Saints travelled to Barcelona to take on Espanyol at their training complex and went down to a 2-1 defeat against the La Liga side in the final stage of the game in what was their toughest test so far this pre season.

Will Still got serious for the first time this summer, opting to keep the foundations of his starting line up in place until past the hour mark of the game.

For most of the game Saints looked fairly comfortable, not creating much but belying the fact that this was not a game between two top flight sides, but a La Liga V Championship clash.

The line up looked a lot different from that which played last season, Arron Ramsdale in goal and Matteus Fernandes being the only two out of the starting XI who could truly be called first choice second half of that debacle of a season.

It was refreshing to see Shea Charles given the full 90 minutes, hopefully a guide to Still's thinking in the centre of the park.

For an hour Saints matched the Spaniards, but multiple changes seemed to disrupt our rhythm and with 20 minutes to go we conceded a goal that showed up a lack of concentration and organisation in our defending.

So I can't be accused of bias I will quote the official match report.

"The Spain international made the breakthrough 20 minutes from time with a solo effort that benefited from a ricochet off Jack Stephens and a bout of indecision between the skipper and Ryan Manning that allowed Puado to pounce, calmly beating Ramsdale with a side-foot finish"

That is putting it kindly and 7 minutes later we conceded a soft penalty, that again showed a lack of discipline, the Espanyol player had been looking for a penalty for a while, throwing himself theatrically to the ground and trying to wind up Jack Stephens, eventually you felt that the ref would give one and he did.

We looked dead and buried now, but in injury time came a ray of hope, Damion Downs firing home a goal that showed he has a strikers instinct, he took the ball in his stride and lashed it past the keeper without looking up, he knew exactly where it was going.

All in all a good workout and although I would think Will Still will be disappointed in some things he saw out there, he saw others that will have pleased him.

It was just as much about those not getting a game as those who did and hopefully we can now start to formulate a team that can launch another promotion campaign.

The game had been promoted by Saints as a behind closed doors friendly, this was actually a straight forward lie, probably aimed at stopping fans travelling, the game was played at Espanyol's training ground, a mini stadium that could hold about 4-5,000 by my estimate, in was probably about 85% full, Espanyol had sold tickets to their season ticket holders and members.

The crowd did include some Southampton supporters , some ex pats and others who just fancied a weekend in Barcelona and if they got in the ground then all the better.

All Photos Via Reuters

codge added 13:38 - Jul 28 Jack Stephens enough said.
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DoctorSleep added 13:41 - Jul 28 Been waiting for your review and it seems to be a very 'soft' one - bit like the penalty. Lets not beat about the bush 'Captain' Jack was at fault for both goals. Simple. Hopefully Still saw the same and will now drop him.
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Bowlercow added 13:49 - Jul 28 I know one Saints supporters who was allowed into the game free of charge He travelled, as he always does,more in hope than anything else I streamed it and I must say it was a better performance generally than the one on Wenesday I'll just say that our captain proved his worth to the team twice in this game Please no more First half defence looked more organised and less likely to be beaten other than by school boy errors The m/f didn't lose the ball as much but didn't get it forward quick enough Considering who was missing this should be easily corrected I don't care who you support or how many minutes you watch No one will see many goals that are better than the one scored by Downes and assisted by Jay Robinson I look forward to that becoming a regular partnership

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beynali73 added 13:55 - Jul 28 I've been trying to think who Will Still reminds me of and the penny has just dropped. He's got a confusingly long standing soap actor look about him - like Ian Beale.
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IanRC added 10:21 - Jul 29 I watched only 15 minutes on this game and in that time Jack Stephen’s passed to the centre forward for the first goal conceded a penalty for the second. Giving him a three-year contract extension is just a sick joke by Sports Republic aimed at the fans.
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