Saints Marching
Fansided

Southampton 3-2 West Ham: Four takeaways

By Ben King

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 19: Charlie Austin of Southampton celebrates scoring his sides third goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between Southampton and West Ham United at St Mary's Stadium on August 19, 2017 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 19: Charlie Austin of Southampton celebrates scoring his sides third goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between Southampton and West Ham United at St Mary's Stadium on August 19, 2017 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 19: Manolo Gabbiadini of Southampton and Jose Fonte of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Southampton and West Ham United at St Mary’s Stadium on August 19, 2017 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 19: Manolo Gabbiadini of Southampton and Jose Fonte of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Southampton and West Ham United at St Mary’s Stadium on August 19, 2017 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /

Jose Fonte’s nightmare

Many Saints fans were questioning the former captain’s sale from the club but based on this game alone, we were all eating our own words.

The big talking point about Fonte’s performance will be the obvious pull back on Steven Davis in the box. But the 33-year-old and his centre-back partner Angelo Ogbonna were all over the place in the first half.

Gabbiadini proved to be a real handful for the pair which was shown in the Italian’s goal where his sharpness prevailed against the lacklustre Fonte.

Southampton took full advantage of this with some tidy play on the wing from Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic. Due to Marko Arnautovic’s silly challenge on Jack Stephens, the visitors had to play with ten men for the large part of the match. This forced West Ham to play a more defensive shape and would eventually help Fonte and Ogbonna settle in.