Dominant performance and really just one of those games that wouldn't drop for us. Lovren and Wanyama were again stand-out players (despite a couple of loose passes from Vic in the first half). JWP continues to impress. Thought Rickie was actually pretty poor today, and his lack of pace was exposed a bit in the second half. Don't know if anyone else noticed, but Osvaldo stormed straight off down the tunnel at the end, and was getting pissed off with J-Rod for not playing him in on a couple of occasions. He's certainly got fire that lad!!
Disagree on the threat. I tend to complain that we don't turn possession into chances, but today we did. We had header after header after header where you'd favour either Rickie or Jay to score, and they managed nothing from them. Any of those are hit downward (or, say, two feet to either side) and they'd have been goals. As for Mason, the first penalty shout was pretty iffy. The second looked like a pen to me, but Lallana does go to ground easily enough that I don't fault refs for swallowing the whistle. The third, O'Shea's horse-collar on Osvaldo, was a definite penalty for me...he was going to have a free header from four yards with a decent amount of net to work with.
Just got in from the game. We certainly dominated but struggled yet again when teams come and park the bus. thought we lacked pace and width going forward and the Ref really was a one off [hopefully] Felt confident prior to kick off that we would turn them over quite easily, but I guess at the end of the day we were fortunate to get a point? Rickie and Adam a bit off colour, JWP starting to look a very capable player.
Have to say I'm warming to Di Canio: "We have to be honest, Southampton deserved to win this game because they played better."
Dear J Rod. What do you do in the following situation, a free header 5 yards out, only the keeper to beat. Do you... A) Head it downwards as you've been coached to do since the age of 5 B) Head it downwards & in the opposite direction to which the goalkeeper is moving as you've been coached to do since the age of 5 1/2 C) Head it softly straight into the keepers gloves He bloody frustrates me Jay.
Many of those headers were, to me, not that clear cut. Lambert was guilty of one and Rodriguez for two or was it vice versa. I agree with the other comments from someone else that Osvaldo was shoved in the back when through on goal with a header. Also yes, J Rod was guilty for not passing it through the channels to Osvaldo running on. The positives are: last year Sunderland won this fixture lady year. We never scored against WBA either! It was these sorts of games that made us struggle last season.
He needs to check that temper. But he was also right. Rodriguez's vision is a bit lacking and Osvaldo should have gotten the ball more often. Lambert played a perfect pass to Rodriguez on the offside goal. He forced a good save from Westwood off a header. There were a couple of other nice passes, and headers where they ended up being nothing but he did sort of create something out of nothing and give the defense something to think about. But he had some bad first touches, and also probably should have scored on that one header. Poor freekick late in the game as well. It's sort of a shame that Lambert can't afford to have an off-day. It really comes down I think to one of Jay Rodriguez or Lallana will have to make way for Osvaldo. Both of them had some good moments today, but overall neither of them offers up quite enough. At least not compared to Osvaldo. It's a stunning reminder of how far Saints have come that Rodriguez and Lallana are suddenly not good enough-- off performances today that we probably would have taken last season. I thought Ramirez played very well today, and should have solidified a spot but with JWP and Osvaldo, his role might be murkier than ever. And even Schneiderlin doesn't seem like an automatic start anymore.
To be fair to J Rod, I spotted 3 times in the first half when he had made a great run into space, waiting for a ball to be slid quite easily into his path inbetween the defence and each time he wasn't spotted. Twice it was Morgan who decided on a backwards pass instead.
I'd say he played poorly today, but my point was about J Rod. I don't have to make an exact same point about every single saints player in every single post. We are not all armchair experts like you.
Despite coming away with a few negatives (below), I'm content. Four points from our first two game is a good start for me, and I thought we were heads and shoulders better than Sunderland. Wanyama was brilliant in the first half, Lovren really impressed me, Lallana and JWP were very effective in the second half. However, Shaw, Jay and Morgan all really disappointed me in the first half. Shaw especially. I've just glanced through some of the recent posts and I see that FLT has already said the same thing - it's as if we're back to when he started, when he wouldn't really beat a man or offer us much in an attacking sense. Things just ground to a halt when we passed him the ball, albeit slightly in his defence he didn't have a fellow left sided player to link up with (but then apparently, according to some on here, that's fine, we don't need any natural wide players...). I also didn't really understand JWP's role in the first half. No doubt he tried his best, and there was that one little bit of spark, but I didn't really get it. Especially when he looked so sensationally good in the second half, when he was moved into the middle. Round pegs in round holes please MP. Have to say, I've learnt a lot more about the 2013/14 version of Sunderland today than the 2013/14 version of Southampton. If Sunderland play like that most weeks, there are in serious trouble. Especially if they lose Larsson - and hence his set-pieces - to injury or suspension. With us though, it's as expected. Decent football, controlling of the game, new powerhouse in the middle of the park - but very slow build up at times, and no option of natural attacking width. Oh, as for the referee, the decisions he made in my half of the pitch (Chapel half) I thought were all absolutely spot on for about 75 mins. Only in the latter stages did he start to get a few wrong, starting with the push on Osvaldo in the penalty box. Can't comment on the decisions down the other end - I couldn't judge them.
Oh I think Morgan still starts, for sure. I was interested before the game that in the warm up Osvaldo and Gaston teamed up the whole time and obviously get on. I think the more demonstrative Dani could bring Gaston out of his shell a little bit. He certainly looked decent when he came in today, and a creative threat too - hopefully the first step to silencing some of the critics and the 'price tag' boys, if not Barry Sanchez......
One dynamic that should be worth watching: Osvaldo is constantly looking to break behind the defense, and -- beyond getting bulldozed three yards from the box -- clipping those balls over or through the line seems to be Gaston's greatest desire in life. Could be a very good partnership in those minutes when we need a bit of quality against clusters of defenders.
I wouldn't say I'm an expert but I pick on players who deserve it. Rodriguez should have done better with that one header, yes. But he finished very well for an unfortunately disallowed goal and Lambert should have done better on four or five occasions. If you're choosing one player to berate it really shouldn't be Rodriguez.
All three of Lambert, Lallana and Rodriguez really, really frustrated me today. Gaston and Osvaldo were very clear improvements.
