Southampton At Everton The Verdict
Tuesday, 20th May 2025 08:20
An emotional day at Goodison Park for Everton supporters, but for those Saints fans who made the trip to Merseyside, it was about watching their team sink to yet another toothless defeat.
Simon Rusk has done a job as temporary manager, he has steadied the ship and in the main stopped us getting slaughtered as was happening under Ivan Juric.
But he has shown no real ambition to do something different and try to win games, again we started with 5 defenders and no actual strikers in the starting line up.
Everton as expected came out of the traps like an express train roared on by a partisan crowd and we looked like rabbits in the headlights, they could have been 1-0 up before they actually did go ahead after only 6 minutes, they were tearing us apart and it looked like we might get put to the sword, only some good goalkeeping and VAR saved us.
For the first 30 mins we were getting ripped apart and the slowest defence in the Premier League was second to every ball.
Keeping it up was going to be difficult for the home side and it looked like we might get into the break just a goal behind, but once again we couldn't keep it tight in the final minutes and conceded a second well into injury time, every Saints fan now knew the game was over.
In the second half we did make a fist of it, but you have to ask why Big Les Ugochukwu spent the entire game on the bench, he was perhaps the only player we had with the pace, strength and power that could have matched Everton, but we stuck with Joe Aribo & Flynn Downes, who will be assets in the Championship but are a yard too slow in The Premier.
We made 3 changes on the hour and in fairness to Rusk they were positive ones, we had two strikers on the pitch in Cameron Archer and Ross Stewart and with Nathan Wood going off at the back and Will Smallbone coming on in the centre of midfield we created chances and we could have got a goal back Jordan Pickford having to make a great save to keep a clean sheet.
But although we were now matching Everton and looking fairly comfortable, you felt that the home side had now dropped a gear and were content to give a few of their players a game in wat was a big occasion for them.
Our last two subs were youngsters with Robinson and Sanda coming on, the latter being a central defender and he looked big and strong and was one of the few plus points of the game, he looked assured and was actually talking to those around them and pointing out players to mark etc, something that only seems to get done in hindsight with our defenders these days.
At the end we were just glad to get away from Goodison with not too much damage, at the end the team came over and acknowledged the fans, they got a mixed reception, there were some very audibly booing of them, but it was silenced by those clapping, that is clapping and not cheering, no one was celebrating, but most Saints recognised that these players know their own shortcomings and they have been hung out to dry this season by not only a lack of quality signings but the tactics of all three managers.
Perhaps the highlight of the day was Charly Alcatraz, who came on as an Everton substitute, these days players leave clubs and don't look back, but Charly came over after the Saints players had made their way towards the dressing room.
He got a better reception that the Saints team, he was warmly applauded and cheered, there was even his name sung, respect to the man and how we could have done with him instead of the toothless and clueless Sulemana up front.
So we limp towards the end of the season, bizarrely I am optimistic for next season, we will still have the foundations of the team that won us promotion first time, Ross Stewart looked like he could be a player and if we recruit wisely and with some of the youngsters such as Ronnie Edwards with the right manager we can challenge for promotion.
But for now it is just about getting the last game out of the way.
All Photos Via Reuters
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