Southampton were frustrated by a disciplined Hull City side, as they drew 0-0 against the Tigers after a last minute penalty by Dusan Tadic was saved by Hull ‘keeper Eldin Jakupovic.
Claude Puel made one change to the side that lost to Chelsea, as Nathan Redmond replaced James Ward-Prowse.
It was a tedious game as a whole and only really came to ‘life’ with essentially the last kick of the game when Alfred N’Diaye pulled down Maya Yoshida in the box.
The pressure was on Tadic’s shoulders and after missing a few crucial penalties this season, many fans including myself, had a feeling he wouldn’t convert from the spot, and we were right.
His low effort was well-saved by Jakupovic, who dived to his left and pushed the ball past the post, as Saints had a golden opportunities denied and were left with just one point instead of three.
Here are five things we learned after the draw:
Consistency
It’s a real shame but last season, if we won or performed well in a match, we would show our momentum in the next game. But this season, there’s no chance for that.
Against Chelsea we looked good, especially in the first half, and we showed desire to score and managed to score two against the league leaders.
Going into the match, we should be thinking that we could walk over Hull with the performance on Tuesday but, like the majority of the season, we can’t create any momentum. It’s a massive disappointment.
Manolo Gabbiadini
Gabbiadini was decent yesterday. He made several runs which were wrongly ruled offside and looked dangerous when chances were given to him, which was rare.
Saints lacked service for the Italian. No one had the capability of making a long, direct pass, but I’ll get to the point.
Gabbiadini hasn’t played a full 90 minutes in a single match this season for Saints. That’s a problem.
I’m not sure if Claude Puel is trying to lower the risk of injury for the Italian, but we need him to play as many minutes as possible; he’s the only forward that looks like he actually wants to score.
Like I’ve said for a few weeks now, Puel needs to learn from his mistakes.
Puel and Tadic
Maybe Gabbiadini should complain to the press about not playing the full 90 minutes, because Dusan Tadic did so and has played almost every minute since.
Tadic has been awful recently, but still hasn’t been subbed off. It’s not good for a player to have a grudge against a manager. Every player should be treated equally. It’s unacceptable for Puel to be scared of Tadic if he doesn’t play.
No fight
Against Chelsea, we kept fighting until the final whistle. We were 4-1 down, but we still manage to score. Throughout the entire game yesterday, we were always second best apart from one or two occasions.
We showed no fight to win the ball over anyone for Hull. We should be fighting for every ball, ignoring the fact that a player may be stronger or taller than them. Puel needs to drill that into those boys.
Steven Davis
I’ll end on a positive. Steven Davis was terrific yesterday.
The two occasions of fight for the ball came from Davis. He ran his little heart out and was always trying to link defence with attack.
He had a big task at hand, filling in for Ward-Prowse on corners (who should’ve started) but he managed to keep his deliveries consistent 90% of the time. Impressive performance from the skipper.