NORWICH AT ST MARY'S

Can Saints get the 3 points? It's been a while since the last home win.....

be a shame if Wanyama does not play as thought he did some good defensive work at Palace when he came on, may mean a start for Ramerez but will mean midfield will be light.

I would still have thought we should win but expect a tough battle, will need to put away our chances and be a bit more clinical.

Well 2 wins back to back, 4 goals at home back above Newcastle so should be all smiles but conceding 2 poor goals to set up nervy finish and some lazy play at times takes the gloss of the result.

No Wanyama or Cork so start for Ramerez and JWP with rickie dropped to bench. Saints made a bright start with slick passing pulling Norwich all over the place and Lovren had first chance with header just over and took the lead after 5 mins with a slick passing move started on right by Cline and smart through ball by Ramerez which found Schniederlin free in the box with a sweet finish. Saints were buzzing for the first 15 minutes, with Cline causing a threat down the right hand side, Rodrigues had a chance then Davis dragged a shot wide. first scare came with a square pass across goal by ward prowse nearly letting Norwich in but saints scrambled to cover. Game started to get a bit scrappy with saints intent on keeping possession even if this meant going backwards and Norwich were pressing and we had a few square passes which nearly caused a problem. Norwich had tightened up and Hooper had a chance when again we lost the ball and inside the box on right side fired wide into side netting when should have done better.

Ramerez, playing behind Rodrigues had a shot following some good build-up with Davis feeding him but his shot went wide of left hand post. Game sort of petered out towards half time with saints not playing well but Norwich with little flair likely to create any clear chances.

Saints did not send any subs out for 10 minutes at half time think Pochitino was not happy with the way we were playing. JWP had a shot from 25 yards which brought a decent save from Ruddy. Saints were still knocking the ball across the goal at the back and Boruc's kicking was not good. After about 55 mins lallana went off to be replaced by Lambert, certainly probably Adams poorest game for many weeks and would have thought a toss up with ramerez who went off. Rickie though scored within a minute. Ball was knocked up down right side, Ramerez challenged for the ball, that was a miracle in itself , and ball fell kindly to Rickie in the box but he brought the ball down well turned his defender and coolly placed past Ruddy. That gave saints the edge again and started playing better football, ramerez then went off with what was cramp, he did have a hand in both goals but did not do a lot else, though arguably that is enough. Norwich then brought on all 3 subs at once but still saints looked comfortable and got the third when Guly on for ramerez got a pass inside the box, got his way through his shot came back off Ruddy to Rickie who passed to JRod in centre who fired into the goal. All saints from then, Rodrigues had a great shot from left side which bounced of top of bar then Lambert had a shot saved by ruddy and pretty much one way traffic. Then with 5 minutes left saints pressed the self destruct button, Fonte and JWP got in a mess with those stupid square passes and gifted a goal to Norwich.

Annoying but should have only been a consolation goal but got worse when Guly did the same again, very lazy play lost the ball on edge of box, shot was initially saved by Boruc but he really should have held as didn't have a lot of pace and Snodgrass scored. Unbelievable as don't think they had had 2 shots before then yet now just 1 goal behind. Ball was not surprisingly lumped forward at every chance with long throws into the box, with some decent headers from Lambert and at least Guly made a couple of decent headers. Didn't help with Lovren off the pitch as received a kick in a painful place, listen to the after match interview on Solent with Adam Blackmore, quite funny. Saints then put the result beyond doubt, ball cleared and Davis, who had not had a great game but does keep going chased a ball and made the Norwich player make an error and raced towards goal and squared to Gallagher who had come on for Jrod a couple of minutes earlier and his shot was half saved by ruddy and was cleared but only after it had clearly crossed the goal line. Full time whistle went straight after their kick off.

Boruc 5 not a great game, kicking was awful, looked like he was drunk and thought he should have held the shot which lead to second goal
Shaw 7 quiet first half but much better 2nd half, same side Hodgson was on
Fonte 6 partly at fault for 2nd goal but not bad game
Lovren 6 hadn't had much to do most of the game
Cline 8 another very good game and hopefully may well have got Hodgson's attention
Lallana 6 looked a little tired and in need of a rest, bet gutted that JRod and Rickie both scored after he went off!
Davis 6 some wayward passing but lots of energy and key role in 4th goal
Ward-Prowse 5 A poor game for me needs to fill out a bit as was knocked of ball easily and poor passing.
Ramrez 6 had a hand in 2 goals but little else, just does not put in the effort.
Schneiderlin 8 great game , good goal and at his best
JRod 8 lots of running showed his strength, took his goal well and must have impressed.

Subs
Rickie 8 just shows he still has it, cool finish for his goal, and an assist
Guly 4 think he should be on the plane home now, cannot understand why he wouldn't take a chance to impress, just lazy.
Gallagher 7 great that he scored his first league goal and think he has real potential

Thanks once again Matty.

Watched the 'highlights' on Sky.....much of the match seemed pretty poor quality, if those were the highlights I rather wondered how bad the rest of the match might have been.

I agree Matty, Boruc just didn't seem to be trying, don't know about drunk but I did wonder whether he might have had a few quid on Norwich getting a result.....   I wouldn't be surprised to see him dropped for a game or two.

Ward-Prowse doesn't seem the same player he was at the start of the season......I hope that Wanyama will be fit for next week. If not, do you think it might work if Clyne played midfield with Chambers at right back?? Just a silly thought.....

Mike

I actually suggested Chambers in midfield with Cline at RB, I think Chambers with his surging runs plus his height would be an advantage in the middle, Davis and Ward Prowse are both short.

Think Ward Prowse needs to look at what he did well when he first came in but does need to bulk out a bit.

I think if Kelvin was fit he would have been in, he will take the risk with Gazziniga but was thinking he may as well give him a couple of games before end of season to see if any better, home games against Newcastle and Cardiff would seem good opportunities. However with Man U and Spurs losing today we may well have something to play for, know Utd have games in hand but we can beat them here last game and we certainly have a number of winnable games

It appears that Boruc has been carrying an injury to his calf which may well account for his poor kicking and also why probably hacked of with all the passing back to him, also explains the second goal as thought he was slow to get down.

Think that says how MP rates Gazziniga, would rather play Boruc injured!