Saints booing out of order

Thursday, 26/01/2012

by James Beavis, Shoot's Southampton blogger

Generally it’s been a week of positives for Southampton after completing the signings of two players plus the unexpected u-turn by Jason Puncheon.

The winger is likely to be involved with the team again after patching up his differences with chairman Nicola Cortese and boss Nigel Adkins.

However all that was preceded by the debacle that was Monday night’s performance against Leicester City at St. Mary’s.

Going into the game, Saints needed three points to return to the top of the table after West Ham leapfrogged us on Saturday – the first time we hadn’t been at the summit since early September.

To be honest when the team was revealed and the side was without Jose Fonte, Adam Lallana and of course Rickie Lambert, who was serving the last match of his suspension, it was obvious that it was going to be difficult.

The first and only real clear cut chance that Saints had came right at the start of the game after a misplaced pass by Foxes' midfielder Neil Danns.

Danns passed the ball straight to David Connolly who was running straight through on goal. Usually so clinical most supporters would have been expecting the net to ripple but uncharacteristically he produced a poor effort straight at Kasper Schmeichel which was to be a sign of what sort of night it was to be on the pitch.

Following goals from David Nugent, who was booed throughout because of his Portsmouth connections, and ex-Saint Matt Mills, Saints were 2-0 down at the break and devoid of ideas.

Things didn’t get any better after the break and the score-line remained the same meaning the team have now lost more games at home in the last three weeks than they did in the whole of 2011 and the team was greeted with a chorus of boos at the end which, in my opinion, was disgraceful.

Whilst the manner of the loss was disappointing some of our supporters need to have a reality check and realise that we have won 12 of our 15 home games this season, and are still second in the league which is far beyond what many would have predicted in August.

On to more positive news now and the signing of highly rated Yago Falque from Tottenham, who has connections with Barcelona and Real Madrid from his youth. His arrival is definitely an exciting one for supporters as the team look to finish the campaign strongly.

He has been joined by another potential crowd-pleaser in Tadanari Lee, who completed his protracted move during the week. He could make his debut in this weekend’s FA Cup clash with Millwall as the side look to get back to winning ways although Adkins will be sure to have an eye on Tuesday’s crucial clash against third-placed Cardiff City.

The January transfer window is also set to close and after many links with big money bids, all fans are waiting in anticipation to see if any deals happen; striker Billy Sharp is the latest to be linked.

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