One decisive moment from each month of Southampton's doomed season

Not only must they reverse a six point gap with only four games left to spare in the season, but they must reverse that gap while curtailing the current nine-game winless run they find themselves on.

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It feels unlikely for a reason and that's because it is extremely unlikely. The supercomputers at Opta are giving Saints a 98.3% chance of going down and while we'll continue clinging to the 1.7% on the positive side of that number, Saints will almost certainly be a Championship side next season.

They really only have themselves to blame after a truly pathetic campaign that has seen three managers employed and 32 players trialled. Nothing has worked across nine gruelling months.

None of Saints' three managers this season have been able to solve their glaring issues. (Image: Stuart Martin)

While there are many factors that have led to this position, we've picked out one decisive moment from each months that has brought Saints to the brink in this doomed season...

August

August 30: Saints 2-1 Chelsea

The final days of August saw Saints stun Chelsea to come from behind and take a thrilling three points.

It was also perhaps the final time that this season felt like it was going anywhere other than down.

A tough start to the new campaign saw Saints lose 4-1 at Spurs on the opening day amid reports of already brewing dressing room unrest directed at manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.

Next up was a home clash with Leeds United and at 2-0 down, the Austrian’s obituaries were already in the process of being written. But a late comeback rescued a valuable first point before victory at Leicester the following weekend calmed things down to a degree.

While Saints went on to lose 1-0 to Manchester United, the battling gung-ho display against Erik Ten Haag’s side had bred some sort of confidence as Chelsea turned up on the South Coast.

Raheem Sterling’s opener gave Saints a hole to climb out of but by half-time, strikes from Romeo Lavia and Adam Armstrong reversed the contest.

Romeo Lavia celebrates scoring his maiden Saints goal against Chelsea. Image: Stuart Martin (Image: Stuart Martin)

And perhaps even more impressively than the first-half performance was how Saints held out for relatively comfortable victory as Chelsea attempted to pile on the pressure after the break.

But unfortunately, while this game could have been remembered as the breath of life Hasenhuttl and Saints’ season required, it will instead go down as a defining moment that led to the collapse of both.

The key moment came midway through the second half when Lavia was forced off clutching his hamstring, later revelaed to be a serious injury.

The club still went on to sanction the sale of Oriol Romeu to Girona and Saints’ brittle centre proved a gigantic issue all the way up until Hasenhuttl was sacked - and beyond.

It’s impossible to say how things would have changed for Saints with a fully fit Lavia - or Romeu still in the squad - but the immediate capitulation over the following weeks has us looking back wistfully.

September 

September 3: Wolves 1-0 Saints

It didn’t take long for Lavia’s absence to be felt and it didn’t take long for the wheels of Saints’ season to fall off dramatically.

Saints still haven’t won consecutive Premier League games this season and looking back at the campaign as a whole, this autumn trip to Molineux was one of their best chances to do so. 

Hasenhuttl’s side were by far the better team across the 90 minutes but familiar themes led to a dampening 1-0 defeat.

We’ll never know how things would have changed with Lavia or Romeu in midfield but it was impossible not to miss them as Wolves sliced through Saints on the counter to take the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Could Gavin Bazunu have done better with the goal? It’s a question that would unfortunately be asked many times throughout the season and as with most of those occasions, the answer here was a solemn 'yes'.

Che Adams handles the ball over the line at Wolves. (Image: PA)

But a far more damaging theme over the coming weeks was displayed overwhelmingly after the restart when Saints’ chase for an equaliser saw Che Adams put the ball into the net from barely a yard out - only for it to be ruled out due to handball against the striker.

While Adams has proven to be Saints most effective striker - a low bar it must be said - misses like this one and the many that followed helped destroy Hasenhuttl’s chances of building momentum and the entire team’s chances of building momentum.

Slender defeat in a game that really should have been won, or at least not lost. Profligate finishing, slack defending, and poor goalkeeper - all signs of things to come as Saints lost by one goal for the second time.

They’ve tacked on ten more defeats in such a manner.

October

October 29: Crystal Palace 1-0 Saints

In another timeline, in another season, we would have probably picked out the seismic-feeling 1-0 win at Bouremouth or the impressive 1-1 draw with Arsenal that followed.

But this has been a season of failure and the key moment from October, sadly came as one of failure.

Facing a mediocre Crystal Palace side on the back of their 3-0 defeat to Everton, Saints’ trip to Selhurst Park was far from daunting as far as the Premier League goes. It was a real opportunity to push forward.

Instead, Saints were tactically and physically outmatched in a first half that should have seen Palace long fly out of sight.

James Ward-Prowse in action for Saints against Crystal Palace. (Image: PA)

Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise pulled Ibrahima Diallo from side to side and Hasenhuttl just watched the disaster unfold for the entire opening half.

It should have been significantly worse than 1-0 but luck and terrible finishing from Palace gave Saints a chance.

Predictably, that chance was thrown in the trash due to more horrific Saints finishing but anything other than a defeat wouldn’t have been deserved.

The failure to react to a set-up that never worked left valid questions about Hasenhuttl’s future while the meek failure from the players to step up in a winnable game would become something this group could never get over - regardless of manager.

November

November 10: Saints appoint Nathan Jones as manager

This won’t be a conversation about Ralph Hasenhuttl and weather Saints should have stuck by their long-term boss.

No doubt an elite coach and one of the more successful managers in recent Saints history, Hasenhuttl’s time at the club had reached something of a natural conclusion.

Reportedly, Sport Republic considered sacking Hasenhuttl in the summer and once a manager’s tenure reaches that point, it’s hard to come back.

Saints never quite did come back from it and by the time the World Cup break drew close, Hasenhuttl had seemingly lost his naturally aggressive ideals in favour of a much more cautious and scared approach.

The Austrian himself could argue that Sport Republic’s failure to sign a marquee striker in the summer as well as selling Romeu played a vital part in the tactical retreat. Regardless of what caused it though, Hasenhuttl had lost his way and it made sense for Saints to move on.

Nathan Jones pictured after becoming Saints manager. (Image: Southampton FC)

It didn’t make sense though for Sport Republic to replace him with Nathan Jones. The Welshamn’s success as a manager had exclusively come at Luton with his one venture away from the Hatters coming with failure at Stoke City.

Still, Jones deserved an opportunity at the highest level based on the impressive nature of his time at Luton.

But Jones is someone who needs to time to build a project and instill his ideals into a club. Saints needed someone who could instantly take charge of the squad and immediately gain their respect and alter the momentum of the season.

That was never Nathan Jones but Sport Republic dramatically misjudged that. Now, had they brought Jones in during the summer...

December

December 20: Saints 2-1 Lincoln City

While Saints did manage to emerge from this first game following the World Cup break unscathed, it immediately let off major warning signs for the Nathan Jones era.

Yes, it was just one game and yes, it was against League One Lincoln City, but the flat and confused manner of the performance left many wondering what had actually been worked on - let alone improved - during the mid-season World Cup break.

The cup clash started with an embarrassing show of one of Saints’ biggest frailties - their failure to defend set-pieces - as Bazunu somehow managed to punch in Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ sliced clearance.

Che Adams celebrates scoring against Lincoln. (Image: Stuart Martin)

Adams’ header sent Saints into the break level but they toiled desperately to find the winner before the Scottish striker notched his second with 15 minutes left to play.

While it wasn’t an impressive performance by any means, Saints should have made it more comfortable late on when Adams and Edozie each missed open goal opportunities as Jones’s side held out for their first win under the new boss.

It was far from pretty nor convincing, giving credence to concerns that would only grow in the coming weeks with consecutive league defeats to Brighton, Fulham, and Nottingham Forest.

January

January 21: Saints 0-1 Aston Villa

The aforementioned defeat to Forest - in which Saints failed to register a shot on target - was no doubt a disaster and continued the momentum that was already swinging away from Jones. But they still had time to turn things around.

That seemed more likely when a seven-day run saw Saints beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup, Manchester City in the League Cup, and Everton away at Goodison Park in the league.

It proved to be Jones’s only Premier League victory, but it felt like a statement moment at the time as James Ward-Prowse and Che Adams pushed their boss to the front of the celebrations.

Unfortunately, with a chance to build upon it when Aston Villa came to St Mary’s, Saints offered up the latest of their desperately flat and uninspired performances when presented with the opportunity to push on.

Aston Villa celebrate their winning goal against Saints. (Image: Stuart Martin)

While they did have the ball in the net twice - and saw both ruled out for offisde - Saints really created very little of note. They didn’t deserve anything from the game and they were ruthlessly punished in the 77th minute when Tyrone Mings headed in the only goal of the game.

Set-piece woes, turgid 'attacking', and the hope of the previous week thrown in the bin. Things didn’t impve from there and Jones lasted just two more Premier League games: defeats to Brentford and Wolves.

February

February 18: Chelsea 0-1 Saints

When Nathan Jones eventually departed after the longest eight-game stretch imaginable, Saints turned to former Leeds boss Jesse Marsch.

But after the American rejected the opportunity late in the process, Saints headed to Stamford Bridge with Ruben Selles in charge on an interim basis.

And much to everyone’s surprise, they actually won. Ward-Prowse’s free-kick coupled with multiple crucial blocks from Saints’ impressive defensive rearguard earned Selles a statement victory and inspired hope into a desperate situation.

Unfortunately, this moment will prove so decisive not because of how Saints used it as a springboard for more but because of what it caused Sport Republic to do: give Selles the full-time job.

Saints’ relegation certainly won’t be Selles’s fault. He was given a supremely tough task at a point in the season when Saints were already one of the favourites to go down following Jones’s disastrous and brief spell in charge.

But it’s also impossible to look at Selles’s tenure and see it as anything other than a categorical failure - barring a late miracle.

Ruben Selles celebrates with his Saints players after victory at Chelsea. (Image: PA)

Saints won two of their first three games under the Spaniard but are now winless in nine - their longest barren stretch of the season.

Additionally, they have scored just ten goals in 12 games while failing to score in 50% of their games. They’ve suffered critical defeats to Leeds, West Ham, Crystal Palace, and Bournemouth while barely offering up any sort of resistance in those games.

Selles’s Saints have never actually put in practice the aggressive front-footed football he preaches and they’ve usually set up to defend and withstand pressure - something they have proven to be incapable of.

Selles hasn’t made Saints better, hasn’t improved the vast majority of their players, has ostracised multiple of their Jnaury signings, and failed to pick up enough points to give Saints a chance.

Once again, elements of that are not Selles’s fault. But to give someone with his level of experience - or lack of it - the full time job on the basis of one victory is amateurish to the extreme and Sport Republic need to take a long look at how they’re making their decisions. 

Those decisions have almost certainly cost Saints their Premier League status.

March

March 18: Saints 3-3 Spurs

By the standards of Saints’ terrible season, March was a fairly successful month, outside of an embarressng FA Cup exit to Grimsby Town.

But this is a focus on the league and granted Saints didn’t win any of their three games but they also only lost one of them.

That defeat was a typically meek performance as Brentford cruised to victory at St Mary’s but we’re going to focus on the following weekend’s game for this exercise.

With just two goals scored in their previous five league matches, Saints looked in trouble when Pedro Porro opened the scoring for Spurs just before half-time.

But somewhat remarkably Che Adams equalised seconds after the restart to give Saints a real chance.

James Ward-Prowse celebrates making it 3-3 against Spurs. (Image: Stuart Martin)

Except once again, the game seemed out of touch when Harry Kane and Ivan Perisic handed the visitors a two-goal lead with under 15 minutes left to play.

Yet, against all expectations, Saints rallied behind a strike from Theo Walcott and a stoppage time penalty from Ward-Prowse to rescue a point.

Three goals - beating the number they’d managed in the first five games under Selles. A real comeback. A valuable point. And the chance to build real momentum.

Unfortunately for Saints, the international break followed and when they returned from the two-week absence of club football, they had lost Adams to injury and proceeded to put in a frustratingly and predictably nothing performance in slender defeat to West Ham.

All momentum lost.

April

April 27: Saints 0-1 Bournemouth

It feels like every few weeks we’re discussing Saints’ final chance to ignite their flailing season with another major six-pointer.

Back in January it was Nottingham Forest, in February it was Leeds, and in April it was West Ham, Crystal Palace, and finally Bournemouth.

Those first two ended in defeat without Saints scoring a goal and the situation had long reached a dire stage by the time the Cherries arrived at St Mary’s. But they weren’t out just yet.

Desperately needing a win, Saints once again didn't bother to turn up as Selles picked a team without a natural striker and set up to defend. Bournemouth looked comfortable throughout and when they took the lead in the second half, they cruised to victory.

Saints did finally decide to attack for the final ten minutes and nearly rescued a point when Adams - coming off the bench - volleyed in to seemingly make it 1-1. But VAR intervened and in truth, Saints didn’t deserve a draw - not that one point would have helped much.

Marcus Tavernier pictured after scoring for Bournemouth at St Mary's. (Image: Stuart Martin)

But this game summed up everything about why Saints are heading for the Championship. They completely failed to grasp the importance and urgency of the situation and the occasion, not even able to lay a glove on their South Coast neighbors.

From the 50th minute - the time when Bournemouth took the lead - until their final desperate attempts in the last ten minutes, Saints managed just two shots to their opposition’s nine. Two shots for the team in desperate need of a victory, playing at home, and down a goal.

It was hard to accept and feels rather unforgivable - the latest sign of the meek acceptance of relegation that this Saints squad and their manager(s) have repeatedly displayed.

When you play like that in the biggest moments, then you deserve to go down.

May

We’re yet to reach the decisive moment of May but it feels just around the corner: the moment that Saints are officially relegated to the Championship for the first time in 11 years.

Six points adrift with four games left to play, it’s a relegation that is not yet mathematically decided but one that feels inevitable.

Saints don’t have the worst squad in the Premier League. But they have built the worst team, with the weakest mentality.

Saints’ chase for survival has completely lacked in bravery and the blame has to be spread to every party involved.

Sport Republic deserve huge criticism for their arrogant or naive attempt to build a squad that ultimately led to a misbalanced group of 32 players somehow still lacking in experience and quality despite the massive numbers.

Newcastle take the lead against Saints at St James' Park. (Image: PA)

Each of Saints’ three managers deserves criticism for failing to get the most out of their squad and for failing to be brave even when their teams so obviously couldn’t cope with the pressure of a cautious approach.

And lastly, this squad of players deserves heavy criticism. They will all believe - and say - that there is real talent in this squad, talent that shouldn’t lead to relegation.

In which case, we have to look at the mentality of this group. 12 times this season they have lost by one goal. 22 times in total they've suffered defeat - under three different managers.

They’ve managed to go toe to toe with some of the best teams in the league while constantly and consistently floundering against the worst.

At no point has it felt like the players or management quite grasp the severity and urgency of the situation. And ulteitmatlely, they’ve played their way into the lasting memories of Saints fans: for all the wrong reasons.