Premier League Match 21 - Manchester United 3 Southampton 1

 

Child Cruelty Part 28

Old Trafford, Manchester United, you know the drill. We go there with zero expectations other than trying to put up a decent showing and hoping that we get a decent shake off of whatever clown PGMOL have decided to send us today.  Don’t know about you, but I’m still haunted by the 9-0 shit show when Mike Dean and Graham Scott conspired to give every single fucking decision that they possibly could, against us. That was the game when I realised that officials would always favour the big club no matter what. It always used to be because Manchester United had Alex Ferguson and the referees were afraid of him or it used to be that Manchester United had 75,000 fans/tourists in the ground, so it was very intimidating but on that particular day, the less than intimidating Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the manager and there was no one in the ground because of Covid and yet we still got completely barbecued. We would have still lost of course, but not 9-0.

Anyway, that’s all water under the bridge and Manchester United are having another season where they set out expecting to be in the top four and have spent most of the season around 14th in the table. They started the season with ten Hag and have now replaced him with Ruben Amorim and he managed to lose five games out of six not so long ago, but in the last couple of weeks they have shown signs of life, with a draw at Anfield and knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup on penalties, even though they got absolutely battered in that game could easily have lost 4-1.  It always seems to be luck or a bit of individual brilliance that gets them over the line.  They never seem to actually play that well.

That’s the story of today – United will give us chances and we have to be good enough to take them. They will be looking at this game as one where they can prove that they can comfortably put away teams near the bottom of the league. They seem to have no problems raising themselves for the games against the big boys but in the games that they really should be winning easily, they seem to struggle. Bruno Fernandes has made mention of this during the week so it will be interesting to see whether they pay any attention to him. I feel that United will want to get this game done early so will probably tear into us with everything they’ve got at the start of the game. We need to stand up to this and wait for them to drop into their usual lazy-arsed approach, which will hopefully give us chances to get something out of this game.

Things all got pretty lively in Southampton after the game against Swansea. I have been pondering for a few weeks what Dragan Solak made of it all, specifically the fact that we were in our second year in the Premier League under his tenure and had been even worse this time round than we were the first time. Directly after the Swansea game, it became apparent that the Dragan had awoken.

After the first relegation, Dragan inserted himself as a Director of Sport Republic, which was seen at the time has him wanting to get nearer to the decision-making that was going on around the football club.  Wealthy people do not generally allow others to piss away their money.

The two main men in Sports Republic, Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft had been separated with Ankersen the Chairman of Goztepe and Kraft the Chairman of Saints.  Dragan Solak’s latest power-play is to remove Henrik Kraft as chairman of Saints and insert himself there, promising to change the football related management at the club which has been a bit of a void ever since Jason Wilcox left in April. Russell Martin was left with no one directly to report to and also left without a voice that he trusted from someone who had played at the highest levels of the game. I can’t help but think that Wilcox, or a similar replacement, would’ve helped greatly in the transfer window in the summer and would also have helped at the start of this season and maybe Russell Martin would’ve listened to a voice that he trusted and not, fallen down the pitfalls that meant we had such a terrible start this season. We will never know what might have been, but it does look that Dragan has decided that as well, and that Henrik Kraft was responsible for that.

Dragan and Henrik in Slightly Happier Times

Whatever the reasoning, this is undoubtedly Dragan indicating that he is not happy with the way things have been going. Henrik Kraft never really made many public utterances for me to form an opinion with any solid foundation, but he and Rasmus always seemed to me to be possessing of the kind of arrogance that makes you think you can be brilliant at anything you turn your hand to.  As we know, football is different.

Team news and there is just a one change from Swansea, with Sugawara coming into the team instead of Manning, which gives us the corridor of uncertainty down the right with Yuki and Jimmy Champo.  Sulemana is given a chance to bring his Swansea form to the big stage.  United are missing Maguire but don’t feel too sorry for them because they have £52 million 19 year-old Leny Yoro to take his place. They are also missing Dalot through suspension and his place goes to Amad Diallo.

With both teams basically playing the same 3-4-3 formation, there was going to be some individual battles to be one out there and Aribo and KWP give Sulemana the ball for his first challenge against £52 million Yoro. The newly confident Kamaldeen lines him up and pisses past him before taking aim of the far post and Onana gets a strong hand to it.

There’s another shot on target a few few minutes later as our Fernandes flows through the middle haven’t been put away by Aribo, who has started the game really well. Matty carries it to the edge of the box before trying to score against his former Sporting managers’ new side, but Onana saves this one comfortably.

£72 million Hojlund has started the game like an absolute fucking binfire with trampolines for boots, but he does get a run on Bednarek in a wide area and shows a clean pair of heels to the Saints captain before teeing up Garnacho by the penalty spot who puts it wide in casually shite fashion.

You Simply Have to Score That

One of my least favourite players in the Premier League is Lisandro ‘The Butcher’ Martinez who is just a bit of an arsehole really, so it is lovely to see Dibling take a short pass from Bree and spin past him, driving into the penalty area and he forces another excellent low save from Onana with the rebound falling to our Fernandes who takes a touch and from 6 yards… blasts it straight at the fucking keeper again. Fuck off.

We might only have 6 points but we’re so much better than them.  We create again by using the tried and tested child cruelty route, as THB plays one down the line and Sulemana lets it run, spins round and Yoro has gone for a hotdog, and the reborn Saints winger is away.  He lines up de Ligt and cuts inside a clumsy arse tackle from the Butcher before curling his effort wide of the post. Shit.  We are so going to pay for all these missed chances, you just fucking know it.  Not just yet though as Bruno Fernandes, who is done fuck all so far tries a skimmer from 30 yards, which Ramsdale easily picks up.

Our First Goal From a Corner Since Time Began

A cross from our Fernandes causes chaos as De Ligt heads straight up in the air and the ball eventually finds its way to Aribo on the edge of the box. He tries to feed it through to Sulemana, but de Ligt gets across to concede the corner.  Something’s got to give you feel. Saints never score from corners and United are shit at defending them. Inswinger from our Fernandes, flicked on by Dibling at the near post and it hits Ugarte’s back and the flailing Onana can’t keep it out. Fuck me we finally scored. We need one of their players to do it for us, but we have finally got the ball in the net.

You would think we would be looking for half time now, but no, we win the ball high and Aribo’s dribble towards the edge of the penalty area is picked up by Dibling, who to smashes it first time but unfortunately it’s straight at the keeper who beats it away.

Half time and we have, not to put too fine a point on it, been brilliant. The only thing missing has been the fact that we haven’t scored the three or four goals that we deserve. We have made United look incredibly ordinary and look the more accomplished side all round.  Are we going to be able to keep it going? Are they going to be just as shit.  Amorim made a change at half time but unbelievably, he left Yoro on the pitch, with Mainoo being replaced with £80 million Antony, the spinning top.

Antony announces his arrival with an effort over the bar early doors, before we’re back to business and it’s child cruelty time again as Aribo and KWP combine to flip the ball over the top of the ponderous Yoro for Sulemana to run onto again and he allows Yoro to get back, because he knows he can just piss past him again and his shot is blocked by the diving de Ligt.

Saints have got a nice balance today between passing the ball out from the back without playing suicide ball, and being direct.  Big Les finds Sulemana again and here we go again, this time flying past Yoro on the outside, before getting into the penalty area and taking him at the far post once more but rolling it just wide.

You know we are going to pay for this eventually and it seems that the time is here as Arsehole Fernandes sends Garnacho away down the left and his low cross perfectly picks out Antony at the back post and with Ramsdale on the deck, he manages to slide in and pass it straight back to Ramsdale rather than knock it into the empty net that was a yard in front of him. What an £80 million twat.

Ha ha ha... shit!

The tide is beginning to turn somewhat though and Garnacho lets fly from the edge of the box and it’s comfortably saved by Ramsdale.  Tyler Dibling seems to have picked up a knock and the substitute coming on is … what the fuck… Will Smallbone.  Tyler has been playing on the right side of two attackers with Sulemana on the left, and this change sees Smallbone go to where Fernandes was and Fernandes, probably our best player, is moved to the right.  I don’t understand that one I have to say, seems like a pointless reshuffle. Five minutes go by and Adam Armstrong and Flynn Downes are on for Fernandes and Aribo.  I think this is quite possibly the best game I’ve ever seen Aribo have in the Premier League, and I don’t really understand why he’s gone off.

Another United attack and Zirkzee puts Arsehole Fernandes through, and he tries to dink it over Ramsdale as he comes out, but it hits the Saints keeper and we get it away again.  Then Arsehole finds Amad out on the right wing, and he runs at KWP, tries a shot, gets a lucky deflection back to him and he buries the rebound past Ramsdale. Fuck sake.

Now, I don’t know what the fuck is going on in Ivan‘s head at this point but he takes off the immense Lesley Ugochukwu and  the defensive leader Jan Bednarek and replaces them with Tall Paul and Nathan Wood. This means that Smallbone drops into the midfield two, where I can 100% guarantee he will be shit.

We get to the 90th minute and Amad goes down the right before playing a ball in field to Eriksen, who casually chips over the defence for Amad to run onto and with an excellent first time volley, the ball flashes past Ramsdale and United have got out of jail. Fuck.

We do show slight signs of life with Jimmy Champo putting Sugawara away down the right and his cross is blocked for a corner by Collyer. In comes the corner from Yuki, and THB meets it and it’s going goalwards but unfortunately it hits Downes and goes wide for a goal kick.

As time runs out, we have a throw on our right which we work back to Ramsdale.  He knocks it to THB who takes the worst touch you’ve ever seen and presents Amad with an easy run in to the net for his hat-trick. Fucking hell.  Ultimately the goal doesn’t matter, but it’s so fucking annoying. Full-time verdict, we were brilliant for 75% of the game without taking our chances and then we absolutely fucked ourselves.

I know at the end of the day this makes absolutely no difference to any chance we have of staying in the Premier League, but if I didn’t get angry about defeats like this individual games, then it would mean that I didn’t care anymore and I do care.  I care that we were brilliant for 70 minutes apart from the putting the ball in the net thing, and there really looked to be only one winner in this game. We were holding United at bay fairly comfortably and had a real attacking threat and looked as likely to score again, as they did to equalise.

Fucking hell, did we miss chances though?

Sulemana had £52 million Yoro absolutely on toast every time he got the ball and he knew it. What I liked about Sulemana was that he drove at Yoro every single opportunity he had but the finish just wasn’t there, either putting it too close to Onana or putting it wide. Tyler Dibling brought a wonderful save out of Onana as well and Fernandes had a free shot of the rebound from about 6 yards and managed to blast it straight at the goalkeeper again. It’s probably no coincidence that our goal had to be put into the net by a United player.  We should have been three up at half time.

The second half continued in the same vein with Sulemana making Yoro look a horrendous player but then the injury to Dibling saw a completely unnecessarily complicated change.  We were playing so well, so do a like for like instead of messing the team about. From then on it just collapsed and the goal threat dried up. Joe Aribo was replaced with Flynn Downs, which doesn’t sound too bad on paper, but Downes was clearly not fit and Aribo was having his best game of the season. Next, the excellent Fernandes was replaced with Adam Armstrong but when United had got back level, the absolute mind-fucker was the spine of the team, Bednarek and Big Les, taken off to be replaced with Nathan Wood and Tall Paul, a move that meant Smallbone going back into midfield where his inability to run was going to be even more exposed than Leny Yoro’s inability to run.  Six minutes later and it’s 3-1.

The third goal was from horrendous mistake by THB, which wouldn’t have happened if it was still 1-0 and was a shame because he had had a tremendous game up to that point. Amad Diallo scoring a hat-trick for United is fitting because he was literally their only attacking threat.  Once again, it’s individual brilliance that does it for United against lesser sides.

Though I wasn’t over enthused with the starting 11 with Sugawara and Jimmy Champo starting, it has to be said that those two, as well as Joe Aribo had tremendous games until it all went to shit when we started emptying the bench. We just don’t have enough good players to be able to make five substitutions. That is the long and the short of it it’s just so dispiriting that we can go to Trafford, be the better side and then shoot ourselves in the foot. I was unavoidably reminded of the Leicester City home game this season when we were winning comfortably until we started making substitutions. Back in that game, Russell Martin made five substitutions, with every single one of them making us weaker and today Ivan Juric repeated the trick.  He got the starting team right but the in-game management… not so much.

Our Substitute Midfielders Were Not Great

There seems to be an assumption amongst managers these days that making a load of changes at the end will make the team stronger because it adds energy. If you bring on substandard players and take off very important ones, then the disruption it causes is going to outweigh any energy that is brought, if any is brought at all.  Smallbone can’t run and is the worst substitute you could possibly bring on if you want to add energy. Adam Armstrong is basically crap at this level, Nathan Wood is inexperienced at this level, Paul Onuachu is largely crap and Downes was coming back off of an injury so wasn’t up to full speed.   I do hope Juric wasn’t looking at the Nottingham Forest game and trying to save players for that. There are a million managers who have lost the game in front of them because they are looking at the next game, Saints needed to get over the line today and that would’ve had a huge impact, much more than saving key players League for a few minutes.

I will never understand the substitutions that the manager made today but in his defence, at least he recognised the fact that they didn’t work, saying that he expected much more from the players who came on. I know he’s new to the club and all that, but surely some of the coaches who have been there a while could have told him exactly what Tall Paul, Armstrong and Smallbone were going to provide.

Had we won here, we would’ve gone into the weekends game at Nottingham Forest feeling good about ourselves, but as it is, it’s another, mentality catastrophe which the players have to recover from. I think we know what the starting lineup will be. Maybe we should make it play 90 minutes if we possibly can.  We were amazing for 70 minutes but there's a world of difference between being able to do that and being able to get over the line in the Premier League.

Up the Fucking Saints

Premier League Match 4 - Southampton 0 Manchester United 3

 

Well This Was a Turning Point

Two weeks off for an international break and here we are again back at St Mary‘s for a Sky o’clock kick-off against Manchester United. Actually, it’s a TNT o’clock kick-off but you know what I mean. I guess you could call it our chance to put down a marker to the rest of the Premier League in the first game of the weekend.

Manchester United of course will be looking on it as their opportunity to correct what has been a stuttering start to their Premier League campaign. Last week they got gubbed 3-0 at home by Liverpool and the vultures will certainly be circling around Erik ten Hag again if he doesn’t win today. Some would call it refreshing that United have backed their manager to start another season and some would call it foolhardy. United new owner Jim Ratcliffe always seems to make matters worse for himself every time he opens his mouth and is still in the honeymoon period that was never afforded to the Glazers when they took over. United’s transfer window has seen loads more money being spent as usual with the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazroui and right at the end, Manuel Ugarte brought in to complement the collection of good players that they already have. 

Russell Martin’s press conference this week saw him speak about the need to balance out loyalty towards players and what they did in the past against where they are now. Some people interpreted this as declaring loyalty to the players who got promoted no matter what, but I read it in a very different way – I saw it as him saying that loyalty for past achievements only goes so far and it’s about the here and now and the here and now is the Premier League and it is brutal.  It’s a very different level to the Championship and a very different assignment.  The players who I think are very much under pressure are Adam Armstrong, Joe Aribo, Will Smallbone, Jack Stephens and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who all played very big roles in the promotion campaign. They all have that in common and also that they have all struggled thus far in the Premier League.

This concept of weighing up when to remove popular players when the level or the assignment changes is not a new thing. When we got promoted in 2012, Nigel Adkins almost immediately brought the axe down on Billy Sharp and Dean Hammond, two of the players who had been crucial in us getting promoted. Sorry, things have changed – off you go.  Others like Jos Hooiveld, Danny Fox, Frazer Richardson and Richard Chaplow weren’t long for the South Coast either.

If you go back even further to 1976, Bobby Stokes scored the most important goal in the clubs history, to actually win a trophy, but did you know that he only played 11 further times for Saints because the assignment became different.  Lawrie McMenemy had to build a team to be consistent and get promoted into what was then Division One, and it wasn’t just Stokes who went. Within 12 months, I think there were only two of the Boys of 76 (David Peach and Nick Holmes) still at the club. Adam Armstrong is Bobby Stokes and he is also Billy Sharp. He’s Bobby Stokes because he scored a ridiculously important goal for the club and he’s Billy Sharp because he can score goals in the second tier. He has to prove he is more than them and Russell Martin has to decide whether he is.

All eyes on the team news and big changes – Aribo, Smallbone, Armstrong, THB all gone, replaced by Ugochukwu, Fernandes, Archer and Dibling and a change to a 4-3-3 formation.  On paper it looks great and you can’t really argue with it.  A small concern over the centre back pairing but you can’t have everything.

Saints start the game well with Dibling taking a pass from Sugawara and rolling past Dalot and driving towards the box before taking it on to his left foot and curling one for the far corner, forcing Onana into a decent save.  KWP then gets down the left and pulls one back but there's no one there. 

United look dangerous though when they attack and Zirkzee really should’ve done better when he’s stretched for a Diallo cross and could only scuff the ball through to Ramsdale.

Even Jack Stephens Got Closer to the Ball Than That

In the main though, it’s Saints on the attack and and from a Sugawara corner, Big Les rises and shoulders it over the bar when he really should have scored.  More attacks in the opening half hour than we’ve had all season combined... and Dibling again picks up the ball on the right and drives at Dalot, going past him on the outside before Dalot dives in as Dibling takes another touch and carts him over. It’s the most obvious penalty ever but we still have to wait five minutes for Bruno to stop fucking whining.  Ben Brereton Diaz has the ball but it turns out he’s only looking after it until they decide it was in fact well inside the box, and he hands it to Cameron Archer.  Archer looks like he visibly shrinks and it’s a short run up, low scuffer, absolutely shit to the goalkeepers right but it’s nowhere near the corner and Onana just falls on it. It’s still pops up again and Archer has a chance with a header but Onana is comfortably on his feet by the time the ball arrives. Bollocks.

Straight up the other end and Zirkzee has a go from long range and Ramsdale tips it round the post.  Eriksen takes a short corner to Bruno and his cross into the box is met by De Ligt with an absolutely free header at the back post and it’s a simple task for De Ligt to head it across Ramsdale and into the far corner.  Fuck off.  Everyone in a red and white shirt is just looking at eachother.

Saints initially respond well, and we go down left with BBD finding Fernandes, who finds Downes on the edge of the box, who falls over…. Lightning break by United and Rashford cuts in from the right and forces another good save from Ramsdale.  United overhit the corner, Diallo picks it up and rolls a simple ball to Rashford at the top of the penalty area and no one really closes him down as he shoots and it nestles in the far corner. Fucking hell. Game over.

If ever there was a graphic is illustration of how you need to take your chances then that was it.  It’s such a pisser. We were comfortably the better side in the opening half an hour and deserved to be ahead. If the penalty goes in then we are probably at half-time 1-0 ahead and looking forward to having a right go at it in the second half. Missed the chance and this is what happens at Premier League level. Absolutely brutal and the game is more or less done.

The second half sees no changes and it’s a bit like poking a dead dog with a stick… go on, do something. Getting a goal back may conceivably put some pressure on them but it quickly becomes apparent it’s just a case of whether United will score another or not. Rashford, now playing with a bit more confidence tries a long-range effort which Ramsdale tips over the bar.

Russell makes some subs with an all-new forward line of Max Cornet, Ryan Fraser and unbelievably, Ross Stewart. I’m guessing that Stewart is coming on so we can at least get something tangible out of the game and I’m sure Adam Armstrong was sat there not really wanting to come on anyway.

Lallana is also on and trying to get on the ball but before the subs have any real chance to make an impact, Sugawara and Fernandes combine to give the ball away and United break down their left through Garnacho and Stephens comes hurtling across, less like the Cornish Maldini and more like the Cornish Vinny Jones and wipes him out. It looks high and dodgy in real time and the referee is straight out with a red card. Surprisingly, there is a feeling of injustice in the crowd but to me it looked slightly high and out of control and I’m not surprised it’s red card at all.

Fernandes comes off with THB coming on and it’s damage limitation from here on in and Ramsdale learns what it’s like to be the coconut in the coconut shy and he performs a few miracles to keep the score down until Dalot gets played in on the right hand side, THB plays everyone onside and when he rolls the ball back and Garnacho smashes it into the roof of the net. The third goal doesn’t elicit much more than a shrug from yours truly. I feel gutted for Aaron Ramsdale though who doesn’t deserve this.

There are many elements that go to make up a good football team. I’m going to focus on two of them, namely the ability to take your chances when you are on top and how you respond to setbacks. The vital moment today is of course the missed penalty. If that goes in then we would have been a totally deserving to be 1-0 ahead and would probably have held that lead until half-time. As it was, it doesn’t go in and instead, we are 2-0 down and the game is over.

Eyebrows would’ve been raised with a starting lineup with Russell Martin being good on his word and freshening things up. To be honest it is exactly the starting lineup that I would’ve selected myself.  Stephens or THB was the only slight issue for me but with THB’s form, it was a toss of a coin on that one.  The starters tore into the game and made a real good fist of things up until the pivotal moment. Flynn Downes and Lesley Ugochukwu bossed the midfield, the full backs got forward well, Matty Fernandes was bright and best of all, Tyler Dibling had Diogo Dalot, an experienced Portuguese international and experienced Premier League player, absolutely on toast. He had already sat him on his arse once and when he took him on a second time, was carted over for the penalty which should have brought a reward for our enterprise in the first half an hour.

There was a pause for shit housing, mainly by Bruno Fernandes. Why we had to wait so long was bizarre, when it was the clearest penalty you’ve ever seen and all that time passed by with Cameron Archer waiting to be given the ball to take the penalty. When he stepped up he didn’t look remotely confident, didn’t hit it in a particularly confident fashion and Onana made what was quite a simple safe.  The disappointing thing is that BBD has a 100% record from penalties and didn’t take it, whereas Archer has apparently never taken one before. Until the award of the penalty, we had put as much pressure put on the Manchester United goal as we had put on the opposition defence in all three of our previous games combined with crosses flying across the box and the United defence looking severely stretched. All that changed once Onana grabbed Archer’s weak header off of the rebound.

The first two United goals were shite from our point of view.  A completely unmarked De Ligt, courtesy of Stephens dozing off and playing everyone onside and from Archer’s half arsed closing down on Rashford, giving him the angle he needed to bend one into the far corner.

In the second half we needed to go out and scored the first goal but didn’t force Onana into any sort of serious action which was a major disappointment. To be honest, United completely controlled the flow and tempo of the second half and would’ve scored more but for Aaron Ramsdale and some good last ditch defending. Russell Martin substitutions were fair enough given the way The game was going at 0-0 but it was never really going to turn things around and before the subs had chance to do anything, Jack Stephens got sent off. I don’t really see how anyone can argue that it wasn’t a deserved red card seeing as how the initial contact was on his knee. After that of course it was damage limitation which we managed to do until the last minute when United picked their way through on our left, thanks to some unaware defending by THB and Garnacho fired in a third which was harsh on Ramsdale in particular.

Yeah, Don't Think We'll Appeal This One

Because we are dealing with the harsh reality of Premier League football, I feel that we have to be harsh with the way that we look at the players and how they performed. For starters, Aaron Ramsdale is a proven Premier League level performer. I have no real idea what made him sign up for this but some of the defending in front of him today must make him ponder his career choices and want to return and sit on Arsenal‘s bench. The central defensive pairing of Bednarek and Stephens has been tried many times before at Premier League level and it has always failed.  Russell Martin has now seen at first hand that it just doesn’t work and the two of them get pulled about all over the place. There was some good moments of defending by both of them at various times but as a pair it just doesn’t seem to gel. It’s trendy at the moment for managers to talk about ‘moments’.  This is fine in an attacking context but defending is not about ‘moments’, it’s about consistency. As the game went on you could see that their brains were fried and when you get tired, the basics go to shit, like the decision-making and the passing. Stephens tired lunge at Garnacho was a perfect illustration of this, crude and high and off you go.  Bednarek’s passing radar just went completely in the last ten minutes.

Both full backs offered a fair amount in an attacking sense to start with but KWP in particular was continually found with space behind him which United exploited. He wasn’t helped however by his winger and more on that later.  Sugawara was part of a good partnership with Dibling on the right and is looking like he will adapt pretty well tot his level of football.

I did feel that the set-up of the central midfield needs tinkering with a little bit. Downes and Big Les seemed to take it in turns for one to run forward whilst the other dropped into the number six role but they seemed to leave us a little bit too open, even in the first half an hour when we were generally on top. Big Les showed a lot of promise but tired after half time.

Ben Brereton Diaz had a couple of decent contributions in the first half hour but then totally disappeared.  Worst of all, he didn’t provide any cover whatsoever for KWP on the left and basically has to do more than that to justify his inclusion. He obviously should have taken the penalty because he couldn’t possibly have produced a tamer effort than Cameron Archer. Archer had a difficult afternoon but you would expect any striker who is not used to the Premier League so have a difficult afternoon against De Ligt and Martinez who have international caps galore for Netherlands and Argentina respectively.

Matty Fernandes started really well as the most advanced midfielder, getting forward to support Cameron Archer whenever he could and being able to pull the strings up against Christian Eriksen and Kobbie Mainoo - again, two international players. He did fade in the second half but what I liked about him was the fact that he never stopped trying to make things happen.

Best of all was one of our own Tyler Dibling, who fully justified the managers faith in starting him and was a constant thorn in Diogo Dalot‘s side until he cramped up in the second half and had to come off. As long as he can adapt to the physical demands of Premier League football then he will definitely be getting regular minutes this season.  Brought a brilliant save out of Onana and won the penalty.  Also, when he couldn’t get forward he kept the ball very well and he played with a lot more defensive responsibility than BBD did over the other side.

Talking of adapting to the physical demands of football in general, Ross Stewart found his way onto the pitch for his first minutes at Premier League level and did okay. His mere presence was enough for ten Hag to panic slightly and bring on Maguire, so that Ross wasn’t playing against Lisandro Martinez. Unfortunately, the red card happened before we could really get any crosses into the box for Ross. Adam Lallana also made a bright cameo off the bench and briefly looked like he may allow us to get hold of the ball and start putting United under pressure again… but the red card did for that.

All in all, another learning day at the office. When you are a newly promoted side you do not put home games against Manchester United down as ones where you should get points from but having lost this one, the home game against Ipswich next week becomes huge because we really cannot afford to lose that one. I saw signs today in the opening half an hour that we can get some points on the board but it of course needs to happen soon and we need to respond to any setbacks a lot better than we did today. As a team today, I saw a lot more to give me hope for the months ahead in terms of the team structure and balance.  We at least gave us something to get behind. Yes, we conceded simple goals but we at least carried a goal threat and had a chance of winning for a short period of time at least.

Before the Ipswich game, the fringe players will have their chance to put their hand up for selection as we travel to Everton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

Up the fucking Saints.

Premier League Match 26 - Manchester United 0 Southampton 0

 

KWP Waits for the Racism to Descend

As is always the case, the fixtures are now starting to get tough with a trip to Old Trafford, which is never the easiest place to go of course.  If United don’t get you, the referee and VAR often will. There is much to dislike about United but from my point of view, most of that comes from enduring their 20 years of success under Sir Alex Ferguson. The last 10 years has been amusing because the social media age provides a wonderful insight into the sense of entitlement of a large percentage of their supporters. They lost rather heavily last week and the carnage was amazing.

As we were basking in the glory of our win against Leicester, the following day saw Manchester United travel to Liverpool and it was with great amusement that we all saw them lose 7-0, in a style of capitulation manner that was only too familiar to us. They didn’t go full-Southampton in that they didn’t have anyone sent off and didn’t lose by nine. They of course should’ve had one or two sent off but you know, referees and United.  Put it this way, if a Southampton player shoves a linesman today, expect him to get sent off.

Yep, that 7-0 defeat highlighted to the world what everyone knew already and that was that Bruno Fernandes is a massive Rat faced whiny bell-end and possibly the opposition player that fans of the other 19 Premier League clubs, hate more than any other.  Andy Robertson and Bruno Guimaraes might get a few votes but I think this particular Bruno wins.

It’s ironic that they got rid of Cristiano Ronaldo because of his bad attitude but they kept Bruno and made him captain, even though his attitude is demonstrably worse. Fernandes of course, because he’s a Manchester United player, gets away with absolute murder. Remember the game out there a couple of years ago when he took a swing At Oriol Romeu. Pathetic little wanker.

A week before the 7-0 defeat, they had won the Carabao Cup against Newcastle, who of course progressed at our expense from the semi-final. Newcastle turned up at Wembley, lost 2-0, didn’t have a shot and went home. It’s hard to imagine that we would’ve done less than that if we had got to the final.  Today will be a chance to prove that I guess and whilst you could never rule out the chance of getting absolutely battered at Old Trafford, we have to go in there believing that United are not invincible and that we can cause them problems.

Erik Ten Hag is in his first full season as United manager and he didn’t get off to the best of starts with the most notable result being a 4-0 defeat at Brentford. That turned out to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last game and since then, United have undeniably picked up, helped by about £200 million worth of new signings. One of those, Casemiro, filled the chasm that they have had for the last few seasons in the centre of midfield. He has been truly exceptional since he arrived though he did somewhat to go missing when they were getting smashed at Anfield last week. Other expensive signings like Antony, have not been so successful despite having undoubted ability. He was signed for about £90 million to play on the right wing. Last year they spent £80 million on Jadon Sancho to play on the right wing.

Lisandro Martinez has been an interesting buy. The 5 foot 9 centre back has had his critics but let’s face it, he’d be better than Harry Maguire even if he's 4 foot 6. Everyone has been lauding Ten Hag’s work this season and whilst I admire him for making the decisions that had to be made regarding Ronaldo and Maguire, I do laugh when he’s painted some sort of managerial genius when he has one of the most expensive squads in history at his disposal and he’s just spent another 200 million on it.

United’s resurgence has been built on the back of a home grown player who didn’t cost a transfer fee with Marcus Rashford being on an incredible run of goal scoring form since the World Cup. It’s too simple to say stop him and you stop United but put it this way, he is certainly going to be more of a threat than Wout Weghorst, which might literally translate to Big Carthorse (possibly).

The sub-plot with United is always about the owners, the infamous Glazer family who fired everyone up by announcing that they were considering selling a few months ago but needless to say, the club hasn’t been sold and needless to say, the narrative has somewhat changed and it looks like they may not sell after all. Those poor fans will just have to deal with having £200 million spent on the team every transfer window.

When Ruben Selles won his first game against Chelsea, we then went up to Leeds and he picked exactly the same team as a reward, even though Leeds away is a completely different assignment. We beat Leicester at home last week and today is a completely different assignment, so I am really hoping that he doesn’t stick to the same team, particularly in defence. Let’s give it a go today. If we try and defend, we will get beat so let’s have a go, try and attack the full backs, neither of whom are particularly great defensively and put them under a bit of pressure. No one is expecting us to get a point today so let’s give it a go and let’s have Fernandes whining like a little bitch by the time the game is over.

In the event, Ruben has gone with the same team that got the win against Leicester apart from Romain Perraud coming in left back with KWP moving over to the right hand side to replace the injured Maitland-Niles.  Ten Hag has left the door open a bit for us by picking Carthorst and a line behind him of Rashford, Sancho and Anthony. This means Bruno Fernandes is playing deeper alongside Casemiro. Definite opportunity there when we win the ball back.

Saints comfortably get into the game and don’t look overawed at all but a break down our right-hand side sees Rashford bearing down on Baz who gets down low to make a good one-handed save in front of the lumbering Carthorst.

We are trying to attack, with Alcaraz being at the centre of most of it. He knocks the ball round Lisandro Martinez who in true Argentina fashion, just blocks him and takes the yellow card after only 10 minutes.  Next time, Alcaraz skips past a couple of players on the edge of the box before slipping as he tries to shoot. Wan-Bissaka has a chance to clear it but fucks it up and the ball finds its way to Perraud on the left-hand side and he clips in a superb cross along the 6 yard line and Theo Walcott comes flying into thump a header goalwards but unfortunately it’s straight at de Gea, who knocks it over the bar. A yard either side or downwards and it’s a certain goal.  Shit.

Whilst Theo is not in the team for his heading ability, that’s all that Carthorst is in the United team for, so it’s with great amusement that Shaw slings over a cross and it hits Carthorst on the nosebag and plops down for Baz to pick up.

Alcaraz picks up a ball in midfield and spins past Martinez before playing a lovely ball inside Wan-Bissaka for Sulemana who is away and sees his shot blocked by Varane. It’s Alcaraz again, playing an attempted 1-2 with Walcott but when he gets to the return pass, Casimero comes launching in and clatters him. Anthony Taylor is right next to the incident and is clearly not impressed and a yellow card comes out. Oh, this is interesting, we are off to VAR and Andre Marriner.

“Earth calling Anthony Taylor, Come in Anthony…”
“Hi Andre, what have you seen?, dealt with it, yellow”
“Yeah, about that, you see Alcaraz rolling on the ground? Where’s he holding his leg?”
“Err, just under his knee”
“Yeah, Casemiro comes flying in like a lunatic, off the ground, out of control… can you see where I’m going with this?”
“Yeah but he got the ball so surely it’s yellow”
“Hasn’t been in the rulebook since you had a full head of hair mate”
“Shit!  Send me to the monitor to have a look so I don’t look so bad”
“No worries mate”….
[Checks Monitor]
“Fucking hell Andre, he’s landed halfway up his leg”
“Sure does Anthony.  It’s so obviously a red that only a fucking idiot would be able to complain about that”
“Bruno Fernandes is spitting his dummy out”
“I rest my case”

And it’s a red. Off you go you dirty bastard, stop crying.

Casemiro Walks, Shaw Asks if the Referee has any Crisps

It would be beautiful if JWP stuck this free kick in the net. Just beautiful. It is right on the edge of his range though but he goes for it and it flicks off the wall and with de Gea  absolutely nowhere, it drops wide of the opposite post.

We get an early opportunity to see if there will be a levelling-up from the officials and the signs are good as KWP executes a superb tackle on Rat Faced Prick on the right of the penalty area and Fernandes embarrasses himself again with histrionics and gestures and begging.  Such a wanker.

Despite having 10, United are still dangerous, especially when they move the ball quickly and win a free kick on their right hand side when Sulemana hauls down Antony.  Rat Face whips in and Varane meets at the far post but Baz that gets down well to pull off a decent block.   Ten Hag has had a look for a few minutes and decided that he can do without Carthorst and so off he canters to be replaced by Scott McTominay – he of the triple handball incident at St Mary’s earlier on this season.

Talking of handball – Rat Face is in full begging mode again as ABK slips as a low cross comes in and it hits him full in the chest.  Taylor obviously sees nothing in it and nor does VAR but the babies are crying and Shaw thinks it’s therefore ok to kick Walcott up in the air, for which he should get booked but doesn’t.

Half time and lots of whining.  I see about 10 replays of the ABK incident and no angle proves that he handles it, not one.  One makes it look like it’s hits his knee before his chest, in which case, even if the chest was an arm, it’s not handball.  A replay of the Casemiro challenge shows it’s even worse than I originally thought.

Unlike the game against Wolves when we were faced with a team with 10 men, Saints start the second half really well, passing the ball and making United work. JWP feeds KWP who burns past Rashford and gets a cross over, which flicks off McTominay towards his own goal but Wan-Bissaka is stood behind de Gea and clears off the line.

It’s been coming because there hasn’t been one for 10 minutes or so but now it’s time for another classic Bruno Fernandes Rat Faced Prick moment as he gets robbed of possession on the edge of the box by Lavia and carts him over. There is no way any player on this earth can argue that he hasn’t committed a foul there but Rat Face is all arm waving and screwing up face at the referee. In short, he’s a little twat, like a toddler throwing a tantrum in a supermarket.  Everyone looks away because they feel sorry for the parents. Come on James…. stick this one in the net please.

Silence in Old Trafford (which is not unusual on the face of it) and up steps JWP and with his wand of a right foot it’s over the wall and dipping and it flicks off the bar and over.  Fuck.

Alcaraz is off, probably due to last weeks injury and Casemiro’s effort today and Stuart Armstrong on, signalling that we at least want to keep attacking.  Lavia puts Perraud on the left hand side his ball inside finds Sulemana and he dribbles into the box before getting blocked off by McTominay.  Good defending to be fair

It’s more or less the end of Sulemana as he and Adams come off and you guessed it, Chucklevision with Paul and Barry.  United have a corner on the left and it comes in from Shaw and is headed away but Man United win it back and Antony and Wan-Bissaka combine to give the ball away to ABK and he sends Walcott streaking through from half way with Lisandro Martinez the closest player. Martinez has already been booked so Walcott really has to come across the front of him onto his right foot but he doesn’t look confident enough to do that and stays on his left foot and when it comes to the shot, de Gea is equal to it easily enough.

Because of the players United have got on the pitch, they are still a danger every time they attack and Shaw and Rashford on their left-hand side work an opening for Bruno Fernandes to try side footed effort for 20 yards but Baz gets down to flick a hand out and tip it onto the post. Quite brilliant save. I would not have been happy if that fucking rat had scored

On our next attack we’re win a corner on the right hand side and work it short to KWP on the corner of the penalty area and as United aren’t really closing him down, he moves across a couple of yards before hammering a shot left-footed which carves away from de Gea, smacks of the post and comes out.  Shit…

United haven’t tried the ‘Pressure the Ref’ trick for a while so Rashford has a go as he runs through on Bazunu, who pulls out of the challenge and Saint Marcus clicks his heels together and hits the deck.  It’s such a pathetic dive that it’s laughable.  How does he not get booked for that?

Dive of the Season

Ten Hag has removed £180 million of averageness with Sancho and Antony being replaced with Garnacho and Pellestri and the former tries to take on KWP and it’s another superb tackle which leaves Garnacho in a heap.

90, 91 – I think we’ll take a point now. The final action of the game is Mara breaking down the right hand side and Fat Boy Shaw sure can’t even be bothered to try and make a tackle so just hacks him down.  He then boots the ball away but Anthony Taylor is clearly had enough of winding up United folk today.

I guess we’re going to have to start with a discussion on whether that was a point gained or two dropped. Personally, I feel that is both. At the start of the season I would’ve certainly thought more with this being a point gained because our need was not desperate. Because of the situation that we have got ourselves into, it probably is two points dropped but then, a point at Old Trafford is never really a bad result.

Unlike the game against Wolves a few weeks ago when we were playing against 10 men for an hour, we did at least maintain some kind of attacking threat and there was an intent to go forward even though Ruben pulled that mad Double Chuckle Brothers substitution again. The fact that we didn’t score today was down to a lack of quality on the ball in from the wide areas and the chances falling to players who have no confidence in front of goal, with Theo Walcott being the obvious example of this.

It will get lost in the narrative over the sending off but Saints did create some good chances before the red card but as with all the attempts after, including two free kicks, we never worked the goalkeeper enough with de Gea only really been extended once, from Walcott’s header.

As I said, a lot of the attacking play floundered on the final ball into the box and Charly Alcaraz didn’t look fully fit, especially after the Casemiro assault. I thought the first substitution, with Stuart Armstrong replacing Alcaraz, was good but as referred to earlier, the Chuckle Brothers substitution added nothing. We didn’t need legs at the top of the pitch in this particular game, we needed more of a goal threat. Mind you, I don’t recall Tall Paul even getting a touch of the ball when he came on for the last six minutes. When he is on the pitch we really do have to get balls into the box and we clearly have no idea how to do that, otherwise it’s a complete waste of any assets he might have.

I have to say that I was impressed in the main with Anthony Taylor today. Though you could say the red card was slightly harsh because he got the ball, it was clearly dangerous and his foot connected high up on Alcaraz shin. Though he probably had to give that as a red card, I was impressed that he didn’t even things up or buy any of the Bruno Fernandes remonstration bullshit after perfectly fair tackles. He also didn’t buy the amazing dive by Marcus Rashford though I have to say, I find it absolutely ridiculous that that sort of shit doesn’t even earn you a booking.

Fernandes was as predicted, a complete fucking rat, probably brought on today by Ten Hag’s team selection which meant he had to play slightly deeper than the little princess would’ve wanted, which of course became a necessity once Casimero got sent off. I do live for the day when someone just absolutely wipes the little fucker out or a referee just sends him off after 15 minutes or something.

Anthony Taylor Ponders Calling Out Pest Control

It was a good day for the back four and goalkeeper, especially for Baz, whose tip onto the post from Bruno‘s shot from the edge of the box was probably the main thing that earned us a point today. It’s another clean sheet and Bednarek managed to break his shite-decent-shite-decent run of performances. We looked pretty comfortable defensively even when United had 11 because before they made the substitution to bring on McTominay to stiffen the midfield, they had Wout Weghorst up front, who is absolute bollocks. At the end of his career it will list Manchester United as one of his former clubs and everyone will wonder how the fuck that happened. KWP did an excellent job at right back keeping the in-form Rashford very quiet both before and after the red card and Rashford in the end was restricted to one horrible fucking dive to try and win a penalty.

As said earlier, I have a bit of a dislike for United, which is mainly down to the entitlement of their fans, players and now, even the new manager.  Erik ten Hag‘s interview after the game was absolutely embarrassing. He was trying to question why Casemiro never got sent off in all the time he was playing for Real Madrid but he’s somehow been sent off twice for Manchester United.  If you don’t know why Erik, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought. He has grabbed a player round the throat (against Palace) and connected with a tackle halfway up the shin today. He has totally deserved the two red cards that he has got. Maybe he was running around flying into tackles today because you picked Bruno Fernandes to play next to him so he was flying around covering all the gaps. And as for moaning about United not getting a penalty. You know the rules you fucking idiot. 10 replays couldn’t prove that that ball had hit Bella-Kotchap’s arm so how is it controversial not to give it? Piss off.

United fans are also bitching about two perfectly fair tackles that KWP put in, one on the Rat and one on Garnacho.  This of course leads to the usual United thing whereby if you happen to have any black players in your team, their social media accounts will be bombarded with monkey emojis and other racist abuse. KWP seemed to be the main victim of that but ABK got it as well.  Maybe United could actually come out and say something and condemn this shit but I bet they don’t, like they didn’t two years ago when Alex Jankewitz got it – and of course they won that game 9-0!

Next up is Brentford, followed by Spurs at home which are two games that we are going to have to take four points from to keep in touch. We are looking better now and it’s the first time for a while we’ve strung two half decent performances in a row together and now the challenge is to extend that run to 5 or 6 games to give us a chance. In the short term, a win against Brentford or Wednesday will actually lift us out of the bottom three so that has to be the aim.  If that  happens, it will be interesting to see how other teams react to scoreboard pressure of actually being below the line.