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The only positive for Southampton was seeing their new signings
Super Eagles striker Paul Onuachu came on at half-time for Southampton, but his presence made no difference as Southampton were battered 3-0 by Brentford in a Premier League mismatch.
Brentford appeared to belong in a different league from Southampton, and the result means that they soon might be playing in a different league from the Saints.
Southampton offered nothing in response to Brentford, who outclassed them thanks to goals by defender Ben Mee, Cameroonian forward Bryan Mbeumo, and Danish midfielder Mathias Jensen.
How it happened
Southampton entered the game hoping to emulate fellow strugglers Everton, who earlier shocked Arsenal in a 1-0 win. They maintained that hope until two late first-half goals from Brentford completely derailed their plans.
The Bees were all over Southampton from the first whistle and missed several opportunities to take the lead in the opening exchanges, coming close through Ivan Toney, Yoane Wissa, and Mbuemo all before the 15-minute mark in the first half.
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They eventually did break the deadlock after 41 minutes when Ben Mee met Mbeumo’s superb cross with a powerful header to make it 1-0 to Brentford.
Three minutes later, provider turned scorer as Mbeumo doubled Brentford’s lead with a neat finish that gave Gavin Bazunu in goal for Southampton no chance.
Brentford went into the break with a 2-0 lead, while Southampton went into the break without a shot on target and with only two shots in total compared to their opponents’ nine.
At half-time, Southampton brought in both of their new recruits, Onuachu and Ghanaian winger Kamaldeen Sulemana, who signed from Rennes.
While their substitution and the halftime break improved Southampton’s overall performance, it had little effect on the scoresheet as it was Brentford who wrapped up their win after Jensen applied the finishing touch to a well-worked goal for the Bees.
Southampton remain rooted to the bottom
Southampton can take some positives from the game, including the fact that they can get better as a team, as they did in the second half, firing away 12 shots and creating two big chances.
However, they will need that improvement to kick in soon and on a more consistent basis if they plan to escape the drop.
They are rock bottom of the Premier League with four wins from 21 games, and even sacking Ralph Hassenhuttl has not improved things much so far.
They still have a good chance to stay in the Premier League since they are only six points from Leicester City in 13th, but they need to find better performances soon before their fellow relegation strugglers get out of sight.
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