Last week was an interesting week for Saints, with contrasting emotions throughout. Monday saw fans in their masses tweeting #PellegrinoMustGo in the first indication of a protest against the club. I admit I joined in as I was fed up with how we were playing and something needed to change; it was a long trip up to Liverpool last week and it would’ve been nice to be rewarded with even an attempt on target. My last post sums up how I felt after the Liverpool game, and goes some way to explaining why I joined the protest. However, I did not agree with the people who turned it into a personal attack against Pellegrino. I like him as a person but as a manager I’m unconvinced, though less so this week.
Tuesday I was bored so decided to have a bit of a laugh producing this song – a parody of the arrogant Our Way song that we’ve persisted with for a year now. It’s clearly tongue in cheek, but drew a mixed response from the Twitter faithful.
My main interest is comedy so I was pleased with the following responses; to me it achieved what I had hoped – bringing a bit of light and fun to the depressing world of #SaintsFC (much in the same vain as my infamous bingo card a few months back).
‘You’ve made my day – that made me laugh out loud!’
‘That’s the funniest thing going ahahha hahahah’
‘Whatever your opinion, you can’t not enjoy this’
‘That’s the truth funny but painful’
‘After a miserable few days it certainly cheered me up – and if things don’t change soon I’m gonna be singing it!’
That last one especially made me happy. Admittedly, I did expect a few of the other responses that I got…
‘that is the most embarrassing thing i’ve ever seen’
‘We deserve to go down for this alone’
Fair enough, its not to everyone’s taste, however I did find this next response from someone who proceeded to block me, rather pathetic. And yes it’s a risk shaming them on here, but someone with these literacy skills won’t be reading my blog so…
‘I don’t think has a fan or supporter it would enter my head to disrecept the club like this but we are all entitled to our views’
She missed the point and took it too seriously. I wasn’t disrespecting the club, it was a joke, a bit of fun. But from her personality I’m guessing she’s probably loved the dull football we’ve dished up so far.
Onto the game then, and on Sunday we faced Everton at home, fresh from their 5-1 defeat to Atlanta in the Europa League. It’s been 5 weeks since Koeman was sacked and they still haven’t employed a manager – David Unsworth is trying his best but it’s falling a part by the game.
This is the first game in a while I haven’t been to for 90Min FanVoice duty as it was my girlfriend Athena and I’s one year anniversary. To celebrate we had a weekend trip away to Oxford, which we spent exploring the town’s book shops, eating a romantic meal in All Bar One… and watching the game in O’ Neill’s.
I was outside the Bodleian Library when the team news came through and I was unsure about the team we had put out. Once again Gabbiadini was on the bench, but Austin was handed his first start of the season, in the hope that he would replicate his heroics from this fixture last season (first minute header to win 1-0). Redmond was on the bench too, with Ward-Prowse making an unlikely start. To combat the absences of Romeu (suspended) and Lemina (only fit for bench), Højbjerg and Davis started in the middle of the park. It was a team full of people who needed to prove themselves, and boy did they do that.
There were rumours flying around all week of a meeting at the training ground. Fans had hoped it was between Reed, Pellegrino and a P45, however it seems to have been between Mauricio and the players. He pulled their heads together, got them all in the right place, and they delivered a performance that demonstrated why relegation shouldn’t be a possibility for us. I do wonder why it has taken so long to finally have a performance like this; its fact that we’ve wasted too many opportunities to pick up points this season and could still struggle in the next few weeks.
So what was different? Ultimately, there was a confidence and belief which we have lacked all season; especially in the second half where we asserted our dominance. We pressed, we took our chances, we didn’t rest on our laurels. And not one player put in a poor performance – the shortlist for Man of the Match was rather long. Cedric and Bertrand really exploited the space on the wings, and they linked up with Boufal and Tadić exquisitely. Up front Austin provided what we had been missing in a cutting edge, scoring two headers, after being unlucky with two chances in the first half. We had a presence in the box finally and guess what? We scored 4 goals. Austin gives the wide players a focal point – they knew he was going to be at the near post and he was. That is what we’ve missed – someone to aim at in the box. Charlie may not be an all round gifted player, but the aim of the game is to score, and that is what he does time after time.
Man of the Match for me though was Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in the middle of the park. He was everywhere, winning the ball back, spraying beautiful passes, always forward thinking. As much as I love Romeu, I think the game would’ve been more crab like with him playing. Højbjerg really got us moving up field, and deserves to keep his place tomorrow. In fact all of the players do, but I’ll get to tomorrow in a minute.
First, let’s quickly mention Everton. What a mess. It would’ve been nice to have won 4-1 against Koeman, but they’re even worse than when he was sacked. You have to feel for the fans travelling up and down the country and all over Europe for this. It’s clear their players don’t care and aren’t playing as a team. Sigurðsson’s worldie of a goal gave them a brief bit of hope during the break, but then Everton showed no character and capitulated. You’d think they’d have to employ a manager soon and it’s looking more and more likely it’ll be Sam Allardyce, having failed to land Marco Silva. Not sure they know what they’re looking for in a manager, but at least Fat Sam should keep them up.
And so we go from playing arguably the worst team in the league at home (and scoring 4 at home for the first time since Koeman’s last game), to playing the best team away. I don’t think anyone is expecting us to come away with a result, much like Liverpool. All we ask is that we give it a go, as we did on Sunday. Losing to Man City is no shame as they’re unbeaten in the league; Bournemouth on Sunday will be the indicator of where we are. Who will play though? I’d keep the same team, but there will undoubtedly be changes – especially with Austin’s questionable fitness. There is also a chance we’ll go to 3-5-2, with that being trialled when Yoshida came on at the end. Either way Saints, use this result for confidence. I don’t know how much of it is we were good and how much of it was they were bad, but you can only beat what’s in front of you. We gave it a go and were rewarded, please give your all tomorrow. That’s all we ask.
I won’t be at Man City away either, but I’ll be back with another blog post on Thursday.
Owen The Saints 