Diary of a Season: St. Mary's Redemption

[rocheyb]

Sunday 27th November, 2022

It seems that the sole responsibility for the Manchester City Head Scout is to purchase a Southampton FC season ticket, so that Michael Laudrup can come and ooh-and-aah over Saints players who he wished played for his team, instead. This week, his reported interest is in Tin Jedvaj, though he’s also been on record as an admirer of Luke Shaw, Roel Rutten, Shane Westley, James Ward-Prowse and Christoffer Jorgensen. I allowed Westley to go there on-loan a couple of seasons ago to get Premier League experience, but I won’t sell to another Premier League club unless I feel I’m getting the better end of the deal - as (I still think) I did when I sold Erik Gomez to Manchester United for 70-million and brought in Yvo Lucas as his 12-million replacement.

Every now-and-again I like to take stock of the season’s progress by absorbing a few stats, such as:

Goalscorers
Christoffer Jorgensen: 12 apps; 17 goals; PL - 17
Yvo Lucas: 8 apps (+6 sub); 11 goals: PL - 3; ECL - 8; DC - 0
Kingsley Idris: 8 apps (+3 sub); 8 goals; PL - 4; ECL - 4; DC - 0
Giammarco Stangoni: 8 apps (+3 sub); 5 goals; PL - 4; ECL - 0; DC - 1
Kostas Kabastanakis: 10 apps (+1 sub); 4 goals; PL - 3; ECL - 0; DC - 1

Jorginho, Kabastanakis and Andrew Powell have all provided 7 assists; Powell has also managed 2 goals in 4 starts (+2 sub), which is not bad from such limited playing time, so far.

Excluding those who have only played a couple of times, we have two players - Christoffer Jorgensen (8.23) and Sercan Calik (8.04) - with Average Ratings of 8+. Jorgensen is on course for a new record high; Calik’s 7.70 from season 2020/21 is the current best. Only three players are averaging ratings of less than 7; Louis Cruse (6.99), Buti Ndou (6.82) and Jose Pinho (6.67). In fairness to Ndou and Pinho, I brought them both to the club to play in positions that don’t exist in the 3-5-2 formation that I have only since turned to, so they are at a disadvantage until I retrain them or switch to another formation that suits them better. I’m considering sending Pinho to our feeder club, Fiorentina.

Pass Completion Rate
Dragan Hrustic: 91%
Mario Pugliese: 91%
Shane Westley: 88%
Mark Ardean-Webb: 87%
Kingsley Idris: 86%
———————————
Andrew Powell: 75%

Tackle Completion Rate
Sergey Radimov: 97%
Roel Rutten: 94%
Tin Jedvaj: 94%
Mario Pugliese: 88%
Luke Shaw: 88%
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Christoffer Jorgensen: 36%

Jorgensen has won the Man of the Match on 6 occasions; 8 others have won it - James Ward-Prowse and Yvo Lucas twice each - but no defenders. Their performances have been hampered by our switch to 3-at-the-back and our occasional tendency to concede late goals when opposition teams learn to exploit the No.10 area and play into the channels.

Diego Reyes has the worst discipline with 4 yellow cards from 13 appearances (+2 sub), although I thought he was harshly done by with the booking at Spurs in our most recent match. I thought he won the ball cleanly.

Among the teenagers, John Griffiths (16) and Kevin Egan (17) have both experienced their first-team debuts this season and Marc Smulders is in my consideration to receive his at some point during our next block of three matches; Cardiff (a), West Brom (h) and Amkar Perm (a). Mark Ardean-Webb (18) has been a regular member of my midfield rotation, with 8 apps (+3 subs) and an encouraging average rating of 7.21. There are three more players in the U19s who I want to introduce into the first-team squad during the remainder of the season; Kieran Burke (16), Jake Basford (16) and George Carter (17).

The following first-team contracts will shortly be up for renewal:

Louis Cruse, Tin Jedvaj, Mark Ardean-Webb, Tom Ince and Jay Rodriguez; Cruse, Jedvaj and Ardean-Webb will all be offered new terms. I’m undecided about Ince - I might offer him one year only. Rodriguez (33) will be released. He’s been excellent but his time is coming to an end. 26 year-old Ryan Seager will also be released from the U21 squad.

 

[rocheyb]

Monday 28th November, 2022

Preparation vs CARDIFF CITY (a)

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Cardiff: 4/1; SAINTS: 4/7 (fav); Draw: 5/2

Accidentally clicking past the scout report on Tottenham didn’t do me any harm last time out, but I have caught the Cardiff one. Javi Rico has us working on Attacking Set-Pieces against the Bluebirds’ anticipated 4-4-2 formation. They are 16th in the Premier League, under Steve Bruce, with 12 points from 13 games. The squad comparison is poor from their point-of-view and they concede a lot of goals during the 15-minute periods either side of half-time. Their creative threat comes from the wings but I am confident that our 5-man midfield can throttle the possession out of them. Croatian Zeljko Turkovic is their top scorer with 5 Premier League goals from 13 appearances. He’s one of several Eastern Europeans in their squad, so the minute-by-minute commentary will be fun to type!

3-5-2 will be the order of the day for us again. I will definitely play either Kevin Egan (who has now accepted the professional contract offered to him in the week) or Marc Smulders from the start, or possibly both. Idris and Jorgensen will rotate back in.

 

[rocheyb]

Tuesday 29th November, 2022

Five of our players made the Team of the Week: Radimov, Shaw, Pugliese, Stangoni and Powell.

Cruse, Hrustic, Stones, Calik, Migliorini, Rodriguez and Griffiths all get a run-out in a hastily arranged friendly at local Southern Premier League outfit AFC Totton this evening, at their Testwood Park stadium; a comfortable 4-0 win to help several of our walking-wounded back to full health and into contention for Saturday’s match at home to West Brom.

4-0 was also the scoreline by which Arsenal beat Coventry City, in one of four Premier League matches played tonight. That moves them ahead of us in the table again, so we’re back to 5th. The Merseyside derby at Goodison Park ended goalless. Manchester United entertain Chelsea tomorrow night, while we’re at Cardiff, so here’s an opportunity to make up some ground on at least one of the teams currently ahead of us.

 

[rocheyb]

Wednesday 30th November, 2022

Premier League - Matchday 14
CARDIFF CITY vs SOUTHAMPTON
Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff; Att: 29,239

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim remains in goal; Kevin Egan makes his 2nd first-team start; Jedvaj and Reyes partner him in the back-3; Jorginho replaces Stangoni, who is rested; Mark Ardean-Webb comes into the midfield; Pugliese and Kabastanakis remain; 17 year-old Ajax Academy graduate Marc Smulders gets his Premier League debut; Jorgensen and Idris form the left-footed combination upfront; Rodrigao, Ince, Pinho and Lucas are all included on the bench.

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Cardiff - 4-4-2: Eric Dier, a Cheltenham-born centre-back who began his career with Sporting Lisbon, captains City; ex-Man City midfielder Abdul Razak is in the middle; Srdjan Drobnjak has pace to burn on the right; Turkovic is partnered upfront by the South African striker Jerry Vilakazi; Serge Gnabry and Saido Berahino are on the Cardiff bench, but neither are fully-fit.

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We start with normal tackling but I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to switch to hard tackling early-on, if they start flying on against us. The team-talk was based on picking up where they left-off last time, although that means nothing to the players who have rotated back into the team now, so one-to-ones achieve positive responses from 8 players.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: In our changed black strip, The Saints get us underway, attacking from right-to-left.
- 3mins: O’Brien finds Drobnjak just inside the area and his square pass is fired over by Turkovic. Then, from the centre-cirle, Pearson finds Vilakazi midway inside the Southampton half. He draws defenders to him before playing Turkovic through the middle. The shot is pushed high into the air by Ibrahim, taking an age to drop and looking like it might go in - but it bounces on the crossbar and the Egyptian keeper gathers the loose ball. A left-off for The Saints.
- 5mins: Vilakazi drifts a free-kick wide - and I decide to switch to Hard Tackling to shake my players awake. The match has started, guys!
- 7mins: Scougall wastes an opening on the Cardiff left as Drobnjak is allowed to advance cross-field and play him in across the front of the defence.
- 12mins: Smulders, Ardean-Webb and Jorginho play a triangle from outside the left corner of the Cardiff area to play Marc Smulders into the inside-left channel. But the young Dutch winger is denied a debut goal by a low save by Cardiff keeper Moore.
- 15mins: Mark O’Brien chops down Smulders on the edge of the penalty area and is lucky to get away with just a yellow card from Mr Oliver.
- 16mins: A goal-kick by Ibrahim is flicked-on by Smulders and Jorgensen gets up well to head the ball into the path of Kingsley Idris, who is unmarked in the inside-left channel. The striker hits it first-time from inside the area but Moore makes the save. It was a sitter and should be 1-0 to The Saints.
- 19mins: Ardean-Webb passes to Jorgensen who slips the ball into the inside-right channel. Jorginho latches onto it and forces Moore into a save with his cross-shot, but the ball falls to Kingsley IDRIS who atones for his earlier miss by putting the visitors in front. 1-0.
- 30mins: Kostas Kabastanakis crosses into the area from a right-wing free-kick and Jorgensen controls, turns Day on the corner of the 6-yard box and pulls a low save from Moore at this near post…
- 31mins: …from the corner by Kabastanakis, Jorgensen hits the crossbar from close-range at the near post.
- 32mins: Ben Pearson plays an angled pass through a crowd of Southampton players to find Scougall in space on the right side of the D. His cross-shot fizzes past the far post.
- 34mins: You know when Sky or MoTD put numbers up to show how passes went into a move? We have just put together a move of something like 35 passes from the middle-to-left-to-middle before Idris feed Jorgensen on the right of the D, to smash the ball past Moore with a left-footed strike - only for the linesman to flag him offside. There were only millimetres in it! For the love of art, man - keep your pigging flag down!!!
- 44mins: After a cleared corner, the ball comes out to Kabastanakis and his crosses is deflected to the edfe of the D where Jorginho’s volley flies over-the-bar.

HALF-TIME: CARDIFF CITY 0-1 SOUTHAMPTON

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There have been several long passing moves, most of which haven’t lead to anything, but the goal that ruled offside was a beauty. We struggled to settle down to begin with, perhaps due to having such a young and inexperienced line-up, but it’s a good test for them and we are ahead at the moment. Cardiff have had a couple of chances. I tell the players that it’s good but could be better, and send them out for the second-half.

2nd Half Highlights
- 47mins: Another near-post corner from Kostas Kabastanakis is headed over from close-range by Christoffer Jorgensen.
- 49mins: Idris plays the ball back to Jorginho, midway inside the Cardiff half, and he sidesteps Ben Pearson before playing a short pass to Jorgensen in the middle. With Callum Day squaring up to him, 25-yards out, the Dane motions as if to go outside the centre-back on the inside-right channel - but then checks onto his left foot before firing across goal into the bottom-left corner of the goal. With Day blocking his line of sight, Simon Moore sees it late and can’t reach it. An 18th Premier League goal of the season for Christoffer JORGENSEN. 2-0.
- 50mins: Moore has to rush out to claim the ball at Jorgensen’s feet after Idris plays him in through the middle.
- 51mins: Pugliese and Jorginho work the ball into Jorgensen, midway inside the Cardiff half. He lays it off to Kabastanakis on the right and then disappears behind the two Cardiff defenders who go to close down Jorginho - the Brazilian having received the winger’s short infield pass - allowing him to slide another short pass into the space in front of Simon Moore. Christoffer JORGENSEN is onto it in a flash to dispatch his 2nd goal of the game into the far corner. 3-0.
- 51mins: Yellow card for Ben Pearson, dissent.
- 58mins: A 40-yard free-kick chipped directly forward by Kabastanakis leaves Idris with a free headed shot on goal, but he can’t generate the power to beat Simon Moore who dives to his left to claim the ball.
- 60mins: Yellow card for Kostas Kabastanakis.
- 70mins: Serge Gnabry and Marko Livaja, both substitutes, link-up when the former Arsenal man’s beautifully flighted pass from the right of the halfway line drops invitingly for Livaja in the inside-right channel. He advances into the penalty area but Ibrahim pushes his shot wide.
- 73mins: Cofie spreads the play to O’Brien on the right-hand side. Smulders sells himself by rushing towards O’Brien and leaving Scougall unmarked. When the cross comes over, Turkovic leaps well 3-yards out but his header smacks against the crossbar.
- 75mins: Shane Westley replaces Mario Pugliese in the Southampton midfield.
- 81mins: James Husband’s clearance is headed on from the centre-circle by Turkovic, freeing Livaja to race past Tin Jedvaj. But with the Croatian defender in hot pursuit, Livaja can’t maintain his composure and shoots directly at Ibrahim who makes a comfortable catch.
- 85mins: Jose Pinho replaces Kabastanakis on the Southampton right.
- 89mins: Jorginho’s low shot goes wide of the right-hand post form Jorgensen’s short pass.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
JORGINHO (SOUTHAMPTON) - 9.1
Advanced Playmaker_Attack; 0 goals; 3 assists.

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VERDICT:
An unsteady start but the team settled into long periods of possession and began to assert their attacking prowess upon the match. Short passing moves in the final third allowed Jorginho to press into the area behind the two strikers, sometimes playing them in and other times running beyond them to take shots of his own - overloading small groups of Cardiff players in isolated areas of the pitch. Marc Smulders didn’t impact on the game much but got caught by balls in-behind him a few times. Egan was steady on the right of the defensive three. Cardiff were much brighter when Serge Gnabry came on and he’ll have to watched carefully if he’s fully-fit when we play them again. I calmly tell the players that they did well today, before we board the coach for the late-night journey back over the Severn Bridge.

 

[rocheyb]

Wednesday 30th November, 2022

Just what I was hoping for, from Old Trafford:

MANCHESTER UNITED 4-0 CHELSEA

That means we close the gap on Chelsea, at the top of the Premier League, to 8 points. It’s still a big margin, but it’s a start. The depressing thing about that match, though, is that Phil Jones (United) and Jason Saville (Chelsea) are the only English starters, with only two (Will Hughes of United and Kyle Metcalfe of Chelsea) of the six used subs also eligible to play for this country.

 

[rocheyb]

Thursday 1st December, 2022

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The start of a new month brings another player performance review from Mullers. Jay Rodriguez, Shane Westley and Dragan Hrustic have not been performing well in training so I tweak their schedules to have them concentrate on areas of weakness identified by the coaches.

Sercan Calik is in contention for the World Player of the Year Award, which is currently held by our very own Giammarco Stangoni. Calik was 3rd in the voting last season, behind Neymar. Zakaria Bakkali of Manchester United and Romelu Lukaku of Paris Saint-Germain are also in the running. Christoffer Jorgensen comes 3rd in the November Player of the Month, behind two Manchester City players; Zeljko Urosev and Gautier Lacourt. Our former player Bentley Gouano, now of Tottenham, wins the Young Player award, despite being part of the side that lost 0-4 at home to us last week.

James Ward-Prowse wins the Goal of the Month with his 27-yard free-kick against Wigan. That should cheer him up as he waits for his broken ankle to heal. Christoffer Jorgensen’s first goal against Cardiff, yesterday, sneaks into 3rd place - which he also achieved back in August.

Yours truly is not even mentioned in the Manager of the Month category. Michael Laudrup wins it, with Brendan Rodgers (Arsenal) and Jose Mourinho (Chelsea) trailing in his wake. In the four months of the season so far, nobody has won it twice yet but Mourinho has been in the top 3 every month.

The new manager of Tottenham Hotspur is a surprise choice, to say the least. Wayne Walters, whose playing career was limited to the Isthmian Premier teams Harrow and Hendon has left his managerial post at Burnley, 9th in the Championship, to take up the reigns at New White Hart Lane. Good luck to him.

 

[rocheyb]

Thursday 1st December, 2022

Preparation vs WEST BROMWICH ALBION (h)

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SAINTS: 1/6 (fav); West Brom: 10/1; Draw: 5/1.

In 22 meetings with West Brom we have only lost once. We beat them 5-1 in the corresponding fixture last season. They are mid-table at the moment but will he hoping to move into the top half with a win at St. Mary’s on Saturday. They’ve conceded 11 goals in the 15mins before half-time in their 14 matches so far this season, and are also prone to letting them in during the final 15mins, too. Their squad depth is poor but many of their goals are created from the left wing of their 4-4-2 set-up.

We’re at home and playing well in the last few matches, so I’m confident that we can dominate this one. Wednesday’s Champions League match at Amkar Perm is a dead rubber, so this is the match to prioritise. We have the lads training on their attacking movement.

 

[rocheyb]

Saturday 3rd December, 2022

Premier League - Matchday 15
SOUTHAMPTON vs WEST BROMWICH ALBION
St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton; Att: 44,172

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim remains between the sticks; Phillip Kaminski comes into the back-3, with Radimov and Reyes; Shaw, Stangoni and Westley all return having been left-out against Cardiff; Ardean-Webb keeps his place as the designated deputy to the injured Ward-Prowse; Sercan Calik’s fitness is just good enough to warrant a starting place ahead of Kostas Kabastanakis who is rested; Powell and Lucas rotate in again, up-front; Egan, Rodriguez and Griffiths are among the subs.

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WBA - 4-4-2: Former Middlesbrough keeper Jason Steele is the West Brom No.1; central midfielder Masahiro Izumi has 75 caps for Japan; former Arsenal youngster Chuba Akpom is partnered by the captain Liam Brennan upfront; Hope Akpan, the former Reading midfielder, is among the benchwarmers.

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The West Brom players don’t look confident during the warm-up. I have told our boys to tackle normally and sent them out with a mix of assertive and calm messages to pick up where they left off and trust in their own footballing abilities. Everyone looks positive and raring to go.

1st Half Highlights
- 12secs: Southampton are straight onto an attacking stance as Stangoni dribbles from halfway to win a corner on the left wing, in-front of the Northam Stand.
- 38secs: Sercan Calik floats the cross to the far post by Phillip Kaminski’s header is wide.
- 2mins: Davidson’s challenge leaves Lucas in pain, inside the WBA penalty area.
- 4mins: Stangoni shoots across goal and wide from 25-yards, right-of-centre.
- 5mins: From the centre, Westley passes out to Calik on the right wing. He god by Ake and crosses for Andrew Powell at the far post. Jason Steele’s one-handed save keeps the header out, the ball falling next to the left-hand post where Izumi treads on it, allowing Powell to prod his left foot at it - but against the post and out.
- 9mins: Yellow card for Sergey Radimov.
- 12mins: Yellow card for Anthony Day, for a trip on Stangoni.
- 20mins: Calik throws-in from the right, short to Stangoni. He gives the ball back to the Belgian winger and then sprints into the middle in time to reach the cross with his head and divert it onto the crossbar from 9-yards.
- 22mins: Liam Brennan sends a long-range free-kick just over for West Brom.
- 25mins: Yellow card for Diego Reyes.
- 27mins: Kaminski controls Calik’s left-wing free-kick, deep inside the West Brom area. He lays it back to Radimov whose shot is straight down the keeper’s throat.
- 33mins: Yellow card for Sercan Calik. We’ll be lucky to keep 11 on the pitch today. Martin Atkinson is throwing cards around like confetti.
- 34mins: There’s a let-off for Ibrahim as his poor goal-kick is headed forward by Akpom and Brennan bears down on goal. But his shot is weak and too close to the keeper.
- 38mins: Good feet from Luke Shaw on the left touchline enables him to squeeze between two defenders before delivering a strong, dipping cross to the far post, but Calik comes in at such speed he can’t control the header and sends it high into the stand.
- 41mins: Ardean-Webb plays Shaw down the left-hand side, and he turns sharply to leave O’Donoghue for dead before crossing to the edge of the 6-yard box for the rapidly back-peddling Lucas to punch a header wide of the near post.

HALF-TIME: SOUTHAMPTON 0-0 WEST BROMWICH ALBION

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A poor first-45 from our perspective, despite having created more chances. Early knocks to both Lucas and Stangoni have limited their effectiveness. Luke Shaw has been the brightest, delivering several dangerous crosses from the left-wing. Andrew Powell should have scored and we’re lucky that Liam Brennan wasn’t more alert when Akpom put him through from Ibrahim’s poor kick. We’re dominant in the air but we’ve picked up three yellow cards, already, so I’m probably going to have to use one of my subs early in the second-half to remove one of the already-booked players, to try and manage that situation. West Brom have grown in confidence, perhaps as a result of having kept it goalless during the first-half. I tell the players that I’m far from happy and send Jay Rodriguez in to replace Yvo Lucas, who is partially injured.

2nd Half Highlights
- 48mins: Calik’s high diagonal pass is headed down by Westley and Stangoni half-volleys it between the West Brom defenders to put Powell in-behind. But he takes too long to control it and O’Donoghue slides in to clear for a corner.
- 52mins: Sercan Calik beats both Mason and Ake down the right-wing to cross for The Saints. Rodriguez gets up well on the edge of the 6-yard box and glances a header towards the far corner - but Jason Steele pulls off a miraculous save with the finger tips of his right hand. Luke Shaw tries to centre again from the left but Day nips in ahead of Stangoni to snuff out the chance.
- 60mins: A dangerous one-touch passing move by the visitors goes wrong when Mason presents the ball straight to Stangoni, midway inside the Southampton half. He finds Powell in the centre and sets off on a run. Powell’s chip to the right flank is headed back infield by Rodriguez and the now sprinting Stangoni kills the bounce to run at Ake, Davidson and Cheverra. As the latter two converge on him, he squeezes a low shot away but Steele gets his body behind it to make the stop.
- 65mins: Stangoni is the architect again as he plays Shaw into a crossing position on the left. Rodriguez is beaten at the far post by Ake but Stangoni gets his head to the loose ball - only for Steele to save again, diving to his left.
- 66mins: Harris receives Izumi’s pass on the right wing and bursts away from Radimov to cross to the near post. Liam Brennan controls and strikes a firm, low drive but Ibrahim gets down well to block at his near post.
- 67mins: Yellow card for Giammarco Stangoni.

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- 68mins: Tom Ince is going to replace Luke Shaw. We move into Attack mode with greater Fluidity and a Much Higher Tempo.
- 69mins: Ardean-Webb’s angled ball to the edge of the area from the left-wing is re-diverted by Rodriguez into the path of Powell, but the Welsh striker wastes the opportunity by firing into the side-netting.
- 71mins: Ardean-Webbs short chip down the inside-left channel is headed down by Powell, allowing Ince to run onto it and strike it after one bounce - but the ball flies wide of the far post.
- 75mins: A poor pass by Day allows Calik to find Rodriguez, midway inside the West Brom. He squares it to Powell who beats Davidson to shoot from the edge of the area. Jason Steele’s one-handed save prevents the ball flying into the top-right corner.
- 76mins: I swap Rodriguez and Powell’s positions and then replace Powell with Jose Pinho. So Rodriguez is now the False9.
- 81mins: Calik and Stangoni work the ball up the right flank and Pinho beats his man to shoot into the side-netting, from inside the area.
- 82mins: Akpan’s controlled volley into Mason presents an opening from halfway for West Brom, with Reyes too far advanced. The ball infield to Akpan is met with a slide-rule pass between Radimov and Reyes to play Brennan through on-goal, with just the keeper to beat. He tries to place his shot into the top-right corner, but Ibrahim takes it confidently.
- …Time-wasting at every set-piece now, by West Brom.
- 90mins+2: Ince gets back to intercept Akpom’s intended pass to Harris, but then gets caught in possession as Akpom shows greater desire to win it back. He exchanges short passes with Harris to pick his way through Ince and Radimov before drifting an acute angled shot just over the bar.
- 90mins+3: Martin Atkinson signals the end of a frustrating afternoon for The Saints.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
NATHAN AKE (WEST BROMWICH ALBION) - 7.3
Left Back: 0 goals; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
Matches like this one are frustrating because we were creating chances - it was just Jason Steele keeping us out or us missing the target. Perhaps my rotation policy rotated out too much quality this week, particularly among the front-two given that Yvo Lucas got injured early-on today. Ibrahim was assured when called upon, but Powell had a couple of chances to put us ahead that he didn’t take. The team responds well to me telling them we should have won.

 

[rocheyb]

Saturday 3rd December, 2022

Yvo Lucas is out for 5 days with a bruised rib, so he’ll miss the midweek trip to Russia.

17th placed Everton have sacked Roberto Di Matteo. Edgar Davids, currently at Tenerife, is among the favourites to take the Goodison Park hot seat. Di Matteo’s last game in charge was a 1-4 at Manchester City. Chelsea won 3-0 at home to Arsenal and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Anfield, in their evening kick-off against Liverpool. Arsenal’s defeat means we overtake them by 3 points and a far superior goal difference, despite their game in-hand.

 

[rocheyb]

Sunday 4th December, 2022

An inevitable development of recent move to 3-5-2. Left-back Dragan Hrustic, who has recently been injured anyway, is complaining about his lack of first-team football. I have promised him some first-team outings in the not-too-distant future, so I’m going to have to mix things up a bit.

Preparation vs AMKAR PERM (a)

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Amkar: 9/1; SAINTS: 1/4 (fav); DRAW: 4/1.

We’re working on Attacking Set-Pieces. Amkar let goals in during the first and the last 15mins of matches, according to Javi Rico’s report. The squad comparison is pitiful from their point of view, so I expect a win no matter what team I put out.

I’m going to use the 4-5-1 Assymetric system in order to give Hrustic and Ndou a run-out. I’ll drop Diego Reyes, who is one yellow card away from suspension but could do with a rest anyway.

 

[rocheyb]

Tuesday 6th December, 2022

Despite the Belgian side’s 2-0 home win over FC Kobenhavn, CSKA Moscow pip Standard Liege to the final 1st Knock-Out Round post by winning 1-0 against PSG in Paris.

 

[rocheyb]

Wednesday 7th December, 2022

European Champions League, Group F - Matchday 6
AMKAR PERM (Rus) vs SOUTHAMPTON (Eng)
Zvezda, Perm; Att: 16,873

SAINTS Team News - 4-5-1 Assymetric: Louis Cruse replaces Ibrahim in goal; Rodrigao will start at right-back, with Hrustic on the left; John Stones is alongside Tin Jedvaj at centre-back; 16 year-old defensive midfielder Jim Wright makes his senior debut; Shane Westley will captain the side from the Deep-Lying Playmaker role in midfield; Ince and Kabastanakis on the wings; Jose Pinho will operate as a Shadow Striker with Andrew Powell looking to put a disappointing showing against West Brom behind him; Kevin Egan and Kingsley Idris are both on the bench.

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Amkar - 4-4-2: Goalkeeper Marcel de Groot is Dutch, formerly of Groningen and Ajax; neither of the forwards Logua and Serderov, both Russian, are internationals.

Normal tackles. The team-talk achieves little, to be honest, but fingers-crossed…

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Russia in December means snow, as Amkar kick-off, attacking from left-to-right in their Poland style white shirts, red shots and white socks.
- 1min: The ball is worked out to the Southampton left, where Dragan Hrustic releases Tom Ince down the wing and crosses but Andrew Powell’s header drifts wide.
- 14mins: Ince picks up a cleared corner and sends the ball back out to Kabastanakis on the left edge of the Amkar area. Powell gets up well to meet the cross but again, directs his header wide of the far post.
- 19mins: Miletic sidesteps Jim Wright to let fly from 20-yards and it sails wide of the left-hand angle of post and bar.
- 32mins: Pinho passes out to Ince on the left-wing, from inside the Southampton half. Tom Ince exchanges passes with Hrustic to get past Gatiev and Keko to release the winger down the line. His cross travels along the 6-yard line until Jose PINHO, forward to put the finishing touch to the move he started, heads past de Groot for his first competitive goal for The Saints. 1-0
- 34mins: Iskakov lifts the ball over Stones and inside Rodrigao from halfway, into the path of Serderov, who advances along the inside-left channel and tries a side-foot chip from 20-yards but Louis Cruse is equal to it.
- 39mins: Ince appears to be about to attack down the left wing, again, but instead he feeds Pinho who keeps the ball in play on the byline, in the inside-left, before swinging the ball into the middle. Min’kov heads away under pressure from Powell, to the edge of the are, across the goalmouth. Shane Westley sprints across the D to meet the ball after one bounce, but his volley is wide of the right-hand post.
- 40mins: Mici has to make a sliding tackle inside his own penalty area to prevent Kabastanakis from taking aim, after a good move down the middle involving Wright, Powell and Pinho. Djokovic volleys off-the-line to deny Powell a headed goal from the subsequent corner.
- 45mins+1: An Amkar attack breaks down on the edge of the Southampton area and Westley passes forward to Pinho. He slides the ball along the ground to Powell, in the centre-circle. With Kabastanakis making the run on the right-hand side and the Amkar defence pushed high in their own half, the Welshman bides his time to play a perfect ball between two defenders to leave Kostas KABASTANAKIS with time and space to advance on-goal and pick his moment to fire past de Groot. 2-0.

HALF-TIME: AMKAR PERM 0-2 SOUTHAMPTON

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We’re deservedly ahead at the break. We’ve passed the ball well and got at them, mostly down the left but also with some close passing moves through the middle and then with that breakaway goal from Kostas in first-half stoppage. Their opportunities have been from outside the box. The attacking unit of our team is doing well, the defenders look untroubled and Jim Wright is okay on his debut, in midfield. He hasn’t done anything spectacular but most of his passes have found a team-mate. A calm team-talk with some assertive one-to-ones has the team looking confident going into the second-half.

2nd Half Highlights
- 52mins: After taking a throw-in on the right-hand side, Rodrigao crosses to the near-post and de Groot is called into action to push Kabastanaskis’s header wide for a corner.
- 60mins: Shane Westley initiates a move in midfield, feeding Kabastanakis as he comes infield from the right-wing. A short pass to Powell encourages an attempt on-goal, but the ball is deflected into the air by Min’kov. Kabastanakis gets his head to it, knocking the ball into the centre, goal side of the penalty spot, where Jose PINHO beats Skvortsov to it to smash past de Groot from close-range. 3-0.
- 62mins: Yellow card for Jim Wright, on his professional debut.
- 65mins: Yellow card for Murat Iskakov.
- 66mins: Jorginho and Idris will enter the fray; Westley and Powell will exit.
- 68mins: Hrustic’s clearance from left-back reaches Idris in the centre-circle. He spreads the play to Kabastanakis on the right wing. He beats Mici and crosses from deep to the far post, over the heads of the advancing Idris and Pinho, bouncing up for Tom Ince to head it back across goal where Kingsley IDRIS heads his 10th goal of the season beyond de Groot’s full-stretch dive. 4-0.
- 71mins: Kabastanakis slips the ball between a crowd of Amkar defenders for Idris to strike left-footed, but it’s wide of the right-hand post.
- 72mins: Kevin Egan is coming on for the last 20 minutes, in place of the impressive Tin Jedvaj.
- 76mins: Louis Cruse takes the ball out of his area before sending it high, upfield. Pinho wins the aerial battle with Min’kov to knock it down to Jorginho. A first-time pass puts Idris through on-goal in the middle but de Groot reaches up his right hand to deflect the shot away.
- 81mins: Mylnikov and Iskakov combine well on the right corner of the Saints penalty area to play the ball into the inside-right channel for Golubev, whose sharp turn spins him away from Hrustic and creates space for an angled shot that flies up in front of Cruse, hitting the crossbar and falling towards Serderov. But Rodrigao and Stones converge upon him before he can reach the ball and Cruse is able to gather on the 6-yard line.
- 82mins: A rare foray into the opposition penalty area from Rodrigao ends with him dragging a shot wide of the far post.
- 83mins: Ince and Hrustic both spurn chances to cross from the left-hand side, instead working the ball back to Jim Wright. The debutant picks out Pinho inside the area but his shot goes wide of the far post.
- A couple more long shots from The Saints drift harmlessly wide as the match draws to a close.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
KOSTAS KABASTANAKIS (SOUTHAMPTON) - 9.2
Wide Midfielder (Right)_Support: 1 goal; 1 assist.

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VERDICT:
A comfortable win against a poor team. Good to see Jose Pinho get on the scoresheet and prove to me that he can play the Shadow Striker role, which remains my long term plan for him. Kingsley Idris was good when he came on but Andrew Powell struggled again. I haven’t worked out the best way to deploy him, yet. A good debut, in the end, from Jim Wright in the defensive midfield role.

 

[rocheyb]

Wednesday 7th December, 2022

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Group F:

FC LORIENT 0-1 ATLETICO MADRID

Our win in Russia puts us through as Group F Winners and we are also currently the highest goalscorers, with 21. Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Shakhtar Donetsk all have 18 - though Barca actually have 24 goals, if you count Pre-Qualification.

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Fortunately for our schedule, Perm has its own airport. But our chartered return flight with Lufthansa is delayed due to the wintery conditions and the need to defrost the aeroplane! Some the uneasy flyers in our group - especially Kingsley “I ain’t gettin’ on no plane, Sucker” Idris - have to be talked into boarding so we can get home in time to prep for Saturday’s trip to Leicester City. Why that match wasn’t put back to Sunday is beyond me and I fire off an angry text to a friendly journalist at The Echo Online.

 

[rocheyb]

Thursday 8th December, 2022

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Roel Rutten returns to training today, although it will take a while to get him back to full-fitness. There is no doubt that we have missed him so hopefully he can stay injury-free for the remainder of the season.

The U21s end their poor U19 Champions Cup campaign with a 3-1 win at home to Amkar Perm U19s. John Griffiths is among the goalscorers and Marc Smulders also played in this match. Next season, I want to make a real effort in this competition and will try to make all of my best eligible teenagers available for the matches.

[Kingsley Idris is the first academy regen player that I’ve ever had score double-figures for me in FM. In previous versions, I’ve rarely had decent strikers from the youth ranks - only full-backs and midfielders - despite some similarly long and successful saves.]

 

[rocheyb]

Thursday 8th December, 2022

Preparation vs LEICESTER CITY (a)

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Leicester: 11/5; SAINTS: Evens (fav); Draw: 11/5.

Defending Set-Pieces is the area to concentrate on in training, according to Javi Rico’s scouting report. Leicester play a 4-4-2 narrow diamond with my former player Ross Barkley in the No.10 role. I’m wary that their formation puts a man either side of our usual midfield five, so I’m hoping that we will dominate possession effectively enough for that to not matter. But if Barkley gets the ball in the correct area, he could spring their forwards into the channels between our back three, which we have already seen is our weakness in the 3-5-2 formation. The squad comparison isn’t very favourable form their point-of-view and they concede a lot of goals during the first 15mins and the last 15mins. Roberto Mancini is their manager and he currently has them in 8th position in the Premier League, with 19 points from 15 matches. They’ve scored 23 - which is more than any of the teams below them - but they have conceded 25, which suggests they can be got at. We’ve got Manchester United on Tuesday in the Capital One Cup Quarter Final, but having rested several first team players for the trip to Amkar Perm, I have enough talent to choose from to approach both matches on the front foot.

We’ve only lost to Leicester once in 15 meetings and we have won all of the last 9, including 5-1 most recently.

 

[rocheyb]

Saturday 10th December, 2022

Premier League - Matchday 16
LEICESTER CITY vs SOUTHAMPTON
King Power Stadium, Leicester; Att: 33,851

SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: Ibrahim returns in goal; Radimov, Reyes and Jedvaj form the defensive three; Elias Migliorini returns to the left of the midfield five; Sercan Calik is on the right; Stangoni captains the side from the Advanced Playmaker role in the middle, with Ardean-Webb and Pugliese either side of him; Idris and Jorgensen return up-front; Jay Rodriguez is among the substitutes.

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Leicester - 4-4-2 narrow diamond: Centre-back Jeffrey Bruma is a former Chelsea prospect; Fallou Diagne, a Senegalese-born Italian midfielder, is one of two ex-Saints in the Foxes’ line-up; Ross Barkley is the other, operating in the No.10 role; Jeffrey Schlupp and Liam Bridcutt offer experience from the bench.

We’ll start off with normal tackling and I give the lads an encouraging team-talk; assertive at the team level with a mix of assertive and calm statements during the one-to-ones.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: Southampton, wearing black against Leicester’s blue (when our red would have been more distinctly different), kick-off, attacking from left-to-right amid torrential rain.
- 4mins: Sercan Calik takes a throw next to the corner flag, on the right wing. Ardean-Webb plays the ball into the penalty area, to Sergey Radimov. The Russian shows good feet for a defender to evade Alvarenga before cutting the ball back to Calik, whose shot from an acute angle - after skipping around Diagne’s lunge - is just wide of the far post.
- 5mins: A foul by Liam Moore puts Migliorini out of the match. Luke Shaw comes on to replace him.
- 10mins: A free-kick, 5 yards right of the D, is sent soaring towards the top-left corner by Christoffer Jorgensen but his Danish international team-mate Anton Kammersgaard flies across his goal to push the ball out for a corner on the far side.
- 11mins: A Leicester move down the left breaks down and The Saints move the ball into the centre-circle, where Mark Ardean-Webb pushes it forward to Stangoni. He spots Luke Shaw in space on the left wing and feeds the ball out to the Southampton substitute. Liam Moore goes out to Shaw, who - having advanced several yards - crosses towards the near post with his right foot. Jeffrey Bruma is caught under the flight of the ball, leaving Kingsley IDRIS free to sprint to where it drops - 10-yards out - to meet it on the full, crashing a left-foot volley into the top-left corner beyond the full stretch dive of Kammersgaard. 1-0.
- 15mins: Yellow card for Liam Moore of Leicester City.
- 21mins: Calik pulls a left-wing corner back to the edge of the penalty area but Radimov’s shot is cleared by Diagne.
- 23mins: Another Calik corner from the left is headed over at the near post by Idris.
- 24mins: A Luke Shaw free-kick from 30-yards out on the left hand side has to be pushed over by Kammersgaard, with Jorgensen applying pressure just under the Leicester crossbar.
- 35mins: Yellow card for Jeffrey Bruma for a foul on Kingsley Idris.
- 37mins: Shaw picks out Idris on the vertical line of the penalty area, on the left. He beats Bruma and sends a cross-shot into the middle. Jorgensen runs onto it but can’t divert it past Kammersgaard at close-range. Andre Wisdom’s clearance is under hit and Rahman has to complete the job before Jorgensen can reach it.
- 38mins: Stangoni, Shaw and Idris combine down the Southampton left but Stangoni’s header is repelled by Wisdom. Mario Pugliese latches onto the loose ball just outside the area but his shot fizzes narrowly over the bar.
- 40mins: Stangoni returns Luke Shaw’s throw to the England left-back, and his cross is merely blocked at the front post by Williams. Kingsley Idris strikes the loose ball across goal from 10-yards out, left of centre, but it flashes wide of the far post.
- 41mins: Bruma steps across to prevent Stangoni going clean through from Jorgensen’s return pass, but Andre Wisdom is then caught in possession by Pugliese and Stangoni, enabling the Iatter of those two Italians to stride forward and force Kammersgaard into a flying save with a stinging shot from the edge of the area.
- 42mins: From the corner, Mark Ardean-Webb heads Calik’s cross onto the outside of the near post and behind for a goal-kick.
- 43mins: A well-timed lunge from Jedvaj blocks a Leicester attack but the ball falls to Alvarenga. A high tempo short passing move between he, Vellios, Barkley and Goncalves concludes with a snappy one-two between the latter pair, with Barkley through on-goal between Reyes and Radimov. He shoots low and hard from the edge of the area, right-of-centre, but Ibrahim dives low to his right, turning the ball behind for a Leicester corner. Leicester almost get lucky from the corner by Jedvaj heads clear at the far post.
- 45mins: Pugliese plays Jorgensen in as far as the right side of the byline. He pulls it back to Calik whose cross is headed goal ward by Idris, but Kammersgaard is equal to it.
- 45mins+1: A Ross Barkley free-kick from distance is well-struck but Ibrahim saves the ball at his feet, on the goal-line.
- 45mins+2: Yellow card for Jose Manuel Alvarenga for a trip on Luke Shaw.

HALF-TIME: LEICESTER CITY 0-1 SOUTHAMPTON

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We should be ahead by at least one more goal and the fact that Ross Barkley has had two shots on target shows that they still pose a threat. We have been quite successful down our left hand side, with Migliorini (and then Shaw), Stangoni and Idris all being left-footers and getting some joy at running at defenders and taking shots from that side. Jorgensen has struggled to get into the game, though, beyond some decent lay-offs. Leicester are bringing Liam Bridcutt on for Fallou Diagne. I tell the players that there is room for improvement in the second-half.

2nd Half Highlights
- 48mins: A throw-in from the left is eventually worked into a shooting opportunity for Idris from a tight angle, but Kammersgaard saves at his near post, at the expense of a corner.
- 56mins: Sercan Calik takes a corner on the right-hand side for Southampton, sending a low cross towards Idris at the near post. Rahman spots the danger and tries to clear, but only succeeds in smashing the ball against the legs of his teammate Jon WILLIAMS. The ball rebounds past Kammersgaard and into the net for an unfortunate own goal. 2-0.
- 59mins: The ineffective Jorgensen is replaced by Jay Rodriguez.
- 62mins: Giammarco Stangoni receives the ball midway inside the Leicester half. With two opponents for company, he shifts the ball forward, past Alvarenga, to the feet of Calik who has come inside from the right wing. The Belgain dribbles on the diagonal, towards the D, taking on two defenders before slipping a shot incisive pass to Kingsley IDRIS, just inside the penalty area. The Leicester defenders appeal for offside but the shot is low and hard and beats Kammersgaard at the right-hand post. 3-0.
- 64mins: Barkley lays the ball off to Vellios, just outside the Saints area, but the shot is high and wide.
- 65mins: From the goal-kick, Barkley finds Vellios as the man over again, but the shot is once more too high to trouble Ibrahim’s clean sheet.
- 66mins: Sercan Calik goes down the right wing and crosses to the centre. Kingsley Idris, who is on a hat-trick, climbs above his marker but can only direct the header wide.
- 68mins: Radimov heads at goal from 14-yards out, from another Calik corner, but Kammersgaard claims the ball under pressure.
- 70mins: Leicester sub Ujah heads on target from a flowing move through the middle, but Ibrahim catches the ball.
- 73mins: A long throw from Moore is headed away by Shaw and then Ardean-Webb latches onto a mis-hit pass to free Rodriguez into a one-on-one with Rahman in the inside-left channel. The veteran Saints striker bides his time before stepping around the defender and into the penalty area, chipping the ball into the centre for the on-rushing Stangoni to head home from 5-yards - but Liam Moore gets back in time to make the crucial intervention to force the ball wide.
- 74mins: Stangoni, who took a slight knock earlier in the game, is replaced by Jorginho.
- 83mins: Calik heads across goal and wide after a flowing move down the left that concludes with a Luke Shaw cross.
- 88mins: Yellow card for Tin Jedvaj.
- 90mins: Bridcutt wins a tussle with Ardean-Webb in the centre-circle and plays Ujah into the gap between Reyes and Jedvaj. He squares to Vellios but again the Greek striker is wayward with his long-range shooting.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
KINGSLEY IDRIS (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.9
Advanced Forward: 2 goals; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
A routine victory in the end. It could have been more emphatic but the number of chances we created throughout the match made it a difficult afternoon for Leicester. We weren’t firing on all cylinders today: Stangoni made several positive runs but didn’t get into many dangerous areas himself; Jorgensen struggled in a densely packed central area, particularly with a defensive midfielder dropping in to help his centre-backs; the defensive members of our team were underworked, which always poses a problem should the other team suddenly leap into an attacking stance, although Mark Ardean-Webb is developing into an assured presence in midfield who reminds me of Nicky ****. We controlled the midfield and Ross Barkley only got free a couple of times and was only able to release team-mates towards the end. But Vellios was wasteful with their best chances and we deserved the three points and the clean sheet. Kingsley Idris now has 12 goals from 10 starts + 4 sub appearances this season, which is pretty impressive. I think he’ll be called up or the full England squad before the end of the season.

 

[rocheyb]

Saturday 10th December, 2022

Chelsea make it 14 wins out of 16 in the Premier League this season, with a 3-2 triumph at Birmingham - despite having been pegged back to 2-2 after holding a two-goal lead at half-time. At Old Trafford, the Manchester derby was a 9-goal thriller, with United romping to a 7-2 rout over their noisy neighbours. Erik Gomez and Gabriel Iancu both scored hat-tricks. So we remain in 4th place but we have closed the gap on City to 3 points and our goal difference is 11 goals better off than theirs. Arsenal currently have two games in hand over us, but even if they win them both, they will still more than likely lag behind us on goal difference.

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Elias Migliorini has a fractured arm and will be out for put to 4 weeks. With Tom Ince, Luke Shaw and Marc Smulders, we have plenty of cover on the left of midfield so we should be alright, even during the busy Christmas period.

Our clean sheet today makes it 6 games in a row, in all competitions, without conceding a goal - but I suspect that Manchester United, and the Mexican striker Erik Gomez who I sold to them for 70-million last summer, will have something to say about that on Tuesday night!

 

[rocheyb]

Sunday 11th December, 2022

Preparation vs MANCHESTER UNITED (a)

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Man Utd: 5/4 (fav); SAINTS: 7/4; Draw: 11/5

Our recent domination of the Capital One Cup doesn’t persuade the bookies to predict in our favour, and the way Manchester United tore into City at the weekend suggests we are going to have a very tough task to get past them in our efforts to set a new record for winning consecutive League Cups. We are training on Defending Set-Pieces again. They play 4-2-3-1 and are vulnerable to 4-4-2. They score a lot of goals in the first half but tend to concede them in the middle of the second. David Moyes is still their manager, having won four Premier League titles with them, including in his first season and last season.

But they have four injuries within their first team squad, and an additional five players labelled as needing a rest. Aytac Ozkan, a Turkish striker or attacking midfielder, is definitely out and Erik Gomez could well be rested. Whereas, we have been rotating all season so will be able to put out a strong side. Zakaria Bakkali will be a dangerous presence for them from the left, and we have struggled to contain the likes of El Shaarawey and Iancu in the past.

Past meetings number 26 at the moment, with 10 wins for United, 8 for The Saints and 8 draws. They have beaten us 3-0 on three occasions, including the most recent meeting at Old Trafford in February. Our biggest win against them was 5-2 in an FA Cup semi-final in April 2020, in which we were 0-1 down after 2mins but 4-2 up at half-time. Erik Gomez was playing for us then, and scored our 4th in first-half stoppage.

 

[rocheyb]

Monday 12th December, 2022

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Buti Ndou, the South African right-back, has requested that he be allowed to go out on-loan since he’s not getting a regular game at the moment. I’m happy for that to happen - we haven’t been playing with a right-back very often this season, and I have Rodrigao and the young Kieran Burke coming through from the U19s. Fiorentina can’t take him until the January transfer window so for the time being, I have offered him to other clubs. I don’t mind where he goes as long as he gets a game and is playing top-flight football in one of the best European leagues.

Roel Rutten begins his rehabilitation from his recent long lay-off with 45 minutes against Leicester City in the U21s. Yvo Lucas scored in the 3rd minute but we lost 1-2 to late Leicester goals in either half.

Everton will be our next Premier League opponents and they will have a new manager at the helm; Stale Solbakken, the Norwegian who has also managed HamKam, FC Kobenhavn (twice), 1.FC Koln, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Helsingborg, takes the Goodison Park hot seat in time to prepare for our visit at the weekend.

 

[rocheyb]

Tuesday 13th December, 2022

Capital One Cup - Quarter-Final
MANCHESTER UNITED vs SOUTHAMPTON
Old Trafford, Manchester; Att: 77,619

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SAINTS Team News - 3-5-2: The only changes to the team that began against Leicester are Phillip Kaminski coming in to replace Radimov, with Jedvaj shifting to the left of the defensive three; Tom Ince lines up on the left of the midfield; Shane Westley replaces Ardean-Webb; Jose Pinho and Andrew Powell are both on the bench.

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Man Utd - 4-2-3-1: David De Gea keeps goal; Johnny Evans captains the home side from centre-back; Colin Gardiner and Paul Ashby in the two central midfield berths are products of the Old Trafford Academy; Will Hughes, the former Derby County player, lines up on the right of their three attacking midfielders; Erik Gomez is the solo striker; Gabriel Iancu, Phil Jones and Zakkari Bakkali are on the bench.

I instruct hard tackling and tell the players to pick up where they left off last time.

1st Half Highlights
- 1sec: The visitors, in black shirts and shorts with white socks, kick-off attacking from left-to-right.
- 7mins: Christoffer Jorgensen receives a pass from Stangoni, in the D on the edge of the United area. Gardiner and Evans both slide in but he sidesteps their challenges before shooting right-footed and wide of the right-hand post.
- 10mins: Tin Jedvaj blocks an attempted through ball inside the Southampton area, but then Shane Westley’s clearance hits Pugliese and falls kindly to Erik Gomez, who really should do better than to shoot over from 14-yards.
- 22mins: Jorgensen collects a high clearance on the halfway line and plays the ball infield to Idris in the centre-circle. The young strikers holds the ball up to allow Giammarco Stangoni to make a surging run from deep before chipping the ball into the path of his skipper. With five United defenders in pursuit, Stangoni dribbles to the edge of their penalty area before Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa clips his heel. The referee, Mark Clattenburg, has no hesitation in producing the RED CARD for YANGA-MBIWA. Manchester United are down to 10-men. Phil Jones has come on in place of Will Hughes for United.
- 23mins: When play resumes, Jorgensen’s free-kick goes wide.
- 28mins: Abdel Aziz Ibrahim saves Vutov’s left-footed free-kick from 30-yards.
- 39mins: Southampton clear a United attack and Stangoni finds Idris on the left-hand side, just inside United’s half. He plays a high cross-field pass to Sercan Calik who is playing against his former club, today. The Belgian winger advances into the penalty area with Evans and Bilal Celik trying to close him down. His shot is under-strength and David De Gea has to make a more straight-forward save than he had any right to expect.
- 41mins: Idris crosses from inside the area and Kaminski gets up well right in-front of goal, but still heads wide.
- 45mins: Diego Reyes makes a saving sliding tackle to shut out El Shaarawy in the inside-left channel, after an incisive pass from Vutov from left-wing.

HALF-TIME: MANCHESTER UNITED 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

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United haven’t tested us defensively, other than one excellent tackle by Reyes. They are down to 10-men and started the game with some squad players in the team, so they are not at full strength. We have had slightly more possession but have created few openings. Our crossing has been particularly poor and we haven’t seen either of the strikers in a dangerous position, yet. Our players are fitter than theirs, and we are playing a high tempo passing game, so I will stick with that for now in the hope that we will wear United down. They have made their second substitution at half-time, with the highly-talented Mirko Djurdjevic coming on in the No.10 role in place of Colin Gardiner. Their shape remains the same, though - as a 4-2-3-1 but with the right-sided member of the attacking midfield three missing. I tell the players that a single goal would make us favourites to win and some of them that they’re not doing badly but can improve in the second-45.

2nd Half Highlights
- 49mins: Mirko Djurdjevic is straight into the action, floating a long-range effort wide of the right-hand post.
- 51mins: From an advanced position on the left touchline, close to the corner flag, Sercan Calik throws the ball to Stangoni. Giacomelli puts in a challenge but Calik regains possession and passes to Stangoni again. He plays a short pass along the ground to Westley, on the corner of the United penalty area, and his first time ball finds Tom Ince moving infield onto his right foot. Ince slips the ball to Kingsley IDRIS who strikes left-footed from 8-yards to beat De Gea at the near post. 1-0.
- 61mins: Manchester United counter and Djurdjevic plays a weighted pass through the middle to provide Gomez with a scoring chance. But the Mexican striker fails to read the situation and Sercan Calik is able to slide in and hook the ball away from danger for The Saints.
- 63mins: Sercan Calik pulls the ball back to the edge of the area to Shane Westley, who then passes square to Ince on the left, just inside the area. He appears to take a heavy touch but Giacomelli still allows the winger to step around him and strike at United’s goal, forcing De Gea to parry the shot over the bar.
- 68mins: Djurdjevic tries his luck with a long-range free-kick from the right, but Ibrahim saves it.
- 69mins: Jedvaj’s headed clearance is flicked on by Westley and poked into the path of Idris by Stangoni. Idris carries the ball to the left corner of the United area and, with two defenders closing him down, chips the ball into the near-post area where Stangoni heads narrowly wide from 7-yards.
- 70mins: Stangoni and Jorgensen are both struggling, so I bring on Jorginho and Powell to replace them.
- 78mins: Yellow card for Diego Reyes for a scything challenge on his Mexico team-mate, Erik Gomez. From the free-kick, El Shaarawy receives the ball on the left-wing, cuts inside and chips it to Benassi, who controls the ball under pressure and advances into the left side of the area before firing hard and low but wide of the near post.
- 79mins: Mario Pugliese is coming off for Southampton, to be replaced by John Stones who will slot into the middle of the defensive three with Reyes going into midfield.
- 84mins: Jedvaj intercepts a pass intended for Gomez and passes to John Stones, whose forward ball into the centre-circle is laid back to Reyes by Powell before the Welsh striker sets off on a forward run to receive it again, midway inside the United half, via Jorginho. Phil Jones had gone to press the Brazilian midfielder, leaving a gap at inside-left for Kingsley IDRIS to latch onto Powell’s first-time pass, bearing down on De Gea’s goal before shooting past the Spanish keeper from the edge of the area. 2-0.
- 85mins: A well-timed sliding tackle by John Stones denies Djurdjevic a shooting opportunity from the edge of the Saints area.
- 88mins: El Shaarawy and Djurdjevic combine on the left to release Erik Gomez through the middle, with Jedvaj and Stones both struggling to keep up. Ibrahim comes out to narrow the angle and manages to get his right hand onto Gomez’s attempted chip shot, pushing the ball wide of the right-hand post.
- 89mins: Benassi puts the ball in the net for United, but he was offside from Djurdjevic’s pass. No goal.
- 90mins+2: Kingsley Idris is denied his hat-trick by the offside flag, after Calik and Powell combine on the right to play the young striker in on his weaker foot. But he had made his run a fraction too early, despite an assured finish.

FULL-TIME

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MAN OF THE MATCH:
KINGSLEY IDRIS (SOUTHAMPTON) - 8.8
Advanced Forward: 2 goals; 0 assists.

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VERDICT:
This was by no means a full strength United side today and we needed them to go down to 10-men before we got the better of them. But our second-half performance was good and Idris took his goals well, again. United will be a very different proposition when we play them again in the League in a few weeks, but for now I will happily take this result and progress to the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup.