Southampton comfortably dispatched ten-men Norwich City 3-0 at the St. Mary’s Stadium this afternoon. Graziano Pelle opened up the scoring on the stroke of halftime, and Dusan Tadic had a second-half brace in the space of 165 seconds to make it easy for the home side. Two yellow cards in quick succession in the first half by right back Steven Whittaker saw him sent off in the 31st minute. It was a very deserved victory for the South coast side, and Norwich will need to respond well after the international break.
Alex Neil went with an unchanged line-up from the team that dominated but failed to beat Stoke last week. The Saints were clearly the sharper team right from the beginning. James Ward-Prowse struck a free kick in the second minute, but John Ruddy was equal to the effort. Southampton continued to come forward, but Norwich defended the attacks well.
When Norwich were going forward, not much happened. They struggled to string a good series of passes together, and rarely put the opposition under any true danger. The best chance of the match fell twenty minutes in. After a good passage of play, Robbie Brady switched the play. Graham Dorrans met it, and put the cross back into the middle. Cameron Jerome was waiting for it, but did not get very much contact on it.
Southampton were getting into good positions, but lacked a final ball. In the twenty-seventh minute, Whittaker picked up an unnecessary booking. After the ball went out of play, he went into a tussle with Matt Targett. He tried to put the Southampton left back into a headlock, and the referee had little choice but to book him. Four minutes later, the Scottish defender went in for another clumsy challenge. It was a very pointless challenge, and Jon Moss had to send him off. Alex Neil sacrificed Wes Hoolahan and brought on Andre Wisdom to tighten up the defence. From that point on, all Southampton needed was one moment of brilliance to open up the game. That came in the final minute of the first half. Sadio Mane streamed down the right wing, and played a little through ball to Pelle; the Italian striker swept it home. John Ruddy did not have much of a chance.
Norwich started the second half a little bit better, but Southampton were still in control. The Canaries got forward on a couple of occasions, but they never really tested Stekelenburg in goal. In the sixty-fourth minute the Saints but the game away. Mane came down the right flank again, and put in a cross. Dusan Tadic was left alone in the penalty area, and he made no mistake with the finish. The defensive positioning was simply not good enough from Norwich. Just over two and a half minutes later Tadic had his second. Pelle’s header was saved by Ruddy, but he parried it straight into the path of Tadic, who had the simplest of tap-ins.
The game settled down a lot after that, with Norwich looking happy to just not concede any more goals. The away side nearly grabbed a consolation in the final minute of stoppage time, as substitute Bradley Johnson had a good shot from distance. The shot was saved, and the rebound fell to another substitute in Gary Hooper. Hooper could not finish the chance, and that would prove to be the final action of the match.
We didn’t play anywhere near the standard that’s expected. I’ve got no complaints, we didn’t deserve anything.
Overall, Southampton deserved to win. Even before the sending off, they were the superior team. For Norwich, it is not a disaster. The players just need to forget about that game. They need to regroup during the international break, and get ready for what can only be classified as a must win game at home against Bournemouth in two weeks time.
We need to bounce back. They should be hurting at the moment. They need to take that and use it in the next match. (Alex Neil)
FULL TIME: Southampton 3-0 Norwich City.
