Manning on ‘perfect’ start
Ryan Manning described Southampton’s opening day win at Sheffield Wednesday as the ‘perfect’ start to the season.
Making his debut, Manning helped Saints settle into an immediate dominance at Hillsborough, with Nathan Tella’s stunning strike breaking the deadlock after 11 minutes, only for the goal to subsequently be awarded to teammate Adam Armstrong, whom the shot inadvertently deflected off en route to goal.
Enjoying 80% possession on the night, Russell Martin’s side were sucker punched when Lee Gregory converted after the break from a corner, but a deserved win wasn’t to be denied when substitute Ché Adams converted late on to start Martin’s tenure in style.
Reflecting on a positive night in Yorkshire, Manning said: “It was a brilliant start, exactly what you want when you’re coming away from home, the atmosphere was lively in the first 10-15 minutes so you have to manage that and try and kill the game, and to score is the perfect way to do that.
“We kept the ball, unlucky that we didn’t make more of the chances we had in the first half to try and kill the game off because at one nil they’re always in it from exactly what we said, set pieces and throw-ins.
“We’re all disappointed to concede but to come back, score in the last few minutes and then see the game out the way we did, that was just exactly the kind of style the gaffer wants. Keeping the ball meant that the last 10 minutes was completely in our control and I think it’s the perfect start away from home, three points and now we can watch the weekend and see how everyone else gets on.”
Now preparing for a Carabao Cup trip to Gillingham on Tuesday before hosting Norwich in the Championship, Manning is looking to build early momentum.
“The chances that we created, on another day, or as time goes on, we’ll become more clinical and probably have more passes in games, more possession and dominate the ball even more and that’s what the manager wants and I think everyone’s loving the style so far, loving the way he wants us to play and that’s a brilliant start.
“We can go back to the training ground now, we’ve got a cup game on Tuesday so can build on that and just keep building momentum because in this league, momentum is massive and if you keep putting wins together on the spin it seems to snowball effect and you just keep going, going and going and you just have to be relentless.”
