Mark Hughes and Southampton lost against Fulham at the weekend – Cedric Soares gave his honest opinion on the side.
Southampton lost again at the weekend, this time a 3-2 defeat to bottom club Fulham in Claudio Ranieri’s first match in charge.
It heaps even more pressure on Saints boss Mark Hughes – not only did he lose again, but he lost to a club that got an immediate boost from changing their manager.
And this wasn’t simply a defeat; Southampton threw away a 1-0 lead at Craven Cottage and that’s something that full-back Cedric Soares was eager to point out after the game.
“We were winning 1-0 and I had a feeling that we [would] get the 1-1 because we were very exposed, and then maybe after 1-1 our head was gone immediately,” Soares said, according to the Guardian.
“We need to be more experienced in managing the game. It’s very small margins. When we concede we immediately get so down mentally, we get frustrated, maybe afraid to lose.
“Everyone made some stupid decisions maybe. Sometimes we need to be more simple. We were a bit exposed because we were trying to take risks offensively.
“I’ve been here four years and for the last year and a half it has been a little bit like this. We are winning and we get a draw or lose.”
Those are some pretty damning quotes for a manager to hear, even if Soares wasn’t entirely directing them at his coach.
The statistics back him up, however – Southampton have taken the lead in five games this season but only one resulted in a win.
With Soares outright saying that taking the lead no longer feels relevant to how the team will do, Hughes simply must be questioned.
And right now there appears to be only one answer: change.
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