Southampton 2-3 Manchester United
When the fixtures for the season were announced Southampton fans must have though that it was a practical joke. Their opening day fixture was to be against Manchester City and just a fortnight later they'd have to play Manchester United, tough didn't begin to described 2 of their first games. Despite this they put up a very spirited battle against Manchester City and again refused to roll over for Manchester United.
The match started brightly for the Red Devils who forced the Saints to concede a corner with in around 90 seconds as the visitors looked for an early goal. The home sided however defended well and grew into the game quickly as they started to look threatening around the 10 minute mark. With their confidence growing in front of our eyes Southampton actually started to look the better team and then they did the unthinkable as they took the lead via a Ricky Lambert header around 16 minutes in.
Shocked by the goal United realised they had a game on their hands and fought back swiftly with an equaliser just 7 minutes later through Robin Van Persie's volley which showed the class of the Dutchman. Having equalised United then looked for the lead with Van Persie getting a number of chances though the Dutchman failed to recreate the magic that had seen him scoring his first. This saw the team going into the half level, a scoreline that was perhaps fair due to the stout defending of the home side.
The second half saw United coming close before Southampton, for the second time in the match, took an unexpected lead this time it was Morgan Schneiderlin heading in from close range. The goal, almost a carbon copy of the Saint opener showed that United really do have defensive issues even with Anders Lindergaard replacing David De Gea.
The second Saints goal really forced United into action with Paul Scholes and Nani replacing Shinji Kagawa and Tom Cleverly. The involvement of Scholes almost had an immediate impact with the ginger haired maestro playing in Robin Van Persie within seconds of being on the pitch but Kelvin Davis saved his team. Manchester United were starting to turn the screw and the pressure caused some serious kamikaze work from Southampton with Kelvin Davis making an awful pass out followed up by a stupid challenge by Jos Hooiveld on Robin Van Persie inside the penalty area. Van Persie sadly failed to net the spot kick with Davis making a mends for his lapse of concentration.
After a spate of substitutions it seemed as if United were going to suffer their second loss of the season until Robin Van Persie netted his second of the day reacting quickly after Rio Ferdinand's header failed to find the back of the net. With just 3 minutes left it looked almost certain that the Saints were going to get at least a point from the match, it was what they deserved in all honesty, however Robin Van Persie was reading from a different script and manage to secure all 3 points for United as he completed a memorable hat-trick and truly did make amends for the missed penalty.
Whilst Nigel Adkins may feel slightly aggrieved by the fact his team got nothing from the match he should probably feel ecstatic at his teams performance. Not only were the Saints a match for United but Adam Lallana looked exceptional, Ricky Lambert has proven he can score against anyone one and the team proved they have no fear. Often we think it's unfair to judge a team on losses to the top teams but it's more than fair to judge Southampton on their two performances against the Manchester teams which have proven that they can live with anyone in the league. This is not a team that is going to be intimidated, it's not a team that is going to give up and most importantly it's not a team that will betray their manager.
Alex Ferguson's season hasn't been what he'd have expected. A loss in their opening fixture to Everton followed by successive 3-2 victories in matches they were expected to ease to victory in isn't a sign of the United of old. This is a United team that is genuinely struggling, despite showing a championship winning spirit to come from behind twice here (and once against Fulham). The signing of Robin Van Persie, despite the high price tag, has proven to have been an excellent one with the Dutchman netting 4 goals in 2 starts despite the penalty miss. United's manager however will need to be worried about his defensive unit which so far looks poor and, as with City, United cannot expect to score 3 goals every time they are going to win a game.
Showing posts with label Ricky Lambert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ricky Lambert. Show all posts
Monday, 3 September 2012
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Premier League Week 1-Write up Manchester City v Southampton
Manchester City 3-2 Southampton
The reigning Premier League champions Manchester City got their league season kicked off by facing the newly promoted Southampton who appeared to be in line for a true baptism of fire. What on paper seemed likely to be the most one-sided match of the weekend actually turned into the best match of the weekend as the new boys refused to fold to the reigning champions and put up an incredible fight before finally losing.
The match started badly for City who saw Argentinian international Sergio "Kun" Aguero, last season's top scorer, leaving the pitch with a nasty looking knee injury after just 13 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for City who despite earning a penalty couldn't convert it with David Silva taking one of the weakest penalties we'll see this season.
Despite creating a number of chances City we're being held by on equal footing for much of the first half, until Carlos Tevez broke the deadlock in the 40th minute. It seemed as if this could open the floodgates and that City could begin to run away with the match however they failed to bag a second before half time. At the start of the second half City seemed almost certain to finish off the match as Edin Dzeko had a catalog of chances to double the Blue's lead. It seemed almost certain that City were going to eventually double their lead but then, out of the blue Southampton managed to draw level via a Ricky Lambert strike. Amazingly, just minutes later Southampton actually took the lead as Steven Davis finished off a counter to double the tally for the Saints and it appeared as if a giant upset was on the cards.
In a similar fashion to how they won the Premier League last season City showed true resolve and managed to pull level just 4 minutes after going behind with Dzeko finally converting a chance. The goal suddenly opened up the game with both teams coming close to scoring a 3rd, though it City who eventually managed to bag the decider with 10 minutes left as Samir Nasri, the stand out player on the day, put the ball past Kelvin Davis to secure the 3 points.
Despite being run very close Man city have got some positives to take from this game. They showed real resolve in fighting back from 2-1 down and really did dominate the game (having almost 65% of the possession). Sadly for City however the game had more negatives for them than positives. Firstly the injury to Aguero looked very serious, whilst I'm not aware yet of how bad it was, it certainly looked nasty, losing Aguero for a few months would be a giant loss to City. Secondly their shooting was terrible for much of the match, especially Dzeko who could have bagged 4 or 5 though only managed to bag a solitary goal. Thirdly, and possibly most worryingly, their defence was caught out looking very poor for the Davis' goal which actually came from a City corner. The champions certainly need to improve on this performance if they are intending to retain the title, though I'd be shocked if they look this poor next time out.
The newly promoted Southampton should hold their heads very high after the match, not only were they in the lead against the champions at one but they held their own with the City for vast swathes of the match. Despite the fact they were helped by City's wastefulness around goal they showed they weren't intimidated by the champions and will take a lot of heart from the fact they were so competitive. Whilst many maybe tipping Southampton to go down, this performance seems to suggest they are a team who can stay up and give anyone in the league a good game. Nigel Adkins' should be proud of his men and if he can get them playing like this every week they will be safe.
The reigning Premier League champions Manchester City got their league season kicked off by facing the newly promoted Southampton who appeared to be in line for a true baptism of fire. What on paper seemed likely to be the most one-sided match of the weekend actually turned into the best match of the weekend as the new boys refused to fold to the reigning champions and put up an incredible fight before finally losing.
The match started badly for City who saw Argentinian international Sergio "Kun" Aguero, last season's top scorer, leaving the pitch with a nasty looking knee injury after just 13 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for City who despite earning a penalty couldn't convert it with David Silva taking one of the weakest penalties we'll see this season.
Despite creating a number of chances City we're being held by on equal footing for much of the first half, until Carlos Tevez broke the deadlock in the 40th minute. It seemed as if this could open the floodgates and that City could begin to run away with the match however they failed to bag a second before half time. At the start of the second half City seemed almost certain to finish off the match as Edin Dzeko had a catalog of chances to double the Blue's lead. It seemed almost certain that City were going to eventually double their lead but then, out of the blue Southampton managed to draw level via a Ricky Lambert strike. Amazingly, just minutes later Southampton actually took the lead as Steven Davis finished off a counter to double the tally for the Saints and it appeared as if a giant upset was on the cards.
In a similar fashion to how they won the Premier League last season City showed true resolve and managed to pull level just 4 minutes after going behind with Dzeko finally converting a chance. The goal suddenly opened up the game with both teams coming close to scoring a 3rd, though it City who eventually managed to bag the decider with 10 minutes left as Samir Nasri, the stand out player on the day, put the ball past Kelvin Davis to secure the 3 points.
Despite being run very close Man city have got some positives to take from this game. They showed real resolve in fighting back from 2-1 down and really did dominate the game (having almost 65% of the possession). Sadly for City however the game had more negatives for them than positives. Firstly the injury to Aguero looked very serious, whilst I'm not aware yet of how bad it was, it certainly looked nasty, losing Aguero for a few months would be a giant loss to City. Secondly their shooting was terrible for much of the match, especially Dzeko who could have bagged 4 or 5 though only managed to bag a solitary goal. Thirdly, and possibly most worryingly, their defence was caught out looking very poor for the Davis' goal which actually came from a City corner. The champions certainly need to improve on this performance if they are intending to retain the title, though I'd be shocked if they look this poor next time out.
The newly promoted Southampton should hold their heads very high after the match, not only were they in the lead against the champions at one but they held their own with the City for vast swathes of the match. Despite the fact they were helped by City's wastefulness around goal they showed they weren't intimidated by the champions and will take a lot of heart from the fact they were so competitive. Whilst many maybe tipping Southampton to go down, this performance seems to suggest they are a team who can stay up and give anyone in the league a good game. Nigel Adkins' should be proud of his men and if he can get them playing like this every week they will be safe.
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