Martin’s performance against Leicester was worse than Sulemanas
The central midfielder had a difficult time the entire game against the Foxes.
Southampton was defeated 4-1 by Leicester City in the Championship at St. Mary’s, adding to their frustration after losing 5-0 to Sunderland prior to the international break.
In Southampton’s defeat to Leicester, who scored?
Within the opening 30 seconds of play, the opposition scored first. Shea Charles’ careless error caused a scuffle in the box, where Jamie Vardy easily finished from 12 yards.
The second came after a careless touchline pass allowed Leicester to weave a pass through for Kasey McAtee to score from six yards away with plenty of time and space.
Che Adams’ deft pass behind the defense to Samuel Edozie, who dinked the ball into the goal, allowed Russell Martin’s team to get one back.
Wilfred Ndidi expertly jinked past a defender just before the halftime whistle, then poked the ball past Gavin Bazunu inside the area to add a third.
The fourth goal was added by Mavididi, who took advantage of a weak ball from Kamaldeen Sulemana to evade a defender and advance into goal, where he found the bottom corner.
With a few seconds left on the clock, Sulemana was then given a straight red card for a late challenge that resulted in his catching James Justin on the ankle.
What was Will Smallbone’s performance versus Leicester like?
Will Smallbone was the genuine culprit for Martin on the night because he left the Saints way too vulnerable in the centre of the field, even though the Ghanaian international had a shocker with his cameo off the bench.
Sulemana played 52 minutes on the field before being sent off, winning five of his ten ground duels and making one chance in addition to three successful dribbles, according to Sofascore.
Although he started Mavididi’s goal and was given a red card to end the game, there were some encouraging moments in between as he battled for the ball and attempted to create opportunities in the final third.
But in 90 minutes of midfield action, Smallbone failed to try a single cross into the box and only managed to create one opportunity for his teammates.
The Ireland international contributed to Mavididi’s goal as well because he had the chance to stop the English forward within the Leicester half by using legal or illegal means, but instead made a feeble challenge that let the former Montpellier star advance and score.
The fact that the Foxes found it so simple to move past Smallbone in midfield freed up the field and made it possible for Enzo Maresca’s team to attack the Saints defense without any protection in front of the back four.
According to Sofascore, the Southampton loser was dribbled past a staggering five times, which was more than any other player for Martin’s team on the field. This shows how weak he was in the middle of the park.
Inadequate passing from Smallbone to Kyle Walker-Peters allowed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to assist McAtee on the second Leicester goal. Smallbone finished with a losing record of nine defeats in 14 duels and eight defeats in 13 ground battles.
The winger was only at fault for one goal and then received a red card that had little bearing on the game as there were just a few seconds left to play, but the center midfielder’s poor play was a consistent problem throughout the game and he was suspect for many goals.
Martin will thus be hoping for much better performance from his midfield general the following time because Smallbone was the real villain of the evening in his eyes.