Brentford Away Lost 3 – 1
Saints had worn their pink outfit in the Carabao game at Cardiff for no colour-clash reason – perhaps they were hoping no-one would notice it in a lower profile competition? The result left Manager Martin with a problem: continue with his goal-less league XI at Brentford or draft in successes from the free scoring cup side? He decided to stick rather than twist but the team was bolstered by Ramsdale who was called into early action after Downes became the first Saint to be caught in possession. Despite the Bees making things awkward for us at the back, including from long throws as well as the ‘press,’ it was Saints who came closest to getting over the line in the opening exchanges: a Sugawara corner hit Aribo somewhere in his upper frame, certainly not his head, but the ball continued to loop towards goal before coming back off the post. Ramsdale was looking more competent than anyone we’ve seen in his position for a while but he was eventually undone by a colleague just before half time: Walker-Peters was now the one caught in possession and was rescued by Harwood-Bellas but then the centre half was similarly found lacking with a return pass by Stephens and although Schade could only hit the post with this gift, Mbeumo scored from the rebound. Southampton still had a great opportunity to turn round level but unmarked Armstrong made a hash of converting when a deflected cross fell to him six yards out. It was the striker’s final action as he and Smallbone made way for midweek scorers Archer and Fernandes at the break. Harwood-Bellis didn’t last much longer, replaced by Dibling, but that didn’t leave the self-destruct button unmanned as Bednarek and Stephens got in each other’s way in a passing move and Mbeumo was again the eventual beneficiary. The centre backs also had it in them to concede from a long throw, with Jensen beating both to the touch at the near post and Ramsdale finally ran out of space in his attempts to prevent Wissa forcing the ball home. Lallana made a Premier League return for the last few minutes and he featured in a few decent moments as the clock ran down, including an assist for a well-taken goal by Sugawara on 90+5. MotD didn’t even bother to show Armstrong’s miss – it probably didn’t suit their narrative, but I thought the programme’s analysis of the perils of this lot trying to play out from the back against top level teams was pretty accurate.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
7. Joe Aribo. I thought he showed enough to suggest he might have been a threat had Saints been able to play through the Brentford press, instead of succumbing to it.
16. Yukinari Sugawara, at left back – although he mostly caught the eye with his forward play.
30. Aaron Ramsdale. Well down the pecking order at Arsenal, but it looks like he’ll be given plenty of opportunity to demonstrate his skills with Southampton.
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