What Southampton’s Ryan Fraser told Oli McBurnie during 3-1 defeat to Hull City - Will Still must surely be concerned | OneFootball

Southampton have had a poor start to the season, and comments made by a Saints player may give head coach Will Still something to think about.

A comment made by Southampton's Ryan Fraser to Hull City's Oli McBurnie during Hull's 3-1 win over the Saints on Saturday seems likely to give head coach Will Still something to think about.

Southampton's slow start to life back in the Championship is rapidly turning into a bit of a crisis.

The Saints were well beaten at Hull on Saturday, a result which marked five straight league games without a win and which left them rooted to the bottom-half of the table, just one point above the relegation positions.

And as head coach Will Still combs through the wreckage of another defeat, one comment made to the local media in Hull after the match by their striker Oli McBurnie may well give him pause for thought.

Ryan Fraser expressed his frustration at Southampton's inability to get on the end of crosses to Oli McBurnie

With just seven goals from their six Championship games so far this season, Southampton need to find more avenues to the back of the net, and it would appear that Saints winger Ryan Fraser has identified a key problem behind their struggles in that regard.

The Southampton Daily Echo has reported that an on-field comment made to McBurnie by Saints winger Fraser could hold a key to Southampton's issues in front of goal.

They reported that McBurnie told the local media in Hull that Fraser told the Tigers striker that he "wished he had a player capable of winning headers from his crosses."

Indeed, Southampton registered a crossing accuracy of 13 per cent in the defeat at the MKM Stadium, with just four accurate crosses put in over the course of the full 90 minutes, whilst Fraser himself created the most chances of any player on the pitch that afternoon with three - per FotMob.

That the player himself is frustrated at the Saints bumpy start to the new season is not a surprise.

Southampton started the new season among the favourites for promotion to the Premier League.

But while the fact that these frustrations are being so clearly vocalised by one of the Saints' more senior players - Fraser has eight years of Premier League experience behind him - may annoy Will Still, they could also give him something to work with in order to fix the issue.

Southampton need goals to kick-start their faltering season

Speaking to the press ahead of the match at Hull, Will Still had talked about Southampton's tendency towards out-swinging corners by saying: "It's all about the angle of delivery.

"It's easier to head it. So if it's coming towards you, it's easier to get power onto the header."

So the head coach is aware of the importance of the right delivery of the ball into the penalty area, but this didn't seem to make any difference to his team's performance in the match that followed the press conference.

Fraser's criticism, however, strikes a slightly different chord to the head coach's pre-match comments. Whereas Still was talking about the delivery of the ball into the penalty area, Fraser was commenting on what happens to the ball once it gets there.

McBurnie is a target man of the sort that Southampton might need, if they're to make the most of a player such as Fraser's delivery. But the transfer window is now closed, so Still has the players that he has until the new year and the issue for him may be breeding this sort of change into his players.

Southampton have four recognised strikers this season, but while two of them - Adam Armstrong and Cameron Archer - are not the sort of players that would normally be described as 'target men', the other two, Damien Downs and Ross Stewart, are 6'4" and 6'2" respectively, and have the height to be able to get on the end of right sort of delivery.

The volume of matches coming their way will mean that time is limited to start getting things right, but without three points since their 2-1 win against Wrexham on the opening weekend of the season, it's something that Still may need to do in order to correct his team's slow start to the season.

His own position could soon be in danger if the Saints' current issues aren't promptly rectified.