Epilogue
That was mildly impressive from Southampton at times but let’s not read too much in to it considering they had a man advantage. Sadio Mané and Dusan Tadic were their best performers but Ronald Koeman will be desperate to keep the former with the transfer window closing on Tuesday evening. They are likely to lose Victor Wanyama, not selected here due to not being in the right frame of mind with Tottenham looking to sign him, but if Mané was to go it would be bordering on disastrous.
Norwich really showed nothing in attack after Steven Whittaker’s sending off – described by Gary Neville as ‘stupid’ at half-time and you have to agree – especially seeing as Wes Hoolahan was sacrificed. Write it off, forget about and go again after the international break.
Thanks for reading and do join Jacob Steinberg for live coverage of Swansea City v Manchester United. Until next time!
Updated
Full-time! Southampton 3-0 Norwich
That’s your lot!
90 min + 2: Following that, Jophnson shoots from 30 yards and Stekelenburg gets down to save well. Hooper slips when firing the rebound well wide. Poor from the sub.
90 min + 1: Southampton killing the game now, though Yoshida concedes a free-kick when taking down Hooper 70 yards from the goal he is defending.
90 min: There will be three additional minutes.
89 min: Jerome has thanklessly run himself into the ground here with little support. Gary Hooper comes on, perhaps picking up a handy appearance fee.
Updated
88 min: Norwich have a corner, won by Jerome. Brady comes across to swing it in but it’s headed clear at the near post. Tettey recycles it, gives it back to Brady on the right and he tries to catch out Stekelenburg with a shot from a tight angle. It lands on the roof of the net.
86 min: Romeu sets Tadic away on the right. He slows and waits for Martina to overlap. The right-back crosses, it’s cut out and Southampton have another corner. Ward-Prowse’s delivery is caught by Ruddy, who also wins a free-kick for a nudge.
Updated
85 min: The ball breaks to Tettey 30 yards out and he fires it way over.
84 min: Juanmi’s first act is to cross from the left but Ruddy is out to claim.
81 min: Ward-Prowse takes the free-kick. It’s poor by his high standards and bounces harmlessly wide to Ruddy’s right.
Updated
80 min: Redmond, muted but cutting a lonely figure up top, loses the ball weakly to Yoshida, who feeds Mané. The livewire dazzles forward again before Tettey fouls him. It’s Mané’s final act and he is replaced by Juanmi, freshly arrived from Málaga.
78 min: Southampton toying with Norwich now. Mané and Rodriguez nonchalantly flick the ball back and forth before the former’s pass to Pellè is a smidgen too heavy.
76 min: A penny for Steven Whittaker’s thoughts in the changing rooms now having gifted the game to Southampton. I’m sure Alex Neil will make his feelings known at full-time.
74 min: Rodriguez deserves a goal. Tadic cuts back on the left and lays it off to the England international but his whipped effort from the corner of the area is about six inches too high.
72 min: Soares plays in Rodriguez. The substitute controls beautifully, juggles the ball twice before shooting narrowly wide. And that is Soares’ final act, he is replaced by Martina.
70 min: Sure they have a man advantage, but we are beginning to see glimpses of the attacking football which Southampton excited us with so often last season. Johnson has replaced Dorrans, by the way.
68 min: How do Norwich respond to that? Bradley Johnson is getting ready to come on but it must be an exercise in damage limitation for the Canaries.
Goal! Southampton 3-0 Norwich (Tadic)
67 min: Again it comes from the right. Mané lays off to the advanced Soares. His floating cross is met by the head of Pellè. Ruddy saves well but Tadic nips between the ball-watching Martin and Bassong to tap-in from three yards. Game over!
Updated
Goal! Southampton 2-0 Norwich (Tadic)
64 min: Mané has Brady back-tracking down the right with another dose of blistering speed. He sends a low cross in and with the stretched Norwich defence scampering Tadic arrives at the back stick to curl in to the right corner with his weaker foot. That should, you would think, be that.
Updated
62 min: Now Southampton have a corner. Ward-Prowse sends another dangerous delivery towards Pellè, who is wrestled by Bassong and has genuine penalty claims waved away.
Updated
60 min: Norwich win a couple of corners. If they are to score it will be from a Robbie Brady delivery, you sense. Neither of these two lead to decent opportunities, however. And Southampton eventually have a goal-kick.
58 min: Another good chance for Pellè but he is narrowly wide with a blistering attempt.
Updated
57 min: Another good save from Ruddy. This time from Rodriguez, who latches on to a tidy Pellè flick before shooting across goal.
56 min: Mané cruises down the right after picking up a poor Ruddy clearance with green and yellow chasing hopelessly after the Saints speedster. He shoots but Ruddy redeems himself with an impressive save.
54 min: Soares, who looks full of energy, overlaps Mané on the right but Bassong comes across to get in his way and the ball runs out for a goal-kick.
52 min: Rodriguez has a shot from 25 yards blocked.
Updated
51 min: Another cross, this time from Brady on the left, ends up in the stand behind the goal such was the extra juice on it.
50 min: Norwich will not have much chance to push forward and when they do they need to be clinical. They could do without Redmond sending weak crosses in from the right for Stekelenburg to collect.
48 min: Rodriguez crosses from the left and Pellè rises impressively but cannot bother Ruddy with his header from around 10 yards.
Peep!
46 min: Norwich restart and have a mountain to climb to keep Alex Neil’s unbeaten away record together. Jay Rodriguez is on for Steven Davis at half-time.
Updated
Was that red card really deserved? asks JR. I’m not convinced that Tadic didn’t know exactly what he was doing. I think it likely he engineered that call. He was never getting to the ball and he had Whittaker hooked with an arm and had him pinned to his hip. Maybe Whittaker was attempting some minor impeding but Tadic sure had the look of someone trying to get an opponent sent off.
Tadic’s reaction, too, asking for Moss to brandish a second card said much. Either way, it was a pointless challenge from Whittaker and it should also teach him a lesson not to pick up nonsense first yellows for impeding a player attempting to take a throw-in.
Half-time! Southampton 1-0 Norwich
And that’s the last act of the opening period. Southampton have been well on top, especially since the sending off of Steven Whittaker for two of the more pointless yellow cards in as many minutes, but Norwich were also defending very well before that late Pellè strike. You would expect more goals in the second half. Do stay tuned!
Half-time musical interlude
Updated
Goal! Southampton 1-0 Norwich (Pellè)
45 min +1: The breakthrough. And it comes from Pellè via Mané’s cross on the right following a neat pass forward by Davis. It’s touch and go whether Pellè is onside but he gets the benefit and tucks past Ruddy at the near post.
Updated
45 min: There will be two additional minutes.
43 min: Lots of huff. Lots of puff. No sign of Saints blowing the Canaries’ door down. To be fair to the 10 men of Norwich, they are defending very well. And apart from Tadic, Southampton don’t look like inflicting too much trouble on their opponents.
41 min: Davis feeds Tadic. He crosses from the left but it’s too deep for a leaping Pellè and Norwich’s clean sheet remains in one piece.
Updated
39 min: Quite the lull now. Norwich have tempered the pressure Southampton put on immediately after the sending off. Pellè goes down following a challenge from Bassong as Mané plays the through ball. Replays show Pellè did indeed trip over Bassong but it was his clumsiness rather than Bassong actually challenging him. He was also in an offside position.
37 min: Norwich have settled a little now and enjoy a good spell of possession without ever threatening to enter Southampton’s final third.
35 min: Redmond and Jerome are going to be working of the scrappiest scraps for the remaining 55 minutes plus change. Wisdom plays a hopeful ball down the right channel to the former but Targett cuts it out.
33 min: Norwich sub – Hoolahan is hooked due to Whittaker’s silly sending off with Wisdom entering the fray in an attempt to shore up the visitors’ defence.
32 min: Southampton bang up for this now. Mané plays a low cross in but it rolls across the box without a touch. Soares shoots the loose ball over from 20 yards via a deflection. Corner comes to nothing.
Red card! Steven Whittaker
31 min: Remember when I said two minutes ago about Whittaker’s needless booking? Well he has only gone and got himself sent off for a silly drag on Tadic, who tried to turn him and run on to a long ball over the top from Ward-Prowse.
Updated
30 min: Mané hits and hopes towards the box from the right. Pellè finds Tadic with a back header but Tadic’s low effort across goal glides harmlessly wide.
29 min: Southampton very much in control now but Norwich remain tight at the back.
28 min: Whittaker is given a yellow card for getting in the way of Targett, who was attempting to take a quick throw-in. Needless booking – let’s hope it will not cost the Norwich right-back later in the game.
26 min: Now Southampton turn in a couple of crosses from Tadic on the left. The first is cleared but only as far as Targett who recycles possession on the left. Tadic’s second delivery is met by the head of Pellè who, under pressure from Bassong again, heads wide.
24 min: Brady waltzes down the left and sends another cross in towards Redmond. It’s a little overhit and Targett eventually wins a throw via an attempted clearance off the Norwich attacker.
Updated
22 min: There is an element of caginess about this at present. Norwich are solid and not allowing too many gaps for Mané and Tadic to exploit.
20 min: First half chance for Norwich. Brady delivers a hanging cross from the left. Dorrans pulls it back to Jerome but he cannot connect when diving towards the ball from six yards. A let off for Southampton, a sign of promise for their visitors.
19 min: Mané crosses from the right but it’s behind Pellè. He should leave it for Tadic behind him but instead controls with his right and, back to goal, attempts an overhead kick that heads harmlessly wide.
18 min: Stekelenburg is given a dodgy back-pass to the right of his area and shanks the clearance. But, thankfully for him, he gets away with it.
17 min: Mané and Soares attempt to work it intricately down the right but the control is off again and Norwich have a throw-in.
15 min: Mané is clear of Tettey but heading for goal with lots of space takes a very heavy touch and loses control.
13 min: Half-chance for Mané who bursts forward and into space before firing a mid-range effort straight into the welcoming arms of Ruddy.
12 min: Martin O’Neill, the Ireland manager, is in attendance at St Mary’s – no doubt keeping a close eye on Hoolahan and Robbie Brady, who has been very impressive since joining the Canaries from Hull. Shane Long is on the Southampton bench.
Updated
10 min: The key to a Norwich success here must be to get Hoolahan in to the game as much as possible. A couple of straightforward, sideways passes aside he hasn’t really featured yet.
8 min: Tettey concedes another corner. Yoshida and Fonte are up for it, Ward-Prowse swings it in from the right and Pellè, marked closely by Bassong, heads wide. Some home fans want a corner but Jon Moss isn’t having that.
8 min: Ward-Prowse’s delivery has too much on it and Ruddy picks it out of the sky without trouble.
7 min: Pellè lays off to Tadic who dances between three Norwich shirts before being hooked down on the left flank.
5 min: And immediately up the other end Jerome has Fonte in some bother and his pull-back from a tight angle wins a corner off the Saints captain.
4 min: This is a good start from the home team. They win a second corner, Tadic takes it short but upon receiving a return pass from Ward-Prowse, strikes to Fonte at the back-post. He is in space but instead of taking the ball down, shoots over first time.
2 min: Inside 30 seconds Bassong gives away a cheap free-kick and from 25 yards out James Ward-Prowse curls towards the top left corner but Ruddy is across to save excellently. The resulting corner is sent towards Romeu but he blasts over under pressure from Jerome.
Peep!
1 min: We’re off. Southampton playing from right to left as we watch in red and white, Norwich in lemon and lime.
Updated
The stat on everyone’s mind before kick-off
14 - Alex Neil is unbeaten in his 14 games away from home as Norwich City manager in all competitions (W10 D4). Chirpy.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 30, 2015
The cast
Southampton: Stekelenburg; Soares, Yoshida, Fonte, Targett; Steven Davis, Romeu; Tadic, Ward-Prowse, Mané; Pellè. Subs: Kelvin Davis, Long, Rodriguez, Martina, Reed, Juanmi, Caulker.
Norwich: Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Brady; Redmond,
Dorrans, Tettey, Howson; Hoolahan; Jerome. Subs: Rudd, Wisdom, Johnson, Hooper, Ryan Bennett, O’Neil, Van Wolfswinkel.
Referee: Jon Moss
Updated
Preamble
These are curious times for Southampton. They were the only Premier League team, it appeared, battling hard to qualify for the Europa League last season but on Thursday were dumped out before even reaching the group stages. They have started this campaign in worryingly rusty fashion and only Sunderland languish below them.
Since drawing 2-2 on the opening weekend at Newcastle, they were hammed at home to Everton and drew 0-0 at Watford. Then there was the Midtjylland shocker. Dusan Tadic said they should have felt ashamed after losing to the Danes with little more than a whimper. Now they need to right their wrongs before things threaten to turn sour.
“Now we have total concentration and focus on the Premier League and the game on Sunday because the start is difficult and we need a win. Everyone knows and we really have to work for it,” the manager, Ronald Koeman, said in his pre-match press conference. “It’s a short preparation and it was okay to be disappointed [post-Midtjylland] but there’s no reason to look back.” In some good news for Koeman and Saints fans, Sadio Mané and Victor Wanyama could return following injury and illness.
Norwich arrive on the south coast having made a solid if unspectacular start to life back in the Premier League, playing some attractive football but managing only four points – perhaps not the return their performances have deserved. Though they lost on the opening day to Crystal Palace, the performance at Sunderland – tearing Dick Advocaat’s shoddy side apart at will – made plenty sit up and take notice. They drew with Stoke last weekend and will fancy their chances of garnering some more points from a team in red and white stripes.
Lewis Grabban, suspended by the club for refusing to sit on the bench in the League Cup and angling for a move, supposedly back to Bournemouth where he previously enjoyed arguably the best spell of his career, will not be involved but apart from that Alex Neil has a full-strength squad to choose from.
“We’ll be ready for the challenge,” Neil said of this afternoon’s tussle. “We’re playing well at the moment ourselves so hopefully we can continue that. Everybody’s made a lot of our away record and the fact that they haven’t picked up a win yet so far, so it should be an interesting match. They’re a good team. They’re established in the Premier League and they had a really good season last year. Hopefully we can go and compete really well and bring back the points.”
Southampton must deal with their final European hangover, Norwich have plenty of confidence. Kick-off is 1.30pm BST, team news shortly.
Pre-match music
Updated
