If ever a game epitomised what has been going wrong this season, it was this one at Molyneaux, whatever way you look at it, it was disappointing, perhaps the most damning statistic was the fact that we did not get one shot on target, at least one that wasn't disallowed.

There are two sides to the story of this game, the first is that Saints can count themselves extremely unlucky not to get a point out of the game, there seemed very little wrong with anything surrounding Ryan Manning's strike that should have given us the equaliser after the home side had gone ahead around 1.50 seconds into the game.

If that wasn't bad enough then the referee made another error when he waved on the initial challenge leading to Wolves second goal and in doing so did not follow the ball and missed a second challenge that was an even bigger foul than the first.

The second side of the story though is even more damning, it was one of a team that failed to build on the foundations of last week's win against Everton and went back to the full on possession football game.

It was almost as if Russell Martin had gone into meltdown after the win a week ago, we were having shots on goal and weren't passing the ball enough and he was determined to stop that.

Wolves started the day rock bottom with the worst goals against record in the Premier League, 27 in just 10 games, yet despite 71% possession we failed to register a single shot on target.

That is unacceptable and shows just how much the manager's strategy is not working, we are a team now playing with fear, scared to have a go at the killer pass or the shot on goal, so just passing it to the nearest team mate knowing that the manager cannot give them a rollicking for doing that.

This was a game that was there for the taking, Wolves caught us napping with their early goal, but we had a lot of time to reply and we should have equalised through Ryan Manning, VAR once again sticking it's nose in, but given the amount of possession that we had, we should have at least had a shot on target.

But we went back to the bad old days again, over passing, failing to create good chances and with Jack Stephens reprising his hybrid left back/ central midfield role, that in itself highlighted where we were going wrong.

Nothing against Stephens but he is not the best defender in the team, nor should he be in central midfield, so why is he being asked to play both.

So what we had was another performance with little end product, on paper although 0 shots on target is the most damning stat, we actually had more attempts on goal than the home side, but none of them troubled the keeper, whereas they had 8 attempts and half of them were on target.

Indeed we had 9 corners to their 1, so why did we not win this game.

Quite simple, Wolves played to a strategy, they knew they just had to sit back and wait for us to make mistakes in the possession game, whereas Russell Martin's strategy seems to be that possession football has failed in 9/10 games, so it is due to a win or two, I cannot find any other reason after seeing us give away yet another game.

We cannot play this type of game to the level that the manager want's, he must know that, so why does he keep on persevering with it.

Team selection's are just as bizarre, especially the substitutions, players like Sugawara, & Dibling on the bench, the likes of Charlie Taylor not even in the squad, while Martin makes desperate substitutions such as Tall Paul Onuachu who hasn't a hope of actually making an impact in Martin's type of game plan and Ben Brereton Diaz who has been out in the cold for the last 6 weeks.

It's a scatter gun approach and Martin does not seem to be able to work out who is best side is or for that matter adapt the tactics, yes I sound like a broken record again, but that is because this was the 10th game out of 11 where we dropped points because of our possession football game.

It is truly hard to see where we go forward now , something has to change and it the manager isn't willing to adapt to the players he has at his disposal and change the playing style to suit, then it is the manager himself that has to be changed.

Southampton supporters have been remarkably patient, there has been little call for the manager's head at the matches itself, most Saints fans appreciate what Russell Martin did for us last season, but this season he has let us down by his stubbornness.

No one expected him to ditch the possession football game, what we did expect him to do was adapt it to suit the increase in quality of the opposition in the Premier League.

That hasn't happened, so something now needs to be done about it, in most other years we would have been well adrift at the bottom by now, yet we are still only 4 points off of safety, that to be blunt is the only hope that we have.

I am not expecting the club to make any comments' football club's don't do that sort of thing, I would hope though that someone is counselling Martin, talking to him about why he is doing the same things week in week out and getting the same results and not changing things.

I would think in any other football club in the Premier League that this would have been a result too far for their board, but this is Southampton and we do things differently.

All Photos Via Reuters

obelisk added 09:13 - Nov 11 First half after we let them have a goal start I thought Saints played alright, moving the ball a bit quicker and had Wolves penned in for much of the time. That was right up until they reached the vicinity of the Wolves penalty area where yet again Saints seemed to have no ideas. Nobody seemed to be willing to have a shot and then when they did the corrupt VAR system stepped in. It's almost as if Martin has told the players not to shoot for fear of losing possession and that he's most worried about handing the ball to the opposition in space on the half way line by actually putting the ball in the net.

4

Centurion added 09:24 - Nov 11 The trouble is if we score, we lose possession as the opposing team kicks off with the ball from the centre circle.
10

mattlegod added 09:26 - Nov 11 Totally agree, I didn't expect him do ditch his system but I did expect him to adapt it and despite being behind him until now, wanting to give him a chance, I can't see anything changing and as such things need to change. There is not point is repeating the same mistakes, the simple fact that we are not scoring or even looking like we will score needs addressing. You simply cannot win a game without a goal so why do we persist in this way. I wonder if Jason Wilcox was replaced, things could have been different as we don't have any football "playing experience" on our board since he left.

8

deanmiller added 09:38 - Nov 11 Passing the ball sideways and backwards is never going to win games. How many times was the ball inside their box?. If you don't shoot at goal your not going to score. Terrible performance,. RM needs to go.
5

JoeEgg added 09:50 - Nov 11 Nobody surely can deny that two VAR decisions showed once again how appalling these 'moments' can be for football teams. Certainly RM and the team had no luck there. But here the excuses must stop. Against one of the worst defensive teams in the Premier League, in a must win match for Saints, we manage not a single shot on target (Manning's effort aside). RM is not wholly to blame as we do not possess a single forward capable of scoring goals regularly at this level. Many of us shouted loudly for a proven goal scorer during the summer break and we ended up with Stewart! That said one cant help feeling sorry for the 'forwards' that we do have, receiving pathetic service and only then once the entire opposition defence is back in large numbers! Crazy but it happens every week. The Board must take much of the responsibility for the shambolic decisions taken regarding our new signings as we returned to the Premier League. A disgraceful waste of money and then investing in a manger who's style of play could never work effectively with the mediocrity he was presented with. The Everton victory was most probably just a lucky blip in our desperate season. Graham Potter can move in during the International break and at least give us something different to watch - certainly our next five or so matches should at least prove 'entertaining' for someone! Things cant get any worse although I fail to see how any manager is going to get goals out of Onuacho, Stewart, Armstrong, Diaz and Archer!! Time for a change - but the damage has been well and truly done.

6

slynch added 10:04 - Nov 11 If I were a Saints player and were forced to play like that, I would go on strike.
2

kingolaf added 10:14 - Nov 11 Nick, you’re being too diplomatic. Martin has to go. He has already arrogantly told all and sundry that he will not compromise on his ridiculous system of play. No point whatsoever in anyone at the club talking to him about it. That horse has well and truly bolted. I dislike Martin as much as I did Branfoot. He is ruining half-decent players and boring me to death with his football.

5

beynali73 added 10:23 - Nov 11 All roads lead back to Sports Republic. With decent stewardship (and I do not mean just chucking money around for fun) we have a brilliant set up at the club but their spread betting style of buying players (on the whole) who might turn a profit is a strategy with in built diminishing returns. They got it wrong from day one in terms of recruitment (still need a striker and a trusted CB) but their 'clever' strategy married to RM's 'tactical genius' is playing out as it was always likely to. COYRs'

6

DPeps added 10:40 - Nov 11 First VAR decision was awful. I'm generally in favour of VAR (think how terrible it was before VAR) but sometimes refs are too ready to overturn on field decisions and that has to be addressed. Martin. I've previously been in the give him more time camp, mainly because replacing a manager usually doesn't work out midway through the season, especially for us, and the question of who we're going to get in. However, a terrible start to the season, constantly throwing away leads, and no shots on target against a poor opponent makes his position untenable. I don't think any manager could stop us getting relegated because of the lack of quality in the side and our points deficit, but fans would hopefully rally behind a manager who could make us more competitive in games. People who are heralding Potter as a potential saviour need to remember that Brighton were a long term project under him. I doubt we'd see improvements straight away

2

redwight added 10:42 - Nov 11 At the risk of stating the bleed**g obvious (again), the transfer policy has prioritised quantity over quality, just as it did in the relegation season. Nick, you used to talk up the fact that we have strength in depth, but being able to field two entirely different mediocre teams leads inevitably back to the Championship. I'm not even sure a replacement for RM can prevent this from happening, although his stubbornness means he has much to answer for.

5

Flamingbankers added 11:25 - Nov 11 "Many of us shouted loudly for a proven goal scorer during the summer break and we ended up with Stewart!" That was 2 years ago; we got Diaz and Cornett this summer. Is there any wonder we're not scoring goals, along with Martin's genius possession style of play?
9

andoverpedro added 11:27 - Nov 11 We can all blame VAR as much as we like , yes it hasnt helped us this year ipswich, leicester, and wolves all games where we dropped points due to VAR , but the fact is we have nothing up front we are comical , we are actually worse than last year in a lower division . i didnt rate Che Adams that highly but to replace him with a no expeirience kid from villa reserves is pathetic, Look at what Wood is doing at Forest thats what you need. But we are saints and we dont buy anyone we cant sell on thats why we will go down i will not go to another game while SR are still in charge and this senseless strategy of possession based football with no cutting edge . Saints are clearly the worse team in the top 2 divisions let alone the premiership . Even Portsmouth would smash us if we played them now look at what oxford did pre season. Harwood Bellis, KWP, Ramsdale, Downes , Dibling will all go after this season when we are relegated , Onuachu,sulimana, Armstrong, Aribo, lallana will leave on a free out of contract or near to so the hope of going down and keep building is pathetic as it wont happen we will go down again if we stick with this lot in charge. Ankerson needs to go recruitment has been rubbish since hes come in with his money ball recruitment. we will be so adrift by the new year the way its going. The crowd numbers spoke for itself in the cup ground not even half full 2 stands were closed FFS people are speaking with there feet .

4

Flamingbankers added 11:31 - Nov 11 OK Archer as well but without anybody crossing the ball with any frequency any forward, that manages to reach the oppo penalty area, is unlikely to score. We have to rely on rare breaks or defenders scoring from set pieces.
3

SaintPaulVW added 11:35 - Nov 11 Downes' injury was a big part of the reason behind the first goal. Aribo, his supposed replacement, was out of position. This allowed Wolves a completely unchallenged cross field pass. Stephens, was surely the natural fit to stand in for Downes with KWP switching to left back and Sugawara on from the start. The VAR mess was shameful. Disallowing a good goal and then inconsistently not reviewing the same incident. I'm leaning towards us only losing a point on this game tho as we had no other shots on target! I am resigned to relegation now unless there is a wonder appointment waiting in the wings. Half of me thinks if there is improvement in how RM sets the team up and adopts a more pragmatic style of play then we should keep him. He's proved to be a good Championship manager. However if he can't or won't do this then it probably is time for a change. COYR

-3

SanMarco added 11:45 - Nov 11 Yes redwight 'mediocrity in depth'! It isn't all RM's fault - the transfer strategy has been abysmal. These injustices with VAR should have been sorted by now. 'Clear and obvious error' is a relatively straightforward concept. Instead a novice ref is taken to the blackboard and teacher lectures him on the 'error' he has made, wasn't even an error at all in my view. Second should have been disallowed too. That said, if the writing wasn't on the wall before it certainly is now. RM would 'normally' now go. Even an excellent, intelligent choice of replacement by SR would struggle to keep us up but SR don't do excellence or intelligence when it comes to these things. I expect Wayne Rooney to be spotted in the Southampton area any day. We are unfortunate to only have 4 pts - with proper reffing and a bit more luck we could have had 7 or 8 but that's life. RM is trying a real-time experiment in getting a sophisticated system to work without the quality of players to do it. Even with all the luck in the world we would have struggled. Under him we will now be lucky to get more than 15 points. We now have a horrendous run of fixtures so this is SR's last chance to bring in a decent replacement - changing when we have 5 points from 17 games really will be deckchairs and Titanic territory.

7

stmichael added 11:46 - Nov 11 We don’t break quickly enough when we beat the press.. It’s not they style of play as such but the speed at which we play. We have one capable CDM and when he’s injured we are screwed. Aribo and Smallbone are not the answer. Up front we is the same. Archer Diaz Paul are not premier league players.. In a nutshell our recruitment has been terrible. The players RM wanted are playing and doing well elsewhere. We ended up with last minute alternatives. I’m not sure that is Martins fault.. No manager can keep us up - we have the weakest squad in the league by some distance.. We may as well start the preparation for next season and at least try and reach 12 points for obvious reasons..

1

IanRC added 12:11 - Nov 11 It is hard to avoid the suspicion that Kavanagh on VAR is corrupt and the referee completely incompetent. Doubtless in due course we will receive another apology from the farcical PMOGL that will do us no good whatsoever. PL appears to have a rotten core it appears. All that said and as others have said above, the club is in a farcical state. Sulemana, who in 10 minutes in the cup game, showed more attacking intent than the entire team fielded on Saturday was not even in the squad. Sugawara, who appears to be the only other player in the squad who can put in a decent cross, did not start with the possible exception of KWP. Sam Amo-Ayew cannot get on the pitch despite the fact that all our wide players turned backwards whenever they approached the wolves penalty area. Stephen’s in cemented into the team for reasons that baffle everyone except for Martin. He must go now during the international break along with Ankerson and we must prey that for once Sports Republic do a proper job in selecting a replacement. Potter ideally if he can be persuaded to come. In the next transfer window Sports Republic need to really get their act together unless Dragon really is content to see us relegated so he can have a sell off. Massive error by them to fail to secure Delap or the Corinthians striker in the summer. Should dump Cornet, Fraser and the Chelsea loanee as soon as possible too.

6

davidargyll added 12:23 - Nov 11 Saturday’s game was a dreadful indictment of where our USELESS MANAGER has taken us. Forget about the zero shots on target, or the absurd passing around at the back instead of going forward, or the bizarre substitutions. When will RM ever learn that having c70% possession - as was the case at the weekend - means you have twice the chance of losing the ball and getting punished, vs having half that?! But what really summed up the dross we are now weekly being forced to watch was when, on at least two occasions, a Wolves player took on three, yes THREE, of our players and got away from them! As Terry-Thomas used to say “What an absolute shower…” But whatever one’s verdict on Saturday’s performance was, judging by the look on RM’s face and his demeanour after the match he knows the game is up: SO SR, IF OUR APOLOGY OF A MANAGER IS DYING TO BE TAKEN OUT OF HIS MISERY, FOR GODS SAKE DO THE RIGHT THING AND GET RID OF HIM… NOW!!! PS. As a saddo and a masochist, I thought I would just see how, over the last ten years, teams who have been at the bottom of the table after 11 games, did by the end of the season. The facts make stark reading, as if anybody could have imagined otherwise. In ten cases where teams had 5 or more points (either alone or jointly) only three survived. But only one team, out of five who had 4 or less, stayed up and that was Crystal Palace in 2017/18. They had changed their manager in September 2017 but it still took them a dozen matches to get out of the bottom three. And the name of their then new manager? That wily old fox Woy Hodgson. Conclusion: If we do manage to get in a VERY smart manager PDQ, and pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat, we’d still be heavy odds on to go down. But if we don’t, as the old saying goes, there’ll be two hopes, Bob Hope and No Hope… PS. I recall once reading about tactics in the SAS. When you are in an utterly hopeless situation, you ADVANCE, not retreat. Because you’ll certainly be done for if you go backwards, but by attacking not only will you take the enemy by surprise and put them on the defensive, but you just might win! Something which our so-called manager might care to think about…

4

saint_ben added 13:34 - Nov 11 Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!
3

dowater added 13:38 - Nov 11 let bring on David Moyes.... I know that he wont be everyone's choice, but has proven experience and able to get teams out of the drop zone. I really dont want graham Potter, we have seen how that will go with Chelsea, he was lucky at Brighton, that they had good recruitment and pulled out some amazing players that he couldnt help but win games with. as for who else we could get is a raffle and a pot luck and knowing our luck we would get the boobie prize, so lets just get David Moyes in, he has experience and can get us points on the board. as for the striker position, i do believe that we could score if we played to peoples strengths, get the ball into the box and give them a chance. play Armstrong out wide and allow to run in, Same with archer. Tall Paul, well name says it all, get crosses in the box and give him a chance to header the ball (look at his goals in the part and a lot ore off the head).

1

AmericanSaint added 15:04 - Nov 11 So like everyone else, I was very frustrated with the idiots in the VAR booth. When you look at the replays, both should have been in our favor and that VAR came out with a statement, just shows how they know they got it so wrong on the our goal. Enough of that. I was a RM fan, but I think he has lost the plot and his tactics are now completely obviously broken. When FD needs to be replaced before kick off and you put JA on instead of TD, then you have lost it. That RM did not switch AL out at HT, is another shocker. That RM did not order the back 4 to play skip passes and send Archer on the run to stretch their defense, shows his poor tactics. I could go on and on but you get the point. So, with some sadness (as I wanted RM to succeed) I am not in the camp that RM needs to go. If we keep him, we have openly admitted that we accept relegation. If that is the case, fine but just come out and admit it. Enough then - let's see what the next few days bring.

2

Jesus_02 added 15:55 - Nov 11 Stop blaming the Video Assistant the on field ref made both of these awful decisions. Stop blaming RM for the lack of goals the last decent striker we signed was Danny Ings and that was a gamble. We had a number shots , none (accepts manning's) was on target. We have two half decent central midfielders at the club , one of them was injured, our lack of depth is telling in that area. The disallowed goal made a MASSIVE difference. The home crowd where deflated when we scored and Wolves would have had nothing to defend. We have been absolutely screwed my poor decisions this season. Top managers would struggle with this side and we cant attract a top manager . So all we can do is get behind everyone at the club and enjoy us getting a result against Liverpool.

1

leighsaint added 16:07 - Nov 11 Even Man City who are renowned for their passing ability with some top players injured even with the league top scorer have lost their last 4 games. What hope do we have without a player even getting into their reserve side of succeeding
1

onetowatch added 09:42 - Nov 12 SaintPaulVW...JS the natural replacement for Downes in midfield????!!!!! Are you on drugs?? Please say yes, because that would provide a morsel of an excuse. I can only presume you haven't watched 1 game this season, or, haven't a clue about the game you're following.....
2

Blogs 31 bloggers

Bristol City Polls