SFC Ref now gives us his views in two parts and in this one he gives the lowdown on Saints from a playing perspective, read on to find out if you agree with his viewpoints and comment in the section at the end.
When the team sheet first came out, it’s got to be the first time in quite a while in which I’ve had very little complaints around it all. As out of everyone who was selected, there was only 1 or maybe 2 players who I personally didn’t think should be playing, one of them was Theo Walcott, who wasn’t too bad against Leicester, but when you’ve got Onachu and Stu on the bench, shouldn’t he be starting over them ? The other player who I was a bit 50:50 with was Jan Bednarek, as he’s been decent recently but I did want Salisu starting over him.
But by Full Time my opinions on both had certainly been influenced by how they’d performed. As I myself was officiating when this game was on, I have just based these off of the highlights and what those who did watch the game have said.
But from what I saw and heard, Bednarek had a really good game, with all 4 of our defenders doing well to keep another clean sheet, with just simply 1 single goal conceded in the league since Ruben took over. As he has been playing well recently and has certainly given a decent answer back to the many that criticised the club for getting him back from his previous loan spell at Villa, and does probably deserve to start on Wednesday against Brentford.
Although the same can’t be said for Walcott, after his display from what I’ve seen in the highlights and heard, as he’s arguably the difference between us winning the game and us drawing it, with him missing the two key chances we had.
With his early header anywhere else and it’s a goal, as well as the one on one he had which he took too long on and who’s shot was far too weak and easy to save for De Gea.
As I do feel like he is someone who should be playing with who we’ve got on the bench, and don’t think he should be starting against Brentford.
But for everyone else it seemed a decent enough game where we were the better team from what I’ve heard. As the fact that many were disappointed with Prowsey missing his free kick only shows of just how amazing he is at them, and how important he’s been for us this season.
But I do think a draw was a fair result in the end from what I saw, as both teams had many chances and both got very close but could never get that final touch to get those goals.
But it was also a challenge with both keepers performing really well, and Bazunu being easily my MOTM, with some cracking saves he pulled off, and getting a very rare clean sheet away at old Trafford which don’t come around too often, and was yet another player to put down his critics with how he performed on Sunday.
Subs wise, I can’t comment too much on seeing how I didn’t watch the game so didn’t see how much of an impact they did/didn’t make, but seeing how we came away with the point can’t really complain too much about them. And after how great of a start Rubén’s had, can’t say too many negative things about him, with him getting just under a third of our points total from just 4 games, whilst only conceding a single goal over those 4 games. And if we can keep it up, I certainly do like our odds of staying up whilst he’s in charge.
But overall if you’d offered me a point before KO, I’d of taken it in a heartbeat all day long! As I think the only reason why any saints fans may feel at all disappointed about this result is simply how long they were down to 10 men for, and how many of the teams around us have done this weekend. But if we can get the win against Brentford on Wednesday, then we’ll go up to at least 16th, which if we can also get something against spurs, should be enough to keep us out of the relegation zone before the intentional break starts.
To read my report on the referee and VAR decisions, go to my Ref Watch report using the link below.
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/59815/referee-watch-with