Having just watched the half myself, I just came on to say exactly those things. Pelle, Long and Mané were all wonderful that half. Long's play in the build up to the third goal was brilliant.
Those front 3 were all fantastic today, glad pelle got his goal cos he truly deserved it. I actually found this game more rewarding than the Sunderland one where we had own goals to help the cause. Can I also suggest Long will never score a better goal in his career.
Watch Pelle thump the floor when he realises that one of his one on ones is saved and rolling out to someone else for a tap in and then suddenly realise he needs to celebrate.
Well, what a day, what a game, what a result. Even the half time entertainment was great. #don't want this season to end
Interestingly [well, to a nerd like me] that Sadio shuffled off the field with the match ball at his feet then picked it up and waved at the crowd, only to have Saints kitman Mark Forbes hand him another ball and telling him that this was the ball he scored his hat-trick with. So Mane took that one instead. Of course, at a point in the 2nd half, the match ball was blazed into a crowd of Villa supporters who wouldn't give it back to Paolo Gazzaniga. So another ball was thrown to him. Then the original match ball was eventually thrown back and was taken back to the bench and retained by Forbes. Hence, Mane had the wrong ball at the end of the match. A trivia quiz question in years to come and Saints have an attentive and astute kitman.
http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/arti...lery-southampton-6-1-aston-villa-2459870.aspx Gallery...nice to see Katharina enjoying herself. Also note Hodgson was here,,,probably talent spotting for Liverpool.
STAT: Shane Long is the first player since Luis Suárez in December 2013 to score twice and assist twice in the same game.
Haha, I've never heard Shane Long speak before. I don't know why I'm surprised about how Irish he is.
The most amazing thing about Mane is he gives off this sense that he doesn't really know anything about the rules of football. Fastest hat trick, by absolutely miles.
STAT: Southampton are the first club in Premier League history to score 5 first half goals and 5 second half goals in the same season.
Fowler tweets about Mane. Guess people couldn't wait to tell him Getting a lot of messages here... What's happened — Robbie Fowler (@Robbie9Fowler) May 16, 2015
What a belter of a game. Lucky buggers who got to see it at the ground. I have to say that Villa were awful at the same time that we were great. Their back 4 were so out of sorts and they got the tactics badly wrong pushing up high against us. Its the one thing you dont want to try against that front three of ours, it completely opened them up to Pelle's flicks. I thought he had a great game, showed some movenment and even a bit of pace. Also confirmed he's a tough bugger and admire him for not being a prima-donna. Mane confirmed he's the signing of the season for me. Finally I am astounded to see Long score the goal of the season. Never would have expected that.
