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Southampton At Coventry City The Verdict

Saints extended their unbeaten run to 13 games, this was a flat performance and we lacked a spark in the midfield where too many passes were going astray so this was very much a case of another two points dropped.

One thing was apparent in this game and that was Flynn Downes has become a key player in the midfield, with him as we showed against Cardiff City, we dominate games and create chances, without him we are pedestrian and cant seem to pass the ball quickly or perhaps more importantly accurately.

Stuart Armstrong at the moment is a shadow of his former self, over the past few years he has often found it difficult to play games in quick succession and this looked evidence of that, his passing was poor and he failed to create chances, but he was far from the only culprit in this game, we looked lacklustre, we failed to take the game to our opponents when the chance arose and we overplayed on too many occasions.

That was the case in the 50th minute when we tried to run the ball out of defence when it was clear that there was nowhere to go and we paid the price with the home side taking the lead, the manner of which will give fuel to some.

That lead didn't last too long with sub Sam Edozie firing home with 23 minutes to go, you would have hoped that would be the cue for a late onslaught, but it didn't happen, again the midfield was too disjointed and couldn't create.

You have to question why at 90 minutes both Stuart Armstrong and Will Smallbone were still on the pitch when the problem was getting the ball in the centre of the park and passing it.

Also why did Charley Alcatraz play no part till the 90th minute, yes he was poor at Watford, but he is a quality player, he should have been on earlier

But although this was another disappointment, it was still the 13th game unbeaten and that should not be forgotten, on a look at the League table it is going to be hard to get into the top two, but we are still not even half way through the season, all we can do is keep on going and hope that the top two blow up.

This season is a marathon not a sprint, all you can do is keep going in what is a war of attrition, many wrote Saints off at the start of the season, two bad results but not two defeats, that is something to consider, we are 4th in the League and just need to keep going, it is always going to be about the next game and not the last.

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