Southampton: Romeu believes the Saints need to be quicker
By Chris Hughes
The Southampton midfielder wishes the Saints could be more creative on the attacking front, after a difficult start to the the season.
Fans from outside Southampton might look at the Saints and feel like occupying tenth place makes for a good start to the season, but it hasn’t been as black and white.
Between now and New Year’s day, Mauricio Pellegrino’s side face every team that finished above them in the table last season, making for a difficult November and December. Whilst it would be nice to see the Saints claim some scalps, it’s realistic to suggest that the side will drop a few places in the table.
The main reason for the average start to the campaign has been the inconsistency up front – a general lack of goals has been a recurring issue. Often Manolo Gabbiadini and Shane Long have been isolated, feeding off scraps with only moments of magic providing goals for the former.
And Southampton Oriol Romeu has spoken of his desire for the Saints to be more creative and to be quicker on the ball, but insists it’s not easily achievable.
"“We’d love to all be more creative and make a difference in the last third, but that’s difficult. That’s the most difficult part in football and that will make an amazing difference.“But we need to be quicker with the ball, make them run and pull them out of place. That will give us a bigger chance to get to the box and get more chances.” – Romeu"
Despite the criticism that the Saints have faced this campaign, a lot of the Southampton players have made it out unscathed. Romeu and Lemina have been praised, Gabbiadini excused and the defence applauded for a relatively tight first ten league games.
Excluding Fraser Forster’s inconsistencies, the majority of the fan’s displeasure has fallen on the attacking-midfielders, with Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic struggling to create. Tadic was once the Saints’ leading playmaker but whether it’s attitude problems, work ethic or something completely different, he’s not been the same this season.
"“We need to find that balance between being creative and offensive and not being punished by a counterattack.” – Romeu"
The lack of creativity from the Saints’ attacking-midfielders and wingers is crippling the side against weaker opposition – they should’ve added a second against Brighton this past weekend.
Against a tight-knit Burnley defence this weekend Romeu and Pellegrino will be hoping that the Saints can express themselves on the attack, helping create more and score more. One way of doing this could be to play some raw youth.