Saints 1 Manchester United 2

It's a pity Markus Liebherr was not around to see the game yesterday. Saints gave an excellent account of themselves and were the dominant side for 70 minutes. They were not over-awed but stuck to their game plan and it worked. It was I guess inevitable that the fire-power and never-say-die mental toughness of one of the world's top teams would prevail.

For me, the man of the match was Morgan Schneiderlin who orchestrated the mid-field with a maturity beyond his years and in a style reminiscent of Paul Scholes whom he was playing opposite - quite a tribute. There were 4000 empty seats! Perhaps the Saints hierarchy will ask themselves why and see that it was their ticketing policy that led directly to the lack of a full house.

Potentially there could have been a huge gulf in class. Between the teams there wasn't. Several Man U players did not acquit themselves well and showed poorly: Evans, Gibson, O'Shea and Anderson among them. Obertan will come good - watch his progress. For me, the only gulf in class was between the sheer professionalism and hard work of Michael Owen and the playground baby antics of Nani. Owen as a striker expects to come up against a degree of physical resistance. He's not the biggest on the pitch, but after each battering he picked himself up and got on with the game. Nani on the other hand is more concerned with looking cool and dancing than playing for the team and getting stuck in. Somebody needs to tell him football is a contact sport and he cannot continue to feign life-threatening injury every time he gets tackled. Perhaps he should have done ballet instead.

Well done Saints - proud to be one of your supporters. Now we can concentrate on the League - second place would suit me fine!

COYR

I should feel better than I do

The last week has been a difficult week for Southampton Football Club. I have resisted blogging about every game - I am still a Season Ticket holder - but this week's events demand a comment.

A week ago we beat Bristol Rovers emphatically 0-4. Apparently Saints dominated the entire game and could have scored more. On Monday at 08:21, a Press Release was circulated stating that the Manager, Alan Pardew and virtually all of the coaching staff had been sacked for failing to meet the targets set. Whilst there had been much speculation for some months that this was on the cards, the reality of it actually happening was a hammer-blow.

On Tuesday night, Saints began defence of the Johnston's Paints Trophy and lost 0-2 at home to Swindon Town. Hopeful that the defeat had allowed all reaction to Pardew's departure to be expressed, the faithful turned up again at St Mary's yesterday hopeful of a good result against lowly Rochdale. It was not so much the fact that Saints lost again by a 0-2 margin, it was more the manner of the defeat, some inconsistent refereeing and a shockingly poor Saints performance that rubbed salt into the wounds of Liebherr's untimely death and Pardew's brutal sacking.

Saints best player was the just 17 year-old Alex Chamberlain. He has skill, speed, strength and a desire to score that was lacking in his colleagues (except perhaps for Schneiderlin - the next youngest). Why then was he substituted? I have never been a fan of Jason Puncheon, but his performance yesterday was woefully poor - yet he stayed on for the whole 90 minutes. Jose Fonte was out-muscled for much of the game by Rochdale's hulking forward and it was a spat with him that allowed the second goal to be scored - an extremely well-taken shot.

I left with 10 minutes to go - I couldn't bear to watch. It was like seeing a maimed animal staggering around that should have been put out out of its misery. I was half-way up The Avenue when the final whistle went and the boos resounded from the radio commentary. A sad day.

Rumour has it that a new, high profile, Manager will be announced soon. Let's hope we can regain some stability, some notion of where we are trying to go and a freedom from 'targets' so that we can once again enjoy supporting our team.

COYR

Markus Liebherr 1948 - 2010

It was announced on Wednesday that Markus Liebherr, Southampton's owner, had died at the age of 63.

No death is timely. This is without doubt a cruel blow. His family will be shocked and saddened at his passing. The Southampton Football Club family is also saddened and shocked. There are many hundreds of tributes that have been placed outside St Mary's Stadium and a book of condolence had has been opened.

It is a cruel twist in the story of Saints rescue from Administration. There are lots of questions about what the future holds for the club. There seems to be a Trust Fund in place to cope with just such an eventuality and his daughter Katharina who now assumes the mantle of his business interests says she wants to perpetuate the direction Markus was pursuing. Another sign of this man and his family's generosity.

Markus Liebherr was not just a sugar-daddy. He was a true fan of the club and that shone through in his infectious smile. The pride on his face was evident when Saints won the Johnstone's Paints Trophy. Southampton Football Club, the city and the fans owe a great deal to Markus Liebherr. Let us all ensure his legacy is a lasting one so that his name and memory will live on.

Sad days.

Saints 3 Southend United 1

On a bitterly cold and damp Saturday afternoon the season ended with Saints on 73 points secure in 7th place. It might all have been very different!

It was at one stage possible that the club would go into liquidation. Had we been taken over by a consortium bidding at the upper end of their budget, no money for development would have been available. The assets such as the training ground and the farm may have been sold off.

As it is, we finish with a points tally that in any other season would have given us a place in the play-offs - never mind the 10 points we were docked! The training facility at Staplewood is receiving a major redevelopment, the squad is strong, we have an excellent Manager and the team running the business know what they are doing and have the resources to back it up. As I said it could all look very different to the reality we now face.

The game was even in the first half. Southend play good football on the ground with good moving and passing. Aaron Martin was handed his second consecutive start in central defence alongside Jaidi and both looked assured and were pretty efficient at cutting out any attacks. As a team, we sometimes still become mesmerised when players are dribbling towards the penalty area - we back off and back off and fail to make a challenge thereby inviting a shot on goal. Same again yesterday as Moussa scored a good goal.

As is usually the case, conceding galvanises the team into making a response and Rickie Lambert took his tally for the season to 36 just 3 minutes later. He then scored again from the penalty spot - although Lallana wanted to take it to give him a tally of 20 for the season. He needn't have worried as he scored in the 91st minute by waltzing through the Southend defence.

There were repeated notices on the big screens and over the PA telling fans not to invade the pitch afterwards, otherwise the players wouldn't come out for a lap of appreciation. This was repeated ad-nauseam which really raised the fans ire - with due provocation. There were so many police and stewards around the perimeter of the pitch by the end. that it would have been virtually impossible to invade in any case.

A good end to a very good season.

Thank you Markus Liebherr, Nicola Cortese, Alan Pardew and the rest of the Saints team - on and off the pitch. A great effort.

Looking forward to next season already. Apparently we have signed Calderon from Brighton so it seems the commitment to build and develop is being manifested in real terms. Onward and upward.

COYR

Gillingham 2 Saints 1

By all accounts we were caught by the pace and power of a desperate team playing five strikers and running the game at 100 mph. Gillingham have a very strong home record and have already beaten most of the top sides in the division. It was of little surprise that Saints lost knowing there was nothing but pride to play for. A couple of changes in the side allowed a different formation to be tried and I'm sure Pardew found it a valuable lesson.

It was a dogged performance from Saints who only managed 42% of the possession and in the pouring rain struggled to match Gillingham's work-rate. Connelly managed to pull one back for Saints but it was not enough and Saints suffered a rare defeat.

Well done guys and well done Saints fans with a total gate of 9,504 which included 2,176 Saints fans - more than 20%!

COYR

Saints 3 Carlisle United 2

The dream has gone!

This was a much better Saints performance than Tuesday night - once we got going. Carlisle were a different side from the one we beat at Wembley. They defended strongly, showed imagination and guile going forward and were up for it. Full credit to them in a game that largely meant nothing in terms of league position - but meant everything in terms of pride. Well done to the away fans - all 411 of them. A long way to come.

Our first goal came a minute or so before half-time. It was odd as the cross went in was headed on and then out of nowhere was lashed into the back of the net. I hadn't seen Antonio, he was obscured behind a clump of players. Literally a minute later we gave away a needless free kick. When you have someone of the calibre of Ian Harte in your team, it is always risky to give away free-kicks on the edge of the area. He struck it brilliantly and at half time it was 1-1.

In the 46th minute, Rickie Lambert slotted home from a narrow angle and 10 minutes later Antonio got his second. There followed a series of substitutions that saw McNish make his league début. Then the comedy five minutes.  Fonte, under pressure, flipped a looping back-pass to Davis who had to struggle to reach it. It was going to go in so he had to catch it high off the ground. An instant free-kick on the six yard line for Carlisle. Only Davis wisely sought to delay the taking of the free-kick and fell on the gathered ball. The Carlisle striker Price, tried to wrestle Davis and kneed him in the ribs. A general scuffle ensued. Davis was booked and Price - sporting a trendy birds nest of hair, got off scot-free! The resulting free kick was a farce with 11 Saints players on the line and the entire Carlisle team more or less over the ball. The ball eventually cannoned into the wall and all was well. Carlisle scored a consolation goal three minutes into injury time. Final result 3-2.

On a day when we needed Huddersfield to lose they won 0-6 away at Stockport. End of the dream. Colchester drew and that enabled Saints to rise to 7th place. A tremendous effort given where we were in September. If the last 75% of the season determined the table, this is what it would like - bear in mind Saints had a -10 points starting position:

Norwich 79
Saints 71
Millwall 71
Swindon 64
Huddersfield 62
Leeds 57
Charlton 55
Colchester 51

Well done Alan Pardew and the whole management team - and especially the players. Let the pre-season preparations begin here and now. Let's win this league next season!

COYR

Saints 0 Oldham Athletic 0

The dream has gone. A frustrating evening game which saw a battling and committed Saints denied victory by a dogged Oldham side who played for the draw from the outset and a Referee who was several leagues above his competence level.

With Wotton in for Spiderman, the mid-field was never going to set the game on fire - especially with Oldham playing five across the middle. Wotton is a capable enough stopper but his distribution is always suspect and last night particularly so. Puncheon kept him company on this occasion. Barnard, Lambert and Lallana kept running for as long as they were on the park. Lloyd James was introduced at half time but withdrawn 25 minutes later after a wonderful impersonation of a head-less chicken!

The crowd was disappointing (18,366) given the importance of the game, but the fans were deafeningly loud for most of the game - spurred on by the inept and inadequate Referee Mr Wright who proved on the night to be more a Mr Wrong. The stats show what a spoiling game Oldham played:

There are some aspects of the Saints game that need to change:

• Hurried and wasted free kicks
• Short corners that come to nothing
• Corners and crosses that are gently lofted to give the keeper catching practice rather than allow a glancing header on target.

Our defence is looking very good - I was at last impressed with Otsemobor. The mid-field lacked fluidity and class without Spiderman. Well done Saints for the effort - disappointing result. Appalling Referee.

It is now virtually inconceivable that we will make the play-offs. That will allow Pardew to plan a pre-season programme that will set us well for the next season. It will be difficult coping with the clubs coming down from the Championship, but we must battle and be there or there-abouts for the entire season if our dream of promotion is to be realised.

Enjoy the remaining three games. have a well-deserved rest and win the division next season.

COYR

Yeovil Town 0 Saints 1

What a nail-biter this was! A difficult away game with hostile home fans and a poor playing surface meant that the home side were favourites to win. This was a dogged performance and although Saints dominated the first half-an-hour, they were not able to score.

Clearly the tension and high level of expectation were ever-present with the players - a projection from the fans. Mid-way through the second half, Spiderman hit out at a Yeovil player and was given a straight red card. On one level it's good that the youngster has such passion and cares so much, but on another he needs to learn lessons from these occasions as he will be missing for the next three critical games.

In the third minute of injury time Lee Barnard headed home the only goal of the game. What a marvellous result. Well done Saints. With Colchester losing and Saints still having a game in hand over them and Huddersfield, the dream is still alive. It continues tomorrow evening at St Mary's - bring on Oldham Athletic.

COYR

Bristol Rovers 1 Saints 5

Well, it was a tense affair watching the BBC live text - at least for the first half. Having seen the goals on TV since, I can think 'what's the problem?'. Rovers scored first - a soft penalty really, but well put away. Then Rickie Lambert got into his stride and banged in two in quick succession just before the break. The second half saw Spiderman score a contender for goal of the season and this was followed by two more from Lallana and Puncheon. Job done.

It was encouraging to see that nearly 25% of the fans were Saints fans - well done everyone. The victory was brilliant but the edge was taken off the evening by two late goals from Huddersfield Town against Walsall. If Walsall had managed to hang on to their lead, the prospect of the play-offs would be closer to be being realised. Let's hope we can win again on Saturday at Yeovil.

COYR

Saints 1 Charlton Athletic 0

It was a lovely warm and sunny spring day in Southampton yesterday where over 23,000 fans watched a tense and entertaining display from a rugged Saints against top-class opposition. Charlton are virtually guaranteed a play-off place, we need to win every game and rely on Huddersfield and Colchester slipping up to allow us into the pay-off's.

Charlton were well disciplined and organised. They had a strong physical presence which a Saints team of old would have been crushed by - but not this current squad. At then end, Charlton were playing with three strikers who were extremely physical and bruising. Overall, Saints had 56% of possession and made it tell. One or two players were still in 'let's pass the ball to the opposition' mode and Puncheon was challenged by playing in a new role playing through the middle up front just behind Rickie Lambert. The two centre backs, Fonte and Seaborne were immense and for the first time seemed to gel as a pair. Harding was his usual 100% reliable and Lallana's endless running gave Charlton plenty of headaches.

For me the enjoyability of the games was spoilt by Mr Hegley the referee. He blew his whistle like at tin-pot dictator for a thousand minor offences whilst allowing much bigger crimes to go completely unpunished. The game was never allowed to flow and when 23,000 with one voice tell the ref "you don't know what you're doing" - well they can't all be mistaken can they? The number of clear handballs was well into double figures - but he gave none of them. We were lucky to escape one mad passage of play when the ball pinged abound like a pin-ball and twice struck a Saints arm - neither were given as penalties for Charlton. It is also clear that League One teams have watched each other and learned how to minimise Rickie Lambert's threat in the air from the long ball. They position one player in front and another behind and they jump towards each other squeezing out Rickie. Time after time, game after game this tactic is employed. At best it's obstruction, at worst sometimes it's violent conduct, but if the whistle blows it's always for the defending side.

Saints scored on 34 minutes - ironically as I was berating the ref for not giving a foul on Rickie Lambert. The ball squirted free to Puncheon who passed sideways to Antonio who dribbled around two players and rifled home his shot. A good goal, well taken.

Charlton caused Saints lots of headaches in the second half, but the defence stayed firm and Kelvin Davis made some excellent saves when it was breached. Charlton would have felt they deserved more from the game, but that's the second time we've beaten them this season and our march upwards continues.

Tuesday night sees a very difficult game against high flying Bristol Rovers - another must win game.

COYR

Saints 2 Leyton Orient 1

It seems that Saints are falling into a pattern of not waking up until about 15 minutes into the game! Again we succumbed to a sucker punch with Orient scoring in the second minute which was possibly their only serious attack of the first half. Today Southampton had 11 players on the pitch - nothing strange in that, except today they were 11 individuals and they did not play as a team. They made extremely hard work of playing a game of football against opposition that didn't look a threat and who struggled to challenge for victory.

Lee Barnard was excellent with his energy, running and willingness to defend from the front. Rickie Lambert looked a bit off colour - but not as off colour as Jon Otsemobor and Morgan Schneiderlin! These two repeatedly gave the ball away to the opposition when they were in possession. Jaidi went off injured in the fourth minute and Seaborne his replacement seemed to unsettle the usually solid Jose Fonte, his partner.

Saints first goal came towards the end of the second half and it was a piece of individual skill from Adam Lallana who ran the ball across the edge of the penalty area from left to right and then shaped his body to curl a shot into the top right-hand corner. Class. His second goal came mid-way through the second half and I'm not sure what happened - too far away in a penalty area filled with bodies, I think it was a header. Orient lost Jonathan Téhoué as he was stretchered off with a hamstring injury.

We are now closing on the pack above. If we our game in hand, we are only 5 points off the play-offs!

COYR

Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Saints 2

It depends on which account of the game you read as to how well Saints played. I guess it's all too easy to lose concentration after the grandeur of Wembley and a Cup Final, but those privileges are only earned if you are able to keep focussed on the day job. The Brighton pitch is not the best and this may have again contributed to a poor Saints performance. Brighton have always a bogey team and it was good that we did not lose.

One point is better than no points, but three would have been ideal - even necessary if we are going to maintain a serious attempt to get into the play-off places. On Monday we entertain Leyton Orient - every game is now a must win game. with more home than away games, it is a tantalising possibility.

COYR

JPT Final Carlisle United 1 Saints 4

Dean Hammond and Kelvin Davis lifting the Johnstone's Paints Trophy earlier this afternoon at Wembley! Well done Southampton - it is great to have won something - it's been a grim 5 years before this season.

Pyrotechnics as the teams were presented

An occasion for all ages to celebrate.

The beautiful game.

Impressive architecture - this was my first visit to the 'new' Wembley.

Everyone was up for it - a true red and white army!

It was a great day out - not just because we won. There were 45,000 Saints fans in the stadium and 30,000 Carlisle fans - we didn't hear much from them.

It was very much a workman-like performance from Saints - nothing flash, they were there to do a job and they did it. Next Saturday and it's back to the grind with an away match at Brighton. If Saints win all remaining games and teams above us slip up, there is a chance we will make it to the play-offs. In which case, it will be back to Wembley.

Well done Southampton Football Club. Grateful thanks to Markus Leibherr, Nicola Cortese and Alan Pardew.

COYR

Saints 3 Hartlepool United 2

It wasn't only the weather that made it hard going for Saints tonight! The inclusion of Papa Waigo for the absent Lallana (injured?) saw Saints in a new formation with Papa 'in the hole' behind Lambert and Barnard. It didn't work. Saints were out of shape and no-one seemed to know what they were meant to do. Once we went back to 4-4-2 it all began to fall into place - except for Hartlepool taking the lead! Jason Puncheon had a terrible game and seemed intent on only passing to people in blue!

In the second half Schneiderlin was taken off - I hope only as a precaution, and replaced by Wotton. At that point Saints lost control of the mid-field and with that the game. We went 3-1 up but Austin scored with a well-placed shot from 30 yards to bring it back to 3-2 - a great goal.

Hartlepool were supported by about 100 travelling fans - well done them.

Everyone was a little pre-occupied with Sunday. See you at Wembley?

COYR

We're on our way to Wembley!

My tickets finally arrived yesterday - a whole 7 days before the game! Amazing.

Looking forward to tonight's warm-up against Hartlepool United and then it's all eyes on Wembley.

COYR

MK Dons 0 Saints 3

Here we go again - this courtesy of a Rickie Lambert hat-trick. It really demonstrates the only part of our performance that is lacking is consistency. This was a useful win as it cements us in 10th place in the table, 13 points off the play-offs. That is still a very hard ask. With 30 points up for grabs it will be hard - but not impossible.

Next week we play Hartlepool at home on Tuesday which should be an easy victory - but they are the ones that cause us difficulty! Then next Sunday we are off to Wembley to play Carlisle in the final of the Johnstone's Paints Trophy.

COYR

Saints 0 Swindon Town 1

Well done Swindon! They had obviously done their homework, they were energetic, harried us from the start and deserved their win. Saints were lethargic, clueless and for most of the match operated in headless-chicken mode. It will be interesting to see the pass completion stats as most Saints passes went to the opposition.

During the warm up, Swindon looked more like a youth team. During the match Saints looked like a group of jaded geriatrics - perhaps we have played too many games of late. With a crowd of just under 21000, the 2000 away fans certainly made themselves heard.

Well done Swindon Town,

COYR

Saints 1 Leeds United 0

COYR

Yesterday I  had the pleasure of witnessing the most complete Saints performance for some years. It was always going to be a tough game and with Beckford and Becchio up front for Leeds it was always going to be difficult - more so than recent games at Norwich or at home to Huddersfield.

Saints dominated the first half and despite many good attempts, including Puncheon hitting the post, Saints only managed one goal. It was a hard-fought contest with the poorest refereeing performance I think I have ever seen. No wonder he is now in the third tier when he used to be a Premier League regular! Poor.

Southampton defended from the front and Lee Barnard was particularly effective in chasing everything down. The midfield four were resolute in cutting out any advances Leeds attempted to make and on the odd occasion when they did penetrate, the centre-backs were immense with Jose Fonte my man of the match.

In the second half Leeds were more effective but fortunately could not beat Kelvin Davis who probably only had one save to make all game. Not only did Southampton score the only goal, but they defended their lead for 3/4 of the game and never really looked like surrendinering it - unlike the old days, or even earlier this season.

It is a hard ask to imagine Saints will make the play-off places, but if they do, I'm certain it will be Championship football next season with Leeds and Norwich.

The win was so exhilarating that I am still riding on the adrenaline rush it gave me yesterday! A brilliant feeling. These are good times to be a Saints supporter.

COYR

Tranmere Rovers 2 Saints 1

Well, it had to come to an end sometime! After a fine run we lost. Beaten more by the pitch and Referee - and of course our own inability to score more goals than the opposition. It would have been good to have won yesterday as many of the teams above us stumbled. It now seems like it will take a miracle for us to reach the play-off places.

Saints 5 Huddersfield Town 0

Having beaten Walsall 5-1 three days earlier, I was more than a little anxious that we had spent our goal-scoring capital and the coffers would be empty. Huddersfield are going strong and it should have been a hard game. However, Southampton came out the blocks with all guns firing and never took their collective finger off the trigger. Huddersfield were not able to get into their stride and were completely overwhelmed.

Saints looked like a team from a higher division and were completely dominant. The back four were solid and Jose Fonte never looked like letting anything past. The midfield controlled the game breaking up Huddersfield attacks and then creatively distributing the ball to allow a counter-attack to be launched. It was heartening too to see five different scorers which underlines that the whole side is a threat in front of goal.

It was a great atmosphere - if but a little chilly with a freezing breeze flowing in from the sea.

Dare we dream of a place in the play-offs? The goals can be found here for UK viewers.

COYR