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Southampton At Norwich City The Verdict

I warned in the preview to this match that we needed to avoid the complacency seen in the second half of the game against West Bromwich Albion, but it seems that no one was listening.

This was a game we should have won and won well, we should have been a goal up in the first minute when after the ball had come off the crossbar, Flynn Downes with an open goal and the goalkeeper stranded to his right, inexplicably didn't head it into the gaping goal to his left, but headed it to his right and the arms of the grateful keeper.

This set the tone for the game, a lack of urgency in all part of the pitch.

We should have been at least two up by the break, aside from other chances, Adam Armstrong hitting his penalty kick well, but seeing the keeper guess correctly and stop it.

By half time we were the better side with Norwich only registering one soft shot on goal all half, but the warning signs were there, we were passing it around across the back as if Russell Martin was in the dug out, yes we were trying to draw in Norwich, but we didn't seem to get that quick ball out from the back that has worked so well in turning defence into attack in recent weeks.

Yes we were lacking Tom Fellows, but it was more than that, we were lethargic, we looked like we felt that we were unbeatable, that we didn't need to work too hard for things.

That was fine in the first half, but within minutes of the re start we were behind and now Norwich City felt they had something to defend, something to fight for.

We were rocking a little, but then just 10 minutes after the goal we were back level, Ryan Manning fighting for the ball and firing home from distance, surely now we would settle.

This only made the Canaries dig in and fight harder and we had no real answer, within 4 minutes they were ahead again, yes the goal would have been disallowed if there had been VAR, it was a difficult spot, but it was a clear handball.

But did we up the tempo and take the game to them ? the answer was no, we continued to pass along the back line and play as if we were 3-0 up and not 2-1 down.

There was a complete lack of urgency, the first substitutions did not improve things, Cameron Bragg & Welington came on, the latter being especially strange in that the Brazilian is a full back, yes he likes a surging run, but it rarely leads to anything.

At this stage why no Jay Robinson or Cameron Archer ?

With 16 minutes left on came Robinson with Jack Stephens departing, but little changed, even with Oriol Romeu coming on.

There was again no urgency, we seemed to think that we could walk the ball into the net.

It should be said here that banging long balls into the box was not going to help much, we lacked a big strong forward, we had the guile and poaching skills of Adam Armstrong, the raw skill of Robinson and the speed of Archer, but not once did we seem to utilise their strengths, to be fair if we had banged the ball into the box then the home defence would have lapped it up so there was no point.

We gave up this game with a whimper, so where did it all go wrong ?

The answer was it started with the way we defended and player it incessantly along the back, our 3 central defenders (and yes this was a 3 man defence and not 5, Manning and Fraser spent most of the time in the opposition half) were not quick enough, both in the way they marked up and the way they passed the ball.

To be honest they did not compliment each other, the defence lacked someone who was quick with his feet, quick with his vision, had quick pace, could read a game and more importantly organisation, neither of our trio had any of this, they were not a unit, oh for one Virgil Van Djyk or for that matter even a Jose Fonte.

You have 3 stoppers and they don't offer enough as a unit, how many times were we out of position ? how many times do we not clear the ball, how many times do we let attackers get in behind us unmarked ?

In January we need to address this, look to find another Fonte or failing that a fringe player from a Premier League club, in the meantime, I would consider playing Taylor Harwood-Bellis with both Joshua Quarshie for pace and Ronnie Edwards who is the nearest in style to the aforementioned Portugese captain.

But this was a bad game and should be put in perspective, its a bad day at the office, now Tonda Eckert has to show he has learned from this defeat and move things forward again.

Two bad results in the past couple of weeks has meant that we aren't in the top 6, but we are still only 4 points behind, we all knew that we were still a couple of players light and that has to be addressed, also we were lacking options in key areas, Ross Stewart, Shea Charles and even Damion Downes would have offered options we didn't have there at Carrow Road.

Tonda Eckert has done a superb job so far, he has earned the chance at being manager and he has earned the right to be judged over a longer period of time than 90 minutes at Carrow Road

So onwards and upwards, football is about set backs like this and how you react to them, it is not as if over the years we have not been used to it !

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