Diary of a Season: St. Mary's Redemption

Saturday 29th April, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 36
FULHAM vs SOUTHAMPTON
Craven Cottage, London; Att: 25,323

SAINTS Team News - 4-4-1-1: Ibrahim continues in goal for The Saints; Dragan Hrustic comes in at left-back; Rodrigao at right-back; John Stones and Phillip Kaminski are at centre-back; Shane Westley captains the team from central midfield, with Mark Ardean-Webb alongside him; Elias Migliorini and Buti Ndou are on the wings; Jose Pinho is the shadow striker and Jay Rodriguez gets a rare start up-front as the deep-lying forward; Jake Basford is among the subs with Arthur Semka and Kingsley Idris who is recovering from injury.

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Fulham - 4-4-2: Magnus Norman has conceded an average of 2 goals per game this season; Joel Ekstrand of Sweden captains the side from right-back; Tiago Ilori at centre-back is a Portugal international; Andrea Guzzetti gets his first start for the club on the right of midfield; John Guidetti has passed a late fitness test to start up-front.

I instruct normal tackles and tell the players to put in a better performance than last time - but since most of the players starting today didn’t play in Barcelona, I then have to speak to them one-to-one to send them out in a positive frame of mind.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Fulham kick-off, attacking from right-to-left.
- 4mins: John Guidetti shoots wide from distance.
- 5mins: Guzzetti feeds the ball to Guidetti on the right-hand side and the Swedish striker sets Wharton free through the middle. The forward skips away from Kaminski and Stones but Ibrahim catches the ball from the attempted lob. A sloppy start from The Saints.
- 7mins: Kaminski plays Ndou in down the right-hand side of the penalty area, but he shoots into the side-netting.
- 10mins: Buti Ndou passes the ball infield from the right-wing to Mark Ardean-Webb. Brock tries to intercept Ardean-Webb’s pass in the middle but takes his eye off the ball and allows Jose Pinho to steal it and play a reverse pass into the path of Jay Rodriguez. The former England international striker takes the ball to the right of the penalty spot and aims for the bottom right corner, but strikes wide of the right-hand post.
- 11mins: Rodriguez and Pinho pass their way through the middle and the ball comes out to Elias Migliorini, but his 20-yard effort is deflected over the bar.
- 12mins: Kaminski heads wide from Migliorini’s left-wing corner.
- 16mins: Pinho’s pass from midway inside the Fulham half spreads the play to the right wing. Ndou receives Migliorini’s short diagonal pass inside the area and shoots for the far top corner, but Norman makes a fine save.
- 19mins: Buti Ndou takes the ball just inside the Fulham half and attacks the home side down the right wing, turning inside two defenders and crossing into the area where Jay Rodriguez controls the ball and shoots on the turn, forcing Norman to save at the near post. Phillip Kaminski climbs to head the ball at the far post from Migliorini’s corner, but the ball drifts wide.
- 25mins: Jose Pinho heads wide on the right of goal after orchestrating a sweeping attacking move from which Ndou crossed from the right-wing.
- 31mins: Remembering that Fulham concede more goals in the first-half of matches, I switch the team to an attacking stance.
- 32mins: Dragan Hrustic is caught offside next to the left-wing corner flag. Norman takes the free-kick but Jose Pinho wins the header by the halfway-line. Wallace appeals for offside as Rodriguez barges his way through the middle, leaving Ilori in his wake, too. As Norman, now back in his goal, comes out to narrow the angle, Jay RODRIGUEZ gets into the area and fires inside the right-hand post to give Southampton the lead. The veteran striker’s 4th goal of the season. 1-0.
- 33mins: Joel Ekstrand punts the ball high upfield after a defensive knock-down by Ilori. Martyn Wharton wins the header against Kaminski, sending the ball into the middle for John Guidetti. He reacts quicker than Stones and shoots from inside the D, but Ibrahim parries the ball wide.
- 41mins: Pinho and Rodriguez play the ball through the middle and Buti Ndou comes infield to take on Wallace and Zambra, jinking to the right before shooting low and hard. Norman parries the ball and Zambra completes the clearance.
- 43mins: Yellow Card for Jack Baldwin.

HALF-TIME: FULHAM 0-1 SOUTHAMPTON

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We have had 65% possession in the first-half, despite fielding a below strength team, and deserve to be in the lead. Fulham have broken through a couple of times but that’s the way we tend to play! I will keep us playing an attacking style in the hope of going 2-0 up and then I will look to retain possession to see the result out. I tell the players that they are playing well but can do even better.

2nd Half Highlights
- 52mins: Ponce takes a corner from the right-hand side and Guidetti takes the ball down at the near post. He cuts it back to Martyn WHARTON on the edge of the 6-yard box who directs the ball through the legs of Kaminski and inside the far post. 1-1.
- 58mins: Buti Ndou feeds the ball to the byline where Jose Pinho pulls it back for Rodriguez but his shot is going wide before Ekstrand sends it upfield for Fulham.
- 59mins: Mark Ardean-Webb chips the ball forward in the inside-left channel. Rodriguez controls the ball about 20-yards out with his back to goal. He lays it off to Pinho who threads the ball back to Rodriguez near the penalty spot, among a sea of Fulham legs. Rodriguez spots the run of Elias MIGLIORINI in the inside-left channel and, taking the pass in his stride, the Argentine shifts the ball onto his left foot and beats Norman with an angled-drive. 2-1.

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- 60mins: Kingsley Idris comes on for The Saints, replacing Buti Ndou. Pinho moves out to the right of midfield with Rodriguez dropping into the shadow striker role, with Idris up-front.
- 65mins: Wharton brings the ball down at the near post from a left-wing Fulham corner, but the Southampton defenders have learned their lesson from earlier and manage to scramble the ball away.
- 67mins: Ponce is allowed to carry the ball infield towards the D before passing to John Guidetti whose shot is saved by Ibrahim.
- 74mins: Baldwin wins a header in midfield, finding Wharton who has dropped deep. He turns the ball into the inside-left channel for Ponce who breaks clear of Rodrigao but his angled shot is push wide by Ibrahim. Ponce crosses from the corner and Martyn WHARTON jumps high to head Fulham’s equaliser from close range. 2-2.

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- 77mins: Jorginho and Kevin Egan come on for The Saints, replacing Rodrigao and Hrustic as we move to an attacking 3-5-2. Fulham have switched to 4-4-1-1, so I reset the Opposition Instructions.
- 81mins: Jay Spearing plays the ball into the centre-circle from the right wing and Ponce takes advantage of a lapse in concentration by John Stones to latch onto the ball. Jorginho gets a block in but Baldwin chips the ball forward for Brock and his shot is saved by Ibrahim. Zambra gets his head to the ball at the near post but can’t generate enough power, so Ibrahim gathers the ball into his chest.
- 84mins: Jorginho dribbles past Ponce on halfway and gets forward down the right before supplying Jay Rodriguez in the inside-right channel. He evades Zambra inside the area and shoots for the near post area, pulling a smart reaction save from Norman.
- 90mins: A drop-kick by Norman is headed on by Ponce but Migliorini intercepts midway inside Fulham’s half. He exchanges passes with Ardean-Webb and then plays Idris in behind Ilori - an oversight that the defender rectifies by chopping Idris down. Lee Mason has no hesitation in giving him his marching orders: RED CARD for Tiago Ilori. Fulham are down to 10-men.
- 90mins+1: Migliorini’s free-kick is on target but lacks power and Norman makes a comfortable save.
- 90mins+2: Southampton finish the game on the attack, but Fulham defenders block efforts from Idris and Rodriguez.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
MARTYN WHARTON (FULHAM) - 8.8
Striker: 2 goals; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
A poor performance that might have cost us any chance of the Premier League title. Having worked on defending set-pieces this week, I’m surprised to see us concede two goals from corners. I tell the players that we should have won this match. Fingers crossed that other results go our way this weekend.
 
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Saturday 29th April, 2023

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Portsmouth notch their 3rd consecutive score draw, with a 2-2 at Oxford United, to end a series of 12 matches in which they won 2, drew 9 and lost 1 and therefore confirm their relegation from League One into League Two. My former youth player Chris Regis, a striker who only scored 4 goals for them all season, has confirmed that he will leave Pompey on a free transfer this summer. The former Reading defender Alex Pearce, who was on-loan at St. Mary’s in 2008/09 when we were in the Championship, is also likely to leave Fratton Park, having had a transfer request granted with Dundee United showing an interest.
 
Sunday 30th April, 2023

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Manchester United won 2-0 at home to Tottenham yesterday, leaving Spurs needing maximum points from their two remaining games to avoid relegation to the Championship. Newcastle United do us a favour by beating Chelsea 2-0 at St. James’s Park, so we are locked in a three-way battle for the Premier League title - with United our next opponents (after our 2nd Leg with Barca). Whatever happens now, Chelsea, Manchester United and Southampton are all guaranteed European Champions League football again next season.
 
Sunday 30th April, 2023

Preparation vs BARCELONA (h)

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

Probably the most important match in the history of Southampton Football Club. And we need to win it by three goals!

We’re working on Attacking Set-Pieces and I will just have to hope for a good start and not to concede any away goals to undermine our position any further.
 
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Monday 1st May, 2023

Mark Ardean-Webb is voted 3rd in the Premier League’s Young Player of the Month award for April. And yours truly wins the Manager of the Month award, despite dropping points against Fulham, for the second time this season.
 
Tuesday 2nd May, 2023

European Champions League - Semi-Final, 2nd Leg
SOUTHAMPTON (Eng) vs BARCELONA (Spa)
St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton; Att: 52,000

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SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim is in goal; Rutten, Reyes and Jedvaj are the back-3, again; Tom Ince starts on the left midfield in favour of Shaw; Ward-Prowse and Pugliese in the defensive midfield roles; Giammarco Stangoni captains the side from the advanced playmaker position; Kabastanakis on the right; Jorgensen and Lucas up-front; Johnathan Millar is on the bench again; Luke Shaw, Jorginho and Jay Rodriguez are also on among the subs.

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Barcelona - 4-5-1/4-3-3: Ramirez, Romagnoli, Bonucci and Stoffregen make for a formidable back-four; Milan Buci is a former Nottingham Forest player; Pepe Garcia is the only Spaniard in Barca’s starting line-up; Neymar Jr starts on the left-wing; Lionel Messi captains the side up-front; Filippidis, on the bench for Barcelona, is being tipped for the Spanish Player of the Year award.

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After the plethora of yellow cards in the 1st Leg, I ask for normal tackles this time and tell the players to go out there and get revenge for the 0-2 defeat in the Nou Camp.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: The Saints get the match underway, attacking the Northam End against a Barcelona side decked out in all black.
- 1min: James Ward-Prowse finds Christoffer Jorgensen to the left of the D and he strikes across the goal and wide of the right-hand post.
- 4mins: Giammarco Stangoni dribbles into the right corner of the Barcelona penalty area and lays the ball off to Kostas Kabastanakis on the right. He swings a cross onto the edge of the 6-yard box where Jorgensen jumps high and heads the ball against the underside of the crossbar and down the left-hand post. Stoffregen puts the ball behind for a corner.
- 6mins: Ward-Prowse puts pressure on Stoffregen and the German’s clearance is intercepted by Kabastanakis, who swaps passes with Stangoni 25-yards out and shoots over.
- 15mins: Tom Ince latches onto Ward-Prowse’s pass on the left wing and goes past Stoffregen before passing to Jorgensen inside the area and he shoots from a tight angle into the side-netting.
- 20mins: Leno does well to save a rising shot from Ward-Prowse from the right corner of the area.
- 21mins: Leonardo Bonucci passes the ball back to Leno and the keeper tries to play it to Ramirez at left-back - but Yvo Lucas intercepts and shoots low but Leno recovers to save on the ground.
- 25mins: James Ward-Prowse delivers an in-swinging free-kick from the left-hand side, floating the ball over the heads of three defenders on to the right foot of Diego REYES who volleys into the bottom left corner. Reyes picks the ball from the back of the net and runs back to halfway - Southampton are back in this cup tie. 1-0 (Agg: 1-2).
- 27mins: Lucas takes the ball from Romagnoli but his 25-yard effort goes wide of the right-hand post.
- 30mins: Jorgensen holds the ball up on the left wing and lays the ball back to Ince. His cross to the near post has Leno diving at the feet of Lucas to prevent the Dutchman from levelling the aggregate score.
- 31mins: Kabastanakis feeds Lucas on the right corner of the area and he turns past Romagnoli before squaring to Stangoni. From behind Stangoni, Milan Buci makes a lungeing tackle, taking the ball and the player at the same time. As Southampton fans and players appeal for a penalty, Ramirez hammers the ball away. Jedvaj controls it on halfway and The Saints are straight back on the attack. Ward-Prowse passes forward to Stangoni down the middle and amid five Barca defenders, he slips the ball through for Jorgensen, who runs across Bonucci to shoot first-time, but Leno pushes the ball onto the outside of his right-hand post.
- 32mins: The Saints shift the ball from left-to-right and Jorgensen knocks down Kabastanakis’s cross but Buci clears before Lucas can get his shot away.
- 37mins: Jorgensen wins a corner on the left wing. Ward-Prowse crosses to the far post and Reyes heads for goal but the ball flashes across it. Ward-Prowse stretches to keep it in at the byline and chips the ball to Kabastanakis, but his jumping volley is deflected for another corner. Bonucci clears at the near post.
- 38mins: Yellow Card for Mario Pugliese.
- 39mins: Yellow Card for Yvo Lucas for diving.

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON (1) 1-0 (2) BARCELONA

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We have dominated the first-half with 12 shots to Barcelona’s none, and 57% possession. We have shifted the ball well and quickly while they have at times been reduced to punting the ball clear like a 1970s English team. None of our attacking players have been particularly outstanding though, so I try to motivate them for the second-half by telling them to keep up the good performance and telling a couple of them that there is a lot more to come from them.

2nd Half Highlights
- 46mins: Pugliese throws the ball to Stangoni on the right and he dribbles across field before squaring to Ward-Prowse. He passes to Ince on the left who finds Jorgensen on the edge of the area. He sidesteps Bonucci and shoots low from an angle, but hits the side-netting.
- 53mins: Ward-Prowse’s 25-yard free-kick from the left goes narrowly over the bar.
- 56mins: Another free-kick from Ward-Prowse, right of the D, has to be pushed over the bar by Leno.
- 61mins: Yellow Card for Giammarco Stangoni.

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- 62mins: Jose Pinho comes on in place of Yvo Lucas up-front.
- 63mins: Kostas Kabastanakis gets the ball back from his own throw via Stangoni and Pinho. His cross from the right wing deflects high off the shin of Ramirez and bounces onto the crossbar with Leno scrambling.
- 66mins: Stangoni takes on Stoffregen and Buci as far as the left-wing corner flag and centres - repeating Kabastanakis’s trick of hitting the crossbar by mistake!
- 67mins: Ward-Prowse wins the ball from Buci and Stangoni chips it forward to Jorgensen. The Dane turns Bonucci and shoots from a central position, 25-yards from goal, but his effort flies narrowly over.
- 69mins: Kabastanakis plays the ball over the halfway-line to Jose Pinho who moves out to the right flank to attack the Barca defence. He leaves Romagnoli standing and crosses into the 6-yard box. Ramirez slides in to stop the ball but Jorgensen takes a step back to shot on target. Leno makes a sharp reflex save and Ramirez hooks the ball out for a corner.

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- 75mins: I send on Luke Shaw and Jay Rodriguez and switch to an attacking style, as we search for this all-important 2nd goal. Jose Pinho comes out to the right of midfield with Rodriguez partnering Jorgensen up-front.
- 76mins: Reyes heads against the underside of the crossbar from Ward-Prowse’s free-kick delivery from the left-hand side, but the offside flag goes up before Jorgensen can convert the rebound.
- 78mins: Stangoni finds Pinho on the right and he advances into the penalty area, taking on Ramirez and shooting across goal, but the defender does enough to make him pull his shot wide of the far post.
- 83mins: Luke Shaw plays the ball out from the back, hitting it over the halfway-line where Jay Rodriguez takes possession. As Southampton players pour forward, Rodriguez takes the ball out to the left wing and then centres with a high looping cross. It goes over Jorgensen and the two Barcelona defenders marking him and bounces perfectly for Jose PINHO to smash the ball past Leno into the far left corner from 10-yards, to level the aggregate scores. 2-2 (Agg: 2-2).
- 84mins: Barcelona have switched to a variation of 4-2-3-1 with two defensive midfielders and a central midfielder behind two wingers.
- 90mins: Neymar receives treatment after a collision with Jose Pinho.
- 90mins+2: Pelaez needs treatment after a heavy challenge by Jay Rodriguez.
- 90mins+3: Filippidis has to intervene to prevent Stangoni latching onto a headed flick-on by Rodriguez from Pinho’s chipped pass. Then Neymar receives the ball midway inside his own half and is inexplicably allowed to run almost the whole length of the pitch without a single challenge before crossing to the near post where Lionel Messi’s header is saved by Ibrahim and cleared high by Jedvaj.

FULL-TIME

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Messi’s header right at the end was their only shot in the entire match, while we had 20 attempts. But since we only scored twice, the tie moves into extra-time. I tell the players that they only need one goal to win this so they just have to keep on working hard. Our players are in noticeably better physical condition but Barca are now operating with a formation that we have struggled against in the past. Hopefully we can find a way through while keeping things tight at the back. Christoffer Jorgensen is having a poor game by his standards, but he has such quality that he might yet come up with a match-winner.

EXTRA-TIME
1st Half Highlights
- 91mins: Southampton kick-off the first period of extra-time.
- 95mins: After piling pressure onto the visitors for the first 5 minutes of extra-time, Ward-Prowse delivers a high free-kick from the right that Leno has to catch under scrutiny from Stangoni, at the far post.
- 100mins: Two Barcelona corners are headed out.
- 103mins: I switch our crossing instructions to drill crosses, on the advice of Mullers.
- 105mins: Tin Jedvaj gets his head to Ward-Prowse’s right-wing corner but can’t find the target.

HALF-TIME in EXTRA-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON (2) 2-0 (2) BARCELONA

We had the most possession but they are more dominant in the air inside their own box. We will have to win it in the last 15 minutes of extra-time or face a penalty shoot-out.

EXTRA-TIME
2nd Half Highlights
- 106mins: Ward-Prowse pulls a save from Leno at the left-hand post with a drive from a tight angle.
- 108mins: James Ward-Prowse brings the ball across the midfield and chips forward for Jorgensen in the inside-left channel. Filippidis tracks back and hooks the ball out of his area but Ward-Prowse stabs it to Luke Shaw on the left corner of the box. Shaw skips around Filippidis to get to the byline and pulls the ball across the 6-yard box for Giammarco STANGONI to thrash home at close range. Southampton take the lead for the first time in this cup-tie! The 52,000 capacity crowd goes nuts!! 3-0 (Agg: 3-2).
- 108mins: Barcelona switch to 4-2-4.
- 110mins: Pelaez wins a header inside his own half from Ibrahim’s goal-kick and heads forward hopefully. Diego Reyes misjudges the flight of the ball and steps out from under it to allow Neymar a clear run on goal. He advances with three Saints defenders closing in and shoots for the top left corner, but Ibrahim reaches up and diverts the ball wide for a corner. Then the former Barcelona reserve keeper reads Vitinho’s dinked near-post corner and catches it into his mid-riff.
- 114mins: Ward-Prowse loops a left-wing corner to the back of the penalty area and Roel Rutten jumps high to knock it down to Jose Pinho. The Portuguese forward strikes it sweetly on the volley but Berndt Leno makes a one handed save high in the middle of the 6-yard box with players of both teams surrounding him.
- 116mins: Luke Shaw goes past Stoffregen and crosses to the back post. Ramirez gets only the faintest of clearing headers and the ball drops to Jose Pinho on the right. He plays it back into the near-post area but Stangoni and Rodriguez both find themselves entangled among the legs of two Barcelona defenders and Leno gratefully picks up the ball as it squirms out of the ruck.
- 117mins: Reyes intercepts a pass in the centre-circle and Pugliese, Stangoni and Jorgensen exchange passes until Stangoni’s ball to the left of the D enables Jorgensen to step inside Romagnoli and strike right-footed. Leno makes an excellent stop and the ball is cleared. The Saints regain possession and come forward again - attack as best form of defence, particularly when the opposition is much more tired than your team - but an offside flag against Jorgensen calls a halt to a raid down the left.
- 118mins: A promising Barcelona attack through the middle and on the left wing comes to nothing when Filippidis’s cross goes into the side-netting.
- 120mins: The fourth official indicates 1 minute of additional time. The Saints are 60 seconds away from their first ever European Champions Cup Final…
- 120mins+1: …Filippidis has a free-kick for Barcelona, on the left wing, with Barca players piled into the penalty area. He strikes the ball left-footed and for a moment it looks as though the ball might drop in at the far post - but it’s too high and floats over the bar and bounces into the fans in the Northam Stand. Mr. Kassai sounds the final whistle. It’s an historic day for Southampton Football Club! The players celebrate as fans pour onto the pitch!!

AFTER EXTRA-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
DIEGO REYES (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.8
Ball-Playing Defender_Cover; 1 goal; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
An exhilarating match where we dominated from start-to-finish, limiting a side containing Neymar Jr and (an admittedly quite old) Lionel Messi to just 2 shots in over 120 minutes of football. We kept bullying them out of possession to win the ball back in midfield, spread the play to wide areas quickly and fed the strikers in the channels when we could. Of my three substitutes, Jose Pinho scored and Jay Rodriguez and Luke Shaw both got assists, so I’m delighted with the team’s strength of character and resilience to turn around a 0-2 1st Leg deficit to now take a place in the European Champions League Final.
 
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Tuesday 2nd May, 2023

Abdel Aziz Ibrahim tells the media that my team-talk at half-time inspired the team to go on and win the tie against Barcelona.

There is some bad news, though. Mario Pugliese’s yellow card rules him out of the Final, having now collected 3 in the competition. It’s a devastating blow for the 27 year-old Italian, but he has picked up 12 bookings in all competitions this season, so it was not entirely unexpected.

But before we can worry about the Champions League Final, we have the small matter of the FA Cup Final to play against Arsenal on Sunday.
 
Wednesday 3rd May, 2023

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Manchester United also needed to overturn a 1st Leg deficit if they were to join us in the Champions League Final, and managed to win 2-0 on the night against Porto with goals from Aytac Ozkan and Marco Benassi. But they needed three goals due to the 1-4 defeat they suffered in Portugal, so go out at the Semi-Final stage 3-4 on aggregate. We will face Porto in the Final at Wembley on 27th May.

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I’m not totally heart-broken to learn that Porto’s tough-tackling defensive midfielder Tommaso Di Martino, who I wanted to sign just before the September transfer window closed but didn’t have the money for, will join Mario Pugliese on the naughty step for the Champions League Final, having also picked up his 3rd yellow card of the competition during the Semi-Final.
 
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Wednesday 3rd May, 2023

Preparation vs ARSENAL (Wembley)

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Arsenal: 7/2; SAINTS: 4/6 (fav); Draw: 9/4.

With two matches to go in the Premier League, Arsenal are destined to finish 5th due to Manchester City being 6 points ahead with a vastly superior goal difference and Leicester, in 6th, being 10 points further back. They can’t get into the Champions League for next season and are already guaranteed Europa League participation, so they will be playing solely for the FA Cup trophy itself on Sunday. They’ve won it previous 10 occasions, most recently in a penalty shoot-out victory against Manchester United in 2005 when the Final was relocated to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The only other trophy they have won since then was the 2015 Capital One Cup, before we began our domination of the competition by beating The Gunners in the 2019 Final.

We won the FA Cup in 2016 against Manchester United; again in 2018 against Stoke City; and again in 2020 when we beat Cardiff City (to add to the 1974 victory over United). But our newly-formed habit of winning it every other season was scuppered by Newcastle United last year when our form slumped in May and we came off second-best in a penalty shoot-out.

Javi Rico has us working on Defending Set-Pieces, which will hopefully work better than when we did the same thing in preparation for the Fulham match. Arsenal haven’t beaten us since April 2020, since when there have been 4 wins and 4 draws. The most recent meeting ended 4-2 in our favour, at St. Mary’s in March, when two goals in two minutes from Andrew Powell and one each from Christoffer Jorgensen and Giammarco Stangoni helped us to an emphatic victory.

Brendan Rodgers favours the same 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation that Barcelona employ. The squad comparison favours us, but it hinges for the most part on Giammarco Stangoni who is very tired after yesterday’s exertions in the European Cup. Their goals are evenly spread but they concede them either side of half-time and just after the hour mark.

They have to play AS Nancy Lorraine in the 2nd Leg of the Europa League Semi-Final tomorrow night, so they should be even more tired than us! But we then have to go to Old Trafford for a potentially crucial Premier League showdown with Manchester United on Wednesday night.
 
Sunday 7th May, 2023

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First order of business, on the day of the FA Cup Final, is to sit down with Kieran Burke and his agent Ben Blackwell to agree terms on the 17 year-old’s first professional contract. Business is done swiftly and I expect Kieran to sign within the next day or so. He hasn’t featured in the first-team much this season and faces stiff competition from the likes of Rodrigao, Ndou and Nicholas Cruz for the right-back slot - on the few occasions that we even play with full-backs. But being English, young and a product of The Saints Academy counts for something, so I hope to get him involved next season.

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Arsenal’s Europa League Semi-Final did not go well on Thursday night. They held a 2-1 lead against Nancy going into their home leg but lost the match by the same scoreline in the 90 minutes. So, like us, they had to endure extra-time. But despite scoring early on in the first-half of extra-time, they conceded in the 102nd minute. With no further goals, the final aggregate score was 4-4, with Nancy going through to the Final on the away goals rule.

It will be Nancy’s 4th consecutive Europa League Final. They won it in 2020 (the year after we beat Genoa at the Parc des Princes) when they beat Tottenham Hotspur in Sevilla, and retained the title in 2021 with a triumph over Paris Saint-Germain, in an all-French Final in Brussels. Last season, they lost to Manchester United at the Allianz-Arena, and will now face Metalist Kharkiv from Ukraine, who knocked out Newcastle United in the other Semi-Final. Nancy are 3rd in Ligue 1 with games in-hand over 2nd placed Evian and the leaders PSG; they may take 2nd place but are unlikely to prevent a 7th consecutive French league title going to Laurent Blanc’s men.
 
Sunday 7th May, 2023

FA Cup - Final
ARSENAL vs SOUTHAMPTON
Wembley Stadium, London; Att: 90,000

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SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim starts in goal; Kevin Egan gets a surprise start in this FA Cup Final; Diego Reyes captains the side; Phillip Kaminski is the right-sided defender; Luke Shaw and Kostas Kabastanakis occupy the wings; Mark Ardean-Webb comes into midfield with Shane Westley; Jorginho gets the nod in place of Stangoni; Yvo Lucas is partnered up-front by Kingsley Idris, who passed a late fitness test to be included today; Rutten, Stones, Migliorini and the recently returned from injury Andrew Powell are among the subs.

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Arsenal - 4-5-1/4-3-3: Wojciech Szczesny starts in goal for The Gunners; Swiss international defender Flamur Murati is at centre-back; Yegor Raevskiy starts but is still tired from Thursday night’s Europa League match with Nancy; Jack Wilshere is the Arsenal captain; Jerome Sinclair plays despite severely lacking match fitness.

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I ask for normal tackles and tell the players that if they can pick up where they left-off against Barcelona, they will get their hands on the FA Cup trophy.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Southampton start the 2023 FA Cup Final, attacking from right-to-left. Arsenal are in their changed strip of yellow-and-blue.
- 4mins: Jack Wilshere takes a corner from the left-hand side, which van Ginkel meets with a header in the centre of goal, directing the ball to Jerome Sinclair on the left-hand post. His header is knocked off the line by Luke Shaw and Ibrahim reacts quickest to sprint out to the right of his area and scoop up the ball.
- 5mins: Shaw plays a free-kick into the near side of the Arsenal penalty area and Yvo Lucas gets his shot in but Szczesny catches it.
- 7mins: Kostas Kabastanakis plays the ball down the right wing for Lucas and makes the run into the area to collect the return pass. He unleashes a shot from a tight angle and Szczesny parries it wide for a corner. Szczesny catches the ball from the corner.
- 13mins: Jorginho passes the ball forward from the centre-circle and Kingsley Idris drops deep to take possession. Raevskiy gets a strong challenge in to prevent Idris turning him, but the ball runs to Yvo LUCAS who gets away from Murati and shoots from the right side of the D into the top right corner, beyond Szczesny’s dive. 1-0.
- 17mins: Shane Westley passes the ball wide to Kabastanakis on the right and he steps infield to direct an angled ball into the feet of Lucas. The Dutch striker burns past Murati on the outside and moves diagonally towards goal before firing across Szczesny into the far corner for his 2nd goal of the match, and his 20th of the season. 2-0.
- 19mins: With Southampton players pouring forward from the halfway-line, Lucas lays the ball wide to Kabastanakis and he chips a 30-yard pass to the far side for Kingsley Idris. Raevskiy heads the ball away but Westley re-diverts it forward to Lucas. His short lay-off finds Jorginho on the edge of the D, and the Brazilian passes into the inside-left channel for Kingsley IDRIS to strike across goal, left-footed, and just inside the right-hand post to make it three-nil to The Saints. 3-0.
- 25mins: Jorginho and Ardean-Webb launch a counter-attack for Southampton, and Lucas pings a through ball into the run of Idris to set the young striker on-goal again. Murati makes a brilliant last-ditch tackle to prevent Idris from taking the shot. Luke Shaw keeps the ball in play and Southampton move the ball to the opposite flank where Kabastanakis takes on Sobol and lets fly, but sends the ball high and wide.
- 30mins: Some calamitous defending allows Wilshere to pass to Sinclair at the left-hand byline. But Mark Ardean-Webb takes charge of the situation, sliding in to take the ball from Sinclair and leave him in pain on the groung, inside the Saints penalty area.
- 37mins: After two near-post clearances by Kevin Egan, Arsenal come forward again and win a corner on the left. Wilshere sends it high into the middle but Ibrahim catches the ball among a crowd of players.
- 39mins: Eduard Sobol dives in to make a stopping tackle on Idris inside the D, as the young striker threatens to get in-behind the Arsenal back-four again.
- 41mins: Jorginho and Idris work the ball into the left side of the penalty area, teeing up Ardean-Webb in the process, but his shot flies wide of the left-hand post.
- 45mins+2: Wilshere crosses from a corner on the left and Sobol gets up well in-front of goal but his header goes over the bar.

HALF-TIME: ARSENAL 0-3 SOUTHAMPTON

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An excellent first-half from Yvo Lucas and Jorginho, with some clever up-the-ball running by Kingsley Idris, have undone Arsenal here and we are poised to claim our 5th FA Cup triumph. We’ve edged the possession stats but we have done much more with the ball and tested Arsenal’s defence several times. I tell the players that I’m happy with their performance and they should keep it up in the second-half.

2nd Half Highlights
- 47mins: Yvo Lucas, who is on a hat-trick in the FA Cup Final, hits a shot on the turn but it flies wide of the right-hand post.
- 54mins: Kabastanakis takes a corner from the left and Kingsley Idris heads into the side-netting at the near post.
- 55mins: Arsenal knock the ball around in midfield for a while and then Hojbjerg spreads the play to the left for Sobol, who takes on Kaminski but is forced wide by the German defender and shoots into the crowd behind the goal from a difficult angle.
- 59mins: Szczesny saves a 25-yard free-kick from Luke Shaw.
- 59mins: Yellow Card for Diego Reyes.
- 68mins: Jack Wilshere injures himself while bringing down Jorginho as he dribbles to the right side of the Arsenal D. Kobastanakis takes the free-kick but hits the wall, diverting the rebound to the right for Kaminski whose cross-shot effort is caught by Szczesny.
- 75mins: With one eye on the trip to Manchester United on Wednesday, John Stones replaces Diego Reyes in defence and Arthur Semka comes on for Mark Ardean-Webb in midfield.
- 80mins: Jorginho moves the ball out to Kabastanakis on the right-hand side and he fizzes a cross into the area. Idris flicks the ball on for Luke Shaw who strikes for goal from the left corner of the area, but Szczesny makes a solid catch.
- 89mins: Elias Migliorini will play the last few minutes, as he steps off the bench to replace Luke Shaw.
- 90mins: Szczesny makes a hash of a cross from Kabastanakis from the right and Raevskiy puts the ball out for a corner.
- 90mins+2: From a throw-in on the left, Sobol moves the ball infield to Wilshere who pulls it back again for Robinson. The full-back dribbles across the edge of the area and then puts the ball on a plate for Angelo HENRIQUEZ to strike from 8-yards. 3-1.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
YVO LUCAS (SOUTHAMPTON) - 9.0
False-9_Support: 2 goals; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
We won the match in the first 20 minutes and just saw it out from there with Jorginho pulling the strings from the centre of midfield in the Advanced Playmaker role. Arsenal’s consolation goal came too late to make a game of it, and Diego Reyes leads the team up the famous Wembley steps to collect the FA Cup.
 
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Sunday 7th May, 2023


I remind the players about the three important matches that still remain for us this season so discourage them from celebrating this FA Cup success too wildly. One of the journalists tells me that I have been inducted into the European Hall of Fame as the 19th best manager of all time, one place above Carlo Ancelotti and one below Sir Matt Busby. Jose Mourinho tops the list from Sir Alex Ferguson and Josep Guardiola, with Bob Paisley - the only other Englishman in the list - in 4th position.

We scored 27 goals during our FA Cup run this season, which is a new record for the competition. The previous highest was 25 goals, which was also set by us.

Chelsea win 3-0 at Reading in their penultimate Premier League match of the season. So we will have to beat Manchester United on Wednesday and Everton next Sunday and hope that Chelsea drop points at home to Leeds United for us to claim the title. United are also still in the race and will be looking to win that showdown at Old Trafford and follow that up with 3 points at Wigan Athletic.
 
Monday 8th April, 2023

Kieran Burke puts pen-to-paper on the professional contract that I offered him yesterday.

With their competitive season over, Saints U21s take on Basingstoke at Staplewood in a friendly. Andrew Powell and Sercan Calik both take part to help their recovery from recent injury. Marc Smulders and John Griffiths both play, too, in a 3-2 win. Evan Farren scores twice, taking his total to 5 since joining the club as a member of this season’s youth intake.
 
Monday 8th April, 2023

Preparation vs MANCHESTER UNITED (a)

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

Manchester United are one of the few teams that still has the better of us in the head-to-head record - but a 4-0 win for us at Old Trafford will equalise the record! Our only other meeting this season was the Premier League match at St. Mary’s on Boxing Day when Luke Shaw’s 3rd minute opener was levelled by Stephan El Shaarawy in the 77th minute. It was a fair result on the day. Their form has been excellent since the turn of the year with their only league defeat coming at leaders Chelsea by a scoreline of 2-4, just under a month ago.

We are working on Attacking Set-Pieces. David Moyes, who has been immensely successful as manager of Manchester United in this particular universe, has them playing a 4-2-3-1 formation. The squad comparison matches them quite closely to us. They score a lot of goals in the 15mins before half-time and towards the end of the match. They don’t concede many goals but those they have done have been evenly spread. Their left side has provided 18 assists during the season so far.
 
Tuesday 9th May, 2023

The captain takes it upon himself to motivate the squad ahead of our crucial Premier League trip to Old Trafford…

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Wednesday 10th May, 2023

Premier League - 37
MANCHESTER UNITED vs SOUTHAMPTON
Old Trafford, Manchester; Att: 78,441

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim continues in goal; Tin Jedvaj, Roel Rutten and Phillip Kaminski get the nod in defence; Tom Ince and Jose Pinho start in the wide midfield positions; James Ward-Prowse and Mario Pugliese flank Giammarco Stangoni in central midfield; Yvo Lucas and Christoffer Jorgensen partner each other up-front; Diego Reyes joins Mark Ardean-Webb and Andrew Powell on the substitutes’ bench.

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Man Utd - 4-2-3-1: David De Gea has kept 17 clean sheets in the Premier League this season; Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and Phillipp Heerwagen are at the centre of United’s defence; Phil Jones captains the side from midfield; Mirko Djurdjevic will operate in the No.10 role; the Mexican Erik Gomez is a former Southampton player and is United’s top scorer with 23 goals in all competitions; Aytac Ozkan is a Turkish international striker who has 15 goals (12 in the league); among the United subs, Noe Engel and Gabriel Iancu are two players that I scouted prior to them going to Old Trafford.

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I opt for normal tackles and tell the players to pick up where they left off in Sunday’s FA Cup Final triumph.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Manchester United kick-off at the Theatre of Dreams, attacking from left-to-right, against a Southampton side wearing their away strip of black shirts and shorts with white socks.
- 3mins: Mirko Djurdjevic hits a cross-field ball from the back of the centre-circle to release Bakkali on the left-hand side. He gets into the area but takes a heavy touch as he tries to move to the centre and allows Phillip Kaminksi to clear the ball. Giacomelli collects it on the right-hand side and plays the ball up the line to Erik Gomez, who beats Jedvaj inside the area and crosses to the back post where Zakaria BAKKALI arrives to give Manchester United an early lead. 0-1.
- 15mins: From a free-kick 25-yards out, in a central position, James Ward-Prowse shoots over the bar.
- 16mins: Yellow Card for Phil Jones for a trip on Giammarco Stangoni, moments after having fouled Jorgensen in the centre-circle to prevent a Southampton counter-attack.
- 18mins: Jose Pinho’s cross from the right touchline is deflected behind. Ward-Prowse hangs the corner high into the 6-yard box and Roel Rutten jumps highest but can’t keep his header down.
- 21mins: Benassi sends a right-wing corner to the back post for United, but Heerwagen heads across goal and wide.
- 22mins: Giacomelli gets down the right side of the penalty area and crosses high to the back post. Bakkali brings it down and turns outward, going the long way around to loop back onto his left foot and shoot for the near post. But Ibrahim gets down well to push the ball away.
- 24mins: I switch to hard tackles to try and get hold of midfield - but to no avail. Phil Jones passes to Benassi in central midfield, who slips the ball past Ince to Djurdjevic and he feeds Zakaria BAKKALI in the inside-left channel where the Dutchman gets away from Pinho and takes the shot on the bounce, across Ibrahim and into the far corner, for his 22nd goal of the season. Our Premier League challenge is dying! 0-2.

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- 24mins: I switch to an attacking 4-5-1 Assymetric formation and bring both Yvo Lucas and Phillip Kaminski off, replacing them with Dragan Hrustic and Buti Ndou as attacking full-backs. That leaves Jorgensen now playing as Complete Forward_Support with Stangoni as Trequartista behind him and Pinho as an advanced winger on the right.
- 26mins: Pinho passes the ball diagonally left from centre-field and Stangoni runs at the United defence. He goes past Heerwagen and Jones before crossing to the near post. Christoffer Jorgensen gets his head to it but directs the ball into the side-netting.
- 31mins: Yellow Card for Mario Pugliese.
- 45mins: Hrustic advances down the left and pulls the ball back to Stangoni, who dribbles forward and crosses from level with the 6-yard line. Jose Pinho arrives at the far post to head on target but De Gea catches the ball on the line.
- 45mins+2: Ward-Prowse crosses to the near post from a right-wing corner by Jorgensen’s header goes wide.

HALF-TIME: MANCHESTER UNITED 2-0 SOUTHAMPTON

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United battered us in the opening 25 minutes and although we have got back into the game a little since the change to 4-5-1 Assymetric, we are deservedly behind at the break. I read the riot act in the dressing room and aggressively demand that the players show me something else in the second-45.

2nd Half Highlights
- 48mins: Yellow Card for Giammarco Stangoni.
- 49mins: Stangoni dribbles across field and tries to play Pinho in on the right. But the Portuguese forward checks his run to stay inside, enabling Pedersen to intercept the pass. De Gea kicks upfield for United and Bakkali takes control just over the halfway-line. He takes on Jedvaj and Pugliese and crosses to the near post but Aytac Ozkan heads into the side-netting, under pressure from Ndou.
- 53mins: Jones passes to Djurdjevic on halfway and he threads the ball between Rutten and Hrustic to free Erik Gomez in the inside-right channel. The former Saint gets into the area and shoots but Ibrahim pushes the ball wide of his left-hand post.
- 54mins: Ward-Prowse plays a short, low corner to the near post and Jorgensen gets to the ball before Giacomelli and shoots for the near post but Zakkali diverts it wide for another corner.
- 61mins: Buti Ndou inadvertently intercepts Benassi’s pass while running back towards his own goal in the right-back position. He turns out towards the touchline but runs into his team-mate Mario Pugliese, causing both players to over-run the ball. Bakkali latches onto it and gets to the left byline to cross low into the 6-yard box where Aytac OZKAN sweeps home from 6-yards. A dreadful goal to concede that puts us out of the Premier League title race for sure. 0-3.
- 62mins: Jorgensen has been poor today, so I replace him with Andrew Powell.
- 63mins: The Old Trafford faithful give their players the “Ole!” treatment as they pass their way through midfield and into our penalty area, but Rutten clears to the far touchline…
- 64mins: …Giacomelli keeps the ball in-play and one-twos down the right-hand side with Djurdjevic, eventually working it to Erik GOMEZ who shoots from the right corner of the penalty area. Ibrahim tries to parry the shot but it ricochets off him and into the net. 0-4.
- 66mins: Stangoni collects the ball in central midfield from a cleared free-kick on the right. He directs the ball to Tom Ince on the left of the area, turns onto his preferred foot and shoots low and hard, but wide of the near post.
- 67mins: Bakkali tries his luck from distance but his effort is wild and goes wide. Thinking about matches ahead, I put the team back onto Control and Balanced style and ask them to try and retain possession to limit the damage here.
- 68mins: Benassi passes forward to Aytac Ozkan, midway inside the Southampton half. The Turk takes on Jedvaj and runs forward into the left edge of the D. Jedvaj’s sliding tackle falls short and Ozkan lets fly as Rutten closes in, forcing Ibrahim to save low to his right.
- 73mins: Jedvaj slides in and dispossesses Aytac Ozkan inside the D, conceding a corner in the process.
- 78mins: Yellow Card for Buti Ndou.
- 82mins: Yellow Card for Dragan Hrustic.
- 85mins: Yellow Card for Tin Jedvaj. None of these yellow cards occurred during highlights - just as mid-processing updates.
- 86mins: Jose Pinho steps past Giacomelli and crosses to the near post. Heerwagen jumps to head away but can’t reach it, and De Gea can only flap the ball against the underside of his crossbar. It falls to Powell but Pedersen hacks the ball out for a corner before the Welshman can convert from close range. Then, in a moment that sums this match up for The Saints, Powell flicks on Ward-Prowse’s left-wing corner and it fall to Rutten, unmarked at the far post. He brings it down and swipes for goal, but kicks the ball against Jedvaj’s backside - and it bounces wide of the right-hand post.
- 90mins: Aytac Ozkan’s chipped shot from the left of the area drifts over the bar at the far post.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
ZAKARIA BAKKALI (MANCHESTER UNITED) - 9.5
Left Winger: 2 goals; 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
A disastrous performance that eliminates us from the Premier League title race, and leaves Manchester United hoping that Chelsea will slip-up on the final day to let the Old Trafford club in to retain the trophy they won last season. I should have started with the 4-5-1 Assymetric system; we were too open and vulnerable to attacks from the corners of our penalty area. Jorgensen’s poor recent performances continue, putting his place the Champions League Final side in doubt. Porto play the same system as United, so this match gives food for though ahead of that match. I yell at the team after the match, in the hope of geeing them up to see us through the Everton game and into the Porto match in a positive frame of mind. The players respond well.
 
Last edited:
Wednesday 10th April, 2023

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The Premier League table makes depressing reading, confirming that we are now mathematically incapable of catching Chelsea at the top - and will struggle to claim 2nd place ahead of Manchester United with just one match left to play.
 
Thursday 11th April, 2023

Preparation vs EVERTON (h)

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

We have to put the disappointment of losing the Premier League title out of our minds and focus on the next match against Everton, who we have not lost to since 2017 and have beaten the last 6 times we’ve played. The match at Goodison Park this season was a 4-1 win which included two penalties from Diego Reyes.

Stale Solbakken prefers his team to play 4-4-2. They are in 15th position in the Premier League and are safe from relegation, but they are currently under-performing, with a recent run of 4 defeats leading to just 1 win in their last 7 matches. The Toffees have relied upon Eddie Routledge and Giovanni Simeone for goals this season, and the pair have 19 each in all competitions. But Routledge has recently twisted his ankle and is going to be missing from our 2022/23 season showdown.

I am keen to notch a win and a positive performance to take us into the Champions League Final in good form and high spirits, 13 days after this match. Javi Rico has us working on Defensive Set-Pieces and it suits us that Everton tend to concede goals between the 16th and 45th mins, scoring often in the opening 15mins. The left side of their defence can be got at, which will be music to the ears of Kostas Kabastanakis, who I left out of the debacle at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

There is press speculation that I will field the team I intend to use at Wembley for this match against Everton, but I’m considering arranging a friendly for next weekend against a local non-league side to keep everybody fresh and to enable me to use the 3-5-2 system for the last time this season against Solbakken’s men. Porto play the same 4-2-3-1 that Manchester United employ and I don’t want to tempt them to do what United did to us by lining up the same way.

Spare a thought for Tottenham Hotspur. Going into their last game of the season, they are staring Championship football in the face for the first time in 55 years, when they spent a single season in the old Division 2 in 1977/78. Luckily for them, the two sides that they could potentially catch by winning on Sunday are playing each other; Cardiff City (who are 3 points ahead of Spurs but with a goal difference that is only 4 goals better) entertain Fulham (2 points ahead and the same goal difference). So who do Spurs have to beat to stand any chance of staying up? Why, Arsenal of course. At least it’s at New White Hart Lane, where Tottenham won the corresponding fixture last season by a solitary goal. Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic are both already relegated.
 
Sunday 14th April, 2023

Premier League - Matchday 38
SOUTHAMPTON vs EVERTON
St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton; Att: 51,436

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim in goal; Rutten, Reyes and Kaminski line-up as the back-3; James Ward-Prowse captains the team because I have decided to rest Stangoni; Shane Westley and Jorginho are the other central midfielders; Luke Shaw is on the left and Kostas Kabastanakis starts on the right; Andrew Powell and Yvo Lucas are up-front, with Lucas as the Advanced Forward; I have decided not to name a goalkeeper among the subs so I can include Jay Rodriguez among the subs for what will be his final match in a Southampton shirt; Tom Ince, who is in the same position, does not make the 18; Kingsley Idris had to be sent home with flu yesterday, so he will face a race against time to get fit enough for Porto.

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Everton - 4-4-1-1: The former Chelsea reserve keeper Matej Delac captains the visitors from in-goal; Lucas Leiva in midfield is now 36 years-old and lacking match fitness going into this one; Andrea Bertolacci’s attribute stats suggest a creative player, but his tallies for goals and assists this season don’t bare witness to that; Giovanni Simeone, the son of Diego, will be looking to break the 20 goal barrier in his last game of the season.

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I instruct normal tackles and tell the players to give me a better performance than last time, and send them out motivated to sign-off the Premier League season in style.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: The Saints kick-off a match at St. Mary’s for the last time this season, attacking the Northam End to the left, with Everton wearing their yellow-and-blue away kit.
- 3mins: Giovanni Simeone strikes a 25-yard free-kick, from just left-of-centre, over the wall but Ibrahim saves in the middle of the goal.
- 5mins: An intricate passing move on the left corner of the Everton penalty area between James Ward-Prowse, Jorginho and Yvo Lucas enables Ward-Prowse to play Shaw down the left side of the box, where he beats Nykanen and whips a low cross into the middle for Yvo LUCAS to crash the ball home on the volley from 6-yards. 1-0.
- 8mins: Ward-Prowse feeds Shaw on the left again, and the England full-back takes on Nykanen and tries a chip from the edge of the area, but Delac catches it at the far post.
- 13mins: Jorginho receives treatment after coming off worse from a heavy challenge with Lucas Leiva.
- 20mins: James Ward-Prowse hangs a right-wing corner to the back post where Simeone heads away, but across goal and onto the head of Andrew Powell whose effort goes wide.
- 25mins: Ward-Prowse collects the ball midway inside Everton’s half and finds Yvo Lucas with his back to goal, just outside the area. He slips the ball through to Powell on-the-turn and Powell’s shots is parried by Delac. Nykanen clears from Shaw.
- 29mins: Yvo Lucas slips the ball to Powell inside the area and Delac has to make a flying save to his top-left corner, but the offside flag goes up.
- 36mins: Powell heads over from 2-yards, having leapt highest to meet Ward-Prowse’s delivery from a right-wing corner.
- 40mins: Shane Westley’s square pass to Ward-Prowse in them middle is turned forward quickly by the England midfielder and Powell attempts to catch out Hannigan and Delac with a right-foot shot on-the-turn, but he snatches at the chance and sends it wide to the right. He knows he’s playing for a place in the Champions League Final and it seems to be getting to him.
- 44mins: Reid plays the ball out from the back to find Simeone in the centre-circle and spark an Everton counter-attack. The Spaniard passes forward to Bertolacci who goes round Rutten and chips the ball to Rory McKENZIE who is raiding in down the left-side. The Scottish-born midfielder - who has 55 caps for Trinidad & Tobago - carefully controls the ball into the area and ***** his shot past Ibrahim from the corner of the 6-yard box, sending it just inside the far post. 1-1.
- 45mins+1: A Saints free-kick is cleared and the ball comes out to Kabastanakis on the right-hand side. He crosses high to the near post and Delac gets a hand to it, forcing the ball onto the crossbar and he grabs it at the second attempt as it bounces in-front of an open goal with no red shirt close enough to take advantage.

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON 1-1 EVERTON

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There is a definite end of season feel to this game, particularly due to the lack of intensity in the attacking play of both sides - although both goals were very well constructed and well-taken. We have bossed possession but have often been crowded out and bogged down in midfield, although Luke Shaw has the beating of Nykanen - as he did at Goodison - and Andrew Powell has wasted some good chances. I will persevere as we are for now. Criticising the team often has the effect of motivating them - probably because I don’t do it very often - so I tell them that I’m not happy with the first-half display and expect better from them.

2nd Half Highlights
- 46mins: A noticeably buoyant Everton get the second-half underway.
- 48mins: Kabastanakis plays a diagonal pass from the right, on halfway, to Yvo Lucas and then tracks the run of his team-mate to receive the return pass on inside the area on the right, where he beats Reid and crosses for the head of Powell in the 6-yard box. Hannigan manages to nod the ball out to the edge of the area where Westley meets it with a well-struck left-foot volley which Delac does well to claim at the top left corner of his goal, under pressure from Powell and partially unsighted by Hannigan.
- 53mins: James Ward-Prowse crosses high into the box from a left-wing corner and Phillip Kaminski hangs in the air for an eternity by the 6-yard line, to thump his header goal ward, but it hits the top of the bar and goes behind.
- 57mins: Delac makes a spectacular save to deny Yvo Lucas’s 20-yard drive, but the flag is up for offside against the Dutchman.
- 62mins: Yellow Card for Lucas Leiva of Everton for a foul on Jorginho that leaves the Brazilian in some considerable pain.
- 65mins: Yellow Card for Andrew Powell for diving.

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- 69mins: Christogger Jorgensen comes on to replace the frustrated Andrew Powell; Mark Ardean-Webb replaces the battle-worn Jorginho with James Ward-Prowse now moving into the Advanced Playmaker role with Ardean-Webb taking over as Deep-Lying Playmaker.
- 76mins: Yellow Card for Raymond Reid, Everton’s left-back, for what was described as dive by Kabastanakis.
- 78mins: Simeone scoops a shots wide from the edge of the D with Reyes in close attention.
- 79mins: Buti Ndou comes on for Kostas Kabastanakis on the right of midfield and I go to an attacking style.
- 85mins: Ndou has to clear the ball at the back post from Lucas Leiva’s floated left-wing free-kick.
- 90mins+2: Lucas Leiva’s corner from the right is headed out by Rutten and the referee brings the 2022/23 Premier League season to a close.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
LUKE SHAW (SOUTHAMPTON) - 7.6
Wide Midfielder_Support: 0 goals, 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
A lacklustre display that suggests the players have already packed up for the season, despite the biggest match in the history of Southampton Football Club that looms large in just 13 days’ time. We were poor against Everton today and lacked urgency all over the park. I’m going to have to give the boys a run-out next week to get them firing and up for that all-important match.
 
Last edited:
Sunday 14th May, 2023

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Chelsea are the Premier League Champions for the first time since 2017/18, despite a goalless draw at home to Leeds United, because Manchester United lost 1-2 at already relegated Wigan Athletic; the pressure must have got to them. We finish 3rd with a Premier League record 106 goals scored - 6 more than last season - beating the previous high of 103 set by Chelsea in 2009/10.

I am disappointed to have missed out on the title, which we last won two seasons ago, but Chelsea were so far out in-front at one stage that we actually did very well to make a contest out of it. Looking back at the games where we dropped points, I wasn’t surprised or overly concerned about the 3-3 at Arsenal or even the 0-1 defeat at Newcastle; but the 0-1 home defeat to Norwich City in November and the 2-2 draw at Fulham a month ago were poor results. I got it wrong at Old Trafford earlier this week by choosing the wrong formation to start with, and I’d like to think that we would have got something more from the last game at home to Everton had there been anything riding on it. But overall, it has been a good league campaign, with a total of 85 points that was enough to win it in some recent seasons.

Alas, poor Tottenham Hotspur. The 0-0 draw in Cardiff was good enough for the home side but left Fulham vulnerable, if Spurs could manage a two-goal winning margin against their North London rivals. But instead, the fans at New White Hart Lane had to endure the taunts of their fiercest opponents as Arsenal claimed a 2-1 victory that condemns Wayne Walters’ men to relegation, ending Tottenham’s 55 year stay in the top flight of English football.

Premier League End of Season Stats:
- Christoffer Jorgensen finishes as the Premier League’s joint top scorer on 25 goals, but edges ahead of Manchester City’s Zeljko Urosev by virtue of having played three matches fewer (30 vs 33).
- Giammarco Stangoni has the highest average rating at 7.88 - a new record for the Premier League - with Jorgensen 3rd on 7.67 and Jorginho 5th with 7.57.
- Jorgensen also has the most Player of the Match awards with 8, joint with Max Gauthier of Coventry City.
- Mario Pugliese and Mark Ardean-Webb are the most accurate passers in the league.
- Stangoni completed more Dribbles Per Game than any other player and covered more Distance Per 90mins.
- Abdel Aziz Ibrahim’s 13 clean sheets placed him 3rd among the goalkeepers (though the African Nations’ Cup took him out of Premier League action for over a month).
- Mario Pugliese acquired 10 yellow cards, making him a very naughty boy!
 
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