Southampton At Newcastle United The Verdict Monday, 1st May 2023 09:26 For 45 minutes Saints fans dared to dream that the great escape was on, but in the second half the bubble burst and we succumbed to yet another defeat where we snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory, or at least a draw. It is hard to decide whether Ruben Selles is blindly panicking or whether he is just trying to be too clever for his own good. Initially when he replaced Nathan Jones he appeared to have a game plan, he seemed to stick with a core of players who got some good results, but then he started to tinker, some of that could be blamed on injury, but overall his latter games have all the hallmarks of a man who is tinkering as he cannot decide what to do for the best.
It could be said that it is not his fault that few of his squad have truly done enough to demand that they are automatic choices, but yesterday at Newcastle there seemed to be changes for changes sake, when you make 5 changes from your previous starting line up, there is something fundamentally wrong. Settled squads are the ones that win games of football, that is because they have players in them that know their roles and know that if they play well then they will be picked. In the past month or so that has not been the case it is chop and change, yes some are injury related, but as in the case of Joe Aribo a man who was ignored for 3 months and then was suddenly in a starting line up, before being cast out again. Likewise Stuart Armstrong who is in and out of the side when once he was an automatic choice.
Some are now adopting the same scatter gun approach in their criticism of the club that Selles himself had adopted in his team selection, they are slagging off everyone in the hope that they will hit the person responsible with one shot. Saints will not be relegated because of this display, a match against arguably after Manchester City the in form team of the Premier League and one heading for the Champions League. They will be relegated due to the inability of the players to win games of football and the frustration is that there have been many occasions this season when we should have won games or at least got points from, this was not one of them despite the first half lead and not conceding the winner till the latter stages of the game. This season is defined by 1-0 or 2-1 defeats where we conceded soft unmarked goals where our players stood back and watched unmarked players, head home, tap home or similar from close range, where Bournemouth any better than Saints ? not really, their team just did it's job in a way that Saints couldn't do this season.
I can understand why people rant on social media, they are frustrated by what has happened, but although this season is a drama, it does not have to be a terminal crisis, it will soon be time to stop thinking about what has gone on and start thinking about what can be changed, what happens next season. We have heard it and seen it all before, back in 1974, again in 2005 and now here we are again in 2023. But on those previous two occasions when we have been relegated from the top flight, history tells us that we can recover, in neither case it was instantaneous, but we went on to have our two best ever periods of our history. Yes this season has been royally ****** up by those who run the club on a day to day basis, who panicked in November by sacking Ralph Hasenhuttl, how much they were influenced by the constant abuse hurled at the Austrian on social media we will never know.
But they did not stand by him and to be blunt, I doubt there are many Saints fans out there now who would prefer Nathan Jones or Ruben Selles to Ralph Hasenhuttl. The board and the board is not necessarily the owners, panicked in appointing Nathan Jones, then in sacking him and appointing Ruben Selles, did no one sit back and say "Hang on we need experience here" our managerial appointments mimicked our player recruitment, sack good experienced men and replace them with inexperienced kids. I have diversified here, mainly because there is little i can say about this result on the pitch that I haven't said before, I could rant about a keeper who stayed on his line and allowed Newcastle to put in a succession of crosses into the six yard box that were not dealt with, or about our inability to get forward with any sort of belief in the second half. Few players could come off the pitch with any sort of pride in having done their job, Jan Bednarek was one who constantly threw himself in the way of balls into to box and defended them in a way few of his team mates did, ironic given his bad boy status earlier in the season.
Newcastle knocked us off the ball as if we were 10 year olds, we were scared to death, some fans have questioned Ruben Selles tactics in the second half, saying he instructed us to sit back and defend, I am not so sure, we were pushed back by a side with better players and belief, I am sure we would have loved to have surged forward and put them to the sword, but this wasn't the Arsenal side of a week or so earlier, under pressure, this was a side playing without fear against a team of rabbits frozen in the headlights. All that matters now is what happens next, that will probably be a limp towards the finish line with all and sundry in the fan base ranting about all and sundry in the club, but this will achieve nothing. We have to look forward with belief, yes a few will throw their toys from the pram, both in the playing squad and in the stands, there will be players and fans missing from this season.
But we can now press the reset button, get in a good manager, sell a few players for big money, buy some more and restore the confidence to those current players who will still be here next season. We should not be in this position, but we are, we have to live with it and move forward as the strap line says "We March On" maybe a cliche but still relevant. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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