Southampton V Everton The Verdict Monday, 3rd Oct 2022 09:50 A third straight defeat to teams that were around them in the table was not good news for Saints, once again it was the same old story of slack defending at one end and a combination of missed chances and great goalkeeping at the other. There has been a lot of ranting going on about this game, so the first thing I am going to do is try and put things in perspective. Ralph Hasenhuttl made several changes after the defeat last time out at Villa and to be honest this wasn't the issue, the first half saw both sides flat as a pancake, Everton for their part were the better side and seemed to win the second ball far too often for my liking, luckily for us though, once they won it they seemed unable to pass it to one of their own players, so the 0-0 at half time was representative of two sides playing poorly. That all changed shortly after the break though, on 49 minutes Juan Larios made a great surge forward passed to Che Adams who laid the ball for Joe Aribo, who took the ball in his stride and fired home to give Saints a lead. Surely this was going to see us take command, the answer was no, within minutes Everton were level, Everton won a free kick on the left and we defended too deeply, the cross was perfect, it left Gavin Bazunu unsure whether to stay on his line or come, truth is the ball had to come a long way through a crowd of players, it really should have been dealt with by our defenders, who failed to stop Everton knocking the ball back across goal, nor did they track Conor Coady who smashed it in in from close range. Saints reply was quick, in quick succession we pounded Everton's goal with 3 quick fire shots which were blocked with some desperate defending, but within seconds we were 2-1 down, yet again a cross that wasn't defended and left a man free at the far post to fire home, yes perhaps the keeper should have done better. So 2-1 down within minutes of going 1-0 up, but we still had plenty of time to rescue the game, in truth we had the chances to do so, the pick of the bunch was Adam Armstrong's superb shot to the top corner, clawed wide by Pickford and a shot on the volley by Caleta-Car which bounced off the top of the bar from close range when it should really have been in the net. So at least Saints didn't go down with a whimper, 22 shots on goal, but sadly on 6 on target and only 1 that went in. No one can say too much about the first half, it was poor, but the second saw us have the lions share of chances, but once again revert back to the issues from last year at the back. When Everton scored their first goal we had plenty of time to organise before they took the free kick, but we didn't, no one seemed to be in charge at the back and we paid the price. On another day we defend that goal and we go on to win this game, but this wasn't that day. It comes back to the fact that we lack a leader and organiser, perhaps Caleta-Car will be that man, but this was his first start for the club, he didn't quite show it in this one. Everton showed us how you win a game, when they got in the lead they were packed full of experienced players at the back such as Conor Coady, Tarkowski, Coleman & Jordan Pickford who knew how to organise and knew how to defend and had experience. Our back 5 including the goalkeeper had an average age of 21 and if you take out KWP at 25 and Caleta Car at 26, the other 3 going into this game only had 14 1/2 Premier League games to their name, 7 each for Gavin Bazunu & Armel Bella Kotchap. If we want to pick fault with were we went wrong in this game it was the lack of Premier League experience in that back 5, take out KWP with 80 or so to his name & the other 4 weren't even in double figures. Indeed our starting line up could only amass around 750 Premier League games between them, over 300 of them by James Ward Prowse, this was a side with too much inexperience. Two were making their first start in the Premier League, the balance was just not right at the back, Everton knew how to exploit our weakness's and did so. Of course there is little excuse for this defeat, we should really not be conceding goals like these anymore, but at least this was a performance, unlike the one at Villa were we competed and in the second half at least were the better side and created more chances. The first half showed that we lacked edge, we couldn't seem to step up our game and it needed something to happen to enable us to do so, this is a lack of leadership, it is easy to blame Ralph Hasenhuttl for this, but once the players are on the pitch he can do little to stir them up. I do think here that he made a couple of changes for change sake, at the back there was no reason to drop Salisu, nor for that matter throw in Juan Larios when he had both Moussa Djenepo and Romain Perraud at his disposal, there was the hint of squad rotation, but most of our players had barely played in the last month, surely there were no tiredness issues. The call is growing for the manager's head, it is hard to defend him after the last 3 games, but that doesn't mean that sacking him is the right thing to do, next week is a free hit, Manchester City are evidence of why the Premier league is finished as a competitive entity, it is fast becoming Spain or Germany were 1 0r 2 clubs dominate and the rest are also rans, they have won 4 of the last 5 Premier League titles and with Erling Haaland now in their side no one would bet against them making it 5 out of 6. So we have to get the City game out of the way and then we have some winnable games, too many clubs assess their manager early in the season and replace them, already 3 managers have been sacked and there are several including Ralph who are in the red list to be next man out of a job. It was never going to be an easy start, we have completely revamped our squad and that makes it hard for it to gel straight away, the starting line up on Saturday saw 7 players who have only joined the club in the past 3 months, two of who were making their first start for the club. Ralph got the balance wrong on Saturday, he didn't pick bad players, he just picked too much inexperience and we are now a decent enough squad, but we are not yet a team. Again I can appreciate that some will say that the manager picks the team and as mentioned think he got it wrong on Saturday, but now is not yet the time to sack him, that time may come and it may come soon, but it is not quite yet. But if you are going to call for the sacking of Ralph Hasenhuttl then only do so when you have something better in mind to replace him, at the moment I can't see anyone better out there, some will say his replacement is at the club, Ruben Selles, but Selles has never been a manager only an assistant and then only in Denmark, Azerbaijan & other minor leagues, he is not ready to take over in the Premier League just yet, Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
Blogs 32 bloggersWest Bromwich Albion Polls |