Southampton 0-2 Brentford
Saturday December 11, St Mary's, (Att: 19,641)
Bit of a shock result at St Mary's this weekend. Shame about that to be honest, but I couldn't give a monkey's. I'm here to look at the state of the defence and, I have to say, I was not impressed by what I saw.
Good goalkeeping from the Brentford net man early on kept the scores level but, at the other end, Kelvin Davies dropped a massive howler to give The Bees the lead.
Southampton 0 Brentford 1
You could argue that maybe the players on the edge of the box were given a little too much time, but you would not expect any keeper to make that type of mistake.
Not a lot the defence could do about it. Shoddy keeping, but every makes a mistake. Except me.
Southampton Defending
The lad Davies had a chance to redeem himself after a long ball up field was nodded down in the direction of Brentford's Charlie McDonald, who swivelled and got a shot away.
Davies got down low to make the save. Well done big man. However, how was C-Mac allowed to turn and shoot like that?
The defender was brushed aside and didn't look like putting much pressure on the striker at any point. No strength, and it almost resulted in a goal.
Southampton 0 Brentford 2
C-Mac got another chance later on and, this time, he didn't miss. Another long ball into the heart of the Saints defence was knocked down in the striker's direction.
What concerns me is how he came into so much space in the penalty area. Too many players were ball-watching and, when the ball was nodded through, C-Mac reacted quickest to make it 2-0.
Too many men under the ball and not enough people paying attention to the wandering feet of Brentford's strikers.
Brentford Defending
Brentford got a little lucky in the second half when a ball was crossed in from the left. After a fluffed clearance, the ball fell to the edge of the area where the Saints man was waiting in acres of room.
Fortunately for the Bees, his strike was abysmal. This was a case of too many people charging into the perceived danger area - the penalty area - to defend the cross, leaving nobody on the edge.
In truth, he had time to bring it down and then shoot - that's how much room he had.
Southampton Defending
Late on, Southampton survived a penalty appeal. Was it a pen? Not sure, but what I do know is that the defending was rubbish to allow him to get into the box in the first place.
The player was waltzing towards the byline under no pressure and was allowed to spin towards the box. The defender did nothing! He just watched him walk towards goal and then reacted. Shocking stuff from a team hoping for promotion.
Conclusion:
It wasn't all bad, as Brentford managed to block a few shots towards the end, so I'll give them a little bit of kudos for that. Southampton on the other hand should bow their heads in shame.
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