London Stadum, Sunday, 14.00
Romeo Lavia (centre) was a class above in this match
Villa's win at Chelsea last evening saw them rise to 9th so they are no longer in the relegation battle. The Blues dropped to 11th, bottom half but still 8 points clear of Palace who beat Leicester yesterday. 13th and 14th are Wolves and Forest and up to 15th now are Bournemouth who came from behind to beat Fulham. 16th and 17th on 26 points are Leeds, who lost at Arsenal and Everton who play Spurs on Monday.
That leaves a bottom three of Leicester on 25, West Ham on 24 and Saints on 23. If ever we needed a win, today is the day. Only Forest and Bournemouth have worse goal differences than us, but they are out of our immediate reach. A win lifts us above Leicester and West Ham but not out of the bottom three. A defeat cuts us adrift. This is a MUST NOT LOSE match.
West Ham have most of their squad available for selection and will hope this gives them a chance to improve their form. Ruben says Larios is out for the season but that ABK may be back soon. I'd rather he got the bloody operation done on his shoulder TBF. Ché and Salisu trained Saturday and may have a role at Porno Park.
West Ham's previous league outing was a home draw with Villa on 12 March and they kept the same outfield 10 with only the keeper, Fabianski, coming in. Saints made 2 forced changes to the XI that played Spurs. Neither Ché, nor Salisu made it, so DCC and Mara came in. James Ward-Prowse was playing his 400th game for Saints.
Paul Tierney was the Ref.
Didn't get in till 13.50, so paused Sky while I unloaded my shopping and noted the teams. Finally got sat down about 10m after k.o. Had been listening to Solent in the car and concurred with Jo Tessum on most of his remarks. The first kick in the balls of the afternoon was finding it was Alan Bloody Smith as pundit again, alongside Pien, as he was v Leicester.
Both sides were wearing their "home kit". That narrow central stripe we have is on lots of shirts this season - BMG, PSG, Lyon, Nice, et al - but is hated by fashionistas. They do, however, rave about this Hammers' shirt; despite it looking like a pigeon with colon cancer has crapped on each shoulder.
They seemed to be a 4 2 3 1 with Rice and Soucek holding and Ings up front. Saints were 4 4 2 morphing to 4 2 2 2 when we won the ball back - which we frequently did. Indeed, apart from one raid that saw a cross land behind our goal, most of the action was concentrated up the other end. West Ham looked to play out from the back but our pressing saw them forced sideways and eventually giving us the ball. Theo got some joy going past Emerson but his first 2 crosses were too close to the the keeper who fielded both. At least it was our fans singing.
When West Ham eventually got forward the lino caught 2 of them offside. On 11m KWP broke into their box, but good covering from Benrahma prevented a shot. Lavia was bossing the midfield and looked head and shoulders better than more established players. Fabianski was the busier keeper but mostly just catching crosses or passing the ball out. Their captain, Rice, was holding their defence together and nicking balls that came within his orbit.
Theo laid off the ball, broke into their box and was found by a return pass. He spun and leathered the ball which went wide of the near post and cannoned off the stanchion. Our next attack came down the left, with Perraud's cross being cleared. As Ings tried to break he was upended by JWP. The only noise coming from Hammers' fans was groans whenever they lost the ball. I wrote in my notebook: "Saints on top. Need to score soon".
Ings then pursued a forward pass, but Baz was quicker to the ball. Sky then transmitted a newsflash "Brendan Rogers leaves Leicester." They are all doing it FFS; and before bedtime Chelsea had parted company with Potter too…
Suddenly Bowen decided to carry the ball past DCC. The ball made it, Bowen didn't. The Ref must have thought about booking him, but decided on just the free kick. Kehrer came forward to cross the ball and we lined up outside the box leaving acres of space for runners to occupy. As the kick was taken there were several claret shirts off-side but Aguerd got his head on it and planted it back past Baz's dive, bulging the net. Up went the lino's flag and the Ref signalled offside.
I've moaned about Alan Smith as a pundit but it is his droning voice and stating the bleeding obvious I object to. On matters of fact he is reliable so when he said "Aguerd was on-side" my heart sank. One glance at the photo showed the scorer was indeed onside and that not one of ours had tracked him or tried to impede him. It took the VAR Bunker 3 and a half minutes to confirm what we could all see and the delay was like torturing the condemned before execution.
Finally the ref turned, pointed to the centre spot and it was 1-0 to the Hamsters. FFS - they'd barely had a kick until a crude challenge and rubbish defending had cost us dear. Bollocks!
Perraud has a good scoring record and on 30m his low shot forced Fabianki to dive and tip it round the post. The resulting corner made its way back to the Frenchman whose next effort was blocked by a West Ham thigh.
Sadly, our pressure began to disappear as the emboldened Home side began to push us back. Emerson, who had been defending all game, suddenly was overlapping down their left with Moi dropping back to cover. The Brazilian Italian's first cross was cut out by Baz but his next would have reached Ings until Moi blocked it. Bowen's corner was headed back to him but the next was collected by Baz.
As Stu carried the ball into their half he was fouled by Rice but JWP wasted the free kick. West Ham broke quickly and, thankfully, it was right back Kehrer, furthest forward, who collected the ball. One on one with Baz he paused just long enough for Moi to get in his way so Baz could collect. A forward would have stuck that away…
Kehrer was providing width on their right and their next attack saw him get down that wing. With everyone waiting for a cross he cut the ball back for Benrahma who fired over our bar. Our attacks were getting rarer but Stu did manage a shot which they blocked. As Bowen carried the ball out he attempted to drive past DCC again. Another crude foul stopped the England man but this time the yellow card came out.
How we had just 3m added time, when the VAR delay was more than that, I do not understand. However, we were lucky not to concede again, as we could not get near the ball. First Ings was caught offside as he loped after Benrahma's pass, but West Ham quickly regained possession. Benrahma's next pass found Bowen just outside the box. The forward struck a shot which flew past Baz, but clattered back off the crossbar. TFFT! Kehrer was then swinging in another cross, but this time Baz was able to catch it. There was a brief delay while KWP needed treatment but was able to carry on after.
Half Time 1-0. We were better for 25m but failed to score. They got a goal thanks to our slack defending and dominated the rest of the half. It was a small mercy they only scored the one…
Had we another centre back (beyond Lyanco) to bring on, I would not have expected DCC to return. Ruben was risking him for another 45m: keep him away from Bowen FFS! The good news was KWP seemed perfectly OK as we could not afford to lose another defender. The other thing that cheered me was Alcaraz doing a serious warm up.
Whatever Ruben had said had fired them up and we looked more like the early part of the match as we pressed them deep in their half again. Nothing much happened to worry Fabianski and the one time Mara played a killer pass, Theo was offside. Sky put up a graphic on 52m showing we'd enjoyed 71% possession - yet, nothing to show for it…
On 54m, Saints made a double change with Charley and Kammy replacing Mara and Moi. Charley went up top and Kammy wide left and this livened us up somewhat. Kammy's first dribble saw Kehrer bring him down
West Ham's first attack after the break saw Ings and Bowen combine, with the latter firing wide on 56m. Kammy then won the ball in midfield, carried it forward, but he too shot wide. It was becoming an end to end game as the hour mark passed, but we had still not caused Fabianski enough problems.
Perraud won a corner off Soucek, but their defence cleared it. Then Stu and Romeo worked an opening down the right, which Emerson put out for another corner. This found its way to Lavia, whose low drive was saved by Fabianski's dive. Moments later the keeper was required to make another save from Charley's shot from outside the box. We were knocking at the door. Let us in FFS!!
On 65m former Saint, Antonio replaced former Saint, Ings and soon after Bowen cut into our box, but Bednarek got in the way of his strike before Moyes replaced Soucek with Downes. Benrahma won a corner off KWP, which Emerson took. His cross found Downes who put his header wide, but WHU continued to attack. Again Bowen drove into the area but again Bednarek got in the way of his shot.
On 71m Ruben made another pair of changes - AMN and Tall Paul came on for Stu and Theo. Paul went up top and AMN to his favoured role wide right.
Emerson continued to cause problems down their left but, on 74m, was stopped rather too abruptly for the Ref who booked Bednarek for the foul. The free kick was near the corner of our box and Benrahma had a shot, forcing Baz to push it past the post for a corner. Emerson again found a WHU head, but Zouma put it over the bar.
We then managed to play a bit further up the park and when KWP was fouled it gave us the opportunity to cross into their box with Tall Paul up with our centre backs. JWP played the ball down the wing where we lost it. What a waste!
We were back defending with DCC blocking a cross from the left so Baz could collect, but they quickly won the ball back and Bowen drove a low cross into our box. DCC stuck out a leg and the ball looped up over Baz. It was going in but the keeper reached up to tip it over the bar.
Yet again a West Ham head was on the end of their corner, but this time Aguerd put his effort off target and Paqueta blasted it over. Eventually we managed to get forward and JWP finally put in a cross for Tall Paul: it came back off the bar with Fabianski nowhere only for KWP to sky the rebound. Damn and Blast!!
With 2 minutes remaining Paqueta and Emerson were hooked and replaced by Fornals and Cresswell. They moved the ball forward and found Antonio in the box but again Bednarek made a telling block - corner West Ham. Three added minutes were signalled, during which West Ham mostly kept the ball in our half to run the clock down.
Yet another close game which we contrived to lose. They were not miles better than us, but in the key area of defending they were decent. Their centre backs were solid and Rice was on hand to protect them from midfield. We conceded a poor goal which lost us a point. The gap to safety widens further…
The disappointment of losing this must win game does not detract from us being largely better than West Ham. A number of our players had good games but, sadly, not the strikers - despite Fabianski being the busier keeper.
Baz had a decent game and had no chance with their goal. KWP and JWP were their reliable selves and Kammy and Alcaraz (who should have started) both influenced the game when they came on. However, one player stood out.
Romeo Lavia is a Rolls Royce of a footballer and, even at this age, often looks the best player on the pitch. He wins the ball to break up attacks then passes to team mates. Alongside JWP he will learn how to deliver the killer pass and become almost unplayable. I don't doubt he will someday grace the Champions League <
Carlos Alcaraz is another just beginning to show what he is capeable of. Shame he only came on in the second half
© itsbeautifuloutside
Yes, this site uses cookies as well. If you are happy to continue, then you can dismiss this window, by clicking the “Dismiss” button on the right. If you want to know more then click Read more