15 March 2025
Southampton 1 Wolves 2
If Southampton football club were a member of Nato, fighter jets would have been scrambling to Premier League grounds up and down the country looking to aid their rescue long before this point of the season. They welcomed Wolves to St Mary’s and it has now got to the point for the home fans that they are just coming for sunshine, beer and pies.
Losing in the top-flight is no longer a habit for The Saints, it more like an avid hobby. However, they should have taken the lead in this game early on when Sugawara got to the byline before providing the perfect cross. With Jose Sa at his near post, he laid it on a plate for Sulemana, providing the winger with an open goal to aim for. Sadly, he missed the ball completely.
Even when Southampton are dominating periods of the game and playing some brilliant football, they never fail to amaze. Sulemana did well out wide before cutting it back towards an unmarked teammate. Both Aribo and Fernandes went for the same ball, which resulted in the former Rangers man sending his effort well wide of the target.
Then despite the hosts dominating, life at this level dealt them another harsh lesson. Wolves came forward for the first time in the match as Bellegarde looked to fashion some space out wide. He swung in a teasing cross onto the head of Strand Larsen who executed his header perfectly into the bottom corner of the goal as the away end erupted into celebration.
Some sections of society will criticise Ramsdale for not saving it but that is just sour grapes. The former Arsenal keeper was unlucky and the Wolves frontman had put enough pace on it to beat him. That sums up football really as the attacking players miss absolute sitters to score and no one bats an eyelid, but when the goalkeeper is possibly at fault, all fingers point at him.
For that reason alone, this is why being a keeper is the most difficult position on the pitch. However, the reality of The Saints’ dreadful season is mainly down to these missed chances. While they may go on to concede several goals in the match, these opportunities are being wasted at pivotal moments in the game. If they were converting them, it would change the whole momentum and outcome.
As the teams headed back out after the interval, Ivan Juric’s substitutions led to chants from his own fans of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’. To be fair, getting rid of Russell Martin during the middle of the season is one of the most questionable decisions the owners have made. Their hopes of it leading to a massive change of fortunes was nothing short of a flight of fantasy.
With only two minutes having gone in the second-half Bellegarde and Strand Larsen combined again. The Norwegian struck a low shot from the edge of the box into the far corner with a full-stretch Ramsdale unable to get anywhere near it. More boos rang out from the home ends, although what you wondered most was how they were still surprised by this?
Southampton are way out of their depth in the Premier League. Their heroic exploits to surprise many in the play-off final was one thing but then being able to deal with a 38-match season at the highest level is way beyond their capabilities. Some players have put in a handful of good performances, but there are not enough of those players and those they do have are inconsistent.
Sugawara was the one player in a Southampton shirt who was regularly causing the visitors problems. He got into the box and fired off a ferocious shot at goal that Jose Sa did well to tip over. From the resulting corner, Onuachu had a free header at the back post but didn’t seem to get any power on it but the Wolves’ keeper still had to palm it around the post.
The hosts started to look like a side who wanted something out of this game. As the visitors got some good blocks in to deny them shots at Jose Sa’s goal, it was played to Dibling, who weaved his way around the challenges. Just as he looked to get a shot off, a superb sliding tackle came in, deflecting his goal bound effort behind for a corner.
Once again The Saints wasted a huge chance. As the cross came in, Dibling had a free header, six yards out, in the middle of the goal. He failed to get over it and sent his effort sailing over the crossbar. He held his head in his hands and so he should, this is what is sending his side sinking without a trace out of the Premier League.
Vitor Pereira’s side should have been out of sight as they played through Southampton’s defence. It was cut back from the byline to an unmarked Gomes, who side-footed his effort so narrowly wide of the post you would expect to see a coat of paint on the ball. However, still with their two-goal lead intact it did not seem the end of the world that he failed to convert.
Dibling was being given acres of space out wide and eventually you knew the visitors were going to pay a price for it. He ran towards goal, before checking onto his left-foot and looking to bend one in the far corner. With Jose Sa beaten, it came back off the post and Onuachu reacted quickest to put the rebound into the empty net. A lifeline for Juric’s side with a quarter of an hour remaining.
However, Southampton failed to create a single chance to get anything out of the game. This was a big three points for Wolves, extending the gap between them and the bottom three to nine points. You will now probably get lower odds on the sun not coming up tomorrow than any of the newly promoted sides being in this league next season.
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