Bournemouth Away Lost 3 – 1
Saints lined up at Bournemouth without Walker-Peters and with Cornet and Fraser out wide and Dibling… well, no-one seemed sure what Dibling was supposed to be doing, not least the player himself. A false nine perhaps? There was actually a positive sign from the formation with Cornet, via a deflection, and Fraser coming close enough to cause concern for the home team. It was when Bournemouth got into the game that things began to unravel, with many members of the XI not looking strong enough for their role. In the 17th minute Semenyo went down under a heavy challenge and looking as though he’d need treatment; he didn’t get it as either by design or improvisation Tavernier took the free kick quickly and caught Southampton’s defence flat footed as they watched Evanilson de Lima score the opener. We didn’t know it but the wheels were about to come off as Outtara soon added a second, although his contribution was to get in the way of Cook’s shot to deflect it past Ramsdale. Saints were struggling to handle Semenyo so it was no surprise when the winger added a third goal in a spell of just 22 minutes and Saints were looking at an embarrassingly heavy defeat against the local upstarts. Somehow the score remained 3-0 at the break but it was clear that things could not be allowed to go on as they were so on came Aribo, Brereton-Díaz and Stewart in place of Ugochukwu, Cornet and Fraser and the whole approach looked fresher; heck, we even got a goal with Harwood-Bellis credited with getting something on Fernandes’ cross as it eluded Arrizabalaga, but there was at least one crucial Bournemouth touch to take into account as well. Dibling was now on the wing but still getting little joy and he made way for Archer while Lallana, who should have started, was now on for Fernandes. Aribo’s flank was looking stronger and who knows what the effect of a second away goal might have been? In truth it didn’t threaten to come as often as it needed to and the manner of this latest defeat was still damaging – if not as much as it had threatened to become.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from
6. Taylor Harwood-Bellis as we have to celebrate a rare Southampton goal somehow.
7. Joe Aribo. He only played for 45 minutes, but that goes for the rest of the team as well.
32. Paul Onuachu. He didn’t get on the pitch at all, but at least we saw him warm up at half time.
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