BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Southampton



John May BBC Sport Online at St Mary's

Southampton's St Mary's Stadium is built on the site of an old gasworks but there was only one overriding odour that hung over their match with Charlton.

The smell of fear.

The Premiership is already taking a familiar shape, and two sides who may be eyeing up next May frankly stank the place up.

Match report: Southampton v Charlton

Having lost two on the bounce, Charlton's sole objective appeared to be the avoidance of an unwanted hat-trick.

Against a Southampton side who have managed just three goals in six games, Charlton's smothering tactics were about as necessary as throwing a fire blanket over a birthday cake candle.

We have people who are getting into good positions 15 yards from goal - and then passing

Gordon Strachan

In the end, Saints were grateful that the man who came up smelling of roses was Antti Niemi.

With the accident-prone Paul Jones removed from the firing line, flying Finn Niemi shone on his debut with two top-drawer saves.

He first leaped high to his right to fist away Claus Jensen's free-kick, and then clung on to Chris Bart-William's daisy-cutter as Charlton finally crept out timorously like a mouse from the skirting boards after the big piece of cheese.

With the smell of fear wafting in the air, what is needed is a braveheart, a role Gordon Strachan fills better than Mel Gibson.

When Strachan talks of crisis management, he is not referring to some of the dinosaurs of British industry, but what happens when players venture into the penalty area.

At the moment, Strachan's players are like jigsaws - they go to pieces in the box, which explains why they have scored just one goal from open play this season.

Agustin Delgado
Delgado may be the answer to Saint's problems

"Anybody that goes into the 18-yard box is going into a crisis area, whether he's a striker or a midfield player," said Strachan.

"And he's got to be able to handle the crisis, whether it's the final pass, the final lay-off or a shot.

"We're not handling the crises," said Strachan, who took up the theme spouted by his Aberdeen and Manchester United mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson.

"We have people who are getting into good positions 15 yards from goal - and then passing the ball."

Strachan's attempted cure was a drastic one of pairing Jo Tessem up front with Marian Pahars as an emergency striker.

In his years at Southampton, Tessem has played in just about every position apart from goalkeeper.

Unknown quality

But the former Norwegian policeman could not put the cuffs on a goal and with the transfer window firmly shut until January, Southampton are looking increasingly toward Agustin Delgado.

The Ecuadorean is said to be two weeks away from fitness, having mustered just 134 minutes of first-team football in his injury-riddled spell at St Mary's.

Delgado has not kicked a ball in anger since the World Cup, and the fleeting glances Saints fans have had of him have not provided much of a clue as to how he will handle the Premiership.

But his already lumbered with the baggage of being the man who will provide the cutting edge.

Watch a round-up of the weekend's action


	Links to more Southampton stories