FA Cup 6th Round - Wigan 0 Southampton 2

Well There's a Shock - We Attack, We Win

Sunday lunchtime and live on the BBC for Manchester City versus Southampton. Oh no, City fucked it up and lost to Wigan, causing all the TV executives to gnash their teeth and wonder how can they can go about actually rigging the matches as well as the draw for the next round in future. If Saints had of been playing Manchester City then you could be sure that the impartial TV commentary would be completely biased towards the big club. As we are now playing Wigan, you can be sure that the TV commentary will be completely biased towards the small club. Such is life.

No sooner had Mauricio Pellegrino and his faceless, nameless coaching staff exited the building, then the rumours that Mark Hughes was taking over started. It took a  couple of days but then the man who had a brilliant career as a player and a decent but not spectacular career as a manager took over. Brilliant player and unspectacular as a manager - reminds me of Ronald Koeman who of course did pretty well as our manager.  Hughes is of course a former Saints player, playing a couple of years at The Dell as his career was winding down.  In his first season, we played him upfront and his legs had gone so he struggled to have much of an impact but in the second season he played in the central midfield area with Chris Marsden Football Genius and played as if his life depended on it. That particular season culminated in the Dellhurst Park game where he and Marsden covered every blade of grass.

Many don’t have any fond memories of his time as a player with Saints but if you had a career playing for Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Barcelona and you rocked up at the Dell in the later 90s with Dave Jones as your manager, you might think you’d find it pretty hard to be motivated but Hughes wasn’t like that. The good news is that I can’t imagine he will tolerate any shit attitudes from the players currently wearing the red and white shirt. He may not be everyone’s first choice as manager but we are in a shit position and in that shit position, we are not going to be able to attract anyone obviously better. So to be perfectly honest, I am pretty pleased with the appointment and though he has only signed a contract for the rest of the season, I cannot imagine for a second that if we stay up, he won’t be our manager next season. To be fair, he will have earned it.

Before he was appointed, I was asked a question on Twitter about naming a quality that you want from a new Saints manager. I somewhat flippantly replied that I wanted a manager who could speak English to a standard that didn’t send me to fucking sleep. I didn’t realise what a breath of fresh air listening to his first interview would be. It was about 14 minutes long and I listened to the whole lot, first time, without wanting to punch the screen in or kick the cat or punch a wall. The cat is very pleased with the appointment

So, Wigan away and a team that has already knocked out Manchester City, West Ham and Bournemouth so this really isn’t going to be easy.  With a 1.30pm kick off, the team was due to be announced at 12.30pm.  One hour before kick off was a time of dread for Saints fans as you prepared for the latest nonsense from Pellegrino – would Hughes be any different – here it comes – McCarthy…. Usual back 4…. Hojbjerg and Lemina… no Romeu… interesting…. Tadic… again…sigh!... Boufal, Gabbiadini, Carrillo.  Fucking hell, 2 strikers AND Boufal.  What the fuck is this?  A strange sensation – I feel happy.  There is an hour to go before kick off and I feel happy.  I like this – it’s strange but I like it.  Even if Gabbi plays in midfield, I like it.

Wigan have some ex-Pompey connections with Gary Roberts up front and Paul Cook as the manager.  Whisper it quietly but I used to enjoy listening to Cook’s interviews when he was Skates manager – he seemed likeable and a ‘no bullshit’ decent guy which is some trick to pull when you’re managing the Fish Fuckers.  Wigan also have Will Grigg up front who scored the winner against Manchester City but is more famous for having a song adapted for him which caught on when he was part of the Northern Ireland squad that went to Euro 2016.  Hopefully he will not be ‘on fire’.

Away we go on a bitterly cold, snowy day on a cabbage patch for a pitch and the conditions are perfect for a cup upset.  Don’t get me started on clubs that share grounds with rugby teams.  We are playing 4-4-2 and no question about it with Carrillo and Gabbiadini right up the pitch and Tadic on the right and Boufal on the left looking to get forward as well.

And then reality hits.  We look very very dodgy as Wigan dominate possession and look far more confident than we do as you may expect given that they are winning most weeks.  The spaces between our players look huge and the defending is ropey.  Cedric and Stephens are struggling hugely and Boufal is not helping out Bertrand on his wing at all.  For all Wigan’s possession and intent, they don’t create many chances but some are inevitable.  The first big let off is after a run by Byrne the right back, he shoots and it deflects off of one Hoedt and squirts across the goal where Dunckley goes got it with the wrong foot and fortunately misses it and the danger passes.

Gary Roberts is not getting too much stick for being an ex-Skate and that’s because we don’t really know who any of their players are anymore.  Anyway, he has a great chance when a cross from Massey is headed out right back into the danger area by Stephens and Roberts can’t get his feet right and spoons it over the bar.

We don’t really create anything in the first half, spending all our time defending corners.  Some are made easy by Wigan pissing about with short corners but on the others, we look well organized and there are no alarms.  Going forward though we’ve been pretty ropey so the half time whistle is welcome.  I heard myself say ‘get to half time at 0-0 and the manager will sort ‘em out for the second half’.  This is not something I’ve heard myself say for two seasons.

The change is immediate.  We are getting on the ball and pinning Wigan back a bit and not looking like we’re just waiting for the inevitable goal against.  Wigan’s right back Byrne has been playing very well (and the commentators on the BBC have been creaming themselves every time he gets it) but he has a shocker when he pokes a pass beyond his centre back and straight to Gabbi about 15 yards out, one touch, bang, great save by the keeper.  Gabbi looks distraught and it’s a bad miss.  The only possible mitigation is that he can’t possibly be expecting to receive the ball at that point.

Now we look like the most likely and from pretty much our first corner, Tadic picks out Hojbjerg and his header is well saved by Walton but it’s a warning that Wigan don’t pay attention to.  Another corner from Tadic on the left and this time, Hojbjerg loses his man and his left foot cushion volley goes trough the crowd and hits the net.  Get the fuck in and finally, the Great Dane has scored and amusingly, he has managed to kick Jack Stephens in the bollocks as part of the celebration.  I can’t imagine many other players willing to do that celebration.

The Lesser Known Danish Bollock Kicking Dance.

The first sub sees Redmond on for Boufal which is probably because Boufal is still not doing much to help out Bertrand defensively.  Redmond’s first contribution is to give the ball away in a dangerous area but we get away with that and his second contribution is to slide and superb through ball to Gabbi, in behind the centre backs.  Gabbi is though and as he goes to shoot, he’s absolutely wiped out by Dan Burn.  Penalty and a red card? Oh no, of course they’ve changed to rules now – if he makes an attempt to play the ball then it’s yellow only.  That’s all very well as long as the penalty hits the net.  Up steps Gabbi and smashes it but Walton goes the right way, flings out an arm and it flies off his wrist and away.  Brilliant save.  Gabbi holds his hands out in a ‘What the fuck?’ kind of way and it’s still only 1-0.  From Gabbi’s point of view it’s a bit unlucky because if it hits the keepers hand it goes in.  Great save though.

The next sub is Long on for Carrillo.  Whilst I’ll always debate the usefulness of Shane Long coming on, I can’t moan about Carrillo coming off because he’s been pretty average, not winning much in the air or linking up with Gabbi at all.  Long immediately proves his worth by winning a couple of free kicks and injecting more energy into the attack.  87 minutes and Romeu is on for Gabbiadini, still shaking his head and wondering how he hasn’t scored today.

Wigan are always going to have another chance and it falls to Noel Hunt who can’t direct a volley goalwards and from a Wigan corner, we clear our lines out to Redmond who works himself some space and then gets a bit lucky as his cross field ball deflects off a defender and down the left wing.  What the fuck is Cedric doing there?  He nods it past the least defender and goes straight for goal, drawing the keeper and then calm as fuck, slotting it into the far corner.  2-0, game over.  No one gets wellied in the bollocks this time but I repeat, what the fuck was Cedric doing on the left wing?  Final whistle and on we go.

All of this has to be put into some sort of context because we were playing League 1 side and we can’t possibly know if this next bit is true or not but I reckon that we would’ve lost that game with Pellegrino in charge.  We’d have just sat back and there wouldn’t have been the intensity too keep them out in the first half and we wouldn’t have got on the front foot at the start of the second.

The first thing I noticed is that we actually look like we knew what we were doing regarding marking at corners and Wigan didn’t threaten from any of the 10 or so that they had in the first half. Whilst the first half was ropey in terms of keeping possession and structure and we just didn’t play particularly well, something obviously changed at half-time because in the second half there was really only one team in it. Wigan huffed and puffed but didn’t bring a save out of McCarthy whereas we scored twice, missed a penalty and brought a couple of decent saves out of Christian Walton in the Wigan goal.

So, what a difference when a decent half-time team talk is made. We had so much more intent and control in the second half, all the time (until the 88^th minute) keeping two players upfront and keeping the wingers pushed on. What ever happened at half-time improve the performance of so many players. Cedric and Stephens in particular were dreadful in the first half but much improved in the second and Hojbjerg and Lemina really got to grips with being a midfield two as opposed to part of a midfield three. Even Tadic showed signs of life in the second-half and began linking well with Cedric, when Cedric was playing in his right position and not bombing down the left wing. Just imagine for a second what Pellegrino would’ve made of Cedric attacking down the wrong flank in the 92nd minute of a game when we were 1-0 up. He would’ve been doing his best Basil Fawlty impression in the technical area go shitting on about how we have to remember our defensive responsibilities when we attack. Thank fuck that way of thinking is over, at least in the main.  I think Cedric’s run shows that the players feel that the shackles are off, that individuality is now not frowned on and ingrained fear and caution has been replaced with the licence to take a few risks.  One of the main complaints has been a lack of goals from unusual sources and today we get two goals from two players who had never scored before.

Also, the substitutions were spot on as well. I grumbled a bit when Boufal was removed instead of Tadic but it turned out to be absolutely spot on. Redmond did very well when he came on, setting up a second goal and putting the pass through when Gabbiadini was fouled for the penalty.  Even Shane Bloody Long did a decent job when he came on for the struggling Carrillo with 15 minutes to as well. Carrillo is a bit of a worry – I was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt when playing as a lone striker in a Pellegrino team but he had a lot of support today and was pretty crap.  The loaning out of Sam Gallagher annoys me more and more every time I think about it.  Just maybe we should have had Sam in the squad for the first half of the season and if he wasn’t up to it, loaned him out for the second half and signed a striker in January.  Doing this may well have saved us £19 million.

I don’t usually bother commenting too much on other teams and their managers but I have to say I was very impressed with Paul Cook in his interview after the game – very magnanimous and despite the pressure Wigan had, he acknowledged that they didn’t work the keeper and can have no complaints.  Good man. So, despite being an ex-Pompey manager and a Scouser, I wish him well and hope that we can manage to get promoted to the Championship. He did after all get Pompey promoted and then left them to go to a much bigger club so what’s not to like about that.

So well done Saints and well done Mark Hughes, Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki. Brilliant start. In just one game and in a couple of days, you’ve given us a day out at Wembley to look forward to and more important than that, it’s given us hope for decent end of the season.

After the Saints game, Chelsea eventually knocked out Leicester after extra time and so the four semi-finalists are Spurs, Chelsea, Man United and ourselves.  A quick Twitter poll revealed Man United as our preferred opponents (67%) and Spurs as the least preferred (8%), seeing as it’s at their home ground of course.  I didn’t check but I assume a poll amongst the three other fanbases would have Southampton hitting 95% plus.  Two Chelsea legends are making the draw in Cech and Zola (whose hair has remarkably regrown)…. Manchester United …. Versus Tottenham.  Tottenham get the away dressing room which I’m sure will make Jose happy…  Chelsea versus Southampton.  Cech and Zola can’t help but smile… let’s hope Chelsea go into it thinking it’s a bye.

Premier League Match 25 - Wigan 2 Southampton 2

Exclusive: Leaked picture of the 2013/14 Wigan away kit

Today we have a trip to the DW Stadium in Wigan for the first time in Saints history.  It’s our first visit because we’ve never been drawn to go there in a Cup competition and Wigan’s ascent to the Premier League coincided with our plummet down the pyramid.  The DW Stadium is of course, narcissistically named after the Chairman, Dave Whelan who, like John Madejski at Reading, wanted everyone to know who the main man was whenever they visited.  Bearing in mind what a cock he was – we are somewhat fortunate that our ground is not called The Rupert Lowe Bowl or have some sort of Star Trek tribute name… mind you – he did try and call it the Friends Provident Stadium.

Anyway, I digress and I’ve only just started.  Saints have been bombarded with plaudits by the world at large after our performance at Man United and its remarkable how in the media – no one’s really bleating about the way we treated Nigel Adkins any more.  The local media are bleating before the game though that they can’t run a pre-game interview with Mauricio because the interpreter is ill. You couldn’t make it up really. They should just send Dave Merrington down there to tell him what Saints don’t want to do and Mauricio can nod a lot and say ‘Si’ which would make for great radio.  Job Done.

There was only one change to the starting team that played against United with Luke Shaw returning in place of Foxy.  Punch and Gaston were given another chance to impress despite both being hooked at half time on Wednesday.  Adam Lallana was again only deemed fit enough for the bench and Vegard Forren was only deemed fit enough to do laps of Staplewood on his own.

The start of the game is fairly even with Saints continuing the pressing game that they showed against Man United and Wigan trying to play but not really getting anywhere with it.  The first time they do is when Espinoza finds some space behind Clyne and bends in a cross which is met by the toe of di Santo but King Artur flung himself to his left to pull off an outstanding save.

The save was nearly worth double a couple of minutes later as Sir Rickie looked up and put a superb cross straight to Gaston who had beaten the offside trap but with no one near him and loads of time to take a touch if he wanted to and about 8 yards out, he lashed it first time miles over the bar.   It was like when you’re warming up before the start of a Sunday morning game at the park – someone crosses a ball so you try and be flash and just wave your leg at it and do a Peter Kay and volley it into a neighbouring garden or something.  To be honest it was absolute toss.

Wigan are struggling to get out of their half, such is the tenacity being shown by the forwards and midfielders to press the ball but they do win a corner and we cough up an easy goal as Beausejour’s kick is powerfully headed in by Caldwell whose job has been made very easy for him by Yoshida firstly losing him and then compounding the error by Kamikaze-ing in front of Caldwell and missing the header.  Fair enough, it’s a great header by Caldwell but a very preventable goal.

Getting back on level terms quickly would be a good thing and we nearly fluke one back within two minutes and McCarthy’s clearance from the centre of the Wigan defence, hits Morgan and flies towards the top corner, only for Al-Habsi to tip away for a corner.  The rest of the first half is one way traffic as we absolutely camp in the Wigan half but final ball failings are hurting us again with usually Gaston or Punch being the culprit.  We are winning it back very quickly each time we lose it but the closest we get to scoring is Big Jos meeting a corner and his header going about a foot wide with the keeper nowhere.  Half time and ridiculously, we are losing.

For the second game in a row, Gaston is deservedly hooked at half time with Steven Davis coming on to replace the allegedly injured Uruguayan.  The pattern of play is unaffected as we are all over them again and Cork’s cross looks for all the world like it’s heading for Sir Rickie and thus to the back of the net but as the big man dived forward to head it, Scharner got there first and flicked it away as Sir Rickie crawled along the ground having had the ball removed from the equation by the inconsiderate bastard!

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition” said Monty Python and bearing in mind they were getting battered, Roberto Martinez made what on the face of it was a strange substitution with Gomez, an attacking midfielder, replacing Stam, the right wing back.  I guess it was to try and gain an element of control in midfield and Pochettino immediately decided to make at attacking change of his own with Lallana coming on for Clyne, with Corky going out to right back on the hour mark.

We nearly score straight after the substitution but it has nothing to do with Corky as Sir Rickie gets put away on the right where he turns Figueroa and then lays it across right into Morgan’s run but he goes with it with his right foot instead of his left and manages to not get a decisive touch on it from 6 yards.  ‘Merde’ as Morgan said to himself.  However, surely to Christ we’re going to score soon.

Our new right back was then involved in our long overdue equalizer as a panicky Wigan clearance went straight to him on the right hand edge of the box.  His cross came off a combination of J-Rod and a defender and gave Sir Rickie a 50-50 with Al- Habsi.  If there’s one man you want going for the ball to score a goal when he could potentially get clattered by a goalkeeper then it’s Sir Rickie and true to form, he got there first, stuck it in the net and got a slap off the keeper.  Get in!           

Straight away we’re back on the offensive as Punch weaves his way into the box but having worked a yard, his cross is scuffed along the ground and cleared for a corner.  Any height on it and Sir Rickie was totally unmarked at the back post.  The corner breaks out to Steven Davis who squirted it via a deflection to Yoshida who has a clear shot but he allows Lallana to take it off him and his shot on the turn smacks the post and bounces away.   In hindsight, this would have been best left to the Japanese as he had the better angle – granted he would probably have lashed it anywhere but in the net.

Luke Shaw, as he is now more and more prone to do, burst down the left a la Bale and skinned two players before getting his head up and picking out Sir Rickie beyond the back post with a superb cross.  Unfortunately, the main man managed to shank it back in the direction from which it came and out for a goal kick.  The fact that he missed as opposed to bursting the net has made no difference to his England chances.

Mauricio finally tires of Punch choosing the wrong option (or maybe he’s decided that he may need to go for a shite) and replaces him with James Ward-Prowse for the last 10 minutes.  He slots seamlessly into the side and following a Wigan corner sets J-Rod away down the left.  He bursts away from the last defender and reaches the bye-line before pulling it back perfectly to where Morgan has arrived after an 80 yard sprint.  Bang, 2-1, yeahhhhhhhhh, let’s go mental.  It’s a brilliant goal and expertly illustrates how we want to play.  The two players who made all the ground to get into the box were our defensive midfielder and our left back as Shaw was in close attendance as well.

There are just five minutes to go and you would usually expect an onslaught from the home side but Wigan have been so piss poor today, I just couldn’t see it coming.  However, they won a corner off of Corky and Beausejour’s kick was headed down by Scharner and with Shaw playing him onside, in came Maloney at the back post to knock it past Boruc for a totally undeserved equalizer.  Oh fuck off! A minute later and game over, 2-2, gutted!

Well what a kick in the nuts that was and how the fuck did we not win that.  We absolutely dominated this game and have ended up with just a draw due to two set pieces which we haven’t defended.  Wigan were very, very lucky as they created next to sod all from open play but if you can’t defend balls lobbed into your box then you’re always going to struggle to close a game out.  That’s the last 3 goals we’ve conceded – all from set plays that we should have defended better.  It’s just handing goals to the opposition for fucks sake, you want them to at least have to work a little bit hard for it. Having said that the defending cost us, we’ve also not created as many clear cut chances and scored as many goals as we should have done.   Bollocks! 

If you calm down and forget the scoreline for a minute – we were absolutely outstanding today, the closing down, the movement, the passing and the determination were all there.  Our final ball let us down and Punch and Gaston had absolute shockers out there, both giving it away virtually every time they had it.  I must mention J-Rod who I have not been a big fan of up to now.  He today actually looked somewhere near worth the amount of money we paid for him and his contribution to the second goal was immense.  Corky, Morgan and Davis all had superb games in midfield and JWP did his bit when he came on as well.  Sir Rickie really demonstrated what a good all-round centre forward he is which of course, won’t be enough to get him in the England squad despite being the top scoring English forward in the Premier League.  No, we’ll have to suffer Rooney doing his usual and having his 30^th inept England performance in a row.

I thought Wigan were shite to be honest and aside from the tenacity to hang in there and somehow nick a point, I don’t see how they will possibly finish above us.  A while ago I talked about a need to find 3 teams worse than us.  Back then I chose QPR and Reading and the 3^rd place was undecided.  Despite showing signs of life, I still see them both finishing below us, as will Wigan and Aston Villa.  We have to put some serious daylight between us and the relegation zone as soon as possible though, so we really need to start winning the games that we’re dominating.  It sounds obvious and that’s because it is.

Mauricio spoke of ‘disappointment for the players’ afterwards in that they hadn’t been rewarded for the performance and he’s dead right.  Wigan manager Martinez just waffled in an attempt to cover up that they were woeful and incredibly fucking lucky.  However, Wigan leave the game with one point, the same as us so I’d better stop moaning about it as the grapes are a bit sour.

Next up we have a nice easy one against Man City at SMS.  They are now 10 points behind United in 2^nd place so I think it’s safe to say that they can’t afford to drop any points if they want to win the league again.  Typically, their best player Yaya Toure got knocked out of the African Cup of Nations over the weekend so he’ll be back against us.  Still, we’ll have Mayuka back following Zambia’s exit so that evens it up. 

Premier League Match 2 - Southampton 0 Wigan 2

The Itchen Bridge (with St Mary's in background) - Saints fans not pictured.

It’s unlike me to read emails that get sent out by the Saints marketing department but I did before today’s game and it advised me to get there early as the new card-reading entry system was of course, being used for the first time and there would be queues round the block etc when it broke down.  Turning up at my usual 2.59 wasn’t on and so I inserted my card at a very stress free 2.30pm and went to try and find a programme which was of course new look and fabulous and still only three quid…. and totally sold out by 2.15pm.   Still, not to worry and the good news would be that if the Chuckle Brothers were there, maybe the Moronic one wouldn’t have a programme either and would have nothing to make duck noises through.

Ah the Chuckle Brothers, would they or wouldn’t they be there.  I’m sure everyone who renews a season ticket has them – fucking irritating bastards who they hope and pray will be sitting somewhere else.  Hopefully the price rises would have had the unexpected bonus of getting rid of them.  2.40 – no sign and then,,,”Hello everyone, I’m back”.  Who introduces themselves like that?  Old Bill (aged 85) who sits next to me turns round and asks him if he’s going to moan all the way through this season and my Dad politely points out all the kids in earshot in case I fancy teaching them how to swear.  Chuckle Number 2 turns up and he’s got a programme… fucking great.

To the game and we’re playing Wigan and it is of course, the easiest looking of our first 4 fixtures as the other three are against Champions League qualifying teams. They’ve predictably not brought many down and there are big gaps in their end, despite a batch of their tickets going on sale to Saints fans at short notice.  Wigan don’t have any star names in their side and Victor Moses wasn’t playing as he’d been sucked into the Black Hole that is the Chelsea squad.  Hopefully he’ll get out before he’s wasted too much of his career.  Rumour has it that he moved as he was shitting himself at the prospect of having to play at St.Marys.  His replacement in the starting line up was Aruna Kone who sported a very natural looking blonde afro.  Hopefully he’d be as shit as his hairdo.  The Saints staring line up is obvious before it’s announced as there are 11 players doing warm ups in one group and 7 in another.  Steven Davis is in for JWP and Sir Rickie is in for Punch meaning I guess, that Guly would be on the right wing.  A glance around the stadium and I see the two spanking new screens which must have cost a few quid and may explain why Punch had been left out as Don Cortese wanted to reduce the chances of anyone hitting them with a shot.

Saints start well and are having most of the early possession but once Wigan do get hold of it then they look very accomplished and pass it about nicely.  We get a couple of free kicks in wide areas after fairly cynical Wigan fouls but Lallana’s delivery on both fails to picks anyone out.  The first real chance falls to the new skipper as Lallana cleverly makes space for himself before arrowing a shot towards the top corner but its head in hands time as Al Habsi takes off and tips it onto the bar and over – great shot, great save. 

The rest of the first half is shite to be honest with neither side getting much change out of the defences.  Wigan look good until the last third and Saints are taking too long with their passes which enabled Wigan to get loads of men back behind the ball whilst we piss about passing it amongst the back 4 and the keeper.  Half time and 0-0 and last place on Match of the Day looms even larger.

The second half starts with no changes on either side and Saints in the ascendancy and Guly carrying on from his decent first half by slinging in a cross which Sir Rickie met and headed goalwards for Al Habsi to make a meal of what was a comfortable save.  Disaster struck straight afterwards as Wigan scored with their first shot as Boyce fed Maloney who slipped in a lovely first time pass to give di Santo an opportunity which he lashed into the top of the net giving Superkelv not an earthly.  Shite.

We’re all over the place for five minutes but we get back into it and have Al Habsi being over dramatic again as a corner is headed away as far as Foxy who smashes in straight back at the keeper only for the him to punch away.  Whatever happened to catching the bloody thing?  I’ll forgive him for not catching the net one as Sir Rickie picks up a Lallana pass and lets fly from 30 yards only for Al Habsi to sprawl to his left and push it round the post. 

It’s impact time and James Ward-Prowse is summoned from the bench to replace the Steven Davis who has shown that he’s a good player and it’s a bit surprising he’s being hooked as he’s had a really good game.  We switch to a 4-4-2 formation but no one seems to know where they are supposed to be and soon after, J-Rod is heading for the tunnel to be replaced with Billy Sharp.

With 10 minutes left it’s become one of those ‘not our day’ games as once again, Lallana feeds Sir Rickie who chips in a cross which Big Jos met and floated his header onto the bar and over.  We create another chance or rather Lallana creates one for himself by wriggling away in the box and toe poking an effort at Al Habsi which he again, spectacularly shovels wise of the post.  As a fan, I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself as on chances we certainly deserve something and it’s pissing me off that I’m having to get up to let people out when there are still possibly 10 minutes to go including injury time.  I’ll defend Saints fans as much as anyone but it’s piss poor how empty the ground is on 85 minutes.  It’s only one fucking nil for Christ’s sake and even the Chuckle Brothers are still here. 

It may be only 1-0 but it soon isn’t and the nail is in the coffin as Clyne takes a throw to Fonte who pisses about with it and gets robbed by Kone on the half way line.  It’s a clear foul but he’s allowed to carry on and we can’t get to him as he advances on goal and scores comfortably as Superkelv weighed up his choices of staying on his line or coming out and eventually didn’t really do either.  2-0 and the exodus really begins.  Full time and not the glorious return to Premier league Football at St.Marys that we were hoping for.

Though we created many more chances thatn Wigan you’d struggle to find anyone who said we were the better side.  Wigan looked far more accomplished on the ball and a lot more purposeful when they had it and of course, they had two good chances all game and scored them both.  We were slow in possession and it really showed that some players weren’t as comfortable passing it about as they had looked last season with Foxy and Big Jos in particular looking like they didn’t want it.  Steven Davis was a positive and along with Morgan and Adam Lallana in our midfield and Lallana had some good moments further forward.  On the wings Guly had a good first half but faded horribly from 50 minutes onwards and his head went down whereas J-Rod at the moment is a square peg in a round hole and it just doesn’t work.

I was hoping to get back to the car before Nigel’s post match interview because I was keen to know if he was going to be realistic or playing Adkins Bingo.  Of course there was a bit of that but mainly it was realistic with the message being that if you don’t take your chances you will be punished.  Also he criticized our slow passing which made it so fucking easy for Wigan to get players back behind the ball.  They were my words by the way – not his.

The fans reaction to this defeat has been the full range from philosophical with realism, right through to bunging oneself off the Itchen Bridge and taking Cortese and Adkins with you.  Get a grip if you’re one of the latter and accept that this isn’t going to like the last two years when more often than not, we’ve had things completely our own way.  One way of looking at it is that Wigan have been in the Premier League for 7 years and were the form team at the tail end of last season and even though they lost at home last week - that was to Chelsea who since then have won their two subsequent matches and oh yeah, they’re the current European Champions.  Wigan were a lot better than I thought they’d be and deserved their win for the clinical finishing they displayed and the purposeful way their midfield pressed when we had the ball and passed when they had it.  The trouble is that everyone (including me) has seen Man City, Man United and Arsenal as the other teams in our first 4 fixtures and decided that we had to win this one. 

This game did though bear out one of my pre-season worries – we don’t have the players yet for this formation.  It relies on having pace out wide for attacking, defending and for joining in with the main striker.  Guly and J-Rod tried hard but it’s just not their game.  The only winger with pace at the club is Steeeeeve and I’m guessing he’s nowhere near the first team squad at the moment.  However, he should be if we’re going to try and play this way.  You can of course get the pace out wide from the full backs but neither Foxy nor Nathaniel Clyne got anwhere near the bye line all game.  Still, I guess that’s why we’ve been in for Matt Phillips.

A criticism I do have is of the bench today.  Quite frankly, aside from Billy Sharp, no one was going to make a big ‘impact’ off the bench.  We had a keeper, a right back, a left back and a centre back on there as well as Billy, James Ward-Prowse and Punch.  In my opinion we could have done with Chappers or Deano on the bench so when Wigan were strolling about in midfield for the last third of the game, we could have at least thrown on someone with a bit of physical presence to go and fuck them up a bit but all we had was a neat and tidy midfielder who Nigel put on in place of easily our best midfielder on the day.  I’m not criticising JWP here by the way but surely we don’t need three defenders on the bench.

So, a chastening defeat which will make anyone who didn’t already know realise that we need new players and we have 6 days to get them in….2 centre backs and 2 wingers are I would say, the minimum requirement.  F5, F5, F5, F5, Newsnow, Twitter, Facebook and maybe even, the Saints Official Website – if you can navigate through the fucking thing.

Next up, easy one, Manchester United at home.  They won’t be able to play in their red and orange chequerboard home kit so what colour is their away kit – not grey is it?