Before the new Championship season kicked off, Flynn Downes - who is the heartbeat of the Southampton midfield - tipped the Saints to lift the second tier title come the end of the long and gruelling campaign.
They've hardly looked like future champions with their up-and-down performances so far, as the South Coast outfit have beaten Colchester United and Stoke City 2-0 and 3-1, but the defeats to Watford and West Ham United have been very concerning.
In both games, Tonda Eckert's men folded, as a sucker punch of first-half goals from the Hornets killed the Saints, before a youthful Hammers side caught their St. Mary's hosts cold in a 4-1 defeat.
Already, Southampton fans don't seem to be too convinced by one signing in particular, who many will already be fearing is a disastrous Cameron Archer repeat, when he was meant to be the sort of signing that helped the Saints to lift the title in style.
Archer's failed move to Southampton
When Archer arrived to the South Coast as a £15m signing in the summer of 2024, a lot of Southampton fans were expecting the attacker to be an instant eye-catching success in his new location.
Unfortunately for Archer, who scored goals galore for the likes of Middlesbrough and Preston North End on loan before making this expensive move to St. Mary's, he has never quite managed to fit in donning Saints red and white.
He has a weak 11 goals next to his name from 77 outings, with this amount the same tally of goals he put away at the Riverside from just 23 games, which shows you much the Walsall-born attacker has declined, in such a short space of time.
Archer will be looking to move on from Southampton during the final days of the hectic transfer window if he can, with his former loan employers in Preston noted as being keen to reenergise his waning playing days.
The worry lingering in the air will be whether this other extravagant signing up top will follow in Archer's disappointing footsteps, as he remains goalless in competitive action for Eckert and Co.
Could this expensive signing be Archer 2.0?
It is only four games into the new season, but there are some restless natives popping up at St. Mary's already when it comes to the frustrating early displays of Lewis Dobbin.
Archer and Dobbin do have very similar career paths when taking a quick glance, as the 23-year-old sparked into life in the Championship last season at Deepdale, much like the one-time Aston Villa forward managed before flopping on the South Coast.
Dobbin, before moving to Southampton for an extravagant £9m this summer, would collect ten goals and eight assists for the Lilywhites, with one of those strikes even coming against Eckert's away side, right at the end of the 25/26 campaign.
Capable of playing as a striker or as a winger, too, much like Archer, the concern will be that the number 11 is following his teammate a little too closely, now, as he has failed to settle in so far to his fresh surroundings.
On the opening day against Watford, the 5-foot-9 attacker looked nowhere near his £9m billing, with only one shot registered at the Hornets net, and just one successful dribble registered, from six attempts.
When he was lining up under Paul Heckingbottom, he was the main man in attack for the Lancashire side.
For the Saints, he was expected to be the same, but with Cyle Larin firing home goals for fun, Finn Azaz stylishly going about his business, and Leo Scienza scoring against West Ham, he is already being dismissed.
He was handed another start against the Hammers in the EFL Cup to try and steer his early days at Southampton back on course, but he put in another limp performance, with zero shots registered on this occasion.
It's far too soon to be stating that Dobbin will be offloaded without much care, like Archer, down the line, but he will need to improve drastically to avoid becoming another dud who cost an arm and leg without ever showing why.
Add us as a preferred source on Google