Dream Training : The Champions

West Ham was trying and finding the flaw in Southampton's defense, but Southampton's neat and disciplined defense managed to withstand attacks from West Ham's players. Until the last minute of the game, both teams did not score again. Southampton won the match with a score of 2-1. Southampton's goals were created by Simone in the 25th minute and Kazuki in the 49th minute. On the other hand, West Ham United managed to reply a goal through Maiga's kick in the 66th minute.

This victory was Southampton's second successive victory. The Saints was in 4th place with 6 points, losing on goal difference to other clubs. Southampton was able to give a good start, so the fans were happy with this club.

On the other hand, after the match was over, Kazuki was brought by George to the press conference room. Kazuki became one of the players who performed well at the start of the season. The journalists excitedly interviewed Kazuki. They asked the reason Kazuki stayed at Southampton instead of accepting offers from other clubs.

Kazuki replied, "For now, Southampton is the best club for me. I am very happy to have a coach who gives me so much confidence. I am also very happy with my teammates here."

Kazuki's commitment to stay at Southampton for at least this season earned the support of the Saints fans. They knew that Kazuki would leave one day. However, they were still happy to see Kazuki choose to play for Southampton this season.

The press conference went smoothly, there were no controversial questions asked by journalists. One question that was, quite boldly, was about Southampton's targets this season. Analysts admit that Southampton was arguably on par with mid-sized clubs like Everton, Leeds, and Leicester. The best prediction from the media for Southampton this season was 5th place.

As long as Southampton could maintain squad stability, it was not impossible for them to at least reach the top 5 positions. However, many factors could affect a team. The deepness of the bench was a serious problem for Southampton. With Kazuki, Southampton had a chance to beat every team, but the thing to note was when Southampton did not field Kazuki, they were like two different teams.

This season, Kazuki was also likely to play in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. This made George have to do a good rotation, so Southampton's players do not suffer injuries.

On the other hand, in early September, the 2012 Golden Boy elections took place. Several players were Kazuki's rivals in the 2012 Golden Boy election.

First, Pogba, brought Montpellier to win the French league. Second, Isco had helped Real Madrid win the La Liga. Lastly was Alexander Pato from AC Milan. In terms of achievements, it was very difficult for Kazuki to beat them. However, in the statistics, it was clear Kazuki was crushing his rivals.

The British media supported Kazuki. After all, Kazuki was the winner of England's Young Player of the Year 2011/2012.

Although Pogba now played at Manchester United, the achievement that Pogba made, was when he played at Montpellier, because of that the British media were more supporting Kazuki, on the other hand, Manchester United had to support Pogba, even though some people also wanted to support Kazuki. Pogba was a Manchester United player while Kazuki was just a former academy player. It was clear who had to be supported.

In addition, Kazuki also won Player of the month in August. The 3 goals that Kazuki made, had a big impact on Southampton's victory, so the Premier League chose Kazuki over Ahmed who scored 3 goals too.

In the third round, Southampton will face Sunderland. Just like West Ham. This was also Kazuki's first time playing against Sunderland on the senior stage. In the previous season, Kazuki had no chance against this team.

Sunderland's first two rounds went badly. They had lost 1-0 to Sheffield, then lost 3-0 to Arsenal. This made Sunderland fall in the relegation zone. Of course, to avoid 3 consecutive negative results, then Sunderland needs to win the game against Southampton.

On the other hand, Southampton who was playing at home wants to continue their positive trend. Beating Sunderland could extend Southampton's win. In this match, Southampton captain Simone will not play. He got injured in training. Wright-Phillips will be the man to replace Simone. Meanwhile, the captain's armband will be handed over to Okhalo.

Southampton's fans were very enthusiastic to watch this match. One of them was Jerry Miguelson. He was the owner of a shop which was near Saint Mary's stadium, Jerry had always been a loyal Southampton fan. Together with his friend, Bob. He intended to watch Southampton's game against Sunderland.

"Bob, did you buy the tickets?" asked Jerry.

Bob reached into his pocket and showed Jerry two tickets. "Of course I did. I spent hours waiting in line. The rest of the guys got their tickets too. Let's go in."

Jerry nodded, he then said, "I'll give you a discount later."

They were both jostled with the other Southampton fans. The crowd slowly filled the stadium, even though the match was still a long way off. Bob and Jerry chose seats according to the tickets they bought.

While Southampton fans filled the stadium, Southampton players were warming up while waiting for the game to take place. In this match, George rotated. He didn't play Rustan on the right but instead replaced him with Crage. He also replaced Freddy and included Vicente.

This change made Southampton's right side more defensive than aggressive. Without Rustan, there was no longer any winger who could break through the opponent's defense with speed. This will obviously make Southampton in trouble. Even so, Rotation was needed.

"Good afternoon everyone, I hope you are all well. This afternoon I will accompany you to the third round of the English Premier League 2012/2013 season. Southampton will host their guests, Sunderland. Both teams require a win this afternoon.

Let's look at the formation of the two teams.

Southampton started with a 4-4-2 formation. After using a 4-2-3-1 formation in the previous two matches, Southampton finally returned to using a 4-4-2 formation. A formation that became the hallmark of George Eastgate.

Goalkeepers: Dean Smith;

Defenders: Vicente, Hilton, Okhalo, Ben Carter;

Midfielders: Crage, Wright Phillips, Rudolf, Kounde;

Front: Kazuki, Ryan.

Meanwhile, Sunderland went down with a 2-3-4-1 formation. In this formation, there are 2 centers back at the end of the Sunderland defense and three defensive midfielders where two of them are wing-backs who are parallel to the defensive midfielders. Then there are 2 attacking midfielders and 2 wingers.

Goalkeepers: Mignolet;

Defenders: John O'Shea, Carlos Cuellar

Defensive midfielders: Cattermole, Larrson, Craig Gardner;

Attacking midfielders: Kieran Richardson, Collback, James McClean, Stephane Sessegnon;

Front: Fraizer Campbell."