FALL SAINTS
Last Saturday, Southampton conceded four goals without reply in a game where Aaron Ramsdale was also forced to make eight saves. On Tuesday night, they let in another four, while only creating one chance of note in a game where their goalkeeper performed more heroics and Cole Palmer spurned at least three chances the cold-eyed Chelsea assassin would normally dispatch in his sleep. And while Football Daily has no wish to riff, bebop and scat all over the ongoing pain of a Saints fanbase who probably had a fair idea the Premier League jig was up for their promoted side before a ball had even been shanked into the St James’ Park stands on the opening weekend, it is a measure of just how routinely awful and uncompetitive they are now that 4-0 scorelines actually flatter them. The only thing they have left to play for this season is the acquisition of three points that, notwithstanding a potentially record-breaking points deduction for Manchester City, will ensure they aren’t saddled with the ignominy of failing to overtake 2007-08’s Derby County and becoming feted for being the Premier League’s worst-ever team.
Despite not being terrible for as many as 35 minutes until Pedro Neto scored Chelsea’s second, Southampton were well and truly beaten at Stamford Bridge, the 15th time in the top flight this season they have shipped three or more goals. One suspects that even with 11 uninterrupted days in which to train before their next game, a trip to Anfield, with an unfair wind Ivan Juric’s side could finally be subjected to the record-breaking 10-goal shellacking two previous iterations of their team have narrowly avoided. While there is no shame in a team not being good enough to compete in the Premier League, at the very least fans expect to see the players try their best. Cast adrift at the bottom, the current Saints crop appear to have given up the ghost, while Tyler Dibling, the lone flower emerging from the brambles of the current shambles, is apparently no longer good enough to get into their awful side.
“It is a big lesson for all of us to create something stronger and better than this,” blathered Juric, who replaced optimism’s Russell Martin in December and arrived with a reputation for forging defensive solidity in his sides that he has carefully kept under wraps. “We have a lot of young players. They want to grow up. They are really good guys. Maybe they are playing in the Premier League for the first time. It is not easy. But I am not scared. If they work hard, we will keep going.” While Juric’s team may well do this, their ultimate destination remains unclear as they’re showing far less fight or spirit than the Luton side who got relegated from the top flight last season and are currently plotting a course for League One.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Taha Hashim at 7.30pm (all times GMT) for Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs 2-1 Manchester City, Nottingham Forest 1-1 Arsenal, and more in his Premier League clockwatch; Will Unwin will be on hand at 8.15pm for updates on Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle; and Emillia Hawkins will be all over England 1-2 Spain in the Women’s Nations League from 8pm.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
25 February, 10pm: “It’s my hometown club and I’m never going to walk away at any point. I’m under contract to the football club and if the owner wants me to stay then I’ll do everything I can, that’s all I can do” – Tranmere Rovers boss Nigel Adkins insists he is going nowhere after a 1-0 home loss to Accrington Stanley leaves the club third-bottom in League Two.
25 February, 11.26pm: “We have sadly both come to the conclusion that a change of manager will give the team the best chance of making the most of the remaining 13 games” – chief suit Mark Palios mutually consents Adkins out of the Prenton Park door marked Do One.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Tottenham Hotspur wanting to be called by their full name (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) makes me wonder what if other teams start getting into a similar trend; for example: Ballvereinborussiadortmundneunzehnhundertundneun (BVB09 Dortmund)” – Krishna Moorthy.
A humorous, if somewhat long winded, Asterix-related pun by Adrian Irving in yesterday’s letters. However, it does rely on the fallacy that away goals have ever ‘counted as double’ in European away fixtures. For example, two away goals does not really mean you have four on the scoresheet and that your opponents have to score five goals to win the match. Three would be fine. It’s a Vitalstatistix which ultimately dooms his Asterix joke” – Lee Richardson.
Thank you for the use of ‘et al’ in yesterday’s Football Daily. Being an American I’m unaccustomed to such highbrow word choice in our press, much less a sport-oriented newsletter. But in our defence, we are barbarians” – Mark Alfson.
Re: yesterday’s Football Daily: ‘Beyond wars, what story from the 20th century was bigger than the sinking of the Titanic?’ Just the development of aviation, cars, radio, television, computers and the internet, the atomic bomb, global warming, space travel and the moon landing, the spread of communism, worldwide economic depression, advancements in medicine including vaccines, the development and popularity of film, jazz, rock, and hip-hop music, and the widespread popularity of sports, including the Olympics, the World Cup, and the Premier League, to name just a couple” – Dan Davis.
The photo of George Burley in his Ipswich Town-themed motor (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition) got me wondering if said car could ever safely be driven to and parked up outside of Ipswich, let’s say on a trip to Norwich for instance? I recall my experience some years ago of foolishly parking my VW Beetle in Burnley, forgetting it was displaying a Blackburn Rovers sticker in the back window. Perhaps inevitably, when I returned I had been relieved of both the sticker and my back window” – John Myles.
Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … John Myles, who gets some Football Weekly merch. We’ll be in touch. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the podcast crew in a fresh episode of Football Weekly.
MOVING THE GOALPOSTS
In the latest edition of our sister email, Sophie Downey asks: how can women’s football hold on to its unique selling point amid rising abuse?
THE HALF-TIME HAIRDRYER (RIP)?
Given he has a bit of spare time on his hands these days, Erik ten Hag has been busy chatting to the SEG Stories podcast about pretty much everything in football apart from his Manchester United sacking. He won’t want to part with his payoff. But if we are to read between the lines on why the Dutchman couldn’t get his message across to his former club’s players, perhaps it is because they didn’t respond well to the hairdryer treatment. Ten Hag had this to say about modern-day ballers: “This generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism. Criticism really gets to them. The generation I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct with that generation. I was approached much more directly. If I would do that with my current group of players, I would demotivate them.” We’re not sure which “current group” he is referring to given he is unemployed, but it begs the question: how much more demotivated could his former Old Trafford players have looked under his charge if he’d have given them " target="_blank" class="link"> the John Sitton treatment? Though, come to think of it, maybe straight-talking Ruben Amorim has already answered that question.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Aitana Bonmatí says she “has to believe” that change will happen and that the fight of Jenni Hermoso and Spain players has not been in vain, after the conviction of Luis Rubiales for sexual assault. “I hope this case helps anyone who is going through these things,” said the Ballon d’Or winner. “I hope this will help gain respect for women’s rights.”
Arne Slot will be in the Anfield stands for the match against Newcastle after being slapped with a two-game touchline ban for his fresh and funky behaviour at the end of the Merseyside derby.
Eddie Nketiah reckons Selhurst Park as been transformed into a hedonistic nightclub after recent strong performances culminated in a 4-1 win for Crystal Palace over Aston Villa. “The mood is buzzing, the music is bouncing and everyone is happy,” whooped the striker.
Manchester United cost-cutting latest: Ruben Amorim reckons staff who are losing their jobs are “paying the price” for bobbins on‑field performance and that recruitment has to improve to address the problem. That’ll doubtlessly make them feel better.
And Thomas Tuchel has completed his England backroom staff with the appointment of Brentford head of coaching Justin Cochrane, who will continue twiddling tactics boards for the Bees as well as helping the national team.
STILL WANT MORE?
Which teams have gone longest without conceding? The Knowledge knows.
Leander Schaerlaeckens laments Christian Pulisic’s nine-episode docuseries which is most notable in that it reveals anything at all.
Djed Spence waited more than 24 months to start for Spurs but he has finally shown his worth to Ange Postecoglou, writes Ben McAleer.
And before the visit of Manchester City, David Hytner reports on the smile upon Ange’s face as his knack-crisis eases and results improve.
MEMORY LANE
29 April 1970: Arthur Rawlings, Billy, Ned and Mrs Rawlings, along with Kathleen Robertson, give their World’s End grocer’s shop a Chelsea-themed makeover before the FA Cup final replay against Leeds, which their team won 2-1.
