At the start of every season, we see the same headlines for Southampton.
“Relegation Candidates”, “Losing big players will finally catch up with Saints”, “A new manager will have to rebuild Southampton”, “St. Mary’s set for rough season following summer clear out”.
And we have proven them wrong every time.
Until this year, it seems. But what’s the difference in this season than the rest? We have defied losing our big name players and managers before, so why have we seen such a decline this year? Maybe everything is finally catching up to us.
Maybe selling Pelle, Mane, and losing Koeman was too much. Maybe not being able to bring in a striker has hurt us. Maybe Charlie Austin’s injury hurt us more than we would think. Maybe our midfielders’ allergy to the goal, with only one goal in the league from Ward-Prowse, Davis, Romeu, Clasie, and Højbjerg collectively, has been a sword in our back.
But I think there is much more to the story than we think, and it delves into the intangibles that don’t go on the stats sheet.
If you look at our squad’s attitude on the field this year as opposed to previous years, there seems to be a significant drop in desire and work ethic. When Southampton go a goal down, our heads now drop. In previous years we would have Jose Fonte, Ryan Bertrand, even Jay Rodriguez and Steven Davis rallying the troops, yelling at the squad and motivating the team. Even when we have been in winning positions this year, we haven’t had the mental strength to hold on to those leads. Southampton have lost more points from winning positions than any other team in the Premier League this season.
Where does that mentality come from?
When we go a goal down, I only see Virgil van Dijk yelling at players to pick themselves back up. Nathan Redmond is happy to whine at his own players and throw his hands up, and even talk back to supporters in the middle of a game. James Ward-Prowse has had the timidness of a deer in headlights when we go down. Davis has been quiet when he has played. Even our captain has had his head elsewhere the entire season. Jose Fonte came back with an ego after his Euro triumph, and that ego has even been present since. Something happened that tournament that turned our captain away from our club, and it has ruined his season so far.
I don’t want to put all of the blame on our players though; Claude Puel has to give some answers for these performances. 19 goals in 21 games and Puel has the audacity to say that we don’t need a striker? Please. As much as I hate to say this, Nathan Redmond is not the next Thierry Henry, and Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long are not adequate backup strikers. He should be able to see that, and go after players that can strengthen our squad in January. The rotation policy seemed to work at the beginning of the year, but lack of chemistry and fluidity in the squad is impossible to ignore now.
You can’t say Puel doesn’t have passion. I love watching the clips of him celebrating our goals like he is one of the players out there on the pitch. He obviously cares about the team, and he is very passionate about the club. He needs to light a fire in the players though. He needs to show some tough love and let the players know that this is not acceptable.
I will give Puel through January though. If he is able to bring in players that can add competition to the squad, and improve our performances than he deserves the job still. Changing managers during this transfer window could come back to haunt us, but he needs to bring in the right players. I have been happy with some of the players we are linked with, but those rumours need to come to fruition. Puel can’t control how Jose Fonte acts, and Jose Fonte’s attitude probably has a heavy influence over the entire squad. His situation needs to be resolved in this window as well.
There are a lot of things that need to be resolved quickly, and that falls on Puel, Les Reed, and the rest of the board. This is an important January for the club, and making the right decisions is crucial for the future of the club we love. Let’s get behind the team, and hopefully boost the morale around the squad as best we can. The result today was unacceptable, but turning on ourselves isn’t the right option.
Whatever happens with Puel, Fonte, or the rest of the squad,
We March On.
