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.

Southampton v Newcastle – England Trio Strikes Again

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

Southampton was welcoming Newcastle United at St Marys yesterday. With both Nathaniel Clyne and Jay Rodriguez leaving the field early last week due to injuries and Morgan Schneiderlin out last week, it was questionable which players would be fit to start for the Saints. These are a lot of first team injuries, however they have some great substitutions at their hand to start when necessary.

The team sheet showed a good surprise which was Jay Rodriguez fit to start the match. Morgan Schneiderlin is fit enough to start on the bench, which is also good news. The only big name missing now is Nathaniel Clyne who’s out with a groin/pelvis injury with now clear return date yet. We do have young Calum Chambers who has also proven his worth as a right back. Maya Yoshida sustained a knee injury during training and is probably out for 7 weeks, this might ruin his changes for the world cup.

Southampton starts the match with high pressure play, like they’re used to. While Southampton is full on attacking, no one seems to be sure what Newcastle’s game plan is as they aren’t even trying anything. After 26 minutes of the match have been played, the Saints have produced 10 attempts of which 3 on target, the Magpies however haven’t even created an off target chance yet.

In the 38th minute Moussa Sissoko finds it necessary to pull Steven Davis down. The referee Andre Marriner spots this and blows his whistle while José Fonte slides in to stop Sissoko. Lucky for Fonte Marriner already blew his whistle for Sissoko’s foul, who’s now lying on the field grapping his own leg. All I could wish for is that Fonte would have got him harder to teach him a lesson for the low foul he just committed.

It takes up to the final minute of playtime in the first half for the Saints to finally get lucky and score their first, well-deserved goal. Rickie Lambert finds himself onside while he runs up, Jay Rodriguez runs up with him on his left side with only one slow Magpie defender in between. They quickly outrun this Magpie while Lambert crosses the ball to Rodriguez. Goalie Rob Elliot had his eyes fixated on Lambert, giving Rodriguez a clear path as he shoots the ball from the centre of the box to the centre on the goal. Elliot didn’t stand a chance though, there was no way he would have been able to cover both attackers.

With this goal, the Saints go into half time. It’s good for them they finally managed to score just before the break as this might give them the confidence they need to score more goals and win this match as they are the only right team who deserve to win after watching this first half.

Newcastle makes two substitutions right at the start of the second half. Probably in the hope to turn the game in their favour, however they have to work real hard if they want to turn this match around.

These two changes don’t seem to have much effect on the overall game as after one minute Southampton is already back at attacking. In the 3rd minute of the second half Adam Lallana crosses the ball perfectly to Rickie Lambert, Lambert is onside while teammate Jay Rodriguez is just offside so this is a good decision by the Saints captain. Lambert takes one touch on the left side of the 6 yard box and puts the ball in the high centre of the goal. What a start of the second half this is for the Saints and what an awful defensive work on the side of the Magpies.

Papiss Cissé makes a poor challenge on Calum Chambers in the 60th minute when he moves into Chambers leg with his studs up. This challenge could easily cost Cissé a red card. Unfortunately Andre Marriner seems to scared to pull out either card or even reward the Saints with a free kick.

Only 5 minutes after this challenge, another Magpie moves in to take down Luke Shaw. Marriner is in a real good position to see this happening but again he doesn’t blow his whistle. Maybe Marriner is just scared to get a decision wrong and decides therefore to not make a call at all. But as he doesn’t make a call at all he’s definitely making the wrong decision. I mean if you’re not sure about what you’re supposed to be doing as a referee and are too afraid to use your whistle, well then maybe it’s time you hand over your referee licence and choose another career.

In the 69th minute the Magpies make a challenge on Jack Cork, who goes down. But before he goes down, he passes the ball onto Adam Lallana. Lallana takes a clear strike outside the box with his ‘weak’ left foot. The ball flies into the top right corner, what a great finish that was. This awesome Lallana goal is definitely England squad material and World Cup Worthy. This was probably Marriners best decision as he didn’t stop to match to appoint Jack Cork a free kick after the challenge. Even though he didn’t even gesture the advantage, it was the best he could have done to just continue the match or else we would have missed this fantastic Lallana goal.

In the 72nd minute Steven Davis makes way to give Morgan Schneiderlin some time on the pitch.

It takes up to the 75th minute when Andre Marriner finally decides to pull out a card as Massadio Haidara makes a bad foul and receives a yellow card. It seems obviously that Newcastle is so desperate that they’ve decided to make challenges to maybe try and get some strong Saint players out. But the Magpies are even performing poor on making these challenges.

Gastón Ramirez comes on in the 82nd minute to replace goal scorer Rickie Lambert.

In the 88th minute Gastón Ramirez has the ball and with his good football inside decides to play a through ball over the Newcastle defence. Jay Rodriguez is waiting at the other end of the ball. There is only one defender on Rodriguez, but Rodriguez easily gets around him and shoots the ball from the left side of the box to the bottom left corner. With this he makes his second goal.

Mauricio Pochettino makes his last substitution in the 90th minute when he takes of captain Adam Lallana to bring on Sam Gallagher. I’m not sure about this decision since I reckon Adam Lallana is man of the match and as the captain I think he should have played the full match.

The match ends in a 4-0 win for Southampton, a well deserved win. They probably should have scored more goals as they could have been ahead with 4-0 by half time. And with 23 shots, of which 11 were on target, against only 5 shots from Newcastle. The Magpies only had 2 shots on target. I’m still trying to figure out what their game plan was since all the seemed to be doing was defending and even at that they were hopeless. Their best player probably was Rob Elliot but with a defence who wasn’t even aiding him when he needed them too, didn’t he stand a chance against Southamptons force. It is more than fair that the Saints took all 3 points as they absolutely deserved it and with this win they move into 8th place on the ladder, overtaking the hopeless Magpies.

Tottenham Hotspurs v Southampton – Saints Gift 3 Points To Spurs

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

Yesterday Southampton travelled to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham Hotspurs. The biggest surprise in Southamptons starting line-up is Jack Cork! Who recovered much quicker than expected from his ankle injury and only missed one match. Victor Wanyama still seems to be out since we don’t spot him on the bench. And surprisingly so is Morgan Schneiderlin, who’s been replaces by James Ward-Prowse. Schneiderlin is apparently dealing with a groin/pelvis injury. Rickie Lambert is also starting again and Nathaniel Clyne still seems to be favoured over young Calum Chambers.

Southampton is strongly attacking from the start with Rickie Lambert getting their first chance. Lambert makes a great run and Adam Lallana passes the ball to him, but Lambert didn’t seem to be able to make up his mind to shoot either left or right. So eventually he passes the ball back to Lallana, who shoots but just misses the top left corner.

Jay Rodriguez creates a chance 3 minutes later. Rickie Lambert plays a through ball to him, Rodriguez shoots the ball into the net but is caught offside.

In the 18^th minute Rodriguez gets another chance when Artur Boruc takes his goal kick. A Spurs defender tries to intercept but Rodriguez manages to take the ball. He is on-side and is determined to take full advantage of that. He takes a clear shot and the ball goes into the bottom right corner, Hugo Lloris just can’t get to it. This great finish by Rodriguez gives the Saints a 1-0 lead.

It’s the 27^th minute when Rickie Lambert wins the ball from a Spurs defender after a Southampton free kick. Lambert plays a through ball to Adam Lallana who finishes it off. The ball shoots into the bottom left corner, giving Southampton a 2-0 lead within 10 minutes. Good to know too that Roy Hodgson is in the crowd watching while these two England players scored.

In the 30^th minute, the officials make their biggest mistake of the match. Dejan Lovren goes down due to a Tottenham player, but instead of rewarding the Saints defender with the free kick he deserves, the linesman and referee just stand there. The ball goes to Nathaniel Clyne who can’t deal with it properly, losing the ball to Christian Erikson who scores. Artur Boruc didn’t stand a chance while the ball flies into the bottom left corner. Referee Anthony Taylor probably should have gone to Specsavers before taking the whistle for this match.

Erikson tries to get a penalty in the 41^st minute when he goes down with the ball in the box as Boruc catches and holds the ball. However there is no contact between the players and Boruc has the ball, so there is no intention for a corner. A shame Erikson didn’t realise this while he’s laying in the box pathetically.

Southampton has won half of their points away from home, its their best away record they have ever had in the Premier League. As for Tottenham, most of their goals, both for and against, have happened in the second half. So the second half might be pretty interesting.

Calum Chambers starts the second half instead of Nathaniel Clyne. Clyne isn’t being replaced for his defence mistake in the first half, apparently he has a groin/pelvis injury which is why Mauricio Pochettino was forced to make his first substitution so early on.

Within the first minute Dejan Lovren dispossesses the ball to Roberto Soldado. Soldado passes the ball onto Christian Erikson, who then makes the equaliser with his close range shot to the centre of the goal. It doesn’t even take one minute for the Spurs to score, this is a great start for them.

It looks like the tables have turned now. Southampton seems to have given up on their high pressure game play while Tottenham decided to take control of the ball now. On the other hand, it took the Spurs 45 minutes before they managed to match the Saints successful play.

In the 62^nd minute Pochettino makes his second substitution, Gastón Ramirez replaces goal scorer Jay Rodriguez. It looks like this isn’t a tactical change but that Rodriguez actually incurred a leg injury.

In the 67^th minute we see Nacer Chadli calling for a handball when the ball seems to hit Luke Shaws, who is already trying to turn away from the ball, arm. Chadli’s arm is still up in the air when Gastón Ramirez tries to clear the ball. This is where the events take a turn when the ball actually gets blocked by Chadli’s hand, rewarding Southampton with a free kick due to a handball.

Christian Erikson has had a taste of scoring now as he almost makes his hat trick in the 68^th minute. Younes Kaboul passes the ball to Erikson, who makes a fast run with the ball. Lucky for Southampton Calum Chambers manages to slide in just in time to clear the ball. I don’t know who was supposed to be targeting Erikson, but this was a good recovery by the young Chambers.

The Saints create two more chances towards the end of the second half. Firstly when Adam Lallana crosses the ball to Rickie Lambert, who’s in front of goal and heads the ball. Unfortunately his attempt gets blocked. 3 minutes later Lallana crosses the ball back to Gastón Ramirez. Ramirez takes a hard shot but it gets blocked by the Tottenham defence.

Mauricio Pochettino makes his late last substitution in the 89^th minute, when Rickie Lambert makes way for Sam Gallagher. Maybe the young striker can make another late goal, like his very first goal last week.

The Spurs get lucky in the 1^st added minute when José Fontes header goes to the wrong player. Christian Erikson passes the ball to Gylfi Sigurdsson. Sigurdsson shoots the ball from outside the box, it shoots clear through the Saints defenders into the bottom left corner. Artur Boruc didn’t stand a chance to save this shot. This was probably the only goal Tottenham made this match due to good game play. And it is the goal that will give them all 3 points.

Southampton really was the stronger side in the first half. The first Tottenham goal shouldn’t even have happened as the game should have been stopped for a free kick in Southamptons favour. And then goal is where it all started to go downwards for the Saints.

The second Spur goal which happened within the first minute of the second half, was a defensive mess up on Lovrens behalf. After this goal we could see Southamptons confidence crumble while Tottenham started to wake up and took most ball possession, desperate to win the game.

We all know that it takes only one goal to win a game and it only takes one defensive mess up to create a goal. However I do believe a draw would have been the fairest outcome in this match. It’s a shame that the Saints don’t seem to be able to keep their high pressure game play up for the full 90 minutes, I hope they will be able to improve this. They also shouldn’t let their confidence slip away after conceiving a goal. This is only their second season back in the Premier League, so they still have ways to grow stronger.

It was good to see Jack Cork starting again, as he played a good match together with James Ward-Prowse in midfield. I believe Cork and Ward-Prowse play better together than Morgan Schneiderlin and James Ward-Prowse did last week. Ward-Prowse seemed to be touching the ball a fair bit more this match.

Southampton v Norwich City

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

Last Saturday Southampton was hosting Norwich City at St Marys. Since both Jack Cork and Victor Wanyama were ruled out injured, Cork injured his ankle last match and Wanyama’s previous injured leg played up again after that same match, it was a surprise who would be starting. Would Mauricio Pochettino choose James Ward-Prowse or would he drop Steven Davis back to midfield so Gastón Ramirez could start. Well they both started, Ward-Prowse in midfield and Ramirez was replacing Lambert, moving him to the bench.

With these changes, we now had Jay Rodriguez up front as a striker with Ramirez right behind him. Adam Lallana moved to the left wing. And we all know Lallana can either play right or left or even centre attacking midfield.

England boss Roy Hodgson is attending this game just as club owner Katharina Liebherr and Southamptons new chairman Ralph Krueger.

Gastón Ramirez gets his first chance after the first minute when James Ward-Prowse crosses it from the corner. Ramirez heads it just a little bit too high. 3 minutes after this chance Ramirez gets a chance to show us his skills when he plays a through ball to Morgan Schneiderlin. He could have passed it to Rodriguez but spotted Schneiderlin in a better position. Schneiderlin finishes this ball confidently, giving Southampton a 1-0 lead.

This was all the excitement we get to see in the first half. Southampton definitely was the stronger side these first 45 minutes with about 70% possession. They had several attempts at goal but none of them succeeded, leaving the score at 1-0 at half time.

Southampton starts the second half off where they have left the first half, full on attacking the Canaries. James Ward-Prowse gets a shot at goal but goalie John Ruddy manages to turn it into a corner instead. Then Adam Lallana’s header, from a corner cross, is very close but just misses to the right.

After this miss Lallana gets taken off the field so Rickie Lambert can replace him. I’m surprised Pochettino decided to take his captain off as his first substitution. But I don’t get much time to really think about this decision. As José Fonte’s header bounces towards Lambert. Lambert shoots the ball from the centre of the box right in between Ruddy and the post into the bottom right corner. It took Lambert exactly 66 seconds to score! That must have impressed Roy Hodgson.

In the 60^th minute Gastón Ramirez is dealing with some cramps making Pochettino decide to replace him with Guly do Prado.

Around the 72^nd minute is starts to get pretty clumsy around the Norwich goal. Rickie Lambert passes the ball to Guly do Prado, who’s shot gets saved in the centre of the goal. But the ball bounces in between Norwich defenders until Lambert gets control of it again, he passes it to Jay Rodriguez this time. Which turned out a better decision as Rodriguez shoots it right into the centre of the goal. Rodriguez 50^th league goal gives Southampton a 3-0 lead and makes it look like it’s game over now for Norwich.

It all goes down in the 84^th minute when José Fonte back passes the ball without even watching to who he is playing it. The ball goes straight to Johan Elmander at the centre of the box. Elmander doesn’t have to think twice about this present as he shoots it right into the centre of the goal. Artur Boruc didn’t stand a chance.

Guly do Prado doesn’t fare much better as Fonte, when he also passes the ball towards the Canaries. Elmander takes control of the ball again trying to set up Ricky van Wolfswinkel. Boruc manages to save van Wolfswinkels shot, but the bounce off goes to Robert Snodgrass who does manage to score with a clean shot from the right side of the box to the bottom right corner. It just takes over a minute for Canaries to change the score to 3-2.

The unbelievable has happened. For over 80 minutes Norwich have been hopeless, barely having just over 30% possession. When the Saints seem to get too comfortable having at 3-0 lead at their home ground. They’ve let their guard down, getting a bit sloppy, resulting in two changes for the Canaries. They know exactly how to use these lucky chances. Within 2 minutes they turn the pressure around, and now Southampton is the team under pressure trying to keep their 3 points as Norwich, now they’ve had a taste of scoring, is determined to score again.

As 5 minutes added time get added to the second half, I actually worry that Southampton will settle for a draw after they’ve been mastering this match for 80 minutes.  The confidence of being able to defeat Norwich, let them loosen the reigns just enough to conceive 2 goals. Maybe this is what the Saints needed to put them on sharp again, making them realise the match isn’t over yet and anything can happen.

Mauricio Pochettino decides to waste some of those pressing added minutes by making his last substitution. Jay Rodriguez makes way for youngster Sam Gallagher two minutes into the extra time.

One minute later Dejan Lovren bumps into teammate Steven Davis and goes down. At first I think he’s just trying to do his best to waste more time as he pretends to be in great pain. After some time they support him while he crumples of the field. We’ll find out later Lovren truly was in great pain as he got stepped onto one of his testicles.

Norwich give the ball away just before the end of the game when one of their players falls to the field while he’s trying to turn around with the ball. Steven Davis takes this opportunity to take the ball and run forwards towards the only Norwich defender left in front of goal. Sam Gallagher runs up with Davis on his left side. Just before the defender completely blocks the path for Davis, he passes it to Gallagher. Gallagher shoots the ball from the centre of the box towards the centre of the goal. John Ruddy tries to do his best to stop the ball but his touch is just to soft as the ball bounces into the goal anyway.

Gallagher scores his first Premier League goal in the 96^th minute of the match. A well deserved goal too. With this goal Sam secures the win for the Saints, they get to keep the 3 points and even overtake Newcastle on the ladder, moving Southampton into 8^th spot.

What an exciting last 15 minutes that was. Southampton did deserve the win, but they also shouldn’t get too comfortable. This is what Mauricio Pochettino had to say: “In football, nothing is finished until the final whistle. We lacked focus at the back and you can’t take anything for granted in the Premier League.”

As for Norwich City, I shouldn’t say this, but I sincerely hope they get relegated. Their game play is nasty to say the least. When they realise they aren’t good enough to win, they just start snapping players from the other team. Probably in attempt trying to take out their best players so they have a chance at winning themselves.

If you have watched the match, you can do the player ratings here: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/match-ratings/display/match:8250/southampton-v-norwich-city
If you are doing this, I’m asking you not to give Artur Boruc a low score as it isn’t his fault Norwich scored twiced so it wouldn’t be fair blaming him for it either.

Southampton v Liverpool – Luis Suarez Dives Again

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

Southampton was hosting Liverpool at St Mary’s at the 1^st of March. Mauricio Pochettino only made one change to his team, Dejan Lovren is fit to start again so Maya Yoshida moves to the bench. Gastón Ramirez is on the bench and he is a good substitution to have, especially if we look at his current form.

If you look properly at the Liverpool away kit, you will notice that the top of their right sock is purple while the top of the left sock is black. After seeing this, you would almost think that they don’t know the difference between right and left and that is why they are just wearing different socks.

Luke Shaw receives an unlucky blow in the 8^th minute causing him to fall down. Not great timing either to have him injured since he just received a call-up for the senior England squad for a friendly coming Wednesday. Roy Hodgson is also sitting in the crowd to watch him play. Lucky for Shaw he’s alright to keep on playing.

It doesn’t take long for Luis Suarez to strike. 15 minutes into the match and Liverpool are on the attack. José Fonte is trying to cover Suarez and has been successful until this point, when he slides down to stop to the ball, causing the ball to deflect from Fonte towards Suarez. Suarez knows exactly where the right post is and shoots it with one accurate shot right into that bottom right corner. Artur Boruc didn’t stood a chance against this Suarez goal.

Captain Adam Lallana gets his biggest chance to make an equaliser in the 31^st minute when Rickie Lambert head passes the ball towards him. Lallana might have expected his teammate Lambert to have a go himself instead of passing it on. However Lallana takes his chance but unluckily hits the left post.

With three minutes left in the first half, Southamptons top goal scorer gets a chance. Luke Shaw crosses the ball to the box, the ball seems to be targeted at Rickie Lambert but might a have a little too much speed for that. Lambert, who knows Jay Rodriguez is right behind him, lets the ball pass through his legs. Jay Rodriguez takes a clear, sharp shot towards the centre of the goal but goalie Simon Mignolet seems to be in a sharp mood today as he blocks the ball.

Gastón Ramirez comes on the field at the start of the second half. This early substitution seems to have several explanations. Either Steven Davis incurred an injury and that’s is why he is taken off the field or Ramirez made such a great impression on Mauricio Pochettino last week that he decides to give him some more playtime this match. Gastón Ramirez also needs more playtime if he wants to make it into the Uruguayan team to be able to play in Brazil. Whatever the reason is, Ramirez seems to be in good shape when he already creates a chance in the first minute he’s on the field. But this chance gets blocked.

12 minutes into the second half and Liverpool get a second chance. Luis Suarez is running towards goal and I’m wondering where Dejan Lovren is to stop him. As Luis Suarez passes the ball towards Raheem Sterling, the substitution who only came on a minute before and probably makes his first touch here. I have found Lovren who dived in while he would have been more effective staying up. Sterling shoots the ball in the bottom right corner, Artur Boruc didn’t stand a chance and he dives the wrong way. Raheem Sterling doubled Liverpools lead after being on the field for a bit more than a minute.

In the 72^nd minute Steven Gerrard shoots a sharp shot at goal but Artur Boruc punches it away. Right there Boruc shows what he’s worth as he manages to block two corners, which are followed by this save, as well.

Mauricio Pochettino makes a double change with 15 minutes of game time left. Sam Gallagher comes on for Rickie Lambert and Victor Wanyama for Jack Cork. These are Southamptons final substitutions.

Victor Wanyama slides in to win to ball while also snaps Luis Suarez in the 83^rd minute. Referee Lee Probert rewards Wanyama with a yellow card for his action. I can only wish that Wanyama would have tackled Suarez harder so he could have left the field injured.

With one minute of added time left, Luis Suarez tries to get another chance for Liverpool when he decides to dive into the box. José Fonte might have had a little hand in it as he tried to block the ball, but looking at the replay several times, I also have to come to the conclusion that it pretty much looks like Suarez hooks his foot around Fonte’s ankle on purpose so he can scene his fall. Suarez wouldn’t be Suarez to not take a chance like this to make a dive. As Fonte was just staying in place and made no movement to purposely trip Suarez.

Unlucky for the Saints, this all happens right in front of Lee Probert who appoints Liverpool a penalty. Captain Steven Gerrard shoots the ball into the top right corner. Luis Suarez went from not having scored against Southampton this season, to having a hand in all of the 3 goals which were scored today.

I don’t think Lee Probert should have given Liverpool a penalty as Southampton didn’t receive a penalty either in the 13^th minute when Adam Lallana gets pushed down in Liverpools box. But I can see how Probert was fooled by Suarez’s his acting. Suarez must live a double life as a drama actor as I have never seen a player who exaggerates every touch so much. I have the feeling Luis Suarez should have been to the big party tonight in America and collect his Oscar for Best Actor in Professional Sport.

After watching the whole match, I actually can’t believe Liverpool managed to score 3 goals while the Saints didn’t score at all. Both teams were pretty even in chances this match and Southampton just had a bit more possession. Liverpools chances were more on target though. The only explanation I have here is that Liverpool seems to be more accurate with the chances they get and manage to let half of them end in a goal. Southampton however needs to practice accuracy with their chances and shots. Yes Liverpool is a hard side to play but I don’t think Southampton should have lost with a 3 goals difference.

Here’s the caricature I draw up from Luis Suarez diving to get a penalty.

Don’t forget to give the players your rating if you have watched the match: http://tui.fansnetwork.co.uk/match-ratings/display/match:8230/rss

Southampton v Arsenal – Stronger Saints Lose Two Points To Lucky Gunners

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

Last night Southampton were hosting Arsenal at St. Mary’s, on a rainy Tuesday night. Because of several injuries on the Saints side, their starting eleven would be a surprise for the fans. With Dejan Lovren and Gaston Ramirez both still out because of ankle injuries. Rickie Lambert apparently hurt his hamstring, so he is out for this match as well. As is Dani Osvaldo who has been suspended by the club for two weeks.

This leaves three strikes for Mauricio Pochettino to choose from. We all know that Jay Rodriguez hasn’t been doing to well playing up front by himself and is in a better position playing on the left wing. Then we have Guly Do Prado and Sam Gallagher left, who both have only scored one goal this season.

Pochettino has chosen to give Sam Gallagher his debut start in the first team in this match against the League leaders. I don’t know what it was that made Pochettino decide to let the 18 year old start this match against the top team, but lets be honest, Mauricio Pochettino didn’t have much choice. And it is good seeing the manager put his faith in this young striker to take on the defenders of Arsenal.

Maya Yoshida has taken up Dejan Lovren spot in the centre back. On the bench we see Jos Hooiveld, Guly Do Prado and Lloyd Isgrove. Victor Wanyama has returned to bench as well. Looks like the hairline fracture in his leg has healed and he is ready to start playing again. But to be honest, I am glad that Mauricio Pochettino did leave Jack Cork on for this match. He has definitely proven himself worthy of his spot and has shown us his top form.

Not much happens in the first 20 minutes of the match. Southampton does have more possession with 63% but neither side have created any meaningful chances yet. But just as I was about to write down nothing was happening so far, something real exciting happened.

Luke Shaw crosses the ball towards the box. I must say it was a great, accurate cross. José Fonte meets the ball at the end of this cross, he heads it and scores! Last week he got head butted in training, now he head butts the ball and scores! I am still wondering what Fonte was doing all the way up at the box, but it was a well deserved goal. For Southampton since they have been the stronger team so far and for José Fonte to show the fans it takes more than a bruised eye to stop him from playing.

After this goal seem more consisting in keeping those three points. They are putting even more pressure on their visitors. In the 25^th minute Sam Gallagher gets the ball, we can all see he is offside, but the assistant referee let him run on causing Wojciech Szczesny to run out of his goal to challenge Gallagher. The assistant referee should put up his flag as soon as he sees it is offside and not wait for it to get this far, a one-on-one challenge, before he makes his call, because this could have caused serious injuries for both sides.

Before half time, Sam Gallagher gets two changes to make a second goal for the Saints. Both times Gallagher just doesn’t seem to touch the ball right. First chance comes when Calum Chambers passes him the ball. Gallagher shoots the ball from the centre of the box but it misses to the left. But at least Sam Gallagher was waiting at the right spot. The second chance comes when Steven Davis passes him the ball. Gallagher tries to shoot, although the ball seems to come of his calf and gets blocked. Looks like Gallagher just has to practice a bit more on finishing off his chances, he is young enough and has years more to develop his skills.

Arsenal biggest, and probably only, chance of the first half comes just two minutes before half time. Per Mertesacker head passes the ball to Laurent Koscielny. Koscielny shoots the ball from close range to the centre of the goal where Artur Boruc saves it.

At the end of the first half all I can say is that Southampton definitely is the stronger team and probably should have already been up to 3-0. Arsenal has been playing really slack, they don’t even try to win the ball back after they lose it to the Saints. It looked like they were only doing a warming up at the first 40 minutes, not playing a proper football match. After watching Arsenal play, you can’t even call it ‘play’, like this, I honestly can’t believe the Gunners are at the top of the Premier League.

The second half starts off quickly when Arsenal make their first goal only two minutes into it. Bacary Sagna has the ball and he tries to make his way past Jay Rodriguez. A little trick on Sagna’s side creates just enough space between him and Rodriguez so he can move past the Saints player. He shoots from close range to the bottom left corner and scores. It was a good created chance by Sagna and Rodriguez probably should have tried that little harder to stop him. After having repeatedly watched this goal, I am not sure though why this goal goes to Oliver Giroud, leaving Bacary Sagna with the assist. Giroud didn’t even look like touching the ball.

Only 5 minutes after making their first goal, the Gunners strike again. It looks like they finally have gotten the hang of this game. Santiago Cazorla curls the ball from outside the box to the bottom left corner. Cazorla used his chance well to get Arsenal ahead. The assist goes to Mesut Özil. All I can say is that the Gunners seem to use their chances more accurate, but they still don’t deserve to win this game as they haven’t shown much skill at all so far.

The lucky thing for the Saints is that they have Adam Lallana on their side. He shows what he is made off only 1 minute after Arsenals last goal. Jay Rodriguez makes a great pass when he plays the ball through the legs of an Arsenal defender. Adam Lallana is waiting on the other side of this defender for the ball. He shoots the ball from the centre box to the centre of the goal and score! This was a perfect finish by Adam Lallana, showing us once more why he fully deserves to play in the England team.

Now that the Saints got even again with the Gunners, they seem even more determined to win this game and keep all three points. They keep on running forward, attacking the Arsenal defence to look for their third goal.

Sam Gallaghers first team start comes to an end in the 69^th minute when Mauricio Pochettino replaces him with James Ward-Prowse. Honestly I would have taken Sam Gallagher off earlier. Yes he is a young player who shows heaps of potential, but taking on the top of the table Arsenal might have been a bit too much for the young striker. After he missed two pretty big chances at the end of the first half, he should have been replaced at the start of the second half so the Saints could try to keep their win.

Mathieu Flamini makes the most stupid challenge possible in the 80^th minute when he slides in with both feet aimed at Morgan Schneiderlin. Any soccer player would know this is absolutely not done and won’t be appreciated by the referee. Even though it is just plain stupid to go in with two feet, it is even dumber to it right in front of the referee, which is exactly what Flamini did. His protests towards referee Lee Mason go unheard when Mason pulls out his red card to send Flamini off. This was a very good call by Lee Mason. And lucky for Southampton, Schneiderlin doesn’t get injured in this challenge.

With two minutes left in the second half, Mauricio Pochettino brings Guly Do Prado on for Steven Davis. Even though the whole Southampton team has been playing great, I would have brought Guly on a bit earlier to give him decent game time which he absolutely deserves after the match he played on Saturday.

6 minutes of extra time get added on after the 90 minutes. Southampton is really trying to make their third goal and win the match now that Arsenal has lost a player. But with only 10 players left, the Gunners seem determined to defend stronger to not lose this one point they could take home.

That is how this match ends, in a draw 2-2. Honestly said, Southampton did deserve the win. They have been the stronger side throughout the whole game. The first 45 minutes they completely owned the match while Arsenal weren’t even putting in an effort to get the ball. And even though the Saints started the second half off a bit less strong as the first 45 minutes, letting in 2 goals in 5 minutes, they came back stronger and even more determined after that when Adam Lallana scored their second goal. Arsenal was very weak in this match and should be so grateful for the one point they got to keep home, as it would be more deserved for them to leave empty handed. I can’t believe a team who starts of playing so weak in the first half is actually on top in the Premier League.

Camera’s also showed, during the match, that owner Katharina Liebherr was attending this match. A broad smile on her face also gives us the indication that she fully enjoyed her team play.

Please don’t forget to rate the players if you have watched the full match: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/match-ratings/display/match:8180/southampton-v-arsenal

Sunderland v Southampton – Unlucky Draw For Southampton

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

For Saturdays match Southampton travelled to the Stadium of Light to play against Sunderland. Mauricio Pochettino only made one change to his team, Calum Chambers is starting in right back which means that Nathaniel Clyne has been moved to the bench. Chambers wasn’t available last week due to illness but luckily he is fit enough to start again this match.

Danni Osvaldo is sitting out the last game of his suspension, so he will be available again for the next match.

Southampton manages to get a good early possession on the ball and they also posses the capability to keep the ball in their possession.

The match is only 3 minutes old when Morgan Schneiderlin head passes the ball to Jay Rodriguez, who shoots the ball straight through the defensive players, right into the bottom left corner. What a great finish this is by Jay Rodriguez to make his 50^th League goal. This is a fantastic start of the match for the Saints.

Only 7 minutes into the game and Southampton is already dominating with 81% possession of the ball so far.

Eleven minutes after his goal, Jay Rodriguez creates another chance when Jack Cork passes him the ball. Rodriguez runs all the way up towards the goal and tries to shoot, but his shot gets blocked.

The Sunderland fans look pretty down so far into the match since their team has barely shown any play so far in the game. On the other hand, the loyal Southampton fans seem in good spirits after having made a 5 hour trip to witness this match.

The Saints seem to be creating chance after chance. Firstly in the 16^th minute when Luke Shaw gets the ball after a corner. He shoots the ball at goal – it is an accurate shot which just hits the post because of a slight deflection off defender Sebastian Larsson.

Four minutes after this chance, the Saints break forward again. Adam Lallana passes the ball to Rickie Lambert, Lambert passes the ball to Morgan Schneiderlin who quickly plays it back to Lambert. Lambert takes a good shot on the ball but just misses the goal. This chance shows though how fantastic Southamptons pass play is.

In the 25^th minute we get to see which five Southampton players have completed the most passes so far into the game. Showing us the passing statistics of Sunderland wouldn’t be worth it since they have barely been touching the ball. For the Saints it is Jack Cork who has completed the most passes with already 37 so early on into the game. Second comes Morgan Schneiderlin with 32, followed by Steven Davis with 25. The two centre backs are taking up spot 4 and 5, Dejan Lovren has completed 22 passes and José Fonte 17.

Almost every time when Jack Cork got the ball, he has heaps of space to play. It looks like the Black Cats aren’t able to deck him. Cork has been dictating the game so far with his great play and lots of completed passes.

Sunderland have been chasing shadows so far. They have put no pressure on the ball whatsoever so far in the match.

Southampton gets another corner in the 30^th minute which Steven Davis takes. It looks like he is targeting Dejan Lovren, who runs at the ball, jumps up and shoots it straight into that left corner. What a good finish by the Croatian, he makes it 2-0 for Southampton. This is exactly why Dejan Lovren and José Fonte run forward whenever the Saints get a corner. It is surprising though that no Sunderland defender was on that left post, because it would have been easy to block this goal if they were there. But instead Sunderland just gave away a great goal to Dejan Lovren.

Sunderland fans seem to be leaving already after this second Southampton goal while the Black Cats try to go on the counterattack. Adam Johnson plays the ball towards Fabio Borini, who is just onside. Borini shoots the ball from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Artur Boruc couldn’t get there on time and just misses the ball. Sunderland manages to score only 1 minute and 28 seconds after Dejan Lovrens goal. This goal seems to have given Sunderland the confidence they needed as they are starting to attack more. I guess to fans who were just leaving before, are desperate to get back into the stadium now.

But Southampton doesn’t want to give their lead away as they try to keep creating chances of their own. Firstly there is Adam Lallana, assisted by Steven Davis, who’s shot from outside the box gets blocked. Then Jay Rodriguez’s shot is close but just misses to the left. And the third chance comes when Jack Cork manages to run all the way up to the box and passes the ball to Adam Lallana. Unlucky for the Lallana, the defenders are already on him and he can’t get through to take a shot. Maybe Jack Cork should have tried it himself.

Two minutes get added onto this half. And in the 46^th minute Rickie Lambert gets Southamptons final chance of the first half with a free kick. Lamberts sharp shot curled inside the post, but goalie Vito Mannone pushes it away. However it was a great free kick by Rickie Lambert even though it didn’t have a goal as a result.

The first half was the worst first half Sunderland has had this season, so they can’t probably be any worse this half. Anything they do will already be an improvement. The Black Cats need to get more in the face of their opponent at home, especially if you’re in the relegation zone like they are. They can’t afford to welcome a team at their home ground and let the guests leave with the 3 points in their pocket without even trying to win themselves.

3 minutes into the second half Luke Shaw creates another chance for himself when Artur Boruc passes him the ball. Shaw runs up the field and shoots. It is a pretty good shot which unfortunately goes straight to Vito Mannone.

Something must have happened in the Sunderland dressing room during the half time break, as they now seem to try harder to actually make another goal. Almost 10 minutes into the second half we see that Sunderland has had 59% of the possession so far this half. This could be promising for the Sunderland fans.

But the Black Cats can’t keep this up for long as a few minutes later the Saints put the pressure back on the Sunderland defence. Several chances get created from that moment onwards as Morgan Schneiderlin passes the ball to Calum Chambers, who gives the ball a good hard shot which gets saved. Jay Rodriguez also has a go at it when Adam Lallana gives him the ball, this chance gets saved too. José Fonte also has a go at it when he heads a corner towards goal, which also gets saved.

Southampton manages to go forward on the field each time they get the ball. They surely do know how to play a high pressure game. Their biggest chance of the second half probably comes in the 60^th minute when Rickie Lambert makes a run. He passes the ball to Jay Rodriguez, who shoots it from the centre of the box but just misses to the right. It was a close shot.

Sunderland scores another goal in the 63^rd minute when Fabio Borini breaks free and runs forward. Artur Boruc decides to run out and block the ball, but he just misses. Borini finishes his shot well and is celebrating his second goal happily. However I am convinced he was just offside when he get received the ball. Lucky the assistant referee agrees with me and cuts Borini’s celebrating off.

The Black Cats create another chance in the 70^th minute when Graig Gardner passes the ball to Adam Johnson. Johnson shoots the ball from the right side of the box to the top right corner. The ball only just flies through Artur Borucs hands – he seemed a little off balance. It shouldn’t have been a goal as Boruc should have been able to save it, this was a poor mistake by him and it draws Sunderland level with Southampton.

Mauricio Pochettino decides to make his first substitution in the 72^nd minute. Gastón Ramirez comes on for Adam Lallana. It is surprising that Lallana gets taken off after he has been playing such a great match so far. It is not surprising though to see Pochettino taking the captain off the field again since he has been doing this almost every single game.

Sunderland seems to try harder now to get the win, since they only need one more goal to get all 3 points. But Artur Boruc blocks their next chance in and it looks like he is trying to make up for his mistake from just before. Even though Boruc just made a good block, the Southampton fans are still showing their unhappiness about the Johnson goal he let in. Boruc isn’t pleased with the fans their response. Mauricio Pochettino seems to be so displeased about Boruc that he is even considering bringing Kelvin Davis on who is taking his jacket off and putting his gloves on. But when Boruc makes another save in the 79^th minute it looks like he has dealt with his problems and is able to play properly again. This makes Pochettino decide to leave Davis on the bench who is putting his jacket back on.

A few minutes later it looks like Mauricio Pochettino wants to bring James Ward-Prowse on the field for Jack Cork. I can understand he wants to give this young, talented player a run of the field, but Jack Cork has been playing fantastic this match and will probably be voted man of the match. It looks like Pochettino has to consider his substitutions a bit more before actually making them.

When Gastón Ramirez is just over 10 minutes on the field he starts to make a good run forward. He tries to get through the Sunderland defence, but they knock him down and even win the free kick. Wes Brown did win the ball but when you have a proper look at the replay you can also see that, after he wins the ball, he stands on Ramirez’s ankle which bends in half. So giving the free kick to Sunderland was a bad referee decision as Wes Brown just made a very nasty foul. Then on the other side of the field we see Dejan Lovren going down, he is holding his leg but it is hard to see in the replays what caused his injury. The medical staff are really slow with bringing the stretchers on to take those players off the field. Lovren even gets an oxygen mask on. It turns out that both players have a foot/ankle injury.

It is lucky for Mauricio Pochettino that he hadn’t brought James Ward-Prowse on yet as now he has two spare substitutions to bring on. It is almost as he sensed something was going to happen and that is why he has waited so long with making his substitutions or he was so pleased with the players game play so far that he just wants to leave them on. That these injuries happened is very unlucky for Southampton as now they lost two key players, but the positive thing is that Pochettino now has to leave the man of the match on the field. So on comes Ward-Prowse to replace Gastón Ramirez and Maya Yoshida takes Dejan Lovrens spot.

7 minutes get added on this second half due to the injuries which took up a lot of time. Not much happens in this extra time, no big chances are created. Sunderland does try to win especially now that Southampton has lost two key players, but Southampton stays strong and the match end in a two all draw.

Sunderland should be happy that they still got one point out of this game as Southampton has been the dominant team. The did have the upper hand as they have had 17 shots of which 8 were on target to only 10 shots for Sunderland with 5 on target. The Saints also had 63% of the possession during the whole match and completed a lot of passes. These statistics show that Southampton definitely was the stronger team and they are unlucky to not take all 3 points home with them. The Saints do have to work harder on their finishing skills during their training as it happens often that a Southampton chance ends away from the goal. On the other hand the Black Cats take every chance they get and even managed to score 2 out of those 5 on target shots.

Southampton v West Bromwich Albion – Reigning Saints Seem Little Off Target

Source picture: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25600388

West Bromwich Albion was visiting St. Mary’s on Saturday the 11^th of January to play Southampton FC. The big surprise (in a very good way) in the starting eleven is Artur Boruc. It looks like his hand is back to its old state and he is ready to start goalkeeping again. The rest of the team is similar to previous matches with Nathaniel Clyne starting his second match in a row now.

I am only surprised to not see Calum Chambers on the bench after he has been playing pretty well. The other surprise is to see Jos Hooiveld still on the bench, I had hoped that by now he would have made some space for another reserve player. We see that Guly do Prado is on the bench as well. Maybe he has been doing well in training or Mauricio Pochettino just wants to keep him happy by putting him on the bench, unless Guly has been asking for more game time himself.

Rickie Lambert might be extra motivated for this match as he is only one goal away from having scored one hundred goals in the Premier League. Lets hope he can make that desire come true this match.

20 minutes into the match and not much has happened yet. Southampton have been the better team right from the start as they have had more possession so far and West Bromwich Albion seems to struggle to even touch the ball. Even though they haven’t been able to touch the ball much, they have been trying hard to defend strongly and keep the Saints away from Ben Foster. Southampton hasn’t been able yet to create a good chance.

Dejan Lovren receives a yellow card in the 26^th minute after he committed a bad foul on Shane Long. At first Shane Long seems like a pretty good actor laying on the field, but now it looks like he is genuinely in pain since they move him off the field while the free kick is taken. Artur Boruc punches this free kick away and with that, he has made his first save of the game. Later Boruc says that the doctor told him he could have some problems with his hand when he had to punch the ball. He said his hand was fine after he had to punch the ball to make his first save. Such good news his hand is completely healed now.

Two minutes later Rickie Lambert commits a foul also resulting in a free kick. The ball goes straight to Artur Boruc and it is an easy save for him.

By the 34^th minute Southampton have made 6 attempts, of which 2 were on target, to 2 off target attempts of West Bromwich Albion. This might sound exciting but these two Southampton chances weren’t big at all as goalie Ben Foster was always there to stop the ball.

With only 5 minutes of playtime left in the first half, the Baggies seem to be able to touch the ball a little bit more.

In the 43^rd minute Steven Davis plays the ball to Rickie Lambert who is just on side. He puts the ball on his foot but seems to feel the pressure to make his 100^th goal as he shoots too high and the ball goes over the crossbar.

Two minutes later the same happens with Jay Rodriguez as Nathaniel Clyne passes him the ball. Rodriguez has a right footed shot from outside the box that is too high and also goes over the crossbar.

With that it is half time and I must say it was a pretty boring 45 minutes. There weren’t really any decent chances created even though you would have expected some as Southampton had the ball about two thirds of the time. To give you an indication of the boredom of this first half, the most exciting thing that happened was the foul by Dejan Lovren which got him a yellow card.

Both teams start the second half with the same players who have played the first half. Five minutes into the second half and Southampton creates a chance when Jay Rodriguez is running up the field with Rickie Lambert as support. However Rodriguez decides to try it himself but his shot goes wide.

The Saints seem to get stronger at attacking this half. Maybe Mauricio Pochettino told them it is not enough to have main possession of the ball and that a goal is needed. I don’t know what happened in the dressing room during half time, but it looks like the Saints are more motivated now to make that goal.

Mauricio Pochettino decides to make his first substitution in the 61^st minute. On goes Gastón Ramirez to replace Jack Cork. Yes Southampton can use an extra attacker on the field to finally break through the Baggies defence so I do understand why Pochettino choose Ramirez to come on. Jack Cork however has been defending well in this match and I hope the loss of this defensive player won’t make a crack in the Southampton defence for the West Bromwich Albion players to slip through.

4 minutes after he came on the field, Gastón Ramirez already gets to take a free kick. Ramirez takes the shot from outside the box with his left foot, the ball goes towards the bottom right corner but Ben Foster is waiting for it and he catches it.

Ramirez creates another chance just two minutes after his free kick. He crosses the ball to Adam Lallana at the centre of the box. Ben Foster decides to run out of the goal, opening it up for Adam Lallana, who then shoots the ball with his right foot to the centre of the goal. And a goal it is. Mauricio Pochettino made a good decision when he brought Gastón Ramirez on as this extra attacking player helped the Saints to create enough pressure so that the Baggies defence would crack. Southampton did deserve this goal as they have been the stronger team all along, they just needed to create an opening to score and so they did.

Suddenly West Bromwich Albion seems more motivated to get a goal of their own to draw level with Southampton. This is evident as they are taking more risks which sometimes turn into fouls, such as when Jonas Olssen places his boot with the studs up in Adam Lallana’s upper leg.  This must be on purpose since the ball isn’t even near his boot, maybe he is jealous that Lallana got to make a goal for his mothers birthday. It was a nasty foul which Howard Webb luckily saw and he gives Olssen a yellow card. Webb has been gentle here and I reckon Olssen should be happy he didn’t get sent off the field.

Pochettino makes his second substitution with 7 minutes of game time left. Off goes Adam Lallana to make way for James Ward-Prowse. This makes Rickie Lambert the captain. I do think that Mauricio Pochettino should stop taking the captain of the field, specially after he has been playing such a great game. But also, what does it do to the mentality of the rest of the team when they see their captain being replaced?

West Bromwich Albion now seem desperate to get the equaliser and the Southampton defence is being put to the test. With two minutes left on the clock Shane Long takes his chance when Liam Ridgewell plays the ball towards him. Long gets a one-on-one with Artur Boruc. Boruc seems to sense what is going to happen and he goes low, instead of staying up, in attempt to stop the ball. Maybe Boruc is psychic as this is exactly what the ball does, it stays low. Artur Boruc blocks the ball and thereby prevents the Baggies from drawing level. This was West Bromwich Albions best chance but they weren’t able to beat our Holy Goalie. It is so good to see Boruc back on the field in great shape. Down below you can see a picture of this awesome save.

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

3 minutes of extra time are added to the second half and Pochettino decides to waste some time by making his third substitution in the 90^th minute. He decides to give Guly do Prado a run and takes Jay Rodriguez off.

With only one minute left to play, Shane Long receives a lucky free kick on the right wing. The free kick goes out and turns into a corner for West Bromwich Albion. This corner gets conceded by Artur Boruc and with that Howard Webb blows his whistle to indicate the end of the match. Webb has been really fair this match and made good calls.

Looking at the match statistics at full time, you might get the impression that the Saints were overrunning the Baggies the whole game as those statistics show 18 attempts to only 4, with 5 on target for the Saints to 2 for the Baggies. And with 62% of the possession in this match you would be surprised by only seeing one goal on the match sheet. If you have watched this game you might wonder where those attempts went as the whole match looked pretty boring. Yes Southampton did have most possession but they also had a very hard time creating chances and breaking through the West Bromwich Albion defence.

As you can see by looking at their total attempts and the attempts which were actually on target, you can see that a lot of the Saint shots went wide. They weren’t really accurate with their chances and definitely should have tried harder to create more goals as only one goal is not enough based on those statistics. In their last match, Southampton actually looked sharp and created goals out of chances similar to those which went wide during this match. The Saints have some work to do during training this week on how to finish off their shots.

Southampton v Chelsea – Chelsea Stifles Southampton In Every Attack

Southampton hosted Chelsea at St. Mary’s on the first day of this New Year. There are two changes to the Southampton team. Firstly Morgan Schneiderlin is back from suspension and he is starting on the field, moving James Ward-Prowse back to the bench. Secondly we see that Gastón Ramirez is making his first league start this season, so Rickie Lambert has to start on the bench. There might be two reason for why Lambert is starting on the bench, firstly he might just be tired after all the game time he has had in the last games which also happen to take place in short time frame. Or it is because Ramirez loves to play through balls and Lambert might not be fast enough to run after them, but Jay Rodriguez is. So maybe Mauricio Pochettino is hoping that Ramirez will set Rodriguez up.

Within the first 2 minutes of the game Fernando Torres already creates two chances. Gastón Ramirez loses the ball to Torres so he gets his second run towards Kelvin Davis goal. Luckily Davis manages to block the ball both times.

In the 4^th minute Chelsea gets their first corner. When the ball is coming towards the goal José Fonte knocks Dejan Lovren down to the ground. Lovrens mouth is bleeding and it turns out his tooth got loose. I hope this is not an act of jealousy since Lovren seems to have been standing more in the spotlight lately. It turns out it is not, since Fonte has blood on his own head as well. Lovren is tough so he just plays on.

In the 12^th minute Chelsea’s Ramires runs towards the goal to get a one on one with Kelvin Davis. Davis decides to take a risk and run out of his goal to block the ball. If his timing is off, it will mean that Ramires will have an open goal in front of him and he can make sure that Chelsea takes the lead. Luckily his calculations are accurate and he arrives just in time to block the ball. This was a good save by Kelvin Davis.

The weather conditions for this game are far from ideal with a strong wind and heavy rain. This makes it harder for the players to play a top game and it is therefore understandable that the players find it hard to deal with those weather conditions.

Southampton gets a big chance in the 16^th minute when Morgan Schneiderlin passes the ball to Adam Lallana. Lallana tries but the Chelsea defenders are right there to block it. After this chance, the Saints get two more good chances within 10 minutes. Gastón Ramirez plays a through ball towards Jay Rodriguez, who is onside and tries to break through the Chelsea defence. But with three defenders around him, he doesn’t make it. Then Calum Chambers manages to run up the field and he crosses the ball to Adam Lallana who, unfortunately, gets blocked by 3 Chelsea defenders. It was great chance.

Southampton seems to have more possession but they are just having a hard time breaking through the Blues defence. It looks like Chelsea knows how to stop the Southampton attacks, as every time the Saints get a chance to run towards Chelsea’s goal, there are always at least 3 Blues defenders waiting there for the Southampton player. So no matter how hard the Saints try, it looks like Chelsea has figured out their game play and will just be waiting in front of Petr Cechs goal to stifle each Southampton attack.

Ramires runs towards the goal again in the 34^th minute but Kelvin Davis makes another good save. Davis seems to get more comfortable and starts to make better saves, who thought a goalie at the age of 37 could still improve his game play.

The second half starts with one change. Nathaniel Clyne is coming on for Luke Shaw. Apparently Luke Shaw injured his toe in the Everton match and this toe is bugging him too much now to play properly. Nathaniel Clyne isn’t fit enough yet to play a full game, but at least we have a great substitute option sitting on the bench. Hopefully it won’t be much longer until he can play full games again.

Five minutes into the second half Chelsea manager José Maurinho decides to make two early substitutions. Juan Mata comes off for Oscar and Willian replaces Andre Schürrle. These must be tactical changes to try and turn the match their way.

It only takes four minutes before Oscar receives his first yellow card. Oscar runs towards the goal and Kelvin Davis slides to block the ball. Then Oscar falls to the ground. Replays show that, if there even was contact between those two players, the contact was at an absolute minimum. Referee Martin Atkinson sees it right and makes a fair decision by giving Oscar a yellow card instead of a penalty. I really hate players who just try to dive to receive a penalty. What happened to fair play? At least now there was a referee on the field who saw it happening and made a fair call.

Chelsea scores a lucky goal in the 59^th minute. After the ball deflects from Calum Chambers boot, it lands near Torres who just happens to be in the right spot and heads it into the bottom right corner from a close range. Maybe Davis is to blame as he should have tried a bit harder to block the ball, but then again we can also blame Chambers since he didn’t make a good enough clearance. Either way, it looks like Fernando Torres has finally broken Chelsea’s curse since he was the last Chelsea striker to score away from home and that was 13 months ago. That is right, no Chelsea striker scored in 2013 away from home, which is a pretty pathetic statistic.

One minute after this goal Mauricio Pochettino decides to bring on Rickie Lambert so he takes off Jack Cork. Hopefully by bringing on Lambert we can create more chances to get level. But again I don’t fully understand why Cork is the unlucky one to come off. I don’t think Morgan Schneiderlin and Steven Davis have been playing much better. Although maybe Pochettino doesn’t want to take Davis off on his birthday. And maybe Jack Cork has been playing a bit risky against his old team, but I don’t believe his game play was that aggressive that he was in danger of receiving a second yellow card.

Only four minutes after he has come on the field, Rickie Lambert gets the best chance for Southampton in the whole game. Nathaniel Clyne has the ball and crosses it forward towards Rickie Lambert who is near Petr Cech’s goal. Lambert heads it from the centre of the box but the ball goes straight to Cech. What a great chance this was and from an excellent heading player like Lambert we would have expected him to score. Unfortunately he couldn’t make it happen.

It is the 70^th minute when Oscar has the ball and he tries to get past the Southampton defenders. While he is trying to rotate his way around the defenders, Calum Chambers falls down and Oscar manages to get past the other two defenders. Then he passes the ball to Willian who sure knows what to do with it. He shoots and he scores. Kelvin Davis didn’t stand a chance. This goal perfectly proves how important those two early substitutions were for Chelsea and how they have changed the game for them.

Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t allow Steven Davis to play a full game on his birthday, as he takes Davis off in the 75^th minute so he can bring on James Ward- Prowse. Hopefully this last Saints substitution will make a difference for us.

It is the 81^st minute when Oscar runs up towards Kelvin Davis goal again after Eden Hazard plays a through ball to him. Oscar makes a great run forward and manages to break through the Southampton defence. José Fonte notices this break through a bit too late but still tries to catch up with Oscar. Oscar shoots the ball with his left foot while Fonte tries to block the ball. Fonte makes a slight touch, just lightly enough that the ball deflects into the bottom left corner of the goal, leaving Kelvin Davis wrong-footed. This makes it 3-0 for Chelsea. Both those crucial Chelsea substitutions have scored now.

In the 93^rd minute, Southampton gets the last chance of the game. Adam Lallana plays the ball to Gastón Ramirez. Ramirez shoots from the centre of the box with his left foot but just misses the top left corner. Unfortunately he couldn’t repeat what he did in the last game to give Southampton at least one goal.

Both sides have been strong in this game, but Chelsea has used their chances better. The Southampton defence just wasn’t strong enough to keep the goals out, while the Saints had a hard time breaking through the Blues defence at the other end. It looks like Chelsea were better prepared for the way Southampton play then the other way around and I do have to say that, in the end after the they made their first goal, Chelsea has been the stronger team.

Don’t forget to rate the Saint players on The Ugly Inside website if you have watched this match: http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/match-ratings/display/match:8150/southampton-v-chelsea

Everton v Southampton – The Toffee Men Are Too Sticky For The Saints

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

The last game of 2013 for Southampton FC is against Everton FC at Goodison Park. Mauricio Pochettino has made some changes to his team again. It looks like Kelvin Davis is fit enough to play a full game now after his injury, since Pochettino decided to let him start this game. This means that Paulo Gazzaniga is forced to sit this match on the bench. I’m wondering if this is a smart move by Pochettino since last game was Paulo Gazzaniga’s best game so far and he kept a clean sheet. Dropping him to the bench might not be the best move for his confidence. Plus Kelvin Davis has a habit of letting the ball fall out of his hands or letting it roll between his legs. I am afraid that, with this change, we are already doomed now to lose those 3 points.

Then there is also the fact that Kelvin Davis gets to wear the captains armband this match. I understand he is older and he used to be the captain before when he was the starting goalie, still I don’t think it is fair towards Adam Lallana. Lallana has been a great captain for the Saints, while Davis hasn’t been in the goal for weeks. Looking at this I would say Adam Lallana would have a better football insight into the Southampton team and he should have been wearing that armband.

The more positive changes are Dejan Lovren who is better now and ready to play the full 90 minutes. This does mean that Maya Yoshida is moved to the bench, but this also means that we have a better reserve defender who can be used as a substitution. Nathaniel Clyne has recovered from his hamstring injury and is back on the bench for the first time in weeks. Looking at the Saints bench and seeing these two talented back-up defenders, gives me a bit more hope for this match.

The game starts slowly with both teams not really creating any chances yet. But this doesn’t last long. In the 8^th minute Seamus Coleman runs up towards the Kelvin Davis goal and is looking around for assistance, which he can’t find so he decides to give it a try himself. He shoots the ball into the top left corner and scores as his shot hits the net. What a goal. Davis was not to blame for this goal, since there was no way he could have touched it. But where was Luke Shaw? This is the bad thing about having wing defenders who run high up and down along the side of the field, sometimes they’re not back in their spot in time to prevent a goal like this.

Dejan Lovren makes a good block in the 23^rd minute, which results in a corner for Everton. It is good having Lovren back on the field and to see him make blocks and tackles like this. The corner is taken and miraculously Kelvin Davis actually catches it and clears the danger.

The ball goes forwards again and Adam Lallana claims it. He makes a great run with it and decides to play it to Rickie Lambert. That turns out to be a wrong decision since Lambert gets called offside. This is already the third offside call for the Saints within the first 30 minutes of the game. They really need to pay attention to their position while playing forward if they do want to create a goal of their own.

Jack Cork has been great so far. He has been running everywhere either blocking the ball and winning it back or creating chances. Mauricio Pochettino decided to play with a 4-3-2-1 formation today, meaning that Jack Cork is in midfield with Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse on his left. But somehow we haven’t really seen those last two players near the ball while Jack Cork seems to be touching it constantly.

With 6 minutes left to play in the first half, Adam Lallana creates a great chance for himself. The ball flies through the defenders towards Joel Robles’s goal. Unfortunately Robles doesn’t have to do much about this chance since Lallana’s touch was a bit too hard and shot goes wide of the post.

A nice fact to know is how José Fonte has been promoted with Southampton all the way from League One to the Premier League and he has managed to keep his starting position. He left Crystal Palace when they were in the Championship and stepped down to League One to play for Southampton. Southampton were then he promoted twice in 2 seasons and now they play in the Barclays Premier League. This shows José Fonte is a player of good quality since he is still a starting defender for the Saints.

At half time it turns out the Saints have had the most possession with 52% even though it doesn’t feel like we have had the ball more. Maybe this is because Everton was more attacking when they did have the ball. But the second half looks more promising as Southampton looks more attacking at the start of it.

5 minutes into the second half Calum Chambers gets roughly swiped of his feet. Bryan Oviedo tackles Calum Chambers so hard he could have broken his ankles. This foul is so bad you might almost start to think Oviedo did it on purpose to injure Chambers and get him out of the game. Oviedo gets shown a yellow card and he is lucky with that as he might as well have gotten a red card.

Mauricio Pochettino makes a shocking substitution in the 64^th minute when he decides to take Jack Cork off and replace him with Gastón Ramirez. I understand he wants to bring Gastón Ramirez on to create some more chances for the Saints, but he would have been better off replacing Steven Davis or James Ward-Prowse as neither of them have been near the ball as much as Jack Cork. It almost looked like Cork was playing in three positions at the same time, he was being a defender, a defensive midfield player as well as being a attacking midfielder. In my eyes he definitely was the man of the match as he was everywhere at the right moment. I am afraid that this substitution will definitely make us lose.

Gastón Ramirez is only on the field for 6 minutes when he gets his first chance. Adam Lallana passes the ball to Ramirez who is outside the box, Ramirez has a good look and shoots the ball with his left foot to the high centre of the goal. The ball flies straight through Joel Robles’s hands and it is a goal. And what a goal it is from this Uruguayan player, this is probably the reason Southampton purchased him last season. Ramirez decides to celebrate his goal by taking of his shirt, then he hands his shirt over to a disabled Everton fan but still gets rewarded with a yellow card.

Southampton’s happy spirit only lasts about 3 minutes when Everton decides to take back their lead. Romelu Lukaku finds himself at the centre of the box and shoots the ball with his left foot to the top left corner. Again that top left corner results in a goal. It was a good goal which was again out of reach for Kelvin Davis.

Not much is happening in the game anymore after this goal. Mauricio Pochettino makes to more substitutions, James Ward-Prowse goes off in the 82^nd minute to give Sam Gallagher some playtime. And Nathaniel Clyne comes on in the 87^th minute to take over Calum Chambers spot.

3 minutes extra time are added on at the end of the second half. This is when the Toffee Men decide to defend full on as they are so determined to win this game and let the visitors leave empty handed. And that is how it ends, Everton takes the 3 points.

Even though the Saints have had more possession, 55%, I still think Everton were the stronger team and they deserved to win. The Toffee Men looked like they were a better coordinated team. All we can hope for is that 2014 will be a better year for the Saints and that they will start the year with a win over Chelsea.

One note I would like to make is that, the more the game progressed, the more annoyed I got with the Everton fans who just kept on booing at everything. What kind of fans are they, thinking their booing would support their team and lead them to the win? It might be hard to find fans which are as cheery and supporting as the Southampton fans who are just singing songs all the time to show their support to the players. I still think the Everton fans could have learned something from them and make up their own song so they can support their own players. Besides that I would also like to say that I don’t think Mark Clattenburg was being completely fair towards the Saints.