The massacre lasted for 90+3 minutes. The last 3 being the bloodiest. In the end, it was 9 – 0. Blood everywhere. The absence of fans in the Reds stadium helped the Saints.
Southampton, aka The Saints, is a top tier football club in the Premier League. Founded in 1885, the club has experienced ups and downs. The ups being the good days when it was promoted to the Premier League, between 1992 to 2005, and from 2021 to the present. The Club’s lows between 2005 to 2012 were the worst. Lots of leadership changes at the senior level, loss of key players, etc generally reduced club income that saw the Club’s parent company placed under administration.
As the Chinese say, “when you lose your way, go to the starting point.” During the low period, the Club went back to its roots. Naturing young talent. And creating a great pipeline of players that became elite league material. After winning a consecutive 13 league games, Southampton returned to the top tier league, Premier League in April 2012. They have never looked back.
They say people from humble backgrounds work even harder as they succeed because they cannot imagine going back to the old days of no food on the table. And that has been the mindset of Southampton: taking each game as the most critical one, in it to win it.
Southampton has always performed poorly against Manchester United. Their best performance is a 1-0 win in August 2003! Since then, their best has always been a draw or an acceptable loss, if there is such a thing in this football of winner takes all points.
However, on the night of 2nd February 2021, Alex Jankewitz was shown a red card just 2 minutes into the game for an open boot foul play on Scott McTominay. It changed the game tremendously. The Saints tried to hold the red devils for the next 15 minutes. In the 17th minute, the first goal was netted. From then on, it started raining goals.
I hope the young player Alex’s career is not curtailed by this incident. It is part of life. I cannot imagine the pain the players and supporters of a team that loses go through. What about the wives and girlfriends of the players? I know it is tough to take because an average fan, someone who has never even visited the home Stadium of the club they support, feels demotivated and down when their team loses. What about the real players and club direct beneficiaries who witness such a loss!
I wish the players, fans, club, and everyone affected by the big loss, a quick recovery. As they say, that is football.
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, Mr. Strategy. All rights reserved.
