The ACN Match Review: Southampton (h) | OneFootball

How did we play?

Firstly, this was a great game to watch. It had a bit of everything and the outcome was never certain. In the end, we deserved the win by matching and bettering Southampton’s quality and effort; the game ebbed and flowed between the teams and you felt anyone could pinch a winner. That it happened to be us was just reward for a supreme team performance. 

What was the best bit of the game?

Vlad’s penalty save turned this game for us at a point where it really felt like the first goal would make a massive difference. Southampton looked scarily good in the first ten minutes and conceding a penalty just as we were finding our way into the game was not what we needed. But what a save it was, and what a reaction it sparked.

What was the worst bit of the game?

I hope Southampton fans enjoyed this game as a spectacle, despite the loss, but if I were a Saints fan I’d be pretty grumpy about the endlessly boring attempts to play the ball across their back line for minutes on end. It rarely amounted to anything; Norwich worked out how to press high and Southampton eventually gave the ball away more often than not. Did they learn nothing from their relegation last season? It spoiled an otherwise excellent game of football between two good teams. But that’s just me being picky.

What was the atmosphere like?

Absolutely cracking. The football on offer gave us plenty to get behind. On 80 minutes I worried that we were unnervingly quiet at a point when the team needed us most – we could all feel the tension of desperately wanting that win. But a big tackle later, the whole stadium was singing and seeing them home. Carrow Road is great on days like this.

Hero of the match

What a player Pelle Mattsson is. We’re starting to understand why he was snapped up the moment The Snake chose to join the Scum. Give me a choice between The Snake and what we saw from Mattsson in this game and I know who I’d have in my starting XI every week. Mattsson was electric, and for the full 97 minutes. He is such fun to watch and probably an absolute shitbag to play against. We have a new hero.

Summary in Five Words

Everything you want from football.