On Sunday, Southampton were beaten by a Peter Crouch header and consequently finished in eighth place.
It was a disappointing way to end the 2016/17 season, but finishing in the top half and getting to a cup final has been a decent season on paper.
Stoke did deserve the victory on the final day after Crouch won pretty much every header, as you would expect. Geoff Cameron’s cross was calmly headed in by the tall Englishman to give his side the lead just after 60 minutes.
Southampton dominated possession as they often do, but yet again the Saints failed to take their chances and it cost them. When you set up to play Stoke, you know that they are going to float balls into Crouch and you have to be prepared for that. On Sunday, I counted about five or six crosses that Fraser Forster didn’t come out for and maybe on a different day Stoke could’ve won by five or six.
On what was a fairly dull game, here is my opinion on five players who impressed me on the final day against Stoke City.
