Premier League Match 19 - Crystal Palace 2 Southampton 1

 

So This is Refereeing in England?

It’s exactly half-way through the season after today’s game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.  19 games will have been played out of 36 and we will have played every team once.  If we lose this one, we will have just the 6 points - double that and we have 12 and we will not be the worst Premier League team of all time. As seasons objectives go, it’s not a great achievement.  Selhurst Park – I was here for the end of the Great Escape in 1998 when we beat Wimbledon.  This today is of course the start of the Great Escape 2025… is it fuck!

Spoiler Alert - He Didn't Make It

Palace are members of what is being known this season as the Shite Six. No one in the media is calling it that but you know what I mean. It’s the three promoted clubs plus Wolves, Everton and Crystal Palace. The three that go down are going to come from those six teams, so we have to target this game for a win.  At least after the game against West Ham, you feel that we might actually have a chance of winning it.

It shouldn’t have been this way for Palace this season. Last year in the second half of the season under Oliver Glasner, they were excellent and had he been there the entire season, they would probably have been challenging for the European places. As it is they have missed their window somewhat, losing Joakim Andersen and Michael Olise from last years squad and not replacing them with players on the same level. Having said that, Lacroix and Sarr are gradually getting better as are Crystal Palace themselves. They will of course have been delighted recently with a win in the Strange Derby between them and Brighton.

Palace had the gift last season of Jean-Claude Mateta discovering how to score goals and having a physically imposing centre forward who can score 15-ish goals this season is an absolute godsend if you are a team in the bottom half of the league. If Mateta can repeat that this season then Palace will be absolutely fine and whilst he’s not been as prolific as last year, when he probably had, a little bit of an element of surprise about him, he is still doing well enough to suggest that the goals are going to come.

Also in their ranks is one of our ex-players in Nathaniel Clyne, now well into his thirties but a player for us associated with the Pochettino era and one of the first to tread the path from Southampton to Liverpool, when all that shit was going on.  As an aside, it has amused me greatly this week to see another right back, namely Trent Alexander-Arnold being heavily linked with moving to Real Madrid and all the Liverpool fans losing their minds over it. What goes around comes around, twats.

Ivan Juric’s press conferences this week haven’t really given much away as to what team he’s going to put out for Saints today. I imagine it will be largely the same as what played against West Ham with maybe Cameron Archer coming into the mix if he’s fully fit. According to Ivan, Tyler Dibling has been looking tired and that’s why he’s on the bench, which I think is fair enough. It looks like Armel Bella-Kotchap has been given another clean slate and told to get himself fit and get himself back in contention for the team. That guy has so many clean slates, he could tile a bastard roof. I’ve been guilty of being impressed by this in the past and I’ve heard it said a few times recently about ABK being a full German international, but if we drill into that a little bit, he got selected for a World Cup squad and didn’t play and Germany got knocked out by Japan, so maybe being a German squad player isn’t all it was once cracked up to be.  Also, England are higher in the world rankings than Germany at the moment and Lewis Dunk is a full England International.  However, Dunk would walk into Saints current side so I might be arguing myself in circles there.

Team news and it’s a bit of a WTF.  Downes out altogether and Big Les on the bench, meaning that Aribo and Fernandes are the midfield two bringing the intensity required for a Juric team.  Other than Will Smallbone, Joe Aribo is the last player I’d pick to do that.  Bree is in for Sugawara which is just what we want, a right back who wasn’t good enough for us in the Championship.  Armstrong has kept his place and I’m beginning to wonder if he has incriminating photographs from the Sports Republic Christmas Party.

The first quarter of an hour goes by and we are the better side but nothing tangible yet until we win the ball in the centre of the park go right to Dibling and then back across the pitch and until it eventually ends up with KWP and with just the defender in front of him decides to take Munoz on for pace and pisses past him. His pull back finds Armstrong who takes a swing at it and scuffs across goal but fortunately there is Tyler to turn it into the net from just in front of Henderson. Brilliant by KWP, a large slice of luck from Armstrong’s miskick but will take it and 1-0 and the Great Escape 2025 is on…. is it fuck.

The Great Escape 2025 - It's On.... Is it Fuck!

After the restart is still Saints on top with KWP putting in another ball from the left, after a decent burst forward by Woody. The cross is over the top of Tall Paul but ends up with Breezy on the far side and his volley down and into the ground is comfortably claimed by Henderson.

After about twenty minutes, the inevitable happens with Palace getting more dominant in midfield through Hughes and Lerma, with Aribo and Fernandes being unable to stem the tide. Lerma has a blast from the edge of the box which is beaten out by Ramsdale and we survive and then Palace win a corner as Sarr’s attempted cross is blocked by Ramsdale.  Hughes swings in the corner to the near post and it’s all very untidy with Ramsdale picking up a very clear shove off of Mateta and the ball ends up in the net for a combination of Chalobah and THB.  Surely that’s a foul but unbelievably, Michael Salisbury gives the fucking goal, but we are off to VAR.

Hello Michael, Scotty at Stockley Park here.  We’re just checking this goal. What was your on-field decision.  Hard to tell because you did fuck all?

I gave nothing because I’ve got you guys as back up. I just couldn’t be arsed to make a decision in real time.  Been on the piss and am a bit tired.

Yeah, but it matters Michael.

Does it??

Yes you twat, because High Priest Howard Webb told Southampton a few weeks ago that the on-field decision carries weight, which became a thing at half time after we disallowed one of their goals that got given on-field in the first half.

Yeah, but they’ve got a new manager since Wolves now, so we reset don’t we?

Fair point Michael…. but unless the decision is clearly and obviously wrong, we have to go with the on-field decision and you by your own admission, haven’t bastard well made one have you.

So what’s the verdict?

Mateta might have put his hand into Ramsdale‘s ribs and shoved him against the post ... but he's still conscious... and then Chalobah might have climbed all over Harwood-Bellis and held him down... but it's only a light choke hold, so nothing definite.... so we’re gonna give a goal and get Dermot Gallagher, Danny Murphy and all those other cunts to back us up on TV.

Nice one Scotty.

Oh just fuck right off. What’s the fucking point in even trying to compete in these games? Fucking absurd.  In what world is that given as a goal?

Mateta versus Bednarek is becoming a bit of a battle and the Palace giant gets up to flick a ball on, which Sarr takes in his stride and sets off towards goal and his low effort is brilliantly kept out by Ramsdale.  Another corner comes in from Hughes and once again we don’t have a player keeping Mateta off of Ramsdale so it’s more carnage and the ball drops to Lerma at the back post and he tries kind of overhead scissors kick which Ramsdale has to beat away.

Palace nearly take the lead with the next attack as Sarr sends Mitchell away on the left and a lovely low cross is begging to be put in by Munoz at the back post but he, somewhat fortunately for us, manages to hit KWP’s heel as he’s facing the wrong way right in front of the goal.

Half time and it took 20 minutes, but the lightweight midfield has completely come home to roost now and we haven’t had a kick for the last twenty five minutes. We have been reduced to launching long balls to Tall Paul and it’s just not enough to just do that. There has to be some sort of quality on the ball up to him and we have to get some runners around him otherwise he’s got absolutely no chance,  Personally I've stopped caring since the Palace goal.  The Premier League is Fucking Bent.

At the start of the second half we get a free kick in the middle of the park which Fernandes chips forward to Armstrong who feeds it first time out to Bree and his cross is met by THB at the far post but Palace get rid of it for a corner. Apparently, we have had 78 corners this season without scoring and this one is no different.  No set piece coach appointed since the last one pissed off.

Big Les is warming up within two minutes of the restart and it takes a further three to get him on the pitch in place of Joe Aribo, who jogs off faster than he has been getting about the midfield. Meanwhile, Mateta wins a corner and Hughes takes it short this time to Eze and then crosses it in.  It’s headed away by Tall Paul and then played back into the mixer and Munoz hooks it back across. Fernandes tries to take a touch on the edge of the box and Eze seizes on it and smashes it into the bottom corner, giving Ramsdale absolutely no chance at all.  For fuck sake.  Another one for the non-existent set piece coach.

Saints respond pretty well with Big Les finding Fernandes about 25 yards out he takes on three Palace defenders before shooting from more or less the penalty spot, but Henderson helps it over the bar.  Another corner, another failure.

Armstrong and Tall Paul are next to be replaced and on come Archer and Sule-fucking-mana. THB gets done by Eze on the edge of the box and wrestles him to the floor and from the resulting free-kick, Eze a blast it hits the foot on someone in the wall as they jumped and the ball bounces down hits the ground and spoons up over the bar. Fortunate to say the least.

Michael Salisbury the referee hasn’t been useless twat for about twenty minutes but then he decides it’s time and it’s long overdue as Fernandes goes up for a header with five foot two Tyrick Mitchell who doesn’t jump and because Fernandes wins the ball cleanly and Mitchell hits the deck, that of course is a yellow card and Fernandes missing our next game. Well done Michael Salisbury - Useless fucker, to give him his full title.

As we get towards the end, it really should be a time for Palace to get nervous but it’s almost like the bad old days because we look completely done, with no real ideas. Two of our best players, Dibling and KWP are then replaced with Lallana and Manning, but without Tall Paul on the pitch, there really doesn’t seem to be any idea of how to attack.  One last big launch forward by Ramsdale in the 95th minute, headed out and that’s the end of that and another defeat.  The Great Escape 2025 will have to wait for another week at least.

And there you have it. More depressing crap for a number of reasons.  Like West Ham last week, Palace weren’t great, but we have found a way to lose both games through our complete lack of ability to defend set pieces and the second phase from the set piece.  Palace nor West Ham have scored from open play against us but we simply do not react when the initial set piece is cleared.  

Palace‘s first goal today was of course from a set piece as well but that one slightly more complicated because it is yet another shit joke from referee, linesman and VAR. It just makes me feel that the sooner we are out of this league, the better.  Maybe that's what The Great Escape 2025 is about - getting out of this shite league.  I despair at the state the game has got itself into.  I just wish I didn’t have to put up with another five fucking months of it.  In any division of any professional football league, apart from the Premier League, that goal is disallowed a hundred times out of a hundred.  Let’s be honest – it’s disallowed in the Premier League a vast majority of the time but not today.  In the Championship, where we will soon be, the referee sees a coming together between the striker and the goalkeeper and blows the whistle and disallows it.  In the Premier League however, the referees do fuck all, thinking VAR will sort it out, but of course VAR doesn’t sort it out, not today anyway as it just goes with the referees non-decision. Of course, it only does this when it feels like it because it didn’t do this when we played at Wolves the other week, when our goal got disallowed despite being given on the field and then PGMOL insisted that decision was correct.

Here's the Second Foul - Holding and Strangling

We will probably get another apology for this one or another acknowledgement but at the end of the day it’s another complete pile of shit that has gone against us and gifted Palace an equaliser. Also, remember Brighton when they checked the on-field decision, found it was wrong and then went and found something else and that was that Armstrong was interfering with the keeper from fifteen yards away.  I guess that if Arma had thrown him into a post then it would have been allowed.  Also today, let’s not overlook the fact that Chalobah was clearly fouling THB as well and he’s the actual goalscorer. That goal should’ve been a disallowed for two reasons and they found none, probably because they weren’t looking.

However, regardless of the fact it should have been chalked off – it was a shit set up for the corner.  A defender should be moving Mateta away from Ramsdale and because we are so lacking in leaders and thinking, we allowed Mateta a free shove at the keeper for all the remaining Palace corners in the game.  It’s almost as if we don’t have a set piece coach… oh yes, we don’t. Well, we might have, It was Matt Gill at one point and now he’s gone and there was another guy coming in but he needed a work permit and that hasn’t been announced as yet.  Maybe we’ll replace Jason Wilcox one day as well Rasmus.  Just a thought.

Even though they were on top, you can argue that that goal changed the game and of course Palace scored in the second half with another piss-poorly defended free kick as we have cleared it a couple of times before losing the ball and Eze scores. A carbon copy of the West Ham goal in the incompetence of getting the ball clear.

Again, I am very dubious of the substitutions made by the new manager. Limited though he is, our whole attacking philosophy now is based around Tall Paul, so when you take him off, you better have some sort of Plan B, but we didn’t have any. The substitution of Adam Armstrong was amazing as well because even though he had been absolutely embarrassingly absent for 65 minutes, apart from his mis-hit assist, we took him off and replaced him with the only player in the squad guaranteed to do even less in Sule-fucking-mana. If this is to put him in the shop window to encourage teams to buy him then I think we would be better off not playing him because they are more likely to realise that he is absolutely shit.  It’s not his fault alone though that the second half was dreadful and we didn’t test Dean Henderson at all.

Going back to the start, the team selection today was weird. There is no common-sense link between the way Juric wants his midfielders to play and picking Joe Aribo as one of them. We might have got away with it if Flynn Downes or Lesley Ugochukwu had been picked alongside him but Joe and Matty Fernandes was just too lightweight and lacking in intensity and once Palace got a grip of that area of the pitch after about twenty minutes, we were never in it again after that and if you’re making Will Hughes look like a worldbeater, then there is a problem.  I am hoping that Juric is learning quickly and this kind of strangeness will soon stop.

So, halfway through the season and six points. It’s been a fucking nightmare so far and no mistake. The transfer window is upon us now and we have to find players who can make a difference this year and are also happy to play in the Championship next year.  That’s gonna be a difficult sell because we are also going to have to sell being on less money next year despite the damage having been done before you arrived. We have to clear some space in the squad and there are certainly players that we need to see the back of. .I’m guessing that we are going into the New Year knowing that things can only get better because they can’t really get any fucking worse.

Next is Brentford at St Mary’s, a team that has not won an away game all season. I wonder what will happen.

Up the fucking Saints.

Premier League Match 18 - Southampton 0 West Ham United 1

 

Managing Southampton Brings You To Your Knees In No Time

The first part of the Miracle of Ivan starts today with the visit of West Ham to St Mary’s on Boxing Day 2024. I just hope that no one lets the football ruin their Christmas though I’m pretty sure it would ruin Ivan’s Christmas if we didn’t win today

Rumour has it that, after the pathetic defeat by Spurs, the players were given a day off in the aftermath of Russell Martin being sacked. I found that completely infuriating given how shit they were that particular game.  The manager got sacked but the players were shit and should have been in.  Rumour also has it that the players were supposed to be off on Christmas Day, but the new manager made them come in and train. More power to him if all that is true.

If Ivan only had minimal input against Fulham, then today will certainly have more of the new managers footprint on it.  The main questions today are about who will start as the central attacker and who partners Flynn Downes in midfield. There shouldn’t be a question of Jack Stephens coming back into the team now he’s available, but there just might be.

West Ham have flattered to deceive this season. They should be doing a lot better than they are but Julen Lopetegui has found it hard going. West Ham seem to see themselves as a big club because of the stadium they got gifted and the fact they are playing in front of 60,000 people every week but yet they still find themselves in the bottom half of the division and more concerned about keeping out of the bottom three then challenging for the European places. With the squad they have, they should of course be challenging for said European places and trying to emulate what their last manager, David Moyes achieved by winning the Europa Conference League.

When you look at the West Ham team on paper, the main weakness appears to be the central defence and goalkeeper. The keeper is 39-year-old Lukas Fabiański and Max Kilman is a solid player and has been for a few years at Wolves before he moved to West Ham, the same cannot really be stared for Stefano Mavropanos, West Ham strengths lie in attacking areas with Jared Bowen, Lukas Paqueta, Thomas Soucek,, Mohammed Kudus and Nicholas Fullkrug the big names, with Fullkrug, the eighty-fifth centre forward that West Ham have signed in the last five years.  Paqueta certainly won’t be playing because he is suspended and this suspension is nothing to do with gambling, other than gambling on not getting five yellow cards. Kudus has been liked to moves away, mainly by desperate Manchester United client media. One player who always scores against us, who won’t score against us today is Michael Antonio who is recovering following a car crash that is probably going to keep him out for a year. As an ex-Saint, I can only wish him well in his recovery.  With the way Russell Martin used to set up a defence, Antonio probably would’ve had a chance of scoring from his hospital bed.

It promises to be different today with the improvements that we made in that area against Fulham and the fact that Ivan Juric teams are always built on a solid defence, so in a way today, I am expecting more of the same as that game. I just hope we can nick it and provide some sort of threat of the other end, which we didn’t do last week at Fulham.  It’s unfortunate for Ivan in a way, that this game family falls into the category of “must win”. Logic says that we are absolutely no chance of getting out of the situation that we’re in but you never know.

Team news and the big lads are in with both Tall Paul and Big Les in the side, with Dibling and Aribo dropping out.  Kick off and Saints immediately continue the no nonsense approach that we saw last week against Fulham with the ball going long towards Tall Paul earlier on.  The energy is there and the pressing is evident straight away.  We are kind of playing a man for man system but it breaks down horribly on four minutes as Bowen drops deep and turns and plays a ball to send Wan Bissaka away down the right hand side and with KWP in his wake, he gets all the way to the penalty area before pulling it back to the penalty spot where Soler meets it and manages to smash out onto the bar with Soucek’s follow up blocked by Sugawara.

When Ramsdale has the ball, the tactic is to put it long towards Tall Paul and he immediately holds off a defender and brings the ball down on his chest and gets the attack moving. Fernandes plays it wide to Sugawara who tosses it into the mix, but it looks too long and then KWP appears and stabs it back across first time and Tall Paul rises on the 6 yard line having not looked like he anticipated the cross and heads it just past the post.  Fuck.  It’s still going to be epic when he scores.

With one big man making an impact, Lesley Ugochukwu is doing the same in midfield and via Wood, the ball goes out to Armstrong on the left and he put over a decent cross which is met well by Fernandes bursting into the box but his header is straight at Fabiański.  Another good chance and Armstrong has started the game pretty brightly, spinning off his man and trying to make things happen.  Another chance as Tall Paul and Les combine to get the ball out to KWP on the left and he tries and optimistic shot from an angle and Fabianski fumbles it and regathers but keeps it away from danger.

That problem with the man to man thing is illustrated again as Bowen picks up the ball in midfield and has acres in the centre of the park and gets to the edge of the penalty area before dragging his shot wide as Wood throws himself in the way. Bowen had started on the right wing and picked up that ball in central midfield so this really looks like new system teething troubles to me as KWP had not tracked him into midfield and no one there had picked him up.

Tall Paul Doing Everything But Score

The attacking side of things is working much better than this season so far, in all but the final finish as THB pings are brilliant diagonal ball out to KWP on the left who again, stands up Wan Bissaka before chipping it into the middle and Tall Paul, has to reach and twist for it but manages to get a head on it and Fabiański defies his 39 years and takes off keeps it out. For fuck sake.  In comes the corner and Fabianski gets airborne again to punch it away but clatters into Wood and is down and not moving.  Nasty.  There’s a lot of concern and the stretcher is on straight away and oxygen masks and all sorts.  Jan Bednarek, his Poland team mate comes up to check on him, as does Aaron Ramsdale and eventually off he goes to the whole ground applauding and on comes Areola.

More crosses and more carnage.  We have obviously been working on our deliveries into the box and Matty Fernandes finds himself in a wide area and there’s no thought of going backwards as he slings the ball along the six yard line and Tall Paul goes flying in with Todibo and it comes off the West Ham defender and goes behind.

Yet another crossing opportunity is created with Big Les swinging it out to Sugawara on the right and from the corner of the penalty area, his ball is perfect for Tall Paul again and surely this time…. Mistimes it and it’s straight up Areola.

Half time and what a difference.  It’s direct, it’s exciting, it’s fast paced and it’s still 0-0. Not scoring when on top is clearly an issue and I am already getting worried about us dying on our arses in the second half but in isolation, that 45 minutes was very good indeed.  We also restricted West Ham to not very much after Soler’s shot onto the bar after five minutes.

We start the second half well with Tall Paul again winning the ball up front, this time from a tackle and KWP skips round Guillermo who then, looking obviously pissed off launches him into the air. Saints players around the referee, obviously not happy and out comes the red card. Scenes. But we’re off to VAR.

Hi there – Stockley Park here
Can you review my red card decision please boys
Oh do fuck off, it’s Boxing day – I’ve been on the piss for 36 hours
So have I, that’s why I might have got this wrong – going to the screen – talk me through it
OK, is he out of control – yes, has he lost his shit – yes, has the two footed lunge landed – no, it came up short and he clattered into him anyway.
So, what do you reckon?
What’s the mood in the ground from the fans around the screen?
Oh the Saints fans are 1000% convinced we’re going to overturn it because they haven’t had one off us all season.
Do that then.

Guess What's Happened Again

A West Ham attack comes to nothing as Fullkrug tries to put Kudus through and there’s no danger but Sugawara has a complete mare and shanks it off for a corner for no fucking reason whatsoever.  In comes the corner, Soucek wins the first knock, THB away, back in, THB away again back out to Alvarez who crosses to the back stick where Soucek heads it across, flicked on by Fullkrug and there is Bowen in front of Ramsdale to score. For fuck sake. New manager or not, we will still find a way to give away a preventable soft fucking goal.

Let’s see what Ivan has got with substitutions and it’s Flynn Downs who’s going off which must be a fitness issue, to be replaced by Joe Aribo and Sugawara has clearly not made himself popular with the corner he’s given away that and so on comes James Bree. To me that’s two substitutions that have made the team weaker.

KWP is not bothered though, and he picks up the ball on the left and cut in before sliding a lovely ball between the defenders to meet the runner, who is Fernandes, who takes a swing with his left foot and it goes narrowly wide to the far post.

Nah, that One Is Going Wide As Well

With Fabiański having gone off with a concussion, we get an extra substitute and they all get used as time drifts by with KWP, Armstrong, Fernandes and Ugochukwu all going off to be replaced by Manning, Sulemana, Dibling and Lallana. Yeah, not sure about all that.

Ryan Manning is launching throws into the box, and from one of those it’s flicked on by THB and Tall Paul can only flick it into the side netting. Manning gives up the long throw option next time and works it short to Lallana, who cross into the box is met by Tall Paul leaning back, and his header drops wide of the far post.

There is one final chance in the last minute as we win the ball high up on the right hand side and Tyler Dibling carries it into the box and he absolutely has to square it for Tall Paul but instead of that, he has a swipe with his left foot and it’s high and wide. Fucking hell.

96, 97, the end. Bollocks. I never really felt that we were going to score in the second half, even though there was no lack of effort and intent.  We were overall, ridiculously unlucky to lose that game. The problem of course came from not scoring in the first half when we were on top and as the energy levels dropped in the second half as they were always going to, the substitutes brought on, in the main, did not really add that much and so the team gradually got worse as the game went on.

In the first half, Saints looked like a pretty good football team. It was an energetic, it was exciting, and we put West Ham under pressure. The only thing missing of course was the goal. Tall Paul of course should’ve scored one, if not two and he also brought a ridiculous save out of Fabiański with another headed effort. Matty Fernandes also should’ve done better with a header as well.  As we got into the second half, there was the incident of the non-sending off which when it went to VAR, was always going to be overturned.  The fact is that there wasn’t much contact but he did go flying in, almost in retaliation for getting beaten seconds before. He lost his head and lost control but there was a crushing inevitability of that being overturned.  I’m not sure it was a clear and obvious error to warrant an overturn but overall I think the correct decision was reached.

Soon after that of course we coughed up what turned out to be the winning goal. Ramsdale didn’t cover himself in glory by not coming for the ball but the goal stems from Sugawara needlessly giving away a corner and after that we were chasing the game and as said earlier, the substitutions didn’t do us any favours overall.  Downes coming off for Aribo actually made the energy level of the team drop and Bree coming on for Sugawara meant that that side of the pitch was instantly offering nothing going forward. Adam Armstrong had had a half decent half a game before disappearing, and his replacement Sulemana was absolutely shit and clearly couldn’t have cared less.  The sooner we get that guy out of the club the better.  I’d take £5 million, but then I’m not Rasmus Ankersen’s ego, that made the decision to sign him in the first place.  

Big Les Comes Alive

Man of the match for me was Lesley Ugochukwu in midfield who was superb from the first minute until when he went off, barely wasting a pass and carrying on from his excellence substitute appearance against Fulham last week. Ran everywhere, tackled everything, headed everything and didn’t give the ball away. Brilliant performance from a player who has been frozen so far this season.  He obviously has it in the locker so it does make you wonder how it’s been unseen until now.

The main talking point from the selection was of course to Paul Onuachu. If you leave his finishing aside for a second, he was absolutely superb in everything that centre forwards are supposed to do. Holding the ball up, bringing others into play, passing the ball, taking people on…and then it came to the finishing.  I think he definitely should’ve scored once, at the end of the first half, and the early one from KWP’s volleyed cross was not great either but none of the other headers were quite clear cut but you can see that he is going to be an absolutely vital player for us going forward.   More games and more sharpness will make a difference.  He is in the team to stay as long as he stays fit and today showed just what a good player he can be. If we are going to have some sort of miracle this season, he is the difference-maker.

Other players who seemed to be elevated by the new boss were Matty Fernandes, who like Tall Paul, did everything but score and I was also impressed by KWP on the left.  The three centre backs all did well and handled the “big fucking German” as the West Ham fans sang.

If this was near the start of the season, you would’ve watched this game and thought that things are definitely going turn and that we will be fine. That might still be the case of course with a miracle, but we needed to win today. We needed the three points and the belief it would’ve given us to carry on and get a few more good results. The fact that we didn’t even get a draw is pretty gut-wrenching and it was a bit of a smash and grab for West Ham to be honest.

Here’s a thing though, I actually enjoyed the game.  I enjoyed the fact that we had a committed, attacking display and that we created chances throughout the game.  There was intent to create chances. There was a commitment to press the opposition, which was great to see.   We do need to save energy a bit though or else it’s going be like the bad days of Ralph in that if we’re not out of sight after an hour, we will die on our arses and struggle to close games out, especially as our squad is not strong enough to bring on a load of substitutes and for the quality not to go down.  Ivan Juric’s first game in charge after only a couple of training sessions, showed a team that is at least capable of winning games at Premier League level.  You would think that we will only get better.

First things first this season is to beat Derby’s record for being shite.  I saw enough today to suggest we’ll do that and after that who knows.  I know – we get relegated.  We need about 30 points from the remaining 20 games and that’s Europa League Qualifying form, so that isn’t happening but at least today showed that we are going to give it a go in the remaining games.

Up the Fucking Saints,

Premier League Match 17 - Fulham 0 Southampton 0

 

Please Stay Fit Rambo

Ivan Juric was announced as the new Saints manager just after the Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool, meaning that I guess it will be some sort of combination between him and Simon Rusk to put the team on the field today against Fulham.  In Juric’s first interview, he spoke of wanting to play aggressive, pressing football but I wonder how aware he is of the players he has got, to try and play this way. For example, if he is expecting his central midfielders to run non-stop for 90 minutes then Adam Lallana and Joe Aribo, not to mention Will Smallbone, might as well retire.  There is a video kicking around of when Juric was the manager at Torino and the Sporting Director and him had a handbags session in the car park.  No one asked him if he would fancy doing a few car park rounds with Rasmus Ankersen, which was a disappointment.  What that video tells you is that Ivan is probably a little bit of a mad bastard, which is why he took the job.  I don’t think he’s going to be the sort to put up with any crap.

Every new manager comes in with words that sound encouraging and because you are usually at a pretty low ebb when you change manager, it all sounds great. I have learned that actions speak a lot louder than words. One thing that Juric has said though is that we need to get points on the board before New Year, to give us any chance whatsoever of staying in the division. He has signed an 18-month contract but trust me, if he pulls this off, there are always other, richer clubs in need of a miracle worker. First observations are that it sounds that the style of football he is hoping to get us to play will be more Ralph than Russell.

Fulham are now a club that we aspire to be like, in that they got promoted out of the Championship relatively recently but have established themselves in the Premier League and are not even mentioned as potential relegation candidates these days. Marco Silva has got them playing some decent football and they have an experienced, solid Premier League team.  They are capable of dropping in the odd shite performance however and we need to hope for one today. Raul Jiminez has scored a decent number of goals for them this season and he is well supported by Alex Iwobi, who has also chipped in. He’s usually a substitute but we are going to have to deal with the beast that is Adama Traore, when he eventually makes his entrance onto the pitch and he is one who has of course always caused us trouble in the past.

Juric’s go to formation is kind of a 3-4-2-1 and that looks like what we’ve picked today but it’s disappointing for me to see Adam Armstrong in the starting lineup as he has been shit for months and just isn’t up to it. This seems especially strange given that Archer and Tall Paul had decent impact against Liverpool.  The other concern is that Joe Aribo is in midfield and his lack of running and defensive nous will probably be a problem today. The good news is that Aaron Ramsdale is back and the other talking point is that the hot potato that is the captains armband has been passed to Jan Bednarek.  I think that he’s the 6^th on-field captain this season, after Stephens, Downes, Armstrong, McCarthy and THB.

You, Car Park, Now!!!

Ivan hasn’t got a work permit, but he’s here anyway, and takes his place in the crowd as the game starts. Fulham have rested a couple of players as everyone seems to do it against us, so they’re not really creating much and we are certainly not in the mood to cause our own problems and are very safety first at the back. However, Tyler Dibling dribbles across the pitch about 35 yards out and gives the ball away and from the left-hand corner of the penalty area, Iwobi floats over a cross and Ramsdale is suddenly very concerned about it and gets airborne to tip it wide of the far post.

Downes ball in to Dibling is intercepted with the Saints man on its heels and that leads to an effort by Harry Wilson to try and win Goal of the Season as a cross from the left from Robinson is headed away by THB to the edge of the box and Wilson takes it on his thigh before volleying it quite a way over the bar.  The Fulham left is causing us the majority the problems through Iwobi and Robinson and the former takes a pass from the latter and tries to float one into the top corner, but it’s well wide.

As we approach half-time, referee Robinson then makes himself look completely and utterly incompetent as Downes put in a hard-but-fair tackle on 17-year-old debutant King and he waves play on and then two minutes later he puts in an identical challenge on Cairney, takes the ball cleanly and the referee not only gives a free kick which was ridiculous enough, he then books him.

Half time and we’ve been pretty solid to be fair, without creating a thing at the other end of the pitch but we were 5-0 down at this stage in our last league game, so I’ll take it.  Tyler Dibling being replaced by Cameron Archer at half time which is no surprise as Tyler has really struggled to get into the game today.

A little bit of Russ-ball breaks out as Downes and THB work the ball to Archer in the centre circle and he plays it through the gap to send out Armstrong scampering away. He is miraculously not offside, swaps passes with Sugawara and unfortunately, it’s a virtual back pass to the goalkeeper but at least we’ve had a shot on target, which is a fact that is loudly serenaded by the travelling fans.

Anonymous Aribo is replaced by “Back from the Dead” Lesley Ugochukwu and Fulham bring on the massive unit that is Adama Traore.  Traore gets a cross in straight away but Iwobi can only plop the header into the waiting hands of Ramsdale.

There is a moment to shite yourself as a Fulham corner he’s headed out by Bednarek to the right where it’s picked up by the walking supplement bottle, and his left footed cross is met on the bounce on the corner of the 6 yard box by Harry Wilson, who blasts it and Ramsdale flings up an arm to tip it over the bar.  Really good save that.

Big Les is putting himself about strongly and seems to be defensively switched on as well as a ball comes flashing across the top of the penalty area and he smashed goalwards by Jimenez and Les is there to throw himself in the way.

Our manager Rusk Juric brings on James Bree in place of Sugawara, which is a sure sign that we are settling for a point. On the other side, KWP has a bit of a nightmare under a high ball and presents it straight to Traore, who runs at the penalty area, gets a lucky bounce back off a Bednarek tackle and then drills it narrowly wide with his left foot. Fuck me that was close.

Yep, That Was Close

90 minutes are up and Tall Paul is on. KWP does a bit of defending out on the left and then turns and runs down the wing leaving Fulham players in his wake. Castagne is clearly getting worried as he gets towards the penalty area and dives in, gets a bit of the ball but it’s untidy and KWP goes over and ends up in the penalty area. Referee Robinson is of course not interested and we’re off to Stockley Park.

“Hello Stockley Park…. I said hello… anyone there”

[Silence]

[Muffled voices in the background] – “turn that bastard answering machine on”

[Answer phone message] – “Hi there, this is Stockley Park, we’re not here right now as 90 minutes are up and nothing has happened in this game.  If in doubt, go with the referee’s decision as we’re all out on the PGMOL Christmas Piss-Up.  Big Mikey D’s dealer has tipped up and we’re getting right on it.  For acknowledgements of mistakes and apologies, please contact Howard Webb at howard.webb@pgmol-manchesterunited.co.uk...... Leave a message [Beeeeeep]”

We get a corner out of it anyway, and Fernandes swings in and Big Les rises at the back post but it slides off his head and goes out for a throw.

And that’s the end.  Marco Silva looks distraught, and the Fulham players get booed by their fans. A few weeks ago we had Brighton fans suddenly becoming entitled because they are in the top half of the league and failed to beat us, and now Fulham proving that they are no different. Stay humble people.

First things first - that was a decent point today, down to a clean sheet from a dogged defensive effort.  Aaron Ramsdale being back made a huge difference, even though he was playing in a modified goalkeeper glove because two of his fingers were strapped together. With him in goal, the defence actually looked like a unit that the opposition are going have to work hard to get past.  All three of the central defenders put in a good shift to deny Fulham many real chances – Janny B lead from the front by example and THB and Woody were pretty solid and most importantly, as a unit they were solid.  It was only when that totally natural athlete Adama Traoré came on in the second half that they gave us any problems at all.  Rumours that he broke the wishbone on the Christmas turkey one year and wished that he could suddenly transform to being fucking huge and end up looking like a cross between a boxer and an Olympic sprinter, might well be true.

Ryan Manning was unlucky to be dropped but KWP did a solid job down the left and Sugawara on the right didn’t have any defensive nightmares either and he was put under more pressure as most of Fulham‘s play went down that side with the impressive Robinson and Iwobi.  It is also amusing that Marco Silva thought he could rest players against us and for it to go wrong for him. Serves the arrogant bastard right.  It was so sad to see him getting more and more animated and more and more miserable looking at the same time as the second half ticked by.

I was looking today for changes and insights into what we might expect going forward with Ivan Juric who obviously had a hand in things that went on today. One thing straight off the bat was Jan Bednarek as captain and Janny had a tremendous game, and the role of captain seemed to elevate him, unlike the most recent incumbents who it seems to have just weighed down.  When I was thinking about what lineup Ivan might put together when he has his feet under the table, I never even considered big Lesley Ugochukwu as an option and had almost forgotten about him until he came on as a substitute today and put in the kind of performance that I was quite frankly expecting from him when he joined at the start of the season. Pace, power, tackling and generally adding a physical presence. If we can get the best out of him then it certainly would help, and a partnership in the centre of midfield of him and Flynn Downes looks promising.  So – Ramsdale, Wood, Bednarek, THB, KWP, Sugawara, Downes, Big Les…. That’s the goalkeeper and the 3-4 part of the 3-4-2-1 sorted out.

Big Les Back From The Dead

Up front – not much.  Matty Fernandes had quite a lot of defensive responsibility in that he was obviously detailed to get to Sander Berge when we didn’t have the ball to stop Fulham playing out from the back.  Consequently, he wasn’t as effective in an attacking sense as we’d want him to be.  It was no surprise when Tyler Dibling went off at half time as he had struggled to get into the game in the opening 45 minutes but when he went off, so did all of our creativity.  Cam Archer had no impact at all when he came on and Adam Armstrong basically got caught offside a few times and barely touched the ball.  He worked hard but there’s no quality there as we all know. If we are going to play more direct, which it looks like we will, then there is only one option to play upfront, and we all know who that is.

We really didn’t show much in attack today, aside from a little flurry of corners at the end and a burst into the box by KWP which was halted by a strange tackle by Castagne, who won the ball initially but then caught KWP’s trailing leg with his follow-through. We have learnt this season from VAR that, we don’t get those and I don’t think it was even reviewed anyway.

A word today for the referee, Mr. Jim Robinson who was absolutely fucking useless. Downes wins two tackles 100% cleanly within a couple of minutes of each other in the first half and gets booked Flynn for I assume, professionally stopping an attack by winning the ball.  Not long after, he allowed Fulham debutant King, and Berge to tug back Saints players as they went past them with no thought of giving a booking.  We had Fulham under a bit of sustained pressure in the second half, winning a couple of corners but of course he killed the the momentum by stopping the game so Castagne could get up after being felled by next to nothing in a challenge with KWP.  Later on, when Bassey’s flailing arm smacked Fernandes in the mouth, he let it carry on until the ball went dead.  I had a feeling today that even if we had managed to score, he would’ve disallowed it so 0-0 was probably the best we were ever going to get.

So overall, something to build on and it’s another moment in the season where we need to take a positive and win the next game which is at home to West Ham on Boxing Day. It will be Ivan’s first game in charge, as long as he hasn’t twatted one of Sport Republic in the car park between now and then.

Up the fucking Ivan’s Glorious Basterds.

Russell Martin - The Rise and Fall

 

We'll Always Have Wembley

It has seemed to be a case of when, rather than if, with regards to Russell Martin being sacked as manager of Southampton.  Any doubt over him being sacked probably left town after forty seconds of the game against Spurs at St Mary’s. If you wondered what a final straw looks like – that was it.  Before kick off, the Spurs game, had all the ingredients of a classic Russell Martin Premier League game.

Strange team selection with a player parachuted into the starting XI from absolutely nowhere – check
Some weird tactical set up – check
The best player from last week left out - check.  

The final damning thing that we saw against Spurs was the players not looking interested and looking for all the world like they were not playing for their manager anymore.  Whether they meant that to be the case or not we will never know.  There were no outward, shows of dissent towards Martin, probably because our players are the biggest bunch of soft arses that have ever been gathered together in one Premier League squad. The extent of our collective nastiness is that our captain, anointed by Russell, had a little pull on someone’s hair.

The last manager we had who was in anyway popular at any time, was Ralph Hasenhuttl and it’s always difficult to part ways with a manager who has done well at some point in the past. They go on a bad run and because you have memories of them doing well, you hope that they can turn it round but there comes to a point when it becomes hope rather than expectation. Ralph won 4 games out of his last 26, which compares favourably to Russell’s 1 game out of 16, but when you’re posting those kind of numbers, there is really only one way it’s going to go.

Like Ralph, Russell had credit in the bank from last season. He inherited an absolute shambles after our relegation of 22/23.  In the Championship he completely changed the style of play, rebuilt the squad and the bottom line is that at the end of the season we got promoted. Yes, that season wasn’t without issues but via the play-offs we achieved seasons aim of being back in the top flight,

So, back to last season and three wins and a draw out of the opening four games, then the first bump and four defeats in a row, including thrashings by Sunderland and Leicester. Twenty-two league games later with sixteen wins and six draws and we were in the automatic promotion places before getting a nosebleed and falling away, not being anywhere other than in fourth place for the final fourteen games of the season.  87 goals scored meant the games were always entertaining but the 63 conceded showed that there would be problems in the event of promotion.  Much was made throughout last season about our style of play, especially when it went a bit wrong and we gave away goals through trying to pass out from our goalkeeper. In the Championship, we got away with a lot because at the end of the day our players were generally better, than whoever we were up against. 

The bottom line is that it is about results and the playoffs brought more of them with West Brom being despatched over two legs including a remarkable game at St Mary’s that of course got us to Wembley and Leeds.  The win in that game and us getting promoted and the fact that we all had a brilliant day at Wembley, is the only thing that makes his departure in any way, difficult to process.  It was after all, only seven months ago that we did a number on Leeds United for the third time that season. I have frequently said that the day at Wembley was the best day that I have ever had as a supporter of Southampton FC and I go right back to the mid-70s. If you are old enough to have gone to the FA Cup final in 1976, then you are lucky enough to have witnessed the one game in our history that beats that playoff final. 

Farke-ing Great Day

So, on a wave of emotion, Russell vowed that we weren’t going to change at all for the Premier League and we would keep the same style.  Within a few games, it began to seem quite foolhardy to go into the season expecting to be able to play the same way and for it to turn out well.

Having won the playoff final and semi-finals by being pragmatic, Russell went into this season with the same mindset and thought that we could somehow be cleverer than anyone else.  Because of the adaptation to win the playoff games against West Brom and Leeds, I was optimistic that he would learn on the job in the Premier League.

In the first three games of the season we had the most bizarre tactical set up with two strikers playing on the wings and no one in the middle. There was no way that this way of playing was ever going to score any goals because there was never any player in the penalty area.  The wingers never got in there and nor did the midfielders.  Our lack of attacking threat and the problems we have playing out from the back, was shown in the very first game when we had an hour against a Newcastle team with ten men, gave a goal away and then lost 1-0. We should undoubtedly have won this game.  The next two were a pathetic performance against Nottingham Forest at home with no shots and then Brentford where we gave away two goals and scored with our first shot on target in the 91st minute.

An international break and then signs of life were shown against Manchester United when we played well for half an hour, missed a penalty and then gave up.  Ipswich at home saw us throw two points in the bin in the 95th minute by not defending a corner and falling victim of a horrible deflection.  One point from the opening five games and at least five points left out there.  The signs of life in the last two games took us to Bournemouth away and Russell really made an mess of things when we again sent the team out with no striker because he was scared of what Bournemouth had and were beaten pathetically by 3-1.  'Bravery' is one of his buzzwords but there was none of that on display here. Three down at half time, he abandoned his plan for the game and we got a goal back and then passed it about for forty minutes, creating nothing, when the attitude should have been to put Bournemouth under pressure, get another one and make it interesting.  Instead of that we turned down chances to put the ball in the box and went back to the goalkeeper.

Arsenal away saw us take the lead but then not adapt at all and give away a goal straight away and we also got our first taste of dodgy VAR decisions as Arsenal ran out 3-1 winners. For me, the nadir was Leicester at home. Two up and cruising he made a series of diabolical substitutions with every single one making us worse and playing into Leicester’s hands and that, combined with some more crap from VAR meant we threw that game in the bin and ultimately lost in the last minute. This was an absolute rabbit in the headlights performance from Russell where as far as things we can control was concerned (not the VAR), it was all on him.  For me, he probably should have gone after this game but the dodgy VAR call kind of meant it wasn't 'entirely' his fault.

A narrow 1-0 defeat at Manchester City seemed like a moral victory and into November and an actual win, at home Everton.  We got over the line by having a bit of luck on our side but no one could really begrudge that.  Next up against Wolves, we absolutely had to capitalise on the fact that we had three points the week before and that Wolves hadn’t won yet. It didn’t help again as we had a perfectly good goal disallowed by VAR but once that happened, we did absolutely nothing, zero shots and slumped to an abysmal defeat.

It was a major surprise that he survived that and was still in the dugout for a 3-2 home defeat against Liverpool where again, we could point at VAR but again we gave goals away.  Then an away draw at Brighton where we could definitely point at VAR but that was as good as it got because after that came a trio of abysmal performances. We had not been thumped by anyone all seasons but we got tanked 5-1 by Chelsea at home which was unsurprising giving the players we had unavailable but no such excuses for a limp, 1-0 defeat away at Aston Villa where once again we didn’t have a shot on target.  Then came Tottenham and the opening few minutes.

This Season in Picture Form

Yes, VAR decisions going against us didn’t help and we may have had a few points more but would it ultimately have made a difference?  We still would have given away all those goals from playing suicide ball at the back and we still would have largely had no goal threat. You’d be hard pressed to find someone to argue that it was suddenly going to change round.  There was a chance it would after the United and Ipswich games and then there was another chance after Everton but those moments weren't grabbed.  It was always a case of a small step forwards, followed by a colossal stride back.

Russell has not been helped by the recruitment in the summer which was simply not good enough especially in attacking areas. However, it has to be remembered that he had a hand in that recruitment, which has basically left us with a bloated squad of Championship level players. On a good day we have six or seven that are good enough for the Premier League bottom half, so any manager would struggle to keep this lot up.  However, as manager you have got to find a way to get the best out of the players at your disposal and when you play in a polarising style and it doesn’t work in terms of results, questions are always going to be asked.

Russell Martin proved himself to be a good manager at Championship level with players who were also good at Championship level. Stepping up to the Premier League is another thing entirely though and like a number of those players, he was found wanting. You can’t always do exactly what you want to do all the time, and when the conditions change, you have to change with them because what works before might not necessarily work now. He never seemed to get that, and we will only know if he’s learned if he lands at another Premier League club. 

At his core, Russell Martin the person, seems like a really decent guy. You only have to look at the work he does through his foundation to give opportunities to disadvantage people to see that. He has decent principles and though of course, this is an opinion not shared by all, personally I love that he wasn't interested in talking about the then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he was asked about his presence in the ground.

He speaks very well and has courage of his convictions. Every time he is interviewed, he comes across well, unless he is being prickly after a defeat. The fact that he speaks well and the fact that he would obviously interview well, will certainly mean that he is not out of work for very long though he is going to have to make bad VAR decisions and substandard players do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to explaining away this season. Russell’s professional pride would’ve been dented but he will be okay for sure.   In all seriousness, I don’t think he’s going to fail upwards like Vincent Kompany did with a similar brand of football, because Kompany had that stellar playing career to fall back on which will always give you managerial opportunities, even if you don’t deserve them. Russell’s achievements last season will get him in the room when clubs are interviewing and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we come across him in the Championship next season. 

In the future, when I look back on the tenure of Russell Martin, what I will think about is the day at Wembley. My dad started me on the path of supporting Saints as soon as I was old enough and he took me to my first ever game, in April 1976. Fast forward 48 years and the old man is 79 years old and I managed to get him a ticket to go to the playoff final and he along with myself and my son had the best day ever.  It would’ve been a great day regardless, but the fact that we won and got the result, elevated it massively. That’s the thing. You can enjoy a game up to a point regardless of the result, but football ultimately is about winning. You can trust the process and think about the long-term all you like, but football is about winning, and 1 win out of 16 is a pretty sure sign that it’s not going to change any time soon.

Russell’s strength is his belief in what he is doing and it’s also ultimately his weakness and his undoing. I admired him in a way for sticking to his guns but it was fanciful to think that it was going to work at the start of the season and it was certainly fanciful in the extreme to think it would work as the defeats and the mistakes and the lack of goal threat continued into the season. The boards respect for him for getting us promoted meant that they didn’t make this decision earlier and the fans respect for the job he did last season, meant that there wasn’t much toxicity inside the ground until the abomination that was the first half against Tottenham.

As a fan, I really wanted it to work for Russell Martin but we have reached the point where it absolutely was obvious that it was not going to and so a parting of the ways was absolutely inevitable.  If we were out of the relegation zone, like Leicester were when they sacked Steve Cooper, I would think it was ridiculous to sack him and even now, it's a shame but 5 points out of 48…. it had to happen. It's happened too late to save this season in all probability.

I mentioned Ralph Hasenhuttl at the start of this as a comparison as a manager who had some success with us but then it went pear-shaped. Ralph at least tried to divert from the style that he preferred, when it became obvious that it wasn’t working anymore. Yes, it didn’t work but at least he tried. Russell Martin never even tried it to change and the small tweaks that he did do were never going to be enough to turn this around. I hope our next manager is not completely wedded to one style of football because you need to be adaptable in the quest for results.

I hate the triumphalism amongst fans, that follows when a manager who did achieve something for us, loses his job.  It’s understandable if a manager has been useless since day one (and we’ve had a few of those) but that’s not true in this case.  Many had an agenda against Russell from the start which I never understood, given the utter shambles that had had immediately preceded it.  He used what he had at his disposal last season and got us promoted.  At the end of the day, alongside Lawrie McMenemy, Russell Martin is the only Southampton manager to have won a really meaningful game at the national stadium.  Thanks for last season Russell Martin – we will always have Wembley against Leeds - and good luck with whatever you do next.

Carabao Cup 5th Round - Southampton 1 Liverpool 2

 

VAR or no VAR - We Always Seem to be on the Wrong End of It

Carabao Cup quarter-final and Liverpool at home. When the draw was being made and it was all Premier League clubs, I was hoping for Brentford or Crystal Palace, so on paper at least, we had a chance but of course we get bloody Liverpool. There is light at the end of the tunnel however because Arne Slot has promised to rotate a bunch of players, but Chelsea did that against us recently and still won 5-1 so let’s not get too hopeful.

The main interest around this game of course is that Simon Rusk is in caretaker charge following the departure of Russell Martin after the abhorrent shit show that was our 5-0 defeat by Tottenham. What sort of team would we see? What sort of style of play would we see? On the face of it Russell was a popular manager with the players so reactions will be interesting. One thing for sure is that if we are as half arsed on the pitch as we were in the first half against Tottenham, then we are in for a long evening.

Team news and it looks like Rusk has gone into this thinking that he may as well put out the strongest team he can if he’s only here for one week, with the only real absentee being KWP who apparently has a knock. Don’t know where he got that considering he didn’t put a single tackle in on Sunday. Adam Armstrong is suspended because he has booked been booked twice in previous rounds of this illustrious cup competition so Cameron Archer starts up front. Slot has been true to his word and massively rotated there is only really Trent, Mac Allister Gakpo and Núñez from their normal Premier League side. Other than that, it’s reserves like Kelleher, Quansah, Gomez and a few young players.

Away we go and there is a marked difference straight away because there is no playing out from the back. McCarthy is hitting the ball long towards Aribo who has kind of pulled out to the left, if there is no short ball on.  It’s all a bit wayward and inaccurate, not helped by the fact that it is blowing a gale and absolutely pissing down. Liverpool are understandably very disjointed as well and both teams are struggling to put any sort of possession together. We reach 10 minutes and Liverpool began to get some control over the ball and it’s remarkable how passive we look. The players are back in position, but there is no press to speak of.

We are defending deep and manage to create a chance more by luck than judgement as THB smashes a clearance forward and it bypasses seven Liverpool players and go straight to Fernandes in the middle of the pitch who knocks it off to Dibling on the right, who really should make more of this than the tame effort he produces that goes straight to Kelleher.

Darwin Nunez has already been copping stick from the Northam End and “shit Andy Carroll” has rung out several times already but then he gets a bit fortunate as Trent’s driven through ball is sliced by Bednarek and comes down perfectly for Nunez. McCarthy has a good starting position but for no apparent reason he decides to retreat back into his six yard box and then slips on his arse and Nunez isn’t going to miss that even though his finishing is shaky at the best of times. 1-0 and lots of, cupping of the ear to the Northam. Twat, but we’d have all done the same.

Shit Andy Carroll Converts Simple Chance

Liverpool then stroll up the left-hand side through Mac Allister and Gakpo, with us getting nowhere near them and Endo links up with Gakpo to give the ball to Elliot on the edge of the box and with no Saints midfielder or defender player getting anywhere near, he just rolls it into the bottom corner with the aid of a slight deflection off of Manning. Fucking garbage.

There is no reaction and it’s nearly three as we stand off again and allow Liverpool to pass the ball to the edge of penalty area and Trent feeds the ball into Mac Allister, whose low shot is very well saved by McCarthy.  We are so slow and lethargic and gutless.

Halftime and basically that has been a passive load of shit.  Apparently the players all had a day off after Spurs so it’s nice to see them all refreshed.  Wankers - exactly the same fucking thing as against Spurs. Useless. The midfield has been pathetic. I can’t help but be massively disappointed in Flynn Downes. I really hoped when we signed him that he would be a different maker in the midfield this season and would drive the standards of everybody else but he seems to have sunk down to the levels of the likes of Joe Aribo who just seems to accept, when we play the better teams, that he’s not quick enough to do anything in the game so he just strolls about. He kind of maintains his position but he’s basically a training cone. His engagement with opposition players is non-existent. Training cone stuff as they passed it around him.  Downes hasn’t been much better  The pair of them are playing today against two Liverpool kids who are both about 19 so we really should’ve been bullying the fuck out of them but there was nothing in that first half.

We come out for the second half and there is immediately a bit more aggression about the team.  Liverpool have taken off Mac Allister and Trent which helps also.  Bednarek steps into midfield to pick a ball up and finds Fernandes in the centre circle. He attempts to sweep the ball right but it hits Endo in the face and bounces through to Archer in the left-hand channel and he goes directly for goal, getting to the edge of the box, switching it onto his right foot and smashing it past Kelleher and into the far top corner of the net. Brilliant finish and game on.  It doesn’t matter a shit that the assist was slightly fortunate. We will take it.

A limping Bree is replaced with Sugawara which provides us with more attacking impetus and his first action from the right is to put in a wonderful cross which Archer meets at the near post but he can’t get enough on it to divert it past Kelleher who makes a good sprawling reaction save.  Saints get the ball back out to Sugawara, who burns past Tsimikas before hanging another cross up in the air which Fernandes controls and smashes goalwards but it’s blocked for a corner.  We have impetus for the first time all season but before we can take the corner, we have to wait for the obligatory defender to get off the deck. It’s been a feature of their play that every time there’s any action in Liverpool’s penalty area, one of their defenders goes down and stays there.

Saints are throwing players forward now and consequently leaving gaps and Liverpool exploit one with substitute Jota bringing it forward before finding Chiesa on the right and his cross shot is past McCarthy but cleared off the line by THB for a corner, which we deal with.

Double substitution time by Simon Rusk and it could be called the January 2023 Transfer Window Nightmare Substitution and on come both Tall Paul and Sulemana for Archer and Flynn Downes.  This leaves us with the defensive wall of steel of Aribo and Fernandes in the centre of midfield and the boys who have done so little since they arrived two years ago, are given another opportunity and it nearly works as Manning puts Sulemana away down the left and he hammers over a first time left foot cross and it’s Tall Paul with the side foot and this is the moment, this is what we’ve been waiting for….. and he slips on his arse. Fucking hell.

The final dice roll sees Aribo and Bednarek come off for Lallana and Ben Brereton Dustbin and he too has his chance as Fernandes puts in a cross from the right and the (How the Fuck is he a) Chilean International, meets it with a header at the back post but it kind of plops off his head straight to the goalkeeper…. And he was offside anyway.

Chiesa has not scored to Liverpool yet and he will never have a better chance than what comes next as his first effort is brilliantly cleared off the line of THB and when the rebound comes back to him he blasts the next shot and Sugawara gets his head in the way, more by luck than judgement and it flies off another corner.  The commitment to defend is good to see.

Six extra minutes and the first four of those pass with nothing happening, so it’s time for some anti-Russell Martin football as McCarthy launches it into the sky and Fernandes gets in front of Quansah and is clean through. The Liverpool defender leans all over him and pulls him down and that’s got to be a red card, but no, Simon Hooper waves his arms around and exaggerated fashion and talk of fucking bottling it. Of course, there is no VAR when you need it and that’s the end of that.

Simon Hooper Shites His Pants

The proverbial game of two halves comes to an end with Liverpool, of course, going through to the semi-final. As far as Saints were concerned, the first half was pretty much as bad as it gets but in the second half, no doubt having had a bit of a rocket at half-time was much better in every aspect we put pressure on, we ran a lot more and we created a load of chances.  It was so refreshing to see us actually trying to put pressure on and get a bit of momentum going to get back into the game, rather than passing it around and hoping and not having any shots. We got a goal back and we piled it on as best we could, looking for an equaliser.  We put crosses in the box instead of turning out again and nearly forced a penalty shoot out because of it.

The main talking point of the game is the referee absolutely bottling giving us a free kick on the edge of the box which would’ve led to Liverpool having to play the last minutes with ten men. Up the other end, that’s a red card all day.  The referee said that he didn’t see Quansah’s arm over Fernandes’ shoulder, which sounds like absolute bollocks to me.  It is absolutely a clear foul.  Also, because of the way we were playing because we were putting pressure on and creating chances, there would’ve been a feeling inside the ground that we could’ve actually equalised, unlike earlier this season when there has been no such feeling.  Remember Bournemouth away?  Got back to 3-1 with 40 minutes to go and then didn't have another shot. 

I would be interested to know where the change of tactics came from. Did it come from Simon Rusk alone or did he talk to the players to see what they wanted to do, because it was very different. There was hardly any short goal kicks or passing it back to the goalkeeper once we had possession of the ball. Not every ball went long but we at least mixed it up, as you have to do.

Any positive you say about this game has to be put into the context of the fact that we were playing Liverpool’s reserve team and by the end they were bringing on Academy kids who have barely kicked a ball in first team football before.  Regardless of that though, this game was really about us and our attitude and how we approached it and in the first half there was just too much standing off. In the second half however, we set about it and were much more positive.  Fans will forgive a lot if you are having a go, even if you’re beaten by a better side in the end.

Setting up with a five-man defence really means that the wingbacks have to get forward and join in with the midfield or the midfield will get completely outnumbered.  Manning on the left was joining in whenever he could, but James Bree was not and that pulled the central midfield of Downes and Aribo all over the place in the first half. Neither of them looked particularly up for the challenge either and that first half was a massive disappointment.

With the midfield not providing much in terms of protection, the defence were overworked in the first half and in the main stood up well. All three of THB, Bednarek and Wood had very good moments defensively, possibly because they were relieved of the burden of playing suicide ball around the six-yard line.  You expect some sort of consistency out of THB and Bednarek, but Nathan Wood again had a good game and if there’s any justice in the world with a new manager coming in, will definitely be ahead of Jack Stephens in the pecking order.

Rusk Gets Soggy In The Rain

Alex McCarthy was captain for the day but unfortunately dropped a bit of a bollock with the first goal. He had a good starting position and then for reasons unknown, decided to backpedal into his own penalty area as Nunez came forward. That was the moment where we conceded the goal because Nunez is much more like to fuck it up if put under pressure.  The slip in a penalty area wasn’t the biggest factor in the goal being conceded. Ironically, it was the same part of the penalty area where Tall Paul went over in the second half when he had an open goal to put the ball into. Ironic that three blokes in trainers can do a crossbar challenge at half time and none of them slip over.

The second half was dare I say it, exciting. There was a large element of fortune about the way the ball reached Cameron Archer but that was a brilliant finish and it was so refreshing to see us really push on after we got the goal back. forcing Kelleher to be busy to preserve Liverpool’s advantage.  How many times this season has the opposition keeper not had dirty kit after 90 minutes?  A lot was impetus came with the introduction of Yuki Sugawara in the second half who played high on the right hand side, added energy, got crosses in and showed all the things that he is good at. Miraculously, even Kamaldeen Sulemana showed signs of life as we tried to rescue the game and then there was Tall Paul - shame he slipped on his arse.  We all know that Paul is not the greatest but he causes absolute chaos wherever he is, so we could certainly do worse than find a role for him for the rest of the season.

Onward to Fulham on Sunday and I suspect it will be a packed a few days before then, as the manager search intensifies, or maybe not and maybe it will be Simon Rusk in charge at the weekend. Either way, at least there was a bit of hope from that second half today and up the fucking Saints.