Southampton V Stoke City The Verdict Monday, 29th Apr 2024 10:56 This should have been a celebratory day for Saints fans, there should have been a feeling of positivity, but the truth is that the fight has been knocked out of the supporter base and we go into the play offs with confidence both on and off the pitch at a low ebb. Stoke arrived at St Mary's needing a draw to ensure they would still be playing Championship football next season, they came up against a Saints side that had a few changes in it. The selection of Jack Stephens in the centre of the defence was no surprise, it was only a question of who would be stepping down in the back four, would it be a central defender of a full back, Jan Bednarek was the man on the bench, although it turned out he got on at half time with Harwood-Bellis not coming out for the second half, perhaps this was some sort of trial for the pair of them to show who should partner Stephens in the play offs.
The midfield saw Will Smallbone and Shea Charles as expected, but they were joined by David Brooks who was presumably going to be auditioned as Stuart Armstrong's replacement for the final games of the season. Up front there was no Che Adams, this was strange as he was just about the only player Russell Martin had a good word for after the Leicester debacle, also joining him on the bench was Adam Armstrong, up front it was Mara, Edozie and the Wee Man Ryan Fraser. So this was a real hybrid side, out of the starting line up you could argue that as few as four of them were true first choice regulars, in my opinion only Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Kyle Walker Peters, Will Smallbone & Ryan Fraser would start a game if a full squad was available out of this XI.
So it was unclear just what Russell Martin's game plan was, was it to wrap a few players in cotton wool, was it to give some of the fringe players a chance and was it to drop some of whom he saw as the main culprits at Leicester. Probably a bit of all of them, but whatever he was trying to achieve it didn't work, Stoke started well and were pushing us back from the first whistle and should really have gone ahead on a couple of occasions. From our perspective we got a lot of the ball but we did very little with it, during the entire game we only had 3 attempts on target, the first of which saw Sekou Mara bravely get his head to the ball as the keeper rushed out, but he couldn't get a powerful header away and with the distance from goal a defender got back to clear, the second chance saw a nice pull back from Ryan Fraser find David Brooks, however his effort was tame and straight at the keeper at head height, it needed to be low and hard. Stoke had a game plan, let us have the ball and then press hard when the chance arose, this they did on 36 minutes when Campbell ran at Harwood Bellis in a way that few of our players could mange and fired past McCarthy. From then on it would be an uphill struggle with Stoke well disciplined and organised dealing with our attacks with ease. Strange decision at half time to take TBH off in what was a double substitution with Joe Aribo coming on for Shea Charles, at least that gave us a genuine attacking threat from the midfield, in truth though it was Brooks who should have departed.
That happened on 63 minutes and again a strange change from the manager, Flynn Downes is suffering from injury so what was the point in risking him for half an hour in what was now a game with noting to play for. Che Adams came on for Mara who was booed off by a section of the crowd, this was harsh, Mara had had perhaps the best attempt on goal of the game and had worked hard, there were others who deserved the wrath of the crowd a lot more. Adam Armstrong made an appearance with 10 minutes left but that changed little, we limped to our third defeat in a row, knowing that had we won two of those games, against Cardiff and Stoke we would have at least had a chance of shot at automatic promotion in the final week. But this game was another case of a side lacking leadership, both on and off the pitch, it is not the players fault that none of them are real leaders of men, a savvy manager would have made a true leader a priority back in the summer and if not definitely the transfer window.
The manager has many excuses for our poor showing in the last two months, but ultimately the buck stops at his door, as I have said elsewhere, players bring their talent to the squad or lack of it in some cases, the manager builds the "Togetherness, Character & Fight" that Russell Martin bemoaned the lack of. As I said at the start next Saturday two of the clubs below us will be celebrating like they have won the League itself as they qualify for the play offs, on Saturday much of the crowd was long gone before the final whistle, as the tannoy system urged the fans to stay in their seats for the lack of appreciation (De- appreciation more like) and the player awards, many of those who did stay for the final whistle joined them. What should have been a full stadium roaring on the team after a good season where we have reached the play offs was one of under achievement, of seeing a true promotion winning side blow their chances due to constant tinkering with the line up. Our CEO who divided the fans even further with his plans to move the away section and build a wall of red & white. must surely have come to the reality that you can build what you like, but of the football isn't there, the fans will not just turn up and make noise and the only sea of red & white in the Northam on Saturday aside from 1,700 celebrating Stoke fans was a sea of red & white empty seats. Now we somehow have to try and rally ourselves, firstly up at Elland Road where Leeds will be playing for Automatic promotion, although with Ipswich still with a game to play it might not be completely in their hands and will be fired up to get their job done.
It was good to see that Adam Armstrong got both fans player of the year and also the award from his team mates, if Russell Martin had spent as much time this season praising Adam for his efforts as he has done Captain Jack and not taken him off the pitch at key moments as we chased games we needed a goal in, this season might have been a lot different. I don't blame a single player for the fact that we are "only" in the play offs, yes some have been better than others, but I think in the main they have all tried their best and I do include Jack Stephens in this, I don't fault his commitment only the fact that he has been singled out by the manager who has blown automatic promotion by constant chopping and changing and that is not the fault of Jack Stephens, he truly does not deserve that. But this season is not over, not by a long chalk, now is the time when every Southampton supporter needs to stand up and be counted, we are the only ones that can bring Togetherness, Character & Fight to our squad of players, we need to remember 1994 at Upton Park and the Great Escape season of 1999 when we were dead and buried, but the fans stuck behind the team and instilled the fighting spirit, we need to do that again.
In 1999 it was Dellhurst Park now 25 years later next week the fightback starts with 2,000 Saints fans making it Delland Road Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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