Match Thread Southampton v Everton (Sunday 25 October 14:00)

[Lelouch]

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti to Sky Sports: "We didn't play well, Southampton were better than us and they deserved to win. Sometimes you are not at your best, it came after a really good run for us, now we have to look forward with the same spirit and belief.

"We tried to get back into the game, we had some good control after half-time.

"The red card was a joke, it was not intentional, for sure it was not violent. Maybe it was a yellow. Maybe all this talk all week against Pickford, against Richarlison, affected the decision and if so it's not right, it's not fair. We will appeal, for sure.

"I told the players winter is coming and we will have to react."





Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl to BBC Sport: "My team did a fantastic job today, from the first moment you could feel that the plan was working and the guys were sticking to it. It was one of the best first halves so far for us.

"I was always convinced that Che Adams' time would come, sometimes it takes a long time to adapt to this level but he was always learning and working hard and he gets what he deserves now.

"We did not talk once this week about losing 9-0 [a year ago today], that is a topic for you guys, but it was important what we did after that defeat. Now we don't even think about it any more, I don't care."



Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl to Sky Sports: "It was a tough win against a strong side but we had good game management. It's not so easy mentally to be 2-0 up, things can change quickly, you know this. It was one of our best performances at home.

"We played through the lines, the second goal was beautiful and we really calmed the game down. I didn't see a lot of chances for Everton today.

"The two guys up front did a fantastic job, we were at our highest level today all over the pitch. We must always play at that level to win games, when we have a week to train together it often looks this good."



Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse on Sky Sports: "We knew it was a good challenge for us, they came here unbeaten and we didn't like that feeling. Our confidence was high.

"We were aggressive, we believe in what we are doing and we have the quality to go and score goals.

"We'll take a 2-0 win at home all day long. I want to try and score a few more goals and that's the demand of the manager. We highlighted their key players and adpated our game to nullify that threat, and we did that well today.

"This gives us a lot of confidence, we weren't really troubled."

Ancelotti bang on the money, Southampton schooled us today fair play to them.

 

[TommyDavo]

Not defending JR , he was out of it today as was DCL.
However, this was a chance for Iwobi to make a case for his inclusion or at least make a case that in the event of an injury that he was a more than capable replacement.
He showed nothing and coming off at half time tells you what CA thought.

Their left hand side was killing us first half, so sorry I didn’t really get it. Godfrey was left wide open

 

[Lob]

Too early to be wetting the bed as we were going to lose sometime but it is the nature of the loss which is the worrying thing for me as that performance was very reminiscent of the Everton we know too well from the last few seasons.

Here's hoping that the performance is back to being good again in the next game or the bed will start to get a bit damper.

 

[Jim Hopper]

Highlights from the game.

 

[chrismpw]

Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti to Sky Sports: "We didn't play well, Southampton were better than us and they deserved to win. Sometimes you are not at your best, it came after a really good run for us, now we have to look forward with the same spirit and belief.

"We tried to get back into the game, we had some good control after half-time.

"The red card was a joke, it was not intentional, for sure it was not violent. Maybe it was a yellow. Maybe all this talk all week against Pickford, against Richarlison, affected the decision and if so it's not right, it's not fair. We will appeal, for sure.

"I told the players winter is coming and we will have to react."





Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl to BBC Sport: "My team did a fantastic job today, from the first moment you could feel that the plan was working and the guys were sticking to it. It was one of the best first halves so far for us.

"I was always convinced that Che Adams' time would come, sometimes it takes a long time to adapt to this level but he was always learning and working hard and he gets what he deserves now.

"We did not talk once this week about losing 9-0 [a year ago today], that is a topic for you guys, but it was important what we did after that defeat. Now we don't even think about it any more, I don't care."



Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl to Sky Sports: "It was a tough win against a strong side but we had good game management. It's not so easy mentally to be 2-0 up, things can change quickly, you know this. It was one of our best performances at home.

"We played through the lines, the second goal was beautiful and we really calmed the game down. I didn't see a lot of chances for Everton today.

"The two guys up front did a fantastic job, we were at our highest level today all over the pitch. We must always play at that level to win games, when we have a week to train together it often looks this good."



Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse on Sky Sports: "We knew it was a good challenge for us, they came here unbeaten and we didn't like that feeling. Our confidence was high.

"We were aggressive, we believe in what we are doing and we have the quality to go and score goals.

"We'll take a 2-0 win at home all day long. I want to try and score a few more goals and that's the demand of the manager. We highlighted their key players and adpated our game to nullify that threat, and we did that well today.

"This gives us a lot of confidence, we weren't really troubled."

"Winter is coming"

And the night is full of terrors.

 

[ForestBlue]

I hope the team bus breaks down.

Do we even have a bus? That had the looks of a team that came down this morning crammed into 2 or 3 cars!

 

[MockBu4]

It is easier to accept a defeat when your team shows some composure and desire to fight, even with loss it insures you that they want to win, they want to fight.

But in a case like that, egh..

 

[Blue83]

We were awful today, no excuses for that performance but we're still top of the league and it's 1 defeat from 6 games, any one of us would gladly take that if we were offered it last season, no reason we shouldn't still be happy overall, just have to hope it's just a blip on a stellar start to the season

 

[mightymoyes]

But you didn't ask, did you? You just assumed I wanted 3 straight away.

Well your whole points stems from playing Godfrey at right back.
How does bringing in another right back and selling one change having to play Godfrey if they are both injured?

 

[samcdavies94]

I want players on the pitch not credit in the bank. He was piss poor, accept it

I've accepted it. I'm not about to use his first bad game as a comparison for Alex Iwobi's 30th, though.

 

[deipnosophist]

Bad day at the office; still top of the league; Geordies up next; let's move on.
COYB!!!

Yes, it was a David Brent of a day. Important we don’t get too angry with our brave lion hearts. I am sure Carlo will be taking one or two out to the woodshed and a little bum shellacking is probably in order. But I won’t linger on this performance; I am too familiar with our ‘Everton that’ propensities to let it get me too down. I do however feel the homesickness’plague’ that afflicts the squad needs redressing and I feel that small changes (eg reintroducing an all day full English breakfast option on the FF cafe menu) might be in order.
But, hey ho, onwards and upwards and, as you say, onto Newcastle we go!!

 

[BigDunc'sFod]

Deffo can't be a red if the RS are defending us

 

[arbok]

The scary thing is they scored so easily today. The players were tactically poor on both goals imo.

 

[seer]

Think we were alright upto 20 mins or so - then its like the entire team switched off.

I think our biggest problem area is still defence. If they get pass Allan and Doucoure it feels like a 50% chance of being a goal every time. Playing 2 covering CD's that are of the "last man" type is bad. We need one who steps forward and breaks up more often. Quite often when teams score against us you see them to just passively trying to stand in the way and not much more.

 

[Sheedy's right knee.]

The fact they never asked Hassenhuttel about the red card speaks volumes about the decision.