It has been a tricky week at Braeburn towers. Jobs being hunted, flats being viewed, social engagements being fulfilled and all under the dark shadow of the man-flu. Yes, I am sick, but that did not stop me revelling in Southampton's crushing win over Portsmouth in the ONLY derby the South Coast has to offer.
Whilst a four-nil win away to lower league opposition is nothing to write home about, fans of Tottenham, West Ham and Bournemouth can only dream of such comforts. Did these sides take the competition seriously? If not, then why not? Spurs perhaps have an excuse, they have Champions League commitments and a top-four spot to chase down but for the other two... what better chance is there to reach a final than in the League Cup? After Saints victory at Fratton Park, Ralph Hasenhüttl said that given the local rivalry he had no choice but to pick his strongest side for the fixture. Quite why any middling Premier League club would pick anything other than their strongest eleven in a cup game is a mystery to me.
Another mystery that has been puzzling Saints fans is that of Hasenhüttl's full-back blindness. It is a conundrum dastardly enough to test the combined brains of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Columbo. However, on Tuesday night the mystery appears to have been solved and hopefully for good. Cédric Soares at right-back, Ryan Bertrand at left-back and two centre-halves operating in-between. Sure Portsmouth are not especially good and were missing their best attacker but this was not the only evidence our sleuths have available.
Against Bournemouth last Friday, a match that might have catapulted Saints into the upper echelons of the Premier League, the defensive selection was baffling. A European Championship winning right-back at left-back. A young inexperienced central defender built like a house at right-back. A Champions League winning left-back sitting on the bench. Saints went in two-nil down at half-time, humbled by a Bournemouth team well-drilled enough to exploit such weakness wherever they find it. After the break order was restored and some even applauded Hasenhüttl for solving a problem entirely of his own making. Cédric went to right-back, Bertrand to left-back and Kevin Danso was relocated to the bench, Saints improved but the horse had bolted through the open stable door and headed west along the M27. To be clear I have nothing against Danso, he looks set to be fine centre-half but a full-back he is not. Quite how Hasenhüttl needed further evidence of this after the player's error-strewn, red-card performance against Manchester United I will never know.
Another intriguing piece of the puzzle is the continued, unexplained omission of Jake Vokins. Vokins looked set for a breakthrough campaign in the summer months. Matty Targett was sold opening his pathway to the first-team squad, and yet four different players have occupied the position with just eight games of the season gone. With Bertrand not fit then surely the League Cup game at Fulham was the perfect opportunity to test his first-team-mettle?
And so with the defeat against Bournemouth, the chance of Saints turning an OK start into a great one was lost. With tough fixtures ahead, starting with Spurs away tomorrow afternoon, Saints fans will hope that Hasenhüttl has finally realised that full-backs operating in their natural positions is key to a balanced side. Further errors in selection would see Southampton's season and perhaps the Austrian's future teetering on disaster.