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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.