Sunderland v Southampton – The Black Cats Move Forward In The FA Cup

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

It feels like only a week ago that Southampton played Sunderland in the Stadium of Light on the 18th of January. That match was a League game it which both Dejan Lovren and Gastón Ramirez injured their ankles. But today the Saints travelled to the Stadium of Light to play the Black Cats in the FA Cup.

Southamptons starting eleven is pretty surprising, many changes have been made: Kelvin Davis, Nathaniel Clyne, Maya Yoshida, Rickie Lambert, Steven Davis, Victor Wanyama, James Ward-Prowse, Adam Lallana, Guly do Prado, Luke Shaw and Jos Hooiveld are starting in this match. Kelvin Davis wear the captain armband which I can understand on one hand since he used to be the captain when he was the first team goalie. But since Adam Lallana is still starting this match, I think he should be the captain. It is weird seeing the usual captain starting while a second choice goalie gets to wear the armband.

The starting line up is strange since Southamptons next match is next week, giving the players a week to recover. Maybe some players still weren’t fit enough after last Tuesdays match and the manager just chose the fittest and best players, this is the case according to Jesús Pérez. Or Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t want to risk getting more injuries and save his best players for the League matches. Which would still be a bit weird since the players would have a full week to recover.

The match starts off slowly for Southampton with Sunderland trying hard to attack at their home ground, they are the stronger team at the start of the match. It takes the Saints well over 20 minutes of play time before they match up with the Black Cats and manage to attack some more themselves.

Not many big chances, none worth mentioning here, get created in this first half. Sunderland receives a free kick just outside the box in the 35^th minute. Sebastian Larsson takes it, but instead of shooting it towards goal, he kicks it to his left where Craig Gardner is waiting. Gardner tries to shoot at goal, but the goal has never been so high and thus the ball flies far over it.

Finally, with about 5 minutes left in the first half, Southampton seem to get stronger at attacking. This work doesn’t pay off yet, leaving the score 0-0 at half time. The last time these two sides met in the FA Cup was in 1985. Southampton won that match with 4-0, but there hasn’t been any indication that that score is going to be repeated.

Only 4 minutes into the second half and Sunderland gets their biggest chance so far. They are attacking and Luke Shaw manages to clear the ball away from the box but it goes toward Craig Gardner. Victor Wanyama turns around and chases the ball but is just not strong enough to stop Gardner, who takes the ball and runs away with it. Gardner shoots the ball from outside the box towards the top left corner. Kelvin Davis doesn’t stand a chance when the ball flies over his head. With this goal the Black Cats take the lead.

Mauricio Pochettino decides to bring on the big guns when he makes two substitutions in the 61^st minute. Jay Rodriguez comes on for Guly do Prado and James Ward-Prowse goes off for Morgan Schneiderlin. It is kind a surprising Pochettino decides to leave Victor Wanyama on the field.

Sunderland seem determined to make a second goal. In the 73^rd minute they get a big chance when Sebastian Larsson plays the ball to Connor Wickham in the centre of the box. Wickham is one-on-one with Kelvin Davis but just misses the final touch with the ball causing Davis to catch the ball instead. One minute later Larsson has a go himself outside the box but again Kelvin Davis is ready to make his save. I must say that Davis seems to be a very good shape today, probably the best I have seen him this season.

Southampton finally try to catch up with Sunderland with only 10 minutes left. Nathaniel Clyne realises the importance of this match and tries to set up his teammates to score. First he crosses it to Adam Lallana who is just outside the 6 yard box, he only just misses to the right. Two minutes later Clyne crosses the ball towards Rickie Lambert, who’s in front of an open goal. At this close range he tries to shoot it, but shoots way to high causing the ball to fly over the goal instead. How could Lambert miss such a great chance, he will be blaming himself later for this miss. Lambert hasn’t been in his best shape these last two Southampton matches.

Mauricio Pochettino decides to take of Adam Lallana in the 81^st minute so Sam McQueen can make his debut in the Premier League. I wonder if this is a smart move by Pochettino since Lallana seems to have been one of the better players on the field.

Sunderland receives another big chance with 5 minutes of the match left. John O’Shea plays the ball towards Connor Wickham who only has one Southampton defender in front of him and to Sunderland players on each side to support him. However Wickhams selfishness takes the better of him and he makes the wrong decision to try and score himself, which ends in the ball being blocked and a chance being wasted.

Three minutes later Kelvin Davis massive save when Fabio Borini shoots towards the centre of the goal from the centre of the box. Davis falls down to block the ball causing it to bounce away from goal. This was probably Davis his biggest save of this match as it almost resulted in a second goal for Sunderland.

With one minute of added time left, Southampton receive a corner and Kelvin Davis runs forwards too giving the Saints one extra chance to maybe score. This corner doesn’t even come close to ending in a goal. So the match ends and the Black Cats move on in the FA Cup with this one goal win.

It is fair to say that the better team won this game. Sunderland obviously wanted the win more than Southampton and so they got rewarded with a win. Mauricio Pochettino didn’t take this game very serious when he decided not to play with his full first team. Even though they are save in the Premier League and would have a week to recover from this match. Also the players themselves didn’t seem to worried about this match as they played a more all for themselves game instead of playing a team sport.

The Saints their game play was pretty messy and with that I don’t mean like Messi but just hopeless. I wish Southampton would have taken this match more serious and realised how much this win would have meant for their fans. Instead they decided to not even really try. All I can say is that Sunderland absolutely deserved to win this game and I hope for them that they will get further into the FA Cup.

Southampton v Tottenham Hotspurs – Hooiveld Lets Southampton Down Yet Again

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

Sunday 22^nd December 2013, Southampton FC is hosting Tottenham Hotspurs at St. Mary’s. The starting line up for the Saints looked promising. Adam Lallana is back among the starting eleven as is Morgan Schneiderlin. This should be good since those two players made a big difference when they came on the field as substitutes in the previous game. It is good to see Adam Lallana wearing the captains armband again.

Dani Osvaldo is out since he received a knock against his leg in training this week. Luke Shaw is also injured which is why Danny Fox is starting left back in this game. José Fonte is on the bench for the second week in a row which means Jos Hooiveld starts in the left centre back position. This made me wonder if this is a smart move on behalf of Mauricio Pochettino, unless he wants Jos Hooiveld to take Emmanuel Adebayor on.

Calum Chambers is starting again as well. It is good to see him starting again since he is a great talented player. Yes, it is a shame to miss Nathaniel Clyne in right back, but since he is still injured this is a great opportunity for Calum Chambers. A nice fact to know about Southampton is that most players from their youth system are of English heritage, which is very unusual in the Premier League.

It doesn’t take long for the Saints to take the lead. In the 12^th minute Adam Lallana scores a wonderful goal. Danny Fox saw it well when he passed the ball forward to his captain. On his turn, Adam Lallana shot the ball low into the left corner of the goal. There was no way for Hugo Lloris to stop this one.

10 minutes later there is a new big chance for Southampton. Adam Lallana gets the ball and quickly decides to play it on to Jay Rodriguez event though he probably could have taken a shot himself. Jay Rodriguez takes the ball but unfortunately shoots too high and misses the goal.

Just one minute later, in the 24^th minute, the Spurs manage to get the ball past Paulo Gazzaniga. Tottenham used this chance to the fullest when they passed the ball to Emmanuel Adebayor in front of the goal. Paulo Gazzaniga decided to stay on his line since Jos Hooiveld and Danny Fox were siding Emmanuel Adebayor. Either one of those defenders should have stepped up and tried to stop him, but since neither one did, Emmanuel Adebayor scored. And a great first Premier League goal this season for Adebayor in only his second Premier League appearance this campaign.

At half time Southampton has been the better playing team which has had the most possession. It is a shame they couldn’t manage to get ahead since Tottenham has been playing pretty poorly.

The second half isn’t even 10 minutes on the way yet, when the game takes a dramatic turn. In the 54^th minute Jos Hooiveld puts his foot against the ball and (accidently?) kicks it into Paulo Gazzaniga’s goal. Hooiveld has fallen back into his old ways. He shouldn’t even has touched that ball, just should have left it for Paulo Gazzaniga who was right there to catch the ball but didn’t expect Jos Hooiveld to do what he did. This is the moment in the game where the tables turned and Southamptons defence received a big dent in their confidence.

Two minutes later Southampton receive their first corner of the game. Jos Hooiveld is near the goal close to heading it. Probably trying to make up for his big mistake from just before, but he definitely has to try harder to make up for his big error.

Adam Lallana shows in the 59^th minute why he deserves his captain armband with his great football insight. Adam Lallana makes a great run towards the goal trying to make Hugo Lloris come out of his goal to stop him. His plan works as he is passing the ball backwards to Rickie Lambert, who was following him. Lambert is then in front of an open goal and scores a wonderful goal. At least the forwards are trying to fix Jos Hooivelds mistake.

With 28 minutes left to play, Mauricio Pochettino makes a shocking decision. He decides to take Jack Cork off the field. I still haven’t figured out why he made this decision since Jack Cork has been defending way better throughout the game so far compared to Jos Hooiveld. James Ward-Prowse comes on the field, which is the only positive side to Pochettino’s decision since James Ward-Prowse is a very talented young player who can show some great skills.

The whole Southampton team seems to be out of their focus after this substitution since it only takes one minute for Tottenham to score again. It is Emmanuel Adebayor’s lucky day as he scores his second Premier League goal. It was poor defending on the Saints side. Dejan Lovren even let the ball slip through his legs so it could make it’s way to the goal.

From that moment on the Spurs take the upper hand in the game. Creating three great chances in the five minutes onwards from their goal. Southampton seems to be unable to stop them running right through their defence.

Mauricio Pochettino decides to replace Steven Davis with Gaston Ramirez in the 68^th minute.

Ten minutes after his last substitution, Mauricio Pochettino decides to change the whole team around. Off comes Danny Fox and on goes Sam Gallagher. Calum Chambers moves to left back to take over Danny Fox his position. James Ward-Prowse moves into defence and starts playing right back. Sam Gallagher goes up front as a striker. And so Southampton has changed their formation to a 4-4-2 formation.

I don’t understand Pochettino’s way of thinking. Firstly I would have probably substituted Jos Hooiveld for José Fonte after he scored his own goal. But seeing all the changes now, Mauricio Pochettino should have never taken Jack Cork off the field. He could have taken Danny Fox off for Sam Gallagher like he did. Then move Calum Chambers to left back and Jack Cork to right back. That way he would have had one spare substitution to replace Jos Hooiveld, the weakest link in the whole team.

Bringing Sam Gallagher onto the field seems to be like a good decision. In the 81^st minute he gets a chance to shoot at goal. Just unlucky for him Hugo Lloris is in his way and the ball stays out.

With a minimum of 5 added-on minutes, Southampton gets their last chance in the 91^st minute. James Ward-Prowse takes the corner, at which he is great. The Saints miss heading the ball and somehow the ball gets played backwards to Rickie Lambert. He takes on the ball but unfortunately shoots too high, wasting the last chance for Southampton to end the game in a draw.

In the end Southampton didn’t deserve to win this game, since they have been playing hopeless in the second half of the game. Mostly Mauricio Pochettino is to blame for this poor result if you ask me. I do understand that it is hard to find the right players to play, especially when you have at least two injured defenders who usually start. But I believe that Jos Hooiveld has proven game after game that he can’t be trusted in front of our goal, so I can’t see why Pochettino chooses him over José Fonte. I am not going to blame Paulo Gazzaniga for his performance in this game, because I would get insecure too with a defender like Jos Hooiveld right in front of me. So I can see why Paulo Gazzaniga decided to stay on his line most of the time so he would have a last chance to try and correct Jos Hooivelds errors.

All we can hope for now is that Mauricio Pochettino finally has learned his lesson and he will drop Jos Hooiveld to the reserves team for good. Hopefully Pochettino will show better football insights and a stronger formation against Cardiff City FC coming Thursday.

Newcastle United v Southampton FC

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

Last Saturday Newcastle United were hosting Southampton at their home ground, St. James’ Park. The starting line up for Southampton is kind of surprising. Firstly why is Jos Hooiveld starting instead of José Fonte? Fonte is on the bench and now news has reached us about him being injured, which makes me question if this was a good move by Pochettino. Morgan Schneiderlin is also on the bench, probably because he isn’t fit enough yet to play a full game after his groin injury. But most surprisingly, why is Adam Lallana sitting on the bench? Surely he hasn’t shown any play bad enough that the former captain deserves to start on the bench.

This is the first game since October that both Rickie Lambert and Dani Osvaldo are starting, with Rickie Lambert playing behind Dani Osvaldo. This is the second game in a row this season that Jack Cork is starting since Victor Wanyama is injured, based on his performances last week, this should be promising. Also Calum Chambers is starting again in the spot of the still injured Nathaniel Clyne. It is good to see how Pochettino is handling all these injuries. He doesn’t complain about it, he just moves on and tries to make the best team with his remaining players.

Around the 11^th minute the Saints players are waiting for a flag which will never go up. They stop in their play waiting for the offside call while Newcastle just keeps on continuing. Paulo Gazzaniga gets outplayed but luckily academy graduate Calum Chambers was the only player awake enough to rush over to the goal line and block the ball from crossing it.

Unfortunately it only takes up until the 27^th minute for Newcastle to definitely break through the Southampton’s defence and score a goal. Jos Hooivelds first reaction definitely wasn’t his best as the right footer tried to block the ball with his left foot. But instead of blocking it, he played it right to Yoan Gouffran who used this opportunity to the fullest which resulted in a goal.

Last February Jos Hooiveld actually made an own goal at St. James’ Park, according to the commentator he is willing to look for better memories today. That didn’t completely happen since he messed up which resulted in a goal for Newcastle, but at least it’s a step up from scoring an own goal. Hopefully next time he will actually be able to stop the ball.

At half time all we can say is how Southampton have been far from promising so far. Even though they have had possession almost twice the amount of time Newcastle has had it, Newcastle has been the more attacking team. The Saints seem to get more pleasure out of playing the ball backwards since there weren’t any good opportunities to set the forwards up. Newcastle has been able to break through the defence of Southampton and have actually been face to face with the goal several times, while the Saints don’t even seem to be able to break through the hosts defence. And when they do break through, Dani Osvaldo gets called offside.

The second half starts surprisingly with Adam Lallana replacing Dani Osvaldo and Morgan Schneiderlin replacing James Ward-Prowse. With these substitutes Jay Rodriguez moves up front into Dani Osvaldo’s position, Rickie Lambert moves to the left wing and Adam Lallana gets in behind Jay Rodriguez. It’s surprising that Mauricio Pochettino has used two substitutes so early on in the game, but on the other hand it shows that he realized his formation wasn’t working and he had to adjust it. And better to adjust it sooner rather than later. Mauricio Pochettino seems to have enough faith in Jack Cork to continue playing the rest of the game since Morgan Schneiderlin came on for James Ward-Prowse.

These changes prove to be the right decision as soon as the second half starts. With Jay Rodriguez getting a chance in the 50^th minute but unfortunately his shot goes wide. In the 61^st minute Adam Lallana is running towards goal, the only assistance he gets is from Luke Shaw running up the side but Lallana can’t find him. Shortly followed with Steven Davis creating a chance for himself which results in the ball hitting the post.

In the 64^th minute Adam Lallana gives a good pass forward towards Jay Rodriguez, who receives great support from Steven Davis. With Jay passing the ball towards Davis and Davis passing it back to Jay to get past the last defender, it sets Jay Rodriguez up with a great chance resulting in a stunning goal. This proves how important those earlier subs were, they turned out to be game changing.

In the 71^st minute the tables almost seem to turn again when Paulo Gazzaniga can’t hold the ball. It looked like Loïc Rémy was getting too comfortable with this chance, which could have easily been a goal, but his shot went wide.

After a long 96 minutes referee Michael Jones finally blows his whistle for full time. It has been a good second half for the Saints and the draw was well deserved by both sides.

It is good to see Southampton using their younger players on the field too. Calum Chambers has been great throughout this whole game. He has been everywhere in the game and even made a great clearance off the goal line. At only eighteen years of age he will be a very promising player and we will be sure to see a whole lot more of him.

Paulo Gazzaniga seems to have grown as a goalkeeper compared to his skills last season. He seems to be more confident when it comes down to making saves and is actually able to hold the ball a lot more now.

It is also good to see Jack Cork back on the field. The time spend on the bench doesn’t seem to have discouraged him in his game play. He has had two full games to play now and he has used them to the fullest. Showing what he is capable of doing and hopefully convincing Mauricio Pochettino to consider keeping Jack Cork in the starting line even when Victor Wanyama is fit again.

Even though the Saints have had a few bad results in the last couple of games, the season isn’t over yet and they seem to get their grip back on their game play. It is safe to say that we haven’t seen the last of Southampton yet.