Josh Sims stole the headlines as Southampton beat Everton 1-0 on Sunday.
Pundits Thierry Henry and Jamie Redknapp have told Sky Sports just how impressed they were with Southampton youngster Josh Sims’ performance against Everton on Sunday.
Southampton saw former boss Ronald Koeman make his first return to the club since leaving for Everton on Sunday, and the Saints sent the Dutchman back to Merseyside empty-handed.
The Saints grabbed a 1-0 win over Everton, and the winning goal came after just 41 seconds as Charlie Austin headed home Josh Sims’ ball into the box.
Southampton’s Josh Sims in action
That proved to be the only goal of the game, and much of the praise after the game went to winger Sims for his remarkable performance on his Premier League debut.
Sims, 19, has come up through the ranks at Southampton, and with Dusan Tadic and Sofiane Boufal out of action on Sunday, manager Claude Puel took the surprise decision to hand Sims a start.
Southampton’s Josh Sims applauds their fans
Sims repaid Puel’s faith not only with the assist for the goal, but also with an outstanding all-round performance, which Saints fans will have loved after former boss Koeman largely ignored the club’s youth products.
After the game, pundit Thierry Henry told Sky Sports that he loved Sims’ intelligence both on the ball and positionally, and hopes to see him again – but urged people not to put too much pressure on the winger.
Jamie Redknapp added that he and Henry were both so excited watching Sims, admitting that it was a joy to watch him turn in such a fantastic performance on his Premier League debut.
Everton’s Romelu Lukaku in action with Southampton’s Josh Sims
“I honestly don’t know how far this kid is going to go, you have to make sure you let him grow and not put too much pressure on him,” said Henry. “What I liked with him today was his football brain, what I mean by that is, he knew exactly when to come into the pocket, when to keep the ball, when to turn and go forward, when to pass it back and what I liked with his passing accuracy was a lot of the passes were made forward. His football brain is right up there, but it is just one game and I hope to see him again.”
“I have to be honest, Thierry and I were so excited watching him. He got straight into the flow of the game, it was very hard to tell if he was right-footed or left-footed. He showed exactly what he could do, his passing was crisp, he ran without the ball, he worked hard for his team. Considering it was his debut in Premier League football, I thought he was fantastic today. It was a joy to watch him,” added Redknapp.
What did you think of Sims’ performance against Everton?
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