Saints fans made up almost a third of the attendance at the Kassam Stadium, but after a lively start they were not too pleased with what they saw, but it is still early days yet in the pre season.

The first think to say about this match is that pre season friendlies are usually about two things, the first is getting match fitness and the second is about exposing the things that need fixing and in this respect Russell Martin will surely have noticed a few key areas for urgent attention.

We knew it was going to be a game of two halves and it has to be said that Saints did start well given that the starting XI contained few players who had been regulars last season, Sulemana looked sharp before having to go off injured on 36 minutes as did Charlie Alcaraz who went off on the cusp of the half time break.

Saints conceded two sloppy goals, Alex McCarthy did not look comfortable all evening in playing with his feet and some of the play for the first goal seemed to stem from his inability to play out from the back, he could not be faulted for the second goal, but again a sloppy pass across our back four gifted the home side a relatively easy chance.

The second half saw changes on the hour mark, but it did not change the game, that had fallen into a pattern where Saints passed the ball and Oxford tried to catch us with a quick press.

As I said pre season is about finding out what areas need improving and surely Russell Martin must see that if he sees Alex McCarthy as his first choice keeper, then he has to change the way he plays at the back, as he did out of necessity in the final games of last season.

Back them McCarthy seemed to have permission to put his foot through the ball, but last night it seemed he was under orders not to, indeed quite the opposite, it was about seeing if he could play the possession football game along the back to the level necessary.

The stark truth was that he could not, no criticism of McCarthy it is just not his game, so Russell Martin has to make dealing with this issue a priority and quickly

Southampton were poor, there is no denying that, but perhaps that is not surprising given the make up of the side, with few first choice players on for the first hour and several of those played out of position, including Ryan Manning who played in the centre of midfield and did not look to bad.

So a bad night at the office, but there is no need to get stroppy or miffed, it is pre season, games like this are to find out the bad things that need fixing and from this respect it was a roaring success.

Saints: McCarthy (c), Bree (Sugawara 60), Edwards (Harwood-Bellis 60), Wood (Bednarek 60), Taylor (Stephens 60), Charles (Smallbone 60), Manning (Downes 60), Amo-Ameyaw (Aribo 60), Alcaraz (Armstrong 45), Kamaldeen (Edozie 36), Mara (Dibling 23).

Photo: Action Images

halftimeorange added 10:15 - Aug 1 I take little notice of friendlies since I saw Chris Marsden turn in a park standard performance against FC Utrecht which made me feel embarrassed in front of my Arsenal-supporting guest. Marsden then went on to have the season of his life for Saints. The point about McCarthy's strengths and weaknesses is, however, valid. I'm still of the opinion that his re-emergence at the end of last season is one of the main reasons Saints were promoted. RM needs to consider what Alex can do well and play accordingly if he's to be between the posts for us.

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dirk_doone added 10:16 - Aug 1 Making Alex McCarthy captain sent out a terrible message to the team. They know what a liability he is and so do the fans. We need a new goalkeeper before we start the league season or we're going to be relegated again.
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dellboysaint added 10:37 - Aug 1 Agreed…..McCarthy played well in the play offs but so did the team as a whole. Less of the tippy tappy stuff at the back which McCarthy simply cannot do as it affects his game and the whole defence. Jordan Pickford often hits it straight upfield…..he doesn’t appear too keen to pass it around the back. So you pick Bazunu because of his passing ability…..no sense in that. Martin has got to get real otherwise we will ship a load of goals. McCarthy is not a no 1 and he and the rest of the team know it.

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IanRC added 11:08 - Aug 1 Glad I did not waste £5 on that. Total rubbish it seems with very little goal threat .....
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Flamingbankers added 11:11 - Aug 1 I thought McCarthy was at fault for the second goal. He seemed to get down too slowly for a Prem keeper's quality and the ball went under his hand or at least within touching distance. Two years contract was madness. If he's keeper this season we're going down.
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derbydog added 11:12 - Aug 1 I always think it’s what you don’t see in pre-season is what’s important. So, no sight of KWP means leave or sign another contract so we are not in Che type position with him next Summer.No Stephens until last night, was he negotiating with someone? Ross Stewart? What’s the story there? What’s with Larios? He surely isn’t going to play for us this season — maybe rehabilitate in a lower league? Dibling and Amo-Amayaw the only kids still in contention, others on the way to loans. I was imagining a front three of Brereton, Stewart and Armstrong but if no Stewart we are certainly still a number 9 short. Do we sign Jack Clarke and play Armstrong or Brereton in the middle? I don’t see Edozie, Mara or Kamaldeen being starters, or probably the Crystal Palace kid in the short term.

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Bowlercow added 11:27 - Aug 1 McCarthy is a classic old gog new tricks case He has never been a constant first choice keeper so that should show those in the know where we still need to strengthen Other than that it was just about getting minutes into the legs The oppressive humidity early doors wouldn't help players trying to impress By the time our big boys came on it was a bit cooler so they looked livlier

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Bowlercow added 11:27 - Aug 1 Old dog not gog
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WoolstonSaint2 added 11:27 - Aug 1 It is NOT too early in the pre-season. We are so lightweight it is unbelievable. Our entire squad is made up on Championship and League One standard players. McCarthy, Bednarek and Stephens got binned off last time we were in the PL. Armstrong could not cut it. signing players from Peterborough and Swansea ain’t going to keep us up. Lallana is ancient, our weak midfield 3 features Smallbone, Downes and Aribo, and last night we only managed ONE shot on target v Oxford. We are doomed unless our squad is significantly strengthened asap. New keeper, better CB, better midfielder, better winger than Edozie or Sulemana. Shockingly bad transfer window so far for Saints.

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Colburn added 11:47 - Aug 1 I agree McCarthy did really well towards the end of the season but only made saves you would expect to make. I felt the defence was better organised with him but he’s showed before that he’s not a first choice premier league keeper because he’s slow to get down and strikers will just hit the ball low. Indeed we will need to change our tactics of playing out from the back if he’s in goal because of the points already made. We really do need a new keeper very soon.

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Chesham_Saint added 12:03 - Aug 1 In short, if we play tippy tappy at the back next season, we are fvcked.
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SaintPaulVW added 12:07 - Aug 1 I'm not so down on McCarthy, however we need a settled back 4/5 in front of him and we need to accept he doesn't play well with his feet or he will struggle. A lot of players clearly put on last night just to have a look at/ get some minutes. As you say a lot to be learned last night. Which is the whole point of pre season.
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Flamingbankers added 12:30 - Aug 1 All very well being decent and generous about our squad but the Premier League and teams aren't that merciful. We'll be taken to task immediately without mercy. Better to face up to reality and kick the management up the backside - it's our only resort as fans - and after all they're certainly reimbursed well for it. Tell the management: start proving you're capable of running a Premier League club. The rest of us would get kicked out of a job if we weren't up to scratch, even a crappy job. There's certainly far too much leeway given to management when players that just aren't good enough and constantly get cudgeled. The constant filling of the squad up with mediocrity just doesn't won't hack it.

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LoisDeem added 12:55 - Aug 1 This didn't even come close to the usual pre season friendly with a just adequate first team and a team of hopefuls pushing for a place. Hope it's early days, and the players that have been signed to play for us -rather than the sister clubs -come in and improve the team immeasurably. The fans do clearly want to see that happening before Newcastle and Forest. We attend these games to see the new additions and get some clarity. Early days? It already looks like we're going to be learning on the job again -which is a far from satisfactory plan.

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JoeEgg added 13:43 - Aug 1 If Martin thinks that with McCarthy in goal, and a back line that hardly know each other, that we can play tippy tappy out from the back, then this is going to be one very embarrassing start to the season. We will continue to give goals away at the back, and certainly dont have a striker worth the name to put goals past Premier League defences. Of course we will read one hundred times - "this is early days yet", but the fact remains we have mainly piss ordinary players and no exceptional talent in goal or up front. I'm just waiting for Martin to inform us that the side was 'brilliant' at Oxford!

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Peterx added 15:28 - Aug 1 Was depressed after this, but in hindsight the 1st half was our second team and they are still largely learning the system (especially at the back) and the second half was better. We looked a different side against Montpellier. Well played to the Oxford coach who went in with high paced pressing which we were not used to. After seeing that Oxford will do OK this season. I think losing Kamaldeen made us worse, I'm here for his redemption arc, hopefully a year into the Russ reign he can come right - for sure we need him to.

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