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.