again, this time in the Premier League. The question for most pundits leading
up to this game is simply, will Saints get absolutely trashed or will they keep
it tight and lose narrowly. There doesn’t seem to be many of the opinion that
we will get anything positive out of this game. Last year we came here under
Mark Hughes and he changed the formation to match up against Manchester City’s
4-3-3 and surprise surprise, they were slightly better replying it than we were
and we got completely dicked by 6-1…. But this was back in the days when 6-1
was classed as a dicking. We have of
course set new standards when in comes to what represents a dicking.
Having rested a few in the Carabao Cup during the week, we can expect Ralph to
strengthen the team somewhat with the inclusion of Nathan Redmond and Danny
Ings. No disrespect to those two players but it’s quite amusing when you put
them up against the players that Pep will bring into the side to freshen them
up, namely Ederson, Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.
The things I’m looking for in Ralph’s team selection are of course the
inclusion of Alex McCarthy in goal and Kevin Danso playing at centre back. I’d
also like to see JWP left out but with Pierre Hojbjerg likely to being deployed
at left back, this seems very unlikely. Tactically
I’m not expecting anything different to what we saw on Tuesday night. It’ll be
five at the back and keeping things tight and not committing many bodies
forward until the hour mark even if we go behind. Watch us blitz them off the
pitch now. Ha ha fucking hah.
footed strikers. I don’t get it…
especially as Danso was decent on Tuesday. Being decent as Tuesday has finally earned
Alex McCarthy a start in the league and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at
least a part of Angus Gunn that was quite pleased to be dropped for this one. Unsurprisingly,
Jack Stephens gets another go and the rest of the team is as expected with Ings
and Redmond coming in for Boufal and Long. City have all the big guns playing, the four I
mentioned earlier plus the likes of Aguero, Stones, Gundogan & Fernandinho.
As with Tuesday we manage to make it to the 10 minute mark without letting a
goal in which is a bonus and then something really fucking weird happens. Romeu
puts Redmond away on the right hand side and he gets deep into the City penalty
area on the right before pulling the ball back to Armstrong who has burst
forward from midfield which is most unlike a Saints midfield player. He then does what Saints midfielders never do
and hits it first time and Ederson, chosen by Pep to be his number one
goalkeeper because he is good with his feet, proves that he is not so good with
his hands and pushes the ball out and JWP has followed it in, unlike any Saints
midfielders usually does and the rams it into the roof of the net for 1-0. Fuck
me, this is just gonna make them angry isn’t it?
There’s not really much to talk about in terms of individual incidents in the
first half other than the fact that we defended very deep and very well and
they don’t manage a single shot on target at McCarthy despite having about 99%
possession. Every time they shoot from the edge of the box, if it’s on target
then one of the players gets a block in. Every time they get down the wings and
cross the ball, Vestergaard, Stephens or Bednarek heads it away or McCarthy
catches it. It’s simple and it must be frustrating as fuck for Manchester City
but it is very very effective and we reach half-time still a goal to the good.
The second-half starts in much the same fashion, only with added shithousing at
every opportunity, taking ages over throw-ins and McCarthy doing that thing
that all goalkeepers like to do which is to catch the ball and then dive
forward with it, having already caught it when stood up. It’s the sort of thing
that would drive us absolutely mental if another team was doing it when we were
behind. Even the bench are getting in on the act and not giving the ball back
very quickly when it ends up in among the Saints coaching staff. Pep is going mental as he does and the
technical area obviously doesn’t apply to him as he is running up and down the
line chastising the ball-boys and getting the ball back into play as quickly as
possible. I can totally get where he’s coming from but at the end of the day he
supposed to be in his fucking technical area and Lee Mason and the fourth
official are supposed to be policing that but they seem quite happy to let him
get away with whatever he wants.
On about 65 minutes, a cross comes over from the left and Aguero is totally
free in the middle of the penalty area despite us having about 10 players back
there but he puts his header well over the bar. Is it time to start believing
when Aguero, who has about 100 career goals against Southampton, misses a
chance like that? The answer is “of course it fucking isn’t“.
The ball gets played out to Kyle Walker on the right hand side and he takes a
shit touch which seems to unsettle all the defenders. Walker, more by luck than
judgement I reckon, drills the ball across low and there is Aguero, who has
managed to find himself a yard in amongst eight Southampton defenders and he
dispatches it from close range past McCarthy to level things up with 20 minutes
to go. Fuck it. To be honest, we were never going to hold out but fuck it
anyway.
Having found a way to score, City go for it again with Sterling tricking his
way to the same point that Walker crossed from. He pulls it back and the ball
finds its way to Bernardo Silva who smashes it from the centre of the penalty
area but McCarthy pulled off a decent reaction save to knock it over the bar.
From the resulting corner, Saints clear it and are breaking with numbers but
fat bald twat Lee Mason, gets in the fucking way. We get the ball back from it
from the drop ball but City very sportingly chase down the pass back to
McCarthy who has a bit of a brain fart and picks it up. Free kick about 10 yards out and I am 100%
convinced that this is going to end up in the net. It gets rolled back to De Bruyne
who thankfully drills is it a foot wide of the far post. If you want an example
of the commitment being shown by Saints today then watch this free kick back as
about eight players throw themselves at the ball.
Five minutes to go and more City pressure and Angelino slings in across from
the left-wing and McCarthy comes out and has a bit of a flap at it and Kyle
Walker manages to volley it into the net. Fucks sake. 2-1.
Ralph sends Adams on for Bednarek but our main hope is Djenepo who cam on
earlier for Ings. Every time he gets the
ball he manages to wave past two or three players but we can’t fashion another
decent chance. Pep is still acting like a fucking dickhead from within his
technical area this time and miming to throw the ball away.
Because we’re throwing men forward now, we are wide open to a quick break only
Lee Mason doesn’t get in the way of their break. Sterling managed to show an amazing level of
brainlessness by not passing the ball to Jesus and eventually getting tackled by
JWP, the one Saints defender who was made it back. The next break sees De
Bruyne carry it forward and he does decide to pass it to Jesus and maybe proves
why Sterling didn’t pass to him earlier as Jesus shoots but McCarthy makes
himself big to pull off a great save.
Fuck. You have to say that that was a magnificent defensive performance full of
heart and guts and all the things we did not do last week. It was however
undermined by two mistakes with no one taking charge to pick up Aguero from the
first goal and McCarthy, unfortunately blotting an excellent couple of games by
flapping at a cross for Walker’s goal.
After all my moaning about Vestergaard, he was superb today because we defended so deep the he didn’t have to run – just head everything and get in the way and he was excellent. There was one headed clearance from a corner that reached the half way line. I grimaced at the thought Vestergaard and Stephens in defence but the pair of
them were superb today, ably supported by Bednarek. Hojbjerg and Valery had
great games in the full back positions, particularly Pierre who played for most
of the game on a yellow card. There was ridiculous hard work from the midfield
three and Redmond and Ings must’ve run more without the ball than they ever
have in their careers. Another major plus was the form of Djenepo when he came
on, gliding past three or four players at pace whenever he got the ball. It
certainly is going to make next week’s team selection interesting because Ralph
really has to try to find a place for him.
There’s no doubt that Pep Guardiola is a brilliant manager and he is a breath
of fresh air for the way the game should be played but when he stressed and
things are not going all his own way, he is a fucking nightmare. Remember the last time we ran them close – the Nathan Redmond incident. Today’s referee Lee
Mason allowed him to get away with being constantly outside his technical area
but what do you expect when you play one of the big boys away from home. Also, Kyle
Walker, you can go and fuck yourself mate. His interview after the game was a classic
case of top six bollocks where he just moaned about Saints defending all the
game. Fuck right off, if you could
defend in a disciplined way, you still be in the England side you absolute
twat. A few facts for you. City’s
starting 11 today cost £400 million in transfer fees and would be worth considerably
more than that in today’s transfer market. Saints starting 11 cost £83 million,
so roughly a fifth of theirs. 10 players in City’s starting line-up cost more
than our record buy, of which 5 cost more than double our record. So Kyle, we
are not really going to compete on the same level are we, you prick. It’s like
these entitled wankers expect everybody to just roll over and make it easy for
them. To quote a line in a Pearl Jam
song…. The Have’s Have Not a Clue.
It was very disappointing to lose in the end but you could absolutely see it
coming from about the hour mark onwards. For those saying that we should’ve
gone for it more, it was notable that when we did go for it after we went 2-1
behind, that every time we lost the ball, City engineered a three versus two
break and only good fortune, poor decision-making and excellent goalkeeping
stopped us letting in another one. Teams like us cannot afford to commit to
many bodies forward against a team like City, no matter what dickheads like
Kyle Walker would like us to do.
It does annoy me the way the media keep saying things like “that’s what
champions do“ and all that sort of stuff. Look at the money their squad cost
compare to ours. We did incredibly well to get anywhere fucking near them and
that’s before you consider the backdrop of getting stuffed 9-0 in our last game
So, well done Ralph and the boys. A bit
of pride restored and now we have a new challenge which is to actually win a
home game next week against Everton. We have four or five games now where we
have to pick up some points otherwise we really are going to be down amongst
the dead man. It starts now.
League 1 Minus 10 
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