"Good evening everyone, welcome back to match week 33 of the English Premier League. We are broadcasting Southampton vs Aston Villa at St Marry's Stadium.
Last week, Southampton managed to beat Leicester with a score of 4-3. Meanwhile, Aston Villa lost to Arsenal 3-1. After the defeated Leicester, Southampton managed to solidify their position in the 15th position of the English Premier League table, while Aston Villa followed behind them by 4 points difference.
In this match, Southampton did not include Denilson again on the big list. Let's look at the formation of both teams.
Southampton uses their main formation, 4-4-2.
Goalkeeper: Dean Smith
Defenders: Freddy, Hilton, Okhalo, Benson;
Midfielders: Hugo, Rudolf, Simone, Wright-Phillips;
Front: Kazuki, Crage.
On the other hand, Aston Villa uses a 5-4-1 formation.
Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan;
Defenders: Stephen Warnock, Richard Dunne, J. Collins, C. Clark, Carlos Cuellar;
Midfielders: Albrighton, S. Petrov, Charles N'Zogbia, Stephen Ireland;
Front: Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Both teams were identified with their counter-attack. After Kazuki's arrival, Southampton's performance raised quickly. Meanwhile, Aston Villa was able to reach 10th place in the first half-season, but they had been continuously declining in performance.
Too bad Darren Bent wasn't played. Now, Aston Villa's top scorer was Darren Ben with 7 goals in all competitions. That record might seem very lacking compared to Kazuki's record, but out of the entire Aston Villa squad, he was the best player.
Both teams are teams that often use conservative strategies, so I hope this match is not boring.
Let's watch the first half between Southampton and Aston Villa."
Southampton started the first half kick-off. Crage passed the ball to Kazuki. The Japanese player returns the ball to Crage
Something different that while Kazuki playing with Crage was the position. Kazuki would tend to be at the back and took on the role of a shadow striker when he had played with Osmund. Meanwhile, when Kazuki played alongside Denilson, he was ahead of Denilson and became a pure striker. On the other hand, Crage and Kazuki's positions were collateral. You could say Crage and Kazuki didn't have a specific task, they could swap roles at any time throughout the match.
With such an arrangement, Kazuki and Crage were able to play more freely. They were not bound by one role, so they could play more flexibly.
Southampton had the ball early in the game. However, they were at St Marry's Stadium, Southampton couldn't play too conservatively.
In the 7th minute, Rudolf stole the ball from George Agbonlahor's feet. He passed the ball to Simone. Simone elbowed S. Petrov for the ball. Simone stretched his foot forward and pulled the ball firmly. The ball moved through the gap between Simone's legs, he then turned and controlled the ball, a moment later Simone gave the ball to Hugo.
Hugo received the ball, but Albrighton had hit his body hard. The referee blew the whistle, he then gave Albrighton a warning. Meanwhile, Hugo immediately did a quick free-kick. He gave the ball to Crage. Clark straightened his body and blocked Crage's path to pass to Kazuki. Crage didn't force himself to breakthrough, because forcing himself to breakthrough in this situation would only make Southampton's attack fail, Crage gave the ball to Simone who went up to help the attack. Simone immediately gave a long pass towards Wright-Phillips. The ball flew high to the left.
Wright-Phillips and Warnock, Aston Villa's right-back, jumped in unison. Wright-Phillips jumped higher this time, he headed the ball back. Behind, Benson who did the overlap received the ball. He gave it to Kazuki.
Kazuki changed the direction of the ball with one touch, he then turned his body and chased after the ball. The Aston Villa center-back stood in front of Kazuki to block the Japanese striker from breaking through the penalty box. Kazuki raised his leg and did a fake kick. He then pushed the ball to the right and provided a breakthrough pass that moved flat on the grass. Crage went into the box with Clark and Collisons, his position being guarded by these two players on either side.
Crage struggled hard to receive the pass, he managed to receive the pass, but his position became less comfortable because he was not facing directly towards the goalpost. Instead of wasting chances, Crage launched a shot into the corner of the net. However, the kick flew far off the field.
Crage apologized to Kazuki while giving him a thumbs up for his breakthrough pass. It was too difficult for Crage to make a goal-directed shot when disturbed by two defenders.
In the 16th minute, Southampton got a chance. Okhalo managed to beat Gabriel Agbonlahor in an aerial duel. He headed the ball towards his teammate Hilton. Hilton brought the ball forward, at the same time, Freddy raised his hand, he signaled that he was in a free position. Hilton gave the ball to Freddy.
Freddy penetrated the Aston Villa defense area. N'Zogbia tried to stop Freddy. However, Freddy easily passed N'Zogbia by moving the ball from the right foot to the left quickly. After passing N'Zogbia, C. Clark stepped up and tackled Freddy. Freddy flicked the ball to the right, then he jumped to avoid Clark's tackle. After that, Freddy gave a floating pass towards Crage.
Crage adjusted his position, behind him, Collins had been continuing to push Crage. Crage received Freddy's pass with his chest, then he kicked the ball with the inside of the foot. The ball moved behind Collins. Kazuki ran and received the ball, he broke through the penalty box through the gap between Collins and Dunne.
Kazuki then made a powerful shot towards the goalpost. Aston Villa goalkeeper, Brad Guzan managed to reach the ball, then the ball bounced outside the penalty box after being blocked by Guzan. The referee blew the whistle and awarded a corner for the Southampton team.
Hugo took the corner. After the whistle sounded, Hugo kicked the ball gently. The ball flew high into the middle of the penalty box. The players scrambled to adjust themselves to the best position to head the ball. They all were jumped at the same time. Richard Dunne, Aston Villa center-back, was lucky. He managed to head the ball out of the penalty box.
S. Petrov prepared to receive the ball, but Okhalo stepped up and snatched the ball, the Southampton center-back crossing the ball into the center of the box. When Aston Villa's defenders weren't ready yet, Kazuki had already adjusted his position. Kazuki jumped up and did a bicycle kick, the ball was kicked by Kazuki hard. Brad Guzan leaped and extends his arms to block the ball. However, the ball was not blocked by Guzan. The ball entered the Aston Villa goalpost.
"Goaall! A wonderful bicycle kick was shown by Kazuki. I think this goal deserves the Puskás Award. With this goal, Southampton managed to take the lead in the 14th minute," inside the Sky sport studio, Jim Kaglin exclaimed excitedly seeing Kazuki's beautiful goal.