FA Cup 4th Round - Southampton 0 Burnley 1

 

Can Manning Shoot with His Right Foot?

FA Cup 4^th Round and Burnley at home, a team currently residing in the automatic promotion places in the Championship and part of the same yo-yo group of clubs that is rapidly forming beneath the ringfenced Premier League Seventeen.  The yo-yo teams include Leicester, Ipswich, Saints, Burnley, Sheffield United, and probably Leeds… Too good for the Championship, nowhere near good enough for the Premier League.

Last time around in the Championship, Burnley blitzed their way to the title under the management of Vincent Kompany, by playing possession based football and generally being very entertaining. When they got to the Premier League, they tried to play the same way, with players who weren’t good enough to do it at higher-level. Sound familiar? They too have changed their style completely and now have the super pragmatic Scott Parker as their manager and are currently in the process of trying to bore everyone to death, including their own fans, in getting promoted.  Ten 0-0 draws have blighted their season and they must be testing the patience of every Burnley fan.  You know how it goes, you can have shit performances but get results and people will tolerate it but the moment you stop getting results then there is absolutely nothing to keep the fans on your side.   I kind of feel that if you are one of the yo-yo clubs, you do need to provide some entertainment in the Championship because your fans have usually just endured a horribly shit season in the Premier League and are looking for some respite.  Burnley have had a shocking season last year and this year at a lower level, it’s a bore-a-thon.

League form is largely irrelevant today.  Burnley have only let nine goals all season but you can expect precisely none of the regular goalkeeper and back four to be playing today, because for Burnley it is all about promotion and rightly so.  They had a midweek game a few days ago and they’ve got one straight after today’s game as well, so this game would be a low priority for every manager, let alone a risk-averse one like Scott Parker.

There are many connections between the two clubs in terms of players but when you look at it, we’re unlikely to see anyone playing against their former team.  It would be a shock if Nathan Redmond made a rare appearance for Burnley after virtually two years of being injured and unlikely that Jack Cork will take time off from coaching Burnley under-21s to have a run out.  Jay Rodriguez would have played in this game, but he moved to be an extra in Deadpool 4 at Wrexham in January. 

On our side of things, Charlie Taylor won’t be making an appearance for us I wouldn’t have thought and nor obviously, will Maxwel Cornet, who has gone to be shit somewhere else on loan?   THB is unlikely to play today after his ‘injury’ last week.  Do we still talk about #FreeTella?  Let’s not.

Ivan Juric seems to not give a single shit about resting players for the FA Cup and you can expect Saints to be strong today, though having picked up a couple of injuries in defence last week, it will be interesting to see who he brings in.  Bednarek and Bree are certain to play in the back three and the other one probably should be the lesser spotted ABK, though Nathan Wood is apparently fit. I hope that one of these options or Ryan Manning is used ahead of Joe Aribo starting there.  Kamaldeen Sulemana and Tyler Dibling will be in contention in the attacking positions though I would expect them to be kept back until the second half.

It's rare that a team is in a position where the league campaign doesn’t matter much, and they can really go for it in the FA Cup but that’s where we find ourselves with the league position being what it is.  Having won last week though and with no game until next Saturday, I expect Juric to treat this as if it was a Premier League game and pick his best possible side to win it.  Momentum is key, especially with this being the first of three successive home matches and after beating both Bournemouth and Brighton, we’ll be talking about the Greatest Escape, not.

Aha… completely wrong on the team with both Kamaldeen and Tyler starting.  Tall Paul is on the bench which means no actual striker.  Manning has indeed been brought in to the back three and once more, there’s no place for Flynn Downes on the bench which is not good news.  At a quick count, Burnley have changed eight players so this is definitely there to be won.

At kick off, it’s obvious that it’s not Manning who is the left central defender but Welington, which seems like unnecessary dicking about.  The new man is called into action straight away as Burnley breakdown the right feed the ball across and with no one near him, Benson drills it past McCarthy but Wellington gets back to clear it off the line, straight back into the grateful arms of the goalkeeper.

Saints first effort comes from Sulemana picking up the ball and doing what he does, turning and running at the defence. He’s clearly fouled as he beats the second player but the ref doesn’t give it and the goalkeeper produces a shit clearance out to Manning, about 15 yards out but unfortunately it’s on his right foot and the keeper blocks is effort which loops up in the air falls down to Dibling his volley is a bit of a shin-roller and is going wide anyway before it was cleared.

In the centre of midfield Burnley have Hannibal Mejri, who used to play for Manchester United and he’s obviously got that United favouritism going on with the referee as he fouls at will and gets away with it.  However annoying he might be though, his energy in midfield is stopping us doing anything much.

We are not bossing the game at any point though and long ball up towards the lumbering Ashley Barnes, who hooks it over the top the defence and Sarmiento and Bree are competing for the ball until Bree predictively does fuck all and Sarmiento goes through and drills the shot straight at McCarthy who makes a decent save.

Half time and that was a shit half of football.  We really don’t look like we have much idea of how to break them down and to be honest, Burnley have been the better side. At the moment, this is just looking like one long old afternoon.

We start the second half of a little bit more energy. A quick throw by Jimmy Champo finds KWP down the right his low cross squirts along the line to Dibling, who lays it back to Manning but it’s on his right foot again and he drills it straight at the keeper.

The period between 47 minutes and 75 minutes passes with nothing happening. Burnley seem happy to play for extra time and we seem absolutely incapable of winning it.  Aribo is trying to make things happen by dropping deep but when he does that, there’s no one to pass too further forward, and we are just going sideways and backwards and not going anywhere.

Tall Paul comes on for the lifeless Tyler Dibling but nothing much happens. We don’t change our style of play in keeping with the fact that we’ve brought on a giant striker to replace a winger. This is really looking increasingly clueless.   Someone like Lallana could be useful, but of course, he can’t come on because the game might go to extra time and he can only play five minutes.

Burnley attack down the left with Sarmiento. His shot is blocked up in the air by Bednarek,. Hannibal is the only player to react and he lays it across the goal for Edwards to take a touch three yards out and smash it into the net. Fucking embarrassing but not surprising.

With 13 minutes plus extra time to go, there is zero prospect of an equaliser unless something changes.  Nothing does for the first ten and then it’s Smallbone on for Ugochukwu.  Another five minutes of nothing and with a whole four minutes to go, Fernandes and Sulemana, probably our best two attacking players, are off for Gronbaek and Archer and Burnley bring on Nathan Redmond for a few minutes.  We do nothing to try and get a goal - no crosses into Tall Paul and no urgency.  At one stage we have six players on the left and we plod about before passing back to Bednarek, then back out to the left and then back again.  Slow, passive, shit.  The four minutes extra are soon up and we cross it into the box and out for a goal kick. The keeper smashes it up the middle and that’s the end of that. Dreadful

Welington Trying to Make Things Happen on His Own

Well, what a load of absolute shit that was. Absolutely fucking clueless from start to finish. A deserved defeat against Burnley reserves and all done in the most clueless way possible.  Burnley scored with fifteen minutes to go and in that remaining fifteen minutes we put two balls into the box that were both shit and that was it. No urgency, no plan no substitutions that made any difference, no changes in tactics.

Oh yes, the tactics. three at the back against teams that we should be beating at home is 100% not the way to go and the worrying thing is that Juric would want to play this way in the Championship. Fuck right off.  In our history, Saints have successfully played three at the back once I think, in 1994 under Alan Ball.  It’s actually okay if you are looking to be defensive if you are looking to attack then forget it.

With no Tall Paul in the lineup today we needed to pass the ball through the thirds and get the ball into the feet of the attacking players or into the channels. That was made more difficult by some weird tactical shit going on meaning Joe Aribo dropping into the back three and no one taking his place in midfield which meant that Big Les was the only person you could possibly be passed on the ground if you wanted to go forward.  If you’re only playing with a two in midfield then they both have to fucking be there.  So, if Les was marked, then we were left with playing Russ-ball, passing it along the back six as was. When Aribo did drop into that position, Wellington went wide and Ryan Manning might as well have gone for a piss, because he never got the ball and was never involved. Fucking shambles. Maybe stick to the basics?

Even when we were slightly brighter in the first half, Burnley still looked the more likely to score. This is Burnley by the way, who bore everyone to death on a weekly basis. They forced more saves out of McCarthy than we did out of their keeper.  If Burnley had been more inclined to pull the trigger from the edge of the box then the margin of victory probably would’ve been more. It was just so shit.

Tyler Dibling was very quiet today and Sulemana was bright in some passages of play but there was no end product as per usual. Matty Fernandes spent most of the game in front of the ball and not being given it, as marginalising your most creative player with your tactics is always a good move.  Fernandes still managed to be one of our best players along with Welington.  Big Les was ok, as was Bednarek, but it’s slim pickings.

The starting lineup was weird. I could’ve understood if he played Manning as the left side is central defender but putting Wellington there seemed completely unnecessary. On top of that of course, the ’no centre forward’ thing does my head in.

Substitutions were once again done on rotation with no thought about changing the game and either trying to force openings while it was still 0-0 or getting back into it when we went behind. We didn’t try two up front at any point and didn’t do anything. I get annoyed with people leaving early on a regular basis but once the goal went in we all could’ve fucked off because the game was done we had nothing that was going to open up a well organised defence.

So, in conclusion, that was a majorly bad day for Ivan Juric and if you made me decide right now, I would not have want him to be our manager in the Championship next season. As we discussed a couple of years ago, in the Championship, you have to go out to win 25 games and you’re not gonna win 25 games playing three or five at the back and not having the faintest fucking idea how to attack.

I guess one positive is that the pricing that was put in place for this game meant it was only 17,000 empty seats this time round instead of the 20,000 we had in the last round, so that’s a win. Slow handclap everybody. I cannot blame anybody who didn’t go.  The 17,000 who didn’t occupy the empty seats were the lucky ones today.

There was a chance today to build some momentum and get a second win in a row before two successive home games against Bournemouth and Brighton but momentum is for other teams, certainly not us. We are like the coyote in the roadrunner cartoons.   Just when he thinks he's winning and in danger of actually doing well, he falls off a fucking cliff.

Ivan pictured with all the fans who agree with his post-match assessment

In his press conference after the game, Ivan actually said that he thought we played well and he had no problem with the way we played. Fuck off mate. That was absolutely fucking shit if you’re still there with a turd in your hand and everyone can see that it’s a turd in your hand, don’t try and gaslight everyone into thinking it’s something else. It’s a fucking turd mate,  If you think that’s a good performance then you can fuck off.

After he had come out with that little gem, he then got asked about Flynn Downs continuing absence from the squad and basically said that he had had a shitty attitude and we had turned down an escape from the club in January, presumably to Ipswich. There are lots of angles to this of course, but basically Flynn has been a massive disappointment this season. I wanted him to be our Roy Keane midfield general who is going to drive the standards of all the other players in the team but he’s been pretty poor, not helped admittedly by Russell Martin trying to make him lead the press in midfield and also be the deepest midfielder protecting the defence at the same time. His performances under Ivan Juric have so far been absolutely shit. He was part of the capitulation late against Manchester United and he had that first half against Nottingham Forest where it looked for all the world that he was trying to get himself sent off.  I wonder if that game was straight after the tantrum.  It looks like Flynn is being a dick but regardless, I really don’t see the benefit of going public with this from the managers point of view.

So, our stalled momentum takes us into next weeks league game is against Champions League chasing Bournemouth. What a fucking sentence that is.

Up the fucking Saints

Pre-Season Part 1 - Business Done Early

 

Let's Get To Work

Just a few weeks ago, Saints of course won the playoffs and planning for the new season started in earnest.  Playoffs instead of automatics meant we have less time than all the others as a result of us having three extra matches and so you need to hit the ground running to sort the squad out for what is already an almighty challenge…. But then The Euro’s happened and so it was all a bit slow.   The cogs have begun to turn however.

Summer business started with the recruitment of someone who we had been seen in the crowd on the big Wembley screens on that glorious day.  Sat next to Matt le Tissier in the crowd was one Adam Lallana and a few days later it turned out that not only was he there to support the boys and catch up with old friends, but he was there as a guest of the club because he was about to sign for us. At 36 years old, his best days are undoubtedly behind him but it’s an experienced head in a dressing room that is going to need them in the coming season.  There is the elephant in the room however, which is the fact that he didn’t exactly leave in the best of circumstances back in 2014. In 2014 he was in the England squad as Southampton captain and was out in Brazil in Roy Hodgson’s absolute clusterfuck World Cup campaign which saw us be the first team eliminated.   Roy had said he wanted no players conducting transfer business in Brazil but there was Adam, managing to get pictured signing a Liverpool shirt whilst still a Saints player and saying that he hoped he would be signing for them.  Not good PR that.

Lallana the Last Time He Played 90 Minutes

Upon his return, it appeared that he threw his toys out and refused to train before signing for the Scousers and being seen off with a two-line entry on the official Saints website.  If Twitter had been a big thing back then it would have had #FuckOff, #GoodRiddance and #Judas all over it. He tried to calm it all down by taking out a full-page advert in The Echo which just made him look #ThickAsMince.  The question for Saints fans is “how long do you want to hold a grudge for?“.  Speaking as someone who can hold a grudge with the best of them, even I can’t be arsed to get to ten years.  The bottom line is we’ve given a player a one-year deal and he is going to try to have a positive input, so I have no problem with him being here. He’s not going to be a 90-minute player because he never was, even when he was in his early 20s but we’re going to need everybody - fans and players pulling in the same direction so I see no point in being angry about him being here.  Other options are available of course.

Next up was the official unveiling of Taylor Harwood-Bellis as a Saints player once July 1st ticked around. This was of course revealed in the aftermath of the playoff final, as if we needed any more good news that day, and here he is, England’s future centre half and probable Southampton captain if we can hang onto him for long enough… and that will be the issue if he continues to develop as he should.

THB - About to Embark on the Mother of all Benders

Another playoff hero was Alex McCarthy who managed to earn himself another two-year contract with his very solid performances in the run in to promotion.  A prime example of how things can change very quickly in football and as things stand, he’ll be a first choice Premier League goalkeeper again in August unless we bring in someone else.

Russell Martin signed a new contract as well which was an unexpected bit of good news.  It was a surprise to me as I assume that his initial contract included a promotion bonus and a higher level of pay if wen went up.  What it does do however is say that Sport Republic trust him and want to back him and to me, it says that they are going to keep their nerve even if we do have a wobbly patch, which is undoubtedly going to happen.

More Free Taylor, Rather than Free Tella

The problem position of left back was then addressed with Charlie Taylor arriving from Burnley on a free transfer. Having spent seven years out of the last eight in the Premier League, he’s a player that certainly has the correct level of experience.  It’s not a signing to set the pulse racing but it is solid as we absolutely know that he can do it at this level and again brings Premier League experience that we don’t have much of. I would imagine, all things being equal, that he will be the starting left back or left wing back, with Ryan Manning as his back up.

Next up was Ronnie Edwards, a promising young centre half signed from Peterborough. He has been in the England Under-21 squad with THB and Saints have been interested in him for about two years but finally got the deal done for about £3 million quid which is almost a no-lose gamble.   Fans of other clubs are certainly seeing this as a good deal and an impressive piece of transfer business.  Time will tell of course.  I would anticipate Ronnie being a back up to start with, but he will certainly get minutes as the season goes on.  He has played at Championship level before but this is obviously going to be a massive step up for him.

Future's Bright

And here’s another centre back with Nathan Wood joining from Swansea.  Apparently, we offered £7 million this time last year, but Swansea didn’t want to do business with us after the Russell Martin compensations dick waving contest, that their board was involved in with ours.  So anyway, fast forward a year and we sign him for £3 million.  Maybe they think they’ll win the £2 million they are suing Russell for and maybe they think that £3 million plus £2 million equals £7 million.  They certainly taught us a lesson there.  Anyway, as with Ronnie Edwards – time will tell and like with Ronnie, I can see a back-up role at the start of the season.

It has been widely accepted that Kyle Walker-Peters is going to leave this summer as he enters the last year of his contract. A couple of clubs have been repeatedly linked with making a bid for him, namely West Ham and Spurs. As I write, nothing has happened but the have proactively moved in the transfer market to mitigate the risk of him going with the arrival of Yukinari Sugawara, a Japanese international right back who was plying his trade in the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar.  We’ve had some hits and misses out of the Dutch league in the past with Dusan Tadic and Graziano Pellè being in the hits column and Steve DeRidder being in the other. Sugawara’s stats in the Dutch league point towards an attacking right back who is going to be far more suited to playing as a wingback than a conventional right back in a four. Whilst it probably points towards us playing three at the back more often than not this season, it is also good to have a player in place before it became a mad panic and we ended up paying over the odds because teams knew we were desperate.  Yuki’s first interview revealed a charming, respectful, humble and funny individual who will become a massive fans favourite if he plays as well as he talks.

No Caption Necessary - This Just Made Me Smile

Remember me talking about West Ham just now?  Well, the media was full of talk of swap-deals with Flynn Downes and KWP, with a bit of Danny Ings thrown in.  We all know that swap deals are not a thing any more and  just a couple of days on from Russell Martin saying that he would cry himself to sleep if we didn’t sign Flynn Downes, we went out and gave Russell a good nights sleep by signing the aforementioned Flynn Downes from West Ham. With news having broken of us having agreed a fee of £18 million. I assumed that this was all going to go through in good time, so it was still a surprise to see him come running out down the catwalk a day later, at the 2024/25 Puma kit launch at St Mary’s. This one signing above all others, gives me a great sense of relief because we were basically a mid table Championship side whenever Downes didn’t play last season, so it would’ve left a massive expensive hole to fill if we didn’t sign him.  From Flynn‘s point of view, he was weighing up leaving the club he supports and being a bit-part player against being the first name of the team sheet at a Premier League club where he is absolutely loved by everyone connected with the club from manager to supporters.  Also, the signing means that we've signed the West Ham player and we still have KWP, with West Ham now rumoured to want Aaron Wan-Bissaka instead. 

Relief. Everywhere.

Outgoings are also going to play a major part in the summer rebuild and we had quite a few from the relegation season that were never going to play a part in the squad this time around and that needed to be addressed.  The first out was Romain Perraud, moving to Betis in Spain, which is a move that is testament to having a good agent.  He didn’t set the world alight in France last year so I did expect us to have a bit of a problem in moving him on but job done.  Romain just never fitted the system with Russell Martin so this was complete inevitable. He was always a player who tried his best in the relegation season, despite being inexplicably left out quite a few times.  I have a feeling that in ten years’ time, people will see a picture of him in a Saints shirt and struggle to remember who he was.

Perraud was one of the ‘loaned out’ army of players who either didn’t want to play in the Championship, or who Russell Martin thought weren’t good enough – which brings to Lyanco.  The chest-thumping nutjob with passion for days and his own emoji (which was dodgy when used in the wrong context) is off to Atletico Mineiro in his native Brazil.  He had the odd decent moment in a Saints shirt, in amongst a fair few liability moments, and his antics probably bought him more slack than they should have in the relegation season, given the amount of half-arsed shite that went on around him.  He seemed to genuinely care and you can’t help but want him to do well. Duje Caleta-Car moved on to Lyon and in contrast, no one really gives a shit.

I Still Think Duje Should Have Just Lamped The Twat

Another of the loaned out was Mateuz Lis, the goalkeeper who we signed purely to loan out it seems.  Having spent last season starring for Goztepe, he’s now back and training with the first team. Does he have a future here?  I doubt it but it would certainly be a turn up.

There is unquestionably still a lot to do.  For example, Wee Man is still a Newcastle player.  Che Adams has left the club officially and is currently unemployed, same as he was whilst doing shuttle runs up front for Scotland in the Euros.  The futures of Charly Alcaraz and Armel Bella-Kotchap are still unresolved, with various rumours of varying likelihood being punted about on the bag of shit that is the internet during the transfer window.  Alcaraz to Spurs and Newcastle, ABK to anywhere but Southampton.  What’s happening with Sulemana?  What’s happening with Mara?

Finally, we have the enigma that is Tall Paul.  A roaring success at Trabzonspor but they don't want to pay any money for him.  The usual shithousing tactics are coming out - their board 'demanding' we accept their piss-take offer, stuff in the media that Paul will only accept Trabzonspor.  Fucking do one you clowns.  He's worth £10 million of anyone's money and to be honest, I'd rather keep him or sell to almost anyone else.

Roy Weighs In on the Tall Paul Saga

For me, with five defenders being signed already, it’s the expensive end of the pitch that needs the work now.  A striker to replace Adams, preferably a physical one and then the midfield.  Even having signed Downes, we probably need one more in midfield as well with both Stuart Armstrong and Joe Rothwell departing from last seasons squad and only Lallana arriving so far. I like the sound of Matt O’Riley from Celtic but the buzz around that one seems to have calmed down and he’s being linked with everyone. Then of course, there is the keeper situation – yes, Macca is here for a year but you assume we’d need one more.  Where does Mateuz Lis fit in and why do these Aaron Ramsdale on loan rumours not disappear.  As it stands, KWP and Jan Bednarek are still here – but be be prepared to be reading that they have agreed contracts with lots of clubs without a fee being agreed with Saints yet.  Love the click-bait.

Overall I think we’ve made a solid start to the summer.  Not a lot of money has been spent in bringing in the likes of Lallana, Edwards, Wood, Taylor and Sugawara to compliment the relatively big money buys of THB and Downes.  Also, all of this business has been done before the first friendly.  There is more money needing to be spent at the top end however as anyone can see.  Currently, we have just two senior strikers – Adam Armstrong who failed to fire in two seasons of Premier League football and Ross Stewart who has failed to stand up for nearly two seasons.  Hopefully they both prove that they can hack it this season but either way, you can’t go into a season with just two strikers.  I am sure that it is going to take time.

Just under a month until the trip to St James’ Park.  That will fly by.

Premier League Match 33 - Burnley 2 Southampton 0

 

Saints Defender Appeals for Offside

Burnley on a Thursday night. Fuck me, it doesn’t get much more appetising than that. Fair play to all the Southampton boys and girls who have made the trip. Done it once, never again.

There is of course a very good chance that no Southampton fan will be making this trip next season because Burnley currently sit inside the bottom three, three points adrift having played one game more than Everton. They have course have been in the news this week because they have sacked their manager of 10 years, Sean Dyche who has basically performed fucking miracles to keep them in the Premier League over the last seven years and not only that, he once got them qualified for the Europa League. Before that, he had been relegated once to the Championship but brought them straight back up again. On the face of it, to let him go as is absolutely ridiculous but then ridiculous seems to be the way Burnley function these days, with a new owner Alan Pace who on the face of it seems to be full to the brim of brown stuff.  He has certainly taken a huge gamble with this decision especially as it appears at the moment that he doesn’t have a backup plan and no manager ready to come in. To be fair, they got a decent result at the weekend with a 1-1 draw against West Ham with a team of caretaker managers that included captain Ben Mee and Dyche’s old number two, Michael Jackson… no, not that one.

Whilst I never liked Dyche when we were playing them, you cannot do anything but admire what he has achieved with spending next to no money at what is basically a very small club. If they do indeed go down this season, there are a few cautionary tales they would do well to take note of, namely Bolton and Stoke, neither of whom have been anywhere near a return to the Premier League since they got relegated.

Jackson has a few good players to work with and I feel that Burnley have been victim of this season of trying to slightly alter their style. The twin battering rams of Wood and Barnes that defined Burnley, are no longer present with Wood having followed the money to Newcastle and Barnes being injured, possibly with a dislocated jaw from screaming at a linesman.  In the wide areas they have Maxwel Cornet and Dwight McNeil who are both decent players and up front is Ex-Saint Jay Rodriguez who has replaced the pace that he used to have with a bit more physicality. Talking of physicality, they have the 6 foot 6 monster that is Wout Weghorst upfront with J-Rod, so whilst Burnley have been slightly more pleasing on the eye this season when attacking, don’t expect too much to change.  It will still be crosses into the mixer from wide areas, be it from the wingers or the full-backs. Consequently, we have to shut those crosses down which means pressing a bit higher up the pitch then we did against Arsenal on Saturday.  It’s a day for doing the basics.

The mood around Saints has of course got better as a result of the win against Arsenal at the weekend, though everyone should acknowledge that it wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing win we have ever had. It did however take us to 39 points so we can go into this game with next to no pressure. The pressure is completely on the home side because this is getting near last chance saloon territory for them. It will be interesting to see whether Ralph reverts to a back four or goes for the three at the back model that got a clean sheet at the weekend. It needn’t be a defensive formation if the wingbacks and two of the midfield players commit to attacking and we get bodies around the lone striker.

Saints make a decent start in the unusual sunny Burnley weather with Perraud pulling out a big switch to the opposite side to KWP, who cuts into the area before blazing over the bar with the aid of a deflection.  It’s all Saints pressure for the first six or seven minutes and we win another corner on the right hand side which is delivered with outswing by JWP and Oriol Romeu rises and meets it 8 yards out with a free header and plants it wide. Bad miss it has to be said.

Burnley haven’t started very well and Taylor underhits a back pass which sets Broja away and via Elyounoussi, Armstrong’s shoots straight into a defender. We get the ball back across and Elyounoussi attempts a volley but plays an airshot.  One non-swear word you could use is “wasteful”.

Here come Burnley with their first attack. Rodriguez to McNeil and his left foot shot from the right is headed away by Lyanco. Burnley pick up the ball again and a couple of passes later they find Roberts in exactly the same position that McNeil has just had a shot from and he tries exactly the same shot but he gets it spot-on as he starts it outside the post and it curls into the top corner. Brilliant finish, absolutely shit defending.  You only send him inside if someone is going to close him down.

Our reaction to going behind to their first attack is to give up and now it’s all Burnley as they piss their way through our midfield with McNeil sliding a ball through to Weghorst in the inside right channel but he takes a touch too many and Fraser spreads himself to block it.

In a movie that starts with a horrific touch by Romeu to give the ball away, Burnley build down the right and side and we allow McNeil once again to cut in on his left foot and stand up a cross the back post, Weghorst heads down and there’s all sorts of carnage as Lyanco plays an air swipe and Weghorst smashes it goalwards again but Fraser continues his brilliant form and claws it out.

Forster has to make another brilliant save from a free header from a corner before Weghorst puts another free header onto the post whilst we all stand and watch. Honestly, how the fuck are we not two down already?  Normally you’d say “they’ll pay for missing those chances” but we all know that they won’t.

We do try to make the most of our luck with Broja having a shot which is blocked for a corner and Armstrongs delivery results in Pope giving us a corner on the other side.  It’s exactly the same as before as JWP puts in an out-swinger and Romeu meets it, this time even closer and more central and it slides off his head and goes wide again.  Easier to score than miss from there.

Right on half time, after making a mistake half way up the pitch, Valery gets back on Cornet and gives away a corner.  Over it comes, free header and Nathan Collins nods it down and into the net. Jack Cork is standing directly in front of Fraser so we are off to VAR.

“Hi Stockley Park, it’s Stuart Atwell – check the goal please”
“We know it's you Stuart, it's the only game on?”
“Saints are saying Cork is offside?”
“We’ll let me see…. Ok I’ve had a look”
“Is he in an offside position?”
“Yes he is”
Is he interfering with play?
“Yes he is”
“Is he in the keepers eye line?”
“Yes he is… but he has jumped out of the way at the last second”
“Has he touched the ball?”
“Erm, I’ve looked 4 times at a useless camera angle but we don’t have the right camera angle so can’t say for sure”
“There you go… GOAL.  You can always find a reason to give it if you try hard enough and stick with my on-field decision”.

Oh that is absolute bullshit. What’s the fucking point in moaning though – we’re getting nothing today anyway.

Half time and regardless of the why’s and wherefore’s of the second goal, we cannot argue with being two goals behind. We have been fucking dreadful.  Ralph has surely got to change something in the second half.  For me we desperately need to go back to the 4-2-2-2 formation so I would be taking off both Lyanco and Valery and bringing on Adams and Salisu.  All of the defenders have been fucking useless so far and this formation has seen us offering next to nothing up front.

Here come the teams and for fuck sake - unchanged. Why? for fuck’s sake.

You would assume that as the same players were still on the pitch, they would have learnt from the end of the first half but from the very first corner to Burnley, less than a minute after the game restarts, Tarkowski has a completely free header which he fortunately puts over the bar.

More history repeating as we allow crosses come into our box in open play as Roberts stands one up to the back post, Tarkowski heads it across and Forster, J-Rod and Cork all bundle in and the ball ends up in there. For fuck‘s sake. We are off to VAR again.

“Hi there guys it’s Stu – another goal I think”
“Ok Stu, we’re not having this one”
“Why not guys – we want goals”
“Well… it’s probably a foul on the keeper, Rodriguez has punched it to Cork, Cork is offside and he’s the one who scored”
“Are you sure… he didn’t touch the first one?”
“The last one probably hit him and this one has definitely hit him”
“Accidental perhaps?”
“No Stu and it doesn't matter... and the scoring pass has come via Rodriguez hand”
“I want to give it”
“You fucking can’t – move on”.

Ralph finally decides to make some changes with Elyounoussi and Armstrong being replaced by Redmond and Adams and the two substitutes combine straight away with Redmond picking out a good cross between the Burnley defenders which is met by Adams about 15 yards out but it’s no surprise to anybody that he drills the volley straight at the goalkeeper who pushes it over the bar.

We are finally picking up a bit of a steam and win a free-kick about 30 yards out with J-Rod wrestling Romeu to the ground.  It’s the wrong side for JWP but because we’ve been so shit in open play, he has to have a shot but Pope shovels it over the bar easily enough. There is another chance from the resulting corner as Redmond heads it back into the box and Adams has a split second in which to shoot but takes more than a split second which means that Taylor can get across and block the shot.

I start enjoying the game a bit more when I realise that we are in the 94^th minute and then the best bit when it finishes.

Ralph Talks to Everyone Who Was Shit

Wank. Absolute wank. Every time we have a chance to move into the top half of the table, these players and to a lesser extent this manager, prove they are not ready to do so. The attitude and mindset of the players reminded me very much of the game against Chelsea a couple of weeks ago when we didn’t do the basics that you need to do to win any football match. We didn’t do the basics here and therefore we lost to a much worse team than Chelsea are. We played pretty well for 10 minutes, then let a goal in and then there was absolutely no reaction and we were always going to lose from that point onwards. I feel sorry for the people who made the journey.

So many players out there today were shocking. Broja has clearly let it all go to his head and he just doesn’t put the effort in anymore.  Elyounoussi and Armstrong both tried but were completely ineffective. Romeu had one of those games where hardly any of his passes were accurate and he was largely bypassed. Perraud on the left looked like a fish up a tree and that’s before we even get to 3 defenders. Having played well against Arsenal, Lyanco was an absolute liability, seemingly totally freaked out by having to play get someone as big as Weghorst. It reminded me of Yoshida at his worst when he came up against Andy Carroll and he basically just shat himself. Yan Valery was ok when defending but when he had the ball he looked incredibly limited and Bednarek just looked soft. Again, the only one who really enhanced his reputation was Fraser Forster, who for the third game in a row has kept the score down but he can’t produce miracles every game. Maybe that’s it, maybe it’s because of his contract situation and he’s the only one that actually has something to play for at this point of the season,

I do not understand why Ralph went with three at the back against Burnley. There is the old argument of “never change a winning team” and I expect that he wanted to reward the 11 that got the result against Arsenal.   If that was the case then they threw it back in his face.  However, today was a completely different assignment to Arsenal and we needed a different team. With this starting 11 in the Arsenal game, we created absolutely nothing and exactly the same happened today which was absolutely no surprise. I’m also slightly mystified as why when we were two down, he persisted with three central defenders when we were still producing next to nothing going forward. To make no changes at half time was very strange. He mentioned in a pre-match interview that he wanted to give the players 15 minutes to sort it out but all that did was waste 15 minutes.

A good team and a positive manager set up to win this game, not to keep it tight and hope to nick it but once again, I’m more inclined to look at the performance of the players and wonder if it would’ve mattered in the slightest what the manager did because so many of them were on the beach. We hardly won a challenge at all, certainly didn’t win any headers in our own half. We did however play some lovely patterns and passing moves in areas of the pitch that don’t matter which today at least, just enabled Burnley to put 11 men behind the ball. We didn’t play with any pace but the bottom line is that we are a decent side when all 11 players are at it but as soon as any drop off, we are bang fucking average and we are not going to win any games against anyone in the Premier League.

Apart from Fraser Forster, the only positive from tonight is that it drops Everton right in the shit which is great to see. Despite the Burnley love-in on Sky, it has to be said that Saints really should’ve been 1-0 up in the first 10 minutes with Romeu missing the first of two pretty simple headers from corners. It’s a different game of the first one of those goes in but as we all know, the game is won and lost in the penalty areas and if you don’t defend yours and you miss chances in theirs, you’re not going to win many games. Apart from the Romeu miss, we only created one more decent chance when we went behind which gave Che Adams his usual chance to smash a ball straight the goalkeeper. He did more in his first five minutes on the pitch then Broja did in 90 however and Nathan Redmond showed up well relatively speaking, when he came on.

Not that it mattered in the slightest but there was some real mystifying shit from Stuart Atwell and the officials today. I really don’t see how the second goal is given.  There is a foul on JWP because Collins is using him as a step ladder to win the header and there was a VAR check to see if the ball hit the clearly offside Jack Cork who was standing directly in front of Fraser Forster. They didn’t have an angle to prove that it flicked off him but regardless of that, he had to jump out of the way of the ball so how can you say he wasn’t interfering with play. Absolutely fucking ridiculous that wasn’t disallowed. They are saying you can now stand in front of the goalkeeper in an offside position but as long as you jump out of the way at the last minute and the ball doesn’t hit you, it’s fine.

When we did put Burnley under a bit of pressure in the second half with crosses into the box, on two occasions their players went down with head injuries so despite Saints still having the ball, Atwell stopped the game and gave the freekick to Burnley. Then, the alleged head injuries cleared up so quickly enough that they didn’t need to get a trainer onto the pitch so the injured party didn’t have to leave the pitch. And we got moaned at for our energy drink breaks. Burnley didn’t need to waste time as we were never going to score. 

The game was done however once we let Roberts cut in and score the first goal. Good goal it has to be said but we had had good chances before that and failed to even test the goalkeeper. Burnley‘s first attack and it’s a goal and from that moment on we couldn’t be bothered really. Beach football.

Changes are needed for the game on Sunday at Brighton. Like today, we are facing another team who have hardly won a game at home all season and we have to treat this game as a winning opportunity and not go there with a negative mindset. Today was one of those fucking awful nothing performances, the like of which we are seeing a bit too often in the last couple of months. Villa, Newcastle, Watford, Chelsea and now Burnley. We do not want to add Brighton to that list. Up the fucking Saints.

Premier League Match 9 - Southampton 2 Burnley 2

 

The Point At Which We Should Have Kicked On

Following on from our win against Leeds last week, another home game and this time against the football purists of Burnley in what will doubtlessly be a footballing classic. Every year I say the same thing about Burnley and usually it’s born out of the frustration of them always beating us, usually because we don’t do the basics and allow them to score crap goals. Last year however, when no one was watching, we beat them home and away so let’s have some more of that today please.

I touched on it earlier but all you have to do against Burnley really is make sure that you don’t let in any crap goals. You have to compete for everything and do the basics. They are not going to carve you open with brilliant football so you have to defend properly and take your chances when they come. It’s not as if Burnley only smash the ball forward but there will be a lot of that, usually towards Chris Wood and whatever striker is posted up with him. If they do pick up the second balls that they do try and play a bit but as soon as it goes out to the wide players it’s just delivered into the box and this seasons it’s delivered by Dwight McNeil or new signing Max Cornet who unusually for a Burnley first team player, is from overseas.

Sean Dyche is still the manager of course, still gargling with gravel and still absolutely synonymous with Burnley and is the single biggest reason why they stay up every year. If you think Tony Pulis at Stoke and Sam Allardyce at Bolton and what happened to those clubs once the manager that was synonymous with them, moved elsewhere. There is lots to like about Burnley in that they really are underdogs in the Premier League. Every year they managed to stay up though it does seem to be getting closer and closer over the last few years but I would still have money on them staying up this year even though they haven’t won as yet. They will certainly see today as a big chance to get their first win.

For Saints, this is a massive opportunity to build on last weeks win and move to 6 points from this little run a five games where we have to be picking up points. It will be interesting to see if Ralph changes much given the style of football the Burnley play but I’d be surprised if the starting line-up is much different from last week.  Ralph is of course, £20 grand out of pocket after his brush with the FA disciplinary committee for telling the truth about Mike Dean.  It really is absolute fucking bullshit that he’s been fined for stating that fact. For starters, Mike Dean sent off Jan Bednarek at Old Trafford and that got overturned. The FA need to make an example of someone and it’s much easier to make an example of the manager of Southampton and it is the managers of Manchester City or Liverpool. At least that’s over and we can wait until the next time that we have Mike Dean anywhere near us. I contacted Mike Dean for comment on the case and I just got an automated email back which said, “Soft Southern Bastards“.

It's a warm day and St Mary’s is looking fine.  There are a few Burnley fans at the other end of the ground but it’s clear that a lot of tickets have been returned.  Time for the brass band and what sound like an out of time drummer.  Maybe it’s the acoustics and an echo playing havoc with my hearing…. I’ve been trying to digest the team news for the past 45 minutes…. Theo Walcott in for Djenepo… nope, can’t get my head round it.  We have 5 wide men and if I was putting them in order right now it would be Armstrong, Elyounoussi, Redmond, Djenepo, Walcott.

Burnley are basically playing 4-5-1 and we are struggling to get on the ball and feed the strikers in the opening exchanges but then Livramento bursts forward and plays it ahead of Walcott who goes to shoot but gets tackled by Taylor and the ball runs through harmlessly to Pope.

Back to the struggle and with Saints still struggling to get a foothold in midfield, Burnley bypass it and Wood battles for the ball and it goes out of the right hand side where McNeil slings it into the middle and Cornet runs off the back of Livramento and heads down and in off the post. Fucking hell…. simple goal to concede because no one has gone with the runner. Shit.  In a game where we had to do the basics defensively, this is not a good start.

As we approach the half-hour Romeu slings in across from the right hand side and there seems no danger as Elyounoussi goes up for the header but he makes good contact and Pope is beaten and it flicks off the far post and goes wide.  From the goal-kick, in the 25^th minute, Nick Pope is wasting time already.  Why the fuck referees (Chris Kavanagh) don’t just book goalkeepers in the first half for wasting time, I do not know.  When Pope eventually decides to take the goal-kick, there is more carnage as Wood wins the header and it goes out to McNeil on the right-hand side and his return pass sees Wood hit a good effort that McCarthy saves well down low.

Suddenly it’s all Saints as Broja flicks one out to Redmond on the left hand side and he plays a superb cross to pick out Walcott right on the edge of the penalty area in the middle. Walcott brings it down and it’s on his good right foot but it skews it wide horribly. Absolutely crap finish.  I mean, what’s the fucking point?

Yeah - I Don't Understand Either

Unperturbed, Livramento feeds Broja down the right and the big man runs at Tarkowski and twists and turns past him before smashing over a cross and Nathan Redmond is all on his won, this side of the back post, 2 yards out and side foots it wide of an open goal. Un-fucking-believable.

And it gets worse… but in a different way as Perraud finds Romeu who against switches right to Livramento, who cuts inside Taylor and hits one left footed and it comes off the inside of the far post and comes out again. For fuck‘s sake. We’re never gonna score.  We recover possession though and Redmond wins corner.

Nathan Redmond is the Poundshop JWP when it comes to dead ball delivery but over it comes and at fucking last, Livramento runs in and meets it and heads it down it down and it bounces up and over Pope and into the roof for the net. Get in.  Might be half time already if you hadn’t been wasting time for the past 20 minutes you twat.

Anyway, now it’s half time.  I wonder if this is going to be one of those occasions where Ralph hooks a player at half time.  My money is on Walcott not reappearing but no, he’s back and we’re unchanged.  Burnley have gone 4-4-2 with Cornet up front with wood and McNeil switching to the left.

First action of the second half sees Tarkowski pretending that he’s a cultured central defender and turning out of trouble before playing a horrible ball into midfield which Diallo side foots first time to Broja.  Tarkowski gets across but Broja slows them down and then speeds up to earn a yard before smashing it across Pope into the far corner. Brilliant finish, horrible defending and a goalkeeper who will be taking his goal-kicks much quicker now.

We don’t really even have time to settle on the lead and hit Burnley as they press for an equaliser because we cough one up straight away.  A long ball forward is chested down by Wood, who has easily held off Salisu, to Westwood he lobs it forward first time and Cornet spins away from Bednarek and hits it first time left-footed and it bounces past McCarthy and fuck me, 2-2 and another shit goal from a defensive point of view.

To be honest, Burnley look the more likely to score now and Westwood shoots just wide but it still takes until 78 minutes before Ralph decides there’s no point in leaving Walcott on to be terrible for a further 15 minutes and off he goes to be replaced by Stuart Armstrong.  Whilst Stu increases the goal threat, before he can have an impact, Broja limps off which doesn’t help and on comes Che Adams and I feel our goal threat has now gone down.

Nothing much is happening – we seem to be playing a lopsided three in central midfield with a right winger, which Ralph sorts with a few minutes to go by bringing on Adam Armstrong for Elyounoussi.  Too little too late though.  The end.

He Was Alive When Nick Pope Started his Goal-Kick Routine

Ultimately it was probably a fair result bearing in mind the clear chances created but bloody hell we should’ve won. We only really played for quarter an hour either side of half-time and in that time we scored two goals and created enough chances to win two matches.  If we’d kept somewhere near the level of either side of half-time then we win comfortably but we stopped playing.

We got the goal in the end before half-time in the end to reply to Burnley’s opener but in the five minutes before that we showed why we are never going to win a game comfortably. The miss by Walcott was horrendous considering it was a free shot from the middle of the goal on his good foot from 18 yards. The miss by Redmond was even worse, just absolutely abysmal to miss from that close in. After that of course we had Tino doing Tino things and having a really good effort they hit the inside of the post before he scored with his header.

The start of the second-half brought us the second goal after good play from Diallo and a real strikers instinct from Broja and that should’ve been the key to kick on and win the game but instead of that, the only thing we kicked was ourselves in the bollocks as we let in a goal that Burnley will think was a really good goal and we will think is absolutely shit defending.  It was a standard Burnley goal with a ball put forward in the air to Wood, who held off Salisu before knocking it back to the unmarked Westwood and his chip forward found the unmarked Cornet and I’m not quite sure what Bednarek was doing apart from not being in between the forward and the goal, which is what defending is all about when you boil it down. Good finish but crap defending. We went behind in the first half through more crap defending with Tino losing his man when Cornet was playing on the left wing and allowing him to come inside and have a free header.

Ralph confused me again today. I have no idea why Theo Walcott started the game and he played 75 minutes too long with Stuart Armstrong was only given 15 minutes at the end. I can’t understand either the initial selection, nor the amount of time it took to change it.   The tactics today seemed reactive rather than proactive and in my opinion, Ralph has had better days.  As good as Nathan Redmond was against Leeds last week, he was pretty average today. He did at least stay positive and try and take people on but nothing much really worked. However, he did take the corner that Tino scored from and he should of course have had as assist for Walcott and a goal himself.  

For the last 20 minutes I have to admit that I had kind of settled for a point because our fluency going forward was not there and thought it was more likely that we would concede a third goal to Burnley’s more direct way of playing. Ralph made a tactical switch in the second half which I didn’t understand with any Elyounoussi moving infield which basically meant we had three in the centre midfield and no one out left which in turn meant that most of our attacking play was funnelled down the middle which played into Burnley‘s hands. When Redmond was switched to the left for the last five minutes or so, we looked a bit more balanced but it was too little too late and there was never really a feeling that we would go on and win the game.

I said at the start that we would win the game if we did the basics when defending and we didn’t do that today, plain and simple. Chris Wood is a right handful and though Salisu and Bednarek started fairly well against him in the first half, in the second-half they started to struggle and seem to go into panic mode.

The positives today were the performances of Livramento and Broja, justifying the Chelsea-on-Sea approach to summer recruitment more and more with every passing game.  Broja in particular looks like he’s going to develop into a real focal point for the attack.  You very rarely find a striker who has all of height, pace and a real eye for goal.  We haven’t really had a ‘lead the line’ type striker since Graziano.  Livramento is only 18 – keep reminding yourself because he will make mistakes occasionally, like he did for the first goal today but what he brings to the team more than makes up for it.  Whilst we all feel that KWP is very unlucky to have lost his place in the side, there can be no argument as to who the first choice right back should be right now. 

There was another decent performance from Diallo in midfield as well.  Ralph clearly rates him but Ralph’s ‘go to’ formations have just the two players in central midfield and Romeu and JWP are undroppable when available.  However, we are experimenting on occasions with a 4-3-3  / 4-5-1 line up like we tried to do today with Elyounoussi moving into the middle, so maybe, due to Broja being ideal for the lone front man role, there is a day approaching where we have all three of Romeu, JWP and Diallo in the team.  It also gives the tactical flexibility to drop Romeu into a back three during the game or to have him screening the defence in a 4-1-4-1.

Onwards and it’s another point and another game without defeat so now it’s back to the Carabao Cup and a visit to bloody Chelsea. I’m guessing it will be a chance to scout a few players for our next raid on Chelsea‘s Academy, which given that Broja and Livramento were our two scorers today, would be a good thing. Bring it on. Nothing to lose.

Up the fucking Saints.