Alan Smith's match report
Full-time: Southampton 3-0 Sparta Prague
Southampton kicked off their Europa League campaign with a comprehensive win, the first of Claude Puel’s stewardship. Everything passed off as well as the hosts would have hoped, with a smooth collective performance studded with a few outstanding individual displays, especially from Martina and Romeu.
GOAL! Southampton 3-0 Sparta (Rodriguez 90+2)
That’s a sweet counter-attacking goal! Southampton too advantage of midfield sloppiness from Sparta, with Ward-Prowse helping the ball on to Long, who showed the presence of mind that he sometimes lacks and picked out Rodriguez. The striker guided a first-time shot into the net from 10 yards.
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90 min: There will be at least three added minutes.
87 min: Long has a long-range shot. Nowt comes of it. Meanwhile, if you thought there was a mistake in the previous entry, you’re right: Inter are, in fact, losing 2-0 at home to Hapeol Beer Sheva!
86 min: You may be interested to know that in this group’s other match, which kicked off at the same time, Hapoel Beer-sheva are beating Inter 1-0 in the San Siro!
Southampton substitution: Davis on, Romeu off.
84 min: Hojberg rewards a cute run by Martina with a classy through-ball. But theres no one for Martins to pick out from the byline. As he waits for a forward to give him an option, a defender hurtles back and takes the ball.
82 min: Frydek, all out of ideas to lash one into the top corner from the corner of the box. The result is similar to Josimar in 1986, with the key difference that Frydek’s effort ballooned into the stand.
80 min: Romeu’s got The Fury tonight: he gallops back to block a dangerous cross, a show of commitment that prompts the crowd to chant his name.
78 min: Romeu carded for clattering into Sacek, hard and late. He might aswell have taken the pen and written his name in the book himself.
Southampton substitution: There’ll be no hat-trick for Austin, as he’s replaced by Rodriguez.
76 min: Great tackle by Romeu on Costa in midfield to abort a Sparta counter-attack.
73 min: Hojberg loops the ball over a opponents head on half-way and then scampers forward. The break is on! He has Redmond to his right and Long sprinting clear in the centre ... and he tries a flashy backheeled pass, which is intercepted by the sole remaining defender.
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70 min: Kadlec sees yellow for a foul on Targett. By which I mean the ref presented him with a card, not daffodils. Although trying to eradicate foul play with flowers would be an interesting approach.
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Southampton substitution: Redmond - the new Thierry Henry, reckons Puel - trots on instead of Tadic.
66 min: Targett loses track of the ball in midfield, allowing Kadlec to nip in and steal it. The forward runs towards the Southampton box, throwing lollipops as he goes on his merry way. Van Dijk isn’t buying any, however, and blocks the 20-yard shot. Lafata pounces on the rebound and has a go himself from 25 yards. Forster saves without fuss.
63 min: The camera picks out Sofiane Boufal in the stands. He’s so entranced by the match that he’s playing with his phone. Perhaps he’s following it on this here mbm? Hi Sofiane!
60 min: Romeu flings himself in front of a shot by Kadlec. You can dismiss concerns about complacency when a man is willing to risk his plums for the cause.
57 min: Sparta are still plugging away, tidy but toothless. It would be a good idea for Puel to make a change or two here just to liven his team up. Stick on Rodriguez, for instance.
55 min: Tadic remains vigilant enough to clear a dangerous Sparta freekick at the back post.
53 min: At this point, in the interests of the show, we need a Sparta goal. Because Saints are starting to save themselves for the weekend’s league action and it’s not making for much excitement.
50 min: BT’s commentator has just noted that Austin is the first player to score a brace in Europe for Southampton since Steve Moran in 1981. “That was against Limerick, so Austin’s has more credibility”, reckons the commentator, unaware that that was Limerick’s golden age: they ran Real Madrid close the previous year and drew 1-1 at the Dell, albeit after losing the first leg 3-0. And Saints were so impressed with Limerick midfielder Tony Ward that they tried to sign him- but he turned them down so that he could continue his career as an Ireland international ...at rugby.
46 min: We’re back and so are all the players who ended the first half. The Southampton fans are in good voice: they’re taking the right spirit into Europe.
Half-time: Southampton 2-0 Sparta
After being undone by a ridiculous penalty decision at Arsenal last weekend, Saints benefitted from one here and thus took the lead after five minutes. Once Austin scored again following a cross from the excellent Martina, Saints were on easy street. So long as they don’t knock off, the points are in the bag. But there’s a chance to rack up a decent score here and breathe more confidence into the club after a stuttering start to the season. It would be nice to see Long get a goal, as he’s been having one of those Frank Spencer kinda days.
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45 min: Claude Puel comes out of the dugout to shout something, or maybe just to give cameramen a reason to pan to him and remind everyone that is bears a passing resemblance to the silver screen’s Gabriel Bryne.
42 min: Yoshida gives the first indication that complacency may be setting in, as he blithely plays a pass back to Forster, unaware that a Spartan is lurking. Forster rushes out to save, and Yoshida gets a verbal slap in the chops.
39 min: Sural jumps to the ground as soon as he feels pressure from behind from Van Dijk. It’s the oldest cop-out in the book and, as so often, the ref rewards it with a freekick. That’s one of the most annoying things in the sport, right there.
36 min: Tadic spins his main and slips the ball through to the overlapping Martina, who swings in yet another excellent cross. Long can’t apply a touch at the near post.
33 min: For those of you asking, Saints appear to be in a 4-3-3 formation, with Long and Tadic generally either side of Austin up front.
30 min: Another beautiful ball from Martina - he’s emerging as quite the playmaker! This time it was a sumptuous 40-yard curled delivery right into the path of Long ... who, alas, failed to connect with it, allowing the ball to run into the arms of the keeper. Long will always be a rough diamond.
GOAL! Southampton 2-0 Sparta (Austin 27)
Martina delivers another fine cross, this time with the outside of his foot, and Austin heads across goal and into the far corner. And this time it counts! Southampton are coasting.
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25 min: Lovely play by Southampton, crowned by a lovely cross by Martins and a lovely diving header by Austin! But the goal is disallowed because, as the replay confirms, Austin was fractionally offside. But Saints can take heart from a fine, patient and sharp move.
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23 min: Sparta are tidy passers. Southampton’s defence is having to concentrate hard to stop their probing from leading to breakthroughs.
20 min: Ward-Prowse is spraying some decent passes around. He’s just picked out Long with a precise ball over the top, but Long’s attempt to control it was wonky and the ball ran out of play.
18 min: Karavev is a nuisance down the right. Again he scurries into a dangerous position and hammers in a dangerous low cross. Van Dijk clears the first one but Karavev retrieves the ball and sends in another. Van Dijk clears that, too.
16 min: Ward-Prowse curls a freekick from deep over the Sparta backline. Austin gets away from all defenders and sticks out a leg to poke it at goal from six yards. Saved by Koubek.
13 min: The corner is headed away by Van Dijk. Vacha meets the ball some 25 yards out with a cracking volley, forcing a save from Forster.
12 min: Sparta have perked up as they seek an equaliser. Karavev shuffles his way down the right before firing in a testing low cross. Yoshida stretches out a leg to divert it behind before Julis could tap it in from close range.
9 min: Ward-Prowse curls over a corner. Van Dijk, always a threat, nuts it just over the bar.
6 min: “I despair as to what football is becoming,” emails Neil Truby, referring to that penalty decision. It was preposterous.
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GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Sparta (Austin pen 5)
Farcical scenes as Tadic and Austin argue for the right to take the penalty. Van Dijk, a leader in more ways than one, strides forth and orders Tadic to pipe down and let Austin take it, presumably to respect the agreed hierarchy. Once that’s sorted, Austin smashes a low shot into the corner. Everyone rejoices, including Tadic.
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PENALTY TO SOUTHAMPTON!
That’s a ludicrous decision. Costa is punished for blocking a cross by Austin with his arm: but he was a yard away and could do absolutely nothing about it.
2 min: There’s a big crowd in St Mary’s and they’re making plenty of noise. There’s no reason for the players not to take this competition seriously and, in fairness, they’ve started with an admirable sense of purpose and a strong tempo.
1 min: We have kickoff.
If you want to be Daily Mail about it, Southampton are wearing figure-hugging red and white striped shirts along with black trunks that flaunt their pins. Sparta are showing their curves in a white v-neck shit and light blue shorts.
Here come the teams. After West Ham’s failure to make the group stages and Manchester United’s lame defeat to Feyenoord, can Southampton salvage some pride for the Premier League, which is being laughed at all over Europe around about now?
A look at the lineup shows that neither side is at full-strength. Let’s hope the players who’ve been selected do more than go through the motions. Sparta’s selection suggests they’re going to adopt an uncharacteristically defensive stance, so it’ll be up to Saints to summon enough creativity to foil the visitors’ spoilsport plan.
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Preamble:
Hello and welcome to the start of Southampton’s second appearance in the group stages of a European tournament. The big question is can Claude Puel’s team emulate Lawrie McMenemy’s 1974 Texaco Cup heroes, who bravely fell at the last hurdle to Newcastle United (the same club, as it happened, who had ended their very first European expedition in 1970). Despite the 1974 feat – which, lest we forget, included a semi-final triumph over Oldham Athletic - it’s fair to say that Southampton’s European pedigree is less than rich and they could do with embellishing it this season, especially after last year’s ignominious failure against Midtjylland. Being in a group with Sparta Prague, Internazionale and Hapoel Beer’sheva gives them a chance to add a bit of lustre to their international record.
Today’s game is also an opportunity for Southampton to get their first victory under Puel, who has not exactly wowed folks on the south coast so far and has been sabotaged by some bad luck (such as the injury to Sofiane Boufal and that absurd penalty decision at the Emirates last weekend). No need for alarm just yet, but Southampton fans would certainly welcome more evidence that the new manager has a plan that will fly. He’ll need to realise that Nathan Redmond-as-striker wheeze just isn’t going to cut it, for instance. He’s deviated from it for this match, at least, as he’s made seven personnel changes to deploy a slightly novel lineup, with Van Dijk the only first-choice defender to start. Austin and Long are together up front in it would be encouraging if they clicked.
Sparta are unlikely to make it easy for the hosts. The Czechs did well in this tournament last season, emerging from their group unbeaten before ousting Bayer Leverkusen and Lazio and eventually losing to Villarreal in the quarter-finals. They were hoping to not to be in the tournament again this season but had to make do with it after losing to Steaua Bucharest in the qualifying round for the Champions League. They are paupers compared to the Premier League club but have some players who could enable them to upset the established order, notably the attacking midfielder. All in all, then, this could be an enjoyable contest. To get you in the mood, here’s some footage of when Southampton hosted Sporting Lisbon back in 1981. Don’t be too concerned about your team’s defending, Saints’ fans, just look at those kits: smooth.
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TEAMS:
Southampton: Forster; Martina, Yoshida, Van Dijk, Targett; Tadic, Romeu, Hojberg, Ward-Prowse; Austin, Long.
Subs: McCarthy, Fonte, Bertrand, Clasie, Davis, Rodriguez, Redmond.
Sparta: Koubek; Holek, Costa, Kadlec, Karavaev, Frydek, Sacek, Vacha, Sural, Julis, Kadlec.
Subs: Bicik, Mazuch, Marecek, Cermak, Lafata, Holzer, Pulkrab.
Ref: Manuel Grafe (Germany)
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