August Report
Premier Divison | Southampton 4-2 Newcastle United | St Mary's
A trilling opener to the season for the neutrals, six goals and plenty of controversy. Newcastle came flying out the blocks scoring on the second minute of the game, there was plenty of fine passing on display from both sides which was promising. Lambert leveled the scoring on the 36th minute. Both teams went in locked level at half time and it wasn't until the 61st minute when Lambert added to Southampton's positive start to the second half, the game evened out for the next 15 minutes or so but then the flood gates opened and the controversy came into play. Luke Shaw doubled Southampton's lead with an unbelievable shot into the top bag. Ben Arfa was then given a penalty for what looked like a clear dive by the french man after Shaw was running shoulder to shoulder with him, he went down like a man being shot and he got up and converted the penalty on the 83rd. One minute later Check Tiote was sent off for a horrific challenge on Saints Skipper Lallana, Lallana wasn't shaken up by this and he went on to round the scoring off on the 88th minute.
Premier Division | Manchester City 1-0 Southampton | Etihad Stadium
A game which was expected to be one way traffic proved to be quite the opposite as early title favorites and big spenders Manchester City hosted Southampton at the Etihad. Southampton started the game the most positive and were displaying great pass and move football for the majority of the half, Lallana was unlucky enough to have a wonderful chipped goal chalked off for offside on the 36th minute, replays showed that the official made the right call, then followed more dominance from the Saints penning them back in their final third and it was looking all Southampton until on the 42nd minute Alvaro Negredo managed to nod home the only goal of the game from a David Silva corner. The second half was more even and Southampton can take many positives from this game and will be disappointed not to have taken anything from the Manchester club.
Capital One Cup | Southampton 3-2 Wolves | St Mary's
Southampton came into this game strong favorites against the recently relegated side Wolves but nobody could predict what happened next, Wolves found themselves 2-0 up with just 11 minutes on the board. Greek forward Apostolos Vellios fired the Midlands club into a commanding lead with two magnificent strikes leaving the Goalkeeper hapless and the defenders embarrassed. Pochettino was left red faced and it wasn't until the second half until Southampton actually came back into the game. New signing Harry Kane was thrown on and he dully delivered, he was a constant threat and a piece of pure brilliance forced the Wolves keeper into a smart stop and from the resulting corner Jose Fonte was able to capitalize and give the Southampton fans something to cheer. Kane wasn't finished there as he was constantly asking questions of the Wolves defence and it wasn't long before his persistence paid off. Gaston Ramirez played a delicious ball through the two defenders and Kane was able to burst through round the keeper and slot home. With the game locked level at 2-2 it looked more and more likely that the sides were going to go to extra time and it looked to be the case. Until a Ward-Prowse corner was floated in, it looked like Wolves had done enough to clear it but it fell to Yoshida who managed to chest down and fire home a absolute worldie from 25 yards. 3-2 the score finished but Southampton will be concerned about the way they defended in the first half.
Premier Division | Southampton 2-1 Aston Villa | St Mary's
Southampton went into their final game of the month without a clean sheet, but they can't be to disheartened as they have managed to do themselves justice with a convincing win against Newcastle and an unfortunate defeat to Manchester city. The game started and it was a fairly even contest both teams attacking with pace and going for it looking to open the deadlock. It took only till the 18th minute till someone did manage to do so, on the 18th minute Gaston Ramirez scored a beautifully executed free kick to give the home fans something to cheer, they managed to hold on till half time and went in one up. the second half began and Villa continued doing what they do best, breaking with pace but it was an off day for their strikers. They were unable to hit the target until the 54th minute when Beneteke hit a volley and forced a great save from Polish keeper Boruc. Fast forward twelve minutes and Southampton doubled their lead. England international Jay Rodriguez got himself on the score sheet due a great hold up play by Kane and a perfectly weighted ball slipped into Rodriguez's feet, he took it on his right foot and finished excellenctly. It looked like Southampton was heading for their first clean sheet of the season only to be denied by young wing back Joe Bennett on the 87th minute. A solid performance by the Saints but they'll be disappointed not to have kept a clean sheet.
Authors Notes
Firstly I'd like to thank everyone for the support and interest they have taken in this story and I will try to update more frequently but I have been unable to do so as often as I like lately due to Football commitments in real life and also a sucky part time job, but I hope to update more frequently over the coming days/weeks.
Secondly, I'd like to thank Josh_MU for the terrific banner, his graphics are top quality and he is a kind soul that is always there to lend a helping hand to me, so thanks Josh