Middlesbrough FC defeated a spineless Southampton FC team 4-0 yesterday as the Saints fell to 15th place in the Championship, challenging any hopes of Premier League football that Tonda Eckert’s side may have dreamt of.
Take a look at three things we learnt that could have caused Southampton’s hammering yesterday afternoon.
Southampton’s goalkeeper, Gavin Bazunu, has conceded 28 goals in the Championship this season, preventing -0.36 goals.
It is pretty hard to overlook that the goalkeeper of a promotion chasing side should not be conceding so frequently, and change is needed in between the sticks.
Southampton fans have been calling for a change of goalkeeper for months, and yesterdays hammering seemed to be the final straw for Southampton fans, with many heavily criticising the Irishman’s performance and now demanding change.
Bazunu was brought in to Southampton in 2022, after a successful loan spell at bitter rivals Portsmouth, where he won players player of the season that year.
It seems that Southampton may have found a new goalkeeper, as Daniel Peretz looks set to join the south coast club on loan from Bayern Munich.
Tonda Eckert won the permanent position at Southampton by making simple, but effective, tweaks to Will Still’s system.
Eckert allowed the wide centre backs to push up the pitch in a wider position, with the midfielders coming closer to the ball, creating unique patterns of play that allowed players such as Adam Armstrong and Finn Azaz to start scoring again.
However, it seems that other Championship managers may have found out the 32 year old’s tactics, as Saints are now winless in six games.
Eckert prefers to use a back five, with three centre backs and two wingbacks. He is showing little desire to change his tactics, as he seems to be hoping it all comes together again.
It should be argued that Eckert should tweak his tactics, and one of those changes should be deploying a back four to his Southampton side.
This change could allow for a more developed approach of attacking football that could make Southampton to start firing again.
One criticism of Eckert’s current tactic is the sudden inability to use players such as Tom Fellows correctly in his system, as in his last few games the German manager seems to deploy him in a much more defensive position, that is not getting the best performance out of the exciting winger.
Once Morgan Whittaker got his first of the afternoon early on in the first half, Saints did not look like managing a comeback at all.
When it rains, it pours, as the gutless Southampton players proceeded to watch another three goals go past them.
There is clearly a mentality problem in the team that goes deeper than the manager- the players are showing no desire to fight for the badge.
Boro had not scored in 7 hours of football before facing Southampton, who they placed four goals past at quite a level of ease.
Tonda Eckert obviously has some work too do, but there is a point that the players need to take responsibility, and I think the current Saints team has reached that.
Southampton travel away to Doncaster Rovers on Saturday in the FA Cup, and it is very important that Eckert’s side avoid a cup upset, otherwise things will turn very toxic towards the club.
