Report

IBO Reporter: Spot51

|Nice to watch a game on Sky without all the fannying about of those knobheads (Rammy excepted) on TNT. It was, however, a bloody awful night for football with rain being blown sideways across the pitch. Arne Slot chose a good match to sit at the back of the Press Box.

Our caretaker sounded sensible in his interview but going from our B team to playing the holders of this Cup (who currently lead both EPL AND ECL tables) is quite some baptism. Good luck Sir!

Saints kicked off towards the chapel and Archer went down the left only to be upended by Quansah. I was not impressed by the wildly overhit free kick but soon found both sides were struggling with the conditions and long passes rarely found their target.

Liverpool settled quickly. Despite the change in personnel they were better at keeping the ball and seemed to have a very fluid formation. TAA (captain for the night) Gomez and Quansah seemed to be defending while Endo and the nippers were playing ahead of them. Despite the apparent structure of our team, it morphed quickly into 5-4-1 and stayed like that for the whole first half. Archer was Billy-no-mates on halfway and hardly got a kick.

We did get forward on 9m and Bree, of all people, was caught offside. Back at right back, Bree gave away a corner which MacAlister stuck way over those waiting in our box. After 15m, Liverpool had 2 goal attempts: Nyoni’s was blocked but Nunez stuck his high and wide prompting “You’re just a shit And Carroll” - presumably from our fans.

Our next foray into Liverpool territory came on 20m when a passing move down the right ended with Dibling’s weak shot right at the keeper. There was an exchange of fouls before TAA brought the ball out before lofting it forward. The ball may have gone over everyone and been fielded by McC until Bednarek stuck out his leg. This didn’t stop the ball but did alter its trajectory. It now fell into the path of Nunez who took one touch before sliding it past McC with a finish Andy Carroll would never have achieved. 0-1.

There was no reaction at all from Saints. We remained in our low block, inviting Liverpool to attack us. The Dimwits in the crowd cheered every time one of ours booted the ball long but Archer never got it and Liverpool kept on coming.

The other annoying thing was how the bloody Ref thought it was all about him. He kept taking absurd stances with extravagant hand gestures every time he made a call - mostly when denying us a free kick. It was a mixture of an insane matador and some poncey dancer in a shit modern ballet. I admit I was getting very pissed off.

Gakpo fancied his chances against Bree but our guy brought him down the only time he was getting through. On the half hour, Liverpool went up a gear, and Gakpo started to create chances. First he set up Elliot but a Saints body was in the way. Next he picked out Nyoni whose header flashed past the post. Then he came inside and cut us open, sending Elliot in on goal. Manning nearly made the tackle but only succeeded in deflecting the shot past McC. 0-2.

Two shots on target, 2-0 up and 78% possession. At least with Russ, you knew what we were trying to do. Were we really just trying to limit the damage tonight? If so, it wasn’t working and it was a shit watch. If I could have, I’d have changed channels.

On 36m, Trent got down their right and picked out MacAlister on the edge of our box. The World Cup winner hit it on the volley and, to his credit, McCarthy got down to make a splendid save, turning it past the post. That was as good as it got as Liverpool remained camped in our half and we made no attempt to change the narrative. Piss poor.

On 44m we somehow won a corner off Endo. When the ball came over, Kelleher climbed all over Archer to punch it away. Ref - free kick to Liverpool. Bollox! HT = 0-2. Must we watch another 45m of this shit?

Liverpool were happy with their night’s work and replaced TAA and Gomez with Chiesa and Tsimikas for the 2nd half which began with a series of tit-for-tat fouls. On 50m Bree made a tackle, conceded a corner, and immediately grabbed his groin. Looked like he was done and limped off as Suga frantically got ready to replace him. Saints saw off the corner before Bree came back on!??!

The niggly fouls continued until on 57m Downes and Elliott began wrestling in the middle of the park: both got booked. The next minute Bednarek flattened Nunez but thought better of it and helped the striker up and exchanged hugs which probably saved him a booking too. A minute later Saints scored.

Nothing had come Archer’s way all night until we got a big slice of luck. Fernandes was trying to bring the ball up the left but was being closed down. Turning inside he tried to force a crossfield pass but the ball hit a defender and shot behind him where Archer pounced on it. He drove down the left as 2 defenders came across but Cam turned inside them and hit a peach of a shot across Kelleher and in at the far side of his goal. 1-2 and, from nowhere, game on.

Whether the plan was to sit tight for an hour before opening up I have no idea but that is what happened. For the remainder of the match we competed. Never did we dominate the visitors but it became a proper match with both sides being forced to defend between attacks.

Having completed his warm-up, Sugawara replaced Bree and immediately demonstrated his value as an auxiliary winger. He got down the right and played a low cross which Archer turned goalwards and forced a great stop from their keeper. Liverpool were becoming nervous and did well to avoid conceding again during this flurry of Saints attacks. Suga provided another good cross but the angle was tight for Fernandes and his shot was blocked. We were so confident now, that we began passing it about at the back to draw the oppo out of position. Russ would be proud…

Saints won a corner but the conditions were still lousy and this also went way too long. The Scousers then made two more changes, McConnell and Jota for MacAlister and Gakpo. They then spent a few minutes keeping the ball to take the sting from the game.

Jota and Chiesa are both returning from injury so can hardly have played together much. They seemed to hit it off well and the Portuguese created a chance for the Italian but his shot was hacked away by THB.

Saints then brought on Sulemana and Tall Paul for Downes and Archer. Downes’ booking may have influenced this but it was an attacking change. Tall Paul brought a new energy up front and lifted the home crowd with his antics. He got a really dodgy offside flag when played in by Mateus but, in this VAR free zone, linos have to guess when to stick the flag up.

At least a football match had broken out, a huge improvement on the re-enactment of the Siege at Rourke’s Drift which had blighted the first hour. The away fans began singing louder to lift their side. Endo seemed to be their main playmaker till our lads started kicking him.

Further subs saw Lallana and some other bloke replace Aribo and Bednarek. Turns out the mystery man was the recently shorn BBD who took up a position wide left. No idea who was defending for Saints now…

Not Suga obviously. He was wide right finding TP with another cross but the big guys header was blocked. When Dibling was flagged offside Liverpool made their final change, Danns for Nyoni.

Both sides increased their effort for the final minutes. Saints won, and wasted, another overhit corner before whoever was left at the back for us made 2 timely blocks, first from Nunez, then McConnell. Up the other end, MF found the head of BBD who drew a save from Kelleher.

On 90m McConnell was booked for a crude foul on Mateus. Chiesa saw 2 more efforts blocked (THB was still there) and we were into +6m. Then, a long ball caught out Liverpool’s back line and Fernandes was in on goal - until Quansah grabbed him from behind and brought him down.

The Referee made a big fuss of waving it away. It was an obvious foul and Don Goodman as Sky pundit could not explain why it hadn’t been given. Penalty? Maybe but a clear denial of a scoring opportunity definitely and a red card for Quansah.

Cheating bastard! Who cares what happened after that…

Man of the Match

That was an odd game. We seemed uninterested for an hour but, whether a cunning plan or pure luck changed things, Saints ended up competing with Liverpool again. There were no clear stand out performances by any of our players though.

Sadly, and for all the wrong reasons, MoM was Simon Hooper. Whether he is just rubbish at his job or a cheating twat is irrelevant. That performance in a quarter-final of a Cup competition was unfit for purpose. Hope we never get you again - idiot!