Are Southampton Now Stuck In The Lower Leagues?

I think the overriding emotion borne out of every Southampton fan right now is frustration. An utter missed opportunity is developing in front of our eyes and could send us into a Stoke, or ironically Swansea, spiral towards medium term mediocrity.

After our start – results weren’t convincing but weren’t a disaster – losing to Sunderland, Ipswich and Middlesbrough by an aggregate of 1-8, plus the obligatory Leicester loss to make it 2-12, means that bar an epic turnaround, we don’t deserve and won’t achieve promotion.

Imagine we get into the play-offs. This side isn’t going to cope with a Wembley final or needing to defend a lead at Elland Road. And we aren’t going on a 15/20 game unbeaten run to establish ourselves in the top two.

And in terms of style, the hilarious thing is even I could coach against Russell Martin. Everyone sit behind the half way line, wait for them to misplace a pass, and counter with pace. They won’t break us down, and if they do, they’ll make more errors than us and we will score more than them as they can’t keep a clean sheet.

Sport Republic (SR) have tried to come in and Moneyball the club, trying to be clever and overcomplicate things. And we’ve been found out with ease. Initially none of us wanted Martin. I know some Swansea fans and they couldn’t wait to get shot of him. Says a lot. Why didn’t we even attempt to get Graham Potter?

But regardless of all of that, ultimately the eleven on the field are not performing well enough. As others have said, so many wanted our players over summer and we held on to them. Our team is a good team. So why aren’t we performing to those standards?

Why has KWP become a League 1 full back, why is Bazunu not the keeper he was at Portsmouth, why is Manning anywhere near the eleven, why did we sign James Bree, why aren’t we starting Sulemana and Alcaraz every single game, why have we splashed out on a forward who can’t play for months, why are our players suddenly incapable of passing a ball under pressure.

We’ve had a soft underbelly since Pellegrino. I don’t know what’s happened, but mentally we are so feeble and have only had soft managers since then. Genuinely wouldn’t mind Warnock. Just to give us some steal and fight for the first time in about a decade.

I hope it wasn’t, but since we lost the League Cup final to United, we just don’t seem to have had that mettle. It is strange, but not unique to our club. We need to find a way to turn it around, and fast, else we’re stuck in the lower leagues for a long while yet.

Martin isn’t the core issue, but he doesn’t help himself, and he isn’t our guy. This squad is good enough, but need some serious psychological work as well as tactical work. I don’t think SR will admit they’ve got it wrong yet again so soon, so for now, we’ll just have to hang it out.

Until then, how many are we going to lose? Leeds United at Home, Stoke City Away, I don’t have hope – if we lose at home to Rotherham, that might do it already.

What a shame. What a waste. And how infuriating!

Written by SaintGGsy September 26 2023 07:59:50