Southampton are reeling from their loss to Fulham that confirmed their relegation. Credit: PA/Adam Davy
Matt Le Tissier slammed a “weak” and “lazy” performance that confirmed Southampton's relegation back to the Championship after spending 36 of their last 43 years in the top flight.
“This team should hang their heads in shame,” said Le Tissier, considered by many to be the club's best player.
Southampton have never been relegated in their 16 years in the first team, and Le Tissier himself often inspired “great escapes” by scoring a club-record 161 goals at a time when finances were tight.
Saturday's 2-0 home defeat against Fulham, which was played out in front of thousands of empty seats at St Mary's and an atmosphere of near-total listless despondency, followed the biggest surge in spending in the club's history.
“There was no heart in this performance,” said Le Tissier. “I didn’t see a team there that was willing to risk themselves to try to help their football club. In fact, I felt quite disappointed with the effort put in.
“There were quite a few performances where I felt like that. There were exceptions. They moved to Arsenal – they should have scored all three points, but … held on to a point when they led 3-1 with 89 minutes on the clock.
“They went down with a whimper. They didn't give up the fight. This was the saddest thing about it. I've never seen such a weak, lazy and dispassionate game from a team in danger of relegation in my life.”
Matt Le Tissier is considered Southampton's greatest player. Photo: Mirrorpix/Getty Images/Albert Cooper & Dale Cherry
Le Tissier believes that not only the players, but also the recruiting department and the board of directors, who fired Ralph Hasenhüttl in November before appointing Nathan Jones and then Ruben Selles, should also be held accountable.
” Our football club has never [previously] spent more than £100m in a season on players without actually getting the money back,” he said. “The return on their investment in terms of effort, I think, was pretty shocking.
“It seems strange that for the first time in our history we went out and spent serious amounts of money trying to improve our team [that] ended up being the worst team in the division. You have to wonder what the recruiting department was doing.
“The board of directors should themselves oversee the appointments they have made regarding the manager. I'm not saying that together we would have gotten out of trouble, but I'm pretty sure that with Ralph we wouldn't have had 24 points.
Le Tissier remains of the opinion that an immediate return to the Premier League is possible, and to that end, club owners Sport Republic have pledged in the coming weeks to draw up detailed plans for the “significant improvement” that will be required.
Selles and Chief Executive director Martin Semmens is set to join the massive exodus of senior coaching and administrative staff as Sport Republic became majority owner 16 months ago.
Rasmus Ankersen, chief executive and co-founder of Sport Republic who was previously co-director of football at Brentford, was seriously considering Torino's Ivan Juric and former Schalke coach Frank Kramer when Hasenhüttl left in November and is expected to take charge of the team again. managerial search.
Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse will be the subject of interest from Premier League clubs. Photo: Getty Images/Charlie Crowhurst
Captain James Ward-Prowse, centre-half Romeo Lavia, defender Armel Bella-Kotchap and full-back Kyle Walker-Peters are all showing interest from other Premier League clubs and Southampton are not expected to stand in their way , provided that reasonable offers are received. On a positive note for the club, majority owner Dragan Solak remains fully committed and prepared to invest more in rebuilding the team.
Ward-Prowse, who has been with Southampton since the age of eight, said that he did not think about his personal future immediately after Saturday's game, but acknowledged that the standards have deteriorated greatly from last year.
Forward Che Adams, who has scored 25 goals in 123 Premier League matches since moving to Southampton “. suggested in 2019 that he wanted to stay and help Southampton bounce back.
“We failed and definitely didn't live up to all expectations and so I can't express how disappointed I am and also sorry” he said. “We'll get the club back where it belongs.”
Recent Comments