Saints made it two wins in a week with a dominant display against a poor Sheffield Wednesday side.

It was all change for Saints as they took on the Owl's from Yorkshire at St Mary's, although there wasnt the wholesale 11 changes as predicted with Paulo Gazzaniga and Yoshida keeping their places with Nigel Adkins obviously feeling that they could both do with a little more experience at this level of football.

Other than that it was a mix of fringe players like Richard Chaplow and Jack Cork, alongside those seemingly a long way off a league game like De Ridder & Seaborne with the only youngster on show in the starting line up being Jamie Ward Prowse.

In truth Saints dominated from start to finish and rarely looked like letting the game slip, in some respects it resembled a training game as Saints looked content to pass the ball a lot and get a feel for it.

Steve De Ridder made some impressive runs early on, but showed why he frustrates and has never really forced his way into being a first team regular, he can beat a player and has a good range of trickery, but too many times after doing the hard thing he lacked the final ball and his decision making was poor.

Jay Rodriguez played like a man finally unleashed from his shackles up front, it was a strong confident display with a very well taken goal, talk of him repalcing SRL is premature, certainly Rickie wont relinquish his place without a fight, but J Rod showed that he will be a strong contender to replace him and that if our number 7 suffers a loss of form then our new number 9 is ready and able to step up to the plate, this can only be good for the team as genuine competition for places has to be good, it will also show Nigel Adkins that he now has a genuine like for like replacement for SRL off the bench rather than something different like Mayuka.

Gazzaniga looked confident again and wasnt afraid to come and collect the ball, he had a couple of slippery moments, one in each half when he didnt gather a cross cleanly, but he quickly recovered, more importantly it didnt seem to phase him and after each of the mishaps he came out and caught other crosses straight away, again it seems that he wont be willing to give up his place to either Kelvin or Artur Boruc in a hurry.

Other than that it was pretty much a talk amongst yourselves game for long periods with the only worry that Saints failure to kill the game off with a second might come back to haunt us, with just over ten minutes left, De Ridder was brought down, with the Wednesday man protesting that the initial challenge was outside the box, I have to say after seeing a replay, he has a point, the incident itself was a bit of a Fred Karnos moment, both players falling over and the Wednesday man unfortunately slipping up straight into De Ridder, a foul yes but not intended, J Rod showed that if he is ready to take on the fiht for Rickie's crown then he needs to practise penalties, the keeper almost stopping it.

The youth arrives in the last 20 minutes with Ben Reeves clearly wanting to make the most of his 20 minutes or so and working hard and showing why he will be a decent player.

Perhaps the only worry though about this crop of youngsters is how small they are, someone sat behind me remarked, "Dont we grow them any bigger" and I have to say he had a point, after the third substitution in the 85th minute all that was lacking was Ken Dodd to direct proceedings from midfield. 

Photo: Action Images

darkangelv2 added 09:25 - Sep 26 Agree with all the above. DeRidder = Frustrating as hell! So much talent and pace, so often the wrong decisions. Gazzaniga made some good saves. A couple of jittery moments in the first half and i couldn't hear him shouting as is often the case with young goal keepers. Again, made exactly the same observation of our youngsters. It's like we bought a job lot! Hooiveld and Yoshi looked good together and Cork, Chaplow and Ward-prowse played solidly.

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1970 added 10:10 - Sep 26 Good post again Nick I didn't get to the game, listened on solent, I had big hopes for De ridder when he signed like unearthing a real gem,i would be most pleased if we signed Matt Phillips instead, and loan De ridder out to the championship,with everyone so hungry to get games could we dare dream of winning this cup.
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Santos added 10:13 - Sep 26 Speaking as someone not in the Guly disliker camp. I must say he is not doing himself any favours at the moment, played in the hole but very much went missing for most of the game, did have a couple of chances but never seemed to really want the ball enough. I think he would have come off sooner had we had more expierence on the bench but could only happen once 2 up. Supprised not to see Lee somewhere is he injured does anyone know what has happened to him? Good to see Cork back hopefully the knock he got near the end will not be serious as will add something else to the team when back I feel. Rodriguez look lively and quick would be interesing to see him up top with Ramirez and Lallana knocking clever balls to him, certainly will keep SRL on his toes. Decent tie next round and who knows well worth staying in the competition as you have stated.

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StSaint added 10:15 - Sep 26 I wouldn't worry too much about their size - most of the Barcelona team could get into the Kids play area at McDonalds! Gone are the days when youth teams were chosen by their physical attributes and then moulded into footballers. The main point is that they can play. Good result and useful game time for the 2nd IX. Would be nice to draw Bradford at home so that we can give a few others some game time. The clean sheet will be good for the defence and Gazzaniga's confidence, and J-Rod's turn for the first goal was a thing of beauty. Nice to see Everton aren't unbeatable as well - roll on Saturday!

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slynch added 10:21 - Sep 26 Lee injured (elbow) Mayuka (ankle) neither serious. Crosby managing? Is that Adkins introducing "competition for places"?
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VeloSaint added 10:50 - Sep 26 Robinson on his own must have upped the average height of these nippers, looked well over 6ft, don't think he got even a touch of the ball in his 10mins. Lots of positives in terms of possession and patient build up and JRod looking sharp and more then capable if called upon (personally I still think he's the better option up top on his own, at least away from home where his pace to run the channels offers something different over Lambert). The 2 negatives for me were firstly the lack of a killer pass from either Cork or JWP. Goodness knows how many touches of the ball they had, rarely gave anything away and always available, yet both always look to pass the way they're facing and thats always backwards or sideways. I'd really like to see more attacking vision from them. The second negative and relates to the above was the service into JRod, he was a class above as already stated and showed in the few balls into him he has great touch, awareness and can spin on a sixpence. Was a shame Reeves came on later, would have preffered him to Guly to start as i think he would have picked out JRod with ease.

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VJC added 11:37 - Sep 26 Gazzaniga's "slippery moments" were more down to the ball being soaking wet as anything else. The first one he actually caught the ball cleanly but it slipped *upwards* before he had to catch it again. As you say he dealt with it well though and it was noticable he started punching the ball more 2nd half to try and avoid letting the ball slip in the area. My only real downside was Steve de Ridder - someone teach the man to cross and pass the ball. He can't seem to do the former and keeps choosing the wrong one when it comes to the latter. But that's not really news.

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bstokesaint added 12:42 - Sep 26 Jay Rod was brilliant last night. His work rate was high and he did a great job often up the top on his own. It'll be good to see him challenging Lambert for a starting spot. His finish was top class, a very tidy turn and finish. I don't think any of the other players really did anything that special. Yoshida still looks to be a decent buy and more agile than the two CB's we had prior to his arrival. We know that Jack Cork and JWP are on the periphery of the first team and I didn't honestly see enough of the youngsters to form much of an opinion. I know from a few outings previously that Ben Reeves looks a decent prospect. It's a shame we never got to see Shaw, Lee or Mayuka for various reasons. My biggest concern would be the keeper. I'm not sure that you'd call that a "confident" display. Against a better team you don't always get away with a slip here or there. We can't bank on it being dry at Goodison on Saturday. There were also balls flying across the six yard box that I'd like to see a confident keeper claim or at least clear from danger. I think experience will be key at the weekend and I'd be incredibly nervous about putting Gazzinga between the sticks for what could be a very testing afternoon. I want the guy to be a success, I'm just not yet convinced.

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schatfield added 12:56 - Sep 26 So where was Adkins last night? Even Wenger doesnt desert his team when they play lesser teams in the cup.
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VeloSaint added 12:57 - Sep 26 Adkins was there
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stmichael added 12:59 - Sep 26 I thought JAYRODS goal was absolute quality however it does not matter whether we play home , away or on the moon he does not get in ahead of RICKY. Simple AS. I think his body language showed that he realised his was a fleeting appearance. Unless we play 2 up front he is on the subs bench. I wonder if he was told that when we signed him. Great for us that we have a player of such quality in reserve but how long is he prepared to wait for a starting spot. Anyone see Ricky retiring in the forseeable??

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bstokesaint added 13:05 - Sep 26 Can also confirm I saw Adkins. He just didn't do the post match stuff.
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DJI added 13:14 - Sep 26 A good opinion piece Nick. J-Rod certainly showed a certain hunger and desire last night that our other strikers don't have. He chased down lost causes and even managed to nick the ball of their goalie at one point, even when their defender had given it up. He will keep Rickie on his toes for sure. As for some of the negative comments about Guly, I think some of you need to watch the game more closely. I was sat in the row directly behind the Saints bench and Adkins and Crozzer were constantly shouting at Jos/Yoshida/Cork/JWP to "find Guly" with a pass instead of continually going sideways. Guly put in a good stint last night and only slowed in the 2nd half when his groin started to play up, which I saw him signal to Adkins and watched the Physio give him an ice pack for it on the bench. Gazza in goal made some very important saves last night; one at his near post (Kelvin was watching that!) and one near the end from a stinging shot which he pushed wide and out of danger. I also noticed that his distribution on Saturday was better than any keeper I've seen at St Mary's in a while. 9 out of 10 times, he pinged the ball onto Rickie's head or chest, allowing us to push Villa back as well as get us into attacking positions. Overall a comfortable win for us and into the next round we go!

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vectis added 13:41 - Sep 26 Perhaps Adkins left early to go interview our new LB/CB free transfer... ITK...? lol
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thingummy added 19:34 - Sep 26 If SRL gets injured, we have no one else who can hold the ball up, score, take penalties etc. We would be in trouble. JRod will get his chance but he is there as back up to (IMO) the best centre forward since Ron D It's tough for him but he's not going ot play on the left instead of Lala now GR is here. Excluding defence, we have more strength in depth than I can remember

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