Arsenal 6-1 Southampton
It took Arsenal until their 3rd game to score their first goals but it seems like the international break has really helped them as they went goal-mad against a Southampton team who are yet to pick up a point. Despite Southampton's poor start to the seas however this will have been a serious low point.
Arsenal first took the lead after just 10 minutes as Keiran Gibb's cross was turned into the Southampton goal by the unfortunate Jos Hooiveld, from then on it became a case of just how many would Arsenal score. Less than 20 minutes later Arsenal doubled their lead via an excellent Lukas Podolski free kick. Just minutes later Arsenal had gone from 2-0 to 4-0 as Gervinho netted his first of the day thanks to a clever ball by Mikael Arteta and Nathaniel Clyne had netted the second Southampton own goal.
Despite the game effectively being over inside 36 minutes, Southampton did manage to grab a consolation goal just before half time as Danny Fox managed to get the ball unmarked in the area. This however was little more than a brief reprieve before half time and not a comeback.
With the points in the bag Arsenal didn't do go for the kill in the second, this however didn't mean that they refused to attack. A fifth was added 25 minutes into the second half with Gervinho netting a tap-in before before Theo Walcott, a former Saint himself, finished off the scoring late on.
At the start of the season much was made of Arsenal's struggles to score, in fact in their first 2 games they failed to net at all, however with 8 goals in their last 2 games it's fair to say that Arsenal certainly do have goals in them. Whilst it's true that 2 of the 6 here were own goals they both came due to the threat of Keiran Gibbs down the wing and it's the sheer number of threats that Arsenal have that make them so threatening. Santi Cazorla may not have netted one himself but he and Arteta were pulling he strings for fun from the middle and further proving just how good Arsenal's football really is.
For Southampton it's still not a time to out and out worry. Whilst they are still pointless they have faced Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal in 3 matches that they wouldn't have expected anything at all from. Despite this fans do need to worry at least a little bit by the defensive woes which has seen the team concede 14 goals in 4 matches. Saints fans may be feeling some despair however their team have shown some class and they will be hoping to show some consistency, especially at the back.
Showing posts with label Southampton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southampton. Show all posts
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Monday, 3 September 2012
Premier League Week 3-Write up Southampton v Manchester United
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.
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.
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Premier League Week 2-Write up Southampton v Wigan
Southampton 0-2 Wigan
Southampton started their season in midweek with a baptism of fire as they took on current Premier League champions Manchester City and lets be honest they surprised everyone putting up not only a good fight but actually took the lead. They looked too build on the good showing against City with a positive result against Wigan, sadly however they failed to get that result.
The Saints started brightly and came close to opening the scoring inside just 14 minutes as an Adam Lallana shot forced Ali Al Habsi to make an excellent save. Sadly however Southampton's bright start came to nothing as Al Habsi put on an excellent performance.
The deadlock was broken early in the second half as Franco Di Santo put the visitors in the lead finishing off an excellent move for the Latics who came into the match following their open game loss to Chelsea. Southampton tried to equalise and dominated much of the match after going behind but the closest they came was the cross bar with a little over 10 minutes remaining. With a little over a minute of normal time left Wigan doubled their lead and secured the points as Arouna Kone took the ball from Jose Fonte around the halfway line and drove past Kelvin Davis at his nearest post.
This isn't the result any Southampton fan would have wanted, especially not after their excellent performance against the reigning Champions. It was an awful way to mark their first home Premier League fixture in 7 years, however Nigel Adkins shouldn't be too dismayed really as Southampton were the better team even if they did lack a finish to the chances they created. In all honesty the least Southampton deserved was a point and they were unlucky not to get it. It's a lesson to the Southampton players that this league is about finishing your chances as you don't get many of them. Sadly however it'll be Jose Fonte's mistake losing the ball to Kone that will likely be the lasting memory of this match.
Wigan may have lost Victor Moses to Chelsea but with Kone and Di Santo they looked solid in attack and put away the chances that they had, something they have learned over the years. Roberto Martinez however will need to be thankful not to his strikers but to the excellent Al Habsi who's early save kept Wigan in the match, in fact it's fair to say that the keeper is one of the stand out Wigan players and is worth a few points every season due to his ability between the posts. Wigan will likely try to add to their squad with the money from the Moses transfer, and they probably do need it, though Martinez will be proud his men bounced back from last weeks loss against Chelsea and the loss of Moses himself.
Southampton started their season in midweek with a baptism of fire as they took on current Premier League champions Manchester City and lets be honest they surprised everyone putting up not only a good fight but actually took the lead. They looked too build on the good showing against City with a positive result against Wigan, sadly however they failed to get that result.
The Saints started brightly and came close to opening the scoring inside just 14 minutes as an Adam Lallana shot forced Ali Al Habsi to make an excellent save. Sadly however Southampton's bright start came to nothing as Al Habsi put on an excellent performance.
The deadlock was broken early in the second half as Franco Di Santo put the visitors in the lead finishing off an excellent move for the Latics who came into the match following their open game loss to Chelsea. Southampton tried to equalise and dominated much of the match after going behind but the closest they came was the cross bar with a little over 10 minutes remaining. With a little over a minute of normal time left Wigan doubled their lead and secured the points as Arouna Kone took the ball from Jose Fonte around the halfway line and drove past Kelvin Davis at his nearest post.
This isn't the result any Southampton fan would have wanted, especially not after their excellent performance against the reigning Champions. It was an awful way to mark their first home Premier League fixture in 7 years, however Nigel Adkins shouldn't be too dismayed really as Southampton were the better team even if they did lack a finish to the chances they created. In all honesty the least Southampton deserved was a point and they were unlucky not to get it. It's a lesson to the Southampton players that this league is about finishing your chances as you don't get many of them. Sadly however it'll be Jose Fonte's mistake losing the ball to Kone that will likely be the lasting memory of this match.
Wigan may have lost Victor Moses to Chelsea but with Kone and Di Santo they looked solid in attack and put away the chances that they had, something they have learned over the years. Roberto Martinez however will need to be thankful not to his strikers but to the excellent Al Habsi who's early save kept Wigan in the match, in fact it's fair to say that the keeper is one of the stand out Wigan players and is worth a few points every season due to his ability between the posts. Wigan will likely try to add to their squad with the money from the Moses transfer, and they probably do need it, though Martinez will be proud his men bounced back from last weeks loss against Chelsea and the loss of Moses himself.
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.
Premier League Week 1-Results (Sunday)
Manchester City 3-2 Southampton (Tevez-40, Dzeko-72, Nasri-80: Lambert-59, Davis-68)
Wigan 0-2 Chelsea (Ivanaovic-2, Lampard-7 Pen)
Highest Scoring Game-5 Goals (Manchester City 3-2 Southampton)
Penalties-2
Scored-1 (Lampard v Wigan)
Missed-1 (Silva v Southampton)
Total Goals-7 (in 2 game so far)
Wigan 0-2 Chelsea (Ivanaovic-2, Lampard-7 Pen)
Highest Scoring Game-5 Goals (Manchester City 3-2 Southampton)
Penalties-2
Scored-1 (Lampard v Wigan)
Missed-1 (Silva v Southampton)
Total Goals-7 (in 2 game so far)
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Premier League Week 1-Predictions (Sunday)
If anyone saw yesterday's predictions (thankfully no one really did) they'll be aware that my predictions...flat out sucked. The only thing I was close to getting correct was the Arsenal v Sunderland game (I predicted 1-1 and the actual outcome was 0-0), thankfully I don't think I could ever do that badly again, so the only way is up.
With 2 matches today I'll try again and hopefully I'll manage to get at least 1 of these right.
Wigan v Chelsea (13:30)-I really can't see Wigan having an easy season this year, despite the fact they have the excellent Roberto Martinez in charge they players and funds sadly aren't there for Wigan to be a team that can really hold their own. Roman Abramovich at Chelsea has really opened the purse strings over summer and Roberto di Matteo seems to have the trust of the players, after all he did lead them to the Champion League trophy last year. If I'm a Wigan fan here...I avoid the TV, Radio, Newspaper for the next day or two as I imagine this is going to be an annihilation by Chelsea who will be looking to hit the floor running.
Wigan 0-7 Chelsea
Manchester City v Southampton (16:00)-Manchester City are lucky. Not only do they have bottomless pockets thanks to their owners but they also know what they will also know what need to do to climb to the top spot in the Premier League for the end of the weekend. With this in mind, and with the fact that they are playing Premier League new boys Southampton I really imagine this is going to look like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. Southampton were very good last season in the Championship, Man City however were very, very good in the Premier League, the difference in class will tell here. I wouldn't be hugely surprised if we saw records fall here as City try to send a message to the rest of the league.
Manchester City 10-1 Southampton
We saw a lot of goals (19) on Saturday spread across 7 games, I really wouldn't be surprised if we saw more in these 2 games than we saw in them 7. This is a day that could see genuinely stupid scorelines.
With 2 matches today I'll try again and hopefully I'll manage to get at least 1 of these right.
Wigan v Chelsea (13:30)-I really can't see Wigan having an easy season this year, despite the fact they have the excellent Roberto Martinez in charge they players and funds sadly aren't there for Wigan to be a team that can really hold their own. Roman Abramovich at Chelsea has really opened the purse strings over summer and Roberto di Matteo seems to have the trust of the players, after all he did lead them to the Champion League trophy last year. If I'm a Wigan fan here...I avoid the TV, Radio, Newspaper for the next day or two as I imagine this is going to be an annihilation by Chelsea who will be looking to hit the floor running.
Wigan 0-7 Chelsea
Manchester City v Southampton (16:00)-Manchester City are lucky. Not only do they have bottomless pockets thanks to their owners but they also know what they will also know what need to do to climb to the top spot in the Premier League for the end of the weekend. With this in mind, and with the fact that they are playing Premier League new boys Southampton I really imagine this is going to look like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. Southampton were very good last season in the Championship, Man City however were very, very good in the Premier League, the difference in class will tell here. I wouldn't be hugely surprised if we saw records fall here as City try to send a message to the rest of the league.
Manchester City 10-1 Southampton
We saw a lot of goals (19) on Saturday spread across 7 games, I really wouldn't be surprised if we saw more in these 2 games than we saw in them 7. This is a day that could see genuinely stupid scorelines.
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