A lively Southampton team came out the victor against a Swansea side that have slowed from their explosive start to the 2015-16 season.
The Saints kicked on from their performance last week against Manchester United, a 2-3 loss, with some exciting attacking play putting the Swans’ defence under pressure and opening them up on multiple occasions. Creative attacking play and movement combined with a much better defensive effort was a sight for sore eyes at St. Mary’s. The game also saw the return of Ryan Bertrand at left-back for his first appearance of the season, adding some much needed talent in the backline. Goals to Virgil van Dijk, Dusan Tadić and Sadio Mané provided encouraging signs for the coming matches.
Gary Monk will be asking for a lot more from his defence, who allowed themselves to be opened up too many times and failed to track the Southampton forward players. The Welsh side were not absent of good passages of play and threatened the Saints’ goal several times but most shots came from range and it rarely looked as though the home side’s defence was going to be breached. The most dangerous move in behind the defence ended with a penalty being awarded that was dispatched by Gylfi Sigurdsson, breaking the three game scoreless streak for the Swans.
FULL-TIME Southampton 3-1 Swansea. Van Dijk, Tadic & Mane combine to send the Saints past Swansea #SOUSWA pic.twitter.com/DY5Lx0QpTy
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 26, 2015
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