Saints fans deserve medals. 480 Miles round trip in the pouring rain to be served up an insipid, blunted, dire performance. Last week I bemoaned the lack of effort and desire against Pompey. I expected the side to learn from that and come back fighting, full of aggression and make a stamp on a Hull City side, who frankly are not good. Instead the level of effort, aggression and desire went down two pegs.
Granted Archer had a tight hamstring this week and the plan was to have Downs up front to hold the ball and bring in runners. I have honestly wanted Downs to do well and hoped he would show his goalscoring technique he learned at FC Köln. What I see is Sekou Mara’s knock off cousin. He barely held the ball up, missed a golden chance through on goal and again ran about a bit not really contributing. Who scouts for this club? How can we go out and buy striker after striker and all of them couldn’t hit a barn door or the proverbial cows backside with a banjo? Some fans were still trotting out the “give him time” line. I am sorry I know a cart horse when I see one. Contrast this with seasoned pro, Oli McBurnie who bossed, roughed up and was a total nuisance to our defenders. I get the need to find talent, nurture and sell on for a profit but what price is a McBurnie or Kieffer Moore to teams? Sometimes a player doesn’t need to be 20, promising and one for the future.
The biggest take home was not the result but the utter lack of leadership in the team. I thought Shea Charles for all his endeavour looks like he is unsure of his role and is quiet vocally on the pitch. We can hardly expect Jander to walk straight in an direct the side. Harwood-Bellis decided this was the week to punish the fans for not getting his move in the summer and was as poor as I have seen him. Jack seems like the silent type who would take a player aside rather than command a team on the pitch. That said he seems like the silent type that would have a rush of blood to the head and take out the noisy one in the pub on his own and not involve anyone else. Only the Wee Man seemed to have any say and was at least trying to direct the side. Strange that our older player has been the best of the bunch this year.
So what have Sports Republic done? They have removed all leadership and bought semi-talented players, not ready, not match savvy or with any guile. The money ball approach to winning is not working. Young and hungry is not working. This includes the management as well as the players.
In summary, it was a pathetic performance, with lots of passing the ball around and doing nothing with it. The weirdest thing is I seem to have seen this before. Is this the Sports Republic “Southampton Way”? Martin, Rusk, Selles, Juric, Still. I have not seen any improvement at all. One lucky promotion is all they have to show for it in an otherwise useless few years. It is Sunday, as I write this, and I am still absolutely fed up with yesterday. At least it gets easier now. Liverpool Away and then the league leaders Middlesbrough.
