Middlesbrough visit St Mary’s in rude health, four points clear at the top of the league and I would expect, reassessing their ambitions for this season. Having been in the Championship since 2017 and having parted company with Michael Carrick at the end of last season, I expect they were looking for a season of consolidation but when you start the season with five wins and a draw out of six under manager Rob Edwards, sights tend to get readjusted.

Edwards was previously manager with Luton Town in the Premier League where he got them promoted to and relegated from from the Premier League, and then oversaw the majority of their following season as they plummeted through the Championship, down to League 1, so when he got appointed at Middlesbrough, I was thinking he must have the same agent as Ruben Selles, with a ridiculous talent of getting his clients jobs far above what they deserve. Failing upwards indeed. However, you cannot knock what he has achieved so far so fair play to him.

Middlesbrough had one season in the Premier League in 2016/17 but came straight back down, so they have spent the grand total of one season outside of the championship since 2009. Carrick oversaw three seasons where they finished 4th, 8th and 10th and the diminishing returns were what saw the back of him and Edwards come in. A quick look around the Middlesbrough squad show some ex-Premier League players with Luke Ayling, formerly of Leeds and Matt Targett, formerly of Saints of course, and Newcastle. Other stand-out players include Hayden Hackney in midfield and Tommy Conway upfront. They started this season with a standout midfielder called Finn Azaz who they sold to us of course and where Azaz has struggled to have much impact, Middlesbrough have not missed him. It is one of those football stories that happens though and hopefully Azaz decides that this is the day to show what he can do.

In order to do that though he has got to get into the team which is by no means guaranteed after various other players stuck their hand up in the midweek defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. Whether it’s from the start or from the bench though, Azaz is going to be a story one way or another. It was widely reported that Middlesbrough had a choice of selling one of Azaz or Hackney and selling one enabled them to keep hold of the other. It remains to be seen who gets the better of that particular deal and it’s too early to tell as yet.

Talking of too early to tell yet, since the Hull and Liverpool defeats this week , we have seen a few things come crawling out from under a rock, namely people who want the manager sacked after six games and those who think it’s okay to abuse players on a personal level, which make said players delete their social media accounts. Though social media is a necessary evil these days, I do kind of miss the days from before it became so omnipresent in everyone’s lives.

If he plays, Nathan Wood will also be playing against his former club as Middlesbrough was where he played his youth football, as a direct result of his dad Dean Gordon playing for them in the 90s. Nathan only made five appearances for Boro‘s first team before ending up at Swansea and then Saints. Cameron Archer spent the season on loan at Middlesbrough in 2023 and scored 11 goals in 20 appearances, which is the sort of ratio we need him to reach this season.

This game feels a bit like the Leeds one that we had in the Russell Martin season in the Championship two years ago. Back then we had just lost four games in a row and a home game came up against top of the league. We won it and went on a 25 game unbeaten run . We blew Leeds away that day in the first half, which was totally unexpected and boy could we do with something like that today. Is today the day it all begins to click?

All eyes on the team selection at 2pm. Baz or Macca? Woody plus 1 or plus 2 centre backs? to THB or not to THB? Charles and Downes or does Jander get in? Fellows or Azaz or neither or both? Jelert or Roerslev, Scienza or Fraser, Arma at 9 or wide or bench? Archer in or Archer out?

Wow. They clearly pissed him off at Hull. Baz, Roerslev, THB and Captain Jack all dropped from the defence at Hull, along with Falling Downs, and Wee Man. Macca, Ronnie, Woody and Josh Q all start and it looks like Tom Fellows at right wing back. Up front and out of nowehere comes Ross Stewart as it’s finally his turn to have a go. Finn Azaz can probably count himself fortunate to be in the side again but he lines up against his previous employers and is getting no end of shit from them, which begins when his name is read out.

Away we go and it takes all of two minutes to get the one guarantee on anyone’s alternative accumulator as we get a brilliant example of the Aying flop. This is where an opposition player breathes on the back of Luke Ayling and his legs give away and he bellyflops to the turf. Referees have been falling for it he’s entire career and today’s guy is not gonna be any different. Free-kick to Boro.

Regardless of floppage, it’s Saints making a good start with Ross Stewart fighting hard to win the ball and Adam Armstrong picking the ball up and he thinks about having a shot from 30 yards before feeding it right to Fellows, and his cross picks out Stewart at the far post but it’s just behind him and his scuffed effort is blocked. Pressing high, winning it and getting a shot away. That’s more like it.

Azaz is putting himself about strongly in a clear effort to stick two fingers up at his former team mates and their fans, but he overdoes it and brings down Morgan Whittaker on the edge of the box. Saints old boy Matt Targett takes time out of kicking Fellows up in the air to take the free kick and it’s round the wall and pings off McCarthy‘s post. I’d like to think he had it covered but we collectively shat ourselves anyway.

Armstrong is showing that he’s got his confidence back as a ball gets fed into him by Shea Charles on the edge of the box and he turns and drills it straight down the goalkeeper’s throat. The Armstrong at the last year would not have even taken that shot on.

Azaz is getting booted all over the place with no interference at all from the referee. He seems determined to show the fuckers and he charges down a pass from ex-Saint Alfie Jones in the Boro penalty area and it bounces to Ross Stewart who chests it past the defender and then goes over. He wants a penalty, we want a penalty but it doesn’t look that convincing to be honest, so I’m not surprised it gets waved away.

Tom Fellows is obviously a bit of a defensive worry at right wing back but going forward he is different gravy, proving almost impossible to stop apart from the time honoured method of booting him up in the air which is what Targett is doing with complete impunity because this referee is doing fuck all. Fellows persistence wins us a corner, which we work short to Ryan Manning on the edge of the box and he takes aim with his left foot into a crowd of players and it bounces down perfectly for Azaz, who doesn’t over the ball at all and lifts over the bar. A really, really shit lack of technique shown from an extremely technical player.

Having missed that glorious chance, it is of course expected that Boro will go straight out the other end and score and they might have done through Conway, but Ronnie Edwards shows previously unseen solid defending in a red and white shirt by throwing himself in the way of the effort and Conway can only put the rebound into the side netting.

A minute to go before halftime in Saints are the only team threatening and it comes from a good play from Stewart to hold the ball up and find Azaz, who does what he’s good at and puts a perfectly weighted ball through to Armstrong, who tries to cut it back and it gets hoofed off for a corner. In it comes fom Manning on the left and Josh Q gets free and meet it on the 6 yard line but bounces the header straight down and up and over the bar. Fucking hell. Having got to the ball he really should’ve scored.

Halftime and to be honest that’s been a really good half apart from the bit where we stick the ball in the big white net thing. The misses from Azaz and Josh Q were really bad but for a change, the performance has been good. The aggression is there out of possession and we are looking to play quickly when we have the ball.

This referee has been pretty fucking useless so far, but completely out of context, he does something good. Josh Q gives away a free kick for barging Strelic in the back and Strelic sits on the ground asking for a yellow card for Josh Q, but the referee books him for asking for a yellow card. Love it. Meanwhile, the free-kick is crossed in by Targett and McCarthy kind of punches it away not very convincingly and Conway lashes into the crowd.

Boro are on top for more or less the first time in the game but we’re still carrying a threat, particularly through Fellows. He breezes past Targett again and gets a cross in and Alfie Jones scuffs the clearance out to the edge of the box and Adam Armstrong, with his trusty left foot, drills it on the volley through the crowd and into the bottom corner of the net. Brilliant finish. Get in.

Will Still is brave once more with the substitution and Azaz gets the sympathetic departure from the Boro fans that you would expect, and on comes Scienza. Not long after its Wee Man on for Fellows who looks absolutely knackered.

Ten minutes go by with no alarms and Boro play the ball in behind Josh Q to Sena, Woody comes across to block and Sena hits it from a narrow angle and it hits Woody’s foot and bounces down and loops up over McCarthy and into the net. Lucky bastards. I don’t know what the fuck McCarthy is doing though because he didn’t react at all post-deflection other than flapping about like he’s been tasered.

15 to go and Ronnie Edwards pings a lovely diagonal ball over the top of the defence to Armstrong and he rolls it across the Jander but the Germans effort is blocked and when the clearance comes in, there’s an absolutely clear hand ball right on the edge of the box by Hackney, but the referee isn’t interested. Talking of Hackney, we reach about 87 minutes minutes and the referee finally decides to book him for his 87th foul and in the 90th minute Matt Targett is booked for his 90th as the game fizzles out. Boro are happy with a draw and we’ve lost any attacking momentum we had.

I choose to look at this game from a glass half full point of view because the performance in the main was a hell of a lot better than what we have served up since Will Still was appointed. The pressing was better, the defending was better, the aggression from all of their players and the progression through midfield was better. There was a lack of goal threat again but there was enough to have won the game comfortably, but we miss really easy chances.

Ross Stewart turned more hopeful passes forward into good possession than any of our other central strikers have done but he wasn’t a goal threat. If ever a player needs a few games to get rid of any rust, it is him after three years out injured off and on. Adam Armstrong scored a brilliant instinctive first time finish and worked incredibly hard throughout when he has no time to think about what he’s doing, he can be an outstanding player but when he has got time, his decision-making is horrendous and he invariably just loses the ball. I don’t know why he tries to take a man on at any point. I can’t remember him ever going past a player on at least three occasions today he had one man to beat and just ran straight into him. Like I said, his work off the ball was exceptional and his goal was brilliant, but there is so much more he could add just by making better decisions. His confidence is back though and you can see a different player to whats been here since the start of last season.

Finn Azaz had a very strange game today. Somewhat lucky to be in the starting 11 he seemed to be hell bent on showing Middlesbrough what they were missing by haring about all over the place but ultimately having a frustrating game. He did win a couple of tackles high up the pitch played some nice passes through, but when it’s time to really deliver, when he had a free shot from 10 yards, he fluffed his lines. For a player as technically good as he is to show piss poor technique and leaning back and putting that one over the bar, was somewhat disappointing. Tom Fellows on the right wing had Matt Targett absolutely on toast every time he ran at him. I’m not yet sure he’s the answer as a wing back, he was great going forward. One player who gave a hint that he could be the player to ignite the attack, was Leo Scienza, whose short to mid range passing always seems to pick out the best player with the correct weight of pass. I’m really looking forward to seeing how he develops as he plays more minutes. He may not be ready to go from the start straight away but there is definitely a player in there.

Having got in front, we never looked in any danger until the moment Middlesbrough scored and it’s a weird goal because he’s going nowhere and without the deflection that shot goes nowhere but it hits Woody hits the ground and goes over the top of McCarthy who doesn’t react in any useful way at all. Of course it’s made difficult by the deflection and though it’s definitely not a complete howler, I’m looking at the keeper and questioning, in much the same way I looked at Baz at Watford and against Stoke. The bottom line is that this is what we’ve got until January at least, so Still has to go with the least shit option and then reassess.

Of the other players who came into the team today, Ronnie Edwards and Nathan Wood and Josh Q all played well. Edwards was positive in everything he had to do and Woody was the organiser and main physical presence. Josh Q put himself about strongly and at times actually looked like a guy who was 6 foot 5 and huge what I mean by that is that he physically imposed himself on the Middlesbrough forwards, smashing in a couple of tackles and knocking them around which is something he needs to do more. Don’t be one of these big guys who doesn’t want to be big. Be big, be horrible and use your natural advantages… don’t bounce free headers over the bar either, while you’re at it..

The midfield Casper Jander went about his business without fuss and seem to improve as the game went on, keeping it simple when needs be but also driving forward when he could.

There is almost no point in moaning about the referees in the Championship because they are all shit but Middlesbrough‘s game plan today was to leave a foot in whenever possible, particularly on Finn Azaz, and how they arrived at half-time with only one booking was absolutely ridiculous. Booking players in the last few minutes for persistent fouling is really not even worth the effort.

Fair play to Boro, they came to play and played with confidence and pushed up which meant that it was a better game to watch. Personally, I think they’re a little bit fortunate to get away with the point with the deflected goal, but I’m sure they will think that they deserved it after a fairly positive away performance. I do feel that they got the luck that comes with a territory of being top of the league, but there you go. They had one shot on target and it deflects into the net. What can you do? Rob Edwards pointed out afterwards that he thinks we’re a good side and in a false position. All good respectful stuff and hopefully he’s right and when we play them at the Riverside later in the season, maybe the league positions will be reversed.

That’s a long way off however but overall, it was better and a step in the right direction. Yes, we didn’t win but it was much more positive and if we keep playing like that, the wins will come as this isn’t a quick fix given where we’ve come from and how shite we’ve been.

Next stop is Sheffield United away who have unfortunately sacked Ruben Selles. The new Chris Wilder lead Blades will be a much tougher nut to crack than it would’ve been otherwise. No reason at all that we can’t go there and win.

Up the fucking Saints.