'It was a worldie' - Matsuki earns Still's praise
Kuryu Matsuki marked his third Southampton appearance with his first goal for club
- Published
Will Still said Kuryu Matsuki will have made people "stand up and notice him" following his spectacular goal at Norwich City.
Japanese midfielder Matsuki sealed Southampton's 3-0 EFL Cup second round win with the goal of the game and his first for the club, a long-range, left-footed strike into the top corner.
Matsuki joined Southampton last summer from FC Tokyo, spent 2024-25 at Turkish sister club Goztepe and returned to St Mary's for this season.
His appearance at Carrow Road was his third for Southampton so far, with all of them coming as a substitute.
Southampton manager Still told BBC Radio Solent: "It was a worldie.
"We're building him up to it [competing in the Championship]. He's not played many games at this level and the Turkish league is not one we can compare it with.
"We're just taking our time with him and using him when we can.
"He came on at Ipswich and he's just starting to understand what we need from him, what we want from him.
"There's also a language barrier there - we need him to understand what we're actually trying to do and where he needs to be at what time.
"But you only get to that by playing games and giving these people opportunities.
"He's stuck his hand up and made people stand up and notice him so credit to him."
Will Still's Southampton are unbeaten in three away games this season
Southampton's comfortable win at Championship rivals Norwich was the perfect response to their first defeat of the season against Stoke City on Saturday.
"We're into the next round, we've done things properly and to win 3-0 away from home is not something we should disregard," Still added.
"I don't want to disregard any game whether it's the cup or the Championship. I just want to win it.
"You see as soon as you lose a game question marks start appearing and people go back into 'oh this is horrible' and that's not what we want.
"We just need to keep building, keep staying positive."
