This was a game I'd been looking forward to for a long time; finally a chance to enact some kind of revenge on Harry Redknapp. What occurred though was a horror show, with Saints turning in one of their worst performances of the season and certainly the worst under Mauricio Pochettino. With the overwhelming sense of anti-climax, and bemusement about what to look to next, it feels like the aftermath of Christmas.
It really was a dreadful performance from the Southampton players. With the exception of Morgan Schneiderlin, and possibly Jack Cork or Jay Rodriguez, I felt the whole team performed under par. Maya Yoshida, who's been very impressive of late, was at least partially at fault for both goals. The much maligned Danny Fox, who has looked out of his depth all season, must also take some of the blame for the first goal whilst his replacement Luke Shaw was caught out in the build-up to the second.
However, going forward things were even worse. Despite having 63% of possession Saints didn't create many clear-cut chances, and looked devoid of ideas for long periods of time. The usual attacking flair and creativity- which is our greatest strength: was nowhere to be seen. Even our goal, beautifully taken as it was by Gaston Ramirez, only came because of a
goalkeeping howler. Not mustering a single shot in six minutes of stoppage time summed it up. Pathetic.
Having said all this though, QPR were extremely lucky. They only had three chances all game, sadly taking two of them, while Saints had seventeen shots and almost drew level through Yoshida late on, but Rob Green pulled off an amazing save, Yes, I repeat, Rob Green pulled off an amazing save. Just our luck that that would happen against us, and typical that it would happen against Redknapp's too.
We played terribly but still should have one. It was a dreadful day, but these things happen. If we go back to performing how we were, we'll have no trouble staying up. Keep the faith.
