Southampton’s promotion charge took a huge blow on Friday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Middlesbrough.
Emmanuel Latte Lath struck in the 90th minute to level the tie and it left Russell Martin furious, speaking post-match.
“I am really disappointed, we had some massive chances but that is football sometimes,” the Saints boss said.
“If you are not going to be clinical at that end, you need to defend your end properly. We didn’t do that well enough.”
Whilst the South Coasters clearly switched off late on, it shouldn’t have made a difference in all honesty, they had plenty of chances to put themselves out of sight.
Che Adams endures ‘nightmare’ v Middlesbrough
Che Adams, who looks set to depart in the summer, squandered a number of big chances and was blasted by Daily Echo journalist Alfie House in his post-match ratings.
“Nightmare afternoon for the striker,” House wrote.
“Finn Azaz hit the post after he lost possession coming short. He then had a goal ruled out for offside, missed a one-on-one and then fired wide an open goal from six yards within 180 seconds. Subbed off soon after. “
The journalist gave Adams a three-match rating, which was comfortably the lowest score across Saints’ line-up.
The 25-cap Scotland international has netted 10 league goals this term, which for a player of his calibre, is a little underwhelming by all accounts.
Martin should consider dropping him on Monday, as his side travel to Portman Road to face league leaders Ipswich Town.
Russell Martin should consider dropping Che Adams
Despite Southampton‘s disappointing draw on Friday, the mission remains the same as they still reside nine points behind Leeds United in second, with two games in hand.
Many believe they’re already out of the automatic promotion race but with the top three all still to play, it’s certainly not over.
But, they now can’t afford a defeat against Ipswich and perhaps Adams needs to drop to the bench for the clash.
His profligate display simply can’t be repeated in the run-in, so Martin must take action and replace him in the line-up with Ryan Fraser, who it back from injury.
Dropping Adams would achieve one of two things; it could dent his confidence, or it may fire him up to prove his manager and others wrong.
Saints supporters will be hopeful of the latter heading into the business end of the campaign.