Premier League Match 10 - Southampton 1 West Ham 1

 

Romain's Expert Use of the Referee puts us in Front.

Sunday afternoon and the visit of West Ham United to set Mary’s and a relatively decent opportunity for us to break our run of four successive defeats. We are here on a Sunday because David Moyes’ happy Hammers are playing in the Europa Conference League on Thursdays, so they get the extra day to recover. The fact that they are in the Europa Conference tells you that they are one of the better sides outside the Super League 6 but it also tells you that most of the big players have played only three days before.

We need all the advantages that we can get. West Ham didn’t start the season particularly brilliantly and initially struggled for a goal, never mind a point (sounds familiar) but now they appear to be up and running and have steadily climbed the table once they got going. They are not one of only three sides below us in the table - put it that way.

Over the past two seasons, West Ham have been a bit of a struggle for us with Michail Antonio usually running riot and us getting generally bullied off the pitch. Last year however, we got it sorted and after a spirited 0-0 draw at St Mary’s, we won at the Dildo Bowl which was one of our best performances of the season and we also won in the FA Cup at St Mary’s when we put out what the time amounted to a reserve team. A major player in both of those victories was Armando Broja who we have course, no longer have and haven’t really replaced. There were plenty of stories linking West Ham with Broja during the summer, which of course never happened and he stayed at Chelsea. West Ham of course consoled themselves with signing Gianluca Scamacca and the Italian is in a good run a form. They also added Lucas Paqueta to their attacking midfield options which were already decent, with Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals, Lanzini etc.  I’m never too sure about Soucek in midfield but of course they have Declan Rice who more than makes up for Soucek’s occasional moments when he doesn’t even look like a footballer.  At the back they will be boosted by not having signed Jan Bednarek, who they were rumoured to be interested in.

David Moyes isn’t everyone’s cup of tea as a manager but he is solid and consistent and knows what he wants his teams to do. He seems to deal with the issues with Gold, Sullivan and Brady pretty well as well.

Yes, Ralph is still here and you wonder what he’s going to throw at the wall in the hope of it working for today’s game. 4-2-2-2? 4-2-3-1? Pressing? Sit in deep? Five at the back? Could be anything. Will he find the correct combination in midfield and will we have some sort of potency to our attacking play? With all this randomness going on, we could do with things being quiet off the pitch but of course we managed to make the news again this week.

Shields: Off You Fuck

In the summer, Saints made what seemed like a good appointment when Joe Shields joined from Manchester City as Head of Recruitment. In his first transfer window he of course was instrumental in varying degrees in bringing in Gavin Bazunu, Romeo Lavia, Samuel Edozie and Juan Larios from his former club and also His prints were all over the Joe Aribo signing. Though it appears he had no involvement with the signing of Armel Bella-Kotchap for example, the signs were good this was going to be a fruitful partnership. That was until this week when it was leaked to the media that he had been approached by Chelsea and that he wanted to leave.

If, as seems very likely, Shields leaked the information then it’s very significant. As this was leaked this before the club knew about it, it stands to reason that this is his way of operating which is probably why the world knew about us signing the Manchester City lads before they were announced. There was a reason that relatively unknown players were all over Fabrizio Romano‘s radar and it just might be because our Head of Recruitment was leaking so much, he needed a fucking nappy. It was Romano himself who broke the latest leak about Chelsea. Maybe it was Chelsea who leaked it. Unlikely because they wouldn’t want to antagonise Saints or Shields but Todd Boehly has already shown himself to be a bull in a China shop and he seems the sort of guy who thinks he can just do whatever he wants.

Also significant is when you consider the crass, verbal, £50 million bid from Chelsea for Romeo Lavia, which happened when we played them. I’m putting two and two together here and wondering exactly how long our Head of Recruitment has not really been acting in Southampton‘s best interests. Of course, it all comes down to money and I have no problem with people leaving their job for better money but it is something else when it clearly looks like he has not even been putting Southampton first whilst he’s been our employee. Off you fuck, you scumbag.

Anyway, after what will no doubt be a hefty period of gardening leave, he will be on his way to Chelsea where I wish him massive failure. Whilst he was here he could say to the young players that there was an actual pathway through to the first team whereas at Chelsea, he’ll be pitching “Come to Cobham and then get loaned out to the Dutch second division, then maybe a Championship club and then if you’re lucky, play five minutes here in there in the Carabao Cup for Chelsea”. He will have to prove himself outside of his Manchester City network because City will be much more reluctant to sell to Chelsea than they would be to Southampton.

Criticism of Saints for this from anyone, is merely jumping on the bandwagon caused by poor results over the last six months and the general feel-shit factor that’s manifested as a result. The way football works, this would’ve happened even if we won our opening nine games of the season. The way I see it is that the only way anything can be levelled at the club is that we employed someone of very questionable professionalism and character. The signs were actually there right from the start with his almost childlike comments on his Instagram account. How many people in his position would put “Hope I don’t get sacked soon LOLZ” in the public domain.

As anyone old enough to remember will tell you, this has parallels with when Paul Mitchell left Saints and joined Spurs, taking with him knowledge of every detail in Toby Alderweireld’s loan agreement and option to buy between Saints and Atletico Madrid. Unsurprisingly, we got shafted at the end of the loan deal and he joined Spurs. The career path of Romeo Lavia will therefore be quite interesting from here on in and even though Shields will be on gardening leave in January, expect more leaks and not just from Shields garden hose.

Tinpot

Also worth a mention this week is the Hampshire Senior Cup game where we travelled down to Fratton Park to play the Skates. As befits the Hampshire Senior Cup, we sent a cross between the B team and the Under 18s, managed by Dave Horseman and Pompey put out a team with 10 players who have played League 1 football this season and not only that, Danny Cowley, the first team manager, ran the side.

The one experienced player that we had, Olly Lancashire then got himself sent off at the start the second half and a minute after that we were unsurprisingly 4–0 down. It would of course been a bit grim if we lost by seven or eight but the 10 boys rallied well and courtesy of a couple of goals by Jimmy Jay Morgan, pulled it back to 4-2 with a certain nervousness spreading around the ground as we outplayed them and very nearly scored a third. There was also a bit of a men versus boys ruck on the pitch which kind of points to them being slightly rattled.

Sadly, we couldn’t pull it back and the Skates scored a fifth in the last minute. The Skates might have won the game and they will no doubt have the glory of winning the Hampshire Senior Cup having achieved this giant killing but I would say that Saints got a lot more out of it and the fact that we are played them off the park for much of the second half with 10 players, it’s probably a little bit embarrassing for them.  If they manage to win this priority trophy this year, they'll move level with Andover's 6 wins and then have Ryde and Aldershot's 7 wins in their sights.

To be fair, I didn’t see too many Pompey fans giving it the big one on social media but I also think there is absolutely no doubt that Danny Cowley wanted to make absolutely sure that they didn’t lose this game and after what happened when we last played them in a truly competitive game.

Back to today and there were a few hints during the week that it was going to be an altered line-up with Ralph himself saying that from a practice game that they had behind closed doors that identified a couple of different players you could come and make a difference. That was clearly bullshit because the starting lineup looked very familiar. Maitland Niles won the midfield tombola to play next to JWP and the one notable change was that Elyounoussi was back in in place of Stuart Armstrong. Other than that it was more or less as you were.

I anticipated a 4-2-2-2 formation but as the game started it became apparent that it was kind of 4-3-3 in possession and 4-1-4-1 out of possession, with Maitland-Niles being the deepest lying midfielder and Aribo and Adam Armstrong in the wide positions.

We had a go at letting a goal in straight away with Aribo getting caught on the ball on the right hand side and the ball found its way to Emerson and a swing of the left boot saw it go past the post by a couple of feet. Our attacking game plan was simple and easy to spot and it was get the ball out to Adams and let him battle for it against the makeshift West Ham central defenders and the first time he did that he barged past Kehrer and knocked him over but from an angle on the right hand side saw his shot hit the foot of Fabiański and cleared away.

West Ham fans always been a vocal bunch and they decided to scream every time KWP took a throw on the right hand side. Granted his throws do look a little bit suspect at times but as far as I know he has never been pinged for a foul throw.  It is amusing however when he takes the next throw and all the West Ham fans go up giving it the big one.  Adams hooks it infield, Soucek has a big donkey swipe at it and plays a virtual airshot and the ball goes in to the centre of the pitch where Perraud nicked it off Bowen and smashes in a shot which deflects and skids away into the bottom corner of the net. Fucking get in. West Ham are all around referee appealing for what I assume is a foul throw which is laughable cause they’re really not gonna get that. Turns out that they were actually appealing for the referee getting in the way which is not in the rulebook, so shut up and get on with it.

Chances are exchanged again soon after as the very dangerous looking Scamacca side foots inches wide of the far post and then Adams gets teed up cleverly by Adam Armstrong on the edge of the penalty area and hammers in a low left footed shot to Fabiański’s left, but one of the better keepers in the Premier League gets down well to put it wide of the post.

Oh Shit

There’s a blow about 10 minutes last time is Scamacca half gets passed ABK, who goes sliding in to try and stop him but stays on the deck. Scamacca plays on as he is perfectly entitled to do and crosses it and it’s met by Paqeta who heads down and it flicks of the outside of the post. Thank fuck for that. When the medical staff get on, it is apparent very quickly that he’s not carrying on but he’s helped up by the medics and walked off the pitch with what looks like an arm injury.  At least we have a decent player on the bench with Caleta-Car coming on.

Half-time and a half-time lead. Whatever next? Maybe we won’t fuck it the start the second half like we normally do and actually draw them out as they get more desperate and start throwing players forward. That would be nice.  The alternative is what happened though.

West Ham changed the formation of the start of the second half and are playing with a flat back four and Moyes’ changes have changed the momentum of the game and we suddenly look all over the place.  AMN, who had a very good first half is now looking a little bit tired and we can’t keep the ball. The first West Ham chance sees Paqeta find himself in acres to take down Coufal’s cross and ping it straight at Bazunu for a comfortable size.  Then it’s Scamacca’s turn to meet a cross from Bowen and he manages to improvise and effort with his knee which flies just over the bar. Matter of time

And here we fucking go.  Rice picks up the ball on the left-hand side, plays a 1-2 with Benrahma around JWP and picks the ball up about 25 yards out with no one really closing him down. I have a premonition that this is ending up in the bottom corner before he even shoots and it’s a shame no Saints defender does.   He takes another step and curls easily into the far bottom corner giving Baz absolutely no chance whatsoever. Fuck it. Good goal and not surprised at all.

Now we really gone to shit and the otherwise excellent Salisu gives the ball away in midfield and West Ham work it up to Paqeta on the edge of the box and Caleta-Car blocks the first shot and then KWP throws himself in the way of the follow up.

It looks like Lyanco is ready to come on but he suddenly sits down in a few more minutes goes by and with 15 left we seem to have four substitutes ready to come on. I’m thinking this looks slightly desperate for the manager and it looks on the face of it like it’s all like for like changes. Aribo and Adams, two of our more physical players have gone off and been replaced with the lightweights Edozie and Mara. With the enforced substitution in the first half, we have now changed half of the outfield players and Elyounoussi is still on the pitch. What a time to be alive.

The splurge of changes does seem to have give us a bit more energy and Edozie does manage to get a shot in straight at the keeper. West Ham seem to settle for a point and the three minutes extra is played out without much alarm at either end.

Strange game.

You could argue that we should’ve scored more than one goal in the first half with Che Adams being guilty of missing chances again but then you could argue that the four shots that West Ham had that flashed 6 inches wide of the post could’ve meant an entirely different half-time outcome. The start of the second half was once again absolutely fucking shit and it was just a matter of time before West Ham scored.

There was such an inevitability about Declan Rice scoring once he picked up that return pass. It was almost like I’d shut my eyes and dreamt it - it was that obvious.

With the game slipping away and it seeming like just a matter a timer for West Ham scored a second, came the quadruple substitution. I have two views on this. One is that it was done exactly the right time to wrestle back some of the initiative that had been lost in the second half but it did strike me as a manager who basically didn’t know what to do - so he did everything. Making four like-for-like changes at the same time is on the face of it, fucking mental because all you’re doing is replacing the first choices with the second choices.  There was more energy I guess.

Edozie coming on for Adam Armstrong was fine, as was Diallo coming on for the clearly tiring Maitland-Niles. Taking Che Adams off was absolutely fucking ridiculous because that was all we had as an attacking plan and he was doing really well against the makeshift central defensive pairing of Kehrer and Johnson. Suddenly, we looked ridiculously lightweight and when you look at the fact that Joe Aribo went off as well, I was surprised we didn’t concede from one of the many set pieces that West Ham had.  I think most of us would’ve taken a draw at the start but I can’t help but feel disappointed, having done the hard work and got in front.

That was bad news of course with ABK‘s injury, which has been confirmed as a dislocated shoulder so he could be out for a while and it probably puts his World Cup place under threat. Whilst we have Caleta-Car to step in, he doesn’t look as quick or as dynamic as the injured ABK. At least though, we have a player who is pretty decent to step in in that position and everyone knows how hard it’s been to replace Romeo Lavia.

It didn’t stop Ralph throw Caleta-Car under the bus in the post-match press conference - him and a few other players in what is a sure sign that the manager is feeling the heat. David Moyes in the meantime just moaned about the referee getting in the way for our goal but ironically, he didn’t say anything about the ball hitting the referee just before Declan Rice scored.  If David bothered it check the Laws of the game, he will see if the referee gets in the way and doesn’t touch the ball, the game carries on but if the referee actually gets hit by the ball, the game is supposed to stop.

David Gets the Message That He Doesn't Know the Rules

I’ve seen today described as a stay of execution for the Ralph and that’s probably just about right. He will hang on and should have to win at Bournemouth in our next game but I’m struggling to see how this team beats anybody at the moment.  If our opposition can deal with a long ball up to the centre-forward then we have nothing much else to offer. Defensively we were sound again today but still didn’t keep that elusive clean sheet and apparently, we’re the only team in the league without one now.  Despite their recent run of points against poor opposition, Bournemouth should be there for the taking on Wednesday but they will see us as another bottom half Premier League team they can get points from. Nothing less than a Saints win it’s going to take any pressure off of the manager.