The first home game of the season is against Stoke City this afternoon. It’s weird how from one season to the next you get this fixture quirk where you seem to play the same teams very early in the season. Watford away was the fourth fixture of last season and Stoke at home was the third. It was this game last year that told us that Will Still was maybe not all that he was cracked up to be as we were deservedly beaten and our squad suddenly looked very much not fit for purpose.

Stoke started the season last year like house on fire and we’re in a pretty good place up until Christmas when it all started to go to shit and eventually they were being talked about as outsiders for relegation whereas they were outsiders for promotion not too long before. A spectacular achievement. On top of that, they took Gavin Bazunu on loan to try and plug the gap left by the injured Viktor Johansson so they went in one fell swoop from a goalkeeper with the highest save percentage in the league, to one with a consistent record of having one of the worst.

Last year’s Stoke also of course included Divin Mubama who in the early season game at St Mary’s, was both a complete handful and an idiot. He ended up getting sent off for a second yellow, for a dive over the aforementioned Bazunu. His first booking was for a horrible clattering late foul which could also have been a red given a different referee. When he gets on the pitch today, Divin will surely be fired up against the team he played for last season. His record mimicked the Stoke team in that he looked quite good at the start of the season and then fell away. Ironically, given Mubama’s dive last year, they have plugged a gap up front by overspending massively on George Hirst From Ipswich. A player with inner-ear problems who hits the deck approximately once every two touches of the ball, whilst all the time masquerading as some kind of big No 9. He’ll probably score this afternoon.

Mark Robins is still in charge, though he gives off the air of someone who wishes he had never left Coventry. At this point in time it would be surprising if he is still in the job at Christmas given the disastrous end to last season was not put on the back burner by the first game of this season either as they lost at home to Swansea. One of their new signings is Ethan Galbraith who they picked up from the Swans, so he must’ve had a wonderful time last weekend.

Saints have been dealing with “last two weeks of the transfer window“ shite from various other clubs hoping to pick up players on the cheap. The object of everyone’s affections is Taylor Harwood-Bellis, and we had a laughable bid from Sporting Lisbon of £18 million which was turned down flat and then Aston Villa thought they could come in with the same bid, that had already been turned down flat. Everyone knows Villa have a self-inflicted financial situation that they need to sort out but having sold Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa for shit loads, everyone knows how much money they have brought in in the last month or so and no one is going to be selling them players on the cheap. They are clearly hoping to turn the players head with this shitty bid. I have no issue if THB joins Aston Villa, bearing in mind they are in the Champions League this year, have a decorated manager and an established Premier League club. I do however have an issue with tyre kicking piss takers. Personally, at this stage of the transfer window, I think it needs to be about £30 million bearing in mind he still has two years left on his contract. One thing that we can be sure although is that for all their idiosyncrasies, the board don’t tend to cave in on transfer fees.

We do need to bring in money however, and this could equally be resolved by getting rid of some of the deadwood which is very difficult to shift. We have some we want to get rid of who are deadwood in the traditional sense, and that they are no good to us and are not at the level required. We also have a couple of players who we need to get rid of financial reason because they’re on too much money to have sitting around as a squad option as we have adequate replacements. Aaron Ramsdale and Yuki Sugawara firmly fall into this bracket. Ben Brereton-Diaz has been linked with Pompey ad that’s close enough that we can all day “I’ll drive him there” and mean it.

On the pitch, Saints have to put things right today. Last week was shit and this week needs to be better, coming as it does at the start of a week with three home games this should be a game that we can put to bed with a relative degree of comfort but Stoke are always tricky opponents for us and our results against them in recent times at St Mary’s have been two defeats in a row.

Team news has a bit of interest as Matsuki is in central midfield with Downes, with Fellows, Azaz and Scienza making up the three behind big Cyle. The big news though is that THB’s rumoured absence is fact and Nathan Wood is alongside Jack Stephens. Villa’s tactics have clearly worked and he’s on his way. It s a shame but somewhat inevitable and not worth worrying about until after the game.

Bae Junho, who was a handful last year, is the first to show for Stoke, getting brought down by Scienza about 40 yards out. His free-kick is met by Gibson but headed straight at Peretz. Stoke‘s new £10 million double what he’s worth signing, George Hirst is upfront and he gets in a fight for the ball with Nathan Wood, which Woody comes out on top of and the ball breaks via Azaz to Downes in midfield who heads forward, gets his head up and plays a lovely pass to pick up the run of Larin behind the defence and the big man rumbles to the edge of the box and as Johansson comes out, this time there are no Rotherham style heroics and the big man passes it underneath him into the net. Three in three for Canada Cyle.

Stoke are a little bit unfortunate to be behind at this stage and the ball breaks once more to Hirst on the edge of the box and Woody is there again to block his effort away and we eventually clear the danger. I am genuinely surprised at this point that Hirst has not thrown himself to the ground as yet.

A ball up to Junho in midfield sees him skip away from the sliding Matsuki and find Sam Gallagher out on the right all on his own and with Manning not engaging at all, he flashes it across low about 12 yards out and in amongst three statues in Southampton shirts, Ethan Galbraith runs into tap it into the net. Fucking hell.

The rest of the half was Stoke the better side and nothing much happened. Not great. As recent first half’s goes it was slightly different in that we scored first but we were our usual sluggish self after the goal.

No changes as the second half starts it doesn’t take long for the pattern to be set which is Saints trying to break Stoke down and Stoke just sitting off, much like how Watford did last week. Crosses come over and they head it clear and eventually Manning and then Stephens try their luck from too far out and the move ends with Stephens finding out he is not Roberto Carlos, as his long range effort sails into the Northam.

Finn Azaz looking like our best bet to create something and he gets found by Manning in the centre of the park and plays a lovely weighted ball in behind the defence to put Larin running in on goal but as he goes to shoot, Stoke left back Bocat appears and producers an excellent tackle. Can’t blame anyone for that, just good defending.

Fellows is next to show the way, doing the stepover thing on the left back before digging out a cross towards Larin, which gets headed up in the air by the Stoke defence and Matsuki comes in on the volley but can’t keep it down. It feels like we are building towards something but what exactly is not clear as from the next attack, the ball pops out to Manning who lashes it high over the bar. Stoke are beginning to sense that we are on top now and the time wasting starts which the standard piss week Championship referee does not clamp down on. They get a goal kick at one point, but Johansson has wandered all the way off to the bench and he’s not even near his goal. He then goes down with cramp a couple of minutes later. Referee is happy though.

A rare Stoke incursion into our half ends when Azaz nicks the ball and drives forward over the halfway line and it’s two on two with Larin for company. Azaz eventually feeds it to Larin on the right and his powerful blast at the near post it pushed away by the suddenly not cramp ridden Johansson.

70 minutes and time for some changes with Larin having played his allocated minutes for the afternoon and Scienza, actually being put out of his misery because he has not enjoyed himself out there at all this afternoon. The two new boys, Lewis Dobbin and Divin Mubama are on. The new boys are involved straight away as Manning fizzes a pass across the pitch, which Mubama lays off first time to Dobbin and his shot is pushed away by the back from the dead medical miracle that is Johansson, but the referee has bought it back for a foul that came in late on Mubama. Johansson has the ball and he’s fucking around not giving it back so Jack Stephens quite reasonably decides to go and get it and and ends up barging into Johansson who predictably hits the deck. Some half arsed handbags later and we end up with the ball and Stoke end up with a booking . How Stevo has got away with that is anyone’s guess. Back to the free-kick and It’s a long way out but we know that Manning is going to shoot and after a build-up in the expectation, he shats it into the wall at knee height. Fuck sake

90 minutes are all but up and it looks like it’s gonna be a frustrating one when Dobbin picks up the ball 30 yards out, plays it into Azaz, who lays it off first time for Mubama, who has got free of the defender and takes a good touch onto his strong left foot and drills it across the keeper into the net. Fucking brilliant finish and what a lay-off by Azaz. Get in you fucking beauty. Divin is giving it the big one as you expect and some of it is quite pointedly directed at the Stoke fans end of the ground. There’s obviously a little bit of feeling there. that’s not the only thing to notice in the celebration. Jack Stephens mimicking having cramp is an absolutely perfect bit of shithousery.

Edozie has come on for Fellows and from the kick-off virtually, we win the ball back and Flynn Downes plays him through and he looks offside but never mind as he gets to the edge of the penalty area and a clumsy challenge comes in his back from Inglesson and that’s given as a penalty. Soft as fuck. It looked offside and I question whether it was in the box but there’s a double whammy for Stoke as Inglesson was the one who got booked in the Jack Stephens incident a few minutes ago, so off you go fella.

It seems like no one knows who he’s gonna take the penalty and for me, Mubama looks the favourite but eventually it’s the logical choice of Ryan Manning who steps up and cramped up though he is, Johansson goes the right way but can’t keep it out to his left. And breathe and that’s your lot. Game over

The bottom line is that as with every game, the result is all that matters. Today though, it was especially important after everything that’s been going on and the disruption caused by THB’s absence. We at least started the game relatively well today and got in front after eight minutes but the rest of the first half was pretty poor with Stoke being the better side thoroughly, deserving their equaliser. It was an equaliser that came about on the transition, like the two goals at Watford and we again played a massive role in not making it very difficult for Stoke to score with our midfield pairing all at sea and then allowing an easy cross to come in and some severe ball watching going on from at least three defenders.

The second half was a lot of half and puff with not a lot of creativity and the game look to be petering out to what would’ve been a dreadful draw until Finn Azaz superbly put Divin Mubama in on goal and the Manchester City man did the rest. Erling Haaland taught him well as he rifled the left footed shot across Johansson and into the corner of the net.

With just a five minutes extra time to go once that went in, there was never a feeling that Stoke we’re going mount another serious attack but to get the penalty in the last minute and for Ryan Manning bury it, put a gloss on the result and made it ultimately a very good day.

If the game had ended 1-1 then the review of the game would be very different. Lots of things get forgiven after a positive result. Before the Mubama goal went in I was looking around the pitch thinking how many of the players have not brought their best level from last season into the new season. I was looking at the fullbacks and the wingers in particular. Five minutes later though and you don’t worry too much about that kind of thing but the manager will undoubtedly be aware.

Going with Matsuki in the centre of midfield to partner Downes was a brave move and if you take away the goal that we conceded when the pair of them didn’t cover themselves in glory, it worked pretty well I thought. Matsuki stuck to his job well and kept finding pockets of space in an attacking sense in the second half. It’s obviously not a long-term solution but he did well enough to justify it today.

Where we seemed to struggle today was in the wide areas. People disagree a lot about Tom Fellows but I feel that at times he’s forgotten the reason he became a winger in the first place when he was a kid. He probably enjoyed beating people for pace and getting the ball into the box. What I see is a player who if he has loads of space and it’s 1v1, he will perform his signature step over move and chip a cross into the mixer but most of the time he is far too easy to shepherd across the pitch and when he does that, the defensive team is happy. He is always looking to come short for the ball as well and never looks to spin in behind the full back and stretch the play or be available if Bree wants to play it infield to Azaz or whoever, who can turn it straight round the corner. There needs to be more variety in his play. On the other side, Leo Scienza was way off. There’s something not quite clicking with his game at the moment. Once again he was subject to some heavy treatment by the opposition defenders and he’s going to have to get used to that and not let it put him off doing what he is good at. Maybe it’s the shoulder after that assault at Watford last week.

Of the strikers, Cyle Larin did his thing and rumbled through in the first half and he was never going to miss. The service up to him from that point was not great, but if he keeps going at a goal a game like he is at the moment, then all is well with the world. After not doing a great deal when he came on as a sub at Watford, Divin Mubama showed why we bought him to the club with the vital second goal. Good movement, touch and a great finish and someone who clearly doesn’t give a shit about celebrating in front of the fans of a team that he used to play for. It was also amusing was him and Sam Edozie seemingly trying to decide who was going to take the penalty by having a game of rock paper scissors. Divin won that and in the end they both watched Ryan Manning dispatch the penalty.

One of the key moments of the game for me was at 1-1, when Viktor Johansson was wasting time and the referee was doing absolutely nothing about it. Jack Stephens takes a lot of crap from people, myself included, but him going up to Johansson, grabbing the ball of him and barging him to the deck really showed that we were fed up of getting fucked with. That for me was one of the turning points. Jack’s ‘cramp’ goal celebration was very funny as well.

Stephens and Wood were okay as a Centre back pairing. I guess the situation with THB happened quite late in the day, so Woody just slotted into the right hand channel. In future I would anticipate Jack Stephens going into that channel with Woody on the left, Jack can pass the ball out of the defence with his right foot, certainly better than Woody can, Wood should play where he played last season, in that left channel and just concentrate on his defending, which is what he is good at. In an ideal world, one of the centre back reinforcements that we bring in will be left footed but it’s likely to be Stevo and Woody for the next couple of weeks at least.

Of the full-backs – Ryan Manning was not great defensively, especially in allowing Sam Gallagher to get the cross over for the goal, but did provide some moments going forward despite being hampered by Leo’s very average showing. On the other side, Breeeeeeee didn’t set the world alight going forward but was much more switched on defensively than last week and kept the dangerous Sorba Thomas pretty quiet.

So, three points and a very relieved Tonda Eckert at the end of the game. The results today illustrate what the Championship is all about as teams that did well and one last week, came up short this week and vice versa. It’s nice to look at the league table only be one point behind some teams. Much fancied Norwich have lost both of their opening two games and of the hatewatch teams, Portsmouth won easily at Lincoln but I was very sad to notice that Middlesbrough lost away at Blackburn after all their fans were full of piss and vinegar last week, after their 96th minute win against Lincoln at home. 3 wins out of 16 for our favourite crying manager – the 3 wins coming against Sheffield Wednesday, Ed Still’s Watford and Lincoln (who just got battered by Pompey).

So, a huge week incoming on the transfer front. Shea Charles and in all-likelihood, THB have to be replaced and also, there needs to be some outgoings with Ramsdale, Sugawara, Downs, Archer and Brereton-Diaz all needing to leave, for differing reasons.

It is of course far too early to say this, but I liked the sentiment of the new “Waka Waka“ chant in the Northam today. Minus 4, don’t give a fuck, the Saints are going up.

Championship Minus One

Up the fucking Saints