Saints' First Real Premier Test Sets Alarm Bells Ringing

Wigan Athletic’s trip to St Mary’s provided a sobering indication of what is to come if Southampton lack of transfer activity stretches past Friday’s deadline. Adkins’ side started brightly enough, but a lack of quality in the final third halted their forward momentum and ultimately allowed the visitors to leave with all three points despite rarely threatening the Southampton goal.

Franco Di Santo latched onto Maloney’s through ball early in the second period and drilled his shot into the roof of the net to put the visitors in front, leaving Fonte trailing in his wake. Fonte was later robbed of the ball on the half-way line, with his side having committed men forward, and Kone easily beat Davis when one-on-one. These defensive lapses, though, are not the ominous element of Saturday’s display to which I refer. Rather, it was the coming to fruition of niggling pre-season doubts over the course of the ninety minutes that fuelled the air of worry that had enveloped St Mary’s by the final whistle.

The new season has seen Adkins’ side move from a traditional 4-4-2 formation to the increasingly popular 4-3-3, using two wide forwards to support Rickie Lambert as the central striker. What was made clear on Saturday, however, was that the Saints lack the personnel to effectively undertake their new game-plan. Jay Rodriguez, Saints’ record £6 million signing from Burnley, was forced onto the left hand side rather than his favoured central striking role and struggled to provide either any threat from the touchline or when running in behind Lambert. And to Lambert’s right: Guly do Prado. The Brazilian endured a difficult afternoon in an equally unfamiliar role and repeatedly failed to stretch the Wigan defence.

Early on, Lallana, who looked perfectly comfortable in his central midfield role, had stretched Al Habsi into a fine save when he let fly from 20 yards. But in truth, Southampton failed to create clear-cut chances as the half drew on, and Di Santo’s sucker-punch was indicative of the visitor’s growing comfort as the game progressed. After the opener, Adkins persevered with his formation for a further fifteen minutes or so, before reverting to 4-4-2 in an attempt to present new dangers to Wigan’s backline. The tactical switch, though, meant Wigan saw more and more of the ball, and Southampton’s desperation grew. Hooiveld was deployed as an extra forward and his header that landed on Al Habsi’s crossbar was the Saints’ final chance to draw level before Fonte’s mistake handed Wigan a second.

Within seconds of Kone’s clincher the stadium was half-empty, the Saints fans resigning themselves to a losing return of Premier League football at St Mary’s. Elements of Southampton’s play had been encouraging; the ball retention in the first period denied Wigan any meaningful attacks, and the midfield trio of Schneiderlin, Davis and Lallana look well equipped to play at this level. Now, the supporters can only wait and hope that Cortese and Adkins make significant progress in their transfer dealings before time runs out to pep up their uncharacteristically benign attack.