news-engine

Southampton's incredible away record at Watford is now in tatters. Indeed, heading into this opening weekend showdown at Vicarage Road, the Saints hadn't lose on the Hornets' home patch since 2007. 19 years on from their last defeat, they have finally been beaten, as a spirited Watford performance - particularly in a high octane first 45 minutes - caught a passive Southampton team cold. Jack Stephens' display would be blasted at the full-time whistle, when picking out individual underperformers, as the ageing defender looked way off the pace of the game, as the Hornets ended up winning the contest via a breathless opening half. Stephen's horror performance at Vicarage Road Tonda Eckert isn't too familiar with the stinging pain of a Championship defeat in the Saints dug-out, with this narrow 2-1 loss his first league defeat at the helm in 20 second tier games. He won't be downbeat for too long, as there's so much of the season left to play, but he did bemoan his team's carelessness on the ball at the full-time whistle. The German would've been referencing Stephens' horrible sliced clearance in the first half when calling out some wayward passing, with his mistimed clearance unfortunately leading to Iker Bravo tucking away the opener for the thankful hosts. One Southampton supporter on social media would go as far as to blast the 32-year-old's showing as "abysmal" when making his feelings known, with the ageing centre-back also far too slow in trying to close down Watford's game-clinching second strike, courtesy of a rampant Amin Nabizada. With Taylor Harwood-Bellis rumoured to be leaving Eckert and Co. behind this summer, Saints fans will hardly be full to the brim with optimism with what the German could be left with at his disposal if the ex-Burnley defender were to depart for Benfica, when assessing Stephens' shambolic opening day. To just single out just Stephens' off-performance would be cruel, though, as several Southampton shirts fell way below their high standards in Hertfordshire, namely James Bree, who won just two duels weakly. Alongside Bree putting in a shoddy display, this other highly rated Saints individual let the team down big time, with his performance as bad as the rusty 32-year-old's error-ridden match. The star who was as bad as Stephens A lot would have been expected of Lewis Dobbin on his Championship debut for his new employers. Indeed, the ex-Aston Villa starlet confidently scored three times in pre-season for Eckert's men. But, pre-season counts for very little when the bread and butter of the second tier kicks back into gear, with Dobbin failing to live up to his £9m price-tag throughout the sobering defeat at Vicarage Road. Dobbin's poor performance vs Watford: | Stat | Dobbin | |---|---| | Minutes played | 57 | | Goals scored | 0 | | Assists | 0 | | Shots | 1 | | Shots on target | 0 | | Touches | 33 | | Accurate passes | 17/19 (88%) | | Key passes | 0 | | Successful dribbles | 1/6 | The above table is a damning read on the £9m winger's behalf, with Dobbin failing to register a single on-target effort at the home side's goal throughout the match. On top of that, to add insult to injury, he managed just one successful dribble, meaning the likes of Omar Haktab Traore had a comfortable afternoon containing the lacklustre number 11, when he should have been a real handful. As much as Stephens cost his team dear with a catalogue of poor defensive errors, there was still so much of the game left after Nabizada's second strike rippled the net, and Dobbin did little to spark a comeback. He will be desperate to bounce back from this off-display on his second-tier debut with his brand-new team when Stoke City come to St. Mary's, with those of a Saints persuasion hopeful that he's just a late bloomer. After all, it took him a couple of games last season to get up to speed with Preston North End, and then he went on to bag ten second tier goals for the Lilywhites. It will be interesting to see if he is selected from the get-go against the Potters, though, as both Dobbin and Stephens might be axed in a reenergised starting lineup.