Southampton 1 – 0 Everton
The day should have begun at 6:20 am when I left the house to meet Chris at the bus stop, but it actually began when I awoke at 3 am and couldn’t get back to sleep, eventually giving up trying at around 4:30am and getting up and watching a bit of cricket in the early hours.
What a series win for the Black Caps in India by the way. And what a joy to cathartically watch a sport you like but without it having a huge emotional pull on you, especially when things go badly… as they often do.
We arrived in Liverpool not long after 7 am. With time to kill, we grabbed a sausage butty and coffee from Gregg’s before meeting Mike and boarding the 7:40 am train to London. It’s always good to get to the game with Chris and Mike, two great well-connected Evertonians who seldom miss a game home or away, and it felt like a quick 2 hours or so to London as we nattered away.
With more time to kill, we grabbed a cuppa at Waterloo Cafe, a little place that makes a great breakfast and coffee and is much better than it looks. Before long, we were onto the next train, a 1-hour 20-minute journey to Southampton Central. It’s the first time I’ve travelled to Southampton for the football, and that next train feels a lot longer than expected.
When we arrived, we walked on to a great boozer, the Duke of Wellington, for food, refreshments, and catch-ups with several more Evertonians, not least a good blue called John who I was passing a ticket on to.
Everyone left, John and I stayed a bit longer for an extra pint until it got pretty quiet in there, and not really knowing our whereabouts, we thought we’d better get a move on towards St Mary’s.
Thankfully we had plenty of time when we got there. The bloke in front of me scanned his ticket and started going through the turnstile. I scanned mine but, at the same time, the guy came back for some reason, before changing his mind and going back through again.
Resultantly, my ticket then didn’t work because the machine thought I had already gone through. The fella behind me sussed what had happened and we squeezed through one turnstyle together. Neither of us are exactly skinny so it really was quite the squeeze.
Into my seat in good time, the excellent Everton following really got behind the team from the get-go. The teams didn’t respond, and the first half was about as forgettable as I can remember. A really poor effort from both sides, and given how bad they were, at half-time you were left scratching your heads on how we didn’t take the game to them more.
Iliman Ndiaye was down quite early in the game and never really recovered from his knock, which didn’t help, but generally it was poor all round, from both sides. There’s a reason we’re both where we are.
Dickheads of the Day, by the way, go to them two hilarious Southampton fans who thought it would be a hoot to – rather than go and watch their team – turn up, get seats next to the away end, and wear Harry Enfield “Scouser” wigs and moustaches with one T-Shirt stating “CALM” and the other “DOWN”, and gesticulate at our fans near them all game. Really, what possesses people?
The second half, or at least from whatever point it was we finally kicked into gear and had a go, was much better. As a game, as an overall performance, this was poor against a really bad side. But on chances alone, to actually lose that game was quite the piss-take.
Great chances, in no particular order, came and went for Jack Harrison, Michael Keane, Orel Mangala and Beto. We nearly had a chance to do it against 10 men also when Jan Bednarek was spared (for my money, and I really can’t be arsed catching the highlights retrospectively, a red card would have been harsh there as it looked like there was a covering defender).
And there were so many instances, in both halves thinking about it, when we had a chance to make one more key pass for a great chance, and we continually fluffed our lines.
So to see James Tarkowski head the ball across goal and then see Beto’s header crashed against the crossbar – to then see Southampton go down the other end and score within what felt like around 10 seconds was crushing. Again, I don’t want to watch it back, but I don’t know where Vitalii Mykolenko was (all game, for that matter!), and why Michael Keane and James Tarkowski have retreated back inside their 6-yard box by this point, so much so that James is literally in Jordan Pickford’s way.
It’s easy to say now, but I feel if Jarrad Branthwaite is in that situation, he’s out and intercepting the ball. Anyway, 0-1, not long to go, and on comes Jarrad and Michael Keane was sent up front. Well, it worked last week! To be fair, Sean Dyche had nothing else on the bench to work with at this point.
And we did put the ball in the net but it was, of course, “deemed” to be fractionally offside after an eternal wait. I haven’t watched it back but, on the train home later, I did see some still image of the VAR line angles used to decipher this being at a different gradient to that of the half way line, which can’t be right can it? Especially given how tight it was. The linesman didn’t think it was offside and nor did I.
It got frustrating at this point, not least because I was conscious of getting back to Southampton Central in time for the 17:30 train back to London Waterloo. The VAR call took so long, we were way into injury time before we restarted. And then more Southampton substitutions, cynical time wasting, and nothing going our way, led to a very annoying finish to the game as we trooped – no, marched – towards the station.
On the way back, Chris was saying how maybe we should play Ashley Young at left-back and put Seamus Coleman at right-back given Mykolenko’s form. I wouldn’t be averse to that change really, though rather than Seamus, given how effective Southampton’s dynamic right-back was, I’d like to see Nathan Patterson given a go there, or ever Roman Dixon with his pace if it isn’t too much of a risk to play him. Anything just to breathe some life into our attack.
The train back to London Waterloo was very busy, though I was able to get to London Euston in time to get the insanely busy 19:37 back to Liverpool Lime Street – and I was lucky enough to get a seat at least… I needed to.
I went to the shop first to grab a sandwich and a few beers so got one of them meal deals but, for some reason, felt I could cope without paying for a bag, so seeing me trying to juggle three cans of Pale Ale, a sandwich, a bag of crisps, a bottle of Cloudy Lemonade, a match programme, wallet, glasses and whatever else in my limited amount of pockets and hands was probably quite the sight.
I ran into Stu getting off the train and we just made the bus back over the water. I was home just before 11 pm. A tiresome day and a kick in the proverbials to come away with nothing.
Like you, I don’t love the football we play, but I think we’ve got to be realistic. If we spend way less than everyone else, we can’t expect to be much better than where we are. The football isn’t pretty but, come on, we shouldn’t have lost that. We shouldn’t have even drawn it. We could easily be on 6 more points, possibly more.
We’ll win enough to stay up. We’ll have a new stadium and The Friedkin Group next season, and both ourselves, Sean Dyche et al will be free of this exhaustive scenario.
In the meantime, celebrate the wins, shrug off the loses, it’ll be okay.
Next win is at the London Stadium.
Player Ratings
Jordan Pickford: He didn’t have a lot to do. Seemed a bit unsighted for the goal but it looked close to him and he probably should have done better. 6
Vitalii Mykolenko: I don’t remember him doing much all game really. I thought the best player on the pitch was Kyle Walker-Peters so maybe Vitalii was a bit pinned back. Nevertheless, our Ukrainain wasn’t in the game and I don’t know where he was for the goal (though I haven’t seen it back so there may be a good reason for that). 3
Michael Keane: He played pretty well.; he was aggressive and seemed to be under instruction to try and win the ball high up the pitch. He was very unlucky not to score what likely would have been a winner too. He’s playing with good maturity. When we bring back Jarrad, and surely now is the time, I hope it’s at James Tarkowski’s expense and not Michael’s. That’s something I never thought I’d write! 7
James Tarkowski: Did fine, nothing spectacular. Was he unsighting Jordan for the goal or did I dream that up? 6
Ashley Young: Ashley again showed his worth with another solid display. Seemed to be the only one alert to the danger for the goal but he couldn’t get there in time. 7
Idrissa Gueye and Orel Mangala: They were the biggest positive on the day and I hope, especially with the injuries we have accrued, that they continue together. Their collective nouse in the middle can be handy for us as we look to get back on track in these upcoming games. They both did very well and worked well together. 7
Iliman Ndiaye: The knock he took set him back and he had to come off. Shame as, had he have been firing today, he easily could have been our difference maker. 6
Jesper Lindstrøm: Worked hard. A bit hit and miss but you can see he has a bit of ability. I’d like to see him get another opportunity next weekend. 6
Dwight McNeil: Despite surely not being fit, it wasn’t much of a surprise that he began the game as Sean seems to let Dwight play regardless of form or fitness. And his lack of fitness really showed in a very leggy display. 4
Dominic Calvert-Lewin: Nothing really went for Dominic but I didn’t see a lot of application either. 4
Beto (for Dominic Calvert-Lewin): I thought Beto did really well. He used his pace well and seemed more up for the challenge than Dominic. He was unlucky with the header. On another day it goes in but it did came at him quickly. He certainly didn’t deserve us to be behind within seconds of that happening. If he’d got under it and headed over, they’d never have scored! He was also hugely unlucky to see his goal disallowed, VAR lines don’t get much tighter than that, and he took it very well. I don’t think Dominic would have scored that. I’d play him instead of Dominic next game – another thing I never thought I’d write! 7
Jack Harrison (for Iliman Ndiaye): He got involved and did alright. Also very unlucky not to score and probably win us the game. 6
Jarrad Branthwaite (for Jesper Lindstrøm): Not on long so hard to judge but for the love of God, get him in next game! 6