Southampton’s poor finishing let them down again as heroics from goalkeeper Jack Butland helped The Potters grab a 1-0 victory at St Mary’s, in what could be Claude Puel’s final game in charge.
An extremely lacklustre Saints dominated possession for large periods of the game, but spurned several key chances in front of a frustrated Southampton crowd, continuing their diabolical scoring form on home soil. The best chance fell to Manolo Gabbiadini in the second half, who when through one-on-one, failed to convert from eight yards out despite Butland slipping on his way out to close down the Italian.
Nathan Redmond came close, seeing his audacious lob hit the top of the crossbar after he had caught Butland in possession 35 yards from goal. James Ward-Prowse also had a good chance, but a superb double save from Jack Butland kept Claude Puel’s men at bay.
Stoke City had their chances, with Mame Biram Diouf testing Fraser Forster in the opening minute and Joe Allen lashed a shot over the bar in the second half. Cedric was on hand to clear a looping header from Diouf off the line on the stroke of half time. The decisive moment came on the hour mark, when Peter Crouch met a Geoff Cameron cross that Forster failed to collect, and powered a header back across goal into the corner, sending the travelling contingent into raptures.
Southampton played with a slow tempo throughout the game, showing no signs of urgency even when they were a goal down. Mark Hughes’ side moved the ball well when they did have possession and on a few occassions were unlucky. But both sides had chances, with Stoke taking theirs to snatch the three points.
This dire performance and woeful defeat brought the season to a close at St Mary’s, with Saints finishing a seemingly respectable eighth in the Premier League, after Bournemouth were held at Leicester and West Brom lost at Swansea.
As Saints go into the summer break, today’s performance has left many fans wondering what will happen in the transfer window, with change in personnel and some new additions to the squad definitely needed so Southampton can look to hit the ground running next season.
