Heading to the King Power Stadium on Thursday evening to face off against Leicester City, Southampton did manage to draw a line under four straight defeats but sadly the point did little for us in our battle against relegation.
?
Mark Hughes gives his thoughts on #SaintsFC's goalless draw with #LCFC in the #PL: pic.twitter.com/QC8fScgyOv
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) April 19, 2018
Southampton now sit four points off safety and Swansea City. With them having a game in hand now it’s hardly ideal and with each passing game impending relegation and life back in the Championship creeps closer.
Speaking to saintsfc as he met with the media following the game, a disappointed Mark Hughes was trying to take the positives.
The draw was something to build on, we did keep a clean sheet but we still need to be more expansive and buoyant in attack if we were to give ourselves any hope of avoiding the drop.
? “We’re going to have to go for it."
After a point at #LCFC, the boss wants #SaintsFC to be more expansive: https://t.co/SxXFJfiUgT
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) April 20, 2018
“It was probably a fair result, given the chances created. I thought defensively we were fine. Clearly they will always test you, bringing on a lot of attack-minded players with good ability and pace. We had to be resolute at the back and make sure we were still in the game. That was the key: to make sure we still had an opportunity going the other way. If I’m honest, we didn’t create anything like as many chances as I would’ve liked in general play, but maybe that was a consequence of a little bit of apprehension in our defensive work.”
For fans, it’s not so much ‘marching on’ now it’s realisation and acceptance of the fact we keep ‘falling backwards’ and with the money available in the Premier League, there are a number of things to address if we can’t bounce back at the first time of asking from the second tier.
Southampton should certainly be in a better position than clubs that have dropped in recent years owing to our transfer policy and the money we have brought in, but with stricter Financial Fair Play obligations in the Championship, Parachute Money, won’t last long so we will need to look to rebuild if we stay at that level for more than 12 months.
May would say we need to rebuild in any event though, to be fair.
Some aren’t quite as confident as I am though.
How's the club going to cope in the championship without the sky monies
— Alan Bennion (@alan_bennion) April 19, 2018
It is galling to see how easily the Club has faltered in such a short space of time. We are now left with an anonymous owner, an insipid, directionless, faceless board and significant number of players who don't care. I see another Sunderland on the horizon.
— Nipper H (@kev_hayter) April 20, 2018
Please leave our club……… #saintsfc pic.twitter.com/Qph4PJBLXq
— Jamie Pragnell (@jamie_pragnell) April 19, 2018
We are going down. ?
— Dan (@danrush1966) April 20, 2018
Try to be positive but that performance by several of our established players is simply not good enough … can’t wait for them to leave and get players in who want to play for the club ?
— andrew l davis (@hampshirehogsfc) April 19, 2018
After that, glad we got rid of Puel. Will probably take Leicester down next season. Same boring stuff we witnessed.
— La Petite Mort (@TheRubbishTipst) April 19, 2018
This is all about a terrible managerial appointment and the idiots on the board not getting rid of him in time to do something about it.
— Peter Castle (@PeterCastle6) April 20, 2018
Devoid of ideas on and off the pitch. No cutting edge to win games. Hope is all we have got. #SaintsFC
— Saints Pundit SFC (@SaintsPundit) April 19, 2018
Mark Hughes never been relegated as a manager now on the brink of relegating 2 clubs in 1 season
— Simon (@siy1986) April 19, 2018
That's us down.
— Matthew Dev ? (@MattJBDev) April 19, 2018
Dire performance from a team that had to win that game. Sums the players up. Goodbye premier league ??
— kevin willsher (@wilts34uk) April 19, 2018
Clean sheet for a change but not enough effort going forward. Need to win matches rather than play for draw. What happened to commitment #SaintsFC showed in matches v Arsenal & Chelsea?
— Kevin Clements (@Kevin_Clements) April 19, 2018
Just say it how it is, say ‘A point is not enough from a must win game’. At least we’ll feel like the club aren’t in denial!
— Stephen Agius (@thenoblesteed) April 19, 2018