Before I begin, I would just like to say Rest in Peace Justin Gladdis, the voice of St Mary’s. There was something about the way he’d say ‘Please welcome, The Saints!’ that got you pumped like no one else could. Whenever he missed a match, you noticed, and now match days won’t ever be the same without his passion over the speakers. Big shoes to fill. A very sad and sudden loss. He only followed myself on Twitter on Wednesday and just last week posted about being excited for his 19th season as the stadium announcer. I hope we have a minutes applause in his honour on Saturday. Thoughts remain with his family and friends.
*****
I could’ve written this post yesterday, or even worse on the coach journey back, but it would’ve just been a long ill-thought out rant about how nothing’s changed and how we’re going to get relegated. Instead, I decided to take a day off, enjoy Super Sunday and write my post today, in the hope that the dust settling has brought a sense of perspective and realism. In this post, I shall attempt to provide reasons as to why Saturday happened, and establish just how representative of the rest of the season the performance was. The following reasons are what I have come up with, let me know which you think was most influential, or if you come up with any more yourself:
Weather
The weather was horrendous and no matter how good a team you are, it is always a struggle to play in such wet and blustery conditions, especially when they were constantly changing. The weather would not have looked out of place in January, and yet here we were in the middle of August. Thankfully my seat was in Row CC, so I was comfortably sheltered, however before entering the ground, I got soaked. I’ll come onto Burnley in a moment, but it’s fair to say their style of play is far more effective in those conditions, especially with the wind behind them – something we did not capitalise on in the first half.
First Game Syndrome
Saints are notoriously slow starters when it comes to opening day fixtures. Their last win on the first day came back in 2013-14, a 1-0 win away at West Brom. That win was only our second opening day Premier League triumph, in what is now 21 attempts… The last four seasons have all seen uninspiring draws, which sadly we would have gladly taken this time around. Whilst it was not a surprise to see us struggle to get going once more, an unbeaten preseason that had seen 1 draw and 5 subsequent wins had led to optimism that we would hit the ground running.
Burnley
Burnley is a proper away day that I do enjoy. It’s a real trek up North to a low-key town with an old-school stadium (that lets you keep the lid on your Pepsi Max bottle!) The fans and stewards are a friendly bunch and in general there’s a good atmosphere there. It’s a genuine football experience. Having said that, I do not enjoy watching their team. Sean Dyche has to be commended for the job he has done there, they were even playing Europe League last season, but bloody hell I wouldn’t want to sit through that week in week out. It may be effective, although they only finished one point above us last season, but it’s not pleasant to endure. However, hitting the ball long, with the wind behind it, up to their strength up top, was always going to prove effective against our nervous weak defence. It also meant we couldn’t play our own game, as we couldn’t press or create slick incisive moves. We played badly, but Burnley didn’t (and never do) let us play our game.
Missing Danny Rohl
It was confirmed in the summer that Hasenhüttl’s right-hand man has departed the club to take up an analyst position at Bayern Munich. Last season, Danny Rohl and Ralph were inseparable. They bounced off each other, discussed tactics, celebrated together, both stayed up late analysing… On Saturday, Ralph cut a lonely figure. His coaching team now comprises of an ex Saints goalkeeper and an ex Saints goalkeeping trainer. I doubt they provide the same input as Rohl. Managing a Premier League team is obviously a demanding task and I fear too much is being asked of Ralph to handle it alone.
Losing Højbjerg to illness
When the team sheet came through, the biggest surprise was the omission of captain Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, who found himself sat on the bench. News later filtered through that he was ill on Saturday, so it is perhaps a surprise he even came on as a sub. His cameo wasn’t great, he almost gifted Barnes his hat trick, and clearly leaving him out of the starting XI was the right choice, but it was obviously to our detriment. We had spent the week training with him in mind, so a last minute alteration seemed to unsettle the balance of the side. Romeu admittedly played well, but it was largely apparent we were overrun in midfield. And when I say overrun, I mean the ball was just pumped over them for our defence to fail to deal with. I have listed our defenders as a separate reason, and we will come onto them in due course, but it is true only a handful of players came out with any credit. Nathan Redmond fashioned our only good chance by himself – sprinting to keep the ball in play, cutting inside and drawing a top-class save from Pope. He was our only real attacking threat, although Adams did noticeably try – he was unlucky with his early chance, but then lucky with his challenge so… Our new signing was visibly nervous, though I am confident he will settle into the side and show his worth. I’m not so confident about Danny Ings though, yet to score in 2019 and can anyone remember any contribution of note during that game? Since he’s shaken off his Liverpool preseason training, he has not been an influence in many games. I would drop him, however he is likely to be fired up against his former club, so maybe not yet. Actually, having said that, wasn’t Burnley his former club? Anyway, the point is that this was not our strongest 11, and especially not the right team to face Burnley, for which you need grafters. Where was Shane Long for example?
Our Defence
And nowhere was the weakness of the side more evident than in our defence. When the team sheet was released, the inclusion of Jack Stephens drew its fair share of criticism. Jack went on a run earlier this year of single-handedly costing us points, including in our trip to Turf Moor, where he conceded a last minute penalty. Having said that, in my opinion, he was our best defender on Saturday, which I guess is a maybe a sign of how bad things have gotten. His game wasn’t faultless, he got lucky with the offside goal, having slipped over in the buildup, however there were a few times when he tackled well and crucially won the ball back for us. The fans were constantly on his back, like the time he just stopped with the ball, looking for options (of which no one was providing any), but he can not really be held accountable for the goals we conceded:
- A hoof from Erik Pieters caught Vestergaard out. Caught by the wind, it flew over him and resulted in him falling to his knees, leaving Ashley Barnes through on goal to score between Gunn’s legs. (63 minutes.)
- Saints failed to deal with a cross from Erik Pieters. Vestergaard let Ashley Barnes run free from him and slot home at the back post, completely unmarked. The most concerning of the three goals, with three centre-backs and a full-back in the box. (70 minutes.)
- Bertrand was robbed of possession by Guðmundsson who swerved into the box and curled it into the goal from a tight angle. (75 minutes.)
A 12 minute capitulation, reminiscent of the Pellegrino and Hughes eras. Whilst I didn’t expect a massive improvement in the ability of our defenders, I expected a tougher mental strength this season, buoyed by our promising preseason. However, Vestergaard never seemed to recover from his error, and from then on the defence was too timid – even the experienced Bertrand was caught out. You’d like to think that this was not our strongest combination at the back. Ralph has done far more than enough to earn our trust, but to not play Yoshida remains questionable. Maya is not only our one quick defender, but also the one who reads a game best, rather than just reacting. Who starts in defence against Liverpool is anyone’s guess. Swapping Yoshida for Vestergaard may be a start if we stick with the back three, however some fans are clamouring for us to switch to Ralph’s 4-2-2-2. If we’re going to concede anyway, we might as well go all out to score. Perhaps our Deadline Day signing Kevin Danso may enter the fold, however it’d be a real baptism of fire to introduce him against the Champions of Europe. It seems most fans are pinning all their hopes on a twenty year old coming in and making the difference. A sad state of affairs, and unfair pressure on the lad. I’m confident he will come good, but will he really be the leader we need at the back? (See Cahill at Palace.) Who knows, maybe Ralph will make a player of Wesley Hoedt yet…
Angus Gunn didn’t do much to instill confidence either. After coming in and shining on his Premier League debut at Stamford Bridge, he has gradually proved less of a presence between the sticks, with last season being capped off with a howler against Huddersfield. Things started off shaky on Saturday when he almost handled the ball outside his area, I wasn’t convinced he didn’t. The defence left him very exposed and Burnley did take their chances well, but he is fitting the mould of becoming weaker the more he plays. This was something pinned on former coach Dave Watson, hopefully Andrew Sparkes will stop the rot and transform all our keepers. I wouldn’t drop Gunn yet however, he is young with a high ceiling.
Away Support
Now, I may get some stick for this one, I’m aware it’s a bold call. I honestly thought our support was very poor. Of course I understand it, I too paid £50, woke up at 5 am and travelled all that way to be met with a shambles, but we didn’t do our part. Everyone seemed up for it in the concourse, but early in the match the atmosphere died out, even when we were shading the game. Of course, things all fell a part in the second half, but booing at the final whistle I thought was a disgrace. It was only the first game, and as I hope this post is starting to prove, perhaps just an unfortunate perfect storm that won’t be repeated. It’s no wonder the players didn’t really come over at the end, just begrudgingly applauded as they walked off. The one exception to that was Boufal, who came over and gave his shirt away. The lad is really trying to build bridges, and we do need to get behind him. The misery old guts behind me who moaned about everything said ‘if Boufal’s the answer, I don’t know what the question is’ but I thought Sofiane looked positive and up for it in his small appearance. He could prove to be key and really that example is a microcosm of our support as a whole. We shouldn’t only support when we’re playing well, it isn’t conditional.
How much each of those things impacted the result is up for debate, but the conclusion to draw is that we had a lot going against us, and yet for 60 minutes showed promise. The team will improve with the inclusion of Højbjerg and Danso, and maybe even Djenepo and Boufal. We will also play against teams that allow us to play our way, and the weather won’t be like that every match. In fact, whatever happens next Saturday, I think we will put on a better showing and we will all be much happier. Norwich got their goal, there’s no reason we can’t. We could definitely implement the counter attack well.
Having said that, a hammering could realistically put us bottom of the table, with us already in a familiar 17th. Two tough games against a rejuvenated Brighton and a rejuvenated Man United then follow. Saturday really wasn’t the start we wanted, but we need to put that out of our minds and remember our identity from preseason. We can cause any teams problems, we just need to believe that ourselves.
I hope you are all feeling slightly more positive after reading this, I think I am. Despite everything, Saturday was still a great day and I loved being back watching football. I can’t wait to return to a sold-out St Mary’s this weekend. In the meantime, I hope you have a great week and enjoy the Fans Forum if you’re going. Unfortunately I am unable to, but I will catch up on YouTube. I hope it isn’t tense, but that we do get some answers on certain things (LD Sports). I’ll be back next weekend with a blog post about our first home game of the season!
Up the Saints.
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