Until now, it has not happened that anyone had fallen from the Premier League seven matches before the end of the season. Even Derby County in the 2007/08 season, when at the end they had only 11 points and a glued patch “the worst team in history”, the queue later fell than Southampton. Anyway, Southamtpon can also pierce derby, because for now it has only 10 points. It also has the worst attack – only 23 goals scored, the weakest defense – as many as 74 lost goals. And something else, mathematically immeasurable – ideals lost along the way. Mess and absolute chaos.
Southampton the worst team in the history of the Premier League? What a chaos!
It is impossible to tell about the catastrophic season of Southampton, bringing everything to dry numbers. Behind all this is the story of a complete getting lost and the loss of faith in everything that has been done over the past one and a half years. It is a story about lost ideals, about bouncing from wall to wall, about the transition from a naive idea for a game until there is no vision. This is also another example of how much a gap divides the two best leagues in England. Who was beautiful in the back room, turns out to be funny in the salons. Three Benjamin – Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich Town will most likely fall from the league after the first season, and Burnley and Sheffield United will return directly, i.e. the teams that were the season ago. The number of bands that are too weak at the Premier League is growing, and too strong at the Championship, which is why experts today repeat the slogans that almost every club that will win promotion will have to come up with again. And they add: Southampton did not.
The first match of the season with Newcastle United was already symbolic, in which the rivals from 28 minutes played the bull's -eye on Fabian Schara, they had only 22 percent. Having the ball and gave only one accurate shot in the match, and they won 1: 0. Simply – goalkeeper Southampton Alex McCarthy, who, according to the idea of coach Russell Martin, tried to play the ball at all costs, handed it straight to the opponent's feet and gave him a goal. Later it was repeated many times, and mistakes in playing just before their own goal became the bane of Southampton. Yes, the season earlier, when he performed in the lower league, was able to play beautifully, and patiently building the action impressed. But in the clash with the best teams, he fell naively. Only until the 16th round his players made 11 mistakes that led to the loss of the goal! It looked as if the coach himself put the stick in his team's spokes, forcing him to an excessively ambitious and elegant game. The average players felt uncomfortable in it.
The losses obscured any advantages of such a game, so at some point everyone – from supporters on forums, experts on television, to journalists at press conferences – urged Martin's Russel to be so stubborn and tried to change his idea for the game so much so that his team would cease to be so predictable and maladjusted for realities. But how to convince someone who has a quote from Pep Guardiola on the desk: “When we win, the model seems good and nobody questions anything. But remember, we will not always win. Then there will be doubts. There will be a temptation to leave this model. It will be the moment when we will have to believe in what we do”? Southampton coach was acting genuinely. He is an idealist, visionary, blind. – The media and fans exert a lot of pressure so that I change and adapt. I felt it in the summer, just after we advanced. Everyone repeated: “Oh, you will have to change the way the Premier League is played.” And in my opinion, we will have to take care even more to stay ourselves. We will have to be bolder than ever – he answered at one of the press conferences.
However, he was so ineffective that the Southampton authorities already in mid -December had holes in the nose of his idealism and completely moved Wajcha. Ivan Jurić became the successor of Russell Martin – from the pragmatic Italian school. The style of the game has ceased to be significantly. Press conferences have also changed their overtones. There was no longer talk about identity and ideals, but about effectiveness and results. Suddenly, the goalkeeper Southampton got permission to resume the game with a distant break. The defenders attacked by rivals were also not to combine and dismiss the threat as soon as possible. It looked like the mission “Keeping at all costs”. But nothing came of it. Jurić led the team in fourteen matches – one won, one drew, 12 lost. It is difficult to say that he fix something. The team, despite playing less risk, still made simple mistakes and helped their rivals score goals. He also had no idea how to attack – hence only 12 goals scored. Martin scored five points in 16 matches. Jurić four in 14. Change for change.
However, it is difficult to talk about surprise. Already in November and December there was a debate, whether Southampton should not overwork with Russell Martin until the end of the season, fall with him to the Championship and give him the opportunity to try to win promotion again. In the lower league, with weaker rivals, his game idea was effective. This was what all those who thought that the change of the coach would do nothing, because he was personally weak and not adapted to the Premier League requirements. So they assumed that at least the coach would draw conclusions and maybe next year he would return to this league more aware. But the Southampton authorities lacked patience and faith that Russell Martin would ever change. They wanted to fight for maintenance at all costs, and the Scottish trainer was accused of playing on himself and cares primarily about self -promotion. They compared him to Vincent Kompany, who previously led Burnley in a similar way, faced a similar list of charges, he failed to support himself, but after the season Bayern Munich came to him, appreciating his very bright and offensive idea for the game. So the team has fallen and he passed the promotion. But how much was his story to be repeated at all? Russell Martin did not have his football achievements or media name. It also often happens that the club like Bayern has such big problems finding a coach that he wandered to the Premier League relegation zone.
In Southampton, they focused on an extremely short -term option and today they pay for it. Jurić was chased from the club the day after the inheritance. His style did not match the Championship and the band that is to fight for promotion. The season will be completed by Simon Rusk, the current assistant of Juric, who will be supported by Adam Lallana, an experienced Southampton player with coaching ambitions. The club will look around for the next coach permanently at this time. And he came up with himself again.
What next with Jan Bednark?
This is practiced. He fell from the prime minister in 2023, in 2024 he was back in it. Then he came out. But it wasn't easy for them. Russell Martin mentioned that he entered the locker room where hardly anyone wanted to stay. He talked about a dozen players who told him in private conversations so that he would rather not count on them, because agents are already looking for new clubs. The championship seemed too colorful to them, they did not suit their growing ambitions. Several of them actually gone – Romeo Lavia to Chelsea, Tino Livramento to Newcastle, James Ward -Przed to West Ham. The first two are young players, with great talent, on which the club earned a total of 100 million euros, and Ward-spoke had such a strong position in the Premier League that the queue of volunteers immediately set up for him.
Southampton is in a similar situation today. He has players who are suitable for the highest level and very valuable young players. It will be financially defended for sure, but what about loss of quality? Will the club authorities find the right deputies again? For now, it is difficult to judge what will happen in the club, because it has complete chaos – there is no coach, you have to play this season, it is not yet known who will lead Southampton next season, or what idea he will have to build a team. He is speculated about Danny Rohl, 35-year-old coach Sheffield Wednesday, a former assistant to Hansi Flick, who earned the interest of much better clubs in the Championship.
If you assume that Southampton will give players according to a similar key as two years ago, then he will probably say goodbye to Tyler Dibling, a promising 19-year-old winger, who, according to information released from the club, will cost up to EUR 100 million. Russell Martin did not leave anything better in the club than Dibling. He introduced him to the first team, gave him freedom, let him spread his wings. At times he even applied too much weight on his shoulders. But Dibling most often managed, that's why it's worth so much today. The club also has Taylor Harwood-Bellis, a 23-year-old middle defender, a pupil of Manchester City, who will foretell play in a big club. If not tomorrow, then in a while. It even forecasts that in a club that dominates the rivals, he will do better. He is an elegantly playing defender, feeling well -played, commanding the team and having leadership skills, but not best defending. Mateus Fernandes, an offensive midfielder, slightly hidden in the shade of Dibillg, but also with great potential and several successful performances this season, will probably want to leave the club. He is represented by Jorge Mendes, an agent of the largest caliber, so he won't let him die. He is also more experienced than the players mentioned above – Kyle Walker -Peters, a versatile side defender who intended to leave after the previous inheritance, and the stop to the club was referred to in a miracle.
Where is Jan Bednarek in all this? It's hard to say. We'll just find out how Southampton sees its future. Is he preparing a new opening and revolution or will he try to stop more experienced players? In recent weeks, the Pole was the captain of the team, he has an established position in the Premier League, but he has already fallen twice. Behind him the average season – he did not disappoint like Jack Stephens, but it was also difficult to stand out in such a poorly defending team. After the last decline of Bednarek he stayed in the club, he was convinced by the vision of Russell Martin, under the watchful eye of which he clearly improved in playing the ball – primarily in the previous season, in the Championship. It is known that the Pole is interested in Italian clubs. Maybe it's time to change the environment? The question of how Southampton activists – Harwood -Bellis, even because of their age, will assess his situation, has much greater sales potential and will bring the club more money. And someone will have to fight for this promotion to the Premier League again.