In the aftermath of the disastrous defeat to Blackburn Rovers last weekend, Southampton full-back Mads Roerslev, quietly revealed some insight into the character of the squad and criticised the quality of his fellow players' finishing.
The former Brentford man took his team to task in a quiet rant, fully venting his frustration after losing 2-1 at Ewood Park, the team's second defeat in a week.
Although Saints had gone ahead through Léo Scienza's first goal for the club, they failed to capitalise on their lead as Adam Armstrong spurned two great chances. When Blackburn equalised and then scored the winner late on, it was hardly surprising. The team had done almost exactly the same thing at Bristol City a few days beforehand.
Roerslev pointed to everyone 'stepping up' and the forwards taking their chances.
“We really need to demand that [everyone steps up] from each other. We need to use our chances 100% per cent. If you look at xG and stuff, it's probably going our way. But it's not.“ Roerslev told the Daily Echo.
According to football stats website, Fotmob.com, Still's side are in the top two for expected goals per game.
Ranking | Club | Goals Scored | Expected Goals xG | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Coventry City | 34 | 27.2 | +6.8 |
2 | Southampton | 13 | 22.5 | -9.5 |
3 | Ipswich Town | 17 | 20.9 | -3.9 |
4 | Bristol City | 20 | 17.8 | +2.2 |
5 | Watford | 14 | 17.7 | -3.7 |
Three Southampton attackers are well below their xG target
Free scoring Coventry City lead the way in both goals scored and expected goals. They sit at the summit of the Championship table and already look hot favourites for the title and automatic promotion.
Southampton, on the other hand, have scored almost 10 goals below their expected goals prediction with the main culprits being Adam Armstrong (-2.2), Cameron Archer (-2.1), and Jay Robinson (-1.4).
The Saints languish 20th in the table, which is a poor reflection on the overall quality of the team's play and the chances that they have created. Not that Roerslev is seeing things that way at all.
He added: “The problem is we can't keep saying it's unlucky because it's a pattern at this point. We need to do things differently.“
Mads Roerslev should look at himself in the mirror
Roerslev has called upon his teammates to 'look each other in the eye,' something you would imagine they were already doing. Perhaps what the Dane actually means is that players need to take some responsibility for the poor results.
However, the outspoken full-back may resolve to look at himself in the mirror before dishing out any further criticism to his colleagues. Aside from his solid performance against Norwich City in the EFL Cup, he hasn't exactly set the world alight.
Now is not the time for rifts to emerge within the squad and calling each other out publicly is not in any 'good leadership' handbook. Saints fans already know that the problem is finding the back of the net and Roerslev highlighting the issue, albeit correctly, is about as far from taking responsibility as you can get.
Perhaps now is the time for Will Still to try another option up-front? Finn Azaz has played and scored for his country. USMNT international, Damion Downs, hasn't really been given a run of games to show what he can do. 18-year-old Nicholas Oyekunle has been smashing them in for the under-18s and the under 21s.
Whatever happens next, we all know the old saying. To keep doing what you've always done before, when it isn't working, is the definition of madness.