which is a place that has been very good to us nearly every time we have
visited in the past. When we came here and won 1-0 last season it was a game
that majorly set us on the way to surviving in the Premier League and it turned
out that Brighton with much more under threat of getting relegated then we were
but they survived despite not scoring any goals and made the correct decision
to sack nice guy Chris Hughton.
The appointment of ex-Saint Graham Potter is an interesting one but a manager
who has worked his way from the Swedish fourth division to the Championship and
into the Premier League has to be respected. He isn’t going to be able to work
miracles and suddenly turn Brighton into a comfortable mid-table side but I
expect them at least to have a little more attacking threat that they had for
the whole of last season. Potter came to Saints as one of a long line of players who was going to take Francis Benali’s place at left back and never managed it. He was ok without ever being first-team regular material.
For my sins I had driven to the game and parked at Brighton Racecourse and I
was talking to a few Brighton fans on the park-and-ride bus on the way to the
ground and they seemed very optimistic about the season ahead, almost overly
optimistic it seems. Time will tell I guess. We had a quick wander around the
outside of the ground before refusing to pay £7.50 for a bacon burger. Fucking
delusions of grandeur London-by-the-Sea. Fuck off.
Whilst our performance against Liverpool was better than the one against
Burnley, it still yielded zero points so there is pressure on this game to get
a result first of foremost, especially with Manchester United at home being our
next game. The team news filtered through and it was kind of odd. There was a
debut for Kevin Danso but when you looked down the team sheet there was no left
back with neither Bertrand or Vokins. Cedric, who has been known to play left
back in the past was on the bench so we initially didn’t have a clue as to what
formation we were going to play but then the news came through but it was the 4-2-2-2
formation (same as last year here) with Danso slotting in at left back. Hmmm…
Can’t see him flying up the wing and putting over a cross with his left foot
somehow. Bertrand apparently had an
ankle knock and Yoshida had been left out to accommodate Danny Ings who was
back in the side to partner Che Adams upfront.
Potter is obviously trying to evolve Brighton as Glenn Murray, all 47 years of
him was not in the starting line-up. Up front they had Andone and Maupay, the
later being a new and relatively expensive signing. They appear to be playing
with three central defenders as joining the usual arsehole combination of Dunk
and Duffy was Dan Burn who is similar in size and speed to Jannick Vestergaard.
We start off relatively well and create the first opening but Ings fails to
pull the trigger from the edge of the box and eventually gets crowded out.
After about 10 minutes or so. the problems that we have with our line-up today
first become apparent. Danso has started really solidly at left back as you
would expect but he is totally right footed so that stifles any attacking play
down the left hand side because all he does when he’s not clearing it is pass
it inside to Vestergaard who then feeds into Romeu, back to bednarek and repeat
and we don’t actually go anywhere with any pace. On the right hand side, JWP
has started poorly and he’s not really attacking with any intensity nor helping
Valery out with any defending.
Brighton eventually come into it and Montoya should do better with a header
from the penalty spot after there’s been an overload on Valery down his side
and the cross finds the Brighton full-back totally unmarked – the Southampton
Way. Half an hour in and Brighton are now looking the better side but this is
not because of anything specifically good that they are doing, it’s because we
are dreadful and continually giving the ball away. A lot of the problem is
caused by a lack of movement by the front players. I had to specifically look
to make sure that Che Adams was actually on the pitch.
The game changed on the half an hour mark with the first real challenge of the
game and it was a fucking ridiculous one. Andone just flew in on Valery and
stamped down somewhere up near his knee. Kevin Friend who is not my favourite
referee saw it clear as day and off you go pal. What a fucking idiot. It’s
worth pointing out at this point that despite the assault, Andone was applauded
off by many Brighton fans and received a handshake and I consoling pat from his
manager as he fucked off down the tunnel.
Mercifully, having been on the end of a potential career ending challenge, Valery
is ok and carries on with the boos of Brighton fans ringing in his ears. What a
bunch of clueless cunts. However, far
from tilting the game in our favour, the fact that we have a man advantage
makes us go to shit and Brighton look the far more likely to score culminating
in a corner being headed home by Lewis Dunk but a Brighton player on the goal
line has clearly impeded Angus Gunn and/or is miles offside. I find it unbelievable that the linesman
cannot give this decision without referring it to VAR but upstairs we go. I’m
looking at the big screen at the opposite end of the ground and for some
reason, I am expecting to see pictures of the actual incident but of course
they are reserved purely for the television audience and so those who have paid
money to be in the ground get to see absolutely fuck all aside from a dark blue
screen with the words ‘checking goal’ written on it. No one seems particularly
stressed waiting for the outcome but as it goes on to about 30 seconds, you do
begin to wonder that it isn’t as clear cut as you think it is. Eventually the foul
on the goalkeeper or the offside is given but we have no fucking idea why the
goal has been disallowed really as it is not communicated to anyone inside the
stadium. It happened right in front of
us and we have no idea so Brighton fans up the other end will be totally in the
dark
Just before half-time, Redders picks up the ball on the left in midfield and
set off with intent towards the Brighton penalty area, skipping past couple of
challenges, getting to the edge of the box and firing in a decent effort that
Ryan saves comfortably. More of that please and not this pedestrian tippy tappy
bollocks that goes nowhere.
Half time and to be honest, we have been fucking dreadful. Danso has been solid
enough at left back but of course offers nothing going forward and the passing
between the lines is painfully predictable and slow. JWP is having an absolute
shocker over on the right wing and since the red card, Brighton have the 6 foot
6 inch immobile Burn playing as an orthodox left back so surely we need to get
someone with a bit of pace down that wing to run at him. Has Che Adams actually
been on the pitch? He has probably had about two touches of the ball in that
half of the worrying thing for me is that him and Ings, who has been the better
of the two, are making me think that it’s like having two Charlie Austin’s is
out there. One can only hope that the
extra man will tell in the second half.
No subs at half-time so nothing changes for the first 10 minutes before Ralph
decides he has had enough but when the substitution comes, it’s a bit of a
strange one with Valery being hooked, JWP dropping back on the right and Moussa
Djenepo taking up station on the left. It’s kind of hard to tell but it looks like
we have gone to a kind of 4-3-3 with Djenepo in midfield with Hojbjerg and Romeu
and Ings, Adams and Redmond up front. Whatever the formation is, it doesn’t
matter as Ings picks up the ball on the right and switches it quickly (that’s
the key word) out to Djenepo on the left. The new man only has one thing in
mind and sets off directly towards goal before from 25 yards, curling a
fantastic effort into the far top corner giving Ryan absolutely no chance at
all. Mental in the away end. Absolutely fucking brilliant goal.
For the next five minutes, the Seven Nation Army refrain is belted out with ‘Whoa
Moussa Djenepo’ for everyone apart from the annihilated bloke in front of me
who has his own version for Moussa Gazeppo. That’s gonna wear a bit thin by the end. We nearly put the game to bed straight after
that as a ball drops to Adams from a corner but his point blank is well blocked.
The game passes by without too much more goalmouth action there are more
substitutions with Locadia and fucking Glenn Murray coming on from Brighton and
Boufal and Armstrong replacing Adams and Ings who have been better in the
second half. There is major ‘shit your
pants’ moment as a corner is flicked on and Locadia, finds himself free just to
the left of the goal. Gunn flies out in
a big star-shape and Locadia can only smack it against the outside of the post,
showing exactly why Brighton shouldn’t have paid all that money for him.
Djenepo saw another shot blocked from the edge of the box and Redmond drilled
an effort just wide and it’s all groans as Armstrong wastes a glorious chance
to put the game to bed when he’s played through by Redmond but he managed to
hit Ryan as he came out. We do recycle
the ball though and eventually it came down to the guy with more ability than
anyone else as Boufal lined up Montoya on our left and a quick drop the
shoulder gave him half a yard before firing a ball across the goal for Redmond
to come in at the back post and knock it into an empty net. Another superbly
crafted goal. Give me those 3 points – Get in.
We have a further chance to really rub it in and make it 3-0 right at the end when
Boufal goes on a mazy towards the box and arch tosser Lewis Dunk just launches
him over. In front of a celebratory away and, JWP completed his very poor match
by curling the free-kick miles over the bar and taking out a celebrating fan.
No one cared.
Oh what fun it is to see Southampton win away as the song goes. Talking of
songs, Moussa Djenepo / Gazeppo is being serenaded and Ralph went through his
full celebration repertoire and we left the ground to mingle with lots of
Brighton fans who weren’t suddenly as optimistic as they had been on the way
in.
First things first – we won so the end justifies the means. It has to be said
though that we were absolute shit in the first half and showed a bit of an
inability to think on our feet once the sending-off occurred. Post-half time chat, the second half was much
better but it took the introduction of the substitutes to give our attack a
little bit more spark. Ings and Adams were pretty dreadful in the first half
but both are better in the second and Ings in particular had a really good half
hour or so before he was substituted, setting up the first goal superbly. We
are going to have some fun this season and hopefully Ralph can find a way of
getting Djenepo, Boufal and Redmond in the same team. In a 4-2-2-2 it means that one of Adams and
Ings can’t start and probably JWP as well.
Djenepo looks like a proper player as he has the pace and flair going forward
but he’s also not shy of putting in a defensive shift and Boufal in his cameo
showed just how good he can be when he picks the ball up in the right areas and
it certainly leaves you wanting more. As usual, the media appears to have gone into hyperbole mode and Moussa is now the new Sadio Mane because he’s playing for Southampton, is African and has scored a goal.
Danso was very very solid in defence but obviously playing in the wrong
position and I don’t know who Ralph is trying to kid when he says that Danso
was going to play there anyway even if Bertrand wasn’t injured. I’m not having
that for a second. It did limit our options going forward but maybe today,
against what is still a very limited Brighton team, packing the team with tall
strong players was the way to go.
As for Brighton, well they are better than they were last season and at least
will show a little more attacking intent than they ever did with Hughton. They
are still not very good though and they’re opening day win at Watford has been
put into context by the fact that Watford have lost every game so far. Having
10 men certainly affected them but they still have very very little upfront and
I would predict them certainly being in the bottom six at the end of the
season.
Special mention for Kevin Friend who today – was not a twat. He saw the red card tackle and sent him off and basically, wasn’t a twat. Yep, Kevin Friend had a day off from being a twat. Well done Kevin.
The win for us means we can come out swinging against Manchester United next
week. It’s not like playing Liverpool or Manchester City where you basically
have no chance as United have huge weaknesses in their side and of course, lost
at home to Palace today. United are still obviously a huge club and if there’s
any favourable refereeing decisions to be made to then you know that they will
get them but if our players can step up to the mark then there is absolutely no
way that Solskjaer will out-manage Ralph, so we should going to that game with
some optimism. Bring it on. The season has just started.
League 1 Minus 10 
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