Two things that Saints & Ipswich fans seemed to agree on after the game, firstly it was a fair result & secondly that the referee was awful, but the draw probably suited Southampton more than the home side.

Will Still seemed to have realised his sides defensive frailties from last weeks win over Wrexham and he made a change in the back three, what he didn't do though was solve them and the addition of Taylor Harwood- Bellis, in for Ronnie Edwards, still left us unbalanced.

This was evident from the first minute, Ipswich came out of the traps fast and seemed to have a plan to unsettle us early doors and it worked, we were behind with only 4 minutes on the clock, a slack pass from Welington, saw a poor decision from Quarshie who opted to let the ball run behind him and and Hirst for the Tractor Boys nipped in and put in a dangerous cross that caught us out and eventually rebounded into the goal off Harwood- Bellis.

It was chaos and in the early stages as the home side pressed and forced errors, you worried for Saints.

The real was down our left flank, Joshua Quarshie was having one of those games where he could do nothing right, his distribution was terrible and he wasn't helped by Welington in front of him, who himself had played him into trouble for the goal.

But after this setback we regained our composure and got back into the game just before the half our mark, a superb cross from Ryan Fraser strangely playing on the right, found Jay Robinson with a fantastic leap planting a firm header past the keeper to level the scores.

However it seemed at times the referee had money on a win for the Tractor Boys, he seemed to give nothing to Saints and if he had to give a decision, then it was to the home side, we should have had a stonewall penalty when Adam Armstrong was thrown to the floor, but the referee Robert Madley, a man not without experience of controversy strangely waved play on, this was not the only strange decision.

The second half saw Ipswich try to repeat the blitz of the first half from the off and the y hit the inside of the post, but after that there main tactic was to simply put in crosses into the box and we struggled to deal with this, although hindsight showed that we did.

Indeed Ipswich's best chances came from our own frailties, Welington producing an air shot when the ball was cleared from a corner, left a man through on goal, but we managed to get back and a poor header saw Gavin Bazunu having to be quick, getting to the ball before getting flattened, the home crowd roaring for a penalty.

But that was about it, the stats show an even game, Ipswich had 2 attempts on target, a smart save with his legs by Bazunu and we managed just 3, Jay Robinson having 2 of them, his header for the goal and a smart run and shot that needed a superb save to keep the scores level.

This was a game that was a better result for Southampton than Ipswich, it leaves us just 2 points off Stoke at the top and with 4 points only out of the top 4 on goal difference, given our uncertainty with who will stay and go, that is fine.

So where did we go wrong, at the back we were shaky and we lacked that leadership, I am not having a go at Jack Stephens here, in fairness he had a decent game and was probably the best out of the 3, but we were unbalanced and Quarshie was not haing a good game, this was were leadership came in, the young defender was not afraid to keep playing passes, but he was trying to hard, it needed someone to calm him down and tell him to keep it simple and then when he had got his passing game going again, try the more difficult stuff.

In front of him Welington was not helping his cause and we looked a little better down the left when Ryan Manning came on just before the hour mark.

Otherwise we looked ok, Flynn Downes & Shea Charles anchored the midfield with Matteus Fernandes & Jay Robinson working hard in front of them, Ryan Fraser was excellent as right wing back, he knew how to get back and defend and his cross for the goal was perfect.

Adam Armstrong was often isolated up front, but he worked his socks off to press the home side defenders.

One pleasing aspect was that the substitutions saw experienced players coming on to the pitch, Some criticised taking off Robinson & Fernandes, but they had run themselves into the ground. it needed fresh legs and the substitutions did not weaken us, indeed we perhaps looked stronger.

So a good point overall, that leaves us in a good position to now take on leaders Stoke City.

However Will Still has some thinking to do about his defence.

All Photos Via Reuters

landsdownsaint added 09:40 - Aug 18 Has Jack Stephens got something on the board of directors? 3yr contract & he’s still causing havoc at the back … I thought we was pretty good , I like Robinson , better attitude than Dibbling … probably a better player.
0

onetowatch added 09:46 - Aug 18 I like what we've seen and heard from WS, he's certainly decisive and prepared to take chances if needed. Yes, inevitably there's a 'but' . In the bigger picture it may not seem much, but surely we can all see that, currently at least, we do not have the personnel to play 3 CBs with 2 WBs. RF did a great job yesterday, but playing with 1 WB isn't good enough and we always seem more comfortable with a back 4. Indeed, it's recognised that CB is not a strong position for us at the moment, so why play 3 there!!?? Early days, changes will occur over the next 2 week, but, an away point at Ipswich is decent.

5

Bawdrip added 09:52 - Aug 18 A good away point. A few mistakes but generally I thought we did well. Plenty of determination. I was happy with a point both before and after the game.
7

saintmark1976 added 09:52 - Aug 18 Not pretty and we were very fortunate on occasions but the team put in a shift against the team that the bookies still have as favourites for promotion. A bigger concern for me than a slightly wobbly defence is the forward situation. With the current players I just can’t see where enough goals are going to come from to maintain a promotion challenge. I said at the time that we should have taken Everton’s money for Dibling and it could well be that in not doing so our chances of a swift return to the top flight floundered, almost before a ball was kicked in anger.

3

SanMarco added 09:58 - Aug 18 We don't look right at the back. onetowatch has a point on why play three there. If THB stays he should be the lynchpin (once he is fully fit). If we are to have two others then no-one is making much of a case so far. I am happy to accept that we didn't create that much because it was a tough game but we are going to have to create more chances. I expect it will be a season where we are always vulnerable to defensive lapses so WS's other main task after sorting the CBs out is to get us creating more. All that said it was a good point. Only 8 more to equal last year's haul...

5

HythePeer added 10:06 - Aug 18 The worst game of football I've seen! The ball spent more time off the pitch than on it. The players spent more time on the floor than on their feet, who would win depended on which side made the most unforced errors. In the end they were equally bad.
-8

AJDubYa added 11:20 - Aug 18 Agree @onetowatch and @SanMarco. Gotta try a 4-back .... and with the personnel we have, surely its a 4-2-3-1 with possibilities of ... Gav Baz (McCarthy) Sugawara/Bree (Fraser?) THB/Edwards Stephens/Quarshie/Wood Manning/Welington Shea Charles Downes (Smallbone?) Dibling/AA (Sesay) Fernandes/Matsuki Robinson/Fraser/BBD Stewart/Downs/AA/Archer/BBD
-1

Bowlercow added 11:22 - Aug 18 As in the Wrexham game the result was better than the match Hopefully we will signe a couple of wide attackers so that we can revert to a back 4. Or one winger (Fellows) and allow Frazer to play as a wingers again.His cross for the goal was spot on but the pass from Fernandez gave him the position and the time At least with back 4 there are only 2 CB's to make cocktails ups Still likes to be proactive with his subs which is a very pleasant change from the last 3 seasons Let's hope we can keep enough players to have that strong a bench every week

4

underweststand added 12:38 - Aug 18 Aside from the obvious own-goal blunder, I thought we looked strongest in the first half. Sadly the second period proved to be a mix of ill-mannered tackles and petty arguments, which the ref. decided to ignore and kept his yellow card count down to sensible numbers. Who can fail to be impressed by Jay Robinson's apps. A handful of games last season, and he isn't afraid to take on defenders, shooting chances. Nicely-taken goal, too. Fraser might have been an occasional bench candidate but he now he shows pace and made a nice assist for Robinson's goal. As others have pointed out (above) - we haven't found a secure backline yet, but with half-a-dozen to choose from it may take time, but it's interesting to note we haven't conceded a goal from open play yet, so maybe they aren't so bad ..for the start of the season ..only 44 games to go.

5

WestSussexSaint added 12:58 - Aug 18 Underwestsrand, the Ipswich goal was from open play? Unless you mean we haven’t conceded from an opposing player from open play. I think the team looked disjointed and the defence was shaky again. Quashie looked like the early mistake affected him for the rest of the game. I think there is a good player there but he needs some time and help to get up to speed. Ryan Fraser continues to impress. Arguably our best player across all 3 games so far this season. Not sure anyone would have predicted that after last season.

5

BigbadBarry8myboat added 17:24 - Aug 18 Jack Stephens was given a 3 year contract based on the fact he was a leader,van experienced head, he was made captain because of his presence and man management skills. Yet I've never seen as disorganised bunch as we have been. Connor Cody showed what a leader van do, but sorry Stephens is NOT a leader and concentrate on him. With a rusty THB and a novice Quashie this showed through. We need to sign a leader, and drop Stephens. He's a good squad player but not a captain.

1

davidargyll added 06:50 - Aug 19 Having seen the games on TV played by this season’s promoted teams to the PL, I can only say that currently we are light years away from where we will have to be to stay up, if we are lucky enough to get promoted in May. And as for our performance against Ipswich, Harwood Bellis may have been coming back from injury but OMG he was next to useless, only made to look just about passable by the abysmal Quarsie. Jesus H Christ, was he utterly appalling? Or what? I have a horrible feeling Stoke are going to make total mincemeat of us on Saturday.

0

Peterx added 09:31 - Aug 19 With Downes and Stewart unavailable we missed a golden opportunity to give BBD a cameo through the middle which is likely the only place he is effective, so obviously we need to get rid if Still is not even going to use him in the scenario where both those two are unavailable. Other than that we are still gelling at the back, I think we should give Quarshie time, though as he does have the pace to cover for mistakes. Flynn, Shea and Matty in the middle will make us difficult to beat in this league.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Derby County Polls