

Free hit time and Arsenal away at The Emirates, an away ground but we have an almost 100% record at and not in a good way. To be honest, we used to get battered pretty routinely at Highbury as well, but The Emirates has been a whole new level of pain ever since it was built. Highbury is still the only ground where I have left a game seriously early - Ian Wright completing a hat-trick to make it 4-0 in the 58th minute was enough for me back in the dim and distant past. Most people are going into this game expecting something similar today.

Arsenal this year like last, are the main serious rival to Manchester City apart from points deductions. The manager, Mikel Arteta has been building something for a considerable number of years now and is getting pretty close. There is and always will be something about him though that makes you hope that he never quite gets there. This season they have started well of course but have lost their talismanic captain, Martin Ødegaard to injury but other than him, last year‘s team that ran Manchester City close is still intact. Last year, David Raya was brought in on loan, which 12 months later has led to us signing Aaron Ramsdale. For that I guess we should thank Arteta – even if he is annoying.

When you play teams like Arsenal and you look for weakness, there aren’t really any as they are of course ridiculously strong in all areas of the pitch, so I think you have to focus on the areas that are not quite as good as the others.  In Arsenal‘s case, it’s the creativity through midfield without Odegaard and the area that will ultimately mean that they don’t finish about Manchester City, which is the attack. The likes of Trossard, Jesus and Sterling are obviously very good, but they are not exceptional.

Russell Martin has the chance today to get the team to put on a performance that banishes all the bad vibes of the Bournemouth game. There is zero expectation around this game, but we do need to put up a spirited performance and we cannot afford to get absolutely dicked.

Rambo Prays That We Don't Get Dicked

The first thing to report about the team news is that we actually have a striker on the pitch in Ross Stewart.  There is one unusual name, courtesy of what has become the traditional Russell Martin curveball, and it’s Ryan Manning who has not played a minute for the first team this season, neither in the league or the Carabao Cup. I’m guessing that he is in the team to combat Bukayo Saka down the Arsenal right. KWP has returned in place of Charlie Taylor, and on the face of it, having a right footed left back is not the worst thing in the world when Saka wants to come in on his left foot the whole time. Joe Aribo comes into the team instead of Big Les, which was entirely predictable given Russell Martin’s comments post-Bournemouth.

Arsenal selection offers a chink of possibility. Raheem Sterling is starting… I’ve always thought he was shit and that’s a hill I will die on. For me his pace always masks the fact that he isn’t actually a very good footballer. Also starting is Gabriel Jesus who has looked very out of form whenever he’s played, so hopefully we can frustrate and build into the game.

Away we go and it looks like a 4-4-1-1 formation with Matty Fernandes trying to get forward to support Stewart and Ryan Manning stationed on the left of midfield.  It’s all Arsenal from the start as you’d expect and Saints are not helping themselves by playing into the traps that Arsenal are clearly setting to catch us in possession in our own half. I count five times in a row that we don’t get out of our half before losing the ball and from one such turnover in play, Saka drills a cross over from the right, which is fired back into the mixer, hits Bednarek on the ankle and luckily bounces clear for Manning to hack it away.

Despite the suicide-ball that we attempt to play, we are restricting Arsenal and they are not testing Ramsdale at all. Finally, the game stops looking like a training exercise of attack versus defence and Aribo works the ball out to Dibling on the right, who teases Calafiore before his cross is headed out by Partey and KWP takes a swing from the edge of the box which is straight at Raya.

Saints are now finding their men quite well and Ramsdale chips one into the middle of the park, which Stewart controls and gets absolutely wiped out by Declan Rice. Stewart is up and then down again and it immediately becomes apparent that it’s a return to Crock Ness. The most remarkable thing about this is that the referee Tony Harrington has actually given us a free kick.   It’s a sad sight to see Ross going off again and you fear the worst as he doesn’t tend to do one-week injuries.  With Ross forlornly sitting on the deck and being treated, Cameron Archer is coming on which is a bit strange considering all Stewart has been trying to do is hold the ball up for our midfielders to join in. Tall Paul must be wondering what he’s got to do to get on the pitch.

We have now gone full training exercise.  Archer is not getting a touch and so Saints aren’t getting out at all. Saka is the main Arsenal threat, and his cross is deflected out to Jorginho who flashes a shot narrowly wide.  Arsenal’s physicality is something that we are struggling to live with and Havertz easily holds off Bednarek to knock the ball down and Arsenal are away again at the left through Sterling but as usual Sterling makes every wrong decision possible and his shot is headed away by the retreating Bednarek. Saka then tees up Thomas Partey on the edge of the box and he doesn’t wait for an invitation as usual, before firing on in there and Ramsdale gets down well to save and then Bednarek clears for a corner.

Half-time and so far, so good in that we have kept it relatively tight and reached this point goalless which everyone would’ve taken before the start of the game. A lot of been made of the set piece threat the Arsenal pose but we have survived five or six corners with relatively few alarms. It’s is of course, a long way to go before we can get in anyway excited about the possibility of getting a point.

The second half starts with the usual procession towards our goal and Gabriel Jesus puts one wide from the edge of the box. Saints then start showing intent as Tyler Dibling takes on the much hyped Calafiori and leaves him for dead, cutting into the penalty area before his cross flicks off of Gabriel and Fernandes desperately tries to readjust himself as he flies into the box, getting a touch and lifting it onto the roof of the net.

55 minutes and Saints try to play out and lose the ball to Sterling but Fernandes snaps back at him and runs him off the ball. Whilst Sterling is flapping around on the ground appealing for a free kick, Fernandes turns and sends Archer away in the inside left channel. His first touch takes the ball out to the corner of the penalty area but he cuts inside Saliba and drills it across Raya into the far corner. Fucking hell. What have we done?

After the mental celebrations have calmed down, Arsenal kick-off and we win the ball back with Fernandes knocking the ball back to Downes, who then telegraphs a ball out to the left to Manning which is easily intercepted by Saka and played forward to Havertz, who chops inside THB and smashes it past Ramsdale and then off the post. Fucks sake.  We led for three minutes.  Completely preventable.

Arteta throws on subs now and the Arsenal team gets immeasurably stronger with the arrival of Trossard, Martinelli and Merino.  The shit pair of Sterling and Gabriel Jesus have gone off, along with Jorginho. Arsenal are stepping up again now and Partey tries another unwelcome advance and shot from the edge of the box which is deflected narrowly wide with Ramsdale diving the other way.

More pressure and Arsenal easily get the ball out to Saka on their right and he gives Manning twisted blood before crossing to the back post where Martinelli has half the pitch to himself and volleys in from very close range.  Bollocks…. but we’re off to VAR.

“Hi Stockley Park, Tony Harrington here at Arsenal”
“Who they playing Tony?”
“No idea – some Championship no marks – what have you got?”
“Potential offside on the goal – Martinelli very close”
“Oh I do hope not – remember that Arsenal have had a couple of red cards for booting the ball away which they’re not happy with”
“OK, according to the etch-a-sketch, Martinelli is onside”
“Great… goal then….?”
“Hang on, got to cover our arses here – Merino is in offside position when he tries to head it”
“Yeah but he misses it doesn’t he?”
“Yes, but we have to make a subjective call as to whether he impacted the goal or not”
“Subjective is the key word there then ….”
“Yep – best wait a couple of minutes to make sure the boses know we’ve exhausted every option of giving the goal”

[ time goes by ]

So lads, a subjective decision and all that….and we all know what that means don’t we?”
“Yep – fuck the Championship no marks – goal to Arsenal”

Bollocks - how predictable.

Shrug

Saka is now leading us in a merry dance over that side and he snaps Mannings ankles before drilling another shot at the near post which Ramsdale beats away. Manning has had a decent game to be fair but he’s unsurprisingly knackered and off now to be replaced with Adam Armstrong.  In a shock development, Matty Fernandes gives way to be replaced by Tall Paul.

Dibling has now moved infield and picks up a short pass from Downes in the centre and jinks past a couple of players before letting fly from long-range and it takes a deflection, beats Raya and hits the outside of the post. Fuck. It comes the corner from Sugawara and THB flies in, the goalkeeper flaps at it and it hits Adam Armstrong bounces off the crossbar and over. No doubt if I had gone in, they would’ve found a way to disallow it.

Time is running out but we’re still in it as Dibling again lines at the retreating Calafiore before finding Armstrong and Sugawara’s low cross along 6 yard line is just in front of Tall Paul, who maybe should have gambled.

Saints push forward and lose the ball in midfield and Trossard is suddenly away and bearing down on goal but before he makes his mind up, Aribo gets back and pokes the ball away from him and Sugawara tidies up but his first touch is heavy and he clearly has not seen Saka lurking, who just passes it into the net.

And so another defeat but at least it wasn’t the humiliation that many of predicted before the start. The players and the manager restored a bit of pride today which was desperately needed after the Bournemouth shambles. Seasons are not defined by away defeats at Arsenal and positives can be taken from today. More than those later.

With Russell actually deciding to start with a striker today in Ross Stewart, we survived the first half despite spending the opening twenty giving the ball away in our half. At one stage I counted five consecutive times where we had tried to play out and then lost the ball before we got to anywhere near the halfway line. We kept on doing that after taking the lead and Russell Martin would call it brave and everyone else would call it dumb. Just for three minutes after our goal, an unnecessary pass by Flynn Downes was intercepted and there you have it, 1-1. Not that it really mattered but the third goal was also down to overplaying at the back with Sugawara deciding not to just clear the ball and instead taking a heavy touch and presenting the third goal to the excellent Saka.

In amongst all that we played some decent stuff and our goal was excellent with Matty Fernandes winning the ball back, driving forward and playing a quick forward pass to Archer who did the rest. Brilliant goal. With a little bit more luck we would’ve scored instead of hitting the woodwork twice, unluckily by Tyler Dibling and inadvertently by Adam Armstrong.

There wasn’t anyone out there who had what you would class as a poor game though Yuki Sugawara’s defending for the second and third goals leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. The second goal saw the left winger score without the right back having any idea where his man was at any point as he had his back to him whilst ball watching.  There were some very bright sparks today. Jan Bednarek had an excellent game in the centre of defence and Joe Aribo showed that he should definitely stay in the team in the centre of midfield. Tyler Dibling found going difficult to start with but came to life in the second half and gave experienced Italian international Calafiori a really tough time down that wing. Cam Archer's first goal of hopefully many. It was even a good cameo by Tall Paul his double step over roulette turn thing towards past William Saliba is going to end up as a social media highlight reel. Amazing skill for such a big guy. He might get more opportunities now as well with the luckless Ross Stewart having broken down again.

Trabzonspor Meltdown Incoming

Arsenal tried to win the game today giving some of their reserve players a game. Okay, the likes of Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus are experienced international players but they are not as good as some of the Arsenal players and this was shown particularly with the introduction of Martinelli in the second half who ultimately made a massive difference. There is no shame at all and losing to this Arsenal side and we gave him a good go and with a little bit more luck with eh second goal and hitting the woodwork twice in a couple of minutes, we may have got something.

Is the Arsenal second goal offside?  I can see it both ways in all honesty.  If you are looking at it through Saints-tinted glasses then Merino goes to heads it from an offside position, Ramsdale has to cover that possibility and that clearly affects the time he has to get across to Martinelli’s effort.  I also ask the question as to whether it would have been disallowed if we’d scored it?

Whilst we can take positives from today despite losing, that’s not an option in the next game which is Leicester at home. They’ve just picked up their first win of the season with a 1-0 home win against Bournemouth and we simply have to beat them next time out, which doesn’t happen for another two weeks.

In the meantime, up the fucking International Break Saints.

Premier League Match 6 - Bournemouth 3 Southampton 1

"And Up Top.... No one"

More points to be possibly had today, with a trip to the Vitality Shed to play Bournemouth in a game that has become bigger for us because of our result against Ipswich at the weekend. Much though Cherries fans would like us to believe it’s a bigger game for us because we are playing them, it’s simply a bigger game because we only have one point from five games so far and this is an opportunity against another team in the bottom half…. not an easy opportunity of course, but an opportunity nonetheless given the glimpses of life we showed against Manchester United and Ipswich.

I’ve watched a couple of Bournemouth games this season on the TV and in one of them against Chelsea at home, they were very unlucky to come away with a last-minute 1-0 defeat. To be honest, they were the better side and have a team with a lot of pace in it. Where they are struggling of course is up front, having lost their main striker, Dominic Solanke, to Spurs for a ridiculously high £65 million fee. They paid £40 million for his replacement, a Brazilian called Evanilson and he hasn’t scored yet, so a fixture against Saints is a dream for him.  Hang on, £65 million and £40 million… for the last few years Bournemouth have always traded at ridiculously high levels of transfer fee, which is completely at odds with the 11,000 capacity shed that they playing in.  Have no fear though as apparently, they are going to increase the capacity to a whopping 16,000 in the next few years. Just how much is their income? How are they doing on PSR? So many questions about Bournemouth’s past and their financing under the mysterious Max Demin, but he’s gone now so a bit like Leicester City, they have got away with it.

As I said, on the pitch they seem to have a decent side despite losing Solanke, well managed by Andoni Iraola, who survived a dodgy start last year to keep Bournemouth well away from the relegation zone at the end of the season. The results this season haven’t been fantastic however, with their only win being a ridiculous comeback from 2-0 down with 10 minutes to go at Goodison Park. You certainly aren't going to do that every week and I guess questions have to be asked how they managed to go two behind to Everton in the first place. So, as I said, this is an opportunity and it feels like one of those games where if we play well and don’t give anything away, we will have a very good chance to get some points but if we shit the bed, we will undoubtably get beat again and the pressure will grow.

Saints have arrived in a place where we are struggling to score goals and our major hope in attacking sense is an 18-year-old. Said 18-year-old is attracting a lot of attention in the media since scoring his first goal last weekend with all the usual suspects and their client media piping up. Hopefully Cameron Archer can take some of the attention away from Tyler Dibling today and have people talking about him next week and how he’s finally got off the mark. Maybe we’ll be talking about Ryan Fraser scoring against his old club.

Team news is in and it’s weird.  It’s one of those ones where you don’t know how to react. You don’t want to be negative before the game has started but on the face of it, you look at it and wonder if you’re going to be saying “I told you so” at the end of it. Big Les is in for Adam Lallana which I assume is a fitness issue (despite our last game being 9 days ago) and Max Cornet is in the side in place of Cameron Archer which I assume means that he’s going to be playing as the central striker.

As kick-off approaches, I got a sense of foreboding that Russell's gonna be doing something fucking dumb and that we were probably going to play without a proper number 9, like we did in those three games at the start of the season when we were shit and didn’t score. On the bench were all four strikers who were supposed to be our guys for goals this season – Archer, Armstrong, Brereton Diaz and Stewart. That kind of says it all about how much the manager rates them. Also on the bench was Tall Paul so we could be throwing all five of them on if it goes really badly. This game has suddenly just got even more massive for Russell Martin because it is absolutely guaranteed that if you make left field changes which most people will think are weird, and it doesn’t work, you are absolutely wide open to criticism.

As the game started it was even more weird than I imagined. Fraser and Cornet were on the wings and both Matty Fernandes and Dibling were pushing up from midfield. Basically, it was a return of the 4-6-0 formation which is a striker-free variation, similar to the 5-5-0 formation that had been so abysmally shit for us in the first three games of the season.

Regardless of my scepticism, it started pretty well with Wee Man, with a cacophony of not many Bournemouth fans giving him pelters, lifting a ball down the left flank for Big Les to gallop away from Adam Smith and his pull-back into the middle was met on the edge of the box by Cornet and his first time effort skewed off of Senesi’s head flew very narrowly wide. Unlucky.

Like me, Bournemouth seem a little bit confused by our formation and a shit back pass to Kepa, is scuffed away by the keeper as far as Wee Man thirty yards out and he knocks it forward before smashing it but Kepa gets down well to pull off the second save easily enough. Would’ve been a beautiful moment if the Wee Man scored but never mind.

Not Scored For Your New Club?  Have No Fear

So, mainly us so far, with Bournemouth not producing much. On 18 minutes, a hopeful ball is knocked forward by Bournemouth and Downes runs into Semenyo and Michael Oliver can’t wait to give a free kick.  The ball stops rolling and Tavernier chips it first time over the Saints defence and Evanilson latches onto it and gets a toe to the volley, sending it across Ramsdale and into the far corner.  For fucks sake.  Downes and Ugochukwu are still throwing their arms around about the free-kick being given against us and no one was switched on. Pathetic.

It’s nearly 2-0 straight away as soon as Senesi puts Outtara away down the left-hand side and his low cross is crying out to be tapped in until Taylor comes across from left back to clear it away. We seem to have gone full Man United at home and gone to shit at the first setback.  The respite is brief however.  Senesi up to Evanilson who holds it up and turns, finding Christie who spreads it wide to Semenyo and his low cross is hit by Cook and deflected by Outtara in front of Ramsdale, giving the keeper no chance again. It’s not offside because we’ve done what we did against Ipswich in that we have seven defenders in the six-yard box and none on the edge of the box and one of them then hasn’t pushed out.  Fucking ridiculous.

Bournemouth now look like they’re gonna score every single time they go forward and Semenyo is found out on the right hand side and he easily beats Ugochukwu and turns Downes and THB inside out before firing across Ramsdale and into the far corner again. It’s embarrassing and the fact of the matter is that the manager has fucked it from the start of the game and the players have compounded the error by giving up. Wankers.

It’s absolutely grim and more by luck than judgement, we get to half-time just the three goals behind. No doubt the changes that should’ve been made when the team was being picked or even when we went one down, will now be made. There is an unofficial “three-goal rule” whereby you are excused from leaving the ground/turning off the TV if you are three goals behind but those with a morbid curiosity to continue would see three half-time substitutions with the bringing on of a centre forward in Ross Stewart, midfielder in Joe Aribo and a dustman in Ben Brereton Diaz.  Max Cornet and Ryan Fraser are unsurprisingly removed, as it is Big Les who had a good five minutes and was then Big Hologram. Unsurprisingly, we have reverted to the formation that we should’ve had from the start.  I know formations aren’t important to Russell but maybe they fucking should be.

The game is completely dead and you can tell from the start of the second half that Bournemouth are just going through the motions. Saints get on top and actually look like we have a business in being out there on the pitch. We win a free-kick over on the right hand which is swung in by Dibling, met by THB and well saved by Kepa.  Taylor retrieves it back to Fernandes and his cross is met by the stooping THB, getting his head to the ball and sending it bouncing into the far side of the net.  35 minutes left to make the game interesting.

THB's consolation Goal with 40 minutes to go

Tyler is really struggling even though we’ve gone back to a normal formation, but shows a bit of life to drive up the pitch, leaving players in his wake but when he loses the ball when he reaches the Bournemouth back line, one pass forward to Cook, then another pass forward to Evanilson and he’s clean through on Ramsdale but takes a shot early and thankfully straight at the keeper.

Lallana is on for Fernandes, despite him playing pretty well in the second half once the formation changed, and Lallana immediately sets about making us tick and his ball finds Dibling on the right.  The pass in towards Lallana is half cleared as far as Downes and his first time volleyed pass finds BBD on the left hand corner of the 6 yard box but all he can do is knock it sideways across the goal and no one can get to it.  Once he chose to use his right foot instead of his left, that was always going to happen.

Archer is now on for Dibling, with no time to make an impact, though we do look a bit lively as Stewart comes short to pick up a Downes pass and puts it out to Sugawara on the right.  He finds a yard and slings it over and Stewart throws himself at it and nearly connects and we win a corner. It might not seem like a big deal but it stands out because that was proper attacking.

Christie has an effort on the volley from 25 yards which goes into the side netting and I’m amazed it didn’t go in and we have one final chance to get anything happening when the impressive Aribo gets bundled over at 25 yards out and Sugawara added to the fucking terrible game he’d had by curling a free kick straight to the goalkeeper about six foot above all the players he was aiming at. Absolute shit. So, all in all, after the THB goal, we didn’t have a shot on target despite Bournemouth going through the motions and not attacking much.

Well fuck off and that was fucking shit. First of all, I’m not having any talk about “well we won the second half”.  Fuck right off. Bournemouth just strolled through the second half because they had already won the game.  The only relevance lies in the first half  because Russell Martin had nine days to pick a team and come up with tactics and the first half was an indication of how well that went. Absolute wank.  It took Bournemouth about ten minutes to come to terms with our weird tactical set up when the centre backs realised that hey could push up as far as they liked on Dibling and Fernandes and they wouldn’t be able to handle it or influence the game.  In our opening ten minutes of “surprise”, we of course didn’t score but once they’d sussed it, they pissed all over us for the rest of the first half, scoring three goals that they didn’t particularly have to work hard for, whilst Russell Martin sat on his hands and didn’t correct the rather obvious flaw in the plan.  With a striker in front of Dibling and Fernandes, the centre backs would have to drop deeper, giving the young lads more space and facing the right way ... duh!

Teams like Saints who are struggling in the bottom half of the league, need to play with a central striker. Not playing with one, for me is almost as stupid as playing without a fucking goalkeeper. We are not Spain 2012, we are not Man City without Haaland. When your team is not top level, not having a central striker means that you are incredibly unlikely to score and you are incredibly unlikely to even get near the opposition goal in open play because you have no focal point.  I know the modern game has changed but there are some undeniable football truths out there for fuck‘s sake. The biggest crime of the selection was the effect it had on two of our brightest players with both Tyler Dibling and Matty Fernandes becoming lost and getting in each other’s way and losing the ball with their back to goal on the half way line with big centre backs up their arse.  Neither played well in the first half because they are two players who are getting used to playing in the Premier League and suddenly they’re having to play in a way that is completely different to them on top of that. So, two of our brightest attacking players were in affect neutered by our own tactics.

The second half can only be used in the context of learning. What I learned from the second half was that the formation was better (but then we knew that before the game).  Also, KWP has to come back into the team because he’s better than both of the full-backs who we had playing – it’s that simple.  Joe Aribo is miles clear of Big Les, who does the odd good thing that it’s just not enough in a struggling team, to disappear as much as he does. Maybe you can get away with it at Chelsea when you are on top for the majority of the game but not here.  Ross Stewart did okay as a centre forward and he certainly has more about him than a lot of the other options. Ben Brereton Diaz is officially an embarrassment.  He didn't even win a free-kick for his dive today.  All I can say is that the standard of Chilean football must be absolutely honking if he gets a game.

If the game wasn’t lost with the original selection, it was lost the second we didn’t react to going behind and conceded a second goal. The first Bournemouth goal was courtesy of a quick free-kick that we didn’t react to, even though we knew Bournemouth like a quick free kick. Big Les and Downes were too busy turning their back and waving their arms around at the referee, to bother to stop the freekick being taken and THB compounded the error by not paying attention to either the free-kick or the striker he was supposed to be marking.  As said, the second goal was a combination of the Ipswich mistake - defenders too deep and no one on the edge and, the Manchester United mistake - Flynn Downes not pushing out like your taught to do when you’re about 10 years old.  Two goals and two big involvements by the centre forward. Who’d have thought it Russell?

The third goal was down to the skill and directness of Semenyo who turned three of our players inside out before firing into the far corner giving Ramsdale no chance yet again.  Good goal but half-arsed in the extreme from us.

Semenyo Gives Thanks For The Space We Gave Him

Our goal came when we actually put some pressure on the opposition box with THB is header being saved by Kepa, recycled and crossed back in by Fernandes for THB head home.  So, whilst the first half was as miserable as it gets, the second improved a tiny bit, helped by Bournemouth who were just seeing the game out.  Having scored, there was not enough urgency to get back into it.  Out attacking efforts were summed up in the 86th minute when we got a throw about 10 yards from the goal line.  It’s an attacking opportunity – you can take a long throw into the mixer or you can bounce a throw back to the taker who can cross it.  Not us though, oh no. Two goals behind with four minutes to go and we throw it backwards and two passes later it's all the way back to Ramsdale because we are a team that can’t read the game situation and can’t think on their feet. Four minutes to go plus injury time and we think going back to the goalkeeper is a better option than getting it into the box. For fucks sake.

We scored when we put the ball in the box and for me, the best part entire game was the bit in the second half when Ross Stewart knocked the ball out to Sugawara, then span into the box and nearly connected with the cross.  Again, those undeniable truths in football - getting the ball in the box with players flying in is a pretty good way to try and score a goal but that’s not in the Russell Martin playbook - well it might be but it just doesn't happen enough. I go back to Ralph Hasenhuttl and the red zone, which is central in the middle of the penalty area to roughly the edge of the 'D' – that’s where you need the ball and that’s where you need some players.

As I feared before the start of the game, it turned out to be a diabolical day for Russell Martin and if there was an approval rating for managers amongst the fanbase, he’s probably gone from about 85% before the game, down to a solid 25% after the game. When you have nine days to think about it and then impose weird left field shit tactics and get hammered by Bournemouth, that is always going to happen. There was nothing much wrong with the way that we played against Ipswich and the team and tactics did not need changing. Yes, it turned out that the Lallana wasn’t fit to start but starting without a centre forward was absolutely fucking ridiculous.  He said something afterwards which basically implied he wanted to win the game off the bench with the strikers, which in turn implies that he was limiting our chances of scoring until the strikers come on.  Saints are not good enough to take an hour off from trying to score a goal.  It’s in the territory of crazy ramblings of a delusional man.  The people who slag the possession style of play no matter what, will be screaming and that is an issue (the 86th minute throw-in move) but much more than that, trying to be too clever is what I’m most angry about. We have been searching this season for a combination that might get us points in this league and since we switched to a back four for the Manchester United game, there has been some promising signs against both United and Ipswich. Russell Martin talks a lot about not having fear in the Premier League but he fucking does, because why else would he radically change the tactics for Bournemouth?

I agreed with a lot of what Russell Martin said in his post-match interviews, namely that the players basically gave up after the first setback. When the questioning was turned on him though and focused on the fact we had five strikers on the bench and none on the pitch, he didn’t really have any answers other than to get tetchy about it. Fuck around and find out, especially if it doesn’t work.

There were two quotes of note from the Bournemouth camp. One was from Antoine Semenyo, who basically said that you just have to keep pressing the Saints defenders and they will give you something. The way he said it implied that his manager had basically said it’s inevitable that they will give you something. The manager himself Iraola, came out with an absolute pearler when he said “I’d rather have chances than possession”. Spot-on mate.  If you have to choose one it has to be that one.  Having lots of possession is fine but only if you have chances to show for it.

So, six games in and four of the games were decent points winning opportunities and we have a grand total of one point. I was optimistic we’d get it right before tonight, but this was massively deflating.  In addition, now the fixtures get rather difficult with a visit to the Emirates to play Arsenal. Great.  Following that, it's a defining game against Leicester, then a write-off at Manchester City and another defining game against Wolves.  If we don't win either of the 'easier' games in the next four then Russell Martin's approval rating in the Sport Republic Boardroom is going to be very questionable indeed and if he repeats this striker-less shit, even against City or Arsenal, then my personal approval rating of Russell Martin will probably be zero.

Up the Fucking Saints