Southampton were well beaten 0-2 at home by Watford this weekend. Here are my thoughts on the defeat.
Dismal, shocking, atrocious. I could go on. This was by far the worst performance of the season and despite it still being early doors, it’s hard to imagine there being another one of such a low standard. Straight from the off, Watford looked more dangerous. Marco Silva’s side showed far more desire than Saints did.
Mauricio Pellegrino handed a first league start of the season to Sofiane Boufal and brought in James Ward-Prowse for Mario Lemina, thus meaning Steven Davis dropped back and sat alongside Oriol Romeu. I was pleased to see Boufal start as I feel he deserved it. Not so much because of his brilliance in former matches, but because of the woeful performances from our other attacking midfielders. Wesley Hoedt also made his debut, starting alongside Jack Stephens in defence.
Saints were also dwarfed in midfield, with Doucouré and Chalobah towering over Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse. The only hope of winning anything in the middle of the park was through Oriol Romeu, but he can’t be there every time. Watford controlled the midfield all throughout the game. Marco Silva got his tactics spot on. The Hornets’ midfield was superb, winning almost every first and second ball. So with the midfield battle lost, the only way to get through would be to miss out the midfield. Go route one. This was stopped by the excellent Kabasele and Kaboul. Mauricio Pellegrino was totally outclassed tactics-wise.
Manolo Gabbiadini seems to spend all game making runs in behind the defense, but is constantly ignored by his colleagues. Charlie Austin scored 18 goals in the Premier League for QPR once upon a time, so we know he can score. Both are good strikers but neither seem to fit the system being played. What is missing is a bit of height up front; someone who can win balls in the air and use their strength. We have always played with a target man. Graziano Pellè and Rickie Lambert before him, were great assets to the team. I feel we miss someone like that.
As for our attacking players, Tadić has lost his mojo since losing his Graziano, Nathan Redmond hasn’t got enough end product and the same can be said for Sofiane Boufal, who constantly underperforms. A bit of raw pace wouldn’t go amiss.
The two Watford goals were well taken. Both of them struck low into the corner, but you can’t help but feel that Forster could do better. The brilliant goalkeeper we once had under Koeman, has now become a liability in the eyes of many.
There was no passion from anyone in a Saints shirt. No one wanted it nearly as much as the Watford players did. This is a game to forget about hastily. Judging by this performance, Mauricio Pellegrino still has quite a bit of work to do ahead of Crystal Palace next Saturday.