Jay Rodriguez scored his first goal of the season and first Premier League goal since 2014 as Southampton narrowly escaped St. Mary’s with a draw Saturday.
It was a triumphant return for Rodriguez, whose career was derailed by injury in 2014 and who missed much of last year’s campaign while recovering.
His crack at Jordan Pickford in the 85th minute came in too hot for the 22 year old Englishman to handle, and found the back of the net to draw the Saints level at 1-1. It was a relieving end to a frustratingly familiar script developing this season.
Southampton started strong in the first half, but once again failed to get anything going despite dominating possession. An early chance in the 11th minute from Charlie Austin forced Pickford to show his acrobatics, diving to the corner to turn the long shot away, but nothing came of the resulting corner.
The Saints would see another golden chance a few minutes later as Austin received service into the box with just the keeper to beat, but the ball was poorly hit and went right into Jordan Pickford’s arms.
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From there, Sunderland took control of the half but were equally unable to find the back of Southampton’s net. A few runs caught Matt Targett and Jose Fonte out of form but the defence was able to recover and force corners, which were dealt with easily.
At the half time whistle, the score showed 0-0 and there seemed to be little to separate the two sides.
The second half started out much as the first had left off. Nathan Redmond drew a foul in the 50th minute which could have led to a scoring opportunity, but was deflected easily.
From there it was Sunderland on the attack for the next fifteen minutes. A 62nd minute free kick from Fabio Borini gave Southampton keeper Fraser Forster a bit of work, but didn’t trouble him too much as it was saved easily.
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As the game wore on into the late minutes, Southampton once more took control of the action and unleashed a flurry of shots at Pickford’s net. The Sunderland keeper was good for all of them though, earning his wage and keeping his sheet clean. Stoppage for a corner allowed for Claude Puel to tinker with his side, bringing Jay Rodriguez on for a spirited but ineffectual Charlie Austin.
It would be Sunderland that struck first though, as a messy challenge from Jose Fonte on American Jermain Defoe gifted the Black Cats a late penalty in the 78th minute. Staring down Forster from the spot, Defoe converted easily to put Sunderland up 1-0 with little time to recover.
It looked to be a death sentence for Southampton, who used their last sub to bring on James Ward-Prowse for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and once more tried to break down the Black Cats, to no avail. It was all but over when Jay Rodriguez took a testing crack at Jordan Pickford that slipped his grasp and salvaged a result for the Saints.
Southampton sit on two points after three weeks, an anaemic start to a season that still lacks for a proven finisher in the attacking third. Speaking to club media after the match, players and manager alike did not hide their growing sense of frustration.
“It’s not good enough,” Saints defender Virgil van Dijk told club media in the postgame conference. “I think as a team we can’t be happy with a draw against Sunderland, with all due respect…we need to do much better.”
Manager Claude Puel, meanwhile, was equally blunt, telling club media “again I offer the same analogy—we lacked goals.”
“It’s not a system, it’s just to score goals,” Puel said. “We had possibilities to score, but we had to show a good quality for this team to take the points.”
With the club taking a week off before a challenging away match at Arsenal, one hopes the Saints will find their way to score. Anything less, and Southampton might be in for a long season.