Newcastle Away Lost 1 – 0
Southampton’s first game back in the big time saw an impressive following making their way to far-off Newcastle to see debuts for Sugawara and Brereton-Díaz while Archer sat on the bench. A dodgy piece of footwork by McCarthy apart, Saints weathered the early stages pretty well and passed the ball around enough to start frustrating their opponents. Admittedly most possession was in their own territory but there were several opportunities at the other end and from one such moment we had the ball in the net when a clearly offside Stephens, in his Beckenbauer role, touched in Smallbone’s shot after Aribo’s assist; whether the ball would have gone in, or maybe hit the post, but for Stephens’ intervention is a moot point. With things already going well, what happened in the 28th minute should have turned the match in the visitors’ favour; the ball was dead and I wasn’t following the play so all I know of the incident is from TV coverage that showed Brereton-Díaz shoving Schär in the back and then falling dramatically to the ground following head-to-head contact initiated by Schär. The referee’s decision to dismiss the defender and caution BB-D seemed absolutely correct but Burn can think himself lucky for escaping unpunished for his part in the melee that also took place. Saints had it in them to walk off level and then work out how to force home a numerical advantage during the interval but McCarthy made a mess of a return pass that only went to Isaak, then, when the ball was worked to Joelinton de Lira, he didn’t do as much as he might to prevent what turned out to be the only goal. Sugawara was sacrificed so Edozie could be introduced as Stephens joined the defence and Edozie did add a lot to Southampton’s attacking approach. Goals, though, have been few in the last four friendlies and it proved to be no different in the real world: overall 77.8% possession is easy to understand but I’m not sure what the ‘expected goal’ stat means – I suspect, though, that a figure of 1.95 with that amount of ball is very low. The nearest we came to an equaliser came early in the second period when Armstrong’s scuffed shot was cleared by Hall, and Dibling and Amo-Ameyaw off the bench only showed that the squad could be a bit thin at this level – also unimpressive were the performances of subs Archer and Alcaraz, but one is clearly a work in progress while the other could soon be someone else’s problem.
We learned a lot from this game, chiefly that the team is nowhere near as weak as some feared, while Downes and Smallbone seemed to manage the step up with ease. On the downside, we obviously need a proper goalkeeper – McCarthy’s handling was actually pretty good, but Premier League presses will make his ball playing even more of a risk than in the Championship. Another worry was that Armstrong is found lacking in this league – but we’ve known both things since 2022!
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
4. Flynn Downes. It’s hard to recall a misplaced pass.
8. Will Smallbone. Looks to have learned a lot from two years in the Championship wilderness.
23. Sammy Edozie. A 45 minute cameo.
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