EFL Championship Match 29 - Rotherham 0 Southampton 2

 

Protect Wee Man At All Costs

Rotherham, bottom of the league, away from home at the interestingly named Asseal New York Stadium.  Turns out that years ago, New York was an area in Rotherham where the stadium was built… no different to St Mary’s then really.  Arctic Monkeys have a song which has a line about “You’re not from New York City, you’re from Rotherham”…. Turns out you can almost be from both.

The return game was three games into what was the beginning of our unbeaten run which still continues to this day of course. That game is a bit of a Ground Zero because we tore them apart and went one up, then played walking football for half an hour, then conceded from their only shot and then panicked and couldn’t find a winner. Despite the fact that we had won the previous two games against Leeds and away at Stoke, quite a number of the fanbase decided after the Rotherham game but they were going to voice their displeasure at what they saw as Russell Martin’s tippy-tappy football that wasn’t what they wanted. They didn’t want Ralph-ball, they certainly, statistically didn’t want Jones-ball and I’ll be amazed if anyone wanted Ruben-ball but they knew they wanted something different and they knew that this wasn’t it.  It was also a game that haunted Russell Martin because he couldn’t believe that we could dominate a game that much and draw 1-1 and it absolutely offended him. I am sure he will be looking to put that right today.

Dropped by Southampton, Move to Juventus, Obviously

So, we have to win today and we’ll have to do it without Charly Alcaraz, who has left the club on a loan deal, surprisingly to go to one of the biggest clubs in Europe in Juventus. It’s a loan to the end of the season with an option to buy of around £45 million mark.  I would say there is absolutely no chance of Juve triggering that because if we are led to believe about Italian football is true, they are never going to have that amount of money.  Apparently, we have a £4 or £5 million loan fee for the rest of the season which on the face of it is good business for a player who is not in our starting 11.  With the pile of fixtures we’ve got coming up in February though, it might not be the smartest move but the Joe Rothwell signing didn’t look particularly smart, until Charly left.  Rothwell suddenly has more pressure on his shoulders to show a hell of a lot more than he has shown so far.

Just before Alcaraz left, David Brooks arrived on loan from Bournemouth. It looks like we were pursuing both Brooks and Manuel Benson from Burnley but with Burnley being tinpot and moving the goalposts at the last minute, we eventually told Alan Pace and his #FreeTella daughter to fuck off and we went for Brooks, a 26-year-old Welsh international who made the headlines a couple years ago from having cancer, which he thankfully has fully recovered from.  Brooks has done well at Premier League level in the past so has impressive pedigree for a loan signing and he is a natural in the right wing position. I like the quote from his first interview where he said “I am here to try and get some game time“ the word ‘try’ is important because it shows that he knows it’s not a given and that he is going to have to work for it.  Of course, he will get minutes at some point but it’s hard to see where Brooks would fit in the team at the moment. If he takes the right-wing berth then Adam Armstrong moves inside which means Che Adams gets left out and he’s scoring goals and playing well at the moment.  If you move out of Armstrong to the left then you leave out Ryan Fraser who is arguably our best player at the moment. The bottom line is that as long as the players are happy, you can’t have too many good ones and Brooks is definitely a high-quality signing for a team in the Championship.  I bet some of the more petty Bournemouth fans are spewing.

The arrival of Brooks meant of course that we had six players on-loan as he joined THB, Downes, Fraser, Rothwell and Holgate. Out of those six, only five can be in a matchday squad and the one we were always going to want to get rid of was Mason Holgate and our wish came true as Sheffield United basically took over his loan agreement with Everton, freeing up a lot of money in wages for us and freeing us of a talented but massively inconsistent player.  His last appearance showed what he was about by being absolute garbage in the first half and then looking like a proper player in the second.   I always felt that with Holgate, we signed him before we knew we could sign THB and as soon as that deal was complete, Holgate became a bit of an expensive spare part.  If we were loitering around upper mid-table, looking for a playoff place then Holgate’s up and down performances would probably be okay but as we are going for the top two, you can’t have a defender like that, who is just as likely to make an almighty bollocks of something as to put in a consistent performance. All the best to Holgate, who came with the best intentions, but it didn’t quite work out.

Thus endeth the transfer window.  KWP stayed, as did Che Adams, Rudi Skacel was done on a deal sheet and Matt Holland was seen in West Quay.  Now to go and get promoted, starting with three points today at Rotherham.  Nothing less will do.

Team news and exactly as expected and the same line-up as the last league game.  Brooks is on the bench instead of Alcaraz and that’s the only news.  Russell Martin’s determination to win this game is apparent from the first whistle because we’re not doing our usual kick-off and Stuart Armstrong slots a ball through straight away and Che Adams is clean through but he has been a bit eager in the flag has gone up for offside… and he missed anyway as the shot was pushed away by Johansson.

More pressure and three minutes gone and Wee Man wins a corner.  It’s an in-swinger from Stuart Armstrong and after a couple of deflections, it sits up and Bednarek nods powerfully into the top corner and give Johansson no chance.  Get in.

With Rotherham’s game plan of defending the fuck out of it for a draw in a 5-4-50 yards-Big Donkey formation, now out of the window after four minutes, they do actually attack with Kiosi playing a decent ball in from the right hand side and the donkey Hugill meeting it first time but he’s not good enough to keep it down and launches it over the bar.

THB lobs a ball forward towards Stuart Armstrong which is cut out but Saints win it straight back through Downes, who gives it short to Wee Man and he cuts and smashes it with his right foot, past the keeper and off the inside of the post and away. Fuck.

Saints are now playing at such a pace that Rotherham can’t even get close to them.  Another flowing move at the left-hand side ends with Adams brilliantly playing Stuart Armstrong through but Johansson is out well to smother the shot.

It’s a temporary reprieve though as THB scoops one over the top to meet the run of Wee Man coming off the left as he gets closed down, a back heel it into the path of Adam Armstrong who shoots left footed and it goes under the keeper and squirts into the corner of the net. 2-0 and this is done after twenty minutes, lesson learned, ghost of that game at St Mary’s buried.

On, on and Smallbone gets on a run down the right, finds Adam Armstrong out wide and continues his run into the box and meets the cross from 6 yards, meets it well and fuck me – how has he saved that diving to his right. This fucking goalkeeper.

As we approach half-time, Rotherham go route one, usually from the goalkeeper and after a couple of headers are won in midfield Revan brings a decent save out of Baz with a cross shot. Honestly it’s laughable. Smashing it up the pitch towards Hugill, who doesn’t win much but make sure he dies on the floor any time any defender comes near him. Rotherham are actually playing for throw-ins because they’ve got a centre back who lumbers up to both sides of the pitch and launches missiles into the penalty area.  Luckily, we have two centre backs who are not frightened of stick in the head in and getting it away.  Complicated stuff that Pep Guardiola could learn from.

Half-time and we could score as many as we want to. I’m glad the second goal has gone in because that negates the bolt from the blue but honestly, this lot are like a pub team and then might as well start preparing for League 1 already.

Rotherham come out with a bit more purpose in the second half but it’s Saints that create the first decent opportunity as Smallbone spots a run from right to left by Adam Armstrong and flights the ball over perfectly but the skipper’s touch lets him down and it runs away from him and Johansson again manages to smother it.

"That fucking Goalkeeper", Again

To be fair to Rotherham, they are working hard and now are pressing higher up the pitch but they’re not good enough to do anything with it if they do win it. Most of the attacks are being started by Stuart Armstrong dawdling on the ball and losing it and it’s a bit of a surprise when it’s not him that gets substituted with the Bournemouth loan pair David Brooks and Joe Rothwell coming on for Flynn Downes and Che Adams. Within a few minutes it’s Make-A-Wish time with Mara coming on for Wee Man.

Mara does in fact work the goalkeeper straight away, picking up Smallbone’s pass before drilling it straight at Johansson from the edge of the box.  Smallbone again turns creator as his diagonal ball is half cleared and picked up by Brooks and his cross goes just in front of Mara and Adam Armstrong gets to it before Johansson again is out smartly to save once more.  We could have caught up the goal difference n Leeds today if it wasn’t for this guy.  It’s a damp squib of a second half with a distinct feeling of ‘game management’ about it – the job is done.

On the face of it this game is very similar to our last league game at Swansea.  Blow them away in the first half and then manage the second.  We did the game management thing a lot better today than we did at Swansea.  Like the game at St Mary‘s, if it wasn’t for Viktor Johansson in the Rotherham goal, then it would’ve been five at least.

If we had scored five then it would’ve been a fair reflection of the quality of the two teams. Rotherham are like the fucking Dog and Duck with the World’s best goalkeeper playing as a ringer.  Even in the Championship you don’t get any teams who play so little football and are basically that limited. Long ball smashed up the park to the big centre forward and the big centre back launching in missile throws from either flank. Proper throwback stuff. When you get to a certain age you think back a lot and generally think the football was better but football like Rotherham produce isn’t better. That was Tranmere, Stockport, Wimbledon dark ages shite.

There were a few standout performers for us today with Ryan Fraser and Stuart Armstrong bossing the first half down the left.  Fraser’s vision for the second goal was exceptional and the right back basically gave up the ghost trying to prevent him doing whatever he wanted.
Especially with the fact that Alcaraz is no longer available for us, we are going to have to keep an eye on Stuart Armstrong over the next month, with us having so many games to play. He got progressively more tired and slower after half-time and continually gave the ball away for Rotherham to start attacks. By attacks, I mean play a couple of passes and then smash it and hope for a throw-in, but he certainly gave the ball away a lot today even though it didn’t ultimately lead to anything. The most obvious replacement in the squad now is Rothwell who was a little better today and at least showed some driving running with the ball.

There was the debut today for David Brooks, who showed a couple of lovely touches over on the right wing and glimpses of the obvious quality that he will bring to the team.  He is used to the CHampionship so won't have been surprised when he megged a player and then got immediately trashed.

The centre backs stood up well to the bombardment with the sad figure of Hugill putting himself about, when he wasn’t rolling around on the floor pretending to be injured.  Apparently it was Jan Bednarek’s 200^th appearance for the club today and he of course, marked the occasion with a goal.  The partnership with THB, both from a defensive and creative point of view, is one that wouldn’t need changing if we do make it to the Premier League.

With Ipswich narrowly failing to come back from 3-0 down at Preston, we end the weekend in second place and in the automatic promotion spots, for the first time this season. This must be a nice feeling but ultimately meaningless if we don’t maintain our form. Leeds are matching us win for win at the moment and are one point behind having played a game more. It is just going to be relentless over the next few weeks.

Next up is a chance for the fringe players as we play Watford once more in the replay in the FA Cup 4^th Round, with a dubious prize of playing at Anfield the reward for the winners. Up the fucking Saints.

EFL Championship Match 11 - Southampton 1 Rotherham 1

 

Rotherham Get In Our Half - Bazunu Not in Picture

Usually, when I look ahead to see who we are playing next, the team name instantly conjures up memories of games from the past and I’ll be aware of the clubs recent result and recent history.  Not today however because we are playing Rotherham in a league game for the first time since the 19th of March 1966, 57 years ago. To give that some context, it was before England won the World Cup and from Southampton‘s perspective, our centre forward that day was Martin Chivers who eventually moved on to Tottenham and was replaced by Mick Channon.  It’s a long time ago and our goal that day was scored by the legendary Terry Paine, now 84 years old. There have been 3 cup games between the sides since then. The League Cup in 1993 and 2008 and an FA Cup tie in 2002, notable for being one of the games that Agustin Delgado actually played in. Somewhat bizarrely, we lost all three of those cup games and haven’t actually beaten in Rotherham since 1965 when the aforementioned Chivers scored twice in a 3-1 win. We missed Rotherham when we were on our trip around League 1 as they were in League 2 at the time, so this fixture is a bit of a rarity.

The Rotherham of recent times have been a yo-yo club between League 1 and the Championship, either getting promoted or relegated six seasons running before managing to stay up last season. This season is pretty perhaps predictably, going to be a struggle and they currently sit second bottom with five points from the opening ten games and just the one win. I remember us looking at Middlesbrough’s record before we played them a few weeks ago and this feels similar. The goal scoring threat for Rotherham will probably be provided by Jordan Hugill, the very definition of a journeyman striker who suddenly found himself playing for West Ham about five years ago before being proven to be out of his depth and now he finds himself at Rotherham.

There was some good news coming out of St Mary‘s this week with Charly Alcaraz signing an extension to his contract to take him up to 2028. Call me cynical but this may well be protecting his value for a future transfer. I can’t imagine for a minute there’s not a release clause in the contract in the event of us not getting promoted at the end of the season. In other news, he got called up to the Argentina squad so will spend the next international break rubbing shoulders with World Cup winners and a certain Lionel Messi. This can only be a good thing. It looks like playing in the Championship and not playing for a huge club is not a impediment for getting called up for the World Cup winners. If only England had a manager like that.

Also came news that there is a movement to try and get my usual walk to St Mary’s renamed the Lawrie McMenemy Itchen Bridge.  Cool – why not?  It will always be the Rupert Lowe Bridge in my eyes however and watching England in the Rugby World Cup and the ‘Swing Low’ song just serves as a reminder of that questionable time in Saints history.  Given the history of  Lowe-life and Lawrie, it will be somewhat ironic if it is renamed as mooted.  Whilst you’re at it, change the lights on the bridge from blue to alternate red and white… or to alternate yellow and blue in honour of Lawrie’s greatest achievement – 1976 and all that.

To today and just the one change with Che Adams coming in for the rested Charly Alcaraz.  This should be a game for Che to show what he's got in this division.  Saints tear into them from the off with Stuart Armstrong making a good positive run down the right hand side and getting a cross in which is headed away as far as KWP who takes it down on his chest and jinks in between three defenders as heads towards the line before standing it up to the back post.  Che gets up early and smacks his header against the post but it drops down to where Stuart Armstrong has continued his run to and he knocks it into the net from 3 yards. Simple as you like.  Now lets fucking batter these.

3.03 pm and Stu Kicks off the Avalanche of Goals

Every time we get the ball straight after the goal, we look dangerous with Sulemana testing out the right back for pace before cutting inside and unleashing with his right foot but Johansson in the Rotherham goal makes a decent save, tipping over the bar.  Jugular time lads.  A ball up to Adams who flicks it round the corner to KWP and his cross is flicked in brilliantly by Adam Armstrong but the flag is up. Offside. Fucker. To be honest, it does look offside on first view.  It’s funny – I still haven’t got into the habit of instant celebrations since we fucked VAR off this season.

We are still looking like we are going to win about 6-0 and Peltier crashes through the back of Sulemana to give us a free kick wide on the left.  In it comes from Manning and Adams has a free header from the penalty spot and nods it down well but again, too close to the keeper who gets down well to make another decent save.

Half an hour of battering them and just the one goal to the good and the game lulls into a kind of holding pattern as if we’re playing for half-time.  It really shouldn’t be a problem but it’s strange that they’ve been no threat at all and now we’re not doing what we were doing at the start of the game.  Rotherham look happy to let it all calm down and carry on producing nothing with the ball.  The half peters out and in we go eventually, after a stoppage for a medical emergency in the crowd.

There was a longer than usual break for half time, given the aforementioned medical issue and away we go again.  Saints are unsurprisingly unchanged and what the fuck is this?  We produce ten minutes of absolute nothingness as we pass the ball about endlessly without going anywhere. Rotherham are just sat there, quite happy with life and we’re not making it difficult for them at all.  Yes we have all the possession and are in control but we’re not doing anything with it.

Russell Martin seems to recognise this and it’s a triple substitution with Stuart Armstrong Adam Armstrong and Sulemana all departing to be replaced by Lionel Messi’s heir apparent, Ryan Fraser and Sam Edozie.   We create a great chance to put the game to bed as KWP slides in Fraser and his low cross is perfect for Smallbone, who sidefoots powerfully towards goal but Johansen fucking saves it again.  Has to score from there.  The keeper shouldn’t even be seeing it until he’s fishing it out of the net.

There’s an interesting development as the Rotherham goalkeeper Johanssen has the ball and the centre half goes down on his haunches and the goalkeeper throws the ball out of play.  The subs are all ready to come on and away we go again with Che throwing the ball back to the keeper.  Punted forward by the keeper and Downes goes up with Hugill but the ball drops on the edge of the box and THB nods it straight back to Hugill, who volleys it first time over Bazunu who is completely out of position.  1-1. For fuck‘s sake.

We now have to wake up and put our foot back on the accelerator pedal but we are finding it very difficult to do and unbelievably Rotherham looked more likely to score and Baz has to makes a decent save from Rathbone. It doesn’t look particularly scientific from Saints now and it’s more in hope than expectation. We have Joe Aribo and Sekou Mara on the pitch now and a low cross into the box is missed by Bednarek but when the ball bounces clear he takes another swing it, gets it past the goalkeeper but it’s smashed away from on the goal line.  A bit more huff and puff and a bit more urgency but nothing much comes of it.  Just the five minutes added cos the ref clearly hasn’t clocked the keeper wasting time since the tenth minute.  The end.

Oh do fuck off!!!

It’s bordering on the absolutely fucking criminal not to have won that because basically, I’d be amazed if Rotherham aren’t the most limited team we will play this season.  We absolutely should’ve been out of sight at half-time, especially after the opening half an hour when it honestly looked like we could’ve scored six or seven. Yes, the goalkeeper had a bit of a worldie but absolutely no excuses for only being 1-0 up. The opening half hour was how Russell Martin’s style of football is supposed to work – pass it quickly, pass it forward, overload and overwhelm, pull them about all over the place. The opening of the game was electric from us and apart from the goal that we did score, we had one disallowed for offside against Adam Armstrong and the goalie made a tremendous save from Sulemana.  

Then it all died as from about half hour mark until Rotherham scored, we didn’t play the ball forwards and work their defence – possession for possessions sake.  The start of the second half was absolutely bizarre where we had the ball for about five minutes straight without going anywhere.  Just before conceding, the keeper made another really good save from Smallbone.

And then they score and how do Rotherham score? I didn’t realise at the time but apparently their goalkeeper put the ball out for a throw in so they could make some substitutions.  There was no injury and we gave them the ball back from the throw – like a team of 11 years olds would do.  Directly from there, they scored so that goes down as a really stupid bit of naivete.  Long ball, gets knocked down and the guy just smacks it over the goalkeeper who is 10 yards off his line for reasons best known to himself. Once that ball gets nodded down and we don’t pick it up, then Bazunu has got to be back on his line.  He’s done well recently but that was shit today.

There were I reckon, five mistakes that led to the goal.  The first was of course giving them the ball back.  Next up was Downes going up for the header against Hugill instead of Bednarek.  This caused mistake three as no one took Downes’ role to pick up the dropping ball.  THB had a chance to clear and shat a header straight to Hugill and hey presto – mistake five which is Baz having a wander.  Piss poor.   What was Baz doing out there?  Making a fucking passing angle? 

Once Rotherham scored of course we had to go forward again but we already made the substitutions with Adam Armstrong and Sulemana having gone off.  What this meant was that we had to try and step things up again after half an hour of playing passive keep ball and we also had to do it with the likes of Ryan Fraser, Joe Aribo and Sekou Mara on the pitch – not to mention Che Adams in his signature Adidas Trampoline boots. After the equaliser, there was a big bundle involving Bednarek that should’ve ended up in the net but didn’t and not a lot else and it all seemed a bit panicky.  It’s always difficult to put your foot back on the gas when you’ve taken it off for a while.

From listening to Russell Martin’s interview after the game, I only found one thing to disagree with as in the main, he saw the game exactly the same way that I saw it.  What I disagree with is the fact that he thinks it’s a good performance if we keep hold of the ball, whereas I think it’s a good performance if we are actually stretching the opposition and putting them under pressure. The middle third of the game was just possession for possessions sake and we didn’t stretch them at all and that to me is not a good performance.  I find it hard to believe that Russell would have been telling the players to reign in the attacking, so I don’t really know what happened. We were so good in the first 30-35, better after they scored because we were desperate but that middle third was completely wasted when we were passive and just bang average.  It doesn’t seem that it takes much encouragement for the players to revert to that.  Maybe they get scared but honestly, there was nothing to be afraid of today.  Against a top side you draw their sting by retaining possession but Rotherham had no sting at all. 

Flynn Picks Out Entitled Twat in the Crowd

Flynn Downes was involved in a bit of an incident after the game, taking exception to something said in the crowd and not liking the fact the team was booed off by some.  Whilst I think that booing a team off should be reserved for when a team doesn’t try (lots of last season), Downes has to appreciate that frustration happens when you piss away two points against a team like that.  Ironically, his interview shows that he does get it and that’s what gives me hope, that players (and the manager) seem to understand what’s wrong.  Downes described parts of the game as being like walking football and he's dead right.  Speaking as a fan who comments on football, I would suggest that players ignore fans who comment on football in the main.  There are always going to be fans reacting on each end of the spectrum, all the way from 'Happy Clapper' to  'Realist', all the way down to 'Entitled Twat'.

Moving on - we’d have all taken seven points from nine going into the last three games off the back of four straight defeats but having won the first two, you have to beat Rotherham with the minimum of fuss.  Not us though. We just have to hope that it’s building and that Ross Stewart can give us a more clinical edge if he ever gets fit.

Onwards, international break and a difficult trip to Hull upon our return.  Up the fucking Saints.