Claude Puel rolled the dice with his team selection against Norwich City in the FA Cup replay and although it was late it paid off.

The first question that was answered for Saints fans before the cup game against Norwich was the commitment of Jose Fonte to the Saints cause when the Captain was once again nowhere to be seen either in the starting line up or on the bench, although the latter did see Florin Gardos taking his place after almost two years since his last appearance on the pitch.

This meant that Puel had to go with a very inexperienced defence as he once again rang the changes.

You could understand why he did though with three matches in seven days this was the least important and the most winnable of the three and Puel was anxious to ensure that key members of the squad came through without injury or suspension from a sending off.

That meant that Jack Stephens partnered Yoshida in the centre of the defence and Harry Lewis kept his place in goal from the first game at Carrow Road.

With the Kingsland closed St Mary's looked desolate and those there looked like they were attending due to a sense of duty rather than with any enthusiasm.

The game soon settled into a familiar pattern with Saints taking control and Norwich being pushed back and unable to mount many meaningful attacks, indeed they only had 3 shots on goal, none on target and in the second half I cannot remember Harry Lewis touching the ball.

But once again Saints could not seem to break through they huffed and puffed but with 10 men behind the ball they rarely created anything of note.

It looked like it was going to be one of those nights again until with injury time being played suddenly we had a couple of strokes of luck and Shane Long won the tie, it was deserved in terms of domination with Saints having 63% possession, but not in terms of creativity.

Too often we failed to turn good situations into clear cut chances with either a poor delivery of the ball into the box or abysmal finishing.

We looked a side lacking confidence and in these situations you need a stroke of luck and we got it right at the end, it is these sort of things that turn seasons and hopefully Long's goal will lead to him going on a goal scoring run, that is if Puel pays him on Sunday !

At the back we were rarely tested although Jack Stephens looked the part in the centre of the defence and looked comfortable on the ball, it will be interesting to see him up against a better side, but he did show what he has.

Josh Sims had a reasonable game, however it has to be noted that he lost possession a lot in the final third, nothing wrong with this it was good to see him have a go, but if it had been Nathan Redmond doing it he would be crucified.

All in all an awful game even though Saints dominated, but the plus points are that we won, we got through without any apparent injuries and that hopefully we can now build on this win and get some sort of continuity to our game and confidence.

Photo: Action Images

Consigliere added 11:02 - Jan 19 "Awful" just about sums it up but in fairness to the Saints team, that was inevitable given the way that Norwich went about their business. They didn't just park the bus - they parked the tractor, trailer, hay-bailer, muck-spreader, combined harvester, Land Rover and cattle transporter, and would have re-erected the farmhouse, barns and outbuildings if they'd had the time! They are a decent championship team and no-one would have found it easy to score against them even if they had stood still for 90 minutes (which they practically did). Our defence did well to maintain their concentration. In such circumstances the only route to goal is over the top or (as we spent our entire time doing) down the side, but despite much huffing and puffing getting through the traffic was then the problem. For the freezing spectator it wasn't much fun but the bloke I felt sorry for was young Master Lewis in goal who as you say had nothing to do apart from clap his hands together to try to keep warm!

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SonicBoom added 11:08 - Jan 19 They may have parked everything as you say, but I expect that's what we will attempt at Liverpool next week....
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:44 - Jan 19 Dire.
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dixiefrog added 12:40 - Jan 19 What a great result for what was in reality Saints 2nd team, that's not to diminish their efforts and how through dogged termination they ground out the result. Roll on Arsenal, I expect a more recognisable set of players and a similar result.
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bstokesaint added 12:53 - Jan 19 Let's be honest, although any chance of glory in the league is slowly slipping away from us, this was an additional game we didn't need. I'm guessing Norwich fans are now cursing scoring against us in the 93rd minute in the first leg! Could have saved us all the pain of such a dire replay. Still, we're through and another competition stays alive for now. I'd expect us to give Ar$enal a good game. We needn't be scared given recent matches against them in the cup.

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ItchenNorth added 13:33 - Jan 19 That was truly one of the worst games of football that I've seen in all my time watching Saints (30 + years). Norwich were awful, showing not inclination for anything other than an odd counter or just taking the game to penalties. Credit to the 1000+ Norwich fans for travelling to watch that dross. Saints were hardly much better though. Sure Norwich parked the bus and we had the vast majority of possession, but we were so stationary at times, having no idea how to break them down. We showed no tempo no drive no passion to win the game. My man of the match was Romeu, as for the 20 min he was on the pitch he provided all three of those qualities lacking from all other on the pitch (bar perhaps Redmond when on). The elation of the late goal was nothing more than all 14000 people (including Norwich fans no doubt) being grateful that we could all go home ! A night to remember, for all the wrong reasons ! Anyway: into the next round we go.

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Bettwsresident added 13:50 - Jan 19 Phew...followed it on radio and BBC commentary....."shot to center of goal, saved" was coming up every 2 mins towards the end....what is wrong with GOAL shot to left hand side netting!
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trampslykeus added 14:31 - Jan 19 A terrible game, dire doesn't really cover it. Probably about 10000 people were relieved at not having to endure an extra 30 minutes as people had left in droves. How many people would have been watching penalties if it had come to that?? I don't foresee a big crowd for Arsenal as there is a full league program the next week, Swansea (a) on Tuesday so 2 more reserve sides competing in the FA Cup.

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pintsizedsaint added 15:11 - Jan 19 It was dire! As noted here, Norwich had no intention of winning the game in 120 minutes, and used it as a defensive practice - which should stand them in good stead for the Championship run in. SFC is so lacking in confidence at the moment. A common issue is that when we do get a decent ball into the box, nobody is there running in to connect or feed off scraps. We do miss Pelle for that - and Austin appears to be the only other forward we have who would naturally make those types of runs. Long and J-Rod are different types of players. Puel is trying to implement new systems and tactics, but with a squad he inherited and has not yet added to (Pied excepted). I suspect he would love to get 1-2 extra faces (experienced faces, whilst he bloods the academy players) but knows the January window will not offer too many options that don't involve getting mugged off. As Les Reed said, the January window is about clubs getting rid of dead wood. I wonder whether Puel is toying with the idea of finding a balance between old and new here? Every game we have implemented a high energy press we have performed well. Perhaps that is the answer to increasing confidence?

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davepid added 15:48 - Jan 19 Let's get excited. The cup game against Sunderland was a dire 1 0 yet we got arsenal in the next round. Now we are one game from Wembley. Can history repeat itself?
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AmericanSaint added 16:26 - Jan 19 I went to my first game at St. Mary's last night and here are a few observations: 1. While a lot of changes in personnel, I now know why there are so many harsh comments on the style of play. Television hides it as you get a better overhead view than in the stands. 2. Puel wants to use the wingbacks to make crosses in then why the hell do our midfields not pass the ball on an overlapping run. JWP was horrible about this last night. I counted 8 times when McQueen ran past him for the overlap and JWP cut it back in the middle. What the hell??? 3. NOBODY can blame the fans for lack of support. The Northend was rocking for the first 20+ minutes and at the end of the game. There was not much to cheer about in the middle. 4. Cross are no good if nobody there to meet them. We need to go buy Benteke now. 5. Jrod and Long were running into the gaps where our passes were met by Norwich defenders who parked the bus with 5+ players. Not their fault the service was bad. 6. I think there was some very good energy and enthusiasm by the players in the beginning, but there was a serious drop after their frustrations began showing. 7. Finally a ugly win is better than a pretty lose. On to the Foxes.

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SanMarco added 18:41 - Jan 19 Glad you got there AmericanSaint - at least you saw a win. I couldn't find a stream so only listened to Claridge and friends on BBC. I agree with pintsized about Puel imposing a new system etc but I do wish he would wait until he has the personnel to do it properly ie suited to the system. Of course I didn't see the game but it does sound as if square pegs are going in round holes and the result is not pretty. We should be able to roll over Norwich seconds, who don't even want to win, a little bit easier than that shouldn't we? If he messes around for Arsenal and Wenger puts out a relatively strong team I can see it ending in tears (but then I thought we would lose to Liverpool so what do I know).

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ExiledSupporter added 20:40 - Jan 19 Nick, while I am admitedly judging this from a distant perspective, I'm not clear why you keep on implying pretty heavily that Fonte is being left out of the team because his commitment is 'self evidently' missing. I suspect this may do Fonte an injustice which is rather shameful given his admirable service and leadership over the last 6 yrs or so. I am sure that you will correct me if I am wrong and the local gossip or media has a different story, but I suspect that there is more to it than just a disgruntled player. Why, for instance, was he never played in the Europa League matches. As previously suggested perhaps this had something to do with optimising his price by enhancing his utility to a supposedly eager ManU or Everton? On the other hand it may be Puel’s decision, rather than Fonte’s which you always seem to imply, to leave him out of the squad. One of the benefits has been that Yoshida, who I know you always tend to disparage with some good reason in previous seasons, has improved significantly with more regular game time. Also pleased to see the prospect of Gardos playing again, what little I had seen of him I had thought to be quite promising – let’s hope he has a future with Saints and can show consistent evidence of his value after as difficult a recovery as JRod has experienced

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thornhill1976 added 23:08 - Jan 19 Re-cycling the ball sideways is not an effective tactic. And it's tedious to watch. The style of football is ponderous and predictable. Just like JWP. He is the poster-boy for Puel's strategy of boring teams into submission.
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SaintBrock added 20:00 - Jan 20 All the time Saints put out their U23's for these types of matches they can do without my support and that of my son. I'm glad there were 17,000 like minded souls who showed their frustration in the only way we can.
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