Saints start slowly

Monday, 23/08/2010

by Shoot's Southampton blogger, Chris Rann.

It was more disappointment for the faithful at St. Mary’s on Saturday, as the team stuttered its way to a 1-1 draw with Leyton Orient.

The return of Rickie Lambert to the lineup saw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain drop to the bench. 

Lambert picked up where he left off last season and took just 12 minutes to drill (with aid of a deflection) a free kick into the back of the net. The lead was to last just three minutes, when with a massive sense of inevitability some sloppy defending for an Orient corner left Forbes with a simple header.

It was pretty much one-way traffic from then on with Saints having countless chances, but the woodwork and the fantastic Jamie Jones in the Orient goal kept us at bay.

It really was one of the best goalkeeping performances I have seen.

Tactically we missed width and creativity in my opinion and the lack of squad depth is still apparent, but there is no need to panic just yet. We are traditionally slow starters, and on any other day it would have been a one-sided victory for Saints.

Doubters should ask themselves this. Would you swap our team for any other in the division? I know I wouldn’t.

Exciting news has filtered through from the Italian media, where they are reporting that Brazilian midfielder Guilherme Do Prado will join from Cesena this week. 

Whether or not this has any substance or not has yet to be seen, and I wouldn’t believe anything until it is on the official site, but he looks like just the sort of creative player we need.

Next up we face Premier League Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night. Bolton have had a decent start to the season and are yet to lose a game, so looks to be a tough test for our lads and certainly a different tactical challenge for Alan Pardew.

Former Saint Kevin Davies could feature for the Trotters. Memories of Davies are mixed as he had two spells with Saints, the first where he was outstanding and then the second where he was poor. No doubt he will score the winner on Tuesday!

Keep the Faith. Come On You Reds!

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