It was another bad day at the office for Everton - here’s Ben Fisher’s match report from St Mary’s:
Full-time: Southampton 4-1 Everton
That’s nine goals conceded in four days for Everton. They remain in 16th, just two points above the relegation zone. Dark days indeed. They were toothless in attack, shoddy at the back and unable to keep hold of the ball in midfield. In contrast, Southampton were superior in every department. Pellegrino got the balance right today and found the answer to his team’s lack of goals - width and Charlie Austin. At least five players could have argued they were man of the match. They face City away next so they’ll need to carry that form up to the Etihad. As for Everton, they need a permanent manager to give them some hope – and shape before they sink any lower. Thanks for your emails. Bye.
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90+3 min: Ward-Prowse gets another cross in. It’s cleared. Everton just want the whistle. Give them the whistle!
90+2 min: Saints corner. Ward-Prowse whips in an outswinger but it is cleared and Hoedt absolutely wallops a shot from 30 yards into another stratosphere.
90 min: There will be four more minutes for David Unsworth to stoically try not to look like he’s in pain on the sidelines.
89 min: Gary Naylor’s Everton match ratings are in.
Everton Player Ratings: Pickford 0, Kenny 0, Jagielka 0, Keane 0, Baines 0, Gueye 0, Schneiderlin 0, Lennon 0, Sigurdsson 0, Mirallas 0, Calvert-Lewin 0. Subs: Williams 0, Vlasic 0, Lookman 0. Maybe a bit generous to Keane @GreggBakowski
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) November 26, 2017
Bit harsh on Sigurdsson Gary.
Goal! Southampton 4-1 Everton (Davis 87)
The captain gets on the scoresheet now. Delight for Saints. Misery for Everton. Ward Prowse shapes to shoot and then pulls the ball back to Davis, who is hovering on the edge of the box. The ball bobbles. It’s not easy to control but he gets it out of his feet and curls a right-footed shot into the far corner. This scoreline does not flatter Southampton.
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86 min: Boufal is replaced by Yoshida. What a great game he has had. Saints have been better in every position today.
85 min: Sigurdsson lashes a shot over after a smart turn midway inside Everton’s half. He’s been their best player - and not just because of his goal. He’s looked to be positive whenever he has been in possession. Others in blue have looked scared.
83 min: He’s not hanging around. Long shrugs off Jagielka on the left and bends his run in on goal before trying to curl a right-footed shot past Pickford from 15 yards out, but the keeper stretches out his left arm to tip the ball around the post for a corner. A decent effort is matched by a decent save. The corner is cleared.
81 min: Austin is given a standing ovation as he is replaced by Shane Long. If ever there was a game I’d back Long to score in, it’s this one. You have 10 minutes Shane … go.
79 min: Saints are pressing Everton with the kind of intensity Unsworth should expect of his players. They harass the Everton midfield into giving up possession and build once more in what has been a far more relaxed afternoon than they could ever have anticipated before kick-off.
78 min: Tadic, who has been a constant creative menace, is off and Lemina is on.
76 min: Vlasic goes on a positive run to the edge of the Saints area before shifting inside and playing a ball out to the right, where there isn’t an Everton player within 20 yards of it. I can only assume he imagined someone wearing royal blue in his peripheral vision.
74 min: Keane has picked up a knock and hobbles off. His torrid afternoon is over. Vlasic, an attacking midfielder, is going to replace him as Everton try to chase the game. That means Rooney will be ignored. His romantic Everton reunion is not quite going to plan. Lennon shifts back to right-back in a flat back four. Yikes!
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71 min: Austin appears to have recovered from whatever it was that was bothering him. Meanwhile, Lookman goes on a pacy run up the left flank, twisting inside and out before being halted by Cedric, who dutifully keeps his eyes on the ball and recovers possession in his own area.
69 min: Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé! Southampton fans are enjoying this. Everton can’t get close to the ball. The worst thing about their performance is the lack of energy when trying to win it back.
67 min: Austin is limping somewhat. Gabbiadini is warming up. Hopefully it’s a knock and not anything more serious. He’s had little luck with injuries in his career.
65 min: It’s been refreshing to watch a Premier League game that has involved proper wing play and wide men getting to the byline and swinging in old-school crosses like latterday Tom Finneys. This time Van Dijk pounces on a loose pass from Calvert-Lewin and plays Cedric in down the right flank but Williams slides across like a huge skip on ice to cut out the danger.
63 min: Lookman is on for Mirallas, who has done naff all for Everton this afternoon. He’s not alone, mind.
61 min: Saints continue to maraud forward on the left where they have had such joy. Over on the touchline. Joe Royle has his arm around a distraught-looking David Unsworth and is whispering some advice into his ear.
Goal! Southampton 2-1 Everton (Austin 59)
He’s done it again! Everton’s defenders stand around looking at each other as Tadic sprints on to a pass down the left flank. He has all the time in the world to look up and deliver a beautiful inswinging cross to the recalled centre-forward who gets between Williams and Keane before powering a header past Pickford into the far corner.
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55 min: The Saints fans are in full voice and should be pleased with the way Pellegrino has set his team up today. Yes, they have dominated possession, but he has encouraged Bertrand and Cedric to get forward at every opportunity and their adventure has pulled Everton out of shape on numerous occasions.
Goal! Southampton 2-1 Everton (Austin 52)
He’s back in the goals on his first Premier League start of the season. Boufal, who has been excellent, scoops a ball over his marker for Bertrand to run on to down the left flank. The full-back connects on the half-volley and pings the ball at the near-post, where Austin rises in front of Keane to glance a powerful header off the bar and down behind Pickford, who could do nothing. A deserved lead.
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49 min: Ward Prowse drills a low ball at thenear post that Austin can do very little with such is the pace of the cross. Everton clear and then give the ball away cheaply. Tadic slams a shot at goal that Jagielka blocks. Saints players think it was handball but Kevin Friend adjudges it to have come off the defender’s chest – and a replay backs his decision.
48 min: Boufal is a proper box of tricks. He combines well with Bertrand and then dances around Gueye before being dragged back. Free-kick on the left just outside the penalty area. Van Dijk ambles into the box. Ward-Prowse to take …
46 min: Saints have begun the second half bossing the ball as they did in the first. A patient move eventually leads to Bertrand bursting to the byline and dinking a cross to the back post, but it’s adjudged to have gone out of play before he connected with it.
It's the second half!
45 min: Everton get the second half under way. No changes as far as I can see. Southampton had 70% possession in the first half and 314 passes to Everton’s 104 but it’s 1-1 thanks to Sigurdsson’s ridiculously good first Premier League goal of the season.
Half-time email
“Don’t Stop Believin’” brings back even better memories for me,” writes JR in Illinois. “Two years before it was used for the final scene of the Sopranos it was adopted by the 2005 Chicago White Sox as they rampaged through the playoffs on their way to their first World Series title in 87 years. The shock of what the Sox did that year wasn’t quite on the order of Leicester’s title winning season but it wasn’t far off. (Also, I would like to apply for the most pedantic correction in MBM history with the following: there is no ‘g’ at the end of the word “Believing” in the song title).” That’s me told.
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Half-time: Southampton 1-1 Everton
Football eh? Back in a bit.
47 min: That was almost an affront to the run of play but will completely change the half-time team talks. Saints will hardly believe they’ve gone in at half-time level after dominating like they did.
Goal! Southampton 1-1 Everton (Sigurdsson 45 min)
What a goal! From absolutely nowhere! For possibly the first time in 10 minutes, Everton string a few passes together on the right. Sigurdsson picks up possession 25 yards from goal on the right of the D, and turns inside on to his right foot before whipping a magnificent shot over Forster and against the bar and far post. The ball bounces up and dances off the line before hitting the bar again and going in off the near post. Incredible strike and aesthetically improved by the four wonderful rebounds off the goal-frame.
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43 min: Great timing here. Michael Keane blooters the ball out of play under very little pressure. Meanwhile, Van Dijk is moving rather gingerly. He’s had Calvert-Lewin in his pocket all game so Saints could do without losing him.
42 min: “Michael Keane is absolutely hopeless!” Gary Naylor is not mincing his words. “How did Burnley get over £25M for a player with such desperate game intelligence? He’s not the only one short of confidence, but he’s playing worse than just about any regular starter in the Premier League.”
40 min: Ward-Prose whips it in and Austin attacks it at the near-post only to see his header deflect off a defender and out for another corner. The second delivery is deeper and Van Dijk leaps highest and tries to tries to find the far corner but he glances it when he needed to get a meatier connection. Southampton are so superior they should have more than a 1-0 lead.
39 min: Southampton win a corner after some lovely triangular passing between Ward-Prowse and Tadic on the left. Ward-Prowse to take it …
36 min: Ward-Prowse is sent scuttling up the right wing. He looks up, and tries to find Austin with a lofted cross that slams into Keane’s right elbow in the penalty area. “HANDBALL!” scream Saints fans but Kevin friend is having none of it. It would have been harsh had that been given as a penalty but I have seen them awarded. It wouldn’t have been a Corry Evans travesty. Keane could still do little to get out of the way, though.
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33 min: Schneiderlin tries to find Sigurdsson on the left but his pass is overhit and as it drifts out of play the Saints fans greet it with a throaty roar of amusement. Moments later Boufal buys a yars with a lightning fast shift to his right and curls an inswinger towards Ward-Prowse that is just a few inches too high.
32 min: Sigurdsson swings it in but Forster leaps and clasps two giant hands on the ball, which feels like a retro move in this age of punching.
31 min: Somehow, Everton have won a corner.
28 min: The change of shape might help Everton here. They have been exposed time and again on the right and left. Cedric was playing like a wing-back despite being fielded as a right-back in a back four. Southampton have had possession for what feels like the past 10 minutes. Everton are doing nothing and, worryingly, look leggy.
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26 min: Baines has picked up an injury and has had to come off. He’s replaced by Williams. Kenny goes to left wing-back and Lennon, I think, to right wing-back. Williams, Jagielka and Keane form a three-man central defence.
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25 min: Alex Pratchett has played against two pros with differing results. “Spent a splendid afternoon in the North East Berks League a couple of years ago, in goal against a team including ex-Oxford Utd legend Paul Powell. Despite starting with nine men, rising to 10 by half-time, we held them at bay for an hour, until Powell quite clearly decided that there had been quite enough nonsense for one day, and more-or-less single-handedly beat us 4-0. I vividly remember him curling the closing goal past me from a frankly very silly angle. Chastening. Oh, I also nutmegged West Ham’s James Collins when we were at school. Does that count? He was older than me so I think it counts.”
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23 min: An Evertonian writes:
50% of me (well, 5%) wants Shane Long to end his goal drought today. When Seamus Coleman was so brutally assaulted playing for the Republic of Ireland, Long comforted him in his trauma. We miss Coleman's pace as much as Lukaku's goals BTW @GreggBakowski
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) November 26, 2017
21 min: Saints have found their groove. They look unhurried in possession and full of confidence. Pellegrino will be delighted. Everton are treating the ball like an unpinned grenade. At every opportunity they are giving it away.
Goal! Southampton 1-0 Everton (Tadic 18)
What a lovely goal this is and it has been coming. Bertrand races out from his left-back position and finds Davis inside him. The captain takes one touch and pings a pass into space in front of Boufal. He controls and waits for his man to approach before crossing low to Tadic, who gets in front of Baines and takes two lightning fast touches to control and slip the ball past the onrushing Pickford with wonderful balance. Such a good goal.
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17 min: A mix-up in the Saints defence gives Mirallas a free run at goal down the inside-left channel. Forster is off his line to clear sharply though.
15 min: It’s Hoedt’s turn to leather a crossfield pass to Cedric on the right, whose first touch is delightful. But as he looks up his options are limited and he comes back and Saints build again.
14 min: Steve Bennett has played against Stan Bowles … and Brazil! “I once played against Stan Bowles on a Sunday morning on Greenbank in Manchester. He’d turned out for his mate’s pub team and spent the whole 90 minutes moaning about the proceedings bearing no resemblance to football. He may have had a couple the night before. Also, during a mid-80s spell of semi-pro swanning-about in Switzerland, I played against the touring Brazilian national team of the early-70s. They had a few juniors with them, including Muller, who came on in the second half and scored six in a tense 12-1 struggle. Our excuse was that they seemed to have 20 players to our 11 (while coach driver was the best player on the pitch). I swapped shirts with Leao, the goalie, who came across as a genuinely nice bloke. He could’ve taught Stan a thing or two.” What a story Steve.
12 min: Cedric shoves the bigger man, Sigurdsson, off the ball on the right and looks up to see Austin racing into the box. He picks him out with his left foot but the ball is just behind the striker and his right-foot shot slams into the foot of the near post. Saints are being much more positive than in recent weeks. They need to keep this momentum going. Everton need to try to keep hold of the ball.
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10 min: The ball breaks to Mirallas after a rare Everton attack and he scuffs a shot a yard wide from 18 yards out. A warning for Saints.
9 min: Saints are bossing this. Boufal has brought his dancing shoes to the party and is twisting and turning at every opportunity and giving Jonjoe Kenny a stern test on the left. And on the right Ward-Prowse drives a low cross at the near post that Pickford does well to hold on to. After a quiet start, the Saints fans are making a bit more noise now.
7 min: The corner is swung in and only half dealt with by Everton. The ball lands at Austin’s feet but as it bounces up he leans back and lashes wildly over from 12 yards. That was a very, very good chance. And indicative of how Saints have been in front of goal this season.
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6 min: Boufal pings a beautiful pass across the entire width of St Mary’s and in behind Baines. Cedric picks up possession and wins a corner with his resulting cross. What a pass that was from Boufal.
4 min: Saints win a free-kick on the right about 40 yards from goal. Van Dijk trots up for it. Ward-Prowse scuffs his curled delivery, which catches Jagielka off guard, bouncing up off the turf and hitting his waist before forcing Pickford into a smart dive and save to his left.
3 min: Forster takes an age to get control of his feet after receiving a backpass from Hoedt and comes mighty close to being picked off by Sigurdsson in his own area as he finds Cedric with a short pass. Saints are bossing possession but they’re not getting forwards in a hurry.
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Peep!
1 min: We’re off! Saints get us under way. Austin scored 41 seconds into this fixture last season. It’s his first league start of the season. He wouldn’t mind a repeat of that but as we reach one minute on the board he has yet to touch the ball.
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The teams are making their way on to the St Mary’s turf. I believe Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing was playing just moments beforehand. That will always remind me of the Sopranos. How I miss the Sopranos.
Tony Diamond was left feeling bruised after playing against Perry Groves: “In the late 1980s I was asked to play for a pub team near Colchester. The oppo included one Perry Groves, at the time an Arsenal player returning from an injury, and just enjoying the game to build up his fitness. We were all very honoured to be on the same pitch, especially the Arsenal fans. Perry was not, to put it mildly, all sweetness and light. In fact he was as aggressive as hell and seemed to prefer to wallop you no matter how hard you tried to get out of his way. He was VERY ANGRY and VERY COMPETITIVE. He knocked me flat on my bottom for no particular reason other than the fact that the ball was sailing twenty feet overhead and presumably he thought that a bit of a message would do me good. It certainly did. I avoided him by most of the length and width of the pitch thereafter. I couldn’t help noticing that he saved his choicest verbals for his team-mates. He didn’t shake hands with anybody after the game. I reflected ruefully that I probably didn’t have what it takes to play for Arsenal, but I did have a hell of a sore head to remind me of the experience.” Who was Perry Groves playing for Tony? Another pub team? An Arsenal XI? So many questions …
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Pellegrino was interviewed by Sky before the match. Here’s what he had to say: “We never give up – it doesn’t matter what happens. When we are two rushed to try and convert [chances] we lose our identity. We need the ball on the ground and to try and play. I accept when the people are disappointed with the team because they have paid money to go to the pitch and sometimes the movie is not good enough. They deserve a positive performance because that will be good for us. We can keep believing in our track.”
Matt Loten feasted on assists when he played with and against former pros: “When I was studying abroad in Japan a few years ago, I joined a team within my host university, which was made up of a mixture of Japanese lads and some of the foreign staff and students. Most weeks we just had a kickaround in the local park, but towards the end of my year there a coach from the local professional side (Ehime FC) asked if we would have a game against their coaching staff at their training ground, with the idea being that we might strike up a partnership whereby some of the foreign staff would teach the youth teams English on occasion. Even though Ehime were just a second division club, the facilities were top-notch, with the nicest artificial pitch on which I’ve been lucky enough to play, and the coaches were, to a man, former pros. They were nice enough to mix up the teams, but those guys were on a different level. I played up front (I’m a left back by trade) and felt like Lionel Messi, because without fail our ex-pro central midfielder would drop the ball on to my toes from 40 yards every time he picked up possession. It absolutely battered down with rain, but it’s still the most enjoyable game of football I’ve ever played.”
Looking at the way the two teams are lining up I think my prediction of three goals may be wildly optimistic. Both would appear to be fielding two holding midfielders in 4-2-3-1 formations. It could be a very congested midfield battle but Everton do have Calvert-Lewin as a pacy option to spring in behind the Southampton defence. Saints will have to build steadily through the lines. Now you’re licking your lips aren’t you?
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In the interests of encouraging an email or two, have any of you played against a former professional footballer? And how good were they? I was involved in a match against Pellegrino and Southampton’s backroom staff recently and the Saints manager had the audacity – and skill – to nutmeg our centre-forward when under pressure in his own area. He didn’t move particularly quickly but his brain was still functioning on another level to us mere mortals.
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David Unsworth has just spoken: “We’re looking for [the same] performance levels from what we’ve had recently in the league. They showed fight and desire to put points on the board against Crystal Palace and Watford. It’s a great opportunity to climb the league.”
On Wayne Rooney being dropped, Unsworth says: “He played the other night in a deeper role. We picked a team today that we thought would perform. It’s a team game and I’m sure Wayne will be involved … It’s about the players coming together and winning a game.”
Team news
Southampton: Forster, Cedric, van Dijk, Hoedt, Bertrand,
Hojbjerg, Davis, Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Boufal, Austin. Subs:
Yoshida, Long, McCarthy, Lemina, Gabbiadini, Redmond, McQueen.
Everton: Pickford, Kenny, Jagielka, Keane, Baines, Gueye,
Schneiderlin, Lennon, Sigurdsson, Mirallas, Calvert-Lewin. Subs:
Williams, Sandro, Rooney, Vlasic, Lookman, Robles, Baningime.
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
So no Wayne Rooney starting for Everton, despite Oumar Niasse being suspended. As for Saints, Charlie Austin is back in. Saints fans will be pleased with that I suspect, given that they have been calling for his inclusion in recent games. Poor Manuel Gabbiadini is left on the bench again – and it’s his birthday! Pellegrino is clearly not banking on narrative to get his team scoring.
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Preamble
Afternoon. How both these teams could do with a win. Southampton come into the match on the back of a draw and two defeats plagued by the same problem they have had all season, which is scoring goals – or not scoring them to be more precise. Everton are a ragged mess and a much-changed team were thumped 5-1 at home in midweek by Atalanta. They have won only one game in 11 and seem no closer to finding a permanent successor to Ronald Koeman. Meanwhile, caretaker boss David Unsworth continues to wear a pained expression as he keeps the seat warm knowing that he has failed in his audition for the job.
There have been murmurings of disapproval at Southampton about the job Mauricio Pellegrino is doing. His side are 14th and hovering just above the murky relegation fodder below them. Fans would like to see more attacking football and less caution. I met him a few weeks ago and he seemed like an extremely philosophical type, absolutely unruffled by the pressures of management, but with a trip to Manchester City coming up next he really does need a win to settle nerves around St Mary’s. Everton offer the ideal chance to do that.
What Pellegrino says: “We are five points from eighth. Or four points away [from the bottom three]. I’m scared about a lot of things, not my job. This is the Premier League. It’s amazing for this, because it’s really competitive, and also really difficult. When we think about the end of the last season, between eighth and 17th, there were six points. We’re talking about 10 teams and six points.”
What Unsworth says: “I’d like to think every single player is hurting the way I am at the moment and if they are not then they shouldn’t be here at this great club. The minimum requirement is 100% effort. I asked the players to make it difficult for me to leave them out of the team on Sunday and the majority have probably made it very easy for me.”
My prediction: Southampton 2-1 Everton
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