EFL Championship Playoff Final - Leeds 0 Southampton 1

We've Had Worse Days

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

My own preview is here

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

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

The Way it Was

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

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

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

Warm-ups, national anthem, let’s go.

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

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

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

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

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

And the Leeds Hospitality Section Goes Quiet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

40,000 Southerners Collectively Shit Themselves

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

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

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

Russ Remembers Getting Released by Norwich in 2017

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

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

No Caption Necessary

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh Look, We've Got Some Business Done Early

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Up the Fucking Premier League Saints.

EFL Championship Playoff-Final Preview

Here We Go...

The Championship Play-off final at Wembley Stadium. Roll up, roll up for the richest game in football, worth an absolute ton of money for whoever wins it… and for the losers, the consolation prize of not being in the Premier League with all the greed and big club bias and games that you have no chance of winning.

It tells you something about the state of things, when promotion to the top division has a downside but that’s where we are but nonetheless, we all want to win today. Even if you’ve loved every second of being in the Championship, you want to win today because the novelty will soon wear off. This year we have been a very good team in the Championship, next year we probably won’t be quite as good because the wage bill will have to drop as the parachute payments decrease and the year after that, we might well be Norwich, which is something that nobody wants. The doom mongers are already talking about the negative impact that not getting promoted will have on one of Saints and Leeds, so we’ve got to make sure it’s them and not us that is looking at the balance sheet next season and wondering if we can hang onto their best players or sign any new ones.

So, let’s talk about winning.  Leeds and Saints accrued 90 and 87 points respectively, which in a vast majority of recent seasons would’ve been enough for automatic promotion.  Unfortunately, this year, Leicester dubiously managed to maintain a vast majority of their Premier League squad and signed new players on ridiculous money like Winks and Coady and won the league relatively comfortably… and no one saw Ipswich coming out of League 1 and into the top two. Leeds and Saints over the season have both been remarkably good, which is why it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anybody that Norwich and West Brom respectively were dispatched comfortably in the play-off semi-finals.  It should’ve come as no surprise because Leeds and Saints over the season were miles better than those two sides and a two-legged game will often bear that out. It’s just one game today though, the final game of a 49-game season and no one wants to see all their efforts end up in the bin and count for nothing.

Let's Have Some More of This

Saints of course beat Leeds twice this season and were the only team to do so. A 3-1 win at St Mary’s kick-started a 21 game unbeaten run in the league for us and got us in sight of automatic promotion before we somewhat folded. After the first few weeks, Leeds have been in the top three all season and around Christmas they were on a run for 13 straight wins and looked set to win the league, but they too fell away and ended up finishing third. Leeds still had an outside chance of automatic promotion when we visited Elland Road on the last day but put on a bit of a damp squib performance when faced with a surprisingly coherent Saints performance and we won that 2-1 and it was probably more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.

Winning those two games certainly does not mean that we just have to turn up today and we will win. The only real significance is in the tactics. In both games Daniel Farke sent out Leeds in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with his team frontloaded with their impressive attacking players. In both games Saints have had a lot of success breaking through midfield where Leeds were outnumbered with their four attacking players not being the best at tracking back. As we have discovered on a few occasions ourselves this season, if you don’t get the midfield screen right in front of the defence, even the best defenders will struggle and so will Junior Firpo, who is the opposite of one of the best defenders. I feel that Saints recent formation change to three at the back, has made us more solid and it completely suits every player that we have on the pitch and it may well give us the edge at Wembley. I honestly can’t see Farke leaving out one of his big four strikers so he will be relying on two of Gruev, Kamara and Archie Gray to subdue Downes, Aribo and Smallbone, who are all hitting excellent form at just the right time. Saints way to win this game is through the midfield and being incisive once we have played through the Leeds press.  Leads way of winning this game is to rely on the front four to do something brilliant between them, which they are more than capable of doing. In order to stop that, Saints of course have to defend in a compact fashion and with great concentration for however long it takes.  In both games against Leeds this season, it’s been concentration that has been the key to winning the game and I think I’m correct in saying that these are the only two games this season where we have had less possession than the opposition.

The Saints team I am expecting to play, starts off with goalkeeper Alex McCarthy who you could’ve got very long odds on appearing in a play-off final about two months ago when he was third choice goalkeeper are not even getting on the bench.  It’s still a bit of a mystery why Russell Martin promoted him from third choice to first with Gavin Bazunu‘s injury, but it has undoubtedly proven to be a very good decision with McCarthy rolling back the years to 2018 when he was Saints player of the year in the Gabbiadini at Swansea great escape season. Though he is not as good with his feet as Bazunu, he is undoubtedly a better shot stopper, so you win some you lose some.

The three central defenders well undoubtedly be Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens. Russell Martin knows that these are three of our best players and so it makes sense to have a formation where all three of them are playing in their natural positions.  On the one hand it is surprising that he didn’t try until the last game of the season but on the other hand, there had been no break between games to coach the system in the past couple of months, until just before the Leeds game.  Both Harwood-Bellis and Stephens will have to be on full concentration to stop the threat from the Leeds wide men. KWP will need help on the right from THB to subdue Summerville and Stephens and Manning on the left will have to do a lot better against Gnonto than they did at Elland Road.

....And Some More of This

As I’ve just mentioned, KWP will be at right wing back and has been the best player in that position in the league this season. This will undoubtedly be his last game for Saints if we don’t win and it might be his last game even if we do, depending on what offers are coming in the summer. That’s for another day though and on Sunday, we just need another massive performance from him both subduing Summerville and putting the aforementioned Firpo under pressure going forward.  Ryan Manning will probably be left wing back but it might be Ryan Fraser.  I’m sure we’ll see one start and the other finish the game.

The midfield picks itself because it will be our best player Flynn Downes, Will Smallbone and Joe Aribo. With Stuart Armstrong getting injured in the game against Cardiff just before the end of the season, these three had to step up and the formation change seems to have really helped them. I do have a minor concern about Smallbone and Aribo’s stamina to last 90 or maybe 120 minutes at Wembley, but they have been playing so well recently. In the event of one of them having to come off we have Shea Charles or Joe Rothwell and whilst they are capable players, they are nowhere near the level of those that they would be replacing.

The forwards will be Adam Armstrong and one other, and that one other will be either Che Adams or David Brooks.  If Adams is fit, I suspect he will start and Brooks will be used off the bench later in the game. There is also (whisper quietly) Ross Stewart who you would hope would be fit enough to do something off of the bench should he be needed and should Che not last 90 minutes. With Leeds strength being in attacking areas, Armstrong and Adams (or whoever) have to match that. In the league game recently those two caused absolute nightmares for Ampadu and Rodon by never being in a place where they could be easily marked. We also caused problems for Leeds down our right where KWP got forward to good affect and absolutely terrified Junior Firpo who, let’s face it, it’s half decent as an attacking full-back but he is a dreadful defender.

I’m expecting the Leeds lineup to be 4-2-3-1 and that Farke will have nothing new to bring to this game from a tactical perspective.  He’ll get slaughtered if he leaves out one of the forwards and loses, so I don’t see him doing it. – Meslier; Gray, Rodon, Ampadu, Firpo; Gruev, Kamara; Summerville, Rutter, Gnonto, Piroe.

Can we win? Of course we can win if we manage the occasion and don’t get stage fright. We have proved that we can beat them if we go forward with intent when we can.  We can’t be comfortable and just knock the ball about with no purpose.  We had a pretty solid game plan in both of those previous Leeds games and in addition, Russell Martin will not want to get beat by Daniel Farke and that sub-plot exists because Farke drummed him out of Norwich as a player. Leeds have players that can hurt us so we have to do our jobs properly and concentration is going to be key. The wide-open Spaces of Wembley will in my opinion suit the team who are more compact defensively and that should be us, which may seem like a strange thing to say considering Leeds let in twenty less goals than us over the season, but really all that matters about defensive solidity is the last few weeks and we have been undeniably better.

... and Then This

The one thing I worry about is that we have one of those days where we can’t hit a barn door.  You only have to go back a few games to Cardiff away to find the last time that happened. If Che Adams (or whoever) and Adam Armstrong have decent games upfront, then we have a hell of a chance.  Leeds might have most of the ball as they have had in both of the league games but like in both of the league games, when we win the ball, we have to be incisive and we have to break quickly and the spaces will be there and this is where Smallbone and Aribo will be key. Can they find the passes through to the forwards?

Leeds have the players up front who can hurt us and if they do and score early, we have to be ready to play the long game and stay in touch.  We cannot of course, afford to get blown away as Norwich were in the semi-final at Elland Road.  But, first things first, we need to start well and show that we are not going to be daunted by the occasion. If we do that, then we have a chance of being back in the Premier League in August but if it doesn’t happen and it’s the Championship again, so be it.  It’s been a really good season whatever happens.

Up the Fucking Saints.

Hopefully Russell can Recreate This on Sunday

EFL Championship Play-Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg - Southampton 3 West Brom 1

Flynn Celebrates not Winning Man of the Match Vote Again

Championship Play-off second leg and now, ladies and gentlemen, shit gets real. Up until this point there has always been another game to come no matter what but today, that’s just not the case. Lose to West Brom tonight at home and the season is in the bin and we are waiting for the fixtures to be released and we will be looking for the day where we need to put piss proof plastic covers on the seats of the new away section for when John Westwood and his Portsmouth cronies come to St Mary’s. Not having to have that lot darkening our door is of course a minor reason for wanting to beat West Brom today.

A win today and we are of course in the Championship play-off final at Wembley on Sunday week against Leeds United, who completed the task of getting to the final by absolutely demolishing a pathetic Norwich team last night. 4-0 was the final score and without any exaggeration at all, it could’ve been seven. Norwich didn’t turn up as a team and paid the price and were completely blown away Our former goalkeeper Angus Gunn, did not cover himself in glory, and he should’ve done better on at least three of the goals that went past him. He wasn’t helped by a truly pathetic display by those in front of him and it’s already been reported that manager David Wagner has been sacked, which he deserves. I’ll never forgive him for setting up with that back ten when we played them at Carrow Road.

Leeds are through to the final and they deserve it and any humility that their fans might have been infected with, as a result of them pissing away automatic promotion, has firmly been banished by their win against a terrible Norwich team. Win tonight and we join them.

Carlos Corboran has been making noises about tonight as if West Brom are going to come out and try and win the game with attacking football. Can’t see it myself but time will tell. Regardless of what West Brom do, we have to go out and grab this opportunity because after the draw in the away leg, we basically have a one-off game at home against a team we finished above, in order to get to Wembley and a potential return to the Premier League. It’s a favourable set of circumstances that we would undoubtedly have been accepted if we have been offered it at the start of the season.

The circumstances will be even more favourable if Che Adams is fit and all eyes will be on that at 7 pm when the team is announced. Another unknown is what formation Russell Martin will go with. We haven’t played a back three at home this season and if we go for that then there will be a hell of a lot of onus on the wingbacks to get forward and supply the ammunition for the strikers. Ross Stewart is another unknown. If Adams doesn’t make it, will Stewart’s fitness be trusted to start of the game or will he have to wait until the second half to make an appearance in place of Sekou Mara. Tonight should be one hell of an atmosphere regardless of what 11 we put out there and that can only do us good.

Patience will also be a factor today, especially if we don’t get the early goal that would make the task so much more simple. I really would like to avoid the scenario where the game is close and there are 10 minutes to go and Alex McCarthy is playing two-touch passes across the 6 yard box.

I strongly believe that if we turn up and play to our potential, we will win but we can beat ourselves if we demonstrate the Southampton way. That’s the Southampton way of shiting the bed whenever shit gets real We are the favourites tonight and we have to believe that and play in a manner that befits favourites.

So, 7pm and my word have we the fans turned up.  Thousands outside the ground to welcome the team coach and more red smoke canisters sold in Southampton than at any point in history.  Team news and Che hasn’t made it and there’s room for both Wee Man and Brooks with Mara and Manning dropping out from the Leeds game.  OK, so is Wee Man at left wing back or is Stevo left back in a back four, or Kyle or no idea really.  If it’s 3-4-2, is Brooks up front with Arma?  So many questions as kick off gets closer.  Atmosphere building… Mark Dennis is on the mic and giving it loads… here we fucking go.

The questions over Saints formation are partially answered in the first couple of minutes but Russell is clearly looking to fuck around with his opposite number. We start with three at the back with Ryan Fraser left wing back and KWP on the right. Within a couple of minutes, we are a back four with Stephens at right back in KWP on the left. Another couple of minutes and it’s back to the back three. Brooks position is still a bit of a mystery as is very much on the right wing with Arma in the middle.

Saints are certainly up for it and Downes tries a kamikaze run at goalkeeper Palmer when he has the ball in his feet and Palmer completely shits himself.  Arma nearly gets in as well and West Brom are very fortunate to get away with it.

THB chips one over the defence and Brooks is in behind Townsend who has an arm on his shoulder and down goes Brooks in spectacular fashion.  Everyone has clearly seen the pull back but the exaggerated fall and is probably the reason why we don’t get anything.  Still a foul though and Townsend was very lucky. Russell Martin is clearly not having that decision and the fourth official it’s getting an earful.

Another superb ball slid forward by THB and Adam Armstrong is away on the right-hand side.  His low cross is met at the near post by Brooks, who can’t quite angle his foot enough to get it on target and it hits the side netting just behind the post. Close.

West Brom’s first attack sees them nearly take the lead by fluke as Fellows cross deflects up in the air off of a Wee Man block and it’s awkward for McCarthy, who has to backpedal to shovel it over the bar.  Other than that brief foray, West Brom are playing in a very defensive fashion, so when we win the ball is the opportunity to do something. From one such break, Brooks is the only Saints player involved and it looks like we’re gonna get another Sofiane Boufal moment against West Brom, but his final shot is blocked after weaving his way past four players.

That’s more or less it for the first half. West Brom win a couple of corners which result in free headers but we survived and other than that it was us trying to find openings against a very well drilled back ten, with Corberan and his team showing very little interest in engaging in a game of football.  He does look like he’s trying to take off though, with some seriously animated flapping.  I imagine that if you are a Baggies player over his side of the pitch, you are delighted that for the second half, you are over the other side.

Half time and 0-0 and nothing to fear.  The Baggies are just about set pieces and that’s it.  Wallace up front is shite and he’s a Skate and they’re not scoring if we keep concentration.

Zidane Decides to Put His Foot Through One

The second half starts and there’s as early chance For KWP but he drags his shot wide.  West Brom haven’t been particularly good in possession in the first half and they start the second half in the same way with Diangana being sloppy in midfield and Smallbone picking it up. He drives forward before finding Brooks, who holds on long enough for Smallbone to find some space from the edge of the box just to the right and in totally un-Will like fashion, he absolutely belts one past Palmer and it flicks the inside of the near post and in. Fucking hell. I’ve never Will Smallbone hit a ball as hard as that. Get in. What have you got now Carlos?

West Brom immediately have what amounted to a little bit of a flurry.  McCarthy fumbles a cross under pressure from Kipre and just about gets away with it.  To be fair, it probably would have been given as a foul of he hadn’t fallen on the loose ball.   There’s another effort from the edge of the box which is blocked by THB, wide for corner.

West Brom suddenly have a bit of confidence and try to play out from the back but don’t look particularly comfortable doing so.  Kipre turns and knocks it back to Palmer, who for the second time in the match, gets put under pressure and shanks a clearance to Aribo on the left. Big Joe picks out an intelligent run from of Brooks who is absolutely cleaned out by the sliding Kipre. No?  Nothing?  Fucks sake. Are you fucking joking?  On we go.

Up the other end and we have another set-piece to defend which Mowat swings in and another free header drops down off off Stephens to Furlong who absolutely leathers it and it’s probably going over but McCarthy reacts well to make sure.  We react well to the pressure with another incisive move and Smallbone slips Adam Armstrong through in the middle and he looks onside for once from where I am…  and he absolutely buries it but the flag is up straight away.  After all, a second goal would make it less stressful and we can’t have that.

An hour gone and Wee Man goes down, presumably knackered and on comes Manning.  Before long, Edozie if on for Brooks.  Both outgoing players have had good games and it’s probably been the best game of Brooks’ loan spell.

It Was at this Precise Moment, that Carlos Knew He Was Fucked

THB is at it again and slides brilliant ball out of defence up the middle to send Downes away and he runs over to the edge of the West Brom penalty area before teeing up Adam Armstrong on the left and he drills it across, through Furlong’s legs and into the far corner of the net. Fucking brilliant strike from a player who has hardly been in the game up till now.  Get in.

With us being ahead with about 20 minutes to go, there’s obviously no need to do anything daft but we over play a bit of the back and McCarthy presents it to the West Brom midfield. Luckily KWP wins it back and gets us going, sending Jack Stephens gallivanting through the midfield. He takes the ball on like Downes earlier, gets to the edge of the box before sliding it left to Manning who hits the deck under a combined challenge from Fellows and M’Vila.  It’s a lot less clear cut that the Brooks one but it’s given.   Up steps Adam Armstrong and with his confidence being the where it is at the moment, you know where it’s going and bang, 3-0, game over.

Icing. Cake

Time is done now, 97 minutes have gone and you know, we might get a draw here.  One more set piece to negotiate and in it comes, Kipre gets up ahead of sub Shea Charles and it’s a good header to be fair, away from McCarthy and into the corner of the net.  Does it matter?  Well, ten seconds later it doesn’t, and we are at Wembley.  A pitch invasion?  Really?  Ah well – we don’t get to clap the players off then.

Well that was absolutely brilliant from the boys. The first half was cagey, mainly because West Brom made it that way, but once Will Smallbone opened the scoring, they had absolutely no answer at all. In the end, it was relatively comfortable which of course, important games never usually are for Southampton.

Russell Martin clearly wanted to keep Carlos Corboran confused about what we were doing for as long as possible as we started with a back five, swapped toa four and then back again within the first three minutes or so. There weren’t too many chances in the first half and it was obvious from about 15 minutes onwards that it was just gonna be a case of could we break the Baggies down and could we withstand the odd set piece that they threw into the box. Like the first game, they didn’t commit any players into the penalty area apart from the bare minimum and the farthest forward player was Skate Jed Wallace who was never gonna do anything up there on his own. We didn’t defend the set pieces particularly well and we got a bit fortunate on occasions allowing West Brom to get the first knock on virtually every one.

As a spectacle, it needed the goal at the start of the second half and Saints certainly needed to go in front because going behind would’ve been a fucking nightmare. The Baggies had been sloppy in possession for a lot of the first half Diangana’s crap pass in midfield led directly to the opening goal, superbly created by Brooks and finished by Smallbone.  I’ve often criticised Will for not putting his foot through some of the chances he has to shoot but he certainly did today.  Should the keeper have saved it?  I think it’s a rare case of a near post goal where the keeper had no chance.

With a brief West Brom flurry survived, the second goal set up by the machine that is Flynn Downes rumbling through midfield, and finished superbly by Adam Armstrong, was brilliant and that was the end of that.  There was no way the Baggies were scoring two.  The penalty given for the least obvious of our three shouts, was well despatched by Armstrong, which made it just a minor irritation when West Brom scored in with the last header of the game.  I hope Carlos was happy with his consolation goal from 180 minutes of zero intent.

It was another game when we were immense all over the pitch with every single player contributing and no one having a bad game from McCarthy through to Armstrong. David Brooks had a particularly impressive game and Aribo and Smallbone are getting better with every single game. The formation change really seems to have helped them.  Ryan Fraser was decent again at left wing back and Ryan Manning did well when he came on, straight away defending with the same intensity that I’ve been shown by the three centre halves and KWP for the first hour of the game.

Flynn Downes - machine.  Even if the bloke only plays one more game for Southampton (which is something I don't really want to think about), then what a man and what a player.  He absolutely dominated again and you may as well rename the Man of the Match award as 'Player Who Scored the Most Goals' award, if he's not winning that.

Fucking hell, did the fans step up today or what? Personally, I couldn’t get down there early enough to see the team arrive but the images on social media afterwards are exceptional.  I haven't seen so much smoke outside the ground since the postponed game against Preston. The atmosphere generated outside the ground then transferred to the inside of the ground and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the ground as one, all up for the occasion. I’ve always felt that has a fan base and Southampton people is general are quite understated and reserved and it takes a lot to get everyone responding like that. Brilliant stuff.

I guess it was inevitable given the heightened emotions of the day but the only slight pisser for me, was the pitch invasion which in my book was totally unnecessary.  Goading the West Brom fans and players also completely unnecessary and not really worth risking a ban for.  I’d rather see the players given the opportunity to celebrate their achievement with their families and fans but some people are selfish and only think about themselves. Also, why have a pitch invasion when you haven’t done anything yet?  This will all be for nothing if we don’t win next week.  Maybe the club should’ve made it abundantly clear at the start of the game they wanted people to stay off the pitch but then I don’t expect they thought it was a possibility in the semi-finals.  There was nothing put on the bloody great scoreboards we have at both ends saying ‘stay off the pitch’, which they really could have put up there with a minute to go and a 3-0 lead.

Another brilliant day for Russell Martin.  I loved the shithousing from the start with the changing formation and also the very obvious tactic of putting and advertising board in the way to stop the long throws being so effective.  They were never going to stop them coming in of course but at least it would have played on Furlong's mind when he was winding up.  Nice one. We've been too nice and too soft for too long.

Anyway, a brilliant performance in a game that could have been very tricky against a team who would have been quite happy to go to penalties from the first minute last week. Game 49 of the season now looms and I hope everyone who wants to go can get hold of tickets   Next Sunday, Wembley, Leeds, bring it on and of course, Up the fucking Saints.

EFL Championship Play-Off Semi-Final 1st Leg - West Brom 0 Southampton 0

Boing, boing, Sit Down He's Saved It

The three-game season starts now with a trip to The Hawthorns to play West Bromwich Albion in the Championship play-off first leg. I remember when the play-offs first came in in 1987 and thought they were absolutely absurd, because prior to them, the team finishing third took their deserved place in the division above, based on being proven the third best team over the season and no one ever complained about it. At the time of the change, it seemed gimmicky and all a bit American but here we are now, 30 years later and it’s now part of the fabric of football in this country. If we didn’t have the playoffs of course, then our season would be over and we would be in the Championship next year but as it is, we have the chance to achieve something spectacular by getting promoted back to the League of Greed.

Standing in our way initially are West Bromwich Albion who finished one place below us in the final reckoning in the regular Championship season. They have basically been in fifth place ever since the season settled down in about October of last year and have always been seen as the best of the rest, outside of the top four who of course made a bit of a break for it.  We have of course played them twice this year and beaten them twice, the first of which was a slightly fortunate 2-1 win at St Mary’s, where Adam Armstrong popped up with a late winner having controlled the ball somewhat fortuitously with both his shins before rifling a shot across the keeper and into the far corner. The previous game at West Brom, brought us a relatively comfortable 2-0 win, when Russell Martin put on a bit of a tactical masterclass which included adequately replacing the loss of Flynn Downes and most notably, Jack Stephens playing his hybrid left back/midfielder role which worked in that game but didn’t work very well afterwards. Corboran against Martin will be a key battle today and who knows what either will come up with. West Brom, like ourselves, finished the season in slightly flat fashion, with three defeats in a row, followed by a decent win on the last day.

I’d like to think that West Brom will be going into this with masses of confidence because of those three defeats and also, they win on the last day was against Preston, who over the last month of the season have been the worst team in the division by a mile. Saints have also of course lost three games in a row but last week’s excellent win at Leeds has given everyone a boost and I would imagine we are the more confident going into this game given that win and the fact that we’ve beaten West Brom twice this season, there should be no inferiority complex.

What Saints have to prove is that they can do it when it really matters, when the pressure is on because recent history does not look too clever in that regard. Over the past few seasons, whenever we’ve had the opportunity to do anything, be it move out of a relegation zone, move into the top half of the league or even this season when we had the chance to consolidate second place, we have 100% record in shitting the bed and not achieving it. The last time I remember us having a serious milestone to achieve was when we played Newcastle at home on a Friday night with a chance of going top of the league early on in the season. We managed that but we have managed nothing significant since. Is it in the fabric of the club to bottle it when it becomes important? We will see.

If you had asked the average West Brom fan at the start of the season what they thought the season would look like, they would’ve been quite happy with mid table obscurity but Carlos Corboran has got a tune out of the team at his disposal and they’ve been pretty consistent all season and now, with a new owner, things are looking up for the Baggies. Hopefully, not too much though. Corboran has a good reputation and it’s largely anticipated that he could set up his team in such a way for us to make it very difficult to break them down. West Brom will know that they cannot afford to be behind after the first leg so I’m expecting today to be somewhat cagey.  Corboran is also hyper and the sort of manager whose antics get on your nerves with all his bouncing up and down and gesticulating on the touchline.  He managed of course, to get himself sent off against us last time when he kicked the ball whilst it was still in play.

Team news and unsurprisingly, it’s three at the back with wing backs, as per the Leeds game.  Just reading down the list of names and all good… Sekou Mara… What? Why?  Che is injured and Ross Stewart isn’t ready to start yet.  I guess it was a choice between Mara or Sulemana… or playing with ten.

Saints kick-off and knock it back to McCarthy, who boots it long and West Brom pick it up and we spent 10 minutes not touching the ball as the crosses come flying into the box and West Brom pick up all the second balls. We stand firm however and eventually start to play our way into the game.  It’s all high energy and the crowd are up for it but not much quality and nothing on target for McCarthy to deal with.

When Saints start to play, the first chance comes as Aribo drives through midfield before sending the ball right to KWP, who cuts in and hits it and it flicks of Townshend and goes just wide of the far post.

We look properly into the game now and following a Baggies clearance out to our left, Downes win the ball back off of Fellows and finds Aribo who takes out two defenders putting Downes in on the keeper but from an angle, his shot is blocked by Palmer straight up in the air and drops to Adam Armstrong, who tries to smash the cover off it when it returns to earth and as is usually the case, doesn’t get a clean connection on it and puts it into the side netting. To be honest that’s poor.  Downes should’ve taken it first time and Armstrong should definitely have got that on target but unfortunately, he’s done his usual and lashed at it.

Another attack brings a corner on the left as Diangana trips over the corner flag trying to prevent it.  In it comes from Smallbone, headed up rather than out and Mara attempts an overhead kick which goes so far wide that it’s barely worth talking about in terms of it being a shot. A stat-padder if ever there was one.

West Brom put together their first really decent move down our right-hand side and win a free kick when Diangana is tagged by Aribo. They take a quickly then work out to Fellows on their right and he pisses past Manning and stands up great cross of the back post and Diangana meets it and heads down and we all silently mouth the word “fuck”, but McCarthy gets across well to block.  Great save that.

Half time and it’s been tense and a bit dull.  Not bad though because we’ve drawn the sting out and played the better football.  Fellows vs Manning is a bit of a worry however.  No subs for either team and away we go.

West Brom have the first chance as the much-hyped Mikey Johnson gets a ball over from the left and Furlong gets in ahead of Aribo and jabs it wide with the soul of his boot.  It’s a pretty even opening of the second half with not a lot happening.  Saints are having decent possession but nothing much happening up front.

Here He Is

The substitutions happen with about twenty to go and it’s three forwards coming on with Wee Man, Brooks and Ross Stewart on for Manning, Mara and Adam Armstrong.  We’ve changed formation as well with Jack at left back, which puts him directly against Fellows and that particular battle doesn’t start too well as following some not brilliant, attempted challenges by Aribo and Stephens, Fellows pulls a low cross back to Diangana near the penalty spot and he hits it and Macca saves again.  Smallbone clears it to Brooks, who lobs it over the defence to Stewart who has stayed onside. Stewart takes the ball out of the left hand side before lining up Furlong and cutting across the box and hits it.  It flicks off Bartley and Palmer who has dived the wrong way sticks a foot out and saves it whilst we all go “yeaaaaaaaaaaaa-fuck” or something like that.

The last fifteen really petered out with both teams settling for a draw.  There is only one real incident as Diangana tried his luck on the right against Fraser and goes past him until gets to the edge of the penalty area and dives like a motherfucker. Absolutely disgraceful cheating and luckily the referee didn’t give anything.  There may have been the slightest accidental contact but the Olympic level throwing his arms out was spectacular.  Fuck off.

Well I said it would be cagey and so it proved with both teams seemingly settling for a draw.  As far as we are concerned, I think it’s a decent result because being a goal down would’ve been an absolute fucking nightmare playing against a Carlos Corboran team. I feel that if this has been a single game affair today then we would’ve done a lot more in an attacking sense than we did today.  I was a bit surprised at West Brom’s lack of intent to go out and win this but I guess Corboran just isn’t built that way.  Two players in the opposition box at most.

The 2017 player of the season version of Alex McCarthy turned up today, making a very good save in the first half from Diangana’s header and pulling out a smart save from the same players’ low shot in the second half.   He also took every cross and long throw that came his way with consummate ease and confidence.  One shite pass but overall excellent. 

That second half chance for West Brom which led directly to Ross Stewart‘s effort 30 seconds later, was kind of the limit of the goalmouth entertainment in the second half.  Our efforts in the first half were from KWP and the Downes/Armstrong incident and that was it.  Overall it wasn;t a great attacking spectacle and 0-0 is fair.

A Rare Containing Both Mara and the Ball

The major shock/disappointment/incredulity in the starting lineup was of course Sekou Mara, who has done absolutely fuck all this season to warrant been given their responsibility to play in the biggest game of the season. The only reason he was selected of course was because Ross Stewart is not fit enough to start games yet.  It’s a bit like winning a race because everyone else has fallen over.   Maybe Sulemana would have been better - I know he’s done nothing this season either but there always seems to be the possibility that he might. Mara is very consistent in that you know what you’re going to get… not much.

The bloke hasn’t even put in a decent substitute appearance for about four months and today was exactly as predicted. In the first half, his main contribution was to roll up one leg of his shorts and jog about for five minutes with one up one down. Then he rolled the other one up and ambled around till half-time. One decent turn in the second half where he was fouled was the limit of his involvement.  When he went off it was a blessing and Ross Stewart looked decent and dangerous when he came on.  If the keeper hadn’t made that unbelievable save from the deflected shot then it would have been a story and a half.  It still might be.

It was also a relatively quiet game for the referee Sam Barratt, who was decent and handled the game well.  He only had one potential issue with the dive at the end and got that spot on.

Defensively today it was another clean sheet and we were okay, without being watertight. We did cough up possession occasionally with some sloppy stuff around the edge of our own penalty area with both Jack Stephens and THB being guilty at times. Ryan Manning had a tough game against Tom Fellows on our left and that is something that we do need to sort out for the second game because Jack Stephens struggled there as well.  I wouldn’t be surprised if James Bree is considered a better option in the return game on Friday but for me, he’s been pretty hopeless recently and a winger of Fellows pace would be Bree’s kryptonite. Flynn Downes was as usual, the main man in the centre of midfield, driving forward to good effect with both Smallbone and Aribo starting the game well before fading into the second half.

Overall, I think Russell Martin will be happy with that end result and it will be interesting to see how we set up for the second leg. Will we play three at the back at home or will it be the more usual 4-3-3 formation? Whichever way he decides to go, as long as Che Adams recovers, we will at least have 11 proper players out on the pitch which will give us an advantage over today.

Half-time in the tie and absolutely nothing to fear in the second leg. Let’s fucking do this. Up the fucking Saints