Alvaro woe as Saints enter the Dragan era
AT THE end of his lap of honour, moments before heading down the tunnel, Ralph Hasenhuttl glanced up towards the directors’ box and clenched both fists.
There, in the posh seats, the architects of a new era at Southampton were soaking in a glorious first taste of life at St Mary’s.
By then Dragan Solak, the Serbian billionaire now bankrolling Saints following Sport Republic’s £100million takeover, had ditched his red tie and club scarf. The wide smile remained, though. The smile that greeted Jan Bednarek’s opening Premier League goal of his tenure survived a night that coupled the unbelievable with the unfortunate and was settled in large part by poor Alvaro Fernandez.
Pity the Brentford goalkeeper, who with this game finely poised at one apiece punched a shot into his own net and then helped Saints’ third goal on its way, too. Both proved rather pivotal.
Really, though, this deserves to be remembered as a brilliant evening for Hasenhuttl and Southampton. Thanks to Bednarek, Armando Broja, Che Adams — and a hand from Fernandez — Saints netted four in a home league game for the first time since 2017. As first impressions go…
‘I think they saw a good game from our side,’ Hasenhuttl said of the new ownership. ‘Absolutely fantastic — from the first moment on it was a very impressive performance. This is a good sign for the new owner.’
But mixed emotions, perhaps, for Rasmus Ankersen — the former Brentford chief who heads up Sport Republic. This was a worrying night for his former employers. They were cut apart after the break — by Southampton’s excellence but also by some kamikaze defending. Next up? Liverpool and Manchester United.
‘That was not good enough,’ said boss Thomas Frank. ‘We know that we need to play every second of a Premier League game at 100 per cent. We definitely didn’t do that today.’
Frank said the timing of Southampton’s third goal — four minutes into the second half — ‘killed’ Brentford, but earlier Vitaly Janelt’s volley had brought it to life.
It was sumptuous technique with his left foot, in keeping with virtually nothing Brentford had produced. Until then, the visitors had been outplayed — suffocated by Southampton, who looked dangerous even before their early breakthrough.
Solak rose with a smile to salute Bednarek’s third goal in six appearances, which came from James WardProwse’s excellent corner. Brentford offered little by way of a response until Janelt thumped home Bryan Mbeumo’s cross. That suddenly shifted the mood.
Almost immediately, Janelt had another effort beaten away by Fraser Forster; at the other end, Oriol Romeu poked a shot over. Then, eight minutes before the break, Ibrahima Diallo struck a bouncing ball that hit the post, came out, hit Fernandez on the hand and went in.
Soon the goalkeeper diverted the hosts’ third home, too. After Fernandez spread himself to keep out Broja’s shot, the ball clipped his boot and trickled into the corner. The only solace? That one won’t go down as an own goal. And rightly so — it was fabulously created by Saints.
Sharp passing allowed them to escape the edge of their own box, before Romeu sent Broja into a gaping hole in the visitors’ backline. It didn’t make pretty viewing for Frank. Nor did Saints’ fourth.
After a Brentford counter broke down, Diallo hoofed the ball over the top. Adams plucked it out of the sky and clipped a shot past Fernandez.
Brentford pushed for a route back and their clearest chance fell to substitute Yoane Wissa but, with the goal gaping, Ward-Prowse nicked the ball away with a brilliant last-ditch challenge. Yet another moment for Hasenhuttl and his new bosses to savour at the end of a famous night at St Mary’s.