Ivan Juric unhappy with home fans reaction regarding lineup mistake | OneFootball

Ivan Juric's decision to include Will Smallbone in the starting lineup hasn't gone down well among the fans. Replacing Ugochukwu, Smallbone didn't do anything good to note which led the Southampton faithful beaming when he came off.

Pre-match, the South Coast derby was billed as Ivan Juric's rigorous test on the lineup front. Suffering from a depleting roster headache, Juric had the added task of finding the best out of the remaining squad.

Still, a massive chunk of the home fans were expecting Juric to give a tough contest to the visiting Bournemouth side. Well, why wouldn't they? When the Cherries boss himself tagged Juric as an elite European manager.

What happened next annoyed the Saints, though. Working with a few injuries in mind, most coaches aim to at least start their other first team regulars.

Yet, Juric dropped first choice midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu to bring Smallbone into the fold. Watching this change, many Southampton fans were skeptical that this move could backfire later.

Ivan Juric unhappy with home fans reaction regarding lineup mistake

Safe to say, their fears turned true and the Saints made their frustration known by mocking Smallbone's substitution.

Witnessing the escalating situation, Juric had to intervene after the match. As quoted by the Daily Echo, Juric said: "I expected more, it's obvious, but I'm really sorry for him because he doesn't deserve it. He's a good guy."

Hearing the manager's kind words, Smallbone must have felt lucky and thanked his off-field discipline. Otherwise, if his teammate Flynn Downes would have been on the receiving end of the fans' discontentment, even Juric might have sided with them.

Well, it can be argued that Downes may not have started the match, in the first place. Still, that doesn't erase Juric's starting eleven mistakes which proved to be expensive at the beginning of the match.