Sky Sport

2022 - 10 - 9

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Man City 4-0 Southampton: Erling Haaland scores as Joao Cancelo ... (Sky Sports)

Report and free match highlights as Manchester City cruise past Southampton thanks to goals from Joao Cancelo, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Erling Haaland; ...

"We had, in the first half, two things where we did not slide and they played so quick and there is immediately a big chance. He had been switched to right-back in the absence of Kyle Walker in midweek but whichever flank that Cancelo plays on he is a creative force. I think this then makes it a little bit harder for us then to press. The supporters seemed a little bemused by it, so accustomed have they become to seeing him score. He helped us again, he keeps the ball and fights. Even the club stuck him on the front page of the programme for this one. The goal maintained Haaland's outrageous scoring while heaping further misery on Hasenhuttl but perhaps the story of this game is that the striker's goals were not needed. Cancelo was the best player on the pitch, while Foden rivalled him until being withdrawn just before the hour mark. The finish for his goal was even cuter, dinking the ball beyond Gavin Bazunu after being played in by De Bruyne. Jack Grealish dropped to the bench with Riyad Mahrez coming in. The 22-year-old forward had been rested against FC Copenhagen in midweek along with Kevin De Bruyne and their return provided the impetus. Joao Cancelo's brilliant solo run started the scoring midway through the first half and Phil Foden added a second soon after with City utterly dominant.

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Abby Dow's heroic return highlight for England in World Cup opener ... (Sky Sports)

Abby Dow's try-scoring return for England was undoubtedly one if not the highlight of their World Cup opening win against Fiji and anyone who knows her ...

If Fiji can get a bit more balance to how they play, going through that group they could really challenge teams, especially France who were not that great in their opening day win over South Africa, and certainly did not give much indication that England should be too concerned when they face each other next Saturday. In their first World Cup, they had clearly done their homework on England, had good combat to that driving maul, but the Red Roses just used their experience and rugby nous to work Fiji out. Their first 40 minutes were brilliant and that opening half was a great advert for free-flowing women's rugby, I think I described it as 'bonkers' during commentary - you really did not know what they were going to do next but it made for an entertaining time. They were not catching and passing as well as they have, they were making uncharacteristic errors and actually that line-out was something they knew they could rely on. As a person, she's very grounded, very bubbly and very confidence-based so, coming on against Fiji would have done absolute wonders for her in terms of ticking the 'return to play' box and getting a really good winger's try. It was a really smart call by Simon Middleton and the coaching staff to give her some game minutes.

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