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Southampton At Brighton The Preview
Saturday, 23rd Apr 2022 18:06

Saints blew it at Burnley, but they are a better team than that performance suggests and Ralph Hasenhuttl will be looking for his team to show that, by stopping them coasting in the final month of the season and getting a few more points under their belt.

The truth of the matter is that Saints have a team and have performed this season to exactly the position they lie in the League at the moment in terms of resources etc, that means that although at times they will be able to win games that they are not expected to, but in others like Burnley, they will get turned over.

They are not alone is that respect, some like Brentford are still playing on the adrenalin of their first season in the Premier League, but most in mid table are struggling to raise themselves with nothing to play for now except pride and the off place or two in the table.

So Ralph Hasenhuttl's job is to try and get some of the underperformers back to their best.

Armando Broja had a purple patch in the middle of the season, but truth is he has not scored in the Premier League in 2 1/2 months a period encompassing 9 games, but more to the point, he hasn't looked like scoring in most of them.

Che Adams must be frustrated, yes he missed a couple at Burnley, but at least he was getting in goalscoring positions, Broja has looked lost, he is a good player, but he needs experience and is not the man to play up front on his own.

Stuart Armstrong is running into blind alleys and Elyounoussi rarely doing much where it matters.

Some will get on the backs of certain players, but the likes of Yan Valery and Nathan Redmond put in effort on Thursday and weren't the worst players on the pitch, but they will get stick.

So we know that this season is done, there will be no late season excitement, just cruising to the finish line.

But that should not lead to the ranting that I heard at Burnley from some of our fans, things are changing, we need to look to next season now.

But first there is the little matter of finishing ahead of Brighton and in this respect the game on Sunday is the South Coast cup final, the winner of this game will surely finish above the loser come the end of the season.

All we want to see in this game is our best team put in a decent performance , from this point of view, bring back Elyounoussi and Tino Livramento into a back four, bring back Che Adams in attack and personally I would pair him with a forward who will be here next season and has shown a willingness to put in a shift in Adam Armstrong.

Bring back Nathan Redmond in place of Moi Elyounoussi and dare I say it play Ibrahima Diallo instead of Stuart Armstrong.

So

Fraser Forster

Livramento Salisu, Bednarek, Walker Peters

Diallo, JWP, Romeu, Redmond

A Armstrong, Adams

That is a team that will play for the shirt and perhaps get the win that will see us still chasing a decent final placing.

Photo: Action Images



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Boris1977 added 19:56 - Apr 23
I'm not going to this one as I'm working which is a shame as Brighton is a great place for post match pubs and pre match record buying. I'll hopefully listen to it on the radio but expect more of the same - 2-0 to Brighton.
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DorsetIan added 20:58 - Apr 23
Too many changes in your proposed team for me. I could agree with dropping Elyounoussi for Redmond. But imo Diallo and A Armstrong are less likely to create a goal than S Armstrong and Broja.

Maybe drop Romeu for Diallo. I think Romeu has been out of sorts for a few games - the JWP-Romeu midfield partnership nowhere near as secure as it was when we were getting results.
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Colburn added 09:16 - Apr 24
Against Burnley, we lacked hunger and focus. We didn't play as a team in the early stages with players being guilty of not making the right decisions with the ball and too much head down running with the ball like kids in a playground. KWP has been magnificent this season but he was greedy with the ball, trying two attempts on goal from difficult positions. We simply must regain the cohesion and togetherness we have showed against the bigger clubs. To hear one of our own players say Burnley wanted it more than us just sums this up. Motivation and decision making is down to the manager and his tactics. We would have seen a lot more industry with Tella on the pitch and Redmond showed more in 5 minutes than the others did all game in terms of quality. Why Ralph started a 21 year old out of form up front on his own and provide him with no service! Nuts.. I have been one of Redmonds biggest critics but he was the only one who created anything aside from set pieces. Romeu needs to be dropped as the midfield looks stale, which is no surprise given another season of a lack of logical rotation. We should have seen more of Tella, Smallbone and Diallo but now when they are called upon, they are naturally lacking in sharpness and experience. Adam Armstrong should have been given more game time recently too and Burnley was, the ideal moment for him or Tella to give some help to Broja. I think Ralph lacks courage and belief in his own squad and this transfers to the players as it did at the end of last season and now it appears this season. Shame, we were starting to look good at the start of the year, now we've recoiled somewhat.
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