After the gutless display against Liverpool last weekend, I wasn’t overly disheartened to not be making the trip to Birmingham. With 90Min not covering the FA Cup for their FanVoice series, I took this weekend as a break ahead of next Saturday’s visit to Burnley. Being back in Hedge End, thanks to uni’s reading week, meant I could celebrate my mate’s birthday instead, with bowling and playing football for the first time this year. (And scoring the best goal I ever have – over the keeper into the top right hand corner from 30 yards).
The second half performance against Liverpool was such a disgrace that hope of a Pellegrino sacking was renewed. However, I think we all knew deep down that it wasn’t going to happen, and that we are, in fact, stuck with him for the remainder. Once again, he made the mistake of opening his mouth midweek, and came out with the opinion that fans relish a relegation fight, as it’s more interesting than the title fight. Right, I’m sure a neutral would agree. But personally I’d rather relish being in mid table security… or heck, a European spot that wasn’t just a pipe dream two seasons ago. Add to this some bizarre comments about players needing sleeping pills and, all in all, this has been an average week under his management.
We might moan, but West Brom had a more turbulent week than us, shall we say. On Tuesday, it was announced The Baggies had sacked their chairman and chief executive in reaction to poor results. A bold move, and not one I can see Mr Gao making anytime soon. The news of some action being taken to improve performances might have lifted fans’ optimism, but that was about to be absolutely shattered and then some.
It was supposed to be a nice warm weather training trip in Barcelona; lord knows why, but that’s not the point. It certainly turned into a bonding exercise for Gareth Barry, Johnny Evans, Jake Livermore and Boaz Myhill, who decided to ask their taxi driver to collect four burgers from McDonalds, and then proceeded to drive away in his taxi. For the neutral, it is bloody hilarious, but for the fans of a club rock bottom of the Premier League, it was just another miserable embarrassment. West Brom have had a torrid time, but wins against Exeter City and Liverpool in the FA Cup have been their positives.
In similar vain, wins against Fulham and Watford have made for a cup run to distract us from the ominous situation in the Prem. The fifth round draw saw us return to the Hawthorns, having only played there two weeks prior. That game saw us come out 2-3 victors, which you can read about here. Would we be able to do the triple over West Brom following October’s 1-0 win as well?
I wasn’t overly optimistic before the game. It felt like the match against Liverpool had undone all the tiny increments of progress we’d made. Meanwhile, I expected Albion to be on the front foot, fighting for their fans who they let down so badly on Thursday.
The team sheet impressed me when it was announced, and was much stronger than I expected. The only surprising inclusion was that of Nathan Redmond, making his first start of recent times. It was smart to re-introduce him in front of our bouncing away crowd rather than at hostile St Mary’s. Then again, it was the away crowd at the 5-2 Spurs debacle that really turned on him in the first place.
Not being at the game, anything I say might be completely wrong, but the following conclusions I have drawn from Match of the Day, the Saints highlights and social media.
There has been a split in opinion regarding how strong the performance yesterday was. From what I can see, it was a fairly strong first half performance. The early goal was just what was needed to settle us into the game. The manner in which West Brom conceded should be of great concern to them. It is known they are weak at defending corners, but my word, how was Hoedt left unmarked for the smart volley? Everyone crowded Carrillo as if he was our only threat, forgetting that our defenders are our best attackers.
No matter what highlights I watch, there is very little in terms of action shown from the first half, and I assume this is because we dominated possession without threatening. We certainly didn’t seem to have another meaningful chance in the opening 45, despite the strong start.
Our best attacking move came in the second half with a brilliant piece of counter attacking football; the type we have been crying out for, for a season and a half.
- McClean’s cross is headed away by Bertrand to Carrillo.
- Carrillo cushions the ball down to Redmond on the wing.
- Redmond takes two touches to fire the ball up field for Carrillo to run onto.
- Carrillo, first time, flicks it to Tadić, who picks it up on the edge of the D.
- With two touches, Tadić gets the ball past Krychowiak and chips Foster.
7 touches. 14 seconds. A blistering piece of the attacking play we know we’re capable of. Strength, precision, skill, pace… Fair play to Carrillo, who has drawn criticism for not yet scoring for us. It’s undeniable he offers a quality we’ve lacked since Pellè. Kudos too to Redmond for the controlled ball over to Guido. Hopefully, this works wonders for their confidence.
So 2-0 up and cruising. Oh wait, after scoring a goal of real quality, Tadić is easily dispossessed by McClean, who lays it off to Krychowiak on the halfway line. The Polish midfielder fires a long ball towards Rondon… who volleys it first time with his left foot. 2-1.What a goal. Sometimes you just have to accept you’ve been undone by sublime technique, and that was certainly a special hit.
McCarthy had no chance saving it, but his performance deserved a clean sheet. A handful of vital saves really cemented his place as our first choice. I half expected to see Forster back, but Pellegrino definitely made the right choice, as there is no way Fraser would’ve got down to the deflection off Hoedt. Wesley, it has to be said, despite his goal, could’ve cost us once more with a couple of defensive slips.
West Brom maybe deserved another goal – they had two clearances off the line; one a McCarthy save, another a Bertrand header, and hit the bar. In fairness to us, we withstood the pressure that they had no choice but to apply. However, considering the quality of the opposition, the stats make for depressing reading in truth. Shots: 23/5. On target 7/3. Our squad is so much stronger than theirs, and yet it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see them knock us out. Was this a good performance? I’d argue not. Will this give us any confidence heading back into the league? Well the last win didn’t.
One thing we can conclude now though is that we are a better team than West Brom, and will not finish bottom of the league. Am FA Cup quarter final awaits, the first for us since 2005. I seem to remember something else happening that year.
I was surprised when I found out the draw was happening last night, but wasn’t surprised when all four big teams avoided each other. In the quarterfinals, Southampton shall play either Wigan or Manchester City away. I think I summed up the general response with this tweet.
You never know, but there is no denying that draw could not have gone any worse.
Onto next weekend then and Burnley away. I’m still annoyed at the 1-0 loss at home, and can see this being equally as frustrating. They’re a physical team with the qualities we struggle against. And ‘a good manager’ is a quality I include this. Regardless, we have no option but to go for it and try and get out of the relegation places. We’re in for an exciting end of the campaign, but, no matter what Pellegrino says, I’m not exactly relishing it.
I’ll be back next weekend with another 90Min FanVoice and blog post.
Owen The Saints 