It took until the 76th minute of a dreadfully dull encounter at Villa Park for Saints to register their first shot on target.
That ‘shot’ was a looping header from substitute Sekou Mara and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez barely had to move to claim it easily. By the time the full-time whistle went to signal back-to-back 1-0 defeats in the Midlands for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, that Mara effort remained Saints only shot on target.
It’s now two-and-a-half games since Saints fans last celebrated a goal - Adam Armstrong’s strike on the brink of half-time against Chelsea - while they have failed to score in three of their last four league matches.
READ MORE: Hasenhuttl debates whether international break has come at good time
It’s no secret that Saints wanted to upgrade their attacking options this summer. Samuel Edozie, Joe Aribo, and the aforementioned Mara all joined the club, but the marquee striker desired by fans and Hasenhuttl alike proved a bridge too far. In fairness, Saints tried, most notably pursuing Cody Gakpo before PSV decided they wanted to keep the Dutch international.
That failed hunt means Saints are stuck with the options they have now - at least until January - and there is no point lamenting what could have been. Problems must be solved by what is available to them, not what could be added in the future. And regardless, would a star striker even score?
Saints’ rather anaemic looking attack is creating a lot of nothing and until that is improved, a star striker would only offer slightly more than a cosmetic touch.
In one of the worst games of the Premier League season - thus far and likely by the time the curtain comes down on 2022/23 - Aston Villa did enough to claim all three points while Saints did nothing and got their justified rewards - also nothing.
Saints’ 0.4 expected goals was their lowest mark of the season but it’s not the first time they’ve struggled to create clear-cut chances. In four of their seven games they’ve failed to hit 1 expected goals, while only going over that number twice.
The blame for Friday’s pedestrian performance needs to be shared by the entire team, but in a game where Saints couldn’t get anything going, the defence actually did okay to largely keep Villa out while Che Adams was isolated on his own up front. And to link it all together? An uninspiring and insipid midfield.
When pressed on what went wrong, Hasenhuttl couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“After the game, it’s hard to say what it was,” the Austrian responded. “We will definitely speak to them and analyse it.
“Especially our game with the ball today was not sharp enough, not quick enough, not good enough.
“They are physically very strong and we were bouncing away with every duel so you have to play quicker and let the ball run quicker but at the moment we are not on this level.
“You have to be very, very honest. We are not on this level footballing-wise and the players need to adapt to this level.
“This will take time and it’s also not surprising but in the end, I thought we were a little bit further and could compete a little bit more but today we were, from both teams, the worse one.”
This isn’t the first time Hasenhuttl has lamented his side’s bravery on the ball and for anyone who sat through Saints’ dismal defeat on Friday, it’s hard to argue with that criticism.
In total, Saints attempted 44 passes into the final third compared to 60 from the hosts while Steven Gerrard’s side tried 23 passes into the penalty box (completing eight of them) compared to 12 attempts for Saints in which zero were completed.
Saints created 11 total touches in Aston Villa’s box compared to 15 from Villa in but perhaps even more troublesome, is that the front four of Che Adams, Adam Arsmtrong, Moussa Djenepo, and Moi Elyunoussi combined for just four touches in the box.
While the attackers - as a unit - no doubt failed on Friday, this inability to present them with anything to take advantage of speaks more to issues further back.
It’s no coincidence that Saints’ two-and-a-half games without a goal have come ever since Romeo Lavia was forced off with a hamstring injury against Chelsea. While his presence is certainly missed on the defensive side - particularly in helping curtail the threat on the counter - it’s on the ball where he seems to have left a massive abyss.
At Aston Villa, Hasenhuttl kept faith in the 4-3-3 system largely utilised since the opening day defeat to Spurs as Ibrahima Diallo was chosen in the ‘Lavia hole’. It certainly did not work and Diallo was replaced by Joe Aribo at half-time.
The nature of that substitution seems to explain what Hasenhuttl found problematic with Diallo’s performance. Off-the-ball, Aribo is hardly a significantly improved shield than the Frenchman, but the substitution was seemingly made to help Saints move the ball forward at a quicker and more reliable rate.
Diallo received a total of 12 passes and distributed 14 with just four of those passes going forward. It would be unfair to say that Diallo hid from the game but it was an ugly half for a player who just can’t seem to get going in a Saints shirt.
Diallo showcased a frustrating lack of ambition and bravery with his passes, opting for the easy choice or playing it behind his teammates when space ahead was available.
In the below example, Diallo has initially done extremely well to skip past one tackle and carry the ball into space where he has Djenepo calling for the ball and Walker-Peters (just out of picture) sprinting forward...
But he takes extra touches and when he eventually releases the ball, Djenepo is covered and the pass to Walker-Peters stops the full-back in his tracks.
In the above example, you see one of the crucial problems with Diallo's performance: holding onto the ball for far too long.
In the passage of playy below, Diallo is preparing to receive the ball from Djenepo as Saints attempt to counter against a retreating Villa defence.
But with time and teammates in space ahead of him - Ward-Prowse central and Walker-Peters out wide, Diallo holds the ball and holds the ball...
...before eventually playing it behind Walker-Peters who has to stop his run and recycle the ball, thereby killing any Saints momentum.
Both of these issues speak to a lack of confidence but ultimately, Saints can’t keep trotting out a player that refuses to play with bravery - regardless of whether tha’s confidence induced or a reflection of his ability.
When Hasenhuttl criticises his side for being “not sharp enough, not quick enough” this is the kind of behaviour he must be referencing: taking extra touches, playing the easiest pass, and failing to hit teammates into space.
And while Diallo was unimpressive in the eventual defeat it would be grossly unfair to levy Saints’ inability to move the ball and create chances solely on the 23-year-old. James Ward-Prowse - a player this team relies upon - was hardly much better while Moi Elyounoussi somehow lasted 75 minutes before being withdrawn.
Ward-Prowse completed eight forward passes and two into the final third while Elyounoussi was even more ineffective managing just two forward passes and zero into the final third.
Of Ward-Prowse’s 42 total passses, ten went to his centre-back Armel Bella-Kotchap and just seven to Saints’ three attackers. Elyounoussi somehow only played a total of nine passes, finding either Armstrong or Adams with just one of those.
The same hesitation and lack of conviction that plagued Diallo's meek performance, seemed to strike Ward-Prowse as well. Below is one particulalrly frustrating instance from the final 20 minutes of Friday's defeat.
The ball breaks to Ward-Prowse and he immediately spots Djenepo in space ahead of him. He shapes to pass the ball...
...before rather inexplicably deciding to take an extra touch and then attempt the pass. By this point, the angle is closed down and Villa intercept the ball.
Granted these are small margins but in a agme of little quality, it was deicded by said small margins and Saints failed to master the basics. Speaking to the Daily Echo after the defeat, Walker-Peters admitted as much.
“I don’t think we deserved anything from the game. I think they were more aggressive than us and won more duels and second balls,” the English international said.
“When you don’t do that, that’s the bare minimum, then you get punished. Although it’s a narrow defeat, when you look back we don’t deserve anything.
“I just think on the night they were better and more aggressive, showing a lot more quality on the ball,” he added.
Chasing the game, Saints needed to be brave with the ball. They were not.
Below is Saints’ passing web from Friday’s defeat. It paints an incredibly uninspiring picture.
The thickest lines (indicating the frequency of the pass played) come between the defensive players and from Ward-Prowse back to his defence. Diallo is virtually invisible while there’s almost nothing linking the attack.
With Saints’ unambitious passing, the match-up with Aston Villa was a particular nightmare. Throughout the season so far, Saints have found themselves moving the ball in a direct manner with Gavin Bazunu smashing it up the pitch becoming common - as well as dribbling.
Saints rank first in the Premier League in terms of completed dribbles and second in attempted dribbles. They also sit joint-third in terms of shots created by dribbles. But they rank 14th for shots created by passes.
As Hasenhuttl pointed out, his players were being “bounced” off the ball and failing to win the physical battle with Gerrard’s men, Saints needed to let the ball do the talking. But on an evening where they didn’t look like ever scoring, the slow and ponderous passing of their midfield helped Villa claim a crucial - and surprisingly easy - victory.
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