15 December 2024
Southampton 0 Tottenham 5
Southampton’s return to the Premier League has not gone as Saints’ fans would have hoped. If their campaign so far was compared to a trip to the swimming pool, you would be hearing a whistle from the lifeguard telling you to get to the edge as you are out of your depth and struggling. Tottenham were the visitors to the south coast for the latest instalment of top-flight action.
It must be difficult to plan your tactics for the visit of Spurs. No one, including Ange Postecoglou, knows which Tottenham will turn up. The ones who played Man City off the park or their alter-ego who seem capable of losing to your son’s under-11 team. Every game their fans attend is like a game of Russian roulette but one thing you can always be sure of, entertainment.
Russell Martin has been under pressure from the first game of the season, he must feel like there is a grim reaper everywhere he goes, waiting for the result that finally prompts the chopping block. The reality is, while Graham Potter is being linked with the role, I’m not sure Harry Potter could keep this team up. That is mainly down to the massive gap in quality between Premier League and Championship now.
Sadly for teams looking to become regulars in the top-flight we seem destined for a continuous revolving door for newly-promoted teams. Three come up and the same trio go straight back down again. The Premier League is arguably the best in the world, the Championship however would struggle to make the top twenty.
The visitors started well, passing it around and not letting the hosts touch the ball. Spence turned his marker and pushed forward. He spotted the run of Maddison and played his pass to perfection. Spurs’ playmaker didn’t even need to take a touch before drilling his shot into the far corner to give Postecoglou’s side the lead after one minute.
It was like men against boys out on the pitch. As a cross came in, The Saints’ defence could only get a slight head to it before it dropped to Son at the back post. The South Korean slotted it under McCarthy to double the visitors’ lead. With twelve minutes gone, you wondered whether this game was already beyond the hosts.
Credit where it is due to Postecoglou’s side, they could smell blood. They continued to press and stretch the hosts. Son crossed into the box and as the defender challenged Solanke, the loose ball dropped to an unmarked Kulusevski six yards out. He made no mistake as he passed it into the back of the net to send the fans in the away end wild.
The only player making tickets worth anywhere near their face value for Southampton fans is Dibling. He looks another class act to come out of their academy. The youngster clipped a cross with the outside of his left foot into the path of Armstrong. It was inch-perfect but the striker headed a poor effort straight at Forster.
Walker-Peters was robbed of the ball by Udogie out wide in the Tottenham half. He played it to Son who spotted the run of Sarr. The midfielder waltzed past the Southampton defence before poking it past McCarthy to make it four-nil. At this point the home fans started to leave, no doubt off to cheer themselves up by watching re-runs of Portsmouth’s relegation season from the top-flight.
The Saints were an absolute shambles in defence. Maddison was played in and scored from a tight angle. He did brilliantly to plant his effort into the far top corner from a position where most players just drill their shots straight at the keeper. At this point, you feared for Southampton and wondered if you should set a fire alarm off in the ground to bring this mauling to an end.
Many would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of that Southampton dressing room at half-time. Whether Martin exploded on his team or quite calmly just said ‘thanks guys, looks like I am going to be out of work this Christmas’. After the interval the hosts tried to find some sort of reply but Walker-Peters could only find the side netting when a chance presented itself.
Dibling almost ended Spurs’ hopes of a clean sheet when he tried his luck from the edge of the box. It was a good strike but always curling away from the target. It had Forster worried but narrowly missed the target. At least the hosts were giving a better account of themselves in this half and making the visitors work for their win.
The home fans booed as the full-time whistle went and made their thoughts known about what they wanted. That appeared to be their manager sacked. The owners bowed to their demands the following day but it is hard to see the new appointment being able to change the direction of their season. They are now ten points adrift in the bottom three, a seemingly impossible mission to rectify.
Postecoglou’s side sit tenth in the table and have plenty of work to do themselves. With leaders Liverpool travelling to North London next weekend, the manager will see where his side are in their long-term project. They are scoring goals and looking dangerous, this will be a tough test for Arne Slot’s side if the real slim shady turns up to face them.
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