Southampton 1 v Leicester City 0
St Mary’s Stadium – March 3rd 2023
Report by Colin Murrant
With Leicester suffering a humiliating home FA Cup loss in mid-week, this was an opportunity for them to get back to winning ways against a Southampton side who had lost in the same competition to fourth tier Grimsby. Added to that, Saints were stranded at the bottom of the Premier League with only one home win and three draws from eleven games. The fact that City were to not able to register a single shot on target all match, reflects how badly they are playing as they sink deeper towards the relegation zone.
Pre-match the team news was that yet another Seagrave training ground injury had robbed City of the services of left-back Victor Kristiansen for 4-weeks. The Danes’ injury meant that the old full-back pairing of Ricardo and Castagne was restored. The positive for City was that talisman, James Maddison, was back and captaining the side.
The first ten minutes were uneventful before City got into their stride. On 13 mins Maddison played Ricardo in on goal but he seemed to be caught between squaring to Iheanacho or going for goal, he did neither and the ball comfortably missed the far post. Iheanacho was finding more space in the box, a fine cross from Barnes was headed wide by the City striker with Tete better placed behind him. Then, a free kick on the corner of the box saw Maddison send in the ball at pace, again Iheanacho got his head to it and again should have done better, not troubling the keeper.
There then followed an incident that could have changed the match: Castagne won the ball near the half way line and was about to stride forward when Alcaraz fouled him with a nasty, studs up tackle, on the ankle. Alcaraz received a yellow card when a red one was more deserved. This was the second away match running that ‘red-card’ warranting tackles were made against City players (Sabitzer on Faes), and did not receive the ultimate punishment.
City were still pressing at this stage and a short corner worked by Maddison and Tete led to a Barnes chance that was blocked; there then ensued a scramble before Southampton got the ball away to safety. On 26 minutes, I made a mental note that City could pay for not scoring during this dominant period.
Almost immediately, Walcott wide, tried a cross into the box and the ball hit the despairing Castagne’s hand: with the linesman waving his flag vigorously, there was no way VAR would overturn the resultant penalty. With Ward-Prowse taking the penalty-kick, a goal seemed a certainty; but Ward diving to his right, pulled off an excellent save.
Whilst the save should have inspired City, it was the Saints who now started to take command. On 34 minutes, City lost the ball near their opponents’ penalty area and the ball was switched to Adams on the half-way line: his turn and pass sent the ‘lucky to be on the pitch’ Alcaraz through on goal. With City’s defenders trailing like lead-legged tortoises, Alcaraz bore down on goal and took his shot early, easily beating Ward’s outstretched leg. VAR intervened but adjudged Souttar was playing Alcaraz onside. With such slow defenders, it is difficult to comprehend why City were playing such a high line on the half-way line.
The second half, Southampton set themselves up not to concede, defend deeply and keep Maddison quiet. City had replaced the ineffective Barnes with Praet, and by the 69th minute, City’s other winger, Tete, had also been replaced, so the team had become totally without shape or organisation. Rodgers’ long spoken desire to have two wingers was now ripped up and in the bin. City still had chances however, with Iheanacho failing to keeper his header on target following an excellent Praet cross. With Bazunu skewing a back-pass straight to Iheanacho on the edge of the box: the City forward rushed his shot and blazed wildly over, with Maddison better placed to receive a pass. Iheanacho could have had a hat-trick but failed to get one of his five good chances on target.
Late on, Faes missed the target by some distance as he rose unchallenged to head the ball from a corner. In added on time, Souttar missed an even better chance as he headed a cross onto the bar with the goal gaping.
These are extremely worrying times for City; Maddison is vital to City if they are going to escape the drop, but he looks despondent with some around him showing a lack of effort, skill, or enthusiasm. Why City can play at the tempo they displayed against Villa and Spurs, yet have no intensity against other teams, is beyond comprehension. There appears to be a complete lack of leaders on the pitch. Whichever League City are in next season , there needs to be a major overhaul at the Club.
With 13 games to go, City can still pull away from the relegation positions, but most City fans would, I think, take 17th place now. In the meantime, we welcome Fofana and Chelsea next Saturday with those black storm clouds gathering.
Southampton: Bazunu, Maitland-Niles, Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters, Lavia, Alcaraz, Ward-Prowse, Walcott, Sulemana, Adams.
Subs: Caballero, Salisu, Perraud, Djenepo, Elyounoussi, S Armstrong, Mara, Onuachu, A Armstrong.
Leicester City: Ward; Ricardo, Souttar, Faes, Castagne; Mendy, Dewsbury-Hall, Maddison; Tete, Iheanacho, Barnes.
Subs: Iversen, Thomas, Amartey, Soyuncu, Ndidi, Soumare, Praet, Vardy, Daka.
Referee: Robert Jones Attendance: 30,139
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation