EFL Championship Match 27 - Southampton 4 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Che Makes Himself Even More Popular in the Blue Half of Sheffield

Having had the best part of a two-week break from the Championship, we go again today with the visit of Sheffield Wednesday as the first round of fixtures repeats itself. In the opening game of the season, we have course had James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Tella in our ranks and we struggled to a 2-1 win at Hillsborough, courtesy of a late goal by Che Adams, added to an earlier goal off of Adam Armstrong‘s face.

Lots has happened since then: the aforementioned Ward-Prowse and Tella have both left and neither are playing in the upcoming AFCON, despite one of them declaring for Nigeria with that in mind. Saints have added the likes of Flynn Downes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Ryan Fraser to the team but more importantly, have become a proper team in the image of the manager Russell Martin and what is it now? 19 games unbeaten in all competitions.

Russell Martin had been nominated for Championship Manager of the Month for December but he didn't win it because Leicester got one more point and because it's Leicester.  No one should give a shit because who needs external validation for a 19 match unbeaten run - all the validation anyone needs is there in the league table.

Lots is also happened at Sheffield Wednesday who after 10 or so games, mainly defeats, fired the useless Xisco Munoz and replaced him with a manager who we know well in Danny Rohl, who was of course Ralph Hasenhuttl’s assistant at St Mary’s when he first arrived. A few weeks ago I was questioning why Rohl took what looked like a dead duck of a job at Wednesday but he has breathed new life into them and they are now showing the form of a mid-table side, despite still being in the bottom three courtesy of the Munoz start to the season. They have been picking up a few results recently against teams they would’ve been hopeful beforehand of picking up points against, but today is different for them as they are (cringe) playing one of the big boys of the division. Today’s result doesn’t define this season for them, it’s a bit of a free hit but it could make the difference between being just one point adrift in the relegation zone or being about seven if other results don’t go their way.

I was recently asked about players who played for both clubs and all I could come up with was David Hirst and Carlton Palmer from the 90s.  The most recent is Lloyd Isgrove – remember him?  Tiny winger who was never going to make it here, now at the age of 31, playing for Sholing.  He even had a spell at Portsmouth but never actually kicked a ball for them.  We have our own tiny winger now and he's a bit of an upgrade.

The transfer window has the course been open for nearly a couple of weeks and all Saints have done a sign a youngster from Ireland, Joe O'Brien Whitmarsh, who will go into the U21 squad, who had  game last night, with Sam Amo playing 45 minutes but interestingly, Tyler Dibling wasn’t in the squad so maybe we can expect some involvement from him this afternoon.

The Saints line-up was exactly as expected with Wee Man confirmed as the starting left winger.  Che Adams was restored to the centre forward slot with no shoehorning of Captain Jack into the side.  If anyone was wondering what Danny Rohl was going to pull at the start of this game then they got their answer straight away as four Sheffield Wednesday players flew in to the press as we passed the ball around until KWP knocked a ball to Baz and he took a horrific touch that Che Adams would have winced at and the ball went loose. Windass was taken by surprise and chested it down before Bednarek hoofed it off for a corner…. and we kind of got away with it.  This could be a difficult game if Wednesday keep this up. We don’t defend the corner particularly well either and Wednesday win a couple of headers before a looping effort at goal drops wide.

When Saints begin to play, Sheffield Wednesday drop-off and challenge us to break them down. THB chips are lovely ball over the defence for KWP on the right and his first time cross is met on the edge of the box by Ryan Fraser who volleys it down and into the ground and it’s actually going on target but he’s headed off the line by a defender. Oh, here we fucking go. The goalkeeper is wasting time for fuck‘s sake - with ten minutes gone.

Sheffield Wednesday are trying to play out from the goalkeeper but not really because if the ball goes to the big centre half Diaby, or back to the goalkeeper they just leather it up the pitch and we invariably pick up again.  Che Adams has an effort from 40 yards because he thinks he’s Pele or something. And he isn’t.

Half an hour gone and from an innocuous throw on the right, KWP hurls it down the line to where Adam Armstrong is on the move. He hooks across first time but Diaby has it covered, or rather, he does an impression of a crap ballet dancer and gets his feet all wrong, presenting the ball to Che Adams who dummies past the one remaining defender and buries it past Dawson who has absolutely no chance.  Off he goes, goading the massed ranks of Sheffield Wednesday supporters who were given him a hard time about having played for Sheffield United about 10 years ago.

Saints are flying now with KWP dribbling through a bunch of Sheffield Wednesday defenders before drilling in a diagonal shot which Dawson gets down well to push wide for about our tenth corner of the first half.  It comes to nothing like the previous nine.  Just before half-time and after a prolonged period of build-up, Adam Armstrong tries his luck from the right-hand side of the penalty area and it’s a decent effort but a couple of foot wide. Saints definitely looks determined to push on and put this going to bed but for now, it’s half-time.

No changes for Saints but Wednesday throw on a couple and show a bit at the start the second half with Bannon finding Gassama and then Fletcher, one of the subs, drives one hard and low and Baz saves easily enough.

Normal service is resumed with Smallbone breaking away on the right and his cross perfectly picks out Adam Armstrong who forgets how to control the football so has to settle for teeing up Che Adams who forgets that the goal is not thirty foot high as he lashes it into the Chapel End.  If the Chapel Stand hadn’t have been there, that ball would have landed somewhere near St Mary’s Church.

..And This One Wasn't Off My Face

Wednesday are now taking a few more risks but Saints break, which Diaby could stop but instead he makes another mistake and Adams sends Stuart Armstrong galloping away in the inside left channel and he gets his head up and finds Adam Armstrong in the middle with no one anywhere near him and unlike against Norwich last week, he picks his spot inbetween the goalkeeper and the post and the covering defender can only help into the net. 2-0 and you would think, game over.

We’re not concentrating from the kick off and Wednesday soon have another break and Flynn Downes gets back in trademark fashion and trashes Gassama on the edge of the box to pick up a yellow card, again. Windass smashes it from within the ‘D’ and it’s through the wall but straight at Baz he pushes it away comfortably enough.

Wednesday’s attacks get more sporardic and they end up in trouble from the next one as there is a quite brilliant ball out of defence by Bednarek to send Che Adams away and he plays it on to Ryan Fraser and his cross to the back post is met by Adam Armstrong but superbly cleared off the line by Bernard, to keep the score down.

It doesn’t take long though as KWP finds Smallbone, who flights a lovely ball over the left back for Adam Armstrong who drives forward, gets to the edge of the box before picking out a pass to Ryan Fraser running in and the Wee Man doesn’t have to adjust his wee legs stride pattern and just rolls into the net past Dawson. Brilliant goal, brilliant finish.

Wee Man's Gonna Get Yer

3-0 up and why not, it’s substitution time with Mara and Alcaraz coming on for Che Adams at Stuart Armstrong.  As they come on I’m thinking of how much of a luxury it is to have two Under 21 internationals from France and Argentina on the bench to bring on when the game is already dead.

Wednesday to be fair are still trying to play out from the back Will Vaulks tries and loses it to KWP.  He swaps passes with Alcaraz before having a little dart at the left back and then finds Fraser on the edge of the box and he pulls out a no-look reverse pass to send Adam Armstrong away, head up, low cross, Mara open goal, 4-0. Another brilliant goal.

In amongst the last of a flurry of subs in the last five minutes is Tyler Dibling’s league debut coming on for the Wee Man on the left wing.  First touch and he nutmegs a defender and sees his shot spin away for a corner.  He has a shuffling running style reminiscent of one of our greats of yesteryear… but maybe that’s just a conspiracy theory.

Hey Danny - At Least It Wasn't "Nein"

It’s becoming a routine now. One nil up at half-time, a couple of scary moments and then wear them out and bury them in the second half.  Sheffield Wednesday came with what looked like a game plan for the first five minutes and they pressed us aggressively with four players and from that they created glorious chance for themselves that we managed to get away with it, but then they seem to lose their bravery and just retreated back into their own half.  At various times they tried to press again but for me they kind of half-arsed it between both approaches and ended up not being great at either.  Once the first goal went in there was really only one winner to this game and the second half played out in exactly the same way as the second half’s against Blackburn, Swansea and Walsall have played out.

I thought Wednesdays physical approach was going to cause us problems in the first half, especially as the referee didn’t seem particularly interested in doing anything about it but eventually they couldn’t get near enough and their heads certainly went down when the second goal went in from Adam Armstrong.

And that’s what we have to start really, with Adam Armstrong. I still don’t see it sometimes and the first torch is often lacking and he gets knocked off the ball too easily but a goal and three assists in one game and nothing was off his arse or off his face today. What a performance that was.  The two passes for the two goals in the second half were brilliant in their simplicity. It seems to be such a difficult thing for a lot of players to do, actually pick out  team mate with a cross but the balls in to Sekou Mara and Ryan Fraser were a played in exactly the right direction and be played with the exact correct amount of pace to make the finish relatively simple. The assist for Che Adams, as mentioned earlier, was down to him being switched on from the throw whilst others were watching.  Oh yes, and he scored as well, with a finish that was placed past the goalkeeper into the corner, rather than just smashed in the general direction of the goal.

What I loved about our second half was that we were ruthless. Sheffield Wednesday had a couple of weak players in their defence. The left back was terrible and the big centre half couldn’t get near enough for anyone to use his physicality because he was too slow and he didn’t want the ball at his feet at all and we ruthlessly exposed that.

Ryan Fraser put in a ridiculous amount of work on the left wing and translated his effective twenty-minute cameo appearances into ninety of effective dangerous wing play, popping up all over the park and generally giving the Wednesday defenders nightmares. His involvement in the build up for second Mara‘s goal was quite exceptional and he again showed marvellous composure to finish his chance which he could easily have lashed at.

And what about that fourth goal? Win it back high, pass, pass, pass, reverse no-look pass, head up, pick him out, tap-in.  Love it.  It won't win goal of the season because those competitions can never look past a 25-yarder, in the same way that Manager of the Month awards don't look past the obvious.  Leicester lost today by the way. 

There were great performances all over the pitch to be honest and I’ll pick out a few.  THB and Bednarek are a Premier League ready centre back pairing and should we go up, that’ll be one position we don’t need to look at in terms of first team starters.  KWP again proved that he’s the best full-back in the league and seems to be playing at a faster pace than anyone else on his side of the pitch.  Flynn Downes again did his job effectively and won the couple of tackles that he had to make to stop potential Wednesday counters including a couple of efforts involving steaming in from half a pitch away and clearing everything out.  Marvellous.

Thinking About Counter Attacking Are You?

So, 19 unbeaten in the league and 20 overall and equalling the club record in the professional era.  We briefly went second for half an hour until Ipswich beat Sunderland but we are severely putting the pressure on now.  The team tasked with stopping us next is Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.  Our away form and more specifically, the lack of goals scored on the road is the one thing that we haven’t fixed as the season has gone on so far so with a number of away games coming up, now would be a good time.  Over to you Russell.

Up the fucking Saints

EFL Championship Match 1 - Sheffield Wednesday 1 Southampton 2

 

Can't Hear You Hillsborough!

Here we go for the opening day of the Championship season and a trip to Hillsborough to play Sheffield Wednesday. Those who remember the 90s will remember Sheffield Wednesday as being a big club in the Premier League, winning the League Cup and with players like David Hurst, Carlton Palmer, John Sheridan and Kevin Pressman and they were a match for anybody on their day. A gradual decline took place until the start of the 2000s when they were eventaully relegated and they have never been back.

Wednesday did, of course make a move in the right direction at the tail end of last season, winning the playoffs with 123rd minute winner against Barnsley at Wembley. The real story though was the playoff semi-final in which they lost the first leg 4-0 away at Peterborough and then beat them 5-1 at Hillsborough before eventually winning on penalties. Darren Ferguson was the manager of Peterborough, so that was quite funny.  Wednesday’s manager was of course Darren Moore who promptly left the club and after a period of no manager, during what was the shortest preseason ever, they appointed one of the 57 managers who have been at Watford in the last 10 years in Xisco Munoz who since he left Watford, has failed at every job he had.  Because of all this, Sheffield Wednesday are virtually everyone’s prediction to finish flat last in the Championship this season. I would say that for the first game of the season, predictions like that mean absolutely fuck all.

I don’t think it’s anyone’s choice to play a newly promoted side away from home in the first game, especially as it’s an evening game that should have a very lively atmosphere. Saints are going to get have to get used to the fact that everyone is going to see us as a scalp this year and we have to rise above that and let the football do the talking.

It does worry me slightly that we struggled with Wednesday’s physicality when we played them in the Carabao Cup last year and our team is full of lightweight nice boys who are going to have to stand up and compete.  Under Russell Martin we are of course expecting us to play a lot of football and dominate possession but it takes more than just that – you have to stand up to physical opponents and stick to your principles in difficult moments.

Tino - Remember the Good Times

Just when it looked like we were going to go into the first game with our squad intact and the players who had formed the expected first eleven from pre-season were all going to be available, along comes some Premier League wanker to change all that. Apparently, Tino Livramento was in the group expecting to travel to Sheffield and then all of a sudden he wasn’t, as Newcastle had a bid accepted by the club.

£40 million sounds like a lot of money for a player who has spent the best part of a year injured but of course we are not getting all of that as it appears that £11 million out of the initial £32 million paid, will go to Chelsea. This of course leaves us with £21 million now and maybe another £5 or £6 million of add-ons which I assume will be based around Newcastle doing well in Europe and in the Premier League. Personally, there is part of me that hopes we don’t get that money if that is the case.

Tino seems like such a nice lad, so it’s a shame to see him hooking up with the well-documented regime that funds Newcastle United. Forgetting all that for a minute, which of course is what we are all encouraged to do by Big Club Media Incorporated, career wise this is a good move for him, even though he is clearly not going to play every game this season. If Newcastle could come up with a big enough fee to satisfy Jason Wilcox and the club, Tino was always going to go as it was believed he was one of our lowest wage earners. He is probably now on twenty times the money that he was on at St Mary‘s and he will be playing in the Champions League this season and competing near the top of the Premier League. Sometimes, you can do nothing about it. The sell on percentage that we negotiated with Chelsea does in hindsight, seem to be incredibly hefty and it feels like we have been a bit short changed.

I have read some drawing parallels between Virgil van Dijk and Tino in that they were both long term injured, Saints got them fit and then they left.  The difference is that Tino wasn't negotiating with his new club the whole time the rehab was going on.  I can't help but wish him well - I wish he hadn't gone but as I said, feel it was inevitable.  Hopefully, the money we have brought in for Tino and the money for Mohammed Salisu, can be reinvested before the transfer window closes.

Team news and it’s pretty much as expected apart from the fact that Jan Bednarek has recovered and comes into the team in place of Shea Charles.  The midfield three of Smallbone, JWP and Alcaraz might be a bit lightweight but it’s got a lot of ability in it obviously and Tella and Edozie on the wings will hopefully give Wednesday a hard time. In the choice between Adam Armstrong and Adams up front, the former got the nod.

I knew that the refereeing was going to be interesting this season but I didn’t expect it to be as interesting as getting fucking Bobby Madley for the first game. My personal Bobby Madley memory involves a last-minute winner for Arsenal at the Emirates against us when he ignored about four offences and a head injury to allow Arsenal to play on and for him to give a dodgy penalty for fuck all against Jose Fonte.

Saints start the game as you’d expect, trying to keep the ball and pass it on the ground but one of our issues becomes apparent straight away as we lose the ball on the left-hand side, Smallbone doesn’t win the tackle as he should and Wednesday break. The cross comes into the box from Callum Paterson and it’s absolute fucking carnage with Bannon scuffing a shot across the penalty area and Saints taking about three goes to not clear it before it eventually gets smashed over the bar.

From our next attack however, Alcaraz picks up the ball on the left and feeds across to KWP on the right-hand side and he knocks it back 5 yards to Tella who takes a touch onto his left foot and has a go, curling it magnificently over the goalkeeper and into the far inside netting. Brilliant goal, fucking get in and fuck off Burnley. Top of the league, We are going up etc etc

Charly Spits on the Goal Review Panel

Straight from the kick-off, we win the ball back again and it’s pass, pass, pass and Alcaraz has picked it up about 30 yards out, slaloms forward and it looks for all the world like it’s going to nestle in the far corner but just wide.

The half chances keep coming as Tella tries the same trick again and narrowly over the bar this time. From the corner which is played short, Edozie sends a defender for a hotdog and in the carnage that follows Jack Stephens has a swing and it hits a defender on the line.

Sheffield Wednesday are now, unsurprisingly sticking the foot in a little bit but it seems that in the Championship you can get booked for tapping the ball away one yard but if you clatter someone five minutes late, it’s no problem. Josh Windass goes in very late on KWP and Bobby Madley does fuck all. Then he has another go and Bobby does fuck all again.

Six minutes of non-injury time and we are done with what was a very successful first half. A goal ahead and the only minor gripe is that it’s not more than one. News comes through at half-time that the opening goal has been credited to Adam Armstrong. When you see the replay you can see that Tella’s goalbound and on target effort, flicks off Armstrong as he runs across as he tries to get out of the way. Inconsistency is something that always bugs me and if he had been a defender and an on-target shot had flicked off him, then it would not be given as an own goal so it’s mildly irritating that this one goes to him, not that it really matters.

Supporting Southampton for a long time has conditioned me to know that we are not going to dominate the whole 90 minutes and that Wednesday will have their moments and it will probably be a set piece.

Wednesday upped the pace at the start of the second half, helped by Bobby not giving fouls in midfield and Windass wins a corner on the left. Over it comes and the giant Iorfa rises above Smallbone and nods it down and Gregory swings his foot at it and it’s into the corner of the net. For fuck‘s sake.

It was time for an interesting test to see whether Saints would just keep on playing the same way or whether things would change with the setback of conceding a goal. Reassuringly, normal service resumed with Saints passing the ball about and Alcaraz and JWP combine. But Tella scuffs the shot, which goes loose for a second but a Wednesday boot hammers it up field.

Edozie and Tella both try long-range efforts which fly over the bar before Edozie absolutely skins Patterson for about the fifth time but his cross is just a bit too far in front of JWP but reaches KWP at the back post but his shot goes narrowly wide. You would think it’s that it’s coming but equally, we could lose to one more set piece at the other end.

Stuart Armstrong is on for Alcaraz, who picked up a knock in heavy tackle earlier on that Bobby didn’t see as worthy of a free-kick. Stu is immediately flowing forward in magnificent fashion and a lovely ball through to Edozie who nearly sets up JWP.

Stu Armstrong then had a go from 20 yards, the shot narrowly rising about over the bar. Russell Martin decides that we need our best striker on the pitch as it’s time for Che Adams to replace Adam Armstrong and almost immediately, KWP slides a superb ball into JWP who has made an excellent forward run and his pass across the goal is knocked into the net by the substitute. Get the fuck in and all the shit that was raining down on him from the Hillsborough terraces for being an ex-Sheffield United player, suddenly went very quiet.

Get In

We reached a 90-minute mark with nine minutes extra being signalled for no really apparent reason and there’s no other way to describe this but to say that Saints kept the ball for nine minutes. Sheffield Wednesday literally had three touches as we knocked it around all over the place and they couldn’t get near us. Truth be told, they looked absolutely knackered and we just kept it. Absolutely ridiculous and even Bobby couldn’t add any extra time because the ball had hardly ever even been out of play.

Overall, you have to say that that’s a magnificent start of the season. It wasn’t perfect but then it was never going to be but the impressive thing is that in in five weeks Russell Martin has transformed us from the side who didn’t have the slightest fucking clue when it had the ball, to a team that is comfortable playing triangles all over the pitch, keeping possession in a calm and constructive manner.... with all bar one being the same players that were here last year.   The way we managed for nine minutes of injury time at the end of the second half was absolutely magnificent.  We strung together about 100 passes and Wednesday touched the ball three times. Ridiculous level of domination and a total vindication of that way of playing as Wednesday were completely knackered from chasing us around for ninety minutes.  I repeat, he's done this in five weeks... The last time we had a manager trying to instil his philosophy in five weeks, it was Nathan Jones. Absolutely hilarious.

Stuart Armstrong Looks On and Wonders is He Still Has the Most Magnificent Hair at the Club

There were eye-catching displays all over the pitch from us. The back four handled the admittedly intermittent threat from Wednesday very well and played with intelligence. When Wednesday replaced the striker and put a rapid guy up front, Stephens went tight and blocked him and Bednarek backed off.  It’s a small thing and it’s common sense but so many times over the last few years, we haven’t done it. The full-back areas were a major plus with Ryan Manning showing exactly why we bought him and KWP showing exactly why we should try and keep hold of him if we possibly can. He is far too good for the Championship however, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he follows Tino out of the door. If he does then we need someone else because I don’t want to be left with just James Bree.

Another major plus was Will Smallbone, with the fact that he weighs about eight stone not being an issue, as he glided through the game, barely wasting a pass and all the time, looking for the first time like he thinks that he belongs in the starting eleven.  JWP and Alcaraz and then Stuart Armstrong when he came on just added class to the midfield and constantly caused the massed ranks of Wednesday defenders a lot of problems.

The main plus for me however was the form of the wingers. Both Tella and Edozie sparkled when given the ball in the right areas. Tella of course, carried on his form from last season, smashing in the first goal and Edozie on the other wing was a revelation, selling so many hotdogs to Callum Patterson but he’s gonna need to open up his own hotdog van to get rid of the ones he can’t eat.

When we have possession, the centre backs were the first line with the full backs and Smallbone next. Then we had JWP and Alcaraz and then the three guys up from which enabled the wingers to stay really wide and get him 1 v 1 situations which the pair of them were very good at. The combination play on the right hand side between Tella, JWP and KWP was particularly impressive and you could begin to see how it will work just as well on the left hand side with Manning, Alcaraz and Edozie.

Initially I thought that Adam Armstrong was pretty poor upfront, without the first touch to be a massive problem to the Sheffield Wednesday defenders. His closing down was first class however.  On reflection, we need to work on releasing to ball to the striker so we a) know when to do it and b) the striker knows when it’s coming.  Armstrong made some runs and didn’t get the ball and on other occasions, the ball came in and he wasn’t moving.   We were crying out for Che by the time he came on and it took him all of about five minutes to score the goal that ultimately proved to be the winner, fired up as he was by Wednesday fans gave him a load of shit for having played for Sheffield United about six years ago. I would still rather that Che was our striker for this season if he really wants to be here, but if he goes then we absolutely have to buy a replacement.

It was a bit of a disappointment that we got to half-time only one goal in front but as soon as they conceded the first goal Sheffield Wednesday basically dropped into a 4-5-1 formation with very little space between the midfield and their back four, because Munoz was clearly worried about us absolutely battering them at that point. To be fair to Munoz, it nearly worked of course with the goal from the set piece which was as predictable as it comes from virtually their first visit to our penalty area.

The strength we had to come on from the bench in the shape of Che Adams and Stuart Armstrong and the hard work we put in with the passing and pressing, meant that Wednesday were always going to crack because they struggled to keep tracking the runners which is what left JWP free in a penalty area to square the ball for Adams to score.

We of course want to keep hold of as many of the players who started today as possible. The more we can keep, the better our chances of making an immediate return to the Premier League. If we can continue this good start and the style of football successfully, and it may sway a few of the players to stick around. However, the untold riches of the bigger Premier League clubs may say otherwise.

Anyway, that’s for another day – for now, this was a great start.

EFL Cup 3rd Round - Southampton 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1 (Saints win 6-5 on pens)

 

We. Are. Massive.

With everything being about Ralph Hasenhuttl leaving the club on Monday and the reported incoming Nathan Jones, it’s been somewhat difficult this week to remember that there’s a game going on.

It’s EFL Cup time and our manager for the day will be Ruben Selles who joins other such luminaries as Kelvin Davis, Jason Dodd, Dean Wilkins, Dennis Wise and Dave Bassett as people who have been caretaker managers for us.  The fact that none of them got offered the job in the end tells you they were probably all a bit crap. Ruben has a very winnable game tonight against a Sheffield Wednesday side, whose priority this year will be to get promoted out of League One.  Hopefully they achieve it as that would be one less spot available for the lot down the road.  Darren Moore is the Wednesday boss these days and he’s always struck me as a decent guy, despite having played for the lot down the road in the past.  We last played Sheffield Wednesday at this stage of the competition 10 years ago, which turned out to be fairly easy 2-0 win for us with two goals from Jay Rodriguez.

It will of course be interesting to look for any tactical changes today, to what has gone before. Personally, I don’t think you’ll see more effort from the team because I don’t see that any of them have been phoning it in particularly.  With the potential new manager in the stand though, hopefully those playing tonight will be determined to put their hand up.  Personally, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t put out as strong a side as we can today, seeing as we only have one more game before the World Cup break and we also have only about four players who are going to the World Cup at most.

All eyes will be on the stands because prospective new manager Nathan Jones has been speaking to the club today and it’s hard to imagine that he won’t be in attendance if he is at all likely to take the job. It seemed like a formality on Monday that he would be installed as the new manager but in his interview after managing Luton to a 2-0 defeat at Stoke on Tuesday, suggested that it’s not particularly a done deal, even though we all know how football works and we all know that it probably is. The fact that no other names are being mentioned anywhere as prospective managers, is quite telling.

The first action of the game is a shot by Barry Bannan, who has a reputation for being Sheffield Wednesday‘s best player and he drills in a shot with his left foot which Macca has to save down at the near post before we scramble it away, or to be more accurate, Lyanco smashes it 3 miles straight up in the air.

We go into Shambles Mode as Salisu and then Adam Armstrong gave the ball away and Sheffield Wednesday break through midfield, one pass though in much the same way as Newcastle did last week and there is Josh Windass in on McCarthy and he drills in the near post to make it 1-0 and deservedly so. Fucking hell we are crap.

Our shite forward play means that our best moments come from set pieces usually, won by Edozie going past Patterson at right back getting hacked over.  JWP whips one in from the left hand side and Aribo gets up to flick goalwards but Stockdale takes off to claw really good save out of the top corner.

I repeat - we are crap. No movement at all from the front players with only Edozie looking remotely interested in that part of the pitch. He takes on the cart horse Patterson at right back and gets absolutely flattened in a “Don’t Nutmeg me again you little bastard” kind of way.  Unpeturbed, as half time approaches, Edozie again skips past players in midfield and gets hacked down at the referee plays a good advantage and Mara pushes it out wide to Djenepo. There is a notable lack of anticipation when Djenepo gets the ball because he’s been fucking useless so far but he takes on the fallback, a quick step over and he gets carted over. Penalty.  Mara wants to take it but there’s only one man who is going to and JWP drills it down the middle to send us undeservedly in 1-1 at half-time.

Perraud in on for Salisu at left back after the break which was obviously a premeditated half-time switch and it’s noticeable that Sheffield Wednesday have changed to double up on Edozie to try and save Patterson from getting sent off.  Nothing much happens, nor looks likely to happen so more subs come on with Walcott is on for Aribo, who probably reaches his top speed of the evening jogging off to be substituted and Djenepo is taken off to be replaced by Maitland-Niles.

Watching League 1 sides trying to play the way through the press is always quite amusing and Sheffield Wednesday work it back to Stockdale who then plays an absolute shit of a pass straight to Theo Walcott who manages, with unerring Che-like accuracy to hit the one defender on the line and the ball bounces off the prone Stockdale‘s head back to Walcott and he gets a second go at it and hits the same defender on the line so he’s managed to miss two chances without the goalkeeper actually being in the goal at any point.

More subs with Stuart Armstrong and Elyounoussi on for a Edozie and Mara.  Saints are considerably better now with Stuart Armstrong on the pitch and he plays a 1-2 with JWP which wins a free kick on the right hand side as the skipper is hoiked over.  After a bit of a break for a Wednesday injury, JWP takes it short and no one has noticed Stuart Armstrong on the edge of the box and he clatters in a shot which bounces off the bar, hits Caleta-Car and flies over the bar.

We are actually building up a head of steam as we approach the last five minutes with JWP firing just wide via a deflection. The final chance sees Maitland-Niles put Stuart Armstrong away on the right and he beats two before pulling it back to Walcott who brings a decent save out of Stockdale.  That is the final action of the game and mercifully we don’t have to watch another half an hour and it goes straight to penalties.

JWP – No concerns at all, high into the net 1-0

Smith – Macca gets hand to it, still goes in, 1-1

Elyounoussi – 100% confident for some reason – sends keeper the wrong way easily, 2-1

Bannan – left footed players always look more likely to miss for me…. Bang, Macca wrong way, good pen, 2-2

Diallo – oh this will be one of those horrible stutter jobs…potential miss here…. goal, keeper wrong way, nice. 3-2

Johnson – another left footer.. chance… not the best pen but Macca’s dived the wrong way… bollocks, 3-3

Maitland-Niles – oh fucking hell, not fancying this one at all,…. Stupid fucking stutter, more stutter, he’s gonna fall over…. Goal, keeper wrong way.  Christ it looks shit but it worked, 4-3

Volkes – Big run up here… smashed it, Macca gets a bit of it but no chance, 4-4

Adam Armstrong – Hmmm, only ever seen him miss them…. Keeper wrong way again, nice pen, 5-4

Gregory – Identical the one above, easy, 5-5

Surely it’s Lyanco time…. Oh fuck me it’s Theo.  Didn’t we establish that he’d never scored one in his career when he missed at Chelsea a couple of seasons back?.... bang, high into the net, keeper wrong way again… well well well, probably the best one of the lot, 6-5


Iorfa – big centre back – this is the one…. Bang, Macca goes the right way, hits him, Southampton win 6-5 on penalties against the League 1 Side at home – We. Are. Massive.

Through to the next round we go with a far from convincing performance.  That’s a polite way of saying ‘dogshit’.  I wonder what Nathan Jones impression of that would’ve been from his seat in the Itchen stand.

The first half in particular was absolutely fucking dismal as we were out-played by a League One side and deservedly behind until we got the gift of a penalty right on half-time due to a rush of blood tackle from a defender who clearly didn’t know that if you let Djenepo do all his step overs and shit, there is no need to make a tackle as you just let him tackle himself.

The second half was better with the introduction of a few players from the bench but ultimately we didn’t score and then won the penalty shoot-out with what has to be said, six really good penalties which the Wednesday keeper didn’t get anywhere near.

Wednesday were a thoroughly decent side.  Physically imposing and they could play as well.  We certainly couldn't handle them in the first half and they deserved to take the game as far as they did.  It's still a good night for them despite the defeat as they will leave with a good feeling about themselves and free to concentrate on promotion.  Good luck to what is a huge club.

The watching Nathan Jones will have got a picture of those players who are nowhere near the required level to do a job in the Premier League.  I think at this stage we all know Ibrahima Diallo, Adam Armstrong and Moussa Djenepo are firmly in that category with no hope of getting out of it and Sekou Mara again proved that he is nowhere near the level required at present.  With Armstrong and Mara giving us the cutting edge of a spoon, it goes to show the problems we have at the top end of the pitch because it only leaves Che Adams and he has his well documented “hit the goalkeeper from anywhere“ issues. Theo Walcott actually looked more lively than both Armstrong and Mara but anyone thinking that he is the answer is not really paying much attention.

The new manager is going to have to try and make us silk purse out of a sows ear in the same way that Ralph had to and good luck with that. We have all been focusing on Ralph’s failings over the past few months but him not being there today really left me to concentrate on how poor some of our players are.  I have gone from slightly concerned to very concerned about Joe Aribo. In front of the almost certain new manager today, he really looked like he could barely raise a jog. I know he has a languid style but that only covers up so much.  

A couple of players will have impressed. Alex McCarthy had a decent game in goal though I would argue that he didn’t make Josh Windass‘ finish as difficult as it should’ve been as he seemed to drive one way and leave the near post open.  Though relatively untested, the centre back pairing of Lyanco and Caleta-Car were solid enough and Perraud and Stuart Armstrong had strong showings as subs. JWP had a decent game in midfield, hamstrung that we was by the lack of movement upfront apart from Sam Edozie, who in the first half, was the only attacking player worth watching.  

There was a classic incident in the first half when JWP picked up the ball and he was looking to pass it forward. Saints had three players in front of him, namely Armstrong, Mara and Aribo and they were all stood still, marked, doing absolutely fucking nothing.  JWP looked up three times before eventually he knocked it sideways to Edozie to run at the right back.  Edozie got past him and got the ball over and the same three players were all stood about 15 yards out and there was nobody attacking the ball. Football basics. Not fucking good enough.  To score goals at any level of football if you show intent, be that intent to have a shot or intent to get yourself into the box. That’s the biggest problem that the new manager has to fix.

A relatively flat uninspiring performance all told, rescued by a penalty on 45 minutes and six penalties in the shoot-out.  Everything’s fine though because next up is Liverpool away. Assuming it’s Jones, it’s the perfect game for Nathan Jones to cut his teeth because there is zero expectation of a result from the fan base and this won’t be his team.  It is however the one and only game that he has got it before the results become paramount if we want to stay as a Premier League club and keep the Sports Republic project moving forwards. Now of course, we have the next round of the EFL cup before our next league game after the World Cup but that is really a must win as well because of the feel good factor that it would bring being in the Quarter-final of a cup competition.

What The Fuck Have I Done?

So – Thursday and Nathan Jones was confirmed as the new manager but as I said earlier, everyone knew he was coming from the afternoon of Monday, when Ralph was sacked in the morning. In my opinion it’s quite a big risk because of the lack of Premier League experience which I would’ve thought would’ve been needed, given the inexperienced nature of our squad.  Okay, having a big name is not the be all and end all, as we’ve seen with Steven Gerrard being shite at Villa recently, but it does worry me that whilst everyone has to start somewhere and Nathan Jones may in time proved to be a very capable manager at Premier League level - I do wonder if that’s what we need right now, given the issues we have.  I do understand that it’s Sports Republic’s modus operandi to search the long grass and do something different. They don’t need me to remind them that the whole project falls on its arse or succeeds, based on how well the first team does in the next 25 games.  We of course need to hit the transfer window hard in January and Nathan Jones’ lack of profile won’t exactly be an advantage.  I’m not exactly sure about the appointment but we have no choice but to see how it goes and where it takes us.

The game tonight was uninspiring, the managerial choice could also be said to be uninspiring on the face of it but all we can do is look forward to Liverpool on Saturday, the next round of the EFL (League 1 Lincoln City at home) and hope that Sport Republic have got the right man.   Let’s get behind him and see what he can do.  Up the fucking Saints.

Capital One Cup 3rd Round - Southampton 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Ron Jeremy - Sheffield Wednesday Legend

It’s the Capital One Cup 3^rd Round and we welcome Dave Jones and his Sheffield Wednesday side to SMS.  Jones of course is one of our ex-managers and so conversation around me before the game was of some of the players he signed; for every Stuart Ripley, Lee Todd and Stig Johansen, there was a Marian Pahars.  Always a solid if unspectacular manager, he got Sheffield Wednesday over the line and promoted to the Championship last season, having taken over from Gary Megson who is universally hated at every club he’s ever been at I think.

Our team is full of changes as you’d expect with Gazza in goal and Superkelv on the bench as it’s the norm to have your second choice keeper in goal for these Cup games and your third choice on the bench.  The defence was interesting with Frazer and Yoshida both starting, the latter in partnership with Big Jos so I’m guessing that Nigel is looking at which centre back pairing looks the best.  At left back we have Dan Seaborne which has endless comedy potential, especially as Michail Antonio plays down that wing.  Chappers, Corky and JWP make up the midfield with J-Rod up top, flanked by Guly and Steeeeeeeve.

I’d had some fun getting into the ground as I’d ordered a ticket online on Saturday and chosen the postal delivery option.  The online system is decent now as you can chose a specific seat rather than a block so I reasoned it would be decent enough to know not to offer the postal option if it was too close to the game.  Wrong.  The ticket didn’t arrive Monday or Tuesday so I had to get to the ground and join a mile long queue to get a reprint or so I thought.  Turns out that they hadn’t mailed it out at all and it was behind the desk anyway.  Look you buggers, don’t allow me to choose the mail option if it’s not available then I won’t spend loads of time ringing home to see if it’s there yet.  My ticket was in Ticket Office 3 and it was pure luck that I was in that queue as no one was announcing what queues to get in until about 15 minutes before kick off when the queues were already massive.  Piss up, brewery.

The game starts in confident fashion for Saints but one players is struggling somewhat with our ‘total football’ philosophy as Seaborne’s first three touches consists of a massive hoof down the wing which goes over Steeeve’s head and out of play and two passes across the penalty area which put Big Jos in shit so deep he needed a shovel to dig himself out.

We get our first decent chance on the quarter hour as Jack Cork plays a great ball through to J-Rod who controls it perfectly on the run but hits it straight at Bywater in the Wednesday goal.  At our end, Wednesday get to lob a free kick into the mixer after a Seaborne carthorse foul on the edge of the box and Gazza has a little flap but recovers well and the danger passes.

It was always fun when we were in League 1 and to a lesser extent the Championship, to notice a player because I hadn’t heard of him previously and because he was utter, utter shite.    Sheffield Wednesday have a player who has all the ingredients to make him a figure of ridicule.  He’s fat, he’s slow, he has long hair and suggestions of a tache and on top of all that, he is the requisite standard as a footballer.... really, really shite.   His name is Pecnik apparently and he looks a bit like Ron Jeremy (see picture above or Google it if you’re not at work).  It starts off with an accidental collision when Guly is not aware of what’s around him and runs straight into him.   Ron Jeremy goes down like only a porn star can and writhes around on the ground like he’s been shot, only getting up 5 minutes later when the ref comes over.  Ron signals that he thought he was elbowed and away we go – no you weren’t mate, you were just run over by a drink driver.

Wednesday should have taken the lead when Antonio went through chasing a bouncing ball shoving Frazer out of the way and though he got there in front of Gazza, he lifted it onto the roof of the net.  After that it all went a bit route 1 as the Wednesday defence failed to deal with a big Gazza punt forward and Guly got there first, only to see Bywater again get himself in the way.   We do look like the more likely to score and do so on the half hour and Chappers fed a ball into J-Rod who left his marker looking very very amateurish with a superb turn before drilling across Bywater into the far side of the net.  Lovely finish.

The goal has lifted us and deflated Wednesday and it’s nearly 2-0 straight after as de Ridder tricked his way down the wing and unusually and surprisingly, picked out a player with the cross as Guly headed against the base of the post.   Ron Jeremy has another comedy moment at our end when he played an airshot and Michail Antonio shows probably why we didn’t really want to sign him.  If you dive in on him then he’ll go round you but lay off him like Maya and Jos were doing and he’ll eventually leave the ball behind.  We will forever be grateful for his performance in the JPT final though.  With all the talk of Ron Jeremy, I’ve failed to notice the Wednesday No.10 who is another who looks like he has fitness ‘issues’.  Either that or he’s wearing a Large Boys sized shirt.

It’s all pretty comfortable as we reach half time 1-0 up and the three Wednesday fans who are sat behind me decided to go and sit somewhere else for the second half which begins after a Wednesday substitution with Joe Mattock coming on.. He was on loan at the Skates last year but does anyone care? No.  Having laughed at the technique and ability of Ron Jeremy, it did occur to me that he’d probably score (as Ron always does) and he came pretty close with a volley from the edge of the box which just cleared the bar.... or as Ron’s says in his movies “I surprisingly smashed one into the box from miles out but finished hitting an onlooker in the face”.  OK, that’s enough Ron Jeremy, I promise.  He gets another shot on target soon after which Gazza tips wide and Big Jos has his bid for his usual Tuesday night goal saved by Bywater after the Big Dutchman gets his head onto a Guly free kick.  It then all gets abit surreal as Steeeeve feeds Seaborne who flies down the wing and fires over a superb cross which just goes over J-Rod’s head.  Fair play to the makeshift left back.

Just after the hour mark, Wednesday make another substitution with the Fat No 10 going off and they announce his name as Chris Maguire.  Hang on, is that the same Chris Maguire who scored that one in a million goal for the Skates against us last year?  If so, I don’t remember him being that fat.  Anyway, he’s off now for a pie and a cake and Chris O’Grady is on and I remember him being a right handful for Rochdale when he played and scored in that unforgettable 2-0 home defeat we had against them in League 1.

The motivation levels for some players seem to have dropped for Saints and it’s no surprise to see Guly hauled off as he’s spent the last 10 minutes looking like he really couldn’t be bothered.  His replacement is Ben Reeves who is 4 foot 6 but he’s keen as mustard and is soon flying around wanting to be involved in everything.   Jack Cork gives everyone a scare by not getting up after a tackle but he walks off comfortably enough to be replaced by another youngster, Andy Robinson who in contrast to Ben Reeves, is a big unit.

Talking of big units, I mentioned Villa’s Benteke on Saturday as a massive great guy who went down under the slightest touch... today I give you Gary Madine who scored for Carlisle against us in the JPT final and is huge but not huge enough to be writing around on the floor in agony after the slightest touch from Maya Yoshida.  Make no mistake, this was not a flying Ninja dropkick of death or anything like that.  Get up you big ponce.

We put the game to bed soon enough when following some quality League 1 hoofage from Seaborne, the ball breaks to Steeeve who bundles past Mattock who falls over and clumsily knocks Steeeeve over.  It looks a clear penalty to me so I have no idea why they’re all giving the ref a hard time.   Mark Halsey is the ref and I assume that no Wednesday fans will be sending him ‘hate’ through Twitter which is what Liverpool fans do.  Up steps J-Rod and smashes his penalty to the left and Bywater does really well to get to it but it spins underneath him and rolls into the other side of the net.  Not emphatic like you know who… but who cares.  This game is dead.

Ben Reeves’ identical 4ft 6 blonde twin (who we grew in the same laboratory at Staplewood) Sam Hoskins comes on for J-Rod who picks up a slight knock before he has chance to think about a hat-trick and the game peters out with Wednesday testing Gazza with a few late chances which come about largely because we’ve lost our holding midfield player (Corky) and no one has really stepped into the breach.  Game over... 2-0.  Easy

It really was an easy win in keeping with many of the home games we’ve had over the past three years.  I’m not complaining one bit because any win we get in the league this year is going to be anything but easy.  Due to our recent past it was interesting to be more awareof the opposition players than I would otherwise have been even if two of them were Skates and one was a porn star.  Having watched the whole game, Ron Jeremy obviously has a bit of ability which he showed in the second half and it turns out that he’s an international for Slovenia so he can’t be that shite.

If Nigel Adkins was looking for fringe players to impress to step up then I’d say that J-Rod was a standout but as we know, the chances of him getting the centre forward role in a league game are dependent on Sir Rickie getting injured or suspended.  It’s nice to know that we at least have him as a like for like physical presence to come in so we don’t have the change the entire way the team plays if Sir Rickie is missing.

Gazza did well in goal despite a couple of flapping expeditions from his goal line.  He looks to have all the tools in the locker and has a personality which is going to make him very popular.  on the downside, he has that ponytail thing which Chappers really should sort out for him.  All he lacks at the moment is the presence in the penalty area which only comes with experience.  Artur Boruc has this in spades so though Gazza will probably start at the weekend, expect the Holy Goalie in nets as soon as he’s fit enough.  The centre back decision will be interesting – Maya looks comfortable with either of the others and Jos and Jose are decent together.  Everton have a quick striker in Anichebe and an aerial threat in Fellaini and his wig.   Jos is probably the best in the air of the three but he’s the most vulnerable against a quick striker.  If it was down to me, I’d start with Jose and Maya with Frazer and Nathaniel Clyne at full backs.  James Ward-Prowse was decent in midfield today and Chappers and Corky did what we knew they would, same as Steeeeve and Guly who were their usual part-genius, part-what-the-fuck-was-that.  of the two you'd have to say that Steeeeve had the better game today but they both need to ‘do a Puncheon’ and play to somewhere near their potential on a regular basis to elevate themselves from 'squad player' status.  Sound obvious really and that’s because it is… I never said I was clever.

Dave Jones has a job on at Sheffield Wednesday.  I dunno how many of what played today was their usual starting line up but having lost 4 in a row in the league, I can’t imagine he would have been taking this game lightly, or have been very impressed by what he saw from his side out there.  I thought Bywater did well in goal but other than that, not a lot really, apart from Ron of course.

On my way back to car across the Itchen Bridge I was looking out over the water and pondering the important questions.  Can we get anything away at Everton on Saturday and who is giving Guly a lift home right now?

League 1 Match 35 - Southampton 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0

"I believe in Entertaining Football"

5.20 is a bloody stupid time to kick off as you lose track of where you’re supposed to be and at what time. It was about 4pm and I was in Royal Victoria Country Park trying to get the kids to cycle in the general direction of the car and getting very agitated with the dog who was having none of my ‘come here and you’ll get a biscuit’ logic. Little bastard.

In a week that had seen another win for Huddersfield and another win for Peterborough, we had been in the papers due to Nigel making an enquiry to Reading about trying to sign former Saints trainee Brian Howard. As we all know, Saints don’t talk about transfer business until the deal is done but that doesn’t stop the gobshites at other clubs like Brian McDermott who prefer to be in the papers. Nigel’s admission that he was looking to the loan market in the light of Oscar the Ninja’s tackle last week meant it was a veritable feast for the Echo who actually had something to dig into. Other news is that our game on Saturday v Plymouth has been called off as Plymouth have 3 international call ups – Scilly Isles B, Hayling Island U-21s and Isle of Wight U-14s. This is a bit of a joke really but rules are rules I guess. It’s a right pain though as it loads another game into April but at least Alex Chamberlain will be available for us.

Due to the aforementioned crap kick off time, we had the benefit of knowing the other scores with Huddersfield only drawing and Bournemouth continuing their implosion with their 3rd defeat on the bounce. Brighton were playing as well but to be honest, they don’t even register on the radar any more. They won and we aren’t going to catch them.

To Sheffield Wednesday and a reminder that at the start of the season, I predicted them to be one of our main challengers at the top of the league. Got that a bit wrong didn’t I. Their manager, Alan Irvine was sacked and the best they could come up with as a replacement was Gary Megson. One day in the future when I write a best-seller called “Football People I Don’t Like”, Gary Megson will get a mention. He was a horrible player, did nothing except hold your shirt and niggle, the kind you have to hate and he played for fucking Norwich amongst others. As a manager, I think it’s safe to assume that his team talks will never include the word ‘entertainment’, nor the phrase ‘passing on the floor’. He’s the manager your club gets in when it’s already completely fucked as he gives disgruntled fans a new hate figure and they stop going on about the Chairman / Board etc. I bet the Owls fans were delighted when he got put in charge, only consoling themselves with the fact that it could have been Iain Dowie. Megson’s loan signing for this week is Gary Jones who is a 6 foot 5 ish monster of a centre half – wasn’t going to be a creative midfielder was it… When I was on the way to the game, I was approaching the stadium with a chant of “You’ve only come to see the Wednesday” ringing in my ears. You’ve gotta love that haven’t you.

Saints have kept it simple with the same starting XI as against Bournemouth. The bench sees the return of The Gulyman and the Bartman and it also sees the pointless inclusion of both Seaborne and Martin when one or the other would be fine. What’s happened to Ryan Dickson – surely a better option.

We start well with Sir Rickie turning the centre back only to be dragged back for a yellow card. Following his free kick against Bournemouth last week we were hopeful and though he hit the target, the 14 year old keeper gathered well. Ten minutes of nothing much and Saints created the next chance when Butters overhit a ball down the line to Chaplow who was alert enough the collect the rebound off the corner flag and feed Lallana, whose shot was saved.

Oohs and Ahhs on 25 minutes as a corner was headed up in the air, expertly chested down and flicked against the post by Radhi Jaidi who had already been flagged for offside. Wednesday were trying to funnel all our attacks down the middle where all of their 11 players were. We needed to get wide but for some reason, we went narrow in midfield with Adam in the hole and Chappers and Alex narrow in midfield. As a result of this we handed initiative to Wednesday for who Teale and Osbourne were playing with purpose and the former in particular was looking good until it came to passing the ball to a team mate. Half time arrived at the end of another poor fifteen minutes or so and not much threat from either side.

At half time I listened in to the Chuckle Brothers giving it some serious inane drivel. Today I will focus on the one who made duck noises through his programme. Like I’ve said, he thinks he’s funny – much like the embarrassing old uncle who you see at weddings and you have to go and talk to him cos your mum makes you, even though it is generally accepted by all that he is a complete wanker. Duck Noise Bloke’s specialist ‘humour’ is spoonerisms. You know, when you swap the start of one word with the start of the next ... Chish and Fips, Bate Skastards etc. It’s only funny when you do it by accident – just yelling out ‘Licky Rambert’ in the middle of a game during a quiet bit is not funny. Likewise, saying ‘Pit the Loast’ when Jaidi hit the post, is not funny either. Wucking Fanker.

Second half and we always play better in the second half don’t we? I thought we’d taken the lead on 50 minutes when an attack was half cleared and Hammond hit a superb shot arrowing towards the bottom corner but the keeper got down well to palm it wide. The goal was coming though and it was a very direct goal in the end as Chamberlain’s left wing corner was powerfully met by Jose Fonte who got above Jones and bulleted it past the keeper.

Megson responds to going 1-0 down by taking off their best player. As Osbourne departs, I assume he must be injured. Before too long it’s 2-0 and game over as Barnard bursts past a couple on the right before seeing his shot deflected up and falling to Sir Rickie who adjusts his feet well and smashes it in the net, giving the keeper no chance. It’s a fabulous bit of technique and makes me ponder how good Sir Rickie could be if he got himself really fit and firing.

A riot is threatening to be run now and Chappers cuts in from the right and floats in a cross over the where Lallana meets it first time and drills it against the near post.
Sheffield Wednesday make another sub and the Northam Stand 11 year olds shout ‘Who?’ when Darren Potter’s name is read out. They probably don’t realise that he used to play for us and they also probably don’t realise that he’s really not going to make a difference.

Chambo is about to be substituted so he runs at the full back and cuts in again before curling a left footed shot which is going in the top corner until the keeper sticks out his right arm and expertly claws it away. Off goes Alex to be replaced on the wing by The Gulyman.

Guly is showing all of his Samba skill and making an impression as the game dies down. Then he works himself free on the right and from the bye-line, swings his right foot at the ball to deliver a cross, only to nudge it with his left foot first. The resulting airshot results in him falling in a heap on the ground, in a display of Gobernesque uncoordination. As he got to his feet, he acknowledged the crowd with wave and a smile so fair play, a sense of humour. The next time the ball was played to him, he superbly flicked it round the full back and was hauled down to earn the full back a yellow card from the moron with the whistle.

Johnno Pace comes on for Barney with a few minutes left but has no time to make an impression and Lallana, our most skilful player, is replace like-for-like with Danny Seaborne ?!!?!?! A word too for the ref and the word is ‘twat’. The best refs are the ones you don’t notice but we all noticed this guy. Lambert and Barnard get hammered all game and were given nothing and Wednesday get given a free kick every time Jose or Radhi even jump. I know it’s the oldest whinge in the book to say the ref was biased but sometimes.... Still, he got the final whistle right and another 3 points in the bag.

As we filed out down the stairs I got a little accidental shove off of Duck Noise Bloke as he filed onto the gangway. It was a glorious opportunity to lean on him and give him a little nudge down the stairs. I’m not going to tell you if I did it or not.

It’s another game and another win in which we played as well as we had to in order to get the points. Some may criticize the performance but I bet the Huddersfield fans wish they’d played averagely and ground out a win today. It was relatively easy in the end as Wednesday had very little to offer. Defensively they were ok and Osbourne looked a monster in midfield until he went off. Creatively though, they were non-existent with some energy from Teale and Madine but the end product was just not there. They had no idea once we went in front and seemed to want to hold onto a 0-2 scoreline for the last 20 minutes. It’s a worry for them as they are a massive club with a massive ground and a big history. As we know very well though, you get morons running the club though and see where it gets you.... still, we’d only come to watch the Wednesday and the Wednesday weren’t very good.

Nigel diverted from buses and went horse racing for today’s analogy, likening us to Red Rum, being miles behind but winning the race. We’re racing for second place though Nigel unless Brighton are Devon Lock and fall over right on the line.

On Tuesday we have Charlton and Bradley Wright-Phillips away. After a resurgence when Chris Powell was appointed, they’ve been losing every week so it’s another game where we have to go there believing we can win and win we must. As I write, Peterborough are playing the Fake Dons – come on you Fakes!.