Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict
Thursday, 5th Dec 2024 19:55
Saints fans arrived in hope and left in disgust after seeing their team once again gift the opposition goals through suicidal passing around their own penalty area, the question is when is this madness going to end.
Whilst there can be some excuse for those out on the pitch given the absence of 4 of our best players through suspension & injury, there can be absolutely no excuse for Russell Martin once again employing a possession football tactic that verges on the suicidal in and around our own penalty area.
The game started well for Saints and they should have opened the scoring when Joe Aribo saw his effort saved, but within minutes Chelsea took the lead when we failed to deal with a corned to our near post and Disasi had a free header from close range.
But we came back inside 4 minutes when a great run by Kyle Walker Peters saw him pull the ball back for Joe Aribo to fire home an equaliser.
That gave the Saints fans hope that perhaps this game was one that we could get something out of, but that feeling did not last long when yet another atrocious piece of passing in our own penalty area once again saw the ball turned over to the opposition who had a simple task of tapping the ball into an empty net, this time the culprit was Joe Lumley.
Again we battled gamely, but to be frank we were piling forward and Chelsea were counterattacking at will, so it was no surprise when they made it 3-1 on 34 minutes.
Then came perhaps the moment that finished us off when on 39 minutes Jack Stephens inexplicably tugged on the hair of Marc Cucurella.
Now I know playing against that hair flying around all over the place must be distracting and very annoying, indeed It surprises me that he is allowed to have it so free flowing when playing, but this was a lack of professionalism from our Captain at a time when we needed leadership on the pitch.
You could have understood if he had given it a strong pull, but he barely pulled it, if he had done it to his shirt it would not even have been a foul, but you can't touch opponents heads, whether it is touching foreheads gently or a playful tug of the hair.
I do have some sympathy here for Jack Stephens, but not much, I think this was frustration that although he is getting game time as Captain and is clearly Russell Martin's favourite, that he clearly isn't happy with the tactics either, it is turning him into a villain amongst the fans by association to the manager and at some point that will have a negative effect on his career and he has gone from respected loyal club servant to being seen as Russell Martin's pet, although that may unfair.
However there is absolutely no excuse for letting your team mates and the supporters down in such a petulant fashion.
So we went in at half time 3-1 down and also down to 10 men, not much hope there then.
The second half started with no changes to the side and in fairness we dug in and didn't collapse, a minor miracle given the circumstances, but to the chagrin of the crowd, we did not abandon the possession football game and the suicidal playing along our own back line.
The hour mark saw tiring legs replaced, perhaps Russell Martin felt that if the next goal was ours, then we had a chance of a comeback, on came Sulemana for what would become perhaps his worst game for the club, why not throw in Sam Amo-Ameyaw, a player who would have at least shown some appetite for the fight.
Likewise Ben Brereton as he now seems to be known for Adam Armstrong, although at least you could not accuse Brereton of not trying.
On 76 minutes Nkunku score the 4th and the start of disgruntled fans leaving the ground.
Russell Martin also seemed to have given up hope, he through on Ronnie Edwards to replace James Bree, like Nathan Wood making his League debut for the club and indeed Premier League debut, he was joined by Charlie Taylor, a player completely ignored by Martin in recent months, so our managers answer to seeing out the game was a Goalkeeper playing only his 2nd Premier League game with a defence that included two Premier League debutants in the centre, Ryan Manning with just 7 Premier League games to his bow and only Kyle Walker Peters with any real experience.
In front of them was a collection of bit part players who have yet to truly impress, Joe Aribo being the best of the bunch.
So the biggest surprise was that Chelsea only scored once more making it 5 with 3 minutes of normal time left.
So my big question is when is the manager going to be made accountable for the teams performances, in fairness his team have not deserted him, in the main they still put in a shift, but they see their own good work thrown away due to having to play in a certain way.
Surely by now Russell Martin has realised he does not have the squad to play the type of game he wants in the Premier League, better late than never they say, after all most Saints fans realised that in the opening game at Newcastle.
So where do we go from here, well Aston Villa is the obvious answer and the good news is that Jack Stephens will be banned for this game and 4 more after and we will have Tyler Dibling, Taylor Harwood- Bellis & Flynn Downes back from suspension and hopefully a player or two back from injury.
That means that we can chalk the Chelsea game off as a bad day at the office and put out a team that will have at least four changes for the better and all key players.
But Russell Martin has a lot of thinking to do if he is to save his job and that is assuming that he has saved it, Thursday may well have seen the board making some decisions and perhaps even making enquiries elsewhere as we speak.
One thing has been once again highlighted in this debacle and that is the folly of trying to employ a tactic that is clearly not working, how much longer can Russell Martin keep making the same tactical errors that see points thrown away, before something gives, will that be his own ego or the patience of the Southampton board.
All Photos Via Reuters
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