NATHAN Redmond insists Saints are “always ambitious in where we want to be” when it comes to cup competitions, ahead of the visit to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
Forward Redmond is one Saints player who has saved some of his star showings for the domestic knockout games, with individual performances that have twice helped take the club to Wembley.
In 2016-17, Saints reached the EFL Cup final with a 2-0 aggregate win in a two-legged semi-final vs Liverpool – Redmond scoring the winner himself in the first-leg at St Mary’s.
That was then followed up last season when he stole the show against Bournemouth in the FA Cup quarter final, scoring twice after he had provided an assist for Moussa Djenepo in the comfortable 3-0 defeat of the Championship side.
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He will also have fond memories of a late cameo against rivals Portsmouth in September 2019, where he added the fourth and final goal from the bench with just a few minutes remaining.
After a difficult start to this season, Redmond showed supporters a glimpse of what he can offer with a superb performance and assist to Armando Broja as Saints picked up their first Premier League win of the campaign against Leeds.
With attentions now turned onto the EFL Cup last 16, the Daily Echo asked Redmond if the knockout stipulation excites players – “Yeah, it does.”
“Playing against Liverpool in the league is always tricky and most teams in the Premier League, you know,” Redmond admitted, “it’s always tricky, it’s always difficult, every team has weaknesses but every team has their strengths also.
“In the cup, a lot of teams have to chop and change and give their squad players a game so it makes the cup games a lot more open. The majority of cup games tend to be at night as well so under the lights always makes it a bit more special.”
The 27-year-old added: “We were always ambitious in where we want to be in the cup games, as you’ve seen in the last few seasons, getting to quarter finals, getting to semi-finals, getting to finals in the last five or six years.”
Supporters were left disappointed with the FA Cup semi-final defeat to eventual winners Leicester, not necessarily because of the result but just the uninspiring nature of the performance altogether.
8 - Southampton have now been eliminated in eight of their last 10 FA Cup semi-final appearances, two of which have come in the last four seasons (2017-18 vs Chelsea, 2020-21 vs Leicester). Hurdle. #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/kimvw3O3gc
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 18, 2021
It was a different story during the EFL Cup Wembley visit, where Saints were just a Zlatan Ibrahimovic away from a deserved victory with Manolo Gabbiadini’s brace cancelled out by the Swede’s late winner.
Some attributed the 2020-21 FA Cup run to the tired legs that led to the league collapse during the second-half of the season, but the truth is that a cup run is always an enjoyable occasion.
“We’re always taking it very, very seriously,” Redmond added. “We are under the impression of what a cup run can do not only for the fans but for the club and also for the city itself.
“We take it serious. The thing is this year, as opposed to last season, the squad is much bigger, it’s not as thin.
“When going into the busy periods over Christmas, we’ve got some talented players that are all fighting towards the same goal with some of the squad players that aren’t necessarily playing getting the chance to play in the cup games and, if needed, can do so in the league.”
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