When Tom Fellows rattled the crossbar against Oxford United on Saturday, there was a sense of inevitability about it. He seems destined never to score for the Saints.
Furthermore, it highlighted a much bigger issue for Southampton: their wide players do not score enough goals.
Belief is not enough in wide areas
Tonda Eckert says the goals will come.
He spoke about Tom Fellows and his near miss against Oxford United. He spoke about belief and effort and persistence. He is right to back his player because Fellows is working hard and contributing.
But Southampton need more.
They need goals from wide areas and they need them now.
Fellows has come close, and he hit the crossbar again on Saturday. Léo Scienza is clearly Southampton's most creative wide player, but his six goals are hardly enough from an attacking player in a promotion-chasing side. Returnee Sam Edozie carries the ball well, and he had the ball in the back of the net against Norwich on Wednesday, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. None of these is scoring enough goals.
That is the issue.
Goals | Assists | |
|---|---|---|
Léo Scienza | 6 | 8 |
Kuryu Matsuki | 3 | 1 |
Tom Fellows | 0 | 5 |
Sam Edozie | 0 | 1 |
You cannot rely on belief alone because this is the Championship and margins are tight. Wide players must contribute goals because strikers cannot carry the burden on their own.
At the moment only Kuryu Matsuki is delivering regularly in front of goal. That is not enough for a team chasing promotion.
Eckert must find solutions and he must find them quickly.
Wide men are too intent on running with the ball
Saints need to get their wide players into better scoring areas. That means more of them running into the box. To be effective, Southampton need to play off the front man rather than relying on him to hold it up. Both Cyle Larin and Ross Stewart are very capable of bringing others into play, but there is not enough forward running by the wide players without the ball.
Too often, the ball goes out wide and the wide players are too intent on running with the ball instead of playing off the target man. That has to change.
Look at how Finn Azaz has influenced games. He arrives late in the box, takes responsibility, and he produces moments like his goal on Wednesday night. That is what Saints need more of across the pitch.
Wide players must be more direct and more ruthless. They must attack the box and not just the byline. They must think about goals first and creativity second at times.
Eckert will know this. He sees the data and he watches the games back. He knows that hitting the crossbar is close but close is not enough.
Promotion teams find goals from everywhere. They do not wait and they do not hope. They create situations again and again until something breaks.
Fellows will dribble the ball for miles and probably score at some point, Scienza will reach double figures and win more fouls than Jack Grealish did for Aston Villa, and Edozie will beat his man again and again. But Saints need goals from their wide players because that is what wins games.
Eckert has improved many things since arriving. Now he must solve this one.
Because belief is important and effort matters, but goals change everything.