‘Not Going To Last’ – Southampton Boss Warned By Former Championship Star | OneFootball

Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Southampton boss Will Still has been warned that his honeymoon period at St Mary’s will not last long if results do not improve.

The south coast side made a fresh start this season with a new manager in the form of Still at the helm and also rejigged the squad with several departures and new arrivals, with the business going right through to the end of the window.

The Saints boss won his first game of the season against Wrexham with the help of two injury-time goals, but since then his side have not picked up three points against any opponents in the league.

Southampton lost 3-1 to Hull City at the weekend, which extended their winless run in the league to five games and they now sit 19th in the Championship table with six points from six games.

Parkin is of the view that Southampton’s centre-back pairing, Jack Stephens and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, has not been good enough and pointed out that due to new incomings in the last hours of deadline day in the form of Finn Azaz and Tom Fellows, Still has yet to find the right combination.

However, the ex-EFL hitman indicated that due to the squad going through changes, Still still has some goodwill in his bank, but it may not last very long if the situation does not improve.

Parkin pointed out that Southampton will come up against one of the best teams in the Championship in the form of Middlesbrough this weekend and added that the atmosphere will be tense on Saturday at St Mary’s.

“At the moment two stories are developing: amongst other things, Norwich and their home form and early pressure on Liam Manning and Will Still has not won since opening day at Wrexham, where they scored two goals in additional time; that could easily be a different outcome”, Parkin said on What The EFL (12:00).

“Defensively, the centre-back pairing is not good enough.

“Yes, I think mitigating circumstances going forward are that he has not nailed down his favourite permutation, and he has added Fellows and Azaz in the last knockings of the window, but that goodwill, if there is goodwill, here is another pun for you, is not going to last long.

“Maybe it could have been different. Damien Downs, when in 1v1, just missed the far post from his left foot, but it was a limp performance; Hull very much deserved the victory.

“Now all of a sudden they come up against the current league leaders, the best side in the division, next up at St Mary’s, where the atmosphere will be tense.”

Parkin pointed out last week that the Saints lack chemistry and fluidity and he correctly predicted they would struggle at Hull City.

Before the Middlesbrough game on Saturday, Still’s side will come up against Liverpool in the EFL Cup tonight.