The trio of mistakes Ivan Juric made while selecting the Southampton team to play Wolves.
Southampton's Premier League journey is officially over at least for the upcoming fortnight. Though the Saints tested Wolves to their full extent, it was another close but not enough evening for the Southampton camp.
As has been customary with every defeat, the blame games will continuously go on for a few days. But let's be honest, this result was evidently on the cards even when a ball hadn't been kicked at St. Mary's.
It's Southampton's lineup bloopers again. If you saw the initial team sheet you might have forgotten that the Liverpool fixture took place only a week ago.
The reason being that Ivan Juric removed every positive aspect from that outing and went back to a Russell Martin inspired team selection.
One change but an error-prone formation cost the win
The balanced four-man defence was converted to a conservative back-five. That too after knowing that Jan Bednarek needs an increased rest schedule.
On top of that, Yukinari Sugawara worked his way into the eleven at the expense of Anfield's best performer Albert Gronbaek. The attack-minded midfielder hasn't contributed any goals so far but his box presence allows more mobility to the other attackers.
At this point, one may assume that a clinical striker would have been handed Gronbaek's duties. Yet, Juric had another surprise in store for the Saints by giving the centre forward nod to Matheus Fernandes.
Not to discredit the emerging playmaker but Paul Onuachu and Cameron Archer are still better goalscorers than him. And that was again highlighted in the second half when the former halved the visitor's lead.
Further, it left a helpless feeling among the supporters that a good outcome could have been possible had Onuachu played from the very beginning. Ultimately, all these events give the impression of a point lost solely due to a poor gameplan.
Whether the club management makes up for this lost ground later, remain to be seen.