Southampton finally claimed their first Premier League point of the season on Saturday as Russell Martin’s side drew 1-1 with Ipswich Town.
The draw will have felt like a defeat for Russell Martin and his Southampton players given Ipswich equalised from a deflected Sam Morsy strike on 95 minutes.
Southampton had led from the 5th-minute as Tyler Dibling netted his first senior goal after a precise pass from Adam Lallana that saw two players at opposite ends of their careers combine.
Cameron Archer in particular was guilty of squandering opportunities to extend the Saints’ lead before Ipswich’s late strike following a corner left St Mary’s deflated.
Ben Foster thinks lack of goals will cost Southampton in Premier League
Dibling’s goal was just Southampton’s second in the Premier League this season, with right-back Yukinari Sugawara scoring the other.
That is a concern for Martin, particularly given none of his strikers have scored and Southampton have conceded nine goals in their five league matches so far.
Former Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster spoke on the game in the latest episode of his Fozcast podcast after co-host Tom Ochoa said: “Southampton are going to go down because they don’t take their chances, do they?”
Foster responded with his blunt verdict, saying: “No, they don’t.
“But it’s always going to be the way isn’t it? For a newly promoted team…goals.
“Scoring goals gets you safe, it’s as simple as that.”
Foster did add that he felt Martin’s side were unfortunate not to take all three points on Saturday, saying: “I feel for Southampton here to be perfectly honest because they’ve done really well in this game [v Ipswich].
“They’ve got to the 95th-minute of the game and it was a horrible, horrible deflection that robbed them of three points really.”
Southampton must start converting chances against Bournemouth
Next up for Southampton is a huge match against fellow south coast dwellers Bournemouth on Monday night.
Martin will be keen to build on the first point of the campaign against Ipswich, especially as the Saints face both Arsenal and Manchester City in the three games that follow the trip to the Cherries.
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Earlier in the season Southampton were struggling to create chances but against Ipswich they created four big chances so it is now time for the forwards to step up.
Archer looks like a player who desperately needs a goal, with his penalty miss against Manchester United clearly impacting his confidence but he is not alone as Ben Brereton Diaz and Adam Armstrong have also both struggled to make their mark.
Bournemouth have won just one league game so far this season and have conceded eight goals – one less than Southampton – so Martin will hope his forwards can capitalise on Monday night.