Southampton took a rotated side away to League One outfit Doncaster, where the magic of the FA Cup didn’t quite take hold for the home side – but the Saints nearly capitulated despite a convincing first half.
The Saints took an early lead, as academy product Cam Bragg scored his first goal for the club, before Cameron Archer extended the lead shortly after.
Minutes before half-time, Japanese midfielder Kuryu Matsuki scored his second Southampton goal – it looked like total domination from German head coach Tonda Eckert’s side…
But the second half showed complacency and a simple lack of effort, where Doncaster brought the game back to 3-2 – what went so wrong?
Southampton have recently struggled, with manager Tonda Eckert sticking to the same formation that has seemingly been found out by Championship opposition.
But against Doncaster, Eckert changed to a 4-2-3-1 formation, platforming Tom Fellows in his best position – as a right winger.
When the Saints went 3-2 down, Eckert reverted to the five-back. The genuine anxiety that the team might lose to Doncaster says a lot about the state of the club at the moment.
New signing Daniel Peretz was given his first opportunity in goal – and impressed Saints fans.
The goalkeeper, acquired from Bayern Munich, took his first couple of touches for the club, by pinging a cross-field pass – a suggestion of the technical ability to come from him.
The Israeli also made a great stop from a Doncaster free-kick, showing good positioning – something Gavin Bazunu has been particularly poor at.
Whilst the Saints conceded twice, Peretz could hardly help save either – more questions should be asked about the defence’s ability to deal with crosses, as ever.
Peretz made a crucial double save in the final moments of the game, keeping the Saints ahead.
Read More: Have Southampton Finally Upgraded On Gavin Bazunu?
When Southampton came out for the second half, the game wasn’t over – but it should have been.
The in-game management from Tonda Eckert has been subpar since he arrived at Southampton, and a game against Doncaster should have been comfortably managed.
The Saints were awful to watch on an icy pitch, and you have to feel, despite the win, that Eckert is slowly running out of time to win over the Southampton faithful.
Will Eckert stick with a back four or go back to the five-back against Hull City next weekend?
