| Middlesbrough 2 v 1 Southampton SkyBet Championship Saturday, 23rd September 2023 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
Southampton At Middlesbrough The Verdict Monday, 25th Sep 2023 09:07 For 43 minutes on Saturday at Middlesbrough everything looked to be clicking into place and then suddenly it all went wrong and it was the same old problems emerging, so where do we go from here ! There was a shock in the starting line up for Saints, Ryan Manning has been the whipping boy of many Southampton supporters, but he was axed for this one with Kyle Walker Peters switching to the left back position and Mason Holgate coming in at right back. Jan Bednarek was restored to the starting line up alongside Taylor Harwood Bellis. It was a solid central 3 of Downes, Charles and Smallbone, with a front 3 of Fraser, Adams & Adam Armstrong.
This looked a decent enough starting line up and I would have said that most Saints supporters would agree with it bar the odd change. There was a change in the way we were playing as well, we were not pressing and getting caught on the break, we concentrated on getting behind the ball and then moving it forward quickly, although Boro dominated possession early on, we looked comfortable with everyone doing their job. On 17 minutes it paid off, a quick ball from Downes to Adams saw the striker lay a lovely weighted ball for Adam Armstrong to run onto and slot home.
Everything now looked hunky dory, we were in control of the game and although Boro had the odd chance, in the main with two minutes to go we were in command. Then came the shot in the foot moment, Mason Holgate will get the bulk of the supporters ire, but in truth it wasn't completely his fault, he was given a pass that he could do little with and he doesn't seem to have been given the call that there was a man on, he was caught in possession and suddenly the game was all square. Holgate didn't appear for the second half and I don't see that as good man management by Russell Martin, the Everton loanee had been ok up to that moment, why humiliate him for that mistake.
Before the break the crowd were starting to turn on Boro, but we handed them back hope and in the second half the home side were up for it. On 66 minutes came the winner, in many respects it had all the hallmark of the Boro first goal, this time Shea Charles was played a ball that facing his own goal he could do little with and he was turned over and the ball played into the penalty area, Taylor Harwood Bellis was fouled first with his shirt being pulled, but the referee saw only the second offence and the resulting penalty was fired home.
We had suddenly lost all our composure and we rarely threatened to get a goal back in the last 20 minutes. So where did it all go wrong, well that is easy the same way it went wrong against Ipswich on Tuesday night. The problem is playing balls out of the back four, the recipients, in this case Holgate and Charles are receiving the ball facing their own goal and being pressed, having been given the ball they were not given outlets and it enables side to turn them over. It is easy to say Holgate should have smashed the ball into the stand, but he was unaware of the man coming into him, he had his back to him as he should do to receive a pass from the back four. From this perspective it is just as much the fault of the man who passed him the ball and his team mates around him to warn him of the approaching player, Holgate may have sat back thinking he had time on the ball, but those around him could see what was about to happen, they are more culpable than he is in this respect, they should have told him to clear the ball. This is a constant problem, we are playing balls into feet, but we are going too tight, the opposition is giving us space and then closing us down, as I say the man receiving the ball has to be facing his own goal to receive it, we are playing balls to feet and he has to face the man who is passing it to him.
Jan Bednarek brought some steel into the side but to be honest his passing skills are not up to the level we need if we are to play out of defence, of course he can pass a ball, but not to the standard that this type of football requires, it is not his game, nothing personal to Bednarek, it is just a fact. So what does Russell Martin do now, there is an inherent flaw in his system, he told us at the start of the season that getting the team playing the way he wants them to will take time and in truth it has improved from the debacles against Sunderland & Leicester, we have competed in both the Ipswich game and this one, but ultimately we have lost again due to individual error. I have always maintained that managers cannot be blamed for individual errors and ours will be tearing his hair out, he did all things right, well at least for 43 minutes, the confidence was building and then it was all knocked down by a moment of madness. That isn't the managers fault, but truth is how long can we go on throwing games away in this manner, Martin has to adopt the style, the players seem to think they rigidly have to pass the ball even in the tightest positions, they have to have the leeway to freestyle sometimes and that means clearing the ball when under pressure rather than trying to play out of it.
All of the attacks that Boro had on Saturday seemed to come where we played ourselves into cul de sacs and left the man holding the ball with no where to go next, whether it was out on the touchline or as it was on Saturday more central, we play ourselves into a corner so to speak and we can't seem to accept that the only way out sometimes is to go long. Now it is 4 defeats in a row and we face inform Leeds united on Saturday in what will be a tough game at the best of times, now is when we see what Russell Martin is made of, is he the man to turn this around or is he a one trick pony. The problem is that in the 7 years since Ronald Koeman left, Martin is the 8th manager, only 1, Ralph Hasenhuttl has lasted more than a season, indeed only 1 other Claude Puel has actually done a full season, this tells us something, not that the club doesn't know what it is doing, after all this is the 3rd regime in charge since 2016, but that panicking at the first obstacle is often not the best thing.
Changing managers may appeal to some, but before you do it you have to have the solution in place, but aside from that 8 games is not enough to make judgement, especially when you consider that in the first 4 of those Martin did not know what is squad would be with a plethora of ins & outs in the final fortnight of August. We are still only 5 points from the play offs, we have the squad to pull it round, but the key is now the manager, he has to show the supporters that he is the man. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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