Southampton continued their awful recent form with a 3-0 defeat against Leeds United at Elland Road on Tuesday night.
Second-half goals from Patrick Bamford, Stuart Dallas and Raphinha sealed the three points for Marcelo Bielsa’s side, and frankly, they could have scored more in what was an extremely disappointing second half from the Saints.
One man who disappointed with his performance against Leeds was £15m man Che Adams. The former Birmingham City man was handed his first start in four games, with Nathan Redmond having replaced him up front in recent fixtures.
However, with Ralph Hasenhuttl opting to bench Danny Ings, Adams was entrusted to lead the line at Elland Road but failed to repay his manager’s faith in what was a very poor overall display.
As per SofaScore, the 24-year-old striker would earn a 6.5 match rating for his display, with only Ryan Bertrand, Nathan Tella and Jannik Vestergaard rated lower.
During the 90 minutes, Adams would win just four of his 14 duels, resulting in a less than impressive 29% success rate – comfortably the worst of any Saints player, with Hampshire Live describing his second-half display as “silent”.
Hasenhuttl was perhaps hoping that Adams could cause Leeds’ back three problems with his pace and dribbling ability, but he was able to complete just one of his three dribbles during the game. Danny Ings meanwhile, would complete 2/2, despite spending far less time on the pitch.
The striker would have 49 touches of the ball at Elland Road but still contrived to lose possession on 18 occasions, which again was the most of any Southampton player, to complete what was a dreadful overall display.
Although he was arguably unlucky to have his first-half goal chalked off as James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick was taken fractionally too early, Adams must improve if he is going to continue as a first-choice in this Southampton side, as his goal return and performances in recent weeks have been far from good enough.
In fact, you’d have to say that old habits die hard right now, and he looks every bit the same player who went 29 appearances for the south coast outfit before finally finding the net against Manchester City in 2020.
And, in other news… Moussa Djenepo will be worried if Saints sign 20 y/o wonderkid