Southampton's season hit yet another new low with defeat at home to Preston North End in the Championship on Saturday. This latest defeat plunges the Saints to 21st in the table, just three points above the relegation places and still below their South Coast rivals.
Before the match, the manager had asked for positivity and for his side to take responsibility. In a dire first half, none of that happened. Southampton were sluggish in possession and Preston employed a high pressing game that forced the Saints into mistakes.
With the benefit of hindsight, the manager perhaps should have spotted that issue and done something about it before it hurt his team. He didn't. The Saints went a goal behind in a shambolic series of events that culminated in Lewis Dobbin having the easiest of finishes.
Obvious benefits of Still's preferred formation
After the break, with his side a goal behind and looking toothless, Still changed to his preferred formation (4-2-3-1). It made quite the difference but with the advantage already gained, Preston were more than happy to sit back and hit Saints on the counter attack.
Playing a 4-2-3-1 suits the players that are in the squad. Playing with three attacking midfielders, there becomes a way to get Scienza, Fellows, and Robinson/Azaz into the team. Both full backs have the option to get forward and create overloads on the flanks. Why the manager didn't start in this formation is very difficult to understand.
Deep into injury time, that's exactly what happened when Mads Frökjaer-Jensen converted from close range.
The boss shares the real reason his side were beaten by Preston
In his post-match interview on BBC Radio Solent, Still questioned the character of his players for the first goal saying that it typified the “kind of non-belief“ that is currently plaguing his side.
Reacting to the second goal, Still was even more bereft. “We've not tracked, we've not put a challenge in, we've not hardly done anything.“
“You can't be surprised when you know we defend like that and not throw or put everything we have into it[...]as long as we keep doing that, we're not going to get there.“
Still shoots himself in the foot with “hard work beats talent“ admission
Southampton fans already know that Will Still has a talented squad to work with. When the manager admitted in the same interview with Radio Solent's Adam Blackmore that “today hard work has beaten talent,“ he really shot himself in the foot.
It's the manager whose job it is to instil the belief, to motivate the players, and to make the most of their talent. If they're not working hard enough, then the manager needs to find a way of reminding them what it takes to get a win in the Championship.
Still says that he “doesn't have a fix“ for his team. Perhaps it's as simple as motivating his team to work harder. If they do that, then perhaps the results will follow.
The knives are sharpening across social media and the recognised press. Some are calling for the board to resign. That's not going to happen anytime soon. Others are calling for the manager to be sacked, blaming him for the team's poor performances. Unless the team can deliver a couple of decent results next week, they may just get their way.