This was going to be the day that Saints hauled themselves back into the fight to avoid relegation, but it turned out to be a leaderless performance that saw the home fans streaming towards the exits even before the latest VAR shambles.

Ruben Selles tweaked the side before the game, out went Gavin Bazunu and in came Alex McCarthy and in came Caleta Car for Armando Bella Kotchap, only God knows why these changes were made, with the former presumably to add experience to a shambolic defence and the latter an injury.

The hope was that the team would continue the spirited display at Arsenal and for a short period they did, the only two shots on target during the first half were from Saints and they also saw the bar rattled, but the truth was that we had no urgency and no leadership, we were a rudderless ship and no one seemed to know what anyone else was supposed to be doing.

The visitors took a grip on the game, although they created little that troubled Alex McCarthy.

But after that initial burst we had barely troubled the Bournemouth goal either and the team was booed off at half time.

The second half saw the surprise news that James Ward Prowse would miss his first Premier League minutes of the season, but his replacement was not a midfielder but a defender in Lyanco with Ainsley Maitland- Niles moving into midfield.

It made little difference and Bournemouth were ahead within 5 minutes of the restart, it was another poorly defended goal, Tavernier picking up the ball on the corner of the 6 yard box, going away from goal and then with no one challenging him, hitting a weak shot which took a slight deflection and nestled in the corner.

For a while it looked like the visitors would double the lead, but they had plenty of bluster but rarely looked like getting anything on target.

Even the arrival of Che Adams and Stuart Armstrong initially failed to start a fightback of any sorts and the game looked to be petering out as it approached the final 5 minutes, a fair proportion of Saints fans heading for the exits with 10 minutes left.

But then came the drama, with only a few minutes remaining of normal time Stuart Armstrong suddenly produced the sort of run that used to be his trademark and Che Adams fired home from close range.

The fans still there erupted, surely now we could find some fight, but no despite the fact that Bournemouth players themselves saw no hint of offside, someone was going to draw some lines in a room far from the ground, after two minutes he had managed to find Che Adams toe was offside and the goal was offside.

This was potentially a game changing moment, but it had gone.

Perhaps it would spur Saints on, this week has seen games with 8-10 minutes of injury time after the referee's were instructed to cut down on time wasting, but referee Darren England had not got that memo, despite 2 minutes for the VAR & 4 separate substitutions that should have added up to 4 minutes alone, plus much timewasting from Bournemouth, Mr England could only find 5 minutes of injury time.

Even the most optimistic Saints supporter can now feel that we can get out of this, relegation wasn't about tonight it was about a plethora of events across the season.

Not buying a proven striker in the summer, sacking Ralph Hasenhuttl, appointing Nathan Jones, a poor January transfer window, appointing a manager in Ruben Selles who had never actually managed a side and then instead of giving him an experienced head to assist him gave him the B team coach.

The time for saying whose fault it is will come later, but last night saw all the chickens come home to roost, if we had won we would have been only three points off safety with a fighting chance.

I still maintain this squad is not as bad as some would have you believe, it just lacks two key players and leadership.

Last word to an unknown Saints fan who i briefly sat next to, as I moved near an exit to watch the final minutes, "why are they all leaving in the last 5 minutes when there is still a chance, don't they care ? If they were watching a game on TV at home they wouldn't leave the house with 5 minutes to go "

He was right they would have switched off the TV, but he had a point, I can empathise with people's frustrations and see why they would leave, but this was last chance saloon, football sometimes throws up unlikely moments that change a season, it almost did last night when Che Adams fired home, literally thousands of Saints fans missed that moment and may have missed a pivotal moment in the season.

Perhaps the reason they didn't is the reason why football is dying !

Photo: Action Images

DorsetIan added 10:19 - Apr 28 For all those people still tempted by the idea that VAR is not the problem, it's the officials or the way it's being used, check out the Che Adams decisions. He is very clearly level with the defenders. Until the introduction of VAR, he in onside. With its microscope, VAR detected that his toe was slightly in front. (Something no human official could have spotted in a million years). So VAR ruled him off. The officials and the system worked perfectly. But the position of Che's toe didn't stop him being level. He was level. He was onside. The rest of the game, I can't talk about!!

8

barry_sanchez added 10:19 - Apr 28 Its a shit squad because if its only a few players short of being good they wouldn't be rooted to the bottom of the table, they're a terrible team and only a few are genuinely top flight quality, the rest are gutless pretenders.
-1

Ifonly added 10:24 - Apr 28 I totally understand people leaving (as I did against Palace). There was nothing worth staying for. So what if we got a lucky draw at the end. What difference would that make? My verdict: same old Saints. Toothless, gutless, clueless. At times, they truly looked as though they didn't know what they were doing. The worst thing was that this wasn't a surprise at all. It's what I expected. We were up against a poor side and as expected, we had no idea how to score a goal. Many on here won't like me saying this but I hope we lose every game we have left now. There's no realistic hope we survive so it is better we get stuffed. The danger is that if we put a few half convincing games together, SR will think that maybe Selles knows what he's doing after all so they should give him a chance next season, like they did with a burnt out Ralph. That would be a disaster so it's better that SR get the message we need to start again from scratch. As soon as Selles is gone I'll want us to win again but until then, the more important thing is that he is sacked by the summer and that we are scouting potential new managers asap. Get the new manager, let him have a say on the type of players he wants and we start again.

6

HythePeer added 10:24 - Apr 28 Selles is useless, his team selection is useless, the players are useless, the tactics are useless have I left anything out?
7

cocklebreath added 10:30 - Apr 28 Couldn’t resist a swipe at the fans, I left after the goal was disallowed. Awful performance from a gutless bunch of players and a risk adverse clueless manager
6

DellBoyWally added 10:46 - Apr 28 Ruben Selles was talked of having great experience of several clubs in several countries. Did anyone check whether he was sacked from every job? He is no better than Nuthin Jones. Does he not know how to pick a team or set tactics to win a game? Playing not to lose went out the window weeks ago. The team! We desperately needed a win so goals were paramount. So let's go with Walcott, ArmstrongA, Elyounoussi and Alcaraz. Charlie started brightly, Elyounousi got in to some good positions, Walcot got in a couple of runs, ArmstrongA......hmmph! And where was Tall Paul? Or Salumeena? or Djenepo? Bournemouth are notoriously weak on dead balls into the area. And we had 4 forwards under 5 foot! Well, they seemed like that against Bournemouth's defenders. And their GK. I'm sure I saw him reading a magazine in the second half. Not for the first time it was wrong team, wrong tactics, no spirit or fight. Sadly a familiar story over the past few weeks. As for Bournemouth, they came out with purpose and energy and appeared to want to win the game, unlike Saints. OK, they weren't particularly good at it but were a huge step above us. I can understand stories of players wanting out at season's end. One can't blame them. Best or most suitable players aren't getting picked. A success at the world cup and only 6 minutes of football. In this team! So a massive walkout (I don't mean the fans) of our best players is inevitable. Hopefully Selles goes with them. And the rest of the humourously named "coaches" This season has been a debacle of the Grand Order. And that starts with the owner's. The managers have all failed spectacularly. And many players would be lucky to get in a Sunday League team (play like they do and you get kicked off the park!!) No more games for me this season. Not worth the 500 mile round trip to watch this sh*te. (Following on text is actually more exciting.) I might see some of you next year. My first game in 1958 seems so long ago. And the past few weeks have made the time seem so so so much longer

8

DF_20032017 added 10:47 - Apr 28 Last night was actually pretty bizarre. A must win game but Ruben sticks to type, safety first. Only plays one striker, who we all know isn’t good enough and plays him on the left wing. We could all see the 1-0 home defeat 5 minutes in, why couldn’t he? Ruben watched Bournemouth last week but seems he has been working on playing short corners in training, why on earth would you do that? JWP injured at half time, maybe throw caution to the wind?… no, let’s go more defensive. Change of shape clearly isn’t working and we look all over the place. Let in the softest of soft goals (standard). Keep with that shape for over 10 minutes at 1 nil down, absolutely rocking at the back and still no strikers on the pitch. When we make the change Walcott off (who has scored a few in the last couple of weeks and is in form, leave Armstrong on. When we need to throw the kitchen sink in the last 15 minutes bring on tall Paul… oh no wait, he hasn’t even made the bench. Adams scores, the law on offside has become stupid but it is consistent and by these new crazy rules he’s off. Bournemouth don’t have a better squad than us but they have a team that throw their all in, a manager who plays to their strengths. We, in the other hand, can’t even muster a save for their keeper to make. We have managed to downgrade our manager twice this season and absolutely deserve to go down.

13

Centurion added 10:54 - Apr 28 The team is completely shot of confidence and you can see that. The manager cannot rally the players which compounds the problem. I am repeating myself, but what really happened after the 4-0 defeat at Villa Park. Barely a year ago, I remember one of the pundits on match of the day saying it was probably a blip. How wrong he was. Next season a new manager and most importantly a few vital and early wins, then momentum and confidence can come back. But the board has to act and be decisive.

5

PaleRider added 10:57 - Apr 28 A clueless owner and board An inept manager Cowardly players Apathetic fans A recipe for disaster.
6

Colburn added 11:00 - Apr 28 Why hasn't Selles been sacked yet this morning?
7

kingolaf added 11:09 - Apr 28 I left early because I am sick of watching such slow, pointless crap. Put up with it all season. It’s like watching an elderly relative slowly going downhill.
8

stmichael added 11:11 - Apr 28 I can understand fans leaving. I choose to stay mainly to let them know what I think of them as they pathetically wander around empty stands clapping. This is week in week out and that’s why people leave. They want to come and support the team and they are faced with crap. Not occasionally but EVERY game. This team this club deserve nothing less. What do you expect a full happy clappy stadium singing we’ll support you evermore🤔 They need to see and feel the fans disgust…

7

Saintaxidriver added 11:15 - Apr 28 I have seen some poor Saints sides over the years and this has to rank with the worst. Three managers who every game seem to make at least a couple of odd choices in their team selections. SO many games where we have looked tactically inept it makes you wonder if the plan is to lose as many games as possible and get relegated. Realistically we are now down so I wish Selles would do something a bit different and try Tall Paul from the start with some speedsters around him and keep getting the ball in the box. Or how about bringing in some of our talented yougster to get some game time. Can't be any worse than just repeating the same old failing ideas over and over again. What is it they can't see that every Saints fan over the age of 5 can?

7

JoeEgg added 11:17 - Apr 28 The end of an era for our football club - so many poor decisions made from the end of last summer to the recent move to trust Selles. Sports Republic will recoup all their money and more because there will be a mass walk out of every player worth any value whatsoever. The team selection made last night just had me wanting to write my match comment BEFORE thegame even started. What a crazy, mad team to put out against a side like Bournemouth when GOALS and a respounding win were needed to save our season. I read somewhere that the players like Selles - perhaps it was in his own programme notes! - but there must be so many that were brought here for some reason or another for large sums of money, who just want to leave and forget this club and cant understand why they have been disrepected and abandoned. Now you can add Bazunu to that list replaced and disgraced! Selles' observations and post match notes, even allowing for his language difficulties, make little or no sense whatsover, with the usual 'we will fight to the end' thrown in for good measure! The man is way way out of his depth. I have to agree with Ifonly and think that the best thing that can happen now IS for us to lose every remaining game - probably likely anyway. It looks like we've lost most of the coaching and scouting staff already, so perhaps we could earn a little more notoriety by sacking a third manager BEFORE the end of the season! Its no longer FAIR to blame the fans - we have been let down by some disastrous mangement decision, and sadly also by many gutless and overhyped players. The illnes and substitution of JWP was the final insult to our season. That guy has given everything to our Club and has been let down by so many around him - he deserves and will receive better when he joins another Club. I can still remeber vividly that ONE grand Koeman season and the football we played and the thrashings we handed out. So maybe we can achieve that again in the Championship and if that doesn't work there's always Pompey to look forward to and the rest of Division 1 !!!!

4

Jesus_02 added 11:33 - Apr 28 Cant blame VAR . It was offside. Unlike the 5 West Ham players that where not interfering with play when they where attacking the ball. Sour grapes aside we would be 2 point better off against relegation rivals and would still play 5 at the back and 3 midfielder up front regardless. This is the Southampton way now, stick to five at the back. The warning signs were there last season when Ralph would switch to 4 get a result then switch back. We have a much superior squad to B'mouth, but despite being awful they played with purpose. JWP probably went of because he lost his rag at Selles . He and KWP are skating on thin ice, they will soon be joining Salisu in the reserves.

5

landerwal added 11:36 - Apr 28 Well that is that. A chance to start to get out of trouble and we blow.it with a typical repeat performance that we have seen so many times over the past seasons. The team lacks so many things. Leadership, spirit, pedestrian build ups a half decent striker etc etc. This performance I have seen so many times. The problem is the manager. RH,Jones and now Sellars were and are uninspiring. To win games games and be successful, we need a young hungry for success manager who is willing to take chances to get us out of the mess we are in, because if we think the Premiership is hard, to stay in, the Championship is far harder to get out of.

5

felly1 added 11:54 - Apr 28 Have to congratatulate the owners as I had a cracking Balti Pie from the concourse before the game. ..Well done guys!
2

MSB added 12:12 - Apr 28 Sorry to repeat myself but, Lets get Graham Potter in . He is just the manager for us if it proves to be a long haul back to the top flight.
10

StRipper added 12:12 - Apr 28 Agree with everything on here. I don't really blame the players too much, more the inept tactics and bizarre rigidity that the managers have put on them. Why oh why do we do those play it out from the back goal kicks when we gain no advantage and then struggle to even get out of our own 3rd. The dropping of Bazunu was also a really spiteful move by Selles. Made it look like he blamed him for not winning at Arsenal. And at least protect the lad by not putting him straight onto the bench, rather than humiliating him by demonstrating that he has clearly been dropped. I wonder if the club has already spoken to players about whether they will stay after we get relegated, so that now we will increasingly see players like Sulemana, Onuachu, Adams and Bazunu not starting because behind the scenes, we already know they are leaving. Saying that, utmost respect to Che Adams. he played with determination, passion and love for the club when he came on. Again, robbed by the bizarre technocratic, corrupt offsite official based VAR decisions like we've had many times this season. Will be really sad to see him leave. Football is dead in the EPL. Can't wait to get to the VAR free Championship and maybe going to clubs without their crappy low quality fare cashless payment systems

3

PezzaSaint added 12:35 - Apr 28 Our demise has gradually been happening over the last few years. For a good few seasons now teams have come to St Mary’s, parked the bus and we haven’t had the skill or guile to break them down and they go and score a goal or two on the break. No Manager has managed to find the answer and so you must conclude that the players are simply not good enough!
2

ItchenNorth added 12:36 - Apr 28 The silver lining is The Championship doesn't have VAR. I could not care less if a VAR decision goes for or against Saints, it is killing football. The checking is tedious and the outcomes are flat whatever way it goes. I didn't even get out of my seat for our (disallowed) goal. I'd been stood up and singing all game but by this point in the match, a goal back was not going to be enough anyway. But hey, no energy was lost anyway, as VAR spotted a toe offside lol ! Roll on next season where we can (hopefully) enjoy the game we love as supporters in the moment.

2

onetowatch added 12:47 - Apr 28 Nick, the sacking of RH was not a mistake, only the timing...it should have been in the Summer. His poor record would have seen him depart any other PL club far sooner. His insistance in trying to force a system on a squad who clearly were not comfortable with it, including on several occasions playing only 1 up front at home - unforgiveable. I actually feel that he was affected by the two 9-0s on his cv. Always putting a team out to not get beat...and even that didn't work. Many mistakes since his sacking yes, totally agree, but he had to go and should have sooner...being a seemingly nice bloke doesn't make him a good manager....you know that yourself from your days of running The Concorde team...

0

Ifonly added 13:20 - Apr 28 PezzaSaint - no the players aren't good enough, but this is the fault of the manager not the players. If the opposition "park the bus" you either have to be good enough to get through with pass and move (like Man City do) or you have to take a more physical approach. You get crosses in to the box from the goal line (not from midfield like we often do) and you get players in the box who are taller than 5'6" and sometimes win headers. We play better away because teams attack us and we have space to move in to. At home the opposition don't give us that space so we should be using different tactics. Unfortunately Selles only knows one way and as we see time and again, that way doesn't work.

6

davidargyll added 13:42 - Apr 28 You need three things to win football matches: SKILL: last night I saw numerous times Bournemouth players taking on at least three Saints players and getting away from them with the ball; saints looked like they hadn’t read even the opening page of the coaching manual… DETERMINATION: see skill above, plus the fact that Bournemouth players passed the ball around, both forwards and backwards, but at pace; Saints on the other hand looked more like they were out for a Sunday stroll. LUCK: winning sides tend to have good luck, poor sides don’t, ‘nuff said… Look forward, we don’t know what sort of relegation clauses are written into players’ contracts, if any. Presumably there’s definitely will be for the recent acquisitions, but the earlier ones…? Who knows? But my point is players wanting to leave is one thing but if you’re on a ritzy contract you can only go elsewhere if the buying club can agree terms, which may be far from certain. In other words, all this “players leaving” stories, I would reckon that the only three who may go to PL clubs are Alcaraz, Bell-Kotchap and possibly JWP (but I wonder whether he really isn’t so wedded to the Saints that he would stay to try and take them back up again). But as for the rest, they are low quality and at the very least need to go back to football school as a result of which I really don’t see any PL team coming in for them. So we are stuck with them. Whether another manager can improve who is left, God only knows but you’d have to reckon he’ll have to deal with a lot of overinflated egos for starters which won’t be easy. Because ultimately, the legacy of the last five plus years of mixed ownership is: an overpaid and low quality mid-table (if we are lucky) Championship squad… PS. I noticed Semmens and Kraft were both in the stands, looking very grim-faced. But no sign of Ankersen. This couldn’t possibly be the first sign of the Spanish archer taking aim, could it? Oh pur-lease let it be so…!

2

StRipper added 13:55 - Apr 28 David, I think you'll be surprised what a queue there will be for our players. I'd say ABK, JWP, Salisu, KWP, Che, Sulemana, Onuachu, Bazunu, Caleta-Car, Livramento (if fit), Alcaraz, Lavia and Mara will all be gone before next season. Both for reasons of contracts and the fact that they are good players if managed properly. Add to that the departures of Orsic and maybe Orsic and Stuart Armstrong retiring. It will be gutting to lose Tella too. Its the dross on high relatively high wages I am worried we will get stuck with. Still, players like Aribo, Djenepo, Adam Armstrong and Lyanco will probably be able to DAJFU well in the Championship mixed with a load of our youngsters, I hope.

4

Blogs 31 bloggers

Chelsea Polls