Diary of a Season: St. Mary's Redemption

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Wednesday 15th March, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 30
MANCHESTER CITY vs SOUTHAMPTON
Etihad Stadium, Manchester; Att: 46,376

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim in goal; Diego Reyes returns to the centre of defence with Rutten on his left and Kaminski continuing on the right; Luke Shaw and Kostas Kabastanakis come back on the wings; Mark Ardean-Webb and Mario Pugliese line-up either side of Giammarco Stangoni; Christoffer Jorgensen partners the in-form Andrew Powell up-front; Jose Pinho, Buti Ndou and Marc Smulders - who is preferred to the Tom Ince - are among the substitutes; Jorginho is rested despite impressive performances in his last two matches.

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Man City - 4-4-2: Joe Hart is back in goal for City now, after Minor played well against us in the League Cup Final; John Souttar starts at centre-back alongside Milos Veljkovic; Ceasr Azpilicueta is at right-back; Hellberg and Lacourt are preferred to Kovac in central midfield; Zeljko Urosev is the Premier League’s top scorer with 25 goals, 3 more than Christoffer Jorgensen; Martin Giddings is on the bench despite still being injured.

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I instruct hard tackles and tell the players to pick up where they left off, again!

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Southampton kick-off in the pouring rain, attacking from right-to-left.
- 1min: The Saints go straight on the attack and Christoffer Jorgensen wins a free-kick close to the left touchline by drawing a foul from Cesar Azpilicueta. As the ball is headed out of the box, the referee Howard Webb gets in the way of the ball, causing Stangoni and Rutten to run into each other, allowing Hallberg to clear for City.
- 5mins: Insigne hits a right-wing free-kick from close to the halfway-line high into the visitors’ penalty area and Urosev gets up well on the 6-yard line to head at goal under pressure from two defenders, but his effort goes wide.
- 6mins: Stangoni passes to Jorgensen outside the City box. With defenders in attendance, he threads the ball to Powell inside the D, his pass finding Luke Shaw raiding into the left-side of the area. Azpilicueta manages to force Shaw wide enough that his shot goes high into the side-netting. City concede possession cheaply in midfield after the goal-kick and Jorgensen wins a left-wing corner off the shins of Azpilicueta…
- 7mins: …Kabastanakis’s corner is headed away at the back post by Souttar, but Giammarco Stangoni gets to the loose ball before Hallberg, charging into the area and striking just wide of the left-hand post.
- 11mins: Jorgensen receives a straight central pass from Mark Ardean-Webb, but his attempted pass to Powell is blocked by Veljkovic. The ball bounces loose and Stangoni runs onto it, taking an early shot from the D when he had time to get closer. Hart saves comfortably.
- 12mins: Yellow card for Mark Ardean-Webb for a trip on Zeljko Urosev.
- 17mins: Pugliese feeds Stangoni on the left of the D. He runs past Azpilicueta and takes a shot from a tight angle, which Hart pushes into the side-netting. The England goalkeeper catches the cross under his crossbar amid a crowd of players.
- 19mins: Stangoni makes a horizontal run across the edge of the City box to latch onto Ardean-Webb’s pass. Veljkovic’s sliding tackle sends the ball out to the left wing where Luke Shaw gets to the byline and whips the ball into the centre. Andrew Powell leaps high to head the ball over Hart with a glancing header from 2-yards that smacks the inside of the right-hand post, the keeper diving on the rebound.
- 28mins: Stangoni carries the fight out to the left wing and crosses towards goal, forcing Hart to concede a corner by pushing the ball over the bar.
- 39mins: Lacourt clears the ball high upfield from just outside the City area. Kaminski wins the ball from Mitrovic and knocks it down in centre-field. Urosev connects with the ball first but his two-footed lunge renders him out of control as he crashes into Giammarco Stangoni. Howard Webb has no hesitation in producing a RED CARD for Zeljko Urosev. Manchester City are down to 10-men. Stangoni gets straight up, unharmed.
- 40mins: As City rail from Urosev’s dismissal, Stangoni turns Ardean-Webb’s flicked-on header out to Shaw on the left wing. Azpilicueta tracks Shaw’s run but can’t prevent the cross from close to the corner flag. Stangoni arrives late to head against the crossbar and Hart gathers the rebound.
- 42mins: Jorgensen shoots over the bar after a neat passing move by The Saints through the middle.
- 45mins+2: Kabastanakis crosses from the right touchline and Andrew Powell gets his head to the ball at the near post, but can’t keep it down.

HALF-TIME: MANCHESTER CITY 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

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Despite only managing two shots - one of which landed by a corner flag - City have a higher average player rating at the moment. We have created a few chances but hit the woodwork twice and wasted a couple of other openings. But we are the better side and I aim to motivate the players by asserting that we can still come out of this match with a win tonight.

2nd Half Highlights
- 46mins: City kick-off the second-half, but Saints win it back quickly and Pugliese chips the ball up to Andrew Powell. He brings the ball down about 25-yards from goal, side-steps both Umtiti and Souttar before shooting just over the bar.
- 53mins: Kostas Kabastanakis almost scores directly from a corner with a fierce, low cross from the left that Joe Hart saves on the goal-line. Then, Yellow card for Giammarco Stangoni.
- 56mins: Insigne’s cross from the left wing wins a corner as Ibrahim pushes it over the bar with Mitrovic challenging.
- 60mins: Another left-wing corner from Kabastanakis strikes Jorgensen on the back of the shoulder and has Joe Hart scrambling at the foot of his right-hand post to stop the ball trickling over the line. Then, Yellow Card for Mario Pugliese for persistent fouling after a trip on Aaron Ramsey on the City left.
- 62mins: Mitrovic plays Insigne in on the right for City; he can’t shake off Luke Shaw but wins a corner with a deflected shot. Insigne takes the corner himself, the City centre-back John SOUTTAR connecting with a near-post header that goes in off the inside of the far post. The 10-men of Manchester City take the lead! 0-1.

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- 63mins: I immediately switch to the 4-5-1 Assymetric formation, bringing on Jose Pinho as Shadow Striker and Buti Ndou at Right-Back, in place of Andrew Powell and Mario Pugliese. Reyes moves into midfield, Shaw to left-back, Stangoni to left-midfield and Kabastanakis to an advanced winger position on the right. Jorgensen is up top with Ardean-Webb in central-midfield. I still have Yvo Lucas on the bench. We are going on the attack with higher tempo, a higher defensive line and overlapping full-backs.
- 75mins: Yellow card for Buti Ndou for a push on Insigne.
- 81mins: A back-heel by Mark Ardean-Webb allows Stangoni to get into the left side of the City area, his shot deflected a corner by Souttar.

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- 82mins: I’m going all-out attack now, with three up-front, long balls into the box and my goalkeeper Ibrahim coming up for corners.
- 84mins: Ndou, Kabastanakis and Ardean-Webb link up down the right-hand side for The Saints, and Jose Pinho latches onto the low pass into the box, turning to smash a low shot past Hart at the near post. As they celebrate a dramatic equaliser, the Southampton players are stunned to see the linesman standing with his flag raised; a reaction that is born out by the replay!
- 90mins: Insigne’s cross from the left wing is volleyed at goal by substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but Ibrahim catches the ball under his crossbar.
- 90mins+2: Shaw feeds Stangoni down the left wing and he whips a pacey cross into the middle, but Joe Hart catches it - and effectively ensures a Manchester City victory.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
JOHN SOUTTAR (MANCHESTER CITY) - 7.8
Centre-Back: 1 goal; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
We were the better team but couldn’t find a way past Joe Hart that didn’t involve hitting the woodwork! In the second-half, City sat deep and many of our attempts to cross were smothered by full-backs for corners or headed away from the centre. Our forwards didn’t turn up today, even though we created a number of half-chances of the sort that we have been scoring for fun recently. This is a crucial blow to our title hopes, that Chelsea’s slight wobble in recent weeks had reignited. I tell the players that I am not happy with their performance and they respond well to the criticism.
 
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Wednesday 15th March, 2023

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That defeat puts an end to our run of 30 matches without defeat in all competitions, including 17 in the Premier League. It also means that we no longer have any games in-hand over Chelsea and Manchester United and find ourselves 1 point behind the Old Trafford club and 5 behind the league leaders with 8 matches to play. We’ll have the opportunity to take our frustrations out on second-from-bottom Wigan Athletic in our next match. Chelsea and United face each other at Cole Stadium on 15th April, and we play United at Old Trafford on 7th May - so there may be a few twists in this tale, yet!

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The staggered fixtures for the 1st Knock-Out Round of the European Champions League are now completed:

Southampton (Eng) beat Vitesse Arnhem (Ned)
Atletico Madrid (Spa) beat Galatasaray (Tur)
Barcelona (Spa) beat Chelsea (Eng)
Porto (Por) beat Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukr)
Manchester United (Eng) beat Real Madrid (Spa)
Genoa (Ita) beat Benfica (Por)
Juventus (Ita) beat CSKA Moscow (Rus)
Paris Saint-Germain (Fra) beat Bayern Munich (Ger)

I’m glad to see the back of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern, all of whom have knocked us out of European competition in recent seasons, but each of the remaining teams pose a threat and will have to be taken seriously whatever Friday’s Quarter-Final draw brings.
 
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Thursday 16th March, 2023

Preparation vs WIGAN ATHLETIC (a)

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Wigan: 3/1; SAINTS: 4/5 (fav); Draw: 2/1.

Three consecutive away matches now follow in the Premier League, against Wigan, Norwich and West Brom. I will of course be aiming for maximum points to try and keep the pressure on United and Chelsea. Wigan play 4-4-2 and have conceded 53 goals in 30 matches this season, leaving them currently 9 points from safety. We have already beaten them twice this season: 5-0 at home in the Capital One Cup 4th Round in October; and 4-1 in the Premier League 11 days later, also at St. Mary’s. Owen Coyle’s team is vulnerable to conceding first-half goals, which is good - because we’re good at scoring them! We are working on Attacking Movement in training.
 
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Friday 17th March, 2023

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The draw for the Quarter-Finals of the European Champions League produces the following fixtures:

Porto (Por) vs Paris Saint-Germain (Fra)
Barcelona (Spa) vs Juventus (Ita)
Atletico Madrid (Spa) vs Southampton (Eng)
Genoa (Ita) vs Manchester United (Eng)

So we are matched with Atletico Madrid, who we qualified from Group F with earlier in the competition. If we can manage the same results - losing 1-2 away but winning 6-1 at home - then I will be happy. We have actually met 6 times in all - twice in the Europa League and four times in the Champions League, all since 2019. We have won 3, drawn 2 and lost 1. Atletico are currently 11 points off the pace being set by Real Madrid in La Liga with 10 matches to play, and they will struggle to catch Barcelona in 2nd place, too.
 
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Saturday 18th March, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 31
WIGAN ATHLETIC vs SOUTHAMPTON
DW Stadium, Wigan; Att: 24,849

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim is in goal for The Saints; Tin Jedvaj makes his first start since February, despite not being 100% fit; John Stones starts in the Ball-Playing Defender role; Phillip Kaminski is on the right of the back-3; Shane Westley and Mario Pugliese will provide support to Jorginho in central midfield; Buti Ndou and Tom Ince return to the starting line-up on the wings; Christoffer Jorgensen, who wears the captain’s armband today, and Yvo Lucas start up-front; Jay Rodriguez and Elias Migliorini are on the bench, hoping for some rare first-team involvement.

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Wigan - 4-4-2: Centre-back Jake Bidwell is a product of Everton’s youth academy; midfielder Fraser Fyvie has played for Scotland 46 times but never scored for his country at senior level; Turkish striker Ramazan Demir spent 3 years at Ajax and 5 seasons at Everton before moving to Wigan on a free last season, scoring 18 goals in the Premier League last season but only 5 so far this term.

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The need for normal tackling and producing the kind of performance expected by the fans are impressed upon the players, pre-match.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Wigan kick-off, attacking from left-to-right.
- 7mins: The first effort on goal comes from Buti Ndou, as he receives a pass from Pugliese on the right of the Wigan area, but Gardarsson saves his shot.
- 18mins: Jake Bidwell has to head the ball off the goal-line after Ndou’s cross from the right catches out Gardarsson - the keeper pushing the ball up rather than away and it dropping behind him to need his centre-back’s intervention to prevent Jorgensen nodding The Saints into the lead.
- 23mins: Mario Pugliese moves the ball forward to Ndou. He passes short of Lucas who tees up Jorginho for a 20-yard drive that Gardarsson parries away to the right.
- 24mins: Gardarsson is called into action again to deny Jorgensen’s well-struck effort from the edge of the area with a diving catch to the left, after a through ball from Jorginho.
- 32mins: Westley finds Jorginho on the edge of the Wigan box, near its left corner. He slips the ball into the channel for Jorgensen and the Danish striker wraps a shot around Ioannou to force Gardarsson to parry it for a corner at the near post. The corner is headed out to the D where Buti Ndou gets it down and shoots narrowly wide of the right-hand post.
- 33mins: Ndou’s pass releases Lucas down the right wing. He crosses to the near post and Ioannou heads over his own crossbar with Jorgensen lurking just behind him.
- 35mins: Jorgensen shoots wide of the left-hand post after gliding past Ioannou from Tom Ince’s pass.

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- 36mins: Knowing that Wigan are supposed to concede more goals in the first-half than the second, I switch to attacking football with a higher tempo and higher defensive line.
- 41mins: Lucas and Jorgensen work their way through the middle, with Yvo Lucas shooting from the edge of the area, but the shot is always rising and goes into the crowd behind the goal.
- 45mins: Tom Ince plays a short pass infield to Jorginho and he finds Lucas with a small chip into the area. Lucas spots Ince overlapping on the left and he shoots first-time, Gardarsson saving at the near post.
- 45mins+1: Hamill wins a tussle with Pugliese in the centre-circle and despatches the ball forward to Ramazan Demir. The Turk lays the ball off for the overlapping Hajrovic who escapes the attentions of Ndou, Kaminski and Stones long enough to get his shot away from the left of goal, but it goes wide.

HALF-TIME: WIGAN ATHLETIC 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

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My strikers seem to have all lost form at once, and the 6ft4in Icelandic frame of Hannes Gardarsson is keeping us at bay. We’ve had 54% possession and 10 shots to their 1, but they have a higher average player rating at the break - presumably for their success at tackling. We are still playing an attacking style so I will keep things as we are for another 10mins and change formation if we don’t find the breakthrough by then. The team respond well to being told they can still win this game, with some one-to-one chats motivating individual players for the second-45.

2nd Half Highlights
- 48mins: Mario Pugliese turns the ball forward in midfield to Jorginho. He takes the ball to the right, 25-yards out, and passes to Lucas on the edge of the area. With Williams and Bidwell both covering back for Wigan, Lucas drags the ball away from them with his left foot and unleashes a ferocious shot with his right, that skims the top of the crossbar.
- 50mins: Lucas has a shot blocked but it sits up for him to strike again, Gardarsson shuffling into the ball’s line of flight to save it on the line. Then, a mistake by John Stones - running away from the ball just thrown to him by Tin Jedvaj - allows Ramazan Demir to bear down on The Saints goal, but his shot is too high.
- 57mins: Yellow Card for Jordan Hamill for a foul on Jorginho in the centre-circle.
- 64mins: Jorginho slips the ball into the inside-right channel and Lucas shoots from the 18-yard line, but Gardarsson gets across his goal to push the ball wide for a corner. Then, Kostas Kabastanakis replaces Buti Ndou on the right of midfield and Andrew Powell comes on for Yvo Lucas up-front.
- 76mins: Jay Rodriguez comes on in place of Jorgensen.
- 84mins: Lucas passes to Rodriguez inside the D and the veteran Saints striker shoots over the bar.
- 88mins: Gardarsson saves from Jedvaj’s 12-yard header after a partially cleared corner. Rodriguez tries to feed it back into the middle but Wigan clear.
- 90mins: Yellow Card for Jake Bidwell for bringing down Andrew Powell just outside the D as he tries to latch onto Jorginho’s pass down the middle. Kostas KABASTANAKIS smashes the free-kick home from 25-yards, beating Gardarsson in the top right corner. A last minute winner? 1-0.
- 90mins+1: I return our tactics to their original Controlled and Balanced settings, with a slightly lower tempo and retaining possession again. Wigan go to 4-2-4 so I have to reset the OIs.
- 90mins+3: Hansmann’s corner from the left threatens to drift straight in but Phillip Kaminski heads the ball off the line to protect Southampton’s lead. Another cross comes in but Pugliese runs the ball upfield for The Saints. Kabastanakis sends in a cross and Powell gets his head to it, but can only send it well-wide of the goal.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
KOSTAS KABASTANAKIS (SOUTHAMPTON) - 7.3
Wide Midfielder (Right)_Support: 1 goal; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
A poor performance, for which I am culpable for not naming a left-back among the subs - again! - so I couldn’t change formation during the match. Kabastanakis rescued us with that last minute free-kick, but I don’t know what has happened to our forwards, who suddenly can’t hit the proverbial barn door! I decide not to give a team-talk after the match, to keep the players guessing so they know they will have to do better next time out.
 
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Monday 20th March, 2023

Dragan Hrustic is in my ear again, complaining about now being in the first-team. I tell him that he will get regular football next season, which seems to appease him for now.

Chelsea thrash Fulham 5-0 at home to reassert their 5 point lead at the top of the Premier League. Manchester United also won over the weekend and are 1 point ahead of us, then there is a 4 point gap to Manchester City in 4th.

There is an international break now, so our next match is against Norwich City at Carrow Road, Saturday after next.
 
Tuesday 21st March, 2023

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Mark Ardean-Webb scores the last goal of the game for England U21s, but it’s enough to avoid defeat against the Auld Enemy, going down 3-4 to Scotland at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park. Carl Storrie, who we currently have out on loan at Watford, scored England’s first on the hour mark to make it 1-3, after a dreadful first-half for the Young Lions. Five yellow cards for England tells its own story. Scotland lined-up with my 3-5-2 formation (which I actually got from Mexico).
 
Friday 24th March, 2023

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Tom Ince scores his 20th international goal in 81 caps, as England trounce Estonia 5-0 at Wembley, in the European Championship Qualifiers. Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse both play the full 90 minutes, along with Ince, and Shane Westley wins his 12th cap as a second-half sub. Louis Cruse remains on the bench, so he is yet to make his international debut.

In other qualifiers, Christoffer Jorgensen grabs his 33rd goal for Denmark - but in defeat at home to Greece by a score of 1-3. Tin Jedvaj scores Croatia’s second in a 2-0 win at home to the Faroe Islands.

I didn’t notice Billy Roberts slip back into the club after completing his loan at Derby County, but Brentford did because they made an offer to take him back to League One for the rest of season. But having accepted their initial offer to regard his as a Key Player, they tried to negotiate him down to Back-Up Player status, so I turned them down for messing me about.
 
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Sunday 26th March, 2023

Chelsea’s title hopes are dealt a blow by the news that Rob Tokaya - the seemingly injury prone Dutch winger - is going to be out for the rest of the season with strained knee ligaments, picked up in training.
 
Monday 27th March, 2023

Preparation vs NORWICH CITY (a)

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Norwich: 13/8; SAINTS: 6/4 (fav); Draw: 2/1.

Carlo Ancelotti seems to be linked to every top job that becomes available recently, but he has remained at Norwich City and will lead them into this Premier League match, in which we will be looking for revenge for the 0-1 defeat that we suffered at their hands at St. Mary’s in November. I was going to switch to 4-4-1-1 for this match but that was the system we used in that match, to combat The Canaries’ Christmas tree 4-3-2-1 style. The 3-5-2 could make us vulnerable in the channels but will enable us to flood the midfield and move the ball wide to avoid their central-3. But our strikers are going to have to find their form again and right soon!

Norwich are 7th in the Premier League table, with 49 points from 31 matches. They lost 1-3 at Newcastle in their last game, but had won the previous 4, starting with a 3-2 win at Arsenal. Their top performer this season is the Czech midfielder Stanislav Abraham who is out with injury with only a small chance of recovering in time. The New Zealander Chris Wood, who is their second top scorer, is also out. We are working on our Attacking Movement again, and I note that Norwich have a tendency to become more vulnerable at the back as the match goes on, particularly in the second-half and the last 15mins. The period just after half-time is their most prolific for scoring goals.
 
Tuesday 28th March, 2023

My Argentine left-winger Elias Migliorini has requested a transfer. After recovering from long-term injury, he has not been able to regain his place because the U21s have been tied-up playing matches in competitions where over-21s were not permitted to play and although I do sometimes put recently recovered players on the bench to help them back to full-fitness, I rarely put them in the team - I have lost too many players to additional injuries in the past to do that now. So although Migliorini has been available for selection for virtually the whole of 2023, I still haven’t got him fit again.

Real Madrid are monitoring the situation closely, but I have turned down his request and will fight on to keep him until the summer when Tom Ince’s contract expires and he will leave, and Migliorini can rotate with Luke Shaw in the 3-5-2 and play alongside him in our other formations.

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Happier news about another South American in my charge: Jorginho makes his senior international debut for Brazil, scoring the second goal in the 2-0 win at Northern Ireland at Windsor Park. I’m particularly pleased about that because although he was born in Brazil, Jorginho came through our youth academy and, with the exception of loan spells at Derby County and Fiorentina, has managed to attract his manager’s attention while playing for Southampton. He has played more games as sub than as a starter, primarily because I rotate him with Giammarco Stangoni and use him to rest the Italian when I feel matches are won. I congratulate him on his first cap and his first goal.
 
Saturday 1st April, 2023

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An excellent week for Jorginho is topped off by winning the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for March, becoming the third Southampton player to win in this season after Kostas Kabastanakis and Christoffer Jorgensen in September and October, respectively. And Buti Ndou becomes the first current Saints player this season to win the Young Player award. Christoffer Jorgensen’s edge of the area strike in the 4-2 win against Arsenal on 1st March gets 3rd place in the Goal of the Month vote.

Ndou is still arguing with officials, though - my attempt to have that trait training out of him has failed!
 
Saturday 1st April, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 32
NORWICH CITY vs SOUTHAMPTON
Carrow Road, Norwich; Att: 31,925

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim continues in goal; Rutten, Reyes and Stones are the back-3; Marc Smulders comes into the team for just his 4th start while Shaw, Ince and Migliorini all lack fitness; Mark Ardean-Webb starts alongside the man of the moment, Jorginho, and Mario Pugliese in central-midfield; Kostas Kabastanakis starts on the right; Yvo Lucas gets another chance up-front, alongside Jorgensen; Egan, Semka and Griffiths are all among the subs.

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Norwich - 4-2-3-1: John Ruddy is still the Norwich keeper; Nathaniel Clyne and George Thorne are two of my former players; Jack Grealish scored the winner against us last time we played; Nathan Redmond is also dangerous on the right.

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Normal tackles and I assertively encourage the team to avenge the 0-1 defeat we suffered at Norwich’s hands earlier in the season.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Southampton kick-off, attacking the goal to the left.
- 1min: Jorginho is straight onto the ball and orchestrates a move through the left and the middle to play Jorgensen in, but Jack Grealish’s sliding tackle in-front of goal concedes a corner.
- 2mins: Grealish receives a pass from Nathan Redmond on the right and gets to the corner before crossing to the near post. Poulsen gets his head to it and flicks it across goal, but John Stones clears on the far post.
- 4mins: Jack Grealish, who has started brightly for Norwich, strikes a free-kick from 25-yards across goal and wide of the right-hand post.
- 5mins: From an advanced throw-in on the right, Rutten pulls the ball back out of the area to Mark Ardean-Webb and receives the return pass on the left side of the D, where he passes to Jorgensen in a pocket of space to the left of three yellow-shirted defenders. Turning clockwise towards goal, Christoffer JORGENSEN cuts his shot inside the far post, catching John Ruddy out to give The Saints the lead. 1-0.
- 6mins: Yvo Lucas gets away with kicking Jack Grealish inside the Norwich area, leaving the creative midfielder needing treatment from the physio.
- 8mins: Jorginho finds Ardean-Webb striding through the middle for The Saints, with both strikers available ahead of him. He feeds Jorgensen on the edge of the D and strikes a firm left-footed shot just wide of the left-hand post.
- 11mins: Bryn Morris’s square pass on the halfway-line is picked off by Ardean-Webb, whose first-time pass sets Christoffer Jorgensen free into the inside-left channel. Three Norwich defenders give chase as he advances into the area, his former Saints team-mate George Thorne sliding in to deflect the shot for a corner.
- 14mins: John Stones intercepts the ball deep inside his own half and quickly triggers a counter-attack by combining with Pugliese to get it forward to Lucas. Jorginho overlaps through the middle and latches onto Lucas’s pass, but the ball is knocked away from him by Puntanu’s tackle. Yvo Lucas picks it up on the right of the area, beats Redmond and shoots low into the side-netting from a tight angle.
- 16mins: A corner from Kabastanakis on the left is headed back across goal by a defensive header. With his back to goal, Jorgensen tries his luck on his right foot but Ruddy reacts quickly to save for the home side.
- 19mins: After Southampton initially win the ball back from Ibrahim’s poor pass, Mark Ardean-Webb is caught in possession midway inside his own half by Thorne, Poulsen passing the loose ball to Nathan REDMOND through the middle to pick his spot inside the left-hand post, with two defenders closing in from the sides. Absolutely the worst goal we have conceded all season! 1-1.
- (This is where FM misses a trick; I should be able to scream at the offending defenders from the technical area right now!)
- 19mins: Southampton regain their lead straight from the restart! The ball goes back from the kick-off and is worked out to Marc Smulders on the left touchline, by the halfway-line. Jorginho receives the pass infield and plays Jorgensen into the inside-left channel. He takes Puntanu and Clyne to the byline and then pulls the ball back to JORGINHO who breaks stride from his sprint forward to strike it left-footed in mid-air, off the hand of John Ruddy, onto the underside of the crossbar and in. 2-1.
- 22mins: Depay plays the ball forward to Yussuf Poulsen in the centre-circle on a Norwich counter-attack. He shifts the ball past Reyes to Jack Grealish who brings it forward a few strides before passing infield to Poulsen. He gets away from Reyes and into the area, but has to rush the shot as Rutten dives in. Ibrahim parries it towards Redmond but Reyes gets there in time to clear. After the throw from the right, Clyne crosses high into the box but Poulsen’s header glances across the goalmouth and wide of the far post.
- 24mins: A triangle of passes from Ardean-Webb, Pugliese and Jorginho enables the Brazilian to feed Lucas 25-yards out. He turns and races past Puntanu to get into the area, smacking a shot for the top corner which Ruddy pushes wide with an acrobatic save. Then, Jorginho receives a square pass from Kabastanakis among a horde of retreating defenders, picking his way past two of them to shoot from an angle on the right. The ball goes over the bar.
- 30mins: Roel Rutten smothers a shot from Depay on the right after a Norwich counter-attack sweeps from left-to-right. Rutten heads the corner clear.
- 39mins: Clyne plays the ball back to Thorne from the right, and he finds Grealish on the edge of the area. He side-steps Ardean-Webb and shots right-footed but Ibrahim saves the ball at the far post.
- 41mins: Briggs gets the ball back from Grealish on the left-wing and crosses high into the middle, the ball striking the crossbar and bouncing away to safety [the overhit cross that almost goes in is a far too common occurrence in FM!]
- 45mins+1: Ruddy snatches the ball off Jorgensen’s forehead to deny him a goal at the near post from Kabastanakis’s right-wing cross.

HALF-TIME: NORWICH CITY 1-2 SOUTHAMPTON

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It’s been an open game and Norwich are certainly still in it. They are good at shifting the ball on the counter-attack so we need to put some distance between us and them during the second-half. We’ve been poor in the tackling department, so I switch to hard tackles. We have had some joy down the left, particularly with Jorgensen working the channel, also with Jorginho going through the middle and Lucas on the inside-right. I tell the players to keep it up.

2nd Half Highlights
- 49mins: Jorgensen drags Clyne and Thorne into the corner and then pulls the ball back for Marc Smulders. But he shoots from a tight angle when he should cross for Lucas, the ball flying widely over the bar at the near post.
- 51mins: Ardean-Webb feeds Smulders on the left wing and he goes past Nathaniel Clyne to cross into the area. Putanu heads it out with Lucas just behind him, Smulders receiving the ball and delivering a lower cross into the middle where Lucas connects with the goal at his mercy - but Ruddy throws himself in the way and the ball is cleared. Then, Kabastanakis sends over a corner from the right and Rutten wins the header close to the penalty spot, sending the ball towards the centre of goal. From in-front of John Ruddy and with his back to him, Christoffer JORGENSEN flicks the ball past the keeper’s reach with his head to extend Southampton’s lead. 3-1.
- 55mins: Southampton press forward again and George Thorne trips Jorginho about 25-yards out, central to goal. Yellow Card for Jorginho. Ruddy saves Kabastanakis’s poorly struck free-kick.
- 57mins: Putanu wins the ball in the air just behind the halfway-line and Poulsen flicks it on through the middle for Grealish to run onto. Grealish gets between Stones and Rutten on the right of the D, and tries to place a shot over Ibrahim. The keeper pushes the ball into the air but it drops behind him and is going in, but Roel Rutten gets back in time to hook the ball off the line, with Stones getting to the loose ball before Grealish to clear for a throw. Norwich manage to work the ball back into the box, where Grealish passes short to Depay who shoots low across goal and wide of the far post.
- 61mins: Depay’s corner from the left has to be pushed over by Ibrahim for another on the right-hand side. John Stones heads out for another from Grealish’s cross. Ibrahim again has to push the ball over directly from the corner, not getting it right, Depay heading the loose ball wide, via a defensive deflection among a clutch of players on the line.
- 63mins: Kevin Egan and Shane Westley come on; John Stones and Mario Pugliese are replaced.
- 66mins: Marc Smulders gets dispossessed by Nathaniel Clyne and he passes forward to Redmond. He passes through Reyes and Poulsen latches onto it, before shooting from the right of the D, striking the crossbar next to the left-hand post. Egan clears into touch.
- 72mins: Redmond fouls Kabastanakis inside the Norwich half, for which the Dutch winger receives treatment on the sidelines.
- 78mins: Jack Grealish orchestrates a quick passing move in the middle of the Saints half, Mendes Rodriguez taking the ball on his right foot from the left-hand side, moving into the channel and shooting across goal but Ibrahim catches the ball.
- 82mins: John Griffiths comes off the bench to replace Yvo Lucas, moving to the left of the attack as Advanced Forward with Jorgensen continuing as a False-9 but now operating on the right.
- 83mins: Kabastanakis’s progress down the right wing is blocked off, so he lays the ball back to Ardean-Webb and one touch later Marc Smulders is taking on Clyne on the left wing. He plays the ball inside to Jorginho who returns it to him, Smulders sending a high cross to the back post which Putanu heads away and Clyne heads out for a corner.
- 86mins: A Norwich attack breaks down when Clyne injures himself striking the ball and can’t collect a return pass from Thorne on the right-hand side.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
CHRISTOFFER JORGENSEN (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.8
False-9_Support: 2 goals; 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
It wasn’t an easy game but we kept going and earned a little bit of luck with Norwich hitting the woodwork a couple of times. Jorgensen’s goals take him to 33 for the season in all competitions, which is a new single season record for my save. Several other players looked dangerous in the final third, too. Smulders did some good things on the left wing but gave the ball up cheaply a bit too often. Jorginho is growing into the Advanced Playmaker role nicely and I anticipate further improvement from him next season. I congratulate the players on a solid win.
 
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Monday 3rd April, 2023

Preparation vs ATLETICO MADRID (a)

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Atletico: 7/1; SAINTS: 1/3 (fav); Draw: 3/1.

The matches are coming thick and fast now; we’ll be playing two matches a week until the end of the season, or until our hopes of a quadruple are laid to waste by elimination from either the FA Cup or the European Champions League. Atleti will have been less than delighted at seeing our name come out of the hat, given that we have put 20 goals past them in 4 matches. Their domestic form is poor at the moment; no wins in their last 4 leaves them in 3rd place in La Liga, well behind Barcelona and with Sevilla threatening to catch them. In the Champions League, they were 2nd in Group F behind us, then beat Galatasary in the 1st Knock-Out Round. They are through to the Spanish Cup Final in May, when they’ll play Real Madrid.

According to Javi Rico, Atletico’s Russian manager Valeri Karpin prefers the 4-2-3-1 system - which they used in both of our Group F encounters - but they switched to a 4-4-2 narrow diamond in their shock 2-3 home defeat to 2nd-from-bottom Valladolid at the weekend. The squad comparison does not paint them in a good light. They tend to score goals just after half-time but concede them just before the break and they are vulnerable to balls played in from either wing, which should suit us.

The FA Cup Semi-Final with West Bromwich Albion is coming up on Sunday, and then the 2nd Leg against Atletico will be at St. Mary’s on Wednesday week, where we will also entertain Cardiff City the following Saturday in the Premier League, before facing West Brom again for our re-arranged trip to The Hawthorns on Tuesday 18th. And the matches will continue to pile-up in the last couple of weeks of the season if we get past Atleti and West Brom to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup Final, so I will have to try and manage the fitness of my slightly depleted squad carefully between now and - hopefully - the Champions League Final on 27th May.
 
Tuesday 4th April, 2023

European Champions League - Quarter-Final, 1st Leg
ATLETICO MADRID (Spa) vs SOUTHAMPTON (Eng)
Estadio de Madrid, Madrid; Att: 69,031

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SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Abdel Aziz Ibrahim retains his place in goal; Tin Jedvaj and Phillip Kaminski play either side of John Stones in the back-3; Luke Shaw and Buti Ndou are both converted full-backs operating in the wide midfield positions; Shane Westley and Mario Pugliese line-up with Giammarco Stangoni in the centre of midfield; Andrew Powell and Yvo Lucas partner each other upfront, with Kingsley Idris - who put Atletico to the sword earlier in the season with 4 goals against them at St. Mary’s - and Christoffer Jorgensen are left out due to injury and fatigue, respectively; the presence of Diego Reyes, James Ward-Prowse and Elias Migliorini ensures that we have experience on the bench, together with the rookie striker John Griffiths.

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Atletico - 4-2-3-1: Toby Alderweireld has been part of the Belgium squad that has claimed all before them in recent years - he now has 131 caps; Dutch midfielder Wesley Tol is among the highest assist givers in La Liga; Croatian winger Ante Rebic can operate on either wing and is a player that I seriously considered signing a few seasons ago; the German striker Timo Werner has 22 goals in all competitions this season.

Normal tackles and assertive instructions to pick up where they left off are demanded of the players.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Atletico Madrid kick-off, attacking from right-to-left.
- 1min: Ibrahim brings the ball outside his box and then under hits his kick, enabling Yarmolenko to head Timo Werner in on-goal behind the Southampton defence, but Ibrahim redeems himself with a low save to his left having narrowed the angle for the oncoming German striker.
- 4mins: A better kick by Ibrahim is won in the air by Doria, who finds Maher on the halfway-line. Tol breaks from deep as Werner controls the pass on his chest and then plays the Dutchman in on the overlap through the middle, with a pass beyond John Stones, but Tol screws his shot wide with Kaminski closing in.
- 5mins: Buti Ndou attacks down the right for Southampton and then shifts the ball infield to Giammarco Stangoni, who skips away from the back-tracking Tol to shot from a central position, just outside the box, but his shot lacks control and fades away to the left of goal.
- 7mins: Shane Westley takes control of the ball midway inside the Atletico half. He chips the ball to Andrew Powell inside the area and, with his back to goal, he squares Ndou on the right. His shot is well-struck but a few feet wide of the target.
- 14mins: Andrew Powell gets his head to Yvo Lucas’s near post corner from the left, but he can’t keep it down.
- 16mins: Westley’s pass allows Stangoni to run at the Atletico defence - a task made easier by Toby Alderweireld’s rash lungeing challenge, which the Italian skips around with ease. He passes short to Lucas, midway inside the Atletico half, and he turns the ball to Powell on his left. Merazga makes a solid tackle but the ball falls into the path of Stangoni, who had continued his run. With Powell on the deck and Stangoni in possession, Yvo LUCAS breaks through the gap between Alderweireld and Doria on the edge of the D to latch onto his captain’s short pass and rifle a right-footed drive into the bottom left corner for his 15th goal of the season. 1-0.
- 27mins: Midway inside the Southampton half, Werner and Tol move the ball away from the congested middle to find space on the left wing. Yarmolenko receives the pass and feeds the overlapping Mallo as he enters the final third. Kaminski and Pugliese are both taken out by Mallo’s pass infield and Yarmolenko gets into the left side of the penalty area to shoot across goal, bringing a find one-handed save from Ibrahim.
- 29mins: Buti Ndou takes the ball on the right wing, just behind the halfway-line, and plays a low diagonal pass across the front of Rebic to Stangoni, who begins running at the home side again. Lucas takes the pass about 35-yards out with his back to goal, turning infield to play in Andrew Powell. The Welshmen gets into the area and is about to pull the trigger when Doria makes an excellent tackle to seemingly remove the danger. But Luke Shaw reacts quickly to centre from the left edge of the box with a first-time pass, picking out Giammarco STANGONI who strokes the ball home from 12-yards. 2-0.
- 31mins: Doria heads clear a Southampton corner, but Tin Jedvaj retrieves the ball and finds Stangoni in the middle of the opposition’s half and the Italian international picks out Ndou in space on the right of the Atletico penalty area. Ndou takes an early, ferocious shot but Patricio pushes the ball over-the-bar.
- 35mins: Atletico have to withstand heavy pressure, heading several crosses from wide positions out of their area only for The Saints to come at them again. Stangoni dribbles into the area and cuts his pass back to Lucas. Tol blocks the shot with a slide tackle and Powell’s follow-up is deflected over by Merazga.
- 38mins: Powell initiates a counter-attack for the visitors, which Lucas and Ndou takeover by playing a one-two down the right to create an opening for Lucas inside the area to the right of goal, shooting high of the near post. Then, Westley passes infield to Stangoni who turns and runs at Atletico from deep, Poirier struggling to keep up until Giammarco STANGONI shifts the ball onto his left foot on the edge of the D and fires an unstoppable shot inside the left-hand post. 3-0.
- 42mins: A goalmouth scramble following a Lucas corner from the left leads to Westley shooting high across goal and wide of the far post.

HALF-TIME: ATLETICO MADRID 0-3 SOUTHAMPTON

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Giammarco Stangoni has run the Atletico midfield ragged and the two centre-backs cannot deal with him, Powell and Lucas exploiting the gaps across their back four. Their attacking play has been let down by poor passing when there were some openings to be had, but Westley and Pugliese are plugging the gaps and putting us back on the front foot quickly. Ndou and Shaw are also pushing defenders back by raiding down the wings and shifting possession to the more dangerous players in the middle. I tell the players that I’m happy with what I’m seeing and ask for more of the same. Atletico have gone to 4-4-2 and brought on Amidu Salifu - a Ghanian international midfielder who had a short spell with us a few seasons ago - so I reset the Opposition Instructions.

2nd Half Highlights
- 46mins: Luke Shaw has the ball on the left wing, close to the halfway-line. He passes forward to Stangoni, whose pass enables Andrew Powell to take possession on the left side of the Atletico penalty area. With Merazga and Alderweireld unable to get close to him, Powell crosses with the outside of his right foot, picking out Yvo LUCAS on the edge of the 6-yard box to head home off the underside of the crossbar, with Patricio flapping as the ball goes past him. 4-0.
- 48mins: Stangoni glances a header across goal and wide from a Luke Shaw run and cross from the left wing, Lucas allowing the ball to go past him without applying the finish from an offside position.
- 50mins: Yarmolenko’s 25-yard free-kick floats just over the bar.
- 56mins: Alderweireld makes a last-ditch challenge inside his own area to prevent Powell finishing off a Saints counter-attack through the middle. Then Atletico create a chance with a counter of their own, Tol and Werner moving the ball from right-to-left to find the overlapping Yarmolenko in space on the left of the area, but Ibrahim gets down to block the shot.

View attachment 358451
- 59mins: John Griffiths comes on to replace Andrew Powell up-front for The Saints.
- 66mins: Yellow Card for Buti Ndou for a trip on Yarmolenko.
- 68mins: Patricio has to push an inswinging free-kick from Stangoni, from the right wing, over the bar.
- 70mins: James Ward-Prowse replaces Giammarco Stangoni and takes the captain’s armband.
- 74mins: Diego Reyes replaces Phillip Kaminski in defence, John Stones shifting to the right of the back-3 to make space for the Mexican as the Ball-Playing Defender.
- 78mins: John Griffiths chases a long ball into the left corner flag, and turns Merazga to find James Ward-Prowse on the left corner of the 6-yard box. The midfielder’s shot is pushed onto the foot of the post by Patricio, the ball squirming across goal where Ndou’s lunge can only redirect it into the side-netting.
- 80mins: Patricio has to save at the foot of his left-hand post to stop Ndou’s poorly struck effort bobbling over the line.
- 82mins: Yellow Card for Diego Reyes.
- 83mins: Yellow Card for Shane Westley.
- 86mins: Atletico substitute Mallo has to head the ball off his own goal-line to stop Buti Ndou’s right-wing cross drifting in at the back post.
- 88mins: Tol’s angled pass from the right wing finds Timo Werner just over the halfway-line. He holds the ball up and releases Sanchez through the middle, with Stones trying to track the striker’s run. Sanchez gets away from the defender as he gets into the Saints area, but his shot is pushed wide by Ibrahim - the goalkeeper remaining vigilant to the end to deny the home side a consolation goal.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
GIAMMARCO STANGONI (SOUTHAMPTON) - 9.5
Advanced Playmaker_Attack: 2 goals; 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
An excellent away performance in which we rode a difficult start to stamp our authority on the game during the first-half and see it out with a professional job done in the second. Stangoni’s dribbling from deep caused them plenty of problems and enabled us to overload them through the middle and free players out wide to get crosses in. Yvo Lucas and Andrew Powell both played well up-front and we were defensively solid. And I got to rest a few players during the second-half and give some more minutes to James Ward-Prowse to complete his comeback from injury. I don’t want the players to get too big-headed, so I calmly say “Well done” and leave them to get changed for the flight back to England.
 
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Wednesday 5th April, 2023

Yvo Lucas’s two goals against Atletico Madrid yesterday help him to maintain his position at the competition’s top scorer this season, with 10. Christoffer Jorgensen is being tipped for the English Players’ Player of the Year award, with his former Saints team-mate Erik Gomez also on the short-list.

View attachment 358442

Juventus win 1-0 at the Nou Camp to give themselves a slender advantage for the 2nd Leg of their Champions League Quarter-Final. Porto will take a healthy 3-0 lead to the Parc des Princes when they take on Paris Saint-Germain again. Manchester United will have to guard against a Genoa away goal when the two teams meet at Old Trafford next week, after a goalless draw at Luigi Ferraris.
 
Wednesday 5th April, 2023

Preparations vs WEST BROMWICH ALBION (Wembley)

View attachment 358439

SAINTS: 4/5 (fav); West Brom: 3/1; Draw: 2/1.

We drew 0-0 with West Brom when we met at St. Mary’s in early December, despite having 18 shots to their 6, with Abdel Aziz Ibrahim our best player on the day. They are currently 10th in the Premier League table and have their 26 year-old Irish striker Liam Brennan in excellent form with 17 goals from him in their last 18 matches.

West Brom have reached this Semi-Final by beating Hull City 3-0 in the 3rd Round; Huddersfield Town 4-2 in the 4th; Everton 3-1 in the 5th Round and Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 in the Quarter-Final - all four of them being home matches for The Baggies. We beat Derby County 4-1 away in Round 3; despatched Burnley at the second attempt in Round 4, drawing 2-2 at Turf Moor before winning the replay 2-0 at St. Mary’s; we trounced Newcastle United 6-2 at home in the 5th Round and annihilated Sheffield Wednesday 8-0 in the Quarter-Final, also at home.

Some of West Brom’s players will have fresher legs than some of ours having not played since last weekend, but I have a larger squad to select from. We have only lost 1 out of 23 matches against West Brom since 2013, of which we have won 14. We are working on Defensive Set-Pieces. They play 4-4-2 and tend to score goals from 16mins to 30mins, letting them in during the first 15mins of either half. They are susceptible to assists from either flank or through the middle, so we’ll be looking to exploit that.
 
Saturday 8th April, 2023

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Arsenal have booked their place in the FA Cup Final with a 1-0 win against Leicester City, an own goal scored by Danish defender Rasmus Thelander.
 
Sunday 9th April, 2023

FA Cup - Semi-Final
SOUTHAMPTON vs WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Wembley Stadium, London; Att: 90,000

View attachment 358433

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim continues in goal; Roel Rutten and Diego Reyes return to the starting line-up, with John Stones moving to the right of the back-3; Giammarco Stangoni is fit enough to start and James Ward-Prowse finally makes his return to the starting XI; Pugliese, Tom Ince and Kostas Kabastanakis are the other three across the midfield; Christoffer Jorgensen comes back in to partner Andrew Powell up-front; Mark Ardean-Webb is on the bench with Jorginho and Marc Smulders.

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West Brom - 4-4-2: Jason Steele is in goal for The Baggies; centre-back Nathan Ake played well against us in the 0-0 draw earlier in the season and is currently interesting Liverpool; Japanese midfielder Masahiro Izumi is rated at 9-million; in-form striker Liam Brennan captain’s the side.

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Pre-match instructions again consist of normal tackles and pick up where you left off.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: An April shower pours down as West Brom kick-off here at Wembley Stadium, attacking from left-to-right.
- 3mins: Giammarco Stangoni, with his path down the left wing blocked by two defenders, back-heels to Tom Ince before receiving the return pass and squaring infield for James Ward-Prowse. The English midfielder sweeps the ball forward to Jorgensen, who is closely marked by Taylor, 25-yards from goal. To shake off Taylor, the Danish striker plays a one-two with Andrew Powell to find space on the left edge of the D, where Christoffer JORGENSEN shoots inside the right-hand post beyond the despairing dive of Jason Steele, to give Southampton an early lead. 1-0.
- 5mins: An attempted clearance in midfield by Harris is charged down at close quarters by Stangoni, who advances to the left side of the West Brom goal before shooting into the side-netting, with Taylor getting across to cover.
- 8mins: James Ward-Prowse bounces a free-kick off the crossbar from the right of the penalty area.
- 10mins: Stangoni shoots just past the left-hand post after dribbling from midfield and exchanging passes with Jorgensen on the edge of the West Brom box.
- 11mins: Ward-Prowse pulls his left-wing corner back to Stangoni, who is lurking outside the penalty area. The Italian sidesteps the challenge of Day and unleashes a ferocious effort at goal, only to be denied by the shoulder of his team-mate Jorgensen getting in the way and deflecting the ball high and wide of the target.
- 13mins: Jorgensen charges down the left side for The Saints, pulling the ball back infield for Tom Ince - but the England winger drags his shot well-wide of the far post.
- 14mins: Jorgensen and Powell play one-twos on the edge of the West Brom area and Powell’s side-foot shot goes wide of the left-hand post, with Steele having stepped to his left, leaving a large gap to aim at.
- 16mins: Yellow Card for Chuba Akpom.
- 25mins: Ward-Prowse floats a left-wing corner to the back post and Diego Reyes gets up well to beat West Brom’s defenders, but his header hits the crossbar and goes over.
- 27mins: Akpom - who is already on a yellow card - fouls Stangoni on the left of the West Brom penalty area. Ward-Prowse’s cross is headed out and Stangoni’s follow-up effort goes wide to the right.
- 34mins: Mario Pugliese passes the ball to the right wing from centre-field. Kostas Kabastanakis plays a one-two with Stangoni, making the diagonal run from the right wing to the West Brom penalty area to meet the return, shooting across goal on-the-run with an effort that whistles wide.
- 36mins: Yellow Card for Andrew Day for a trip on Stangoni. From the free-kick, 20-yards out, near the right corner of the box, James Ward-Prowse again grazes the top of the crossbar.

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON 1-0 WEST BROMWICH ALBION

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West Brom have offered very little so far, being pegged back by our constant attacking football and being undone by one-twos and long-range shots. They haven’t had a single shot at our goal and we have had 66% possession. If our finishing was better, we’d be out of sight by now. But I’m happy with the performance and try to encourage the team to keep going in the second-half.

2nd Half Highlights
- 50mins: Diego Reyes leaps high at the back post to meet Ward-Prowse’s right-wing corner but can’t keep his header down.
- 56mins: From the left side of his penalty area, Ibrahim sends a free-kick into centre-field, where Pugliese controls the ball and turns forward to release Andrew POWELL between Ake and Taylor to steady himself 14-yards out and place his shot past Steele and into the top left corner, for his 20th goal of the season. 2-0.
- 60mins: Kabastanakis throws the ball short to Stangoni on the right-hand side and the in-form Italian playmaker slaloms past two defenders to chip a cross to the near post where Powell heads just wide.
- 61mins: Day heads out a left-wing cross from Jorgensen but Ince collects and brings it back into the area, passing to Powell by the penalty spot and he forces a save from Steele with a snapshot.
- 66mins: Stangoni raids down the right-hand side again but his cross is headed out. Kabastanakis controls the ball and shoots across goal, wide to the left.
- 67mins: Mark Ardean-Webb comes on in place of Mario Pugliese.
- 68mins: Another free-kick from Ward-Prowse brings a save from Jason Steele in the centre of his goal.
- 69mins: A Southampton attack down the right-hand side breaks down but Mark Ardean-Webb is quick to reinvigorate it, taking Kabastanakis’s flick and passing diagonally left to Stangoni, just outside the area. Stangoni’s first-time pass finds Andrew Powell inside the box, and his lay-off gives Kabastanakis a chance but his shot goes wide at the near post.
- 71mins: Stangoni and Powell both have their progress through the middle halted by last-ditch challenges, and then Ake’s weak clearance falls to Kabastanakis on the right corner of the area. He beats O’Donoghue and crosses to the middle where Powell’s header from 6-yards is straight into the arms of Steele.

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- 77mins: John Griffiths comes on to replace Christoffer Jorgensen.
- 79mins: Some exhibition football between Stangoni and Ince on the left wing draws a foul on Stangoni by Ryan John. Yellow Card for the former Southampton Youth Player. Ward-Prowse shoots wide.
- 86mins: Kevin Egan replaces Roel Rutten at the back.
- 89mins: A partially cleared corner is diverted back out to the right-hand side by Kabastanakis, for James Ward-Prowse to pick out John Stones on the back post - his header seeming destined for the back of the net only for Jason Steele to claw it onto his right-hand post, West Brom scrambling the ball away into touch.
- 90mins+2: The referee blows the final whistle and Southampton’s place in the 2023 FA Cup Final is confirmed.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
ANDREW POWELL (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.0
Advanced Forward_Attack: 1 goal; 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
We played well and West Brom were poor, so it was a fairly routine 2-0 victory. We had 30 shots and they didn’t have any at all, so we probably should have won by more goals, but since there is no goal difference in the FA Cup, I’m not bothered. I calmly congratulate the players on reaching our 4th FA Cup Final in 8 seasons.
 
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