League 1 Match 30 - Wycombe 0 Southampton 0

Tuesday night, cold, miserable…. But enough about me, the mighty SFC had made the relatively short hop to Wycombe and Adams Park. I didn’t know their ground was called Adams Park and wondered for a second if it was named in honour of Tony Adams who was a great manager for them, not. This got me thinking about names for Grounds. I know that Wycombe’s ground was not named after Tony Adams but as an aside, it’s a pet hate of mine when clubs take the corporate shilling to rename their ground but even that’s preferable to ego trips for Chairmen / Owners like the DW Stadium at Wigan and the Madjewski at Reading. It’s remarkable that our own egomaniac at the time SMS didn’t try this trick – The Lowe Hockey Stadium. Brrrr.

I digress as usual but back to the game and after the belting win at Norwich on Saturday, Saints would be expecting to continue the good work at Wycombe who though having improved recently, are still one of the bottom sides and should therefore be dispatched. The fans, armed with the feelgood factors of the Norwich win, Wembley tickets on the way and Pompey almost certainly going into administration, certainly expected a win. There was one team change for Saints with Morgan Schneiderlin being ruled out and replaced by Michail Antonio with Jason Puncheon moving to the centre of midfield. I’m guessing that Lloyd James would have been the usual replacement but he had a knock and didn’t travel.

In the first quarter of an hour nothing happened and then Wycombe found some form and Super Kelv had to make a couple of saves. Saints had their first effort on 20 minutes as Puncheon hit one straight down the keepers throat. The half drifted on with nothing happened so Pards got fed up and introduced Wotton in place of Antonio with Punch moving out to the right flank.

Half time and 0-0 – I expected half time roastings (not a John Terry / Ashley Cole roasting) and flying out of the traps in the 2nd half.

Having become exasperated with poor internet connection and continual dropping out of the Saints Player, I reverted to BBC text commentary on my phone and for the next 15 minutes I assumed that was broken as well. Then, on 61 minutes came “Adam Lallana shoots over”. Are you seriously telling me that nothing noteworthy happened between 45 and 61 minutes?

Barnard was replaced with Waigo but it was Wycombe who nearly took the lead on 70 minutes when Davis had to turn a shot onto the bar an over. Another 15 minutes of nothing happened before Saints won a free kick 35 yards out but Sir Rickie found only the keeper with his effort. Injury time and in a desperate attempt to win the game, Lallana was replaced with renowned goalscorer Wayne Thomas for the last minute. Full time, 0-0, rubbish.

If you are the ‘glass half full’ type, you would be looking at two away games at Norwich and Wycombe and would be happy with four points. However, having got three of those points away to the league leaders, you’d have been expecting three more tonight. This is a poor result for us, matched only by a generally poor performance. Regular readers will know that I’m not a great fan of Schneiderlin but maybe tonight illustrates what’s missing then he’s not there and that’s no one else puts their foot on the ball and passes it. I guess Pards was trying to keep some creativity in the centre of the park by moving Puncheon there. After Antonio went off however, Wotton and Hammond in the centre of midfield should have provided a base for the more creative Puncheon and Lallana on the wings to do some damage but it just never happened.

Pards pointed a finger at the conditions and poor pitch and he did at least acknowledge that we have to learn how to win these sort of games – of which there are many in League 1. He also said that we just weren’t good enough but it showed how bad it was when he mentioned a tight offside call against Papa Waigo as a turning point. Thing is – before Christmas, we were winning these games so what’s happened. Personally, I think that David Connolly being injured has been the major factor as he had that ability to find space in tiring defences and put games to bed. This just sounded like a truly abysmal game where the match report could read. Kick off – half time – 2nd half starts – full time – 0-0. I realise that this report doesn’t say much more than that.

Sometimes you can analyse things too much – a 0-0 draw at Wycombe is a rubbish result. Still, could be worse, Peter Storrie could be our CEO – then you would be justified in wanting to slit your wrists. Us Saints fans really haven’t got too much to grumble about right now unless you’re the sort that would piss and moan if you won millions on the lottery. Onwards – Walsall at home on Saturday.

League 1 Match 19 - Southampton 1 Wycombe 0

Picture of what Papa Waigo sees in his sleep

A wet Tuesday night and a chance to finally move out of the relegation zone. I’m not sure exactly but I think we’ve been in the relegation zone of whatever league we’ve been in for over a calendar year. Having been relegated last year, we would have been sitting proudly above the relegation zone on alphabetical order before this season started but we didn’t even get that respite because of the -10. One of the teams that would have been below us in the Alphabet table would have been Wycombe Wanderers and they were our visitors tonight.

Wycombe was of course the place where the managerial genius that was Tony Adams learnt his trade. The plan was to be a success with a small club before moving on to bigger and better things. What in fact happened was the complete opposite in that he was a disaster at Wycombe and then moved to Portsmouth.

To the team and Chris Perry kept his place at centre back with both Trotman and Thomas on the bench. David Connolly was again ruled out by his groin injury so we reverted to 4-5-1 with Papa Waigo and Lallana out. Another slight surprise was that Lloyd James anchored the midfield and Paul Wotton anchored the bench.

Saints made their usual fast start without scoring with Papa Waigo having a goal chalked off for offside (surprise surprise!). On the half hour the dancing man somehow lifted a shot over the bar from a Lloyd James cross when it looked easier to score. I’d have been annoyed if my 5 year old son had missed that. All in all, a very scrappy game was unfolding and Saints seemed to be sitting too deep which Pards tried to rectify, first by moving James forward to make a flat 3 in midfield with Schneiderlin and Hammond and then abandoning the formation and reverting to 4-4-2 with Waigo going up front and James to wide right. This of course is a tactical switch that would not have been available if Wotton has been playing. Though he is many things, a tricky right winger is not one of them.

Almost immediately, the tactical changes worked as Waigo latched onto a pass from Murty and unselfishly squared for Lambert give us the lead. Straight from the kick off, Wycombe threatened but this was snuffed out by a Perry block, prompting Radio Merrington to cliché us up incorrectly with “A team is never more vulnerable when it’s just conceded”. Nice one Dave.

At half time I receive a text from my Dad from SMS. It simply reads… Winning one oil, scrappy, cras passing. There should be an age limit that prevents old’uns using predictive text.

Saints fly out of the traps in the 2nd Half and Lambo goes close again. The name I keep hearing on the radio commentary is ‘Shearer’. Sadly, it’s not Alan coming out of retirement but Scott Shearer who is being a pain in the hole by saving everything Saints can throw at him. A double save from Lambert and then Lallana has Diamond Dave in raptures.

Responding to Wycombe pushing right up, Pards sends on Antonio for Waigo to give them something else to worry about. More chances come for Saints but Antonio’s composure lets him down as he loses the ball having tried to beat the entire Wycombe team for a second time.

Obviously wary of our tendancy to concede late, Pards brings Wotton for James in a move that clearly says ‘they shalt not pass’. Wotton is immediately into the action with a scythe tackle where, even if you were watching on a cinema sized widescreen TV, the ball wouldn’t have been in the picture. His argument that he was from a different time zone obviously worked with the referee who amazingly failed to book him. Mellis came on for Schneiderlin to run the clock down and despite the 4 minutes of injury time, Saints held out comfortably with Bart not really having to make a save of note all game.

1-0, clean sheet, out of the relegation zone. Onwards and upwards. The main things I’m reflecting on from this game are the Perry-Jaidi partnership at the back and the adaptability of the side and the manager throughout the game. Jaidi is of course our main centre back and will win 95% of stuff in the air. He turns like a very large tanker however so needs a partner who is either quick or reads the game well. Out of the three choices we have (Perry, Trotman and Thomas), I’d say Perry is the best bet as he’s always had to be good at reading the game to make up for his comparative lack of height. You could make an argument for Thomas based on the fact that he’s the quickest of the three but on the other hand, he’s the most likely to get himself sent off. I guess it’s nice to be able to have 4 decent centre backs in the squad as opposed to the Whisky George approach of having none. The way Pards switched formations today was encouraging as it shows he believes in the players and he seems to call it right most of the time. It’s obvious too that whatever formation is being used, each player knows his job and there are so many examples from our recent past where this has not been the case.

Next us is Walsall away which sounds like it should be another 3 points but then you see where they are in the league (7th) and you know that we’re in for another tough game. Connolly is expected to be back for that game so Davis aside, we’ll be at full strength.

Here’s a rarity… it’s a league table with a relegation zone and us not in it.

League One P DIFF PTS
19 Oldham 19 -8 21
20 Southampton 19 8 19
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21 Brighton 19 -15 17
22 Wycombe 19 -14 14
23 Stockport 19 -17 14
24 Tranmere 19 -22 14

Yeovil are 14th, 3 points ahead of us and we have a better goal difference. At risk of coming over all Michael Wilde… “Come on You Saints”