Saints drew at Championship side Brentford in the second of their pre season friendlies and Mauricio Pellegrino is satisfied with the progress being made.

Saints drew 2-2 at Griffin Park after going in a goal down at half time, Charlie Austin scored twice to give Saints the lead before a howler from Fraser Forster in the closing stages gifted the Bee's an equaliser.

Saints once again mixed and matched using 20 players, however it was not a case of a complete turnaround at half time, although some changes were made at the break, others were made in the closing stages.

There was a debut for Polish central defender Jan Bendarek and again much of the youth were used in a game that was with three weeks to go before the season more about giving Mauricio Pellegrino a chance to see his squad in action than about results.

Indeed the manager was happy with what he saw feeling it was a good run out for his side.

“It was an important game for us because we need minutes on the pitch,” started the Argentine.

“I think the game was with tempo and quality at times. We had a lot of things we had to adjust to, but that is normal at this time.

“We have worked with intensity in the last few weeks — I think that we are in a good way.”

“It’s always important for the team when people are ready and prepared to play and give a good performance on the pitch,” continued Pellegrino.

“We needed that from everybody today. Charlie scored the goals, but what is important is the dynamic of the team on the pitch.”

Given where Saints are in the pre season programme. this being the second game whereas Brentford who kick off a week earlier in Aufust in the Championship and are ahead in their preparations Pellegrino will be happy, it was a reasonable performance given the number of changes made and it was sadly marred by a soft equaliser, without that it would have looked even better, but it is not about results it is abot the manager assessing the squad and looking at what we need.

Photo: Action Images

codge added 23:17 - Jul 22 Howler is an understatement,some positives though Austin looked lively but overall could of been worse. Still think we need a stronger pair in the back line or we will leak goals.
2

helpineedsomebody added 07:21 - Jul 23 only saw the highlites of the game dreadful playing system onlyway we will score is through freekicks&corners looks like we ve gone back to playing ALEHOUSE FOOTBALL
-1

larry12 added 09:09 - Jul 23 Congrats to Les for pre-empting a superb display with a contract extension. A true visionary. What if Saints had the Brentford goalie instead of Treetrunk OR What if Mopo2 had tried out Gazza? 2-0 Saints?
2

SaintBrock added 09:14 - Jul 23 Long, Hojberg, Pied have no place in a top six PL team. Let's face it if Stephens is one of our stand out players we really are in the deep doggy poo. We can always take away the positives can't we? Trouble was there weren't any. Pellegrino said all the right things but his demeanour was quite different, clearly he was less than impressed with what he saw and must be wondering what he can do with this lot of journeymen. Mission impossible old lad, mission impossible!

7

highfield49 added 10:35 - Jul 23 The VVD saga has left be completely indifferent to the game at present so, other than knowing the result, I've no idea what happened on the pitch at Brentford. I presume from your post SaintBrock that Stephens was one of our better players and my immediate thought was how long before he gets tapped up by another club. I've followed the team through thick and very thin times since the 1950's but I can't recall any coming season that has filled me with less enthusiasm. Of course I can never not be a Saints supporter but please, please can the club give us something to lift us supporters in the coming weeks beyond an obligation to keep the faith.

8

SanMarco added 11:20 - Jul 23 We need some new blood in very quickly. I don't want to re-ignite all of those Yoshi-Stephens debates of last season but if the club tries to claim they are good enough as first choice then they will be making the same mistakes as last summer when quality left and was not replaced. We have several journeymen who were barely good enough to come in for 'easy' Euro matches last season and the likes of Redmond and JWP are now amongst our 'star players'. I am with Highfield on the enthusiam. We need a lift and quickly.

7

saintmark1976 added 12:10 - Jul 23 highfield49 and SanMarco. I really could not have put it better as to how I feel about the upcoming season if I had written your comments myself. I truly wonder how long the club can expect fans to maintain any enthusiasm with the current vacum situation particularly in regard to club ownership, VVD and the lack of positive transfer activity.Do the management not understand how a large part of the fan base feels or do they simply not care anymore? Perhaps the vast amounts of "Sky money" have gone to their heads and they think that the business can be run without the fans. If so I wish them well going forward because when any business loses touch with it's customers problems are never far behind.

8

SaintBrock added 13:56 - Jul 23 To be a little fairer to Foster, larry12, Pied allowed several easy balls to him to run out of play even 'though he got his foot on it. Maybe they are all a bit rusty? We have to give them some benefit of the doubt even if very reluctantly but they should not be making unforced errors at this level. Another reason to be benevolent is that we are stuck with this bunch of no takers come hell or high water so what choice do we have.

4

steve73 added 13:57 - Jul 23 Totally agree. Utterly disillusioned with Premier League football. It's just soulless capitalism, big business and greed hidden in the guise of sport. Heartbroken to say it but I really feel pretty much done with it. I'll always support Southampton but I can't invest my life in it anymore it's too depressing. Thanks EPL for killing the game 💰💰💰
9

mattthelegend added 22:59 - Jul 23 Totally agree with Steve73, have felt this way for many years now. But this summers goings on with VVD, the lack of intervention from the FA and the continual press coverage over him has just fcuked me off and this will probably be my last year as a season ticket holder. Football cares for no one buts it's bank account and has no thought for the paying fans who are the livelihood of the game.

5

BaselSaint added 08:46 - Jul 24 Looking for something positive here - not finding....
0

ChristchurchSaint added 12:51 - Jul 24 Sadly, have to agree with several on here. Every year I get excited at what the next season will bring, but this year, with everything happening at St Mary's, and the ridiculous sums being thrown around in transfer fees, (which I'm sure will come back to bite the smaller clubs), I am rapidly losing interest in football as a game. I will always follow my home team, but like others, will seriously think about spending money on something that I no longer will enjoy.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls