| Rochdale 1 v 1 Dagenham and Redbridge Saturday, 17th August 2024 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
Southampton At Newcastle United The Verdict Monday, 19th Aug 2024 08:30 We all predicted what the problem was going to be this season back in May and we saw nothing to change our opinions during pre season and on the opening day of the campaign it all came true and a good performance was ruined. The Premier League can come down to fine margins, especially down in the bottom half, so it was frustrating to see a point and possibly 3 thrown down the drain. No one is blaming Alex McCarthy, it is not his fault that he cannot play with the ball at his feet and so therefore it is folly to try and play the possession football game to the level that Russell Martin wants to play it. But to be blunt what were we doing playing it with half time only minutes away we should have been playing safe at that point, not taking risks against a side down to 10 men, we did not need to do that. The first half had been lively with the pivotal moment when `Schar was sent off for head butting Ben Brereton Diaz, in truth it was no more than a little squaring up to each other, but our man made the most of it and went down, yes it was soft and yes it was not good to see such. Mean made of it, but to the letter of the law it was a red card, you can’t do that sort of thing these days, even if you dont actually head butt someone Up to this point we had been matching the home side, we looked well set up and were coping well, indeed the Newcastle goal was their only shot on target in the entire match. This moment changed the game,but not necessarily all in a good way for Saints, we kept the ball, but for the hour or so remaining Newcastle were pushed back and once they snatched that goal, they were determined not to give one away themselves. The second half was like an attack v defence training session, there rarely got out of their own half and formed a solid wall on the edge of their own penalty area, it meant that fashioning a decent chance was going to be difficult and it was. 78% possession produced 19 attempts on goal, but only 4 on target, 4 off target and an amazing 11 blocked, which showed the resolve in the Newcastle side not to concede a goal, they put a shift in.
Alex McCarthy did not have a save to make bar the goal, Newcastle only had 2 other shots in the entire game, one blocked and one wide. But we could not get a truly decent chance, but then again with 9 men across their own penalty box most teams would have struggled to break the home side down. We threw the kitchen sink at them, we used 5 subs all attacking players, although I am not sure why Sugawara was taken off, he and Kyle Walker Peter were good sources of our attacking play down the wing, so to take the Japanese player off was a little harsh. But for all our huffing and puffing we couldn’t find a goal and so therefore went down to yet another opening day defeat in the Premier League. But we can take heart from the performance especially the first 28 minutes when we matched Newcastle, a team with Champions League aspirations man for man, we looked fired up and confident in what we were doing, I actually think we might have got something out of the game without the sending off, that may sound strange but as we found last season, we played better against sides when we could draw them into us and break quickly, on Saturday we did not have that, we were up against a team who just closed off the game and did not let us have a inch of room in their penalty area. So we learn’t nothing new in this game, we knew what the issue was going to be and it blew up in our face, we need a new keeper in and we need him in now. But to take a positive, most Saints fans were expecting to get beaten in this game and most were expecting to get well beaten, we would have taken a 2-0 defeat before the game, so the big disappointment is that we missed such a great chance to take a point or even all3 at a place where not many will come away with much this season. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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