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Charlie Austin tried an audacious chip in front of Gareth Southgate as Southampton drew with Leicester – as well as annoying his manager, did it cost him an England call-up?
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Charlie Austin fails to chip Kasper Schmeichel and makes Claude Puel ‘angry’
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Is this the miss which cost Charlie Austin a place in Gareth Southgate’s first England squad for the World cup qualifiers with Malta and Slovenia?
The striker had the best chance of the Southampton’s meeting with Leicester in the first half as he struck the post with an ambitious shot from a tight angle.
But it was this effort after half-time which infuriated his manager Claude Puel, with the Frenchman admitting after the final whistle his decision to try to chip Kasper Schmeichel had made him angry.
When it appeared easier to score by shooting low - especially with the keeper already moving to close him down - Austin instead went for the improbable and promptly saw his attempt kept out.
The miss was to prove costly, with Southampton having to make do with one point a game in which they were the better team and would have deserved all three but finished 0-0.
Southgate was at the King Power Stadium ahead of his squad announcement at 8.15pm on Sunday evening and Austin had scored five goals in his previous four games.
With Harry Kane out with an ankle injury, there was a striking place in his pool up for grabs - but the caretaker England boss omitted the 27-year-old from his group of four forwards.
Instead, Marcus Rashford was promoted back into the squad and will compete with Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy for places in his teams for the two matches.
Click the video above to see the miss that annoyed Southampton manager Claude Puel so much - and possibly cost Austin an international recall.
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Puel hopes for kind international break
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A host of first-team players are away with their countries over the next week or so, on the back of what has been a hectic schedule at club level.
Yesterday’s 0-0 draw at Leicester City was the third away game in eight days for Saints, with the middle one seeing them make a long and tiring trip to Israel for a Europa League fixture against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Puel is hoping the workload many of his players are facing won’t cause any damage.
"We have 15 international players, so it’s very hard, because all these players go away, playing one or two games, and they don’t get the recovery,” said Puel.
“This is very hard for when they come back to Southampton.
“But we will see in two weeks and I hope they can come back with a good physical level and in good fitness.”
Following the international break, Saints will return to action with a home Premier League match against Burnley, on Sunday 16th October, with trips to Internazionale and Manchester City following that fixture.
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20 (20) - Sunderland: The Black Cats ended a run of three straight defeats with a draw against West Brom, but they have only just avoided the worst start to a Premier League season ever and Jan Kirchhoff went off on a stretcher [Getty Images]
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Tottenham set new club-record for this season but West Brom top running stats
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Tottenham set new club-record for this season but West Brom top running stats
Tottenham were praised for their high-intensity pressing against Manchester City on Sunday and tracking data reveals they broke their running record for this season. However, they still fell short of Tony Pulis’ marathon men at West Brom.
Spurs covered 118.8km at White Hart Lane as they secured a 2-0 victory over Manchester City. In that match Pep Guardiola’s men ran 4km less: 114.8km.
Afterwards Pochettino applauded his men’s work rate and Sky Sports pundits Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry praised the way the hosts closed down City’s players all over the pitch for 90 minutes.
Tottenham’s running total beats their previous best this season, the 118.7km they covered in their 2-1 win at Middlesbrough, while it is a remarkable eight kilometres further than they ran in the 1-0 home win over Sunderland in mid-September.
However, Tottenham’s effort on Sunday was only the joint-fourth furthest a team has run this season.
It is West Brom who hold top spot among all 20 Premier League clubs, after covering 120.5km in their thrilling 4-2 win over West Ham at the Hawthorns on September 17.
Interestingly, Man City, who were out-run on Sunday, hold second spot for their 119.6km effort in the Manchester derby, while Middlesbrough covered 118.9km in that previously mentioned defeat to Spurs and Liverpool recorded a total of 118.8km in their win over Leicester.
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Saints must be mentally strong during fixture pile-ups
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DUSAN Tadic admitted that Saints cannot afford to be mentally weak through gruelling fixture pile-ups like the one they’ve just experienced.
Claude Puel’s side ended a punishing run of six games in just over two weeks with a 0-0 draw at champions Leicester City yesterday.
And Tadic, who was disappointed with only a point at the King Power Stadium, has stated that fitness worries will only become a problem if the players convince themselves that they are fatigued.
It certainly hasn’t been an issue so far, with Puel’s side unbeaten in six successive matches without conceding a single goal.
“No, this is everything in the head,” he said, when asked if Saints were drained after a hectic run of games, which included a trip to Israel.
“You feel in your head that you are tired – but you are not tired.
“If you are mentally in your head saying to yourself that you’re not tired, then you are not tired.”
An exhausting trip to Israel was extended on Friday after the team’s plane home was delayed, but Tadic insists that the long trip away wasn’t a factor in their performance at Leicester.
Instead, the Serbian international, who will join up his national team week for World Cup qualifiers in Moldova and at home to Austria, says that Saints felt good physically throughout.
“It’s not so good because we travelled all day,” he said. “There was a little bit of complication [in Israel] but today we felt good.
“It wasn’t a problem. We are professionals, we need to be prepared for the game.”
Saints have gone on a six-game unbeaten run in recent weeks and the international break may well be seen as something that will stop their momentum.
But the attacking midfielder is adamant that it won’t be an issue.
“It’s okay, it’s not a problem,” he said. “We have important games for the national teams and it’s not a problem.
“The break doesn’t mean anything and this is never a problem.”
The 27-year-old was not happy with just a point at the Foxes.
He felt that Saints should have finished their chances after Charlie Austin and James Ward-Prowse failed to convert the best openings of the game. “I’m not pleased,” he said. “I think we should have taken three points.
“We had some chances in the first half and we are not happy with the point.”
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Charlie Austin’s hot form came to an end at Leicester but Claude Puel saw positive signs for the future.
Austin was one of four players left at home for the Europa League tie at Hapoel Be’er Sheva on Thursday night to keep them fresh for the trip to Leicester.
He was straight back into the side to face the Foxes on the back of five goals in his previous four matches.
Austin had several chances, the best of them when he found himself one-on-one with Kasper Schmeichel and attempted to chip the Leicester keeper believing he was going to ground, only for the stopper to stand tall and save the shot.
Puel said: “The solution of course it’s easy to see but it was on the ground and he choose another solution and it’s a shame because this goal to exploit another chance was deserved by my players.
“All the time when we have the ball on the ground and to play and progress all the play and it’s very interesting.
“All the time my players improve and this is important for the future.
“At this moment it’s disappointment with this result and you can see today it.”
He added: “It was a difficult situation and I believe more the good situation of the second half against the goalkeeper.
“I believe it was ok, but it’s a shame because we have the solution to finish and perhaps take three points, but it’s important to stay with a good feeling and the possibility to do a good play and to do this performance away.
“This is very interesting, but of course I remember the other situation and it’s difficult to accept this, but it’s important to take one point and to show for the confidence all the possibilities we can have.”
One of Saints’ best performers was defensive midfielder Oriol Romeu, who has been an ever present in the Premier League and the Europa League so far in this campaign.
“He doesn’t play just well in this game, since the beginning of the season has been good play for him for the defence,” said Puel.
“Every game he can play a fantastic game because the quality is an excellent player and he can recover the ball and it’s very important for us because he gives a structure for the team.
“It’s very interesting with the ball and without the ball in front of the defence.
“It’s a very good character, a very good player, who works every time in the training session.
“I like this player but I like all my players. They play with inspiration every time and they give all and listen also to develop their game and this is important for the future.”
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THE VERDICT: Puel proves methods work in practice and not just theory
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In Claude Puel’s very first interview as Saints boss he spoke of the need for a different type of football at St Mary’s compared to recent years.
Saints fans had grown accustomed first to the energetic high press under Mauricio Pochettino, and then a dynamic game off a targetman under Ronald Koeman, both playing 4-2-3-1.
Both managers were hugely successful, and their brand of football, a winning brand of football, had obviously been popular.
It seemed like a massive gamble to change things, in terms of style or formation when Puel had largely the same squad to use.
However, he made it clear from the very start that he would, and so in came the diamond midfield and a more patient, possession based, counter attacking kind of style.
In the initial weeks of the season it looked a little disjointed and as if, at times, the players weren’t exactly convinced themselves.
Puel’s justification from the very beginning was that he was building a side, a squad, to handle weeks like the one that has just been.
Three away games in a row, including a gruelling trip to Israel, was always likely to be hugely demanding.
Puel wanted to try and lift some of the strain off his side by ensuring it was always the other team doing the hard work, the high pressing, while his team patiently kept the ball and conserved energy, looking for chances to spring forward and pounce.
There have certainly been signs that as the players grow ever more accustomed to what is expected of them things are getting much better.
But, ultimately, results are what matter most in football, and after this week Puel can point to real hard evidence that his methods work.
The style, combined with Puel’s rotation system, got Saints through a very tricky period.
Even though the games keep coming at a pace after the international break with three more weeks of midweek and weekend fixtures, this was always looking like the hardest period due to the sheer amount of travel.
The trip to Israel was especially tiring, given a five hour flight and a few hours on the coach each way, not to mention a sizeable delay in getting home on Friday.
For Saints to come out of it with a win against West Ham and draws with Hapoel Be’er Sheva and Leicester is a considerable achievement, and the perfect justification for Puel as popular opinion continues to grow in his favour.
With Puel having left a few players at home for the trip to Israel, there was a certain amount of freshness in the line-up at the King Power Stadium, but undeniably all those who had made the journey, whether they played or not, had suffered a certain amount.
That Saints were able to still get a point is a credit to them.
They started the game brightly, Charlie Austin, one of those who stayed at home during the week, having several openings.
After nine minutes a header back across goal only picked out Kasper Schmeichel, four minutes later a diving header skimmed wide, while just another couple of minutes passed before the striker smashed a shot from a tight angle across goal and against the post.
Saints started to look a little like they were tiring, with Virgil van Dijk’s uncharacteristic short back pass on the half hour mark a possible sign of that. Though Jamie Vardy seized on it and rounded Fraser Forster, two Leicester attempts at goal were blocked.
The team seemed to get a second wind after half time and played some very good stuff.
Nathan Redmond had a shot saved at the near post before Austin was in and attempted to chip Schmeichel, having spotted the keeper charging out to try and close him down from a deep starting position.
It was instinctive but not quite on as Schmeichel was able to paw the ball into his grasp.
Leicester threatened, but only in patches of the game.
Danny Drinkwater hit the side netting before hitting a superbly struck shot from 20 yards, albeit one that was straight down the middle and relatively routine for Forster.
Sub Shinji Okazaki got a glancing header to a left wing cross but his effort dropped just wide of the far post.
Saints had a golden chance to make the week even better and win the game with six minutes remaining.
A quick throw down the right sent Shane Long to the by-line, and his attempted cross deflected off of the leg of Wes Morgan.
It fell into the path of James Ward-Prowse, who had only been on the pitch for a minute or so, and it perhaps caught him a little cold as he sidefooted over the bar from just inside the area.
Leicester blew an opening with the last kick of the match, as Leonardo Ulloa fired over after some neat interplay.
The draw rounded off an important week for Puel, which has enhanced his standing as manager.
It’s now six games without defeat, six clean sheets in a row, and a clear sign that his methods can not only work in theory but also in practise.
He will be a satisfied man as the pressure eases for the international break, and he, and some of his squad, get a chance to recover and draw breath.
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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 03/10/2016 10:30:51
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Alan Smith’s Premier League team of the weekend - Tottenham dominate after stunning Man City win
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Who makes Alan Smith’s Team of the Week?
Tottenham rule the roost after their fantastic performance against City, largely thanks to the skill snad inspiration of manager Mauricio Pochettino. Southampton also get a mention for their sixth clean sheet on the trot. Despite evntiually losing, Stephen Ward was one of many at Burnley who repelled Arsenal so well for 92 minutes.
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Summary of non-mainstream articles: 03/10/2016 11:31:43
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