Diary of a Season: St. Mary's Redemption

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Monday 10th April, 2023

My 2nd choice goalkeeper Louis Cruse has complained about his lack first team football. I have reassured him that he will get getting more outings next season, though in truth he will play League Cup matches and against weaker opponents in the Champions League group stage and some FA Cup matches as he has done this season, while Abdel Aziz Ibrahim will continue to be the team’s No.1.

Cruse plays 90 minutes for the U21s in their 3-1 friendly victory at Coventry City. Elias Migliorini also plays the full match while Jay Rodriguez and Rodrigao also feature, in anticipation of some first-team involvement between now and the end of the season. Billy Roberts scores two and Jim Wright gets the other for the young Saints.
 
Monday 10th April, 2023

Preparation vs ATLETICO MADRID (h)

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

1st Leg: ATLETICO MADRID 0-4 SOUTHAMPTON

Atletico beat Sevilla 3-2 on Sunday in the battle for 3rd place in La Liga, but they will have their work cut-out trying to overturn the 4-goal deficit that we inflicted upon them in the 1st Leg. I’m going to rest Giammarco Stangoni and a couple of other players for this one, but I will still be looking to win the match to secure our passage to the Champions League semi-finals. We are working on Attacking Movement in training.
 
Wednesday 12th April, 2023

European Champions League - Quarter-Final, 2nd Leg
SOUTHAMPTON (Eng) vs ATLETICO MADRID (Spa)
St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton; Att: 51,912

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SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim starts in goal; Jedvaj, Stones and Kaminski line up in defence; Luke Shaw and Buti Ndou occupy the wide midfield positions; Mark Ardean-Webb and Shane Westley - who is one yellow card from suspension - will play the more defensive midfield roles; Jorginho comes in for Stangoni as the Advanced Playmaker; Jose Pinho partners Yvo Lucas - the Champions League’s top scorer going into the quarter-finals - up-front; Kabastanakis is on the bench with Marc Smulders and John Griffiths - and recent youth intake player, Viv Screen.
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Atletico - 4-2-3-1: Doria and Sahko was the central defensive partnership that suffered so badly in their previous visit to St. Mary’s; Amadu Salifu starts in midfield against his former club; Yarmolenko lines-up on the right with Timo Werner on the left to begin with, but they are capable of switching positions at will; Jose Luis Sanchez had a great opportunity to score in the 1st Leg but was unable to beat Ibrahim.

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Normal tackles and pick up where we left-off.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: The Saints get the match underway as the rain comes down, attacking the Northam End. Atletico Madrid are in their blue-and-yellow changed strip.
- 7mins: An early counter-attack by Atletico has Sanchez passing from the centre-circle to free Maher through the middle. He doesn’t have the pace to get behind The Saints defence so chips the ball out to Yarmolenko on the right of the area, but takes the ball close enough to Ibrahim to enable to keeper to smother the shot and push it away for a corner.
- 13mins: A left-wing corner from Yvo Lucas is headed into the side-netting by Jose Pinho. Then, Yellow Card for Amidu Salifu for his second trip on Jorginho in as many minutes.
- 14mins: Shane Westley passes forward from the halfway-line, finding Jorginho advancing into the final third, right of centre. He carries it forward before playing in Buti Ndou on the right of the area to cut inside and shoot, but the ball hits the crossbar and bounces away on the far side.
- 17mins: Short passing on the left corner of the penalty area between Jorginho, Pinho and Shaw presents a shooting opportunity for the England man but his shot is too high.
- 19mins: Buti Ndou gets the ball back from his own through by the right-wing corner flag and Jose Pinho heads his near-post cross over from close range. Then, Pinho heads wide at the near post from Luke Shaw’s left-wing cross.
- 21mins: Atletico glide through the middle of the pitch with Maher shooting from the D but the ball is deflected high over the bar.
- 22mins: Sakho finds Timo Werner to the left of the D and he threads the ball through red-shirted defenders to feed Sanchez. The former Spain U21 international steps around Stones and shoots left-footed, hitting the underside of the crossbar. Jedvaj clears to the right wing.
- 25mins: Yellow Card for John Stones for a foul on Sanchez.
- 26mins: Shane Westley clears the ball up the right wing and Yvo Lucas gives chase to retrieve the ball in the corner. He has to wait for his team-mates to get upfield with him, but holds onto the ball long enough to find Ndou on the right corner of the area. He squeezes the ball between two defenders to square to Jorginho whose right-footed drive is well saved by Patricio, diving to his right to push the ball wide.
- 29mins: Luke Shaw receives the ball in his own half and attacks down the left wing, leaving Merazga in his wake and crossing low to the near post where Jose PINHO arrives to slot the ball past Patricio. 1-0 (Agg: 5-0).
- 31mins: Shaw’s throw from the left is turned into the area by Jorginho and Pinho’s low angled drive is parried away to the far side by Patricio.
- 32mins: Jorginho slips the ball between defenders to play Shaw in on-goal, but Merazga makes a crucial sliding tackle to deny him the shooting chance.
- 36mins: Atletico goalkeeper Patricio comes out to his team’s left-back position to take a free-kick, but miss-kicks it into the middle. Jose Pinho reacts quickest and shoots for the open goal from 50-yards - but the ball drops wide of the left-hand post.
- 39mins: Atletico counter-attack and Yarmolenko passes infield to Tol, whose side-foot pass play Sanchez in, but Ibrahim makes an outstanding save to maintain Southampton’s lead.
- 45mins: Amidu Salifu passes from the back to the front of the centre-circle from Atletico’s point-of-view, finding the feet of Maher. He turns and passes forward to Sanchez who lays it off to Timo WERNER coming in from the left to shift the ball onto his right and from a tight angle near the left corner of the area, smash a low shot across Ibrahim and into the far corner. 1-1 (Agg: 5-1).

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON (5) 1-1 (1) ATLETICO MADRID

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We controlled much of the first-half but have been susceptible to the counter-attack a few times, including their equaliser. If that continues in the next 15mins or so, I will switch the formation to 4-4-1-1 and look to see out the tie. I ignore Mullers’ instructions and assertively tell the players not to get complacent - there’s still a job to be done.

2nd Half Highlights
- 46mins: Buti Ndou’s headed clearance drops to Lucas on the halfway-line. He holds the ball up long enough for Jose Pinho to run from deep, latching onto Lucas’s pass beyond Doria and shifting the ball onto his right foot to shield it from Toby Alderweireld before shooting from just inside the box, but Patricio saves with a diving catch to his left.
- 47mins: Ibrahim has to come out of his area to clear before Sanchez can run on to Maher’s through ball and when the Merazga plays it forward again, Kaminski steps across to stop Yarmolenko getting in on-goal from the left.
- 51mins: Jorginho’s pass on the left finds Ardean-Webb midway inside the Atletico half. He squares for Westley who picks out Ndou on the right-hand side, the South African then taking the ball down the side of the penalty area and crossing into the middle. With five defenders in the 6-yard box, the ball hits Sahko on the chest and drops to JORGINHO who strikes through the legs of the closest defender and past the unsighted Patricio. 2-1 (Agg: 6-1).
- 53mins: Patricio pushes Shaw’s cross over the var at the near post.
- 54mins: Tin Jedvaj shoots wide from the edge of the penalty area after a partially cleared corner.

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- 68mins: Buti Ndou comes off to be replaced by John Griffiths, with the young striker going up-front as the Advanced Forward with Jose Pinho moving to the right of midfield and Yvo Lucas becoming the F-9.
- 71mins: Yellow Card for Timo Werner for a foul on Jose Pinho.
- 83mins: Phillip Kaminskis goes off and is replaced by Kevin Egan.
- 86mins: Shane Westley wins the ball from Tol just inside the Saints half and passes to Lucas in the centre-circle. He feeds Jorginho on the overlapping run through the middle and then sets off to make a similar run, the ball crossing in-front of him to Westley before he latches onto the short forward pass to get in-behind Doria. Yvo LUCAS steps to the right to evade the retreating Brazilian defender and place a shot beyond the outstretched arm of Patricio and inside the right-hand post from 13-yards. 3-1 (Agg: 7-1).
- 87mins: Marc Smulders will come on for Luke Shaw for the last few minutes.
- 90mins+1: Jose Pinho’s free-kick from the left corner of the area drifts wide. Atletico get forward down the left wing but the full-time whistle goes before Atletico can create anything.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
LUKE SHAW (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.3
Wide Midfielder_Support: 0 goals; 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
We re-asserted ourselves in the second-half and left Atletico behind, despite being opened up ourselves a couple of times due to some sloppy passing at the back and allowing the Spanish side to play their way through us at times. Jorginho played well again and Jose Pinho weighed in with his 9th goal of the season. We’re through to the Champions League Semi-Finals.
 
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Wednesday 12th April, 2023

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Manchester United will join us in the draw for the European Champions League Semi-Finals, after beating Genoa 2-0 at Old Trafford in their quarter-final 2nd leg match, after a 0-0 draw in Italy last week. Last night, Barcelona overturned Juventus’s 1-0 lead from the 1st leg to win 4-1 on the night in Turin, thanks to a Lionel Messi hat-trick, to triumph 4-2 on aggregate. And Porto’s 3-goal lead from the 1st leg was enough to see them through despite losing 2-3 on the night to Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.

Gate receipts of 3.8-million from tonight’s match set a new club record.
 
Thursday 13th April, 2023

Preparation vs CARDIFF CITY (h)

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SAINTS: 1/4 (fav); Cardiff: 9/1; Draw: 4/1.

We beat Cardiff 3-0 at their place in November and have only lost to them once in 20 meetings; a 1-2 in January 2014, defeat during my first season. They are currently 14th in the Premier League and looking safe enough, 6 points ahead of Tottenham in 18th with 5 matches to go, with Everton, Swansea and Fulham all positioned more precariously going into the last few rounds of the season.

Steve Bruce plays 4-4-2 and has a poor squad in comparison to ours. They score more goals in the first-half but are vulnerable towards the end of matches. They are weak defending down their left, with 13 assists having come from their opponents’ right side. We are working on Defending Set-Pieces.
 
Friday 14th April, 2023

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Barcelona (Spa) vs Southampton (Eng) and Porto (Por) vs Manchester United (Eng) will be the two Champions League Semi-Finals.

We have played Barcelona on five occasions in the past. The first was a 2016 pre-season friendly at the Nou Camp, which was a 1-1 draw. In 2020, we beat Barca 2-1 at the Nou Camp and drew 2-2 at home in a Champions League Quarter-Final. Then we met them again the following season during the Group Stage, when we also got the better of them with a 1-1 draw away and a 3-1 victory at St. Mary’s.
 
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Saturday 15th April, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 33
SOUTHAMPTON vs CARDIFF CITY
St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton; Att: 49,790

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Louis Cruse comes back into the side, to keep him match fit and sharp for the season’s run-in; Roel Rutten and Diego Reyes return to the defence, with Kevin Egan joining them; Tom Ince and Kostas Kabastanakis give an attacking edge to the wide midfield positions; James Ward-Prowse and Mario Pugliese join Giammarco Stangoni in central midfield; Christoffer Jorgensen and Andrew Powell are up-front; Arthur Semka joins Jose Pinho and Dragan Hrustic on the bench.

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Cardiff - 4-4-2: Midfielder Abdul Razak is a former Manchester City reserve; Andrija Vukcevic of Montenegro is quite a creative player from the left-hand side; Zeljko Turkovic, a Croatian striker, is Cardiff’s top scorer this season with 12 goals in all competitions.

Normal tackles and I address most the players on a one-to-one basis to get them motivated for this match.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Southampton kick-off, attacking the Chapel End to the right against a Cardiff team in an all-yellow changed strip.
- 2mins: Tom Ince gets in on the left of goal from Jorgensen and Powell’s smart play, but his shot is blocked by Moore in the Cardiff goal.
- 3mins: James Ward-Prowse loops a left-wing corner to the far post, where the ball is met on the edge of the 6-yard box by the head of Roel RUTTEN, running from deep and leaping high to thump the ball past Moore. 1-0.
- 5mins: Moore saves a free-kick from Ward-Prowse on the left of the area.
- 8mins: Ben Pearson brings down Giammarco Stangoni outside the box, in a central area, and from the resulting free-kick, Ward-Prowse shoots narrowly wide of the right-hand post.
- 9mins: Pugliese plays Kabastanakis in down the right-hand side and his cross is flicked away at the back post by Day, challenging with Powell. But the ball drops to Ince on the far side of the area, who heads it down to Stangoni. The Saints skipper shoots from a tight angle, only to see his shot rebound off the underside of the crossbar and it’s cleared to safety.
- 11mins: Jorgensen receives a pass from Powell and lets fly with a drive from inside the D that keeps on rising.
- 14mins: Pearson heads out a Ward-Prowse cross from the left-hand side, but the attempt to complete the clearance from the edge of the area sees the ball ricochet back to Ward-Prowse who loops the ball into the penalty area. Andrew POWELL gets under it to steer his header over Moore and into the left side of the goal. 2-0.
- 20mins: Tom Ince gets free down the left wing and crosses from the byline to the far post, where Powell jumps high but can’t keep his header down.
- 22mins: Stangoni and Powell work the ball through the middle for Jorgensen to shoot into the bottom right corner - but the offside flag rules the goal out.
- 24mins: Stangoni finds Powell on the edge of the box and his shot on the turn is saved by Moore on the goal-line.
- 30mins: Powell shoots over from the D after receiving a pass from Stangoni after a dribbling run from centre.
- 32mins: Jorgensen heads over from a left-wing corner by Ward-Prowse.
- 34mins: Ince and then Powell are dispossessed by sliding tackles inside the Cardiff area, but Stangoni pushes the ball wide for Kabastanakis and his tight-angled shot causes Moore to parry before Vuckevic clears for a corner. Kevin Egan heads goal ward from Ward-Prowse’s delivery but Moore mass the save.
- 43mins: Yellow Card for Callum Day.

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON 2-0 CARDIFF CITY

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Another match where the opposition has not had a single shot in the first-half and we are just running them ragged, with Stangoni conducting the show from central midfield and the wide midfielders providing plenty of width and balls into the box. We have had 17 shots, 8 on target. Cardiff have gone to 4-4-1-1. I have told the players that they can still improve in the second-half and got them motivated again.

2nd Half Highlights
- 47mins: Razak finds Pearson just shy of the halfway-line, and he chips the ball forward for Turkovic to run onto. Rutten sells himself with a poorly timed challenge, leaving Turkovic free to go straight through the middle. He shoots for the top right corner from the edge of the area, but Louis Cruse, at full stretch, gets fingertips to the ball and pushes it wide for a corner. The Saints fans behind the goal give the understudy keeper a standing ovation for an outstanding save.
- 51mins: An in-swinging free-kick from Ward-Prowse on the left finds Andrew Powell’s head, 10-yards from goal, but the Welsh striker heads wide with the goal at his mercy. Then, Yellow Card for Mario Pugliese.
- 53mins: Ince and Ward-Prowse work the ball into the D for Mario Pugliese and his low left-foot shot is brilliantly saved by Moore.
- 54mins: Moore saves again to stop Rutten’s effort from Kabastanakis’s right-wing pass.
- 61mins: Stangoni dribbles at the heart of the Cardiff defence and Pearson trips him, 25-yards from goal, to the left of the D. James WARD-PROWSE smashes the free-kick into the top left corner, despite Moore going the right way. 3-0.

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- 63mins: With this match pretty much won, I bring out Christoffer Jorgensen and Giammarco Stangoni and replace them with John Griffiths and Arthur Semka.
- 71mins: Delfouneso’s free-kick from the left corner of the Saints penalty area calls Louis Cruse into action to make the save at his right-hand post.
- 82mins: Phillip Kaminski replaces Roel Rutten at the back.
- 90mins: Cardiff mount some pressure on The Saints goal towards the end, with Delfouneso finding O’Brien on the right wing and his short pass enabling Drobnjak to cross. Vukcevic gets his head to the ball inside the 6-yard box, but Cruse pulls off a point-blank save, pushing the ball onto the underside of the crossbar before Egan flicks it away with his heel.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH
JAMES WARD-PROWSE (SOUTHAMPTON) - 9.3
Deep-Lying Playmaker_Support: 1 goal; 2 assists.

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VERDICT:
A solid performance where we dominated for the vast majority of the match. James Ward-Prowse’s return to the first-team squad could not have been timed better and he showed today what a great player he his. Stangoni did enough to earn an early rest as I continue to protect him from game-to-game. Jorgensen drew a blank today, but Andrew Powell continues to score goals. The defence played well and Louis Cruse made a few excellent saves to remind me that he wants more first-team football. I calmly tell the players that I’m happy with their performance.
 
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Saturday 15th April, 2023

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Chelsea move a significant step closer to claiming the Premier League title by beating 2nd placed Manchester United 4-2 in the lunch-time match at Cole Stadium. They are 5 points ahead of us with 5 matches to go. We are 1 point behind United with a game in-hand over them. Birmingham City have been relegated.
 
Sunday 16th April, 2023

Preparation vs WEST BROMWICH ALBION (a)

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

Our second meeting with The Baggies in nine days, but this time we travel to The Hawthorns where we have won 5, drawn 5 and lost 1 during the course of my managerial career. After losing the FA Cup Semi-Final to us at Wembley last Sunday, they suffered a surprise defeat by the same scoreline at relegation threatened Wigan Athletic. From our point-of-view, this match comes hot on the heels of the 3-0 win over Cardiff, with a home match against Leicester City coming up on Saturday, prior to the 1st Leg of our Champions League Semi-Final with Barcelona.

We are working of Defensive Set-Pieces and will be looking to grab goals in the opening 15mins and in the period just before half-time, when they have been statistically vulnerable. They also score goals in the first-half, too.
 
Tuesday 18th April, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 34
WEST BROMWICH ALBION vs SOUTHAMPTON
The Hawthorns, West Bromwich; Att: 26,353

SAINTS Teams News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim returns in goal; Tin Jedvaj comes back into the back-3, alongside Roel Rutten and Phillip Kaminski; Mark Ardean-Webb rotates back into the midfield to replace James Ward-Prowse; Shane Westley and Jorginho come in, too; Luke Shaw returns to the left of midfield and Jose Pinho gets a start on the right side; Christoffer Jorgensen and Yvo Lucas partner each other up-front; Arthur Semka, Marc Smulders and Andrew Powell are on the bench.

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West Brom - 4-4-2: The Baggies name pretty much the same team that we beat in the FA Cup Semi-Final, with their danger man Liam Brennan skippering the team up-front.

A few of the home team’s players are less than 100% fit. I instruct normal tackles and ask them to pick up where they left off against Cardiff.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: West Brom get the match started, attacking from left-to-right.
- 3mins: Jason Steele gets a hand to Yvo Lucas’s cross from a left-wing corner, but only manages to push the ball to the back post where Day has to head over his own crossbar to deny Roel Rutten. Lucas takes the corner from the other side, drifting the ball into the near post area where Mark ARDEAN-WEBB once again demonstrates his ability to run from deep and head Southampton into an early lead from close range. 1-0.
- 5mins: Jose Pinho wins another corner on the right wing. Lucas again looks for the near post area and Ardean-Webb and Jorgensen both go for it. Jorgensen goes down and the referee looks to the linesman who puts his flag across his chest to indicate a penalty for push by Izumi…
- 6mins: …Yvo LUCAS steps up to smash the ball low and hard into the bottom left corner. 2-0.
- 7mins: A foul by Ake on Jose Pinho leads to a free-kick on the right touchline for The Saints. Jorginho plays the ball into the box and Jorgensen shoots for the bottom right corner, but Steele scoops the ball up.
- 11mins: As Lucas receives treatment for another foul by Nathan Ake, Jorgensen takes possession 25-yards out and gets away from Day on the left of the D to shoot for goal, the ball going over at the left-hand post. Then smart approach play from Jorgensen and Jorginho enables Shaw to cross from the left. Taylor heads away from Jorgensen but Mark Ardean-Webb catches it sweetly on the volley from the edge of the area, forcing Jason Steele to make a strong save at the left-hand post.
- 16mins: Southampton shift the ball from left wing to right wing, Westley passing from central midfield to Jose Pinho on the right of the penalty area. Pinho steps inside Ake and shoots left-footed, the ball flying just wide of the far post with Steele diving full length across his goal. Then a Jorgensen cross from close to the left corner flag is met by the head of Jorginho, Taylor blocking the effort on the 6-yard line. The ball falls to Pinho but his effort hits Ake and goes wide.
- 19mins: Mason gets down the left wing for West Brom and crosses to the near post. Brennan can’t quite reach the ball with his head and Ibrahim parries it wide.
- 21mins: Harris hits a 25-yard pass over the halfway-line to release Liam Brennan through the heart of the Southampton defence. He dribbles out to the left side of the area while other blue-and-white shirts get forward, crossing low for Akpom to shoot for goal. Ibrahim makes an impressive point-blank save but the ball pops out towards Harris just beyond the right-hand post. But Luke Shaw slides in and does enough to prevent Harris from converting the open goal, with the ball rolling into the side-netting.
- 22mins: From the goal-kick, Ibrahim’s long ball flies over both Westley and Taylor who are tussling on the edge of the centre-circle, and bounces through to put Yvo Lucas in on-goal. He tries to place his shot into the bottom right corner from the right side of the D, but misses the target.
- 26mins: Roel Rutten slides in to dispossess Brennan but Izumi beats Jorginho to the loose ball in midfield, diverting to it Akpom who plays a first-time lay-off to Liam Brennan. His 22-yard shot is well hit but Ibrahim dives to his right and pushes the ball wide.
- 27mins: Nathan Ake commits his third foul of the match and still eludes the referee’s yellow card.
- 30mins: Ibrahim has to push Izumi’s free-kick from deep on the right over the bar.
- 33mins: Yellow Card for Phillip Kaminski for a sliding foul on Akpom. Then Day passes forward to Brennan who dances around Jedvaj to shoot from an angle from the right side of the area, but Ibrahim gets his body in the way to push the ball wide.
- 41mins: Pinho advances down the right-hand side and, seeing several defenders strung across the middle, hits a glorious pass to the opposite flank to pick out the run of Luke Shaw. He takes one touch to get into the area and shoots for the far corner, but Steele gets down low to make an excellent save diving to his left.
- 45mins+2: Jorginho passes to Ardean-Webb on the edge of the penalty area and he shoots on the turn, but the ball flies well wide.

HALF-TIME: WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0-2 SOUTHAMPTON

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Liam Brennan has shown some attacking intent for West Brom and they have got through us a couple of times, but we’re playing well generally and are deservedly in-front at the break. I tell the players that I’m pleased with how they are playing and send them out motivated for the second-half.

2nd Half Highlights
- 57mins: Harris picks the ball up on the right wing after an Ardean-Webb tackle, and pulls the ball back to the centre, 25-yards out, for Izumi who shoots right-footed but wide.
- 59mins: Jorginho shoots over from the edge of the area after being teed-up by Lucas.
- 61mins: Another deep free-kick that almost flies directly in is headed off the line by Kaminski.
- 66mins: Brennan brings the ball down on the right of the D and plays substitute Ryan John into the area, but Kaminski makes a precise sliding tackle to divert the ball wide for a corner.
- 68mins: Eveleens finds Harris on the right wing and he takes on Shaw before crossing to the centre. Ryan John leaps from the 6-yard line in the middle of goal, but somehow misses the target with Ibrahim diving the wrong way.
- 69mins: James Ward-Prowse comes on to replace Jorginho, who has taken a knock. Andrew Powell also comes on, with Christoffer Jorgensen making way. I switch to hard tackles to try and get hold of central midfield again.
- 70mins: Akpan’s pass from the halfway-line finds Brennan in the centre-circle. His first-time pass releases Ryan John beyond The Saints back-3, but he lacks the necessary composure and snatches the chance wide of the right-hand post.
- 78mins: Ibrahim sends a goal-kick into the final third where Andrew Powell controls the ball on his chest and goes clean through the middle. Jason Steele saves the shot with his left hand, and Powell’s rebound effort is deflected wide by Davidson. The first corner is headed away for another. Then Ward-Prowse’s near post cross is headed wide by Powell.
- 82mins: Pinho passes to Ward-Prowse midway inside the West Brom half and he picks out the run of Yvo Lucas on the right side of the area. Lucas appears to bring the ball down with his left arm, but is allowed to continue and shoots into the side-netting.
- 83mins: Kevin Egan replaces Roel Rutten in defence.
- 88mins: Powell and Lucas one-two their way through the West Brom defence before Lucas hits a weak shot straight at the keeper.
- 90mins+3: Mason floats a pass from the inside-left channel over the head of Egan to Liam Brennan and he controls the ball before shooting past the poorly positioned Ibrahim from long range - over for the offside flag to rule the effort out. The replay shows that Brennan was actually onside.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
MARK ARDEAN-WEBB (SOUTHAMPTON) - 7.9
Deep-Lying Playmaker_Support: 1 goal; 0 assist.

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VERDICT:
We were lucky with that incorrect call at the very end of the match, but we were the better side for most of the match. Another 2-0 win against West Brom and we will roll on to our next home game against Leicester with a few players well rested.
 
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Wednesday 19th April, 2023

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Yesterday’s win over West Brom moved us into 2nd place in the Premier League, 2 points behind Chelsea who had a game in-hand - until tonight, when they lost 0-2 at Arsenal. So we could be in for a close title run-in.
 
Wednesday 19th April, 2023

Preparation vs LEICESTER CITY (h)

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SAINTS: 1/2 (fav); Leicester: 9/2; Draw: 13/5.

We have won each of our last 10 matches against Leicester and beat them 3-0 at the King Power Stadium earlier in the season. They are currently in 6th position in the Premier League and are on course for their highest top flight finish since finishing 4th in the 1963/64 season, having won their last two league matches.

Roberto Mancini’s team usually play a 4-4-2 with a narrow diamond in midfield, with my former player Ross Barkley in the No.10 role. He’s been their star player this season with 11 goals and 13 assists. They score a lot of goals early on in matches but have not conceded many recently, though they are evenly spread. We are working on Attacking Set-Pieces.
 
Saturday 22nd April, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 35
SOUTHAMPTON vs LEICESTER CITY
St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton; Att: 50,049

SAINTS Teams News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim in goal; Roel Rutten is rested so Jedvaj, Reyes and Kaminski line-up in defence; Elias Migliorini makes a return to the first-team on the left of midfield; Ardean-Webb and Pugliese are either side of Giammarco Stangoni; Kostas Kabastanakis is on the right; Christoffer Jorgensen is joined up-front by Andrew Powell; Jose Pinho and Jorginho are both among the substitutes.

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Leicester - 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond: Right-back Liam Moore is the Leicester captain; Jose Manuel Alvarenga used to be at Manchester United; Fallou Diagne and Ross Barkley are both former Southampton players; No.77 Esmael Goncalves is known as Isma and has 13 goals in all competitions so far this season.

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I’m slightly concerned about Leicester being able to play through the midfield by using Barkley as an Enganche, so I instruct hard tackles and tell the players to pick up where they left off, again.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Saints kick-off, attacking from left-to-right, and Migliorini goes straight forward down the left wing and wins a corner.
- 1min: Bruma heads the corner from the right away but The Saints regain possession and switch the ball back to the left flank, where Elias Migliorini gets to the byline and crosses to the near post; Christoffer Jorgensen gets up well but heads over at close range.
- 2mins: Migliorini - as though making up for lost time this season - gets the ball on the left again and fires in a low cross shot that Kammersgaard fumbles wide for another corner, which is cleared.
- 10mins: Powell lays the ball off to Kostas Kabastanakis and then gets into the middle to head the Dutchman’s cross down to Giammarco Stangoni, but his volley goes wide.
- 11mins: Williams gets in on the right of The Saints penalty area but hits his pass against the heel of Reyes, the midfielder sliding in to clear the ball to enable Migliorini to bring the ball out from defence. He passes to Ardean-Webb on halfway who then feeds Stangoni, breaking through the Leicester defensive line in the inside-left channel. He passes infield to the overlapping Jorgensen who presents the ball to the unmarked Andrew Powell in the centre. The Welshman’s shot beats Kammersgaard but smacks against the right-hand post and bounces away to safety.
- 15mins: Tin Jedvaj has a shot blocked inside the area by Alvarenga.
- 16mins: Yellow Card for Mario Pugliese.
- 28mins: Beernaert dribbles past Diego Reyes in midfield and finds Isma with a low pass. His first-time lay-off frees Ross BARKLEY on the right and he goes past Jedvaj before beating Ibrahim with a placed shot inside the far post to give Leicester the lead, against the run of play. 0-1.
- 29mins: Rahman plays a high ball forward from defence which Beernaert controls on the halfway line. Isma makes the run inside Jedvaj and the pass puts him through the middle. He gets to the edge of the area but hits his shot too close to Ibrahim.
- 30mins: Kabastanakis puts over a high free-kick and Jorgensen jumps high but heads wide from 6-yards out.
- 33mins: Kammersgaard saves from Stangoni’s shot from the edge of the box.
- 35mins: Yellow Card for Kostas Kabastanakis for a foul on Beernaert on halfway.
- 36mins: Kabastanakis finds Jorgensen by the centre-spot and he chips the ball forward to release Andrew Powell behind Bruma. Powell moves to the centre of goal and tries to place his shot from 14-yards, but hits the keeper with it, thrashing the rebound against the retreating defender - and a great chance to equalise goes begging.
- 45mins+1: Saints win the ball back in midfield and Stangoni brings it to halfway before lobbing three defenders to play Powell into the inside-right channel. After controlling the ball and getting into the penalty area, Andrew POWELL shoots from an acute angle, across Kammersgaard to beat the Danish keeper at his far post, to equalise for The Saints. 1-1.
- 45mins+2: Leicester go to a 4-5-1 formation with a flat midfield-5.

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON 1-1 LEICESTER CITY

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Leicester have had just 2 shots and only 37% of possession, but find themselves unlucky not to be ahead at the break due to our profligacy in-front of goal. Migliorini has been lively down our left-hand side and Stangoni is probing from midfield as ever, but Leicester’s numbers in midfield make it more congested than we’re used to and our crosses have been dealt with by their back four, for the most part. I assertively tell the players that all three points are still there for the taking and send them out to win them in the second-half. Leicester have made two substitutions at half-time to freshen up their midfield personnel.

2nd Half Highlights
- 48mins Substitute Cuevas receives a pass on the left side of The Saints penalty area and hits the crossbar with a cross-shot that almost catches out Ibrahim.
- 52mins: Jorgensen drags his shot wide after riding a tackle from Bruma on the edge of Leicester’s area.
- 55mins: Kammersgaard is already wasting time at goal-kicks! Then, Ardean-Webb and Migliorini link up on the left to feed Stangoni on the edge of the box, but the bouncing ball won’t sit down and Stangoni’s half-volley on the turn flies over the far post.
- 60mins Stangoni drops deep to receive a pass from Ardean-Webb inside the centre-circle. He runs past Bridcutt and into the Leicester half before chipping the ball to Jorgensen, who comes inside from the left flank to escape Moore’s lunge and twist past Bruma with a change of pace before firing from 20-yards out, hitting crossbar and unlucky not to see the rebound go in off Kammersgaard.
- 62mins: Andre Wisdom’s carelessness in possession allows Jorgensen to try a snapshot from 25-yards, that arrows wide of the right-hand post, with Kammersgaard scrambling across his goal.

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- 63mins: I bring Jose Pinho on for Kabastanakis on the right and put the team on an attacking stance.
- 70mins: Andrew Powell goes down after striking the ball and needs treatment from the physio.
- 72mins: Stangoni’s dribble into the box causes chaos, the ball being diverted to Pinho on the right by Wisdom’s tackle, and then flashing across goal from the Portuguese’s cross with Moore knocking it out for a corner while Jorgensen stretches for it.

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- 73mins: Buti Ndou comes on in place of Andrew Powell, with Jose Pinho moving up-front and Christoffer Jorgensen switching to Advanced Forward.
- 73mins: Tin Jedvaj plays the ball out of defence to Stangoni in the centre-circle. Ardean-Webb receives the square pass and hits a first-time pass up to Jose Pinho, who has escaped the attentions of Bruma and lays the ball to the feet of Jorgensen. Moore again sells himself with a poorly timed lunge and Christoffer JORGENSEN bursts past Andre Wisdom to side-foot a shot past Kammersgaard to give Southampton the lead with his 35th goal of the season. 2-1.
- 74mins: Leicester have switched to 3-4-1-2 with Fallou Diagne in the No.10 role.
- 79mins: Elias Migliorini’s left-wing cross is headed over with a firm effort by Kaminski.
- 83mins: Yellow Card for Jose Manuel Alvarenga.
- 84mins: Shane Westley replaces Mario Pugliese in midfield.
- 86mins: Migliorini crosses from the left-wing byline but Wisdom heads it out for Leicester. Stangoni takes possession inside the D and lays it off for Shane Westley who strikes it with venom only for the ball to crash against the crossbar and bounce away harmlessly.
- 88mins: Migliorini almost scores directly from an in-swinging corner from the right-hand side, Kammersgaard pushing it over for another corner on the other side. Migliorini takes it once more and Tin Jedvaj arrives late on the back post to hit a low volley but it gets blocked and cleared by the Leicester defence.
- 90mins: Alvarenga loses the ball on halfway to a strong challenge by Diego Reyes. He passes forward to Stangoni and the Italian playmaker threads the ball between two defenders to find Jose Pinho moving into the inside-right channel. Pinho controls and relays the pass onto Jorgensen on the left of the D. The Dane steps inside Bruma and looks set to end the match as a contest, but places his shot wide from 10-yards. A bad miss!
- 90mins+1: Jorgensen gets in behind Bruma again, from Westley’s chipped horizontal pass. He goes for the side-foot shot again but Kammersgaard gets down to push the ball wide of his right-hand post.
- 90mins+2: Westley takes a square pass from Ardean-Webb but then gives it away to Moore, inside the D on the edge of the Leicester area. He brings the ball out slowly but is quickly dispossessed by Giammarco Stangoni, who pokes the ball to Jose Pinho before being fouled off the ball by Moore. The referee allows play to continue as Jose PINHO skips around Wisdom and tucks his side-foot effort inside the left-hand post to reach double-figures for the season - and to win the match for The Saints. 3-1.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
CHRISTOFFER JORGENSEN (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.7
False-9_Support/Advanced Forward_Attack: 1 goal; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
We had to come from behind and keep playing right to the end of the match, but we got the 3 points that we deserved from this match and will - temporarily at least - go to the top of the Premier League table. Roberto Mancini demonstrated his tactical awareness by changing the shape of his team during the match and they presented some unusual problems. But in the end, we worked out how to get some joy through the middle with Giammarco Stangoni pulling the strings and Jose Pinho made an impact once I put him up-front with Jorgensen. I would have preferred to bring one or two players off the pitch before the end, to rest them for the trip to Barcelona on Wednesday night, but I’m glad to have won what was quite a tricky match against solid mid-table Premier League opposition.
 
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Sunday 23rd April, 2023

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We are going to be without Andrew Powell for the next 11 days after he suffered an injury to his elbow during the Leicester match. So he will miss both legs of the Champions League Semi-Final against Barcelona and will face a race for fitness to be ready in time for the FA Cup Final against Arsenal on 7th May. At this time of the season, with us competing on so many fronts, any injuries to first-team squad players is a frustrating set-back!

Chelsea beat Birmingham City 4-0 at home to return to the top of the table. They leads us by 2 points with 3 matches left to play. We have the superior goal difference, should it come to that, but they arguably have the easier run-in:

Chelsea
30th April - Newcastle United (a)
7th May - Reading (a)
14th May - Leeds United (h)

Southampton
29th April - Fulham (a)
10th May - Manchester United (a)
14th May - Everton (h)

Unlike Chelsea, we have those two matches against Barcelona, the Cup Final against Arsenal and - hopefully - the Champions League Final to contend with, too.
 
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Sunday 23rd April, 2023

Preparation vs BARCELONA (a)

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Barcelona: 10/1; SAINTS: 1/6 (fav); Draw: 4/1.

The bookmakers have made us firm favourites to overcome Barcelona and reach our first ever European Champions League Final. They beat Juventus 4-1 in the 2nd Leg of their Quarter-Final, but that is their only win in their last 7 matches, which has included two La Liga defeats at home to Sporting Gijon and Rayo Vallecano that have all but handed a 6th successive title to Real Madrid.

35 year-old Lionel Messi is still at the club and is still scoring goals for them, including a hat-trick in that win against Juve. But he plays from the bench more often than he starts and is currently struggling with fatigue, as is Neymar, who is joint top scorer with Messi on 16 goals in all competitions. You could build a whole team out of the Barca players that are flagged red because they are on my transfer target shortlist, but many of them are less than 100% fit, so we should have an advantage going into this 1st Leg.

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Javi Rico has us working on Attacking Set-Pieces. He says they are most likely to set-up in a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation with the German international Mateusz Glowacki sitting at the base of the midfield. The squad comparison favour us and the Goal Analysis shows that they can be vulnerable at the beginning of the first-half and during the middle of the second, but score a lot of their goals during the second-45.

We are unbeaten against Barcelona in 5 meetings, which includes one pre-season friendly. Hopefully we’ll still be able to say that same thing after the completion of this Semi-Final tie.
 
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Monday 24th April, 2023

Louis Cruse is out for the rest of the season with a hernia injury. So we only have Abdel Aziz Ibrahim as a recognised first-team goalkeeper. There are five keepers in the U18 squad at the moment, but none of them are any good and 18 year-old Czech keeper Ales Danicek’s loan to Utrecht cannot be cancelled, even though he has only played twice for them all season. Marc Smulders, the young left-winger, has also picked up a knock that will keep him out for up to 10 days.

The U21s have retained their Group 1 title by beating Chelsea 2-1 at the Recreation Ground in Aldershot. John Griffiths and Kingsley Idris, who is making his return from long-term injury, scored the goals. It’s the third time we have won this title, which we won for the first time in 2015.
 
Wednesday 26th April, 2023

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From our temporary base in Barcelona, I learn from an ecstatic Giovanni Pulvirenti that our U21s have overcome some crazy scheduling and their Middlesbrough counterparts to complete the U21s League & Cup double with a 3-1 victory at Staplewood. Arthur Semka and Josh Rutter scored goals either side of Joseph Newton’s equaliser for the Boro, and Aidan Galbraith added the third midway through the second-half. This is our first U21s Cup triumph.
 
Wednesday 26th April, 2023

European Champions League - Semi-Final, 1st Leg
BARCELONA (Spa) vs SOUTHAMPTON (Eng)
Nou Camp, Barcelona; Att: 96,229

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SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Abdel Aziz Ibrahim plays in goal against his former club; Roel Rutten, Diego Reyes and Tin Jedvaj line-up as the back-3; James Ward-Prowse and Mario Pugliese start alongside Giammarco Stangoni in central midfield; Luke Shaw returns on the left and Kostas Kabastanakis retains his place on the right; Christoffer Jorgensen is partnered up-front by Yvo Lucas; 17 year-old goalkeeper Johnathan Millar is among the substitutes, along with Buti Nduo, Shane Westley and Jose Pinho.

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Barcelona - 4-5-1/4-3-3: Goalkeeper Berndt Leno is a former Germany U21 international but has never been capped at senior level; Right-back Andre Stoffregen and midfielder Mateusz Glowacki are also German; Dutch international Kevin Strootman partners Glowacki in midfield; Neymar Jr is on the left wing with Lionel Messi on the right; Dutch striker Marco Jalink has 9 goals in all competitions this season; there are no Spanish players in Barca’s starting line-up; Vitinho, a Brazilian winger, is among their subs, together with the Greek right-sided wing-back Fotis Filippidis.

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Barca have numbers in midfield so I instruct hard tackles and tell the players to pick up where they left off against Leicester.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: The Saints get the match started, attacking from right-to-left.
- 5mins: Bonucci runs from deep to get his head to Neymar’s left-wing corner but his header goes wide to the left of goal. Then James Ward-Prowse finds Stangoni to the left of the centre-circle and he turns forward before releasing Luke Shaw who makes the run infield from the left-wing. He twists his way through Stoffregen and Romagnoli and shoots from the edge of the area but the ball goes across goal and wide.
- 6mins: Yellow Card for James Ward-Prowse.
- 13mins: Yellow Card for Mario Pugliese.
- 19mins: Ramirez intercepts a cross from Ward-Prowse but gives the ball straight to Shaw in the inside-left channel. Jorgensen is kept onside by Bonucci, inside the D. He turns and tries to lob Leno in the Barcelona goal, but pulls the shot wide to the right.
- 44mins: Ward-Prowse pulls a corner back from the right-wing to Stangoni, whose long range effort goes over the bar.
- 45mins: Neymar’s corner from the left-hand side has to be headed off the line at the far post by Kostas Kabastanakis.

HALF-TIME: BARCELONA 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

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An uneventful first-half in which we picked up two yellow cards and a warning for Diego Reyes. Shaw has got down the left-wing a couple of times but the central midfield area has been congested and neither side has managed to assert any kind of dominance so far.

2nd Half Highlights
- 50mins: From the left-hand side, Ward-Prowse plays the ball infield to Stangoni and he fins Pugliese in the middle. The Italian briefly contemplates shooting from 30-yards but decides to lay the ball off to Kabastanakis on the right f the area. He goes past Ramirez and shoots towards the near post, but hits the side-netting.
- 53mins: Neymar takes a corner on the right and sends it into the near-post area where Leonardo BONUCCI climbs above Pugliese to head home from 3-yards. 0-1.
- 55mins: A strong challenge by Reyes on Messi inside the D diverts the ball to Neymar, who is then fouled by Luke Shaw. Lionel MESSI strikes the ball left-footed to direct the 22-yard free-kick into the top left corner, beyond the reach of Ibrahim. 0-2.
- 62mins: Another right-wing corner from Neymar is volleyed clear by James Ward-Prowse from the corner of the 6-yard box. The ball bounces on the halfway-line and puts Yvo Lucas in a foot race with Ramirez. Lucas shrugs the defender off and shoots left-dotted from a tight angle, but Leno pushes the ball wide for a corner. The corner is initially cleared but Stangoni turns the ball back into the box, picking out Jorgensen to the left of goal, who shoots for the far corner - only to see the ball hit the far post and the offside flag go up.

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- 62mins: Joe Pinho comes on to replace Yvo Lucas.
- 64mins: Pugliese wins a header but gifts the ball to Messi in the centre-circle. He plays Bruma into the inside-right channel but Rutten gets his foot in just as the forward is about to pull the trigger and Ibrahim gathers the loose ball.
- 66mins: Pinho slides in and wins the ball from Ramirez close to the halfway-line. He gets to the loose ball before Bonucci and raids down the right-wing, rides Glowacki’s sliding challenge and plus the ball back to Kabastanakis on the corner of the penalty area, the Dutchman feeding the ball inside again for Giammarco Stangoni. With two defenders for company, Stangoni hooks the ball towards the far corner with a right-foot effort but the ball lands on the roof of the net.
- 71mins: Jose Pinho receives the ball from Stangoni, 25-yards out, and switches the ball to Kabastanakis on the right. He goes past Ramirez and stands a cross up to the back-post where Christoffer Jorgensen heads for goal, but Leno makes a comfortable save.

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- 71mins: Tom Ince comes on for Luke Shaw on the left of midfield and I switch to an attacking stance.
- 73mins: Stangoni has a shot blocked from the left diagonal.
- 74mins: Messi crosses from a free-kick on the left of the area and Romagnoli heads wide at the far post.
- 76mins: From the edge of a crowded penalty area, Pinho pulls the ball back for Pugliese who plays a quick one-two with Kabastanakis before shooting from 20-yards, sending the ball narrowly over the bar.
- 77mins: Jorginho is replacing Stangoni in the Advanced Playmaker role.
- 83mins: Pinho plays Jorgensen in on the left but Stoffregen gets his foot in before the Danish striker can shoot and knocks the ball out for a corner.
- 85mins: Yellow Card for Diego Reyes.
- 85mins: Yellow Card for Tom Ince.
- 90mins: Jose Pinho shifts the ball out of his feet and goes past Stoffregen and Strootman before striking from the right, but the ball goes wide of the right-hand post.
- 90+1mins: Yellow Card for Jorginho for a trip on Strootman.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
LEONARDO BONUCCI (BARCELONA) - 8.3
Centre-Back: 1 goal; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
A frustrating match in which we never really got started. Two goals in two minutes knocked the stuffing out of us and we collected five yellow cards while Barca didn’t get any. We took more shots but they were mostly from long-range. We’re going to have to produce the performance of the season at St. Mary’s next week. I tell the players that I am not happy with what I have seen from them tonight.
 
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Thursday 27th April, 2023

Preparation vs FULHAM (a)

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Fulham: 13/2; SAINTS: 2/5 (fav); Draw: 11/4.

We have played Fulham twice so far this season and beaten them 3-0 on both occasions, the first of which was in the Capital One Cup 3rd Round. We played 4-4-1-1 in the Premier League encounter at St. Mary’s and doing so again in this match will enable me to rest a few players who I need to keep fresh for the 2nd Leg against Barcelona. We have won all of our last 8 matches against Fulham, who have spent some time in the Championship recently, and are in danger of relegation again with Tottenham 2 points below them and hoping to pull themselves into safety.

We are working on Defending Set-Pieces. Fulham play 4-4-2 but the squad comparison is poor from their point-of-view. They concede plenty of goals in the first-half and have struggled to score any themselves all season.
 
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