Southampton extended their run of form to 6 games unbeaten as they humbled Birmingham to a 3-1 defeat at St Mary’s, but the game wasn’t without wobbles. While the south coast side maintained 71% possession, there were periods of play where the game entirely ran away from them – a reoccurring event throughout recent games that is starting to leave fans with some rather heavy questions.
From kick off the saints set out strong, playing beautiful possession football. They were attacking and on the front foot and Birmingham looked utterly swamped. Once again, they were rewarded for their efforts early on, taking the lead in the 9th minute. It was a first goal for centre back Taylor Harwood-Bellis in the aftermath of a corner, with Adam Armstrong bagging yet another assist.
We all waited in anticipation for things to fall apart from this point and for the blues to find the equaliser out of ashes, but it didn’t come. We pushed to extend our lead, and that we did.
In the 22nd minute, Charly Alcaraz scored a beautifully built up goal, courtesy of a delightful pass across the goal mouth from Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Having Alcaraz, Sulemana and both Armstrongs on the pitch showed just how different the face of this squad is when they’re present. Unlike at Preston where play was nice but struggled to move forwards, Southampton were constantly pushing the ball up the pitch, attacking and forcing Birmingham to defend. Instead of sitting back after taking the lead we kept threatening and chasing for more – exactly what we need to be doing. Going into half time, everything felt good. There had been some standout performances not only from our attack but also players like Kyle Walker Peters and Flynn Downes.
As the second half commenced however, things instantly felt sloppier and backwards. After being brought on in the 57th minute, Jay Stansfield stole a goal to make it 2-1. All of a sudden a very comfortable game felt uneasy. The saints struggled to regain composure and for a 15 minute window after and tensions were high. Our defence was under pressure and a handful of our upfield players, most notably Sulemana, were in no hurry to drop back and help lessen it.
Taylor Harwood Bellis did a wonderful job of organising the players around him as well as keeping his composure (and overall throughout the game, putting in what I personally felt was a man of the match performance) and thankfully an uncharacteristically strong group effort to defend eventually paid off. The saints regained the ball and returned to dominating, Gavin Bazunu having also made some solid saves, but it was clear the game needed another goal to shut down Birmingham completely. Thankfully this goal came in the 86th minute. It was another goal to add to his tally for Adam Armstrong and an assist from substitution Sam Edozie.
Overall, it was a positive performance however for me there’s a key element to highlight…
It has become increasingly apparent that all 3 of Sulemana, S.Armstrong and Alcaraz significantly drop off in the second half and to some extent this is to be expected; they all play an immensely intense first 45 minutes or football, chasing down everything and pressing high. While these 3 are our greatest play makers, they also cause some of our biggest issues as a game progresses, leaving a massive gap in our second half performances when they tire.
Without them operating to their initial high standards, we not only struggle to get a threatening ball up the pitch, but we have gaps when we fall under pressure as they don’t drop back as willingly. Russell Martin has clearly noticed this too, and thankfully we look to be working out ways to resolve it. With players on the bench like Ryan Fraser, we can bring fresh legs on that you know will attack and drop back – it’s all just a matter now of calculating the perfect timing to make these changes. The substitutions made on Saturday worked exactly as the manager would have hoped – both Ryan Fraser and Sam Edozie being involved in the build up of Adam Armstrong’s goal to make it 3-1.
While defence is still not perfect, it looks to be stabilising. The change of Manning for Bree has been seemless, and James as truly stepped up to the opportunity and proved he deserves to, at the very least, be in contention for the starting eleven. Our inability to finish a game is still alarming, however this lies at the feet of our attacking players and largely their fitness, attitudes and work rates rather than abilities. Last minute limbs have become our trademark however ideally we don’t want to rely on this. Overall, the development this season so far has been positive and I feel confident it will continue this way. It is important that as fans we remain patient and, as I talk about a lot, remember this season will all be about process and transition.
With another good win under the belt, most of us will be feeling optimistic as we move onto our next fixture against Millwall, and I think rightly so. It’s an exciting time to be at the club, and to have players who are willing to put in good performances week after week is something to celebrate.
It’ll be interesting to see how the game plays out and the team-sheet looks come Saturday.
Poppy Deabill.