Back.
First half was easy. We passed it around like a freaking training session, hence the chants of "we are Southampton, we're taking the p*ss". Just before the whistle went some baldy for Swindon went in studs up on one of our players ( Schneiderlin or Lallana, not sure tbh ) and as he'd been booked the ref bottled it and blew the half time whistle. Di Canio at this point was already going a bit mental, and I think that little incident may have sparked a vicious half-time speech from him, as Swindon certainly came out fired up. We, on the other hand, seemed to come out expecting a repeat of the first half (in which Swindon barely closed us down and allowed us to pass it about). Needless to say, it caused us some big problems at the back, especially with Martin who seemed to find it difficult to pick out a pass under the higher pressure from Swindon. We gave the ball away too easily for my liking, And invited even more pressure on ourselves. Never a freekick for their goal, from what I could see. Once they scored that their tails were up and they were all-out bombarding us with crosses and shots. Great save from Bart kept us ahead at 2-1 and minutes later Rickie burst through (with a surprising amount of pace), took it around the keeper and slotted it in to secure the win.
My view on the players:
Bart - 8/10 - Could've been positioned a bit better for their freekick, but punched well from crosses, dominated his area very well, and pulled out a world class save to keep us ahead at 2-1.
Richardson - 7/10 - Made some good runs and linked up well with Holmes. Provided some good crosses, but was done once or twice by their winger.
Seaborne - 7/10 - I thought he had a good game tbh. Won his fair share of headers, put in some good tackles and interceptions, and played the ball neatly along the floor. Only downside was losing a small amount of headers and a few stray long balls.
Martin - 5/10 - Didn't have the composure to play the ball along the ground under pressure, got caught a few times and gave the ball away a bit. Won a decent amount of headers, but he'll have better displays for sure.
Harding - 5/10 - Gave the ball away alot, some awful crosses. To be fair to him, he linked up well with Lallana and made a few incisive forward runs, something we lacked a bit today.
Holmes - 8/10 (MOTM) - made some quality pacey runs with and without the ball, put in some wicked crosses, made himself space to have a couple of shots too. Very good game from the lad.
Cork - 6/10 - got bullied around a bit and didn't really make too many challenges. Kept the passes neat and tidy, but we all expect that from him naturally.
Schneiderlin - 7/10 - dealt with their strength reasonably well, played some good balls and had a shot deflected behind that had beaten the goalie.
Lallana - 8/10 - some typical Lallana class on and off the ball, but didn't receive the ball as much as I would've hoped, and therefore wasn't as impacting as he previously has been. That said, he still turned their fullback inside out, put in some great crosses, and won us what should've been a penalty with a sublime piece of skill, turning the defender with one little twist and flick, before getting felled for what was a blatant peno. The ref was blind to miss that, and the whole away end went mental as we could see it was such a stonewaller.
Forte - 6/10 - some good runs, but didn't have any one as far forward as he was to link up with, so often ran until he was tackled. Made use of his strength a fair bit, a very well taken goal too. One downside was quite a few mis-placed passes and lay offs. Not his fault, but he didn't have anyone to link up with really.
Guly - 7/10 - seemed to play a little deeper than Forte which meant that Forte was a little isolated. Guly made some great tackles and won back the ball several times with his tenacity, and showed off with a fair bit of skill. Lost the ball a few times though, and could've linked up better with Jonno. Good header for the goal.
Subs:
Lambo - was quality when he came on, though he had little time to impress. Came up with the all important third, with a good burst of pace to get ahead of the chasing defender, latch onto the through ball, then he had the composure to round the keeper and calmly slot it home. (too little time to rate him out of ten)
Reeves - too little time and hardly touched the ball
Deano - same as Reeves.
Good atmosphere in patches, but I was disappointed with how many people weren't bothering to support the team they travelled to Swindon to watch. Lack of singing from a large part of the away fans annoyed me and was probably the only downside to the evening.
Was fun takin the p*ss out of Di Canio, and tbf to a chunk of our away support, there were some decent songs and noise (Yellloowsss!!).
COYS
