Dream Training : The Champions

Until the end of the game, Southampton still lead with a score of 2-1. Sunderland failed to maintain their lead in the first half. As a result, Southampton won this match. This made Southampton win 3 matches in a row. This was one of Southampton's best season openings for the last 5 years.

On the other hand, Kazuki continued to lead the top scorer with 4 goals. His closest competitor was Ahmed, who still scores 3 goals. The Egyptian player failed to score in the 3rd round of the Premier League. Meanwhile, Southampton had scored 7 goals and conceded 4 goals. They failed to keep a clean sheet in these 3 matches a week. This indicates that Southampton's defense was still lacking compared to the previous season.

The change in strategy was one of the reasons, but the performance of the players was also an undeniable factor. It must be admitted that Southampton's youth players had been less stable lately, except for Kazuki and Ryan, other young players had experienced ups and downs in their performances. This was one of the reasons why Southampton conceded quite a lot of goals in just 3 matches.

In the next match, Southampton will be against Portsmouth. The match between Southampton and Portsmouth was called the South Coast Derby. This derby was somewhat forgotten because Portsmouth played in the championship league or the second caste league in England, but this season Portsmouth managed to return to the Premier League after winning the championship league.

Southampton could be proud because they had been competed in the top tier of the English league for several seasons in a row, but in terms of the title they still lose to Portsmouth. This team won the top caste of the English league twice, namely in 1948-1949 and 1949-1950. They also won the FA Cup in 1939 and 2008. While Southampton only won the FA Cup in 1976.

For the first level competition Southampton had met Portsmouth 71 times, Southampton won 35 games, lost 21 and drew 15 times. Meanwhile, if you count all matches, Southampton had met Portsmouth as much as 140 times, Portsmouth won 63 times compared to Southampton who won 57 times. The two had drawn 21 times.

Although both had pride in this Derby. However, the record for the biggest wins is always held by Southampton. First, Southampton 5 Portsmouth 1(FA Cup, 13 January 1906), second, Portsmouth 5 Southampton 1 (18 October 1919), third, Southampton 5 Portsmouth 1 (11 September 1920), fourth, Southampton 5 Portsmouth 1 (27 August 1960), fifth, Southampton 4 Portsmouth 0 (17 April 1975).

Therefore, in the match against Portsmouth, Southampton fans had a reason to believe that their team would win. However, even though Southampton was superior in the match later. Portsmouth may not just give up, especially, since the match will take place at their home, namely Fratton Park.

"Good evening everyone, back again in the fourth round of the English Premier League. In this round, we present the south coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth. Portsmouth is a promoted team who went through the first 3 matches quite well. They managed to get one win, one draw, and one defeat, while Southampton brilliantly won 3 consecutive match including beating Manchester City.

Will Southampton continue their positive trend? Or will Portsmouth be able to give Southampton their first defeat at the start of the season? Let's take a look at the formations of the two teams.

Goalkeepers: Dean Smith;

Defenders: Freddy, Hilton, Okhalo, Benson.

Defensive midfielders: Simone, Rudolf.

Attacking midfielders: Rustan, Joe Bennet, Ryan.

Front: Kazuki.

Meanwhile, Portsmouth displays a 4-3-2-1 formation.

Goalkeeper: Simon Eastwood.

Defenders: Liam Walker, Yassin M, Gabor Gyepes, Adam Webster.

Defensive midfielders: Johnny Ertl, Jade Wallace, Shaun Cooper.

Attacking midfielders: Ashley Harris, Izale Mcload

Front: David Connoly.

Well, then let's see the performance of both teams in the first half."

Under the manager Michael Appleton, Portsmouth transformed into a team that was very good at counter-attacking. They were the type of team that will wait for the opponent to attack, then launch a counterattack. You could say Portsmouth was a defensive team. The fulcrum of Portsmouth's counterattack was Izale Mcload. This player was a key Portsmouth champion in the league championship.

Early in the first half, Portsmouth let Southampton controlled the ball. They were not provoked by Southampton's short pass. Portsmouth will only put pressure on Southampton when the ball crosses the final third of the Portsmouth defense. They were shrinking the defense area to make Southampton difficult to penetrate the Portsmouth defense.

Fortunately, Southampton had been practicing play patiently. They were in no rush to attack Portsmouth. Bennet as a playmaker was continuing to patiently wait for the right moment for Southampton to launch an attack. In the 7th minute, Southampton had a good chance. Kazuki's movement lured the Portsmouth center-back forward. This allows Ryan to easily penetrate into the penalty box. Bennett gave a long pass towards Ryan.

Too bad, Gabor Gyepes managed to block Ryan's kick. It made Southampton's first shot missed. However, this effort should be appreciated. After that failure, Southampton still continued their dominance. However, Portsmouth began to raise the tension of the match.

In the 12th minute, Portsmouth launched a counterattack. As soon as Jade Wallace had snatched the ball from Bennett's feet, he pass the ball to Johnny Ertl. Johnny received the ball and penetrated forward. Rudolf moved forward to tackle Johnny, but Harris appeared behind Rudolf. Johnny sent the ball to Ashley Harris.

The young man received the ball from Johnny then relied on his speed to approach the Southampton penalty box. Then he provided a through ball to David who escaped the offside trap. Too bad Ashley's pass was too strong, so Dean Smith confiscated the ball before David.

In the 17th minute, Simone managed to thwart Portsmouth's counterattack. He made a clean tackle on Izale. Then he took the ball across the halfway line. At that time, he immediately gave a long pass forward. Portsmouth, which was still in the process of transitioning left an opening for Kazuki to exploit. The Japanese player managed to receive the ball from Simone freely.

Then, Kazuki tricked Yassin, then he passed Yassin and gave a powerful shot into the corner of the net. The reaction of goalkeeper Simon Easwood was quite fast. He managed to parry Kazuki's shot, so the ball bounced in front of the goalpost. At that moment, Joe Bennet appeared and gave a shot to the left. Eastwood who had fallen could not catch the shoot, so the goal was created.

"Goaaaaaall! A sharp, precise, shot by Bennett put Southampton ahead over Portsmouth 1-0. This goal became Bennet's first official goal at the senior stage."

Southampton's players celebrated the goal under the gaze of thousands Portsmouth fans.