Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted that his team were “unfortunate” to face a goalkeeper in inspired form as Jordan Pickford pulled off some stunning saves at crucial times in the second half to enable Everton to cling on to a 2-1 win at Southampton.
Joe Aribo’s 49th-minute strike put the Saints ahead but the Blues fought back to secure the three points with Conor Coady (52) and Dwight McNeil (54) both netting their first goals for the club before the visitors withstood some heavy pressure from the hosts in the latter stages.
Pickford, winner of the Premier League’s Save of the Month for September with his acrobatic stop to deny Darwin Nunez in the Merseyside derby, was fit again after a thigh injury had kept him out of Everton’s previous Premier League fixture against West Ham United plus England’s UEFA Nations League double header against Italy and Germany. And he showed just why he’s his country’s long-standing number one.
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Asked if he thought it was unfortunate to face a top-class goalkeeper in such inspired form, Hasenhuttl said: “You can call it unfortunate, you can call it a lack of making the best decisions around the box but yes the Premier League has some good keepers around. If you want to score, you have to do it quite proper, and we did it once – Joe’s goal was beautiful – but we had more chances than this one.”
The Saints boss also bemoaned his side’s decision-making in the final third in what proved to be a game of fine margins. The Austrian added: “I think it was a very tense game from the first moment onwards with two teams who haven’t been really calm on the ball and made mistakes. When we were a little bit calm we had some good moments in the first half to score a goal but the decisions in and around the box were not the best ones.
“In the second half we showed when we are strong, we can do it well and we can kill them. We had two good ball-wins, the first was the first goal where we immediately played a good pass from Che (Adams) and Joe (Aribo) a good finish – this is how it should be.
“What happened then, everybody saw, from the kick-off a long ball, a foul and then cross from a free-kick from the side where we had been defending well in the box. You get the equaliser and then after this equaliser, normally, it’s tough for us but we are convinced with what we have done today, it’s clear and with the shape I was happy it worked.
“In the next ball-win, with Joe making a fantastic pass to Che and the chance for the second goal and Premier League football is brutal when you don’t score, you concede and this is what happened today. This young team have to learn it’s not enough to invest a lot and create, create, create, you have in some moments, to be decisive and this is what we have not been and the difference between these teams today was a clinical finish in the box, what we did not have and they had.”
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