Southampton 1-3 Brighton: Seagulls go sixth after impressive display
Southampton 1-3 Brighton: Solly March’s screamer caps a dominant win to take the Premier League’s surprise package up to sixth in the table
- Brighton have gone sixth in the Premier League after a win over Southampton
- The Seagulls dominated for the first 70 minutes and eventually won 3-1
- Adam Lallana opened the scoring with a header against his former club
- Solly March scored a screamer into the top corner from 25 yards out
- The result leaves Southampton struggling and bottom of the league table
How long does a honeymoon period last in football?
Almost seven weeks might seem like a decent amount of time.
But in a season disrupted by a mid-campaign World Cup break, that was only until his first home league game for Southampton’s new manager Nathan Jones and not even that far into it.
Around 20 minutes in against Brighton the first major grumblings began spilling down from the stands.
At half time and 2-0 down Southampton were sent on their way back to the home dressing room with boos ringing in their ears.
And many more followed at full-time, by which time the home sections of St Mary’s were half empty.
Jones is under no illusions about the size of the task he has taken on in replacing Ralph Hasenhuttl at second-bottom Southampton.
And nor about shortage of quality at his disposal, in more departments than he would wish, with which to steer them to safety.
He has also inherited a frustrated fanbase too who had seen an away defeat at Liverpool in Jones’s debut and not been appeased by a Carabao Cup victory over League One Lincoln City.
Their patience levels have seemingly not been reset by the change of manager.
And their discontent was understandable against Brighton as two of the big concerns Jones is well aware of, the challenge ahead and strength of his own squad, were underlined.
Despite almost six weeks off to work on things, Southampton’s players showed few signs of having grasped what Jones is demanding of them, something key to making his approach work.
Brighton showed them the way at St Mary’s and Southampton could now do much worse than follow their lead in the coming weeks.
The Seagulls once again looked a slick outfit after failing to win any of their new manager Roberto De Zerbi’s first five league games.
Kaoru Mitoma provided a warning of what was to come when he twisted and turned Lyanco inside out before firing straight at Gavin Bazunu.
Mohammed Elyounoussi briefly brought Robert Sanchez into the action with a looping header from the lively Samuel Edozie’s cross, but then Brighton really took over and took the lead.
Lallana received possession with his back to goal, just outside the box, and eased effortlessly away from pressure and into space with one of his trademark Cruyff turns.
He fed the ball out wide to Solly March before drifting into another gap to divert his teammates’s cross past Bazunu with his head.
Bazunu made a mess of his attempts to save it and, based on his reaction, needed no telling too.
Southampton academy product Lallana, meanwhile, greeted his goal with an expected muted celebration. And what was supposed to be a big day for Nathan Jones against his old club, ended up being one for Lallana.
Brighton had no natural striker but continued to look so impressive, at ease but also dangerous in possession.
Southampton were the opposite. Jeers broke out when a long ball drifted aimlessly over Brighton’s defence and into the arms of Sanchez.
More followed when Moussa Djenepo turned back towards his own goal rather than go forward.
MATCH FACTS
Southampton (4-3-3): Bazunu 5; Walker-Peters 6, Lyanco 6, Salisu 6, Perraud 4.5 (Maitland-Niles 54, 6); Diallo 4.5 (S.Armstrong 46, 6), Ward-Prowse 6, Elyounoussi 5.5(Mara 78); Djenepo 4.5 (Aribo 46, 5), Edozie 7 (A Armstrong 84); Adams 5.
Subs not used: Caballero, Caleta-Car, Mara, Bella-Kotchap, Morgan.
Scorer: Ward-Prowse 74.
Booked: Aribo
Manager: Nathan Jones 5
Brighton (4-2-3-1): Sanchez 7; Veltman 7, Dunk 7.5, Colwill 7.5, Estupinan 7.5; Gross 7 (Gilmour 90), Caicedo 8; March 8.5 (Lamptey 83), Lallana 7.5 (Sarmiento 67, 6), Mitoma 7.5; Trossard 6.5 (Ferguson 83).
Subs not used: Steele, Sarmiento, Enciso, Undav, Gilmour, Van Hecke, Moran.
Scorer: Lallana 14, Perraud (og) 35, March 56
Booked: Sanchez
Manager: Roberto De Zerbi 8.5
Referee: Robert Jones 6.5
James Ward-Prowse had Sanchez flying across his goal for a free-kick that arced wide but the direction he was facing was then an issue for Romain Perraud.
He could not sort his feet out in time to deal with Pervis Estupinan’s cross and could only turn it into his own net to double Brighton’s lead.
Cue Brighton fans breaking out into an adapted version of Jingle Bells about what fun it was to see them winning away.
And they almost had more to celebrate with Mitoma heading over and then flashing another ball dangerously across goal.
After the chorus of boos at the break, the restart brought the loudest cheers from a Southampton perspective at the half-time withdrawals of Djenepo and Ibrahima Diallo.
Jones’s accompanying, half-time change of shape almost reaped immediate rewards when Edzoie, now deployed more centrally, threatened twice early in the half.
But, on the flipside, the narrowness of their midfield was exposed when Brighton worked the ball easily out wide to March, who cut in from the right onto his favoured left foot and smashed an effort from at least 25 yards into Bazunu’s top corner.
March was in the mood and showing why De Zerbi was hyping up his talents before the World Cup break, teeing up Mitoma for a chance to make it 4-0.
Instead it was Southampton who struck next, Ward-Prowse nodding in the rebound after his penalty was brilliantly saved by Sanchez, but the damage was well done by then.
Share this article
Source: Read Full Article