Premier League Match 28 - Liverpool 3 Southampton 1

 

Just for a Moment, We Were Better than PSG

I don’t often watch much football if Saints are not involved, but earlier on this week I made an exception and watched PSG versus Liverpool in the Champions League. Research, I thought, into what we would be facing at the weekend. What I saw was PSG having about thirty shots and Liverpool‘s goalkeeper Alisson Becker, saving everything. Truth be told, Liverpool got absolutely battered in this game but they still managed to win which is a bit of a contrast to us this season, where we get absolutely battered every game and it is completely reflected on the scoreboard at the end of the game.

It was thought going into this season, that Liverpool might struggle to maintain the levels achieved under Jurgen Klopp, but Arne Slot has come in and basically made the team better and they will win the league by a long way.  A settled sent back pairing of van Dijk and Konate has definitely helped and the likes of Joe Gomez and Jarrell Quansah are now bench fillers whereas last year they were playing quite a lot. The midfield is usually three out of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones  and you also have Harvey Elliott, who got the winning goal against PSG, kicking around as well. Up front, there’s a ridiculous selection to be had from Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Federico Chiesa and shit Andy Carroll himself, Darwin Núñez.  Even if they go with some of their fringe first team players like Elliott, Chiesa and Núñez, you know they are going to be just a little bit too good for us to deal with. 

You could argue that with regards to winning the league, they’ve been helped in that by the likes of Manchester City having a relatively poor season but Liverpool have been relentless and totally deserve to be where they are.  They are a perfectly balanced team with the right players in every position and even though there is a chance that big hitters like Trent Alexander Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah, may not be there next season - none of that is going to help us this afternoon, nor is the fact that they have the second leg against PSG in a few days time.  Even if they rest players today, the thought of the Juric defensive man marking system up against these guys at Anfield is fucking terrifying.

If Ivan has a mind to, Saints should be able to put a better team out on the pitch than they have done in the last few weeks. In addition to Aaron Ramsdale, there is an opportunity for Ivan, should he wish to take it, to pick three actual central defenders, namely THB, Bednarek and ABK, as all three are fit and available. There should be no need for Joe Aribo in defence, nor for James Bree anywhere near the pitch.  Ivan could, if he wanted to think straight, have KWP and Wellington as the wingbacks on the correct sides, for some natural width and balance. Ivan also could, if he actually thought about it, have a midfield which actually has some steel in it, as long as Flynn Downes and Lesley Ugochukwu are both starting.  Three out of Mateus Fernandes, Tyler Dibling, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Tall Paul could make up the front line if Ivan deems that to be the best option available. I’m not saying for a second that this lineup would be capable of getting a result, but it would have a better chance.

There has been a lot of noise this week about Ivan Juric not being here next season. The man has been linked with the job is Danny Röhl from Sheffield Wednesday.  On the one hand, these links make a lot of sense because Juric has been shite and Röhl has a connection with us from the past and also has a connection with Johannes Spors, our new technical director who will be choosing the next manager you would’ve thought.  It is also well known that we approached Sheffield Wednesday when Russell Martin got sacked so there is obviously an interest there, even though that happened before Spors was appointed.  For me, none of this is exactly shocking news and it is all pretty likely to happen but on the other hand, it was reported in The Sun.  If you’re going down the road of thinking this is made up though, then ask yourself why would anyone bother to make it up. No one outside of Southampton, cares about Southampton so a story like this is hardly going to be written to drive clicks or newspaper purchases.  It does mean that Juric is going to spend every press conference talking about the possibility of him losing his job but that’s part of the territory when you’ve only won one game in nine and your team is likely to be relegated pretty soon, and also when you’ve lost your last three games, by a combined score of 11-1.

Team news and changes ahoy and it looks like it has to be a back four with KPW, THB, Bednarek and Manning.  The other six names are all midfielders and wingers so no centre forward.  Ah, interesting.  Grönbæk is playing which is weird, considering he’s not been given a minute of any consequence in recent games.  The hoped for Liverpool Reserves has not really materialized.  Tsimikas and Núñez being the only two who don’t often start games.

Away we go and Saints were set up with a back four and a compact four in midfield in front of them. The two farthest forward are Fernande and Grönbæk and they’re not very far forward to all, so out of possession it’s a 4-6-0 and in possession it’s much the same.  Liverpool start knocking the ball about and work the ball over from the left and despite all our compact shape, Curtis Jones still has a free shot from within the penalty area which he pulls wide of the post.

A harmless ball gets played down our left and Bednarek and Manning both go for it with no calling whatsoever and clatter into each other. Bednarek has clearly come off the worst and after a lengthy stoppage, is off to be replaced by ABK.  The stoppage seems to throw Liverpool off a bit and a long punt forward by Ramsdale is chased by Sulemana and Trent shins it off a corner.  In it comes from Smallbone, met by THB and straight at Alisson.  The excitement is that we have actually had an effort on goal.  When Saints get on the ball in midfield, we actually look quite decent and work the ball out to Sulemana against Trent and another corner.  This time it’s headed clear and teed up by Grønbæk for Fernandes to have an effort from 25 yards, which is decent and once again is straight at Alison.

It’s clearly obvious that Ramsdale is going to have to have a great game today and he starts off well, throwing himself at Trent’s feet as he burrows his way into the six yard box. Liverpool create a few chances but nothing clear cut and Núñez heads over because that’s what he does.  He’s not great again a few minutes later when he has time on the edge of the box to turn and hit it, but Ramsdale falls on it easily.

We are still playing some good stuff when we go forward and Dibling awakens from the nap he’s been having for the past three games and finds Fernandes, before Matty puts a great cross curling in between defender and goalkeeper, into an area where we could really do with having a striker, but instead of that, we’ve got all 5 foot 9 of Grønbæk, who can’t get his head to it.

Manning takes a throw on the left and sends Smallbone off towards goal and he has not been tracked by the dozing Liverpool defenders. Van Dijk tries to shield it back to Alisson but two of the world’s best players make an almighty bollocks of it and run into each other, with Fernandes trying to disrupt. Anyway, the ball bounces out to Smallbone who has no route to pass it to anybody or to shoot, but he unlocks Blad Genius Mode and goes through Alisson’s legs and into the unguarded net. Fuck me ragged, we are winning.  PSG 0 Southampton 1.  Get in.

Saints have a spring in the step as the game restarts and KWP brings the ball away down the right, taking it past Darwin Núñez, who just takes a big kick at him and catches him somewhere around the knee. KWP reacts and there’s a little bit of handbags and referee Lewis Smith brandishes the yellow card at the complete fucking idiot. Why isn’t that a red? Oh, hang on a minute, we are off to VAR.

Hi Lewis, it’s Matt at Stockleigh Park
Hi Matt, how you doing?
Shitting myself mate… only done three Prem Games before
Me too mate, this is my seventh
I’ve been fast-tracked by Howard
So have I mate, because all the experienced refs are shit
Anyway, we have a potential red card for Núñez
Why?
Because it’s deliberate and he’s just booted him high, nowhere near the ball
Don’t do this to me Matt…
OK, calm down, what’s the problem….?
It’s 60,000 plastic Scousers at Anfield and Slot blamed a ref for costing them the league last week.  It’s only my seventh game.
Do you want to have a look at it on the screen?
No… just clear it please
Ok mate, no worries.

Nothing to See Here

Half time and 15 minutes of relative ecstasy despite a standard refereeing/VAR nonsense at Anfield.  We are so fucking back, baby!!!  I’m sure that Liverpool and Slot will respect the irresistible force that they are up against today and just accept defeat… or maybe not. As the teams come out for the second half, it’s pretty obvious that Slot was not very impressed with Liverpool‘s first half and Tsimikas, Jones and Szoboszlai are replaced with Robertson Mac Allister and Elliott. They are so shit scared of the mighty Southampton that they have to bring on their Argentinian World Cup winner.

Liverpool start the second half with ridiculous intensity and our first touch of the ball is to deflect it away from a corner. In it comes, missed by everybody and knocked back to Elliott who drives in an angled shots through a crowd of players and Ramsdale reacts ridiculously to push it around the post.

It’s just the start though with Liverpool seemingly intent on getting the ball out to Luis Diaz on the left at every opportunity. He gets his head down and takes on KWP on the outside beats him and lays it back from the goal line and Darwin fucking Núñez beats ABK to the cross and knocks it into the net first time. There you go. Wanker.  Shouldn’t even be on the pitch.

Liverpool continue to put us on a ridiculous amount of pressure and Diaz is determined to make a difference and blasts in another shot which Ramsdale manages to beat away. The ball goes pinging about our penalty area, no one takes command and drops down towards the penalty spot and Núñez collapses to the ground under pressure from Smallbone and the referee points to the fucking spot on the combined appeal of the crowd, as well as van Dijk and Mac Allister who are standing right next to him. Soft as fuck. We are off to VAR again and this will be utterly pointless. Saints players or surrounding the referee, whilst Núñez writhes on the ground like he has actually been fouled. Cheating bastard.

Hi Lewis, Stockleigh Park Creche Here Again
Clear foul isn’t it mate?
Yeah, renowned hardman Smallbone has absolutely ploughed through the back of him there
That’s what I thought. Hard-man assassin.  He’s Irish, like Roy Keane
Do you want to look at the screen?
No mate, what good can come of that?  I’m shaking Matty…
Why’s that?
Virgil shouted at me.  Gonna ask for his shirt later.

Mo Salah with the penalty after the pointless VAR review.  Up he steps and bang, Ramsdale goes the right way but it has ripped past him into the top corner. Great pen to be fair but fuck off.

Hard Man Big No 9, Folds Under Pressure from Hatchet Man Smallbone

In order to stem the tide, Ivan goes to the bench and brings on Sugawara and Archer in place of Dibling and Grönbæk.  KWP has been pushed forward on the right.  Saints do get a little bit of momentum again and Smallbone plays Archer away down the right wing and this will probably offside eventually, but he bears down on the Liverpool goal from an angle and hammers in a shot that Alison has to beat away.

Another Liverpool attack is incoming though and some pretty shaky defending by Smallbone and ABK allows Diaz to pick up the ball on the left and cross it back into the middle, but he’s made the mistake of putting it on Salah’s right foot and he slices it wide from 8 yards out. He only scores penalties and gifts against us.

Twenty to go and Smallbone is replaced by Lallana who gets a decent welcome from the Liverpool fans who used to watch him on the bench and in videos from the treatment room. Part of the reason that Salah has been acquired is the performance of Ryan Manning and he is given some time off with ten to go as he and Big Les are replaced with Joe Aribo and Tall Paul. We actually have two strikers on the pitch.

Before our new strike force can set about rescuing the game, we have to deal with a big long diagonal ball from right to left and it’s Sugawara against Diaz and Sugawara has himself in the correct position and then shits himself as he always does when he’s trying to defend and sticks an elbow out to keep the ball away from Diaz before absolutely losing his head and knocking it past Ramsdale out towards the penalty spot, meaning THB has to slam into a tackle to clear the ball for throw. We are off to VAR again and this is absolutely pointless because there’s no way this is not gonna be given us a penalty.

Hi Lewis – easy one for you
I didn’t give this one, was too far away
No matter – that’s what I’m here for – gonna send you to the screen as it’ll be good experience for you
I will stride across like Howard taught me… ah yes, thrown his arm at the ball… ha ha
Hilarious isn’t it?
Yes mate, proper shit, deserved penalty for being shit.

Salah again and he smashes it into the opposite top corner this time so it’s two penalties today to cover up the fact that he hasn’t had particularly good game whereas at St Mary’s, he had a penalty, also given away by Sugawara handball and the gift from McCarthy going walkabout. For fuck‘s sake.

Saints are still showing great spirit to go about trying to get another goal and Lallana and Sulemana get the ball out to KWP on the left and as he goes into the penalty area he’s clearly held back by Quansah and we appeal for a penalty but there’s absolutely no fucking point And we don’t get a free kick either because the referee has decided not to give anything. Quansah is of course a centre back it right back and this gives Sulemana all the encouragement he needs to absolutely piss past him and fire over a brilliant cross but despite having two strikers on the pitch, neither of them gamble to connect with the ball that flies across the 6 yard line.  The end.

Well, the first thing to do is to say well done to the boys for getting out of Anfield without getting humiliated. Like the games away against Arsenal and Manchester City from earlier on this season, when we knew we’re going to be up against it from the first minute to the last, we applied ourselves pretty well.  Ultimately though, none of that can totally make up for the difference in class over 95 minutes.  For the first half in particular we were excellent today as the team stayed compact and frustrated Liverpool which ultimately meant us taking the lead, but the key moment was the non-sending off of Darwin Núñez., which the referee absolutely bottled.  I note with interest that he didn’t get sent to the monitor to review that one, like he did with the second penalty.  So, not only did Liverpool have eleven men for the second half, it was of course Núñez who scored the equaliser and it was him that got hatcheted down for the penalty. If you want to argue about whether he should’ve been sent off or not, then imagine if that had been Ryan Manning aiming a massive kick at Mo Salah.   What do you think the decision would’ve been?

Runs 60 Yards to Do This to Away Fans of Team With 9 Points.  Twat.

So having scored the equaliser, Núñez then collapses like a motherfucker under pressure from renowned hard man Will Smallbone, who barely touches him but down goes the shitbag, feigning injury after crumbling in on himself.  It’s fucking embarrassing but the young referee Lewis Smith, completely played to the crowd and points to the spot and of course, VAR isn’t going to overturn it because there is the slightest contact? There’s no forward motion from Smallbone, but Núñez just brushes against him and collapses. Same as it’s always been at Anfield both before and after VAR.

Lewis Smith Shites His Pants

Liverpool upped their game in the second half with Arne Slot having made his displeasure at their first half performance abundantly clear with making three substitutions at halftime.   We basically didn’t get a kick in the second half until we had gone past the ninety-minute stage and then we had a couple of moments. The third goal was down to a substitution that we had made where Sugawara was entrusted to play right back in a back four and in his usual manner, he totally lost all composure when put under pressure and gave away a stupid handball to gift Liverpool their third.  Playing Sugawara behind KWP during that period of the game was a balls by Juric but overall he got his tactics right today. I’ll admit I couldn’t understand the logic of the 4-6-0 formation that we played but it did the job in that first half, especially.  We got penned in when Liverpool upped the pace however. 

A number of players had decent games today with Ryan Manning being an excellent in the first half against Salah, and there were committed displays from KWP, THB and ABK, in front of the ever-impressive Ramsdale. The much maligned, often by me, Will Smallbone had an excellent first half as well, crowned by the goal. The reason he had a good game was because the rest of the team was set up in such a way that it masked his deficiencies because he didn’t get caught in open space with no players around him it’s almost as if the team was set up to get the best out of the players that we have.  Too little too late but that was decent.

It was a slightly better day for the manager today. Our two false strikers, Grønbæk and Fernandes both had good moments and both worked hard to keep the team compact but ultimately, we still let in three goals even though only one of them was from open play. I severely question whether you can play this formation in a home game but I suspect that is what Ivan is going to try next.  We of course played with a back for today and didn’t do the man for man marking thing which has been an unmitigated disaster. I guess we’ll never know but I wonder if Juric decided to abandon it himself and change the shape or was it under pressure from the players who must have been thinking after the Chelsea game, that the Juric method of defending is absolute shit.  It’s amazing how your back line can look more structured if your players aren’t following their man all over the pitch.

Just the ten games left now and focus shifts onto what will be the mathematical relegation game. Lose at home to Wolves next week and we will be most of the way there.  We have to put all our eggs in the basket of beating Wolves though, or else Derby‘s record is still going to be a problem.  Can Juric pick a team to go out and win a game.  Tune in next week.

Carabao Cup 5th Round - Southampton 1 Liverpool 2

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shit Andy Carroll Converts Simple Chance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Simon Hooper Shites His Pants

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rusk Gets Soggy In The Rain

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

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

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

Premier League Match 12 - Southampton 2 Liverpool 3

Yeah, Alright then.... Played the Ball Hasn't He.

What you really don’t want when you’re bottom of the league and you only have four points from eleven games, is a visit from a team who have won fifteen out of seventeen this season in all competitions. Unfortunately, that’s what we’ve got today with Liverpool visiting St Mary’s. It was hoped that Liverpool would have some sort of Jürgen Klopp hangover this season and that his replacement, Arne Slot, was going to be the next Erik ten Hag, plucked from Dutch football and finding the step up rather too much. Somewhat irritatingly, Slot has had none of those problems and you could argue quite convincingly that Liverpool are a much better side this season.

This has been done without them signing a player who has made any impact, with Enrico Chiesa being the only new arrival, and he hasn’t played. What Slot has done is some rather obvious things. Ibrahima Konaté is now Virgil van Dijk‘s regular partner in the centre of the defence and proving what everybody else apart from Jürgen Klopp knew already, that he was considerably better than the likes of Joe Gomez, Jarrel Quansah and Joël Matip from last season. He has also sorted out their defensive midfield issue by using last year signing Ryan Gravenberch in that role which allows the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominic Szoboszlai to play further forward. Also in the mix this year is Curtis Jones who has made massive strides from the player that he was last season and now has a very good chance of cementing himself as an England starter, let alone a Liverpool starter. So, I wanted Liverpool to be having a mid-table nothing season but it really isn’t going to happen based on the start they have had so far. There is a bit of a cloud hanging over them with Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and Trent Alexander Arnold all being out of contract at the end of the season, but for now, there are no issues with the form of any of those players.

I wish we had their problems. Well, post Wolves - Russell Martin is still here which was always going to be the case once we got a couple of days past the Wolves defeat it seems that was always going to be the case. Looking ahead, we have eight games before the New Year and that will mark exactly halfway through the season. I would suggest that we need to be on 15 points by the time we reach the New Year or else we have absolutely no chance of staying up. The international break has done us no favours with two of our regular starters coming back injured. In fact, Aaron Ramsdale didn’t even get to join up with England as a broken finger required an operation and it still not known how long he will be out for. Jan Bednarek picked up a knee ligament injury whilst playing for Poland so that at least means that Jack Stephens will be in the team in his natural position, rather than shoehorned in elsewhere.

He will be partnering England new boy Taylor Harwood-Bellis Who evoked the spirit of Rickie Lambert on his England debut by coming off the bench and thumping a superb header into the net. It will probably be our Southampton moment of the season. The thing that I took from the goal was the quality of the cross by Jude Bellingham. As soon as it left his foot, I knew that Taylor was going to score because the ball was always going to drop just over the central defender and the Saints man was lurking at the back post. Brilliant stuff.

We had some feedback from PGMOL about the shockers we had at Wolves and they basically said that they were right and in both cases, the correct decision was made.  What's the point?  If you're not going to take responsibility for an incorrect use of your own processes then what is the point?  At least in all likelihood, we won't have the shit to deal with next season.

If we want to have any chance of keeping players like Taylor, Tyler Dibling, Aaron Ramsdale and Matty Fernandes, then we need to stay up and that starts today, no matter how hard this game looks on paper.  So, Russell has some decisions to make with the line-up and when it drops, the team news is a bit of a WTF moment. Tall Paul is starting a Saints game for the first time in nearly 2 years and Russell Martin’s saviour Ryan Fraser, is also in the team and it looks like he’s playing a left back, which will be interesting as he will be up against Mo Salah.

As the game starts, the immediate surprise is that Flynn Downs appears to be lining up in the middle of a back three, which leaves Fernandes playing a lot deeper than he normally does in midfield next to Lallana. Regardless, Fernandes obviously has a license to push forward and when THB finds him in the centre circle and he takes off towards behind Liverpool‘s midfield, but skims the shot straight at Kelleher.  We have however, had a shot and it’s on target so hang out the bunting.

Liverpool‘s first effort is not long in coming and created down the left by Gakpo, who creates room for cross before floating towards the back post and over the horribly out of position Wee Man.  Despite rising to the enormous height of five foot five, Wee Man misses it and Salah brings it down and blasts it at McCarthy, who stands tall to knock it away.

Liverpool build-up the pressure and we are unable to get out for about 10 minutes. We are grateful for Darwin Nunez who goes down injured when there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him which eventually causes the referee to stop the game and for us to re-organise. Once the game is stopped, the big prima donna is up on his feet.  Dickhead. He’s obviously a very good player but he’s definitely not at the same level as Liverpool’s other forwards and he is, as mentioned, a dickhead.  Our centre forward is Tall Paul and he’s started well, holding the ball up and using it well and then he gets in a spot of bother on the edge of our area and casually gets out of it by twisting, chopping and falling his way past three Liverpool players before executing a no-look pass out to KWP.  Brilliant stuff.

Moment of the Season So Far

Lallana is of course playing against his old team and is clearly very popular with their supporters, but he puts a bit of a dent in that with a flying head-on lunge on Gravenberch, which is miles away from the ball. Liverpool don’t make a meal of it where usually the ref would be surrounded, and it’s only a yellow card, but it was one of those ones where you could’ve had no complaints if he was sent off.  I’m waiting for the inevitable VAR check but it never happens and it’s hard to see why not. Saints half clear the free kick to the edge of the box where Fernandes loses it to Szoboszlai, and his effort is easily held by Macca.

McCarthy easily fields another daisy cutter, this time from Bradley before rolling the ball quickly out to Fernandes on the edge of the penalty area despite the fact that he has three Liverpool players up his arse. Fernandes is just about keeps the ball and knocks it back to Downes on the six-yard line And he produces a horrible shank of a clearance to the edge of the box where Szoboszlai takes a touch before easily placing it past McCarthy and off the far post.  For fucks sake, another ridiculous fucking goal we’ve conceded.

Having made things more difficult for ourselves, the tactical response from Russell is to shuffle the deckchairs on the sinking ship, which KWP and Wee Man swapping sides though there is a benefit as Saints win a corner when KWP’s low cross is flicked away and from the corner, Dibling eventually finds Downes in the box and one of the villains of the Liverpool goal, turns and hits it and Kelleher makes a really good save. To the surprise of no one, Lallana hits the deck again and he’s not getting back up and off he goes to be replaced by Joe Aribo.

Tyler Dibling is beginning to come into the game a little bit more now and picks the ball up in midfield and drives at the Liverpool defence leaving defenders in his wake before Robertson sticks his leg out and cuts him down on the edge of the box. Time stands still and the referee seems to be buffering before he realises that he has to make a decision and eventually points to the spot. Just before the referee blew, Robertson had been arguing that it wasn’t even a foul and now he’s arguing that it was outside the box, the rat faced little prick.  VAR will tell us, as that’s infallible and here's the transcript...

Hi there Stockley Park

Can’t believe we’re using PGMOL resources, reviewing a Southampton penalty claim against Liverpool!

Yeah… but last week, the Maths Teacher gave one and then it got overturned

So what?

I was thinking about that before I blew up and gave it just now – so you can overrule it.

OK, we’ve had a look and the contact is clearly outside the box…Yes, but Robertson’s touching the line

What are the rules?

Fuctifino?

[Fanfare sounds]

WE WILL CONSULT THE HOLY PGMOL RULE BOOK!!!

Err. Where’s the rule book?

[Muffled noises whilst they look for rule book under takeaway boxes]

Shit, Howard’s got it...

Where is he?

He’s busy writing last weeks’ apology letters

Shit, ok, on-field decision stands

But we disallowed one of Southampton’s on-field decisions last week and then said we were right, even though that was clearly bollocks

Yeah, better let this one stand, we can get them back later.

After all that we can finally take the penalty and up steps Armstrong.. and it’s shit, straight down the middle and Kelleher saves it but he pushes it back out and Armstrong stuffs the rebound in despite the goalkeeper getting another touch.  Doesn’t matter how it ends up in the net and so we are deservedly level.

We get to halftime relatively comfortably and that’s been a good performance so far apart from the shit goal we’ve given away. We pretty much have gone to toe with them and it’s not been too bad.  Tall Paul has looked decent upfront and has proved to be a bit of a handful and we’ve responded well to the setback of giving the shocking goal away.

Five minutes into the second half and Gakpo runs across the back of Tall Paul as he advances up the pitch and down goes the big man and this looks like a bad one, with him making the ‘substitution’ sign as soon as he hits the deck.  He tries to get up to walk off but sits down again, and eventually they have to get some guys over with lifting equipment to get the big man back to his feet. Off he goes but surprisingly it’s not Cameron Archer who comes on but Lesley Ugochukwu which means Tyler Dibling being pushed further upfront with Armstrong

Dibling‘s first involvement afterwards is to pick a ball up from Fraser and drive forward from the halfway line, past a few players before getting to about 30 yards out and smashing one left footed narrowly over the bar. What a player.  Make the most of him while you can.

Meanwhile, Darwin is a shit Andy Carroll but he is still dangerous and manages to win a corner as his shot which was no doubt not going near the goal, was deflected away.  In it comes in McCarthy rises highest, in confident fashion before dropping the ball and Stephens stabs it away to Wee Man on the right.  He plays a lovely ball down the line to Dibling who turns and chips over to put Armstrong through.  Armstrong‘s first touch is predictably poor but he retrieves it and turns around and finds Fernandes in acres of space in the penalty area and Portuguese just calmly slides it into the net giving Kelleher no chance. Fuck me, we are winning.  Amazing scenes.  How do we handle this scenario then?

More attacking as we bring the ball out from defence and find Fernandes, who plays an optimistic ball between the defenders trying to pick up Armstrong’s and out comes Kelleher, misses the ball and trashes into the Saints forward. Surely that’s worth a look at? Anyone? no? Fernandes is on his knees because he can’t believe it but the ref is having absolutely none of it.  He’s given a free-kick the other way for something.  Meanwhile at Stockley Park.

Shall we look at that?

What?

Kelleher trashed Armstrong with no ball anywhere near

Has the ref asked us to look at it?

No

And we’ve allowed them to have one today already?

Yes

Keep quiet, nothing to see here.

Back up our end and Salah chips a lovely ball over the top but luckily for us, he’s found Nunez who tries to pick out Diaz at the back post but manages to make a bollocks of a pretty simple cross and it’s behind him.  No let up though as Gravenberch then picks up the ball on half way and chips it over the top of the defence to meet the run of Salah who almost controls the ball goalwards, which wouldn’t be a problem if McCarthy had not come running out of his goal and stood in fucking no man’s land.  He's so far out of position he's closer to the Liverpool fans in the corner that to the goal. It’s a horrific piece of goalkeeping and another present. 2-2.

Archer and Sugawara are on for Armstrong and Fraser and Salah, who has now come to life after doing nothing all game, swings across over a cross with his left foot and Sugawara gets himself in a horrific position and the ball bounces off of some part of his anatomy and hits his hand And from my view in the Chapel End, about 10 yards away, it’s a clear penalty and an absolute certainty that the referee is going to point to the spot which he duly does. Another certainty is that Salah is not going to miss an even though McCarthy goes the right way he gets nowhere near it and we have found a way, to throw away our lead and then go behind.

And we Find Another Way To Lose

Saints half and puff but we pretty much know the game is done at this point.  We get to 90 and Liverpool break away and Diaz on the left, crosses, which flicks off of Fernandes and lands with Salah all of six yards out and he smashes it first time against the inside of the post and away.

And before the minimum eight minutes is up, the referee blows his whistle and we’ve lost again. To be fair, we played pretty well today considering the opposition and we at least carried a goal threat but if you score two goals at home, you should be picking up at least a point and the reason we didn’t is because of horrific mistakes on all three Liverpool goals. The goals conceded today were nothing to do with the system, they were down to horrendous mistakes by experienced players. Yes they are encouraged to take risks and play but they have to realise when it’s on and when it just isn’t and not just throw yourself into the flames and hope it all works out.  Goal 1- McCarthy playing it short to Fernandes on the edge of the penalty area when he had absolutely nowhere to go with it, which ended up with Flynn Downes scuffing it along the ground straight to Szoboszlai.  Goal 2 - McCarthy horribly misjuding the floated ball over the top and Goal 3 - What on earth was Sugawara doing for the penalty.
 
The team looked very strange on paper with the main concern being Ryan Fraser at left back but to be fair, Wee Man did a decent job on the left before switching to the right and it was his replacement, who most people including myself would’ve picked from the start, who gave away the third goal.

The other headline was a start for Paul Onuachu who was excellent upfront and did everything that he could’ve done with regards to battling and holding the ball up and bringing other people to play the injury looks bad though and it would be horrible if having waited so long for his chance, he spends a long time on the sidelines as he deserves a run in the team. Beating four players and then pulling off a no look pass is the sort of thing that gives you cult hero status even if you never actually score any goals or anything like that.

It wasn’t obvious from the team sheet but Flynn Downs playing in the middle of a three-man defence seem to be very left field but it worked pretty well, shit first goal aside and it’s certainly something we may see more often with Bednarek being injured and none of the other central defenders being trusted. Playing Downes in defence of course relies on us having someone else to put in the centre of midfield and Adam Lallana only lasted 25 minutes today but a positive was that both Joe Aribo and Lesley Ugochukwu did decent jobs when they came on

Two players who did not deserve to finish on the losing side were Tyler Dibling and Mateus Fernandes, who were both absolutely outstanding. Fernandes has deserved a goal for a while now and it was a brilliant team effort today that he finished off to give us a short-lived 2-1 lead. Dibling was a constant menace whenever he got on the ball and world-class defenders had no idea what to do with him. It makes an absolute mockery that he’s been left out of the team recently and it was good to see him play 90 minutes today.  On top of the shambles last week it's just more evidence of a totally broken system.

Again, we find ourselves talking VAR and referees.  We could have had a penalty in the first few minutes as Konate ran over Armstrong, we did get one after a five minute check, when Robertson fouled Dibling on the edge of the box and then we didn't get one we should have got when Kelleher trashed Armstrong.  Apparently, he instantly gave a pull by Armstrong despite both players having hold of eachothers shirts.  Very decisive refereeing, well done.

At the end of the day, despite there being a lot of positives, it’s another defeat and the league table does not make pleasant reading and if this season was a car journey, the bridge that is just around the next bend has fallen down and Russell Martin is still driving the same road as before, refusing to turn off. Yes there is a long way to go but as said at the start, unless we can get up to about fifteen points by the New Year, we are completely fucked and that target means getting eleven points out of the next seven games and as we all know, the fixtures are not easy, starting with Brighton away next Friday. Brighton is of course Russell Martin’s hometown and he really has to go there and get a result or else he might not be getting on the coach back to Southampton.  If that comes to pass, at least he’ll have a short walk home.  Interestingly, Leicester have decided to pull the trigger on their manager today with Steve Cooper leaving so Russell must be nailed on favourite to be next.

Apparently, no one has ever stayed up having had 10 defeats out of the first 12 games so we are already needing snookers after less than a third of the season. Russell pointing out that we broke records last season, which is a statement that doesn’t exactly give me the level of comfort that he might think it does.  Actions Russ, not words.

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.

FA Cup 5th Round - Liverpool 3 Southampton 0

 

Here's Our Player Chipping the Keeper : No Goal

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of months, you will know that this is Jürgen Klopp’s last season as Liverpool manager. If you have just emerged from under that rock and you tuned into any sports media anywhere in the world for longer than about 30 seconds, you will know that it’s Jürgen Klopp‘s last season as Liverpool manager. The media coverage is endless.

You will also know that Liverpool have lots of injuries and have a fixture pile up. You will also know as they have been playing a lot of their academy products in recent games, including the Carabao Cup final which they won 1-0 against Chelsea, with a goal by a defender who was average before they paid a world record fee for a defender to sign him from… who was it again?… Oh yes, Celtic. Oh no, hang on, that was Southampton. Southampton signed him from Celtic for a reasonable fee, developed him into one of the worlds best central defenders and then Jürgen tapped him up by inviting him to Blackpool and the rest is history.  As for the fixture pile-up, yes Liverpool have had quite a few games recently but they’ve had less than Saints but I would expect that to be overlooked by anyone in mainstream sports media talking about the game tonight.

Liverpool, as you’d expect from a club of their stature, are still in the running for all four major trophies and having won the smallest one of those, the dream narrative would be for them to win the quadruple in Klopp’s last season. Last year, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City were on for the quadruple until they came across Nathan Jones at St Mary’s. In one of the more ‘strange but true’ episodes from last season, Nathan Jones stopped Pep winning the quadruple. Is it Russell Martin’s turn today?

Russell has done his usual and alluded to the fact that we have so many games coming up in the build-up, which means that there will be a fair few rested today. Liverpool will doubtless do the same and this is a sad indictment of the fixture planning and the decrease in importance of the FA Cup.

Talking of which, the teams are in and Liverpool only have van Dijk and Gakpo from their first team with Gomez and Tsimikas being the other senior players.  Saints have Bednarek and Manning from the first team – Aribo and Edozie from there or there abouts and all the squad players – Lumley, Bree, Stephens, Rothwell, Charles, Mara, Sulemana.  It’s a weird felling as the game kicks off – I of course want us to win but don’t feel that I’ll really give too much of a shit if we don’t.

Saints start really well and show that we want to pop the ball about, easily breaking the Liverpool press.  There are less than 30 seconds on the clock as Aribo puts Mara through and he looks miles offside but strides on and finishes low past Kelleher.  A brief visit to Stockleigh Park because we have VAR tonight..

Craig: Hello from Anfield – Craig Pawson here
SP: What do you want?
Craig: Just checking that offside
SP: Why?  I switched off when I saw who it was – shit!
Craig: What Sekou Mara?
SP: No, Southampton – they haven’t paid their VAR subscription with Sky this year Craig
Craig: Well they’re in the Championship – where the refs are shit but honestly shit
SP: Less scope to get the result we want though Craig, if you know what I mean?
Craig: Offside it is then.
SP: Hail Jurgen
Craig: Hail Jurgen

Liverpool overplay in midfield and Aribo gets a tackle in and tees up Sulemana on the left and he takes his time and his low right-footed effort comes across Kelleher and flicks off the far post and wide. Shit.  A decent effort but has to score really.

Liverpool or not looking any more comfortable as we go on with van Dijk and Gomez combining to play Bradley into trouble and he gets binned by Mara and Mara ends up dead centre, edge of the penalty area with the whole goal to aim at and with a swing of his left foot and visions in his head of the net bulging and being a hero - he puts it straight at the fucking keeper.

We decide to keep attacking until we score and Sulemana wins a corner off of Quansah.  In it comes from Rothwell and Aribo has a header blocked before we recycle it back out to Rothwell and he cuts in onto his right foot and then sharts it wide of the far post.  I am reminded of that Roy Hodgson meme where he gets his hopes up before seeing them smashed to pieces and slumping back into his chair.  Another break and once again it’s Sulemana taking on Quansah and bursts past him before once again shooting straight at the fucking goalkeeper.

Aribo puts Mara away on the right and he’s 1v1 against van Dijk, with Edozie in support.  Mara’s brain is thinking ‘take on best defender in world or pass it to the unmarked team mate?’ and his decision making is predictably terrible and doesn't end well.

One Attack, One Deflection, One Goal

Approaching half-time and Liverpool‘s first real attack sees a corner headed out as far as Elliot and his low shot is well saved by Lumley.  Liverpool come again though with the next attack with Clark (son of Lee) feeding Tsimikas (son of some Greek bloke) out on the left and he finds Koumas (son of Jason) on the edge of the box and he cuts across Jack Stephens (son of Russell Martin) and gets a shot away and it flicks off Bednarek (son of Poland) and gives Lumley (son of Joanna) no fucking chance at all. For fuck‘s sake.

Once everyone calms down, we do our best to kill the game off before half-time when Bree runs into traffic and gives the ball away in our half and eventually it falls to Gakpo who drags his shot wide.

Half time and overall we’ve played well, broken the press, created chances, missed them and paid for it due to a bit of bad fortune.  The bad fortune wouldn’t be so much of an issue if we’d been two goals ahead like we should have been.  Interestingly, because it is a Premier League side after all, we’ve sat a bit deeper and the shape in midfield has been good.

Saints start the second half relatively well with Charles and Aribo combining to send Edozie away on the right and his low cross is touched away from Mara by Konate and then Sulemana can only hit the fucking keeper again. Rothwell’s corner is there met by Aribo, who flicks it narrowly over the bar.

Another attack, another corner on the other side this time.  In it comes from Manning and it drops to Charles at the back post and he takes the touch has all the time to shoot and shits himself and produces an awful effort to shag it into the side netting.  Groan!!!

KWP and Adam Armstrong are on for Bree and Sulemana on the hour mark.  I’d have left Kamaldeen on to be honest as he was still looking dangerous.  Ten minutes go by and Edozie is off for Adams and Rothwell for Smallbone.

Here's Their Player Chipping the Keeper : Goal

Manning brings the ball forward and feeds into Smallbone for his first touch and he passes it directly behind where Manning was and straight to Harvey Elliott, who feeds it into Jayden Danns and the young substitute chips it easily over the onrushing Lumley.  Game over.  In the aftermath of the goal, KWP has worryingly gone off to be replaced by THB.

The tempo of the game has completely changed as well.  Alexis Mac Allister is on for Liverpool and they are now dominating and we can’t get out.  Aribo gives the ball away in blowing out of his arse fashion and the cross comes in from the left, headed out by Bednarek as far as Bradley and his improvised effort with the outside of his boot is pushed out by Lumley and Danns follows it in for a simple second goal.

Please let it end… and eventually it does.

Oh well, lost 3-0, fuck it.

On the positive side, we played pretty well for the first hour and showed a lot of bravery to play out from the back the way that we did and it should have brought reward as we beat the press regularly and created a load of chances.  However, miss them all and you don’t go in ahead at half-time, you go in 1-0 down to a spawny deflected effort from Liverpool’s first attack of note.

We started off the second half reasonably well but in the last half an hour, Liverpool took over and our substitutes just made the team worse.  Liverpool bringing on Mac Allister made their team much more difficult to play through as well.  When we had Edozie and Sulemana on the wings, we always had the prospect of breaking and causing them trouble in wide areas but when we replaced those with Adam Armstrong and pushing Mara out wide, you haven’t got that out ball or anyone carrying the ball forward, especially when you combine that with the slowest midfield three in history with Charles, Aribo (who played pretty well but was blowing out of his arse by this point) and Smallbone, who is the very definition of what you don’t want in an impact substitute.  Minor gripes however from a game where the expected happened.  The only real setback that matters is the injury to KWP and at time of writing there was no news on how serious that is.

I thought the back four and goalkeeper all played relatively well.  Bree did ok in his first game back but in hindsight, 45 minutes would have been enough.  Joe Lumley acquitted himself well in goal and didn’t have much chance with any of the goals. As said, Joe Aribo had a really good first half and Shea Charles did a good job defensively and just makes me wonder even more, why he’s not been in the side of late with Flynn Downes injured.  He did have his usual quota of flaky passing and giving the ball away but he was no worse than Rothwell who gave the ball away just as many times from a lot less possession.

The reason we didn’t have a decent go at winning this was down to the profligacy up front. Out of our misses, the only one that I would call unlucky was the one where Sulemana side footed that effort onto the post. Other than that, further misses by Sulemana and Mara were just shit.  Shea Charles, Aribo, Bednarek and Edozie all missed presentable chances. Mara – bloody hell.  Not only was it funny that he got 95 minutes, he also provided the funniest moment of that game was when he had a choice of playing a simple five yard ball to put Edozie clean through or taking on Virgil van Dijk, probably the best one on one defender in the world.  I mean, full marks for confidence or stupidity, one of the two.  Needless to say, he became a trailing speck of dust as Virgil moved upfield with it.

Our aim this year is of course to get promoted and play against Liverpool and all the others next season.  Even though it was Liverpool kids today in the main, the increase in speed and intensity showed up a few of ours today and is a bit of a reminder of how much work would need to be done on the squad in the event of us going up.  Though he wasn’t alone, Adam Armstrong proved once again that against slightly better opponents then you get in the Championship, not being able to control the football when it is passed to you is a bit of a disadvantage.

We lost again because we didn’t take our chances, end of story. We had so many chances in the first half whilst Liverpool‘s scratch team was growing into the game but didn’t take them and once Liverpool upped their game a little bit, helped admittedly by the slightly fortunate first goal, we didn’t really have an answer.  The five and a half thousand travelling fans were magnificent however.

Personally, I watched it on ITV and the coverage was a Klopp-centric as you’d expect it to be - very ITVomit.  It was all about him and his teeth and hair and the Liverpool youngsters and it was a great opportunity to shut them up but we blew it in that first half.  Sam Matterface can get in the bin as a commentator.  Absolutely shite and he’s bailed out by Ally McCoist, though he was a bit difficult to understand at the start of the game before the beers had worn off and he becomes less ‘Glasgow’.

So, we lost and in the scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter and it would’ve been Manchester United away in the next round anyway.  It would have been interesting as we might have done well against a side not known for pressing particularly well. We’ve gone to Anfield, we've played pretty well in patches, we’ve got knocked out and now we move on.

Being out of the FA Cup doesn’t matter is shit in the context of this season and all we can do is take the positives from this game and take them in to the rest of the league campaign where have very little margin for error, starting with Birmingham City away on Saturday. Win that and I will not give a toss about this game.

Up the Fucking Saints.