Fabio Carvalho of Hull City was a standout player as the Tigers defeated Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s on Tuesday night, earning one of their most spectacular victories of the year.
Just before halftime on the South Coast, the Tigers loan star added to Anass Zaroury’s goal in the seventh minute after Saints goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu parried Jaden Philogene’s shot into his path. It was a fantastic effort.
Liam Rosenior’s team dominated the first half, forcing the Saints into submission and creating numerous opportunities. Although the Tigers had to remain resolute in the second half, the hosts could only find a way through in the last few minutes when Joe Aribo slammed in. City’s first half performance was phenomenal.
“That was a good performance,” the Liverpool player on loan to Hull Live said. “As usual, there are things we can do better, but we followed the plan, particularly in the first half, which is very important. In the second half, they made changes, so we had to adjust, and I believe we got what we deserved.
“I believe that to be the season’s best performance. The way we were pressuring was the first step in it. We weren’t going to come here and sit back and let them have the ball and play into their hands because we understood that their strengths were passing and keeping the ball.
We were certain we would have a chance if we came here and exerted as much pressure as possible on them; we played some excellent football in the first half. All praise is due to the effort we made on the training field. At halftime, the manager mentioned that we had a chance to lead by three or four goals. Even when we scored two goals, it wasn’t enough since we knew how good we were playing. We just attempted to adjust as best we could, knowing that they would make a move at halftime.”
Attention now for City turns to West Brom, who were 3-0 winners at Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday night and sit one point and one place above the Tigers ahead of Saturday’s early kick-off in front of the television cameras, and Carvalho says the Tigers must reproduce that level.
“We need to do that every game,” he said. “But obviously, every team plays different football with different tactics, but if we play with the same intensity, and if we press with the same intensity, we’ll create chances higher up the pitch, we’ll win the ball back to force teams into making errors. We’ve got a game on the weekend and we need to focus on that and take each game as it comes, we know that’s obviously a big game. We’ve got three points which is crucial, but we’ll just take each game as it comes.”
