Southampton V Bournemouth The Pre Season Verdict Tuesday, 25th Jul 2023 22:14 Saints started badly and had to weather a storm in each half, but launched a mighty comeback from behind to line up a dramatic ending to the game. Saints once again rang the changes for the visit of Bournemouth for the first of the pre season friendlies at St Mary's. It was all change at the back, Out went goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens and Tino Livramento, with Alex McCarthy, Ryan Manning, Lyanco, Shea Charles and James Bree replacing them. That seemed a strange back line and smelled a little of giving people a game rather than picking a strong side. James Ward Prowse was out of the squad after picking up a knock in training. The starting line up was: McCarthy Edozie, Lavia, Alcaraz, Amo-Ameyaw Djenepo, Adams The game didn't start well though, Saints were struggling to get their passing game going and Bournemouth seemed to be playing on that and pushing forward on them with the Cherries opting for a very strong side and near full strength. Bournemouth drew first blood on 14 minutes when Ouattara with a powerful downward header across goal that beat McCarthy. But if that was bad enough two minutes later and it got worse, Saints lost the ball trying to play it out the back and Christie was there to make it 2-0. At this stage it was not going well and although Che Adams had an effort that was tipped round the post it was McCarthy who was the busiest keeper. The on the stroke of half time the new boys teamed up to halve the deficit, a free kick from Ryan Manning was met with a thumping header from Shea Charles and Saints were back in the game. Will Smallbone, Kyle Walker-Peters were the only two changes at half time coming on for Romeo Lavia and James Bree.. But things weren't going any better and Saints should have gone 3-1 down on 53 minutes , as Saints tried to play it around at the back Alex McCarthy was clearly not comfortable and gave the ball straight to a Bournemouth player who laid it on for Solanke who somehow missed the target. Another raft of charges followed on 61 minutes, Tino Livramento, Duje Caleta-Car, Jayden Meghoma, Jack Stephens and Stuart Armstrong all coming on and the game was also about to change. On 66 minutes Stuart Armstrong received the ball on the left hand side on the edge of the box, he curled the ball into the left hand post, in truth the keeper should have done better, but nobody cared in the home sections Saints were level and Bournemouth were on the back foot. With 20 minutes left the change of the team was complete Moussa Djenepo, Che Adams and Shea Charles going off and being replaced by Kamari Doyle, Adam Armstrong and Nathan Tella . Now Saints looked a different side from the one that started the game and on 84 minutes Nathan Tella almost gave Saints the lead, Tella tore up the wing and tried to cross the Adam Armstrong but it's blocked back to him before his second effort is cleared off the line by Neto in the visitors goal. By now Saints were looking like they could win it, but in typical Southampton fashion just two minutes later they gifted the Cherries a win, giving the ball away in the midfield and David Brookes raced clear and slotted the ball under McCarthy for a 3-2 win. It was very much a game of two halves, or at least nearly two halves, perhaps more 44 & 46 minutes to be exact. Saints looked disjointed first half and the possession football did not seem to be working, but it is early days yet and pre season friendlies are all about getting things right and ironing out the intricacies. From this perspective Russell Martin will have learnt a few new things from this game, but the one thing ne needs to truly learn is who is staying and who is going. Clearly some players are going to take more time to adapt than others and indeed perhaps some are not going to be able to adapt to the tactics at all. Once again there were a lot of players missing and indeed some of those on the pitch may well be gone by the start of the season. But there were plenty of plus points from this not least that Ryan Manning showed that he could be a major provider of assists in the coming season and Shea Charles showed his adaptability and finishing power. Hopefully on Saturday against AZ Alkmaar, Russell Martin will fine tune his side a little more and show the Saints supporters that we can be a force to be reckoned with next season. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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