Are Southampton destined to return to the Championship?

arnav
By Arnav
3 Min Read

Southampton FC’s return to the Premier League after a season’s absence has not been memorable, with the club sitting dead last after 24 matches.

Despite being one of the favourites to seal direct promotion from the EFL Championship, the Saints had to do it the hard way, beating Leeds United in the playoff finals. Following their promotion, Southampton invested £122 million (according to Transfermarkt) to ensure they had a strong enough squad to fight for survival. Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Aaron Ramsdale, Flynn Downes, Mateus Fernandes, and Cameron Archer were all £15 million plus signings but haven’t made the desired impact in the Premier League. 

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Southampton appears destined for relegation, with just nine points and a two wins (one of them coming in the ongoing gameweek) so far. The more relevant question may be whether they can surpass Derby County’s tally of 11 points in the 2007-08 season, a record league low. While the Saints only need two wins to spare themselves the blushes, and one of them came yesterday against Ipswich Town putting their current average points per game to 0.38 projecting them to reach 14 points. 

Everything has gone wrong for Southampton FC

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So, what has gone wrong with Southampton FC? To put it shortly–everything. Their summer recruitment was poor and it showed on the pitch. Their performances have been below average, and their struggles are apparent from the statistics. Eighteen goals scored, 54 conceded – both the worst records in the league. Although their expected goals tally of 23.8 shows they should have scored at least five more goals, their problem becomes evident when one notices that centre-back Jan Bednarek is their second top-scorer with two goals in the league. There was also the case of former manager Russel Martin refusing to change his possession-oriented approach, which worked so well in the Championship but was torn apart in the Premier League.

However, there hasn’t been the urgency in the January transfer window one might expect for a team battling in the relegation zone. There have not been any approaches for quality strikers or any centre-backs. Perhaps the club officials have accepted relegation and are saving their funds for a rebuild in the Championship next summer. It’s not the approach fans would appreciate, but it’s arguably the pragmatic one.

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