Saints went down to RB Leipzig in the first game of their Austrian training week , but it was more of a kick around late on with a complete change of outfield players taking place, in truth little to be learned from this game.

Saints started four of their summer signings in a mix and match starting line up and the first half was keenly contested by both sides with the highlight being a superb save by Gavin Bazunu.

Alex McCarthy came on for the second half although the outfield line up stayed on.

The first goal of the game came on 54 minutes and it was the Germans who got it with a low free kick into the bottom corner.

On the hour it was all change and that sparked the equaliser, Will Smallbone crossing for Adam Armstrong, but the score line didn’t last long and RB were soon ahead again, a low shot across McCarthy asking questions of the keeper, a third was added with the last kick of the 90 minutes.

but there was more to come with a third period of 15 minutes being agreed, that didn’t,t help saints though and the game ended 3-1.

Not too much to be taken from this game other than we still need to get our act together in defence and we need a striker.

Photo: Action Images

Peterx added 08:09 - Jul 17 Great save from Bazunu - very encouraging that. Smallbone also contributed well.
2

wrathoftazz added 08:13 - Jul 17 Nothing to take away etc etc........ so what your saying is.... same old Saints, by same old Raplh, needing the same def and attacking changes.... well that bodes well lmao
0

darthvader added 08:58 - Jul 17 Same shït different season
1

WoolstonSaint2 added 09:29 - Jul 17 Amother 3 goals let in. We desperately need to develop a mentality of keeping clean sheets. 68 goals let in last season- as others have commented, the rot continues. Doesn't matter who.plays, our defending is poor. Look at Smallbone's pathetic sticking a leg out limply as Moriba shot a beauty from 30 yards- unacceptable. That sort of defending MUST stop as it is our main.problem for 4 years now.

4

landsdownsaint added 09:43 - Jul 17 Apparently Djennepo had a good game once he was let loose from defending
2

Sadoldgit added 10:03 - Jul 17 He did look lively but was up against a youth player and again no end product.
2

Ali_Diarea added 10:31 - Jul 17 It looks like we’ll be playing 3-4-3 next season. If that is Ralph’s plan then we definitely need at least one new experienced centre back…
-1

Block8 added 10:35 - Jul 17 Warm up game, nothing to see here, lets move on! Of more interest, currently, have we lost Dibling?
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sandywelsh added 11:06 - Jul 17 A first half with no goals then Alex McCarthy comes on and 3 goals let in! This says it all Alex McCarthy must not play in the Prem.
5

HythePeer added 11:08 - Jul 17 I noticed a distinct difference in this game - the date.
2

dirk_doone added 11:27 - Jul 17 Bazunu looked vastly superior to McCarthy: in fact he looked like a proper goalkeeper. In the half he played, he looked unbeatable, he commanded his area, his kicking was superb and one of the saves he made was a real worldie from a shot that was more difficult to stop than any of the three that McCarthy let in. I remember last pre-season, Forster played very well and McCarthy was shockingly bad. It was unbelievable that Ralph picked McCarthy for Premier League games after that. I'd say that over a whole season, McCarthy is worth an extra 20 points to the opposition so why on earth does Ralph keep picking him??? McCarthy is League Two standard at best and no other Premier League manager would let him anywhere near their first team squad. It must be as depressing for our players as it is for us fans when they see McCarthy appear on the pitch and you can see it has a negative impact on their performance.

7

Kenm added 13:45 - Jul 17 it seems once again Ralph has no idea ?, no striker to talk of ?, I feel we may start the season in the relegation zone, Ralph to start getting Saints into a winning mode or I'm going to be hopeful that Southampton will ask him to pack his bags within 10 games of the season, the teams coming up have spend more on players as well as the teams around us last season ?, that says a lot for Saints !, I feel Ralph as his gang aren't interested in Saints ? his tactics are proving useless again ?

3

SanMarco added 09:51 - Jul 18 We were told we would get new players in in plenty of time were we not? Pre-season results don't matter but what is obvious to me is obvious to everyone. An experienced CB and a goal-scorer at minimum. Please consider this comment as my comment for all pre-season matches until those incoming players have come in. If we start at the Spuds with McCarthy, Stephens and no new striker we will get the expected result and Ralph will be number one (on Oddschecker's first to be sacked list.)

1

SaintPaulVW added 10:06 - Jul 18 You can take very little from this game. As would be expected , it was played pretty much at walking pace. Pretty much everyone got a good slice of time on the pitch. Djeneppo 'looked good' because he was virtually the only one running. Kit looked very good 'in the wild' though.
1

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