Southampton manager Will Still has claimed his team are moving in the right direction despite failing to win a league game since the opening day of the season.
The 32-year-old was seen as a major coup for the Saints when he arrived at St Mary’s in the summer. Still has emerged as one of the hottest young coaches in European football over the last few years after impressing during stints with Ligue 1 sides Reims and Lens.
With Southampton having suffered relegation from the Premier League last season, the expectation was to bounce back at the first time of asking. The new boss got off to the best possible start when two added time goals secured a 2-1 win over newly promoted Wrexham on the opening day.
That’s as good as its got though, with the Hampshire-based club having failed to pick up three points in any of their fixtures since. A 3-1 defeat against Hull City last weekend saw the pressure start to ramp up.
Still Happy With Progress
Southampton were offered a break from their league exploits on Tuesday when they took on Premier League champions Liverpool in the Carabao Cup third round. It was an excellent performance, with a late goal from Hugo Ekitike needed to starve off the risk of a penalty shootout.
Current Championship leaders Middlesbrough visit St Mary’s tomorrow, with Still believing their trip to Anfield shows they things are moving in the right direction. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent, he said:
“It’s frustrating being where we are and having the number of points we have but we are to blame for that.
“We need to stand up and start picking up points pretty soon otherwise it creates a bit more of a challenge.
“It’s not an excuse but it is early days in the Championship season, and a lot of pieces have moved over the past couple of weeks and we need to get that right sooner rather than later.
“Especially after Tuesday, I am fairly confident we’re making progress and we’re going in the right direction.”
Writer’s View
Even with a change of guard in the dugout, nobody expected Southampton to suffer such a poor start to the season. Sitting just one point above the bottom three, it’s imperative that Will Still starts to pick up wins soon. He faces an incredibly tough week with the visit of Middlesbrough followed by a trip to Bramall Lane to face last season’s beaten play-off finalists Sheffield United on Tuesday. Failure to win any of those and the new manager could come under serious pressure.
