Full-time: Hapoel Beer Sheva 0-0 Southampton
That was tedious. Bye.
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90 min: There will be two minutes of stoppage time.
86 min: Ben Sahar, who’s not done much since coming on, does something. But it’s a foul and he gets a booking.
85 min: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg replaces Nathan Redmond.
82 min: Hoban, just on as a substitute for Hapoel Beer Sheva, chests a loose ball and volleys from 20 yards. Forster tips it round the post. Southampton deal with the corner.
81 min: Buzaglo sends a free-kick to the far post. It’s volleyed over by Taha.
78 min: Southampton’s first corner comes to nothing. They need more practice.
76 min: Martina pings a fine ball into the six-yard box. Southampton’s players stand and admire it. Oh, for Charlie Austin.
75 min: It’s now Sparta Prague 3-1 Inter, who are down to 10 men after Andrea Ranocchia’s red card.
72 min: Long curls a shot straight at Goresh.
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71 min: Another chance for Hapoel Beer Sheva. Yoshida’s inexplicably casual clearance runs to Nwakaeme, who pulls a poor shot wide from 20 yards. He had time and space.
70 min: Another change for the hosts, Buzaglo and his mohawk replacing Melikson.
69 min: Inter have pulled a goal back against Sparta Prague, who lead 2-1.
66 min: Out of nowhere, Hapoel Beer Sheva surge forward and create their best chance. Nwakaeme drives forward on the left and slides a pass to the right of the area, where Melikson is unmarked, no one having tracked his run. But his angled shot flashes just past the far post.
65 min: Let’s enjoy Ben Sahar.
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62 min: Vitor picks up the first booking of the evening for a foul on Tadic. Meanwhile Ben Sahar, the former Chelsea legend, replaces Maranhao.
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60 min: It’s reaching the point where we’re willing the game to end.
58 min: Martina shoots from 30 yards. He does not score.
56 min: Little is occurring.
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53 min: Southampton have been more aggressive at the start of the second half. They’re pressing high and threatening.
51 min: Ward-Prowse has Southampton’s first shot on target. Goresh pushes his firm effort away from 25 yards.
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50 min: A slow start to the second half.
47 min: The voices on the television are suggesting that Hesketh was unlucky to be taken off for tactical reasons in the first half. Yet I doubt it was less a reflection on his performance and more Claude Puel making the proactive decision to add more variety to his midfield by introducing Dusan Tadic. He can’t worry about Hesketh’s feelings.
46 min: Southampton get the second half underway.
Half-time: Hapoel Beer Sheva 0-0 Southampton
That was a poor half.
45 min+1: With Matt Targett down injured, a minor skirmish breaks out over Hapoel Beer Sheva’s reluctance to put the ball out of play, which ignores the fact that Southampton were also reluctant to kick it out.
44 min: The word is that Jake Hesketh was taken off because tactical reasons instead of an injury.
41 min: Southampton have enjoyed a decent spell of possession.
38 min: I’d like to tell you about all the exciting things that are happening.
34 min: Dusan Tadic replaces Jake Hesketh, who’s icked up an injury. - “Juventus are still good,” says Evan Haas. “They sold Pogba, but got Dani Alves for free- Milan are bad- Parma fired a bunch of managers. Now you’re all caught up. Do you podders ever listen to Jimbo when he’s talking Italy?”
That’s when I play Candy Crush.
32 min: Dusan Tadic is getting ready to come on for Southampton. I’m not sure if that’s tactical or because of an injury.
31 min: WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO MILAN!
30 min: WHAT?!?!
29 min: “Why admire Mancini in relation to Sparta 2 Inter 0?” says Nick Boyd, who might have spotted that Mancini was sacked by Inter a month ago. “Is he playing up front for Sparta or something?”
I blame the Olympics for shifting my attention away from Serie A. Milan are still good, right?
27 min: Korhut evades Martina with a lovely touch and tries to slip a cute pass through to Melikson, only for Van Dijk to deny him with a crucial saving challenge.
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25 min: Korhut has a dig from 20 yards. High and wide. But the Israelis are beginning to boss this.
24 min: In the other game in this group, it’s Sparta Prague 2-0 Inter. You’ve got to admire Roberto Mancini in Europe.
23 min: Korhut chips a clever cross into the six-yard box from the left and Maranhao is all alone in the middle. He can’t rise high enough, however, and a relieved Forster collects his tame header.
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22 min: Southampton are now mostly playing on the back foot, trying to absorb pressure and spring forward on the break. The hosts are making most of the running, though they’re finding it difficult to pick their way through.
20 min: Radi hurls the corner into the middle. Vitor can’t quite meet it.
19 min: Hapoel Beer Sheva exert some more pressure, tossing a high ball into the Southampton area, Van Dijk forced to head behind for a corner on the right.
18 min: Targett swings a cross in from the left. Long’s offside.
16 min: Nwakaeme turns niftily 25 yards from goal and unleashes a piledriver. It’s cleanly struck but straight at Forster.
15 min: It’s very noisy in the stands, less so on the pitch. A very tight start.
12 min: There’s not a great deal going on here.
9 min: Long almost peels on to a searching ball over the top, only to be denied by a lunging tackle from Taha. Up the other end, Radi’s deflected shot from 18 yards is comfortably saved by Forster.
7 min: It’s been a scrappy, fairly dirty start. Oriel Romeu raps Ogu and earns a talking to from the referee.
4 min: Ward-Prowse swings the free-kick to the far post and Van Dijk somehow heads it miles off target from three yards out. What a miss!
3 min: Ogu trips Southampton in the middle of the home side’s half. Ward-Prowse will take the free-kick.
Off we go! Hapoel Beer Sheva, in their red shirts and white shorts, get the game underway in an an intense atmosphere. Southampton are in their black away strip.
Before kick-off, a minute’s applause for the former Israeli prime minister, Shimon Peres, who passed away earlier this week.
Here come the teams. We’ll have football soon.
“In search of Eyal Berkovic,” says Matt Dony. “Has anyone asked John Hartson?”
Maybe you want to watch Match of the Day highlights from the game that followed the incident.
There are three academy players in the Southampton team tonight and another three on the bench. Not bad, eh? A marked contrast to Chelsea’s one million players out on loan.
If you’d like to educate yourself about Hapoel Beer Sheva, you should read this piece by Shaul Adar. It featured first in The Blizzard.
Eyal Berkovic, of course, was the best Israeli player to play for Southampton. Let’s enjoy him for a bit.
In search of Eyal Berkovic.
The teams!
Hapoel Beer Sheva: Goresh; Vitor, Taha, Tzedek; Bitton, Radi, Ogu, Melikson, Korhut; Maranhao, Nwakaeme. Subs: Haimov, Buzaglo, Ben Sahar, Hoban, Broun, Ohayon, Shabtai.
Southampton: Forster; Martina, Yoshida, Van Dijk, Targett; Romeu; Clasie, Hesketh, Ward-Prowse; Redmond, Long. Subs: McCarthy, Cedric, Tadic, Reed, Stephens, Hojbjerg, Olomola.
Referee: Stefan Johannesson (Sweden).
Preamble
Hello. Setting an example for so many other clubs to follow, Southampton are busily reinventing themselves again and, given everything we know about them by now, it should come as no surprise that it looks as though they are going to enjoy another productive season. Ronald Koeman left in the summer and so did Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama and Graziano Pelle, leaving holes in the dugout and on the pitch for them to fill, but the early signs are that they are not going to let those setbacks derail them.
Merciless against West Ham on Sunday, Southampton are on a four-match winning streak in all competitions and are looking to keep that run going in Israel this evening. Having mostly played in a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 system under Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino, they’ve started to use a diamond under Puel, whose tactics are bringing out the best of Charlie Austin, Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic, while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg looks like a cracking signing in midfield. Ninth in the Premier League, they’ve also quickly settled in Europe, winning their first group match handily against Sparta Prague.
Yet they are unlikely to have it all their own way against Hapoel Beer Sheva, who beat Olympiakos in Champions League qualifying before losing to Celtic. The Israeli champions, nicknamed The Camels, have won all five of their matches in their new ground – the Turner Stadium – and, get this, were victorious against Internazionale at San Siro two weeks ago. Sure, Inter aren’t what they were. But that’s still an eye-catching result for an Israeli side with little experience of European football, a warning for Southampton, who have left a few key players back in England, not to take them lightly.
Kick-off: 6pm BST.
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