What I.Saw - Anybody know a decent tailor?
Sunday, 19th Feb 2012 18:40 by I.Saw

The Rams were looking to find a win and take the scalp of a team flying high in the Championship but instead were scalped – four times in fact!

Southampton 4 vs. 0 Derby

Saturday February 18th

Referee:

G.Scott

Attendance:

24,536 (1,057 Travelling Rams

The Teams:

Derby County:

Fielding (GK); Brayford (Ball 58), Shackell, Barker, Roberts; Green, Hendrick, Carroll, Bailey (Davies 72); Ward, Tyson (Robinson 67).

Unused Substitutes: Legzdins (GK), Buxton.

Southampton:

Davis (GK); Harding, Hooiveld (Martin 46), Fonte, Fox; Chaplow (Puncheon 67), Schneiderlin, Cork, Lallana; Sharp (Lee 46), Lambert.

Unused Substitutes: Hammond, Connolly.

Match Stats: Southampton - Derby

Possession: 51% - 49%

Shots On Target: 7 - 2

Shots Off Target: 4 - 2

Corners: 6 - 8

Fouls: 6 - 8

Most Fouls: Hooiveld (2) - Bailey (3)

I. Saw’s Match Report:

“It’s Unbelievable” blasted out of the tannoy as the final whistle blew at St Mary’s, a fitting tribute to Southampton’s victory although the real unbelievable came minutes earlier.

It’s four nil, there’s five to go, and the fans start leaving in droves, or, rather like those computer game snake thingies from the eighties that got longer and longer as they move at right angles down the screen.

Oh yes “When Those Saints, Oh When Those Saints, Oh When Those Saints Go Marching Out”. I mean what’s it all about?

Top of the table, winning by four clear goals and you leave before the end!Mind some of ours left when Southampton’s third went in, they got their just desserts though cos it was chucking it down when they left and it had stopped raining by the end of the game.

And sometimes moral victories are all that’s left to claim aren’t they ;-)

As to the match, the score line suggests we were trounced but we weren’t, we had spells either side of half time when we were the better side, we matched the Saints and at one nil we had our chances to pull back level.

No bones, this was better than Millwall, better than Reading, we showed some spirit, some fight we took the play to the opposition.

The wheels fell off though.

Poor defending at corners cost us the first two, failure to close down and slack marking in the centre the third and the fourth well that deserved to be goal of the month by Japanese International Tadanari Lee. Lees’ goal was a real cracker, a shot that Alan Hinton would have been proud of back in the days when we were good.

These days we’re not though.

These days our cloth is cut. If only we had a tailor good enough to make do and mend.

Nathan Tyson, praised to the hilt beforehand and told to relax, played up front with Jamie Ward who told the D.E.T. he needs a break having played too many matches.

A pairing of two greyhounds, one needs some rest and the other is told to take it easy. Not many punters would waste their money betting on that would they? Apart that is from the 1,057 who had made the long journey to the South Coast.

The suit is lacking a little sharpness already me thinks.

Now let see we some width. What fabric can we use? Our Tailor goes for the young look, Tom Carroll wide on the left and the older Paul Green on the right. Perfect if you only have one arm.

At the back there’s ample room with twin side vents otherwise known as Shaun Barker and Jason Shackell. Twin vents, or a drafty hole that the Saints’ kept poking, your choice.

The legs, John Brayford my man of the match in the first half for the positive and direct runs at the home sides defence and Gareth Roberts who had two to cope with for much of the match.

The first hole in the fabric comes at the end of the first quarter, a corner floated in by Daniel Fox, Shackell rooted watches Jos Hooiveld poke home.

Our second piercing is just before the hour this time Barker is beaten and Aaron Martin ripples the fabric of the net.

Brayford is immediately taken off looking unhappy, Callum Ball comes on and the suit swells.

Adam Lallana, far too good for the Championship adds a third before Tyson relaxes some more on the bench and Theo Robinson comes on to face the challenge of controlling the ball.

Steve Davies replaces James Bailey despite Carroll’s legs having gone and we concede the fourth. A wonderful volley by Lee who was snapped up on a free transfer, so a tame copper said (a small step from police cruelty I reckon).

We sat and watched the remaining fifteen minutes and thousands of red and white shirts drift away, faced with only the comfort of the remainder of the nearly four hundred mile round trip to look forward to.

Plenty of time then to consider when I left those tapes of Manny Cohen and Patrick Kelly in “Never mind the quality, feel the width”.

Anybody know a decent tailor?

I.Saw's Rams Player Ratings:

Fielding 5, Brayford 7 , Barker 5, Shackell 5, Roberts 6, Green 5, Bailey 6, Hendrick 6, Carroll 4, Tyson 6, Ward 6.

Subs: Ball 6, Robinson 5, Davies 5.

Manager’s Reaction:

Nigel was not happy after watching his team fall apart in the second half.

"The first two goals were from set pieces and that really wasn't good enough from our point of view, which then gave us a real mountain to climb because you can't do that against any side never mind Southampton."

"Set plays are a big part of football and I can't remember too many occasions where we've conceded goals from corners, so we need to brush up in that department very quickly and make sure it doesn't happen again."

"The last two goals were good finishes from Southampton's point of view but we feel we could have done better there as well."

"I thought 4-0 was a bit harsh on us in all honesty; I didn't think we deserved that.I actually thought our general play at times was pretty good today but the final ball is letting us down at the moment and that's why we are struggling to find the net right now (Derby have failed to score for three games in a row)."

"We recovered from a difficult start and enjoyed a good spell either side of half time, but things didn't quite fall our way which is frustrating for everyone at the moment."

"When you're on top, or having a good spell, you need to get a goal and we're finding them hard to come by right now but we believe in the players we have to get us goals."

"I think we need a break, combined with that little bit of desire to get a goal, and we'll be back scoring like we were a few weeks ago."

Captain’s Reaction:

Shaun Barker has demanded a response from his team after the massive defeat:

"We need a win as soon as possible; it is as simple as that. We started the season on fire and were getting results, and then we went on a little bit of a slump. Over the Christmas period we started winning again, but I was expecting some inconsistency with the amount of young players in the side."

"When we get a few bad results the important thing is to pick up a win, quickly. In the position we are in, a few of the lads should not be nervous about getting on the ball and playing good football."

"This time last year we were something like three points off the bottom three and I'll tell you it is a lot harder to play in that position than the one we are in now."

"I think the difference today was the goals, we conceded two from set-pieces - I can't remember the last time we conceded from a set-piece."

"From a defensive point of view we have conceded goals far too easily today, especially considering the last few months where we have made teams have to work hard to score a goal."

"Leicester were one of the favourites, if not the favourites, to go up this year with the amount of money they have spent. The quality they have in their team is frightening and if they catch you when they're on a good day they are a very tough side to play against - but we feel we can give them a game at home and get back to winning ways."