After 11 competitive Championship matches, Will Still has left no doubt as to Southampton’s identity: high energy pressing, high standards of fitness, and tactical discipline. This clarity helps form a team quickly, but at the same time, it exposes players whose recent form cannot meet the standards.
Three players stand out for different reasons: Gavin Bazunu, Joe Aribo, and Adam Armstrong. Each case is different: a goalkeeper who has dropped in numbers, a midfielder who has not yet regained his sharpness, and a forward whose overall role under Still is tightly scrutinised. But all have the same issue: they are not currently delivering the qualities that Still quantifies as measurable and repeatable behaviours.
3 Southampton players in Will Still's doghouse
Joe Aribo
Joe Aribo’s situation is a textbook case of stylistic mismatch and poor timing. Despite being a solid player who managed 32 appearances in 2024–25, his goal-scoring record is pretty unimpressive. And he hasn’t even got a look-in under Still this season.
The manager has made it clear in public that some of the absences are down to him missing out on pre-season because of an abysmal summer of getting up to speed and he just hasn’t quite clicked with the style of game that Still demands. It’s a problem that goes way beyond just basic ball skills.
For a midfielder in Still’s system, you need to be able to put your foot in and be willing to work hard to win the ball back when you don’t have it — and that goes hand in hand with being able to cover a lot of ground and be a pest to the opposition in transition.
Aribo’s past numbers show he can turn up on the pitch and put in reliable minutes but his contribution in attack is pretty limited and just doesn’t show up in the stats, and all that combined with his not being selected by Still this season is a pretty clear indication that he isn’t cutting it in terms of for Still. Unless he starts working on how he presses the opposition, it's going to be tough for him to get back into the first team regulars.
Adam Armstrong
Armstrong's situation boils down to how he performs with a new set of instructions. He remains the team’s go-to finisher, but the return on investment from his appearances, and also other key stats are really being scrutinised.
Looking at his start-of-season stats: 8 league starts (3 subs), with 4 goals to his name. So shot numbers have been okay, but it’s how often he’s converting chances and getting stuck in when the team is under pressure that are really getting Still’s attention when it comes to judging the quality of his strikers.
In today’s high-intensity systems, the 9s have to be capable of both scoring and getting the team to win the ball back, and keep pressing after they have it.
Where Armstrong can pop up with a goal but then struggle to keep the team’s press going, that’s a big part of the reason Still is giving other players a chance. That rotation isn't necessarily a bad sign overall for Southampton, it could be a search for a forward who can combine scoring with the exact type of skills Still is after.
However, for Armstrong that means any mistakes he makes count even more than they would if he were just being judged on how many league goals he scores.
Gavin Bazunu
Bazunu is not technically in the dog house yet, but his early-season numbers are the simplest metric to justify the criticism. Since he started this season he has conceded 9 goals and kept 1 clean sheet. That’s 1.50 goals conceded per 90 and 47% save rate. That’s not good enough for a №1 in a team that’s asking their goalkeeper to be a shot stopper and an organiser of a high-line pressing system.
It’s not one big mistake but an absence of consistent, reliable output. Still needs a reliable last line because his system leaves the keeper exposed on turnovers. Statistically, Bazunu’s form gives the manager an excuse to rotate or demand more measurable progress in distribution, command of the box and error minimisation before he’s back in the team.
Across all three cases, a common theme emerges. Still prioritises measurable, repeatable behaviours. That’s pressing actions, distance and intensity metrics, defensive contribution from non-defenders, and minimal mistakes in transitional moments, often at the expense of past reputation.