Southampton v Everton – Generous Toffees’ Grant Saints 3 Points

Source: Southampton FC official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/southamptonfc?fref=ts

Everton has travelled to St Mary’s to take on Southampton. Southampton have only taken 4 points out off a possible 15 out of the last 5 matches. Everton is in 5th place with their eyes on a Champions League next season while Southampton is in 8th place, this could be an interesting match.

Morgan Schneiderlin is approximately out for 1 week with a hip/thigh injury, which is why we see both Jack Cork and Victor Wanyama starting. Mauricio Pochettino has decided to start Sam Gallagher this week instead of James Ward-Prowse. This changes the starting line-up around a bit, with Gallagher apparently up front while Cork, Wanyama and Davis in defensive midfield.

The match starts of quickly with Southampton on the ball as they run towards the box. Rickie Lambert is on the left side when he decides to cross the ball towards the box. What happens next seems to surprise everyone when Antolin Alcaraz decides to head the ball. But instead of heading it away from goal, he decides to head it in the goal! This stupid mistake gives the Saints the lead within the first minute.

This giveaway goal gives Southampton a boost of confidence as they try to attack more and are attempting to create a couple of chances, but none seems to end in an actual chance. Steven Davis probably gets the biggest chance in the 20th minute when Rickie Lambert crosses the ball towards him. Davis shoots from the centre of the box but misses to the right. I am not sure how he could have missed that chance.

But things change in the 31st minute when Nathaniel Clyne crosses the ball towards the box, after a few defenders touch it, it goes towards Seamus Coleman. Coleman decides to copy Alcaraz and also heads the ball towards the goal. Another own goal gets Southampton further ahead. And again goalie Tim Howard can’t do anything to stop this from happening.

In the 38th minute Everton make their second handball in their box, but referee Michael Oliver decides not to see this. Another missed penalty goal, we could have been up to 4-0 by now.

In the 46th minute, Dejan Lovren seems to make a handball just outside the box. Everton are yelling for a handball, but if Michael Oliver doesn’t want to recognize an Everton handball then why would he call now for a handball by Lovren?

Everton makes a great run in the second minute of the second half when Steven Naismith passes the ball to Gerard Deulofeu, but Deulofeu gets called offside. Southampton are lucky here as I don’t think this call is fair as he doesn’t look to be offside. This could have been a great Everton chance but the linesman decides differently.

In the 58th minute Jack Cork wins a free kick when Gareth Barry roughly takes him down. This free kick as dangerous for Everton as it’s just outside the box and Rickie Lambert knows exactly how to take these kind of free kicks. Unfortunately he hits the right post this time and with that he also misses a big chance for Southampton.

3 minutes later Leon Osman is running in the Southampton box with Dejan Lovren right behind him. Lovren slides in and wins the ball, but as he slides down he seems to take Osman down with him. Michael Oliver decides to give Osman a yellow card instead for diving. I honestly don’t think this was a yellow card, but it wasn’t a penalty either.

Everton creates their biggest chance in the 63rd minute when Romelu Lukaku gets the ball in the centre of the box. He heads it, but unfortunately for him, he heads it straight towards Artur Boruc. If he would have head it anywhere else, it would have been a goal.

When Steven Davis passes the ball towards Adam Lallana in the box in the 71st minute, Everton decides to block the ball with their hand again. But as we already know. Michael Oliver is blind for handballs.

Mauricio Pochettino makes his first substitution with 15 minutes left, James Ward-Prowse comes on for Sam Gallagher. I am glad he decided to take of Gallagher instead of a midfielder. Yes this probably was Gallaghers best game so far, but he still was the weakest player on the field.

James McCarthy decides to tackle Dejan Lovren in the 80th minute, the tackle is good and Lovren goes down. Then it looks like Lovren is holding McCarthy down on purpose so he can’t get back up to get the ball. But Michael Oliver decides to play on.

In the 85th minute Harrison Reed replaces Adam Lallana. The bad thing of taking Lallana off almost every match is, that now England manager Roy Hodgson never gets to see Lallana play a full match while he is in the crowd. This can work negatively for Lallana’s chances in the world cup.

Pochettino makes his final substitution with 1 minute left to play. Steven Davis makes way for tall Brazilian, Guly do Prado.

James Ward-Prowse gets the last chance of this match in the 91st minute when Nathaniel Clyne passes the ball towards him. Ward-Prowse makes a good shot from outside the box but Tim Howard saves it.

This was the 20th time in the history of the Barclays Premier League that one team makes two own goals in during the game. And with these 2 own goals the Toffees’ grant the 3 point to the Saints.

It just annoys me now when I hear the commentators talk in Evertons favour as they get further away now of a Champions League spot. Yes, Everton misses some key players due to injury, but so did Southampton with Rodriguez, Schneiderlin and Ramirez out. Which makes both teams equal and disqualifies any excuses about Everton being worse due to injuries.

Then they also claim that Everton should have gotten 2 penalties in the second half due to tackles by Dejan Lovren made in the box. But then again, Everton made 3 handballs in their box which should have been penalties in our favour. So again this excuse gets disqualifies as we both missed out on at least 2 penalty calls, which balances it out again.

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the own goals, it probably would have been a draw. Because even though the Saints looked more attacking, they didn’t look like scoring. Even though we didn’t play that good, we were in control of the game. Everton clearly played worse as they didn’t have one proper shot on goal. Every ball went straight to Artur Boruc, who was more than comfortable to save them all.

Everton had their fate in their own hands and are further away now from a Champions League spot due to their own stupidity, due to two big defensive mistakes which ended in own goals. I wouldn’t be surprised if Everton would become the next team in line for Luke Shaw as they should seriously consider purchasing some proper defenders at the end of this season.

Aston Villa v Southampton

Source: Southampton FC official Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/southamptonfc

The Saints travelled to Villa Park to play Aston Villa yesterday. Several changes have been made to the Southampton team. Gastón Ramirez is out with a hamstring injury so James Ward-Prowse is replacing him. Not a good timing for Ramirez to get injured since Jay Rodriguez is also already out with a long term injury.

Victor Wanyama is also starting, while Jack Cork is on the bench. I am wondering why Mauricio Pochettino made this decision since Cork has been in good shape. We also see that Nathaniel Clyne is back among the starting eleven, moving Calum Chambers to the bench. But the change I am most excited about is saying Artur Boruc back in the goal!

Rickie Lambert gets two chances within the first 5 minutes to score for the Saints. Firstly Luke Shaw crosses the ball to Rickie Lambert, who heads it from the centre box straight to goalie Brad Guzan. One minute later Steven Davis crosses the ball to Lambert who shoots at goal but his shot gets saved yet again. It looks like Brad Guzan is in good shape.

Their next big chance happens in the 31st minute when Rickie Lambert passes the ball to Steven Davis, who is in the centre of the box. Davis kicks the ball good but again Guzan is there to block it.

Just before half time Aston Villa seems to get more determined to score before the break. But lucky our Holy Goalie is back and ready to make some important saves.

With the first 45 minutes of the match gone, the Saints have had 75% of the possession. Aston Villa has tried to break through a few times but don’t seem able to control the ball in their possession properly.

With just 3 minutes into the second half, Aston Villa receive their biggest chance when Karim El Ahmadi breaks through the Southampton defense to get a one-on-one with Artur Boruc. I have no idea where Nathaniel Clyne or José Fonte are to stop Ahmadi when he goes for goal. He shoots from outside the box but lucky Boruc is there, ready to save it and determined to keep a clean sheet.

In the 54th minute Adam Lallana gets his first chance to shoot at goal. Luke Shaw crosses the ball towards him, but somehow Lallana doesn’t seem able to get control of the ball. It looks like it just slips through his ankles or something and with that, he loses the possession.

Mauricio Pochettino makes his first save in the 67th minute when he replaces James Ward-Prowse with Sam Gallagher.

Referee Lee Mason has been pretty fair along the whole game. He also doesn’t seem to give away too many free kick and prefers to just play the advantage. But in the 79th minute he does make his big mistake when an Aston Villa defender stretches out his hand to block Nathaniel Clynes shot. This handball happens within the box and definitely should have been a penalty. Maybe Lee Mason didn’t have a proper view of it, but the images on the camera are crystal clear.

Pochettino finally decides to bring Jack Cork on in the 82nd minute, while he takes off Victor Wanyama.

In the first minute added time, Mauricio Pochettino makes his final substitution when he takes off captain Adam Lallana to let Harrison Reed make his second Premier League appearance.

One minute later, Nathaniel Clyne goes down in the box when Rickie Lambert passes the ball to him. Again Lee Mason doesn’t even reward a free kick for this. I am not sure if it should have been a penalty but a free kick should have been the least Mason should have given for it. This almost makes you think that for some reason he just dislikes Nathaniel Clyne.

And this is how the game ends, in a draw. Overall the match probably was as boring as this match report turned out to be. It’s just that nothing really happened throughout the whole game. Southampton did have most possession but they also only made 3 attempts while Aston Villa managed to make 6 attempts while they only had 1 third of the overall possession.

This match just showed that the only thing Southampton wanted to play for was keeping their clean sheet. They are already 8th in the table and that is probably where they will stay. While the lions are determined to fight and stay in the Premier League, they want to be as far away as possible from the relegation zone. And I think that is the difference in team spirits which showed during this match.

Manchester City v Southampton – Poor Defence Costs Saints 3 Points

Source: Southampton FC official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/southamptonfc

Southampton is facing Manchester City today. There are a few changes in the starting line-up. Since Artur Boruc is ruled out due to a back injury he incurred two days ago. Kelvin Davis is also still out due to a back injury so therefore Paulo Gazzaniga is starting with Cody Cropper on the bench as the reserve goalie. Morgan Schneiderlin is back among the starting eleven, moving James Ward-Prowse to the bench. And Victor Wanyama has returned to the bench.

Within the first 2 minutes of play time José Fonte makes the most stupid defensive mistake when he sticks his leg up backwards to trip over Edin Dzeko. If this foul isn’t reckless enough, he also made it in the box, therefore referee Chris Foy rewards Manchester City with a penalty. Yaya Touré takes the penalty. It flies straight into the bottom right corner. Paulo Gazzaniga didn’t stand a chance. But I am still wondering what Fonte was thinking when he committed the foul, he surely must have know about the consequences.

In the 22nd minute of the match Jay Rodriguez goes down as he just kicked away the ball with a stretched leg. At first they think he overstretched his calf muscle. But it turns out he hurt his right knee. We may just have witnessed how Rodriguez chances for the World Cup broke down, with Roy Hodgson who is also sitting in the crowd. Jay Rodriguez gets stretchered off the field under applause from both Saints as City supporters. James Ward-Prowse comes on the field to replace the injured Rodriguez.

It’s the 35th minute when Jack Cork goes down in the City box as Pablo Zabaleta trips him over just inside the box. Chris Foy spots this and gives Southampton a penalty. Penalty star Rickie Lambert lines up to take it and shoots the ball into the top right corner. With this goal, the teams are level.

In the first half Southampton definitely have been the stronger team. Manchester City has barely shown any skill and just had a handful of lucky chances on goal as Southampton seems to be trying hard to break through City’s defence. But as the added time of the first half starts, the game changes.

In the 45th minute David Silva gets the ball as he is just offside, trust me I’ve watched the replays and am absolutely sure he was offside. Silva passes the ball to Samir Nasri, who makes a good run and scores in the centre of the goal. Paulo Gazzaniga didn’t really stand a chance when he got the one-on-one with Nasri. But what a poor decision by the linesman to not make his offside call.

Only 3 minutes later, just before the added 4 minutes are over, City strikes again. Aleksandar Kolarov crosses the ball towards the box, I have to admit that this was a good cross. Edin Dzeko is ready for it and heads it in the bottom right corner. Southamptons defence just can’t touch the ball and this goal makes the score 3-1 for Manchester City.

The offside goal is what, I believe, turned the whole game around. This is the goal that made the confidence of the Southampton defence crumble a bit, giving City more chance to break through again. This it not a good time for the Saints to go in half time after just conceiving 2 goals within the final 4 minutes of the first half.

The second half doesn’t start of real exciting. The only noticeable thing is that the Southampton defence really is getting weak. The two centre backs don’t seem to be in their right spot most of the time, causing City to break through a couple of times giving Paulo Gazzaniga a hard time.

Rickie Lambert gets a chance in the 74th minute when Adam Lallana plays a through ball to him. However Lambert finds himself in a difficult angle when he is on the right side of the goal near the backline. He shoot but the ball flies past the goal and goes out of play on the left side of the goal. This probably was Lamberts and Southamptons best chance to score.

Steven Davis gets substituted in the 75th minute, making place for young Sam Gallagher.

Yaya Touré decides to dive into the box in the 78th minute, hoping to get another penalty. Chris Foy sees Touré doesn’t even get touched by any Southampton player and therefore rewards the City cheater with a well deserved yellow card.

Mauricio Pochettino makes his final substitution in the 79th minute when he decides to bring on Victor Wanyama. I am surprised to see the Jack Cork is the player who gets subbed off since I believe he has been the best player in this match as he has been defending great. And maybe it would have been smart to take Morgan Schneiderlin off since he only just got back from an injury.

The final goal of the match happens with 10 minutes of game time left when Jesús Navas crosses the ball to Stevan Jovetic. Jovetic shoot the ball from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal, making the final score 4-1. Paulo Gazzaniga is learning the get of his line but might have been better of staying on it this one time as now he wasn’t in the right position to stop Jovetics shot. But even if he did manage to stop this shot, we still would have lost.

With 3 minutes of play time left Victor Wanyama actually receives a free kick instead of giving one away.

Yaya Touré goes down towards the end of the match, apparently a light touch by Lambert was too much for him. The referee agrees and doesn’t reward Touré with anything. All I can wish for is that someone hurt him earlier on so he didn’t have a chance to cheat at all.

I believe Chris Foy has been as fair as he could have been during this match, making the right calls. The fact that City scored in the 45th minute from an offside position isn’t to blame on Foy as he wasn’t in the right spot to notice this. That call is all to blame to the linesman who probably should have gone to specsavers.

In the end Manchester City did deserve to win as Southamptons defence was pathetic in the second half of the match. Conceiving 2 goals within 3 minutes apparently was too much to deal with for the Saints. They never recovered from that incident, even the half time break wasn’t enough to boost their confidence. All we can hope for is that they will perform better in the next match.