Sourced from Daily Mail article
Sunderland 0-4 Southampton: Manolo Gabbiadini strikes twice
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The name of Gabbiadini has always been synonymous with goals for older Sunderland fans brought up on the exploits of Marco, the striker who joined them 30 years ago and scored 87 times in the next four seasons.
Now there is a new Gabbiadini on the scene and, while Manolo is not related to Marco, Southampton’s £15m striker scored twice to show that he possesses the same instinct for goals as the Sunderland legend who was in the crowd yesterday.
Marco stayed until the bitter end, but only a tiny proportion of that crowd remained by the time Southampton added two further goals in the closing stages, with Shane Long scoring after Jason Denayer put through his own goal.
It was the perfect preparation for Southampton, whose players have been given a four-day break to spend with their families before leaving for warm weather training in Spain ahead of their EFL Cup final against Manchester United.
Manager Claude Puel said:‘A win by four goals and a clean sheet is very good for our confidence. Our attitude was very good in a difficult game against difficult opponents.’
Puel is being generous to Sunderland. They were difficult opponents for the first 20 minutes perhaps as Sunderland built on last week’s 4-0 success at Crystal Palace, started confidently and created chances that Adnan Januzaj and Jermain Defoe failed to take.
But the feelgood factor swiftly evaporated as Gabbiadini squandered one good chances, created another that Cedric Soares fired wide and put Southampton ahead, all in the space of ten minutes.
Gabbiadini was credited with the goal on the half-hour following a fine cross from Ryan Bertrand as Sunderland defender Lamine Kone’s header took a slight deflection off the striker’s shoulder, prompting Sunderland manager David Moyes to suggest it should have been disallowed.
‘The ball hit him on his arm,’ he said. ‘It shouldn’t have been given and really changed how the game went.’
There could be no dispute, however, over the second goal in stoppage time at the end of the half and Gabbiadini’s right to claim it.
He collected Dusan Tadic’s pass, embarrassed John O’Shea and Kone with his quick turn and slid the ball past Vito Mannone.
Gabbiadini has now scored in both his games for Southampton after hitting the target in his final three appearances for Napoli. ‘It’s a very good start,’ said Puel. ‘Manolo showed he is a technical player who can work between the lines. He gets behind defenders and has real quality.’
O’Shea paid the price for his part in the second goal as he was substituted at the start of a second-half when Southampton’s lead was never threatened.
Didier Ndong produced the only effort that seriously concerned the Saints’ keeper Fraser Forster, while Sunderland’s Vito Mannone made several saves before his defence collapsed again.
Denayer slid Bertrand’s cross into his own goal after 88 minutes and Long completed a miserable day for Sunderland with a fourth in stoppage time. When Wahbi Khazri did score for Sunderland in the final seconds, it was disallowed because he had punched the ball past Forster.
Moyes said: 'When the expectation is that we will win, we fluff our lines a bit. I’m really disappointed with the result and our performance, especially in the second-half.
So, are Sunderland back to square one after recent signs of lift? ‘At least we are still in a square because we are in it with other teams,’ said Moyes, who side are among six teams separated by three points at the bottom of the table.
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