The Soton-ic bubble burst
When the summer of 2014 ended, Southampton found themselves without their best players of 2013–14, losing them to the wolves of the transfer market. Apart from their star players, they even lost their manager Pochettino who left them for a richer Spurs. As a result, the Saints were expected to end the season in the bottom half of the table. They were tipped by many betting sites to be involved in the relegation dog fight.
Things started terribly, as expected, for Southampton as they lost their opener 1–2 away to Liverpool. However, things improved incredibly as the saints racked up an amazing 25 points in the next 10 games. They were unbeaten at home and were sitting comfortably in the second place before entering the last week of November, winning their last four league games. They have also knocked out Arsenal and Stoke City out of the League cup setting up a quarter final draw against League One’s Sheffield United.
However, their bubble now appears to have bursted as they could manage just a point in their next three league games. They drew to Aston Villa and lost to Manchester City and Arsenal. They have been overtaken by City as they now sit in the third place 4 points behind the blue side of Manchester and just one point adrift of the red side. Even worse, Manchester United can overtake them this gameweek as the saints host their fixture against the red devils.
It is not a surprise that Soton dropped points, given that the opponents were biggies like City and the Gunners. But there was more to the game than the results. The performances of the players dropped significantly. The Whoscored rating of the team dropped significantly from 7.15 in their previous three league games to 6.74 in the last three games. There was a clear dip in their form, especially the attack as they could manage only one goal in these three games, that too coming from defender Nathaniel Clyne. Graziano Pelle, who had been a talisman for the saints in the beginning, could not find the back of the net in his last 6 outings. Attackers Shane Long and Dusan Tadic are also experiencing a dip in form which was visible from their performances.
Scheiderlein’s injury against Manchester City can prove a turning point this season for the Saints
Things went worse as their star midfielder Schneiderlein faced an injury against City as he was substituted during half time. Arsenal capitalised this and United are likely to do the exploit the same. Even worse for the Saints, the Red Devils are in a terrific form with four back to back wins and are looking set to defeat the Saints this gameweek. If that happens, it will be three consecutive defeats and might prove to be a major morale blow for the Saints.
It is highly likely that English football will witness the Southampton bubble burst by the end of the holiday season, just like the Swansea bubble burst in the recent times. However, Southampton has proved its doubters wrong several times in the past and I hope they do it again and stay strong in their bid for European football next season.
Originally published at undertheknees.com on December 5, 2014.
