Ok, that concludes that. Thanks for joining us.
Here’s the match report from Paul Wilson.
Sam Allardyce speaks.
The only highlight today for us [the goal]. It was an anguishing performance. It was very disappointing. We had a blip and we nicked something we didn’t deserve. We haven’t entertained the fans at home. The lads that stepped in didn’t step up to the mark. As hard as they tried, we were not a great attacking force...we went to the last whistle. At the end of the day it was our passing that let us down. If we are going to get better we are going to need change. [On his future] One never knows in this game.
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Angry Mark Hughes speaks. Very angry Mark Hughes.
We clearly haven’t got what we deserve. I put that at the door of the referee. He’s given them a free-kick and allowed it to be taken from a false position. He’s given free-kicks when out guys haven’t been touched. To say we are aggrieved is an understatement. I thought we were magnificent today. It’s a huge game with Swansea and that will probably decide who goes down. We have done everything right apart from the last moment. I am really upset with the officials. Come Tuesday, we’ll go again.
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Nathan Redmond, man of the match speaks, and is complaining about the free-kick he conceded and led to the equaliser.
“He’s got to slow the game down, we tried to catch them on the break... It’s been taken out of our hand....It’s my first goal this season. I couldn’t care less as long as we are staying in the Premier League...the gaffer told me to try and take us forward. [Swansea is a] big game, as i said. We need to take this point, and pick up as many points as we can.”
Matters at Wembley were a little more clearcut.
So, it’s all on Southampton v Swansea on Tuesday. Three points at Goodison would have bought breathing space. Not now, and Hughes has to lift the spirits of a team denied at the death in the most demoralising way possible.
Mark Hughes had a word with Jon Moss about his timekeeping, a stern word, in fact. Meanwhile, Everton’s lap of appreciation will take place in front of an empty stadium. Perhaps they can clap each other.
Southampton did what they did last week against Bournemouth and panicked as they tried to hold on to their lead. This time, they were unlucky, but paid for their caution and some rash decisions. Yoshida’s dismissal put them on the back foot, and somehow Everton got something from a game they barely competed in for much of the game.
Full-time: Everton 1-1 Southampton
Boos from the home fans, despair for the Saints fans and a full minute after the allotted time added on. West Brom, meanwhile, are still breathing. Amazing stuff.
Goal! Everton 1-1 Southampton (Davies 90+5)
Oh my! Tom Davies’ shot took an awful deflection off Hoedt. Saints failed to clear their lines and paid the price.
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94 mins: Into the last knockings now. McCarthy flaps at the ball.
94 mins: Pandemonium mounts but Hoedt bought time in the corner.
93 mins: A great free-kick and an even better save from Alex McCarthy.
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92 mins: In the stands, the boos are beginning to coagulate into rebellion. Hoedt’s foul gives away a free-kick and Leighton Baines will hit it.
91 mins: A break in play as Cedric goes down injured gives Southampton chance to regroup.
90 mins: Klaassen takes the ball down and shoots. Illegally, says the referee. There will be four minutes of added time.
89 mins: Added time approaches.
88 mins: Southampton again smuggle the ball clear, and it’s Redmond who carries it. This time, though, Everton come forward. Klaassen is trying his best to get involved, but his team-mates’ movement is sluggish.
87 mins: Redmond is the man of this match, easily the best attacking player on show, and as the first half barely occurred, it doesn’t matter that he only came on at half-time.
85 mins: Nathan Redmond, on his own again, forces another Pickford save.
Red card (Yoshida 84)
A second yellow after a loose challenge. And Southampton will have to retreat even further back.
83 mins: Ward-Prowse takes on a free-kick. Pickford saves.
82 mins: Meanwhile, in the stands, Everton fans are asking Sam Allardyce to go forth and multiply. Hearts and minds not completely won over, then.
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81 mins: Southampton get away a Baines free-kick and Redmond is on a solo mission. This time, he takes on the shot. It flies over.
80 mins: Substitution: On comes Klaassen to one hell of a cheer, and he arrives in place of Phil Jagielka.
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79 mins: First, a Southampton corner, or a pair of them. James Ward-Prowse is taking his time over these. His second swung out of play.
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78 mins: Davy Klaassen, who cost £24m, and has not played a league game since September, is coming on.
77 mins: Schneiderlin booked for a hacking foul.
76 mins: Substitution: Off comes Austin for Shane Long, perhaps the best defensive striker in the business. They used to say that about Ade Akinbiyi, another player who had problems in front of goal.
74 mins: Redmond, showing the attacking flair that Pep Guardiola demands of him, burst through there and looked to have a sight on goal. He checked back. Saints looking wobbly all of a certain, uncertain, in fact.
72 mins: Everton on the attack. Schneiderlin on the flank centres the ball and it’s panic stations as Southampton eventually get the ball clear. There could be plenty of that to come in the remaining minutes of this game.
71 mins: So, Southampton’s creative hub has departed the scene, and is replaced by a dead-ball specialist. Looks like Mark Hughes is trying to hang on here.
70 mins: Substitution for Saints: Tadic off for James Ward-Prowse.
69 mins: Jagielka has to take evasive action as another Southampton overload on the wing looked to have Bertrand in a scoring position,
68 mins: So, the minutes tick down on West Brom’s brave attempt to escape. Ten points from a possible 12 and it won’t be enough.
66 mins: Schneiderlin gets room to play a pass through, but he also plays it too hard.
65 mins: An actual Everton attack. Niasse controls the ball, carves out space and booms in a cross. Tosun is just too short to get there.
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64 mins: Redmond was nearly in for another, but just lost the flight of the ball as it came in.
62 mins: Boos as Leighton Baines overhits a pass. This could get nasty.
61 mins: On the sidelines, Allardyce is chewing gum like a cow attacking some finest cud. Oddly, he seems less secure in his job than the man stood alongside him, Hughes. Both are adopting alpha male stances of the type favoured by those in the Conservative Party.
60 mins: So in going two up front, Big Sam has made his second tactical change in a matter of minutes. He had to do something. That lap of appreciation will be outnumbered by the taxi queue at Lime Street if this continues for Everton.
59 mins: What does it all mean? Southampton will climb to 16th and West Brom will go down if this stays the same.
57 mins: Everton substitution: Niasse comes on for Vlasic.
57 mins: Well, well. The first quality of the game and Southampton lead.
Goal! Everton 0-1 Southampton (Redmond 56)
Tadic ball out to Cedric, some quality at last and Nathan Redmond nods in on the back post. Boos from the home fans, roars of hope from the away contingent. Saints alive!
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54 mins: Tadic takes that and Tosun gets a rare touch, though had to be back on his own goal-line to get it. The set piece play has been of the same standard as the open play.
53 mins: Bertrand wins a corner and the applause of Saints fans.
52 mins: Set pieces are the key to this game and Everton have one. Baines nine-irons it into the box. Coleman couldn’t get to it, and Hoedt clears.
51 mins: TV pictures show some very bored fans. Some are reduced to cheering a Pickford hack of a clearance.
50 mins: On the pitch? No, still nothing. Sorry about that.
48 mins: Let us remember that Southampton are in the bottom three and have won just two Premier League matches in 2018. And still Sam Allardyce puts on the belt and braces.
46 mins: That’s bringing on a centre-half for an attacking player by Sam Allardyce. At half-time. OK, it’s to amend his system to match Southampton’s but such things do not win over Everton fans craving entertainment.
Half-time subs: Nathan Redmond on for Lamina for Southampton, and the utterly anonymous Bolasie has gone off for Ramiro Funes Mori.
Another game in deadlock is being played at Wembley. It must be the weather.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2018/may/05/arsenal-v-chelsea-womens-fa-cup-final-live
Hey John,
Big ups for the Flaming Lips reference! I used to see them in small clubs in the early 90’s. They were great. Haven’t listened to them much in the last 15 or so years.
This game stinks. These teams stink. As a Baggies fan it’s probably too much to ask Everton to do a goal. They stink. Did I mention that already?
-- J.R. in Illinois
A Mr HMSH emails in: “The things I do to follow this football team, usually it means staying up late at night (with work following the morning), but I’ve got pure luxury this time, I can watch the game on a small, very dated TV and I have beer, and it’s only midnight! Shame the football still isn’t great, mind.”
Good for you.
Want some red-hot Euro action and involving someone on loan from Everton? Course you do.
Paul, an Evertonian, emails in: “Staying up with Big Sam or relegation whilst retaining a modicum of entertainment..... I know where my money is.. Not in Sam’s pocket!”
What can we conclude from that? If this is to be Allardyce’s final home game in charge of Everton it appears he wants to protect that record of having only lost to Manchester City at home; that appears the very apex of his ambition. And as for Southampton, their problems this season are laid a little bare by being really not very good, and especially in attack. It would seem to rely on Tadic coming up with something.
Half-time
45 mins: And that’s it, a blessed relief. In terms of entertainment, utterly hopeless. And the boos are loud from the home fans. Everton have been, to put it politely, conservative. Southampton have had plenty of the ball but have been largely inept with it as soon as the Everton 18-yard box hoves into view.
45 mins: One minute of added time...
44 mins: Thank you to the anonymous caller who sent in a picture of their bottle of beer.
43 mins: Lamina leaves the field to come back on again. He will probably get until half-time.
41 mins: Lamina down with an injury again. Mark Hughes shows he hasn’t lost his ability to kill a ball stone dead with his chest when it flies to the sidelines. Perhaps the most entertaining moment of this drabness.
39 mins: A glint of an opening for Southampton is snuffed out by Baines cutting off Austin just as the striker was shaping for a shot.
38 mins: Tadic goes for power and hits the wall. A waste. Cedric Soares follows up with a garryowen hoof into the air. That’s about the size of this game.
38 mins: Another set-piece, this time for Saints. Long way out. What will Tadic try here?
37 mins: Leighton Baines’ ball is collected well by Alex McCarthy, who had to climb high to get to it.
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36 mins: A bit of rage from the stands as the ball doesn’t go forward quick enough for Everton. They do, though, cheer a free-kick.
33 mins: How many will stay for Everton’s “lap of appreciation” afterwards? A guess at this stage will be that Goodison will be only half-full once Wayne and his lads take the stage.
32 mins: Again, Southampton dominant in possession but unable to find a final pass. Everton meanwhile showing very little in the way of ambition.
31 mins: Bertrand is down, Lamina is also carrying a knock. Perhaps that is the source of Hughes’ latest grimace. Both carry on for now.
30 mins: Mark Hughes looking unamused, though he is not one for the smiles, really, is he?
28 mins: Better now from Saints. Tadic is finding his men with passes. A couple of hurried clearances from Everton. Romeu’s shot was deflected and Pickford could only palm clear.
26 mins: Tadic takes a free-kick short and it finds Bertrand. Another cloven-hooved overhit of the ball. Memories of Nacho Monreal on Thursday, a left-back finding space and troubling Row Z (Cars).
25 mins: Yoshida and his pink robots bang into Davies, and there is a meek claim for an Everton penalty. Not that anyone actually cares that much. Or so it appears.
23 mins: Southampton keep getting forced back in their attempts to build attacks. Neither team have much in the way of flow.
21 mins: Free-kick chance for Everton. Tosun got bundled over. Tom Davies chips in, and it comes to naught as a foul was committed as the ball was being played. At times like this it is easy to sympathise with the disaffected at Goodison.
19 mins: Oooh, close. Michael Keane makes a mistake and Austin swings his boot at the loose ball. Neat, punched save from Pickford. Better play all round.
17 mins: This is bitty stuff. Can Southampton really be trying to play for a draw? That’s one hell of a risky strategy.
15 mins: Austin got away from Everton’s defence but offside called. He was onside but perhaps the official didn’t believe Austin could get so clear without being offside. Not good for Mark Hughes’ blood pressure, such decisions.
13 mins: TV pictures there showed Wayne Rooney with his brood of sons. All, of course, clad in Evertonian blue.
12 mins: Lamina dispossessed Gueye, but he was penalised for a foul. At the other end, Tosun nods over. First attempt at goal for Everton?
10 mins: Pressure now from Southampton. Plenty of possession, moving the ball just fine but without ever looking like they can open up Everton.
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9 mins: Tadic had a chance to set up Austin but like Bertrand before, a heavy touch. Nerves there, perhaps?
7 mins: Not a lot happening on the pitch at the moment, not much urgency from Southampton. It is a mark of Allardyce teams to start slow, keep shape and then launch later on. Or, as can often happen, to stay slow and in shape.
5 mins: A reminder of how Tom Davies togs up when out on the town.
Currently marvelling at Tom Davies' hair, and the physics behind it. pic.twitter.com/ni6AdXDN69
— Keith Ó Gealbháin (@KeithGalvin) May 1, 2018
4 mins: Ryan Bertrand, one of those players who will surely be playing Premier League football next season whatever happens, booms a cross a little too high. He had time and space, too.
3 mins: Goodison not exactly brimming with end of season fervour, though Tom Davies’ shot, just wide of the post, lifts the noise level up a tad.
2 mins: Southampton start with some early pressure. Everton begin with a couple of long balls, as is their manager’s wont.
1 min: Referee Jon Moss, from the Church of the Poisoned Mind, gets the game underway.
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Wayne Rooney, it seems, injured his knee in training yesterday, which sounds a little ominous. Everton wait on a scan, which may not be good news for those who would want him gone from the club.
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The sound of Z Cars’ theme tune means that we are away at Goodison Park. They also play it at Watford’s Vicarage Road, though for reasons I am not aware of. Z Cars was based in Merseyside.
Sam Allardyce speaks: “It’s the last home game, full house, all sold out and we’ll try to keep the home record up. Our problem is the injuries. It’s left us a little light on the front end. The situation is we have to contain Southampton. We want to be the first to score. That puts them under more pressure. It’s a little different than a normal game. They have a different system to us and we’ll have to see how it pans out.”
Mark Hughes speaks: “It’s a huge game. We’ve put ourselves in a position where we have got a fighting chance. We just have to get on with our own business, and affect our own future. Everton are a team in decent form and it’s not going to to be easy.”
What does relegation feel like? Ask Paul Lambert.
Also in this tea-time slot is the Women’s FA Cup final from Wembley. Join Scott Murray for that.
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It was Jake Livermore with that fateful goal and it’s full-time and three points for West Brom at the Hawthorns. It might not be enough for the Baggies, but that’s serious pressure on Southampton.
And West Brom have scored. They are still alive! That means Saints have to win to terminate Darren Moore’s Red Adair act.
Mark Hughes, meanwhile, has stayed with the Southampton team that beat Bournemouth last week. Charlie Austin over Shane Long it is. After all, Saints need to score.
And on the bench, it’s the rarely spotted Davy Klaassen, he who could have joined Napoli in January but decided to stay.
The news there is no Wayne Rooney or Theo Walcott for Everton. Both are out with injury. Yannick Bolasie and Tom Davies come in for the former stars of the future.
Here’s the teams
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Jagielka, Keane, Baines, Gueye, Schneiderlin, Vlasic, Davies, Bolasie, Tosun.
Subs: Martina, Niasse, Klaassen, Funes Mori, Robles, Kenny, Baningime.
Southampton: McCarthy, Bednarek, Yoshida, Hoedt, Cedric, Romeu, Lemina, Bertrand, Tadic, Austin, Hojbjerg.
Subs: Stephens, Long, Ward-Prowse, Gabbiadini, Redmond, McQueen, Forster.
Referee: Jonathan Moss (County Durham)
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As it stands, results are pretty going Southampton’s way, with West Brom being held by Spurs and Swansea losing at Bournemouth. West Ham winning at Leicester is not so good news, but with Saints still to play Swans matters are their hands, to coin the relegation cliche.
Anyway, Rob Smyth is on clockwatch duty.
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Preamble
With Stoke going down, Mark Hughes has one hand on a disastrous entry on his CV. Should he be unable to arrest Southampton’s sink to the Championship, he would become the first manager to manage two relegated teams in one Premier League season. It had been done before in the sepia, pre-1992 football age, and twice. Ron Saunders suffered it with Birmingham City in 1985-6 and Billy McNeill followed up the next year with Manchester City and Aston Villa. So, a select band to join/avoid.
Of course, Hughes and Saints fans may be heartened by news from elsewhere with both Swansea and West Brom skirting the trapdoor and playing earlier. But should Saints need to get a win to add to their scratchy, nervous defeat of Bournemouth last week, then they have Sam Allardyce in their way. Hughes has been notably complimentary to Big Sam this week, since Big Sam on a trolling mission is someone to be avoided. Just ask those Everton fans who his every media appearance appears to be delivered with a smirk. “It’s an entertainment game, you’re trying to capture hearts and minds, and certainly I think, particularly from a home point of view, we’ve achieved that,” he said this week. A sizeable group of Evertonians disagree, though as ever, Sam points to the figures - 14 points from seven games. He’s never been relegated from the Premier League, either. Mark Hughes would love to be able to say the same.
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