Liverpool Home Lost 2 – 3
With Bednarek injured on international duty Manager Martin was faced with a problem when selecting his team to face Liverpool. The XI announced raised many eyebrows, with Fraser apparently given the task of marking Salah at full back while there was a rare start for Onuachu: was he just being hung out to dry – “told you he was no good, barely touched the ball when I gave him a chance.” Social media ‘experts’ were no doubt still incensed at such incompetence even when it became clear that Downes was being deployed in a back three, with Fraser in fact further forward. It was, actually, a mark of tactical genius; we still lost, of course, but the result can be put down to individual errors beyond the coach’s control. Saints had been going along quite nicely, thank you, for half an hour when McCarthy, in for injured Ramsdale, threw the ball to Fernandes in a vulnerable position who inevitably lost possession; Downes, having a good game, was there to clear up; he could even have let the ball go out for a corner but attempted the right thing in booting it clear, but failed to execute properly and set up Szoboszlai for an easy opener. With Onuachu delighting his new fans with unexpectedly delicate touches and Dibling striding forward purposefully, Southampton responded well and it was a Dibling run that brought an equaliser shortly before half time when he was upended right on the edge of the box by Robertson. Up stepped Armstrong to continue our 0% record from the spot this season but AA was able to score on the rebound from Kelleher’s save. Ten minutes into the second period the unthinkable happened as Saints scored again, and what a good goal it was too: Dibling held off a challenge to produce a telling out pass for Armstrong who had the presence to find Fernandes who had made up ground well and finished nicely. To be honest, there was really too long to go, but it doesn’t help when you gift the league leaders two more goals. On 65 minutes Salah, now being covered by Walker-Peters, ran on to a long ball as McCarthy came out to block, only for some reason in nowhere near the right direction and Salah scored even more easily than Szoboszlai had. With the clock having drifted past 80 minutes (although plenty of added time to come) Sugawara was on and, not for the first time, cost us another goal by getting himself in a horrible position to deal with a harmless looking ball that he managed to handle instead of simply letting go. Salah scored from the spot and went on to hit the post as well with Saints finally showing why they are part of the biggest gap between top and bottom in the four major divisions.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
6. Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Our newest international had Núñez (‘a sh*t Andy Carroll’) in his pocket.
32. Paul Onuachu. Had to be replaced after 52 minutes with what might be a bad injury, but he provided plenty of fun in his time on the pitch.
33. Tyler Dibling, this time excelling in the role he failed to do anything with in the match at Bournemouth.
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