Time For Saints To Toughen Up!

The season began, a wave of euphoria surrounded the city of Southampton. This was the year Saints would finally dispel their demons and bring the first piece of silverware to St Marys since 1976. After the first four games, whilst the signs are still good the start has been anything but spectacular.

I know that it is a little too soon to be passing judgement on what is to come this season after only four games but there have been a few worrying signs present in the opening four games, things which Saints will no doubt need to improve upon if they are to achieve their ultimate goal of automatic promotion.

Saints seem to struggle to kill games off and this was very evident in the matches against Derby and WBA. Against Derby Saints fans saw an all too familiar sight, a Saints team throwing away two points in the last 30 seconds of a game, this happened against Middlesbrough, Everton and Arsenal in the relegation season and if the Saints had held on to any one of those wins they would have stayed up, it just gos to show how valuable those dropped points can be come the end of the season.

Against WBA Saints had plenty of possession and created a few good chances, they seemed to lack a cutting edge, this can only improve with Skacel regaining his match fitness but Saints must be able to take points off the teams that will be challenging for Promotion if they are to achieve promotion themselves.

The next point of concern is Saints’ away form, no disrespect to Barnsley, who gave Saints a very good game, but they are the kind of team Saints need to beat away from home, the defending for Marc Richards goal was particularly woeful.

So, in conclusion Saints will need to shape up and try and break the habit they were plagued with last season, drawing games when the deserved to win, whilst the signs for this season still look very good Saints, we must not forget that they are unbeaten, they will need to improve upon their opening performances.