'Not good enough': Strong Southampton side stung by Championship outfit Brentford

Championship beat Premier League, under-strength Brentford beat full-strength Southampton; this was an evening to forget for Ralph Hasenhuttl.

“It’s simply not enough. It’s simply not the team that we have been at the end of last season,” said the Austrian.

“At the moment, with this form we have it will not be easy to win games. We are not good enough in any part. We are not fit enough.”

Brentford were excellent, full value for their victory, secured with two late goals in the first half.

They were only able to name five subs after a positive test for Covid-19 amongst the B team forced a part of the squad into isolation.

“It was a strong performance against a full-strength Southampton team, more or less,” said manager Thomas Frank.

“I would like to praise my players’ off the ball performance. I like the tactical flexibility we showed tonight. We played much longer, much more behind them that we would normally do and that worked.”

Hasenhuttl made only one change from the opening day defeat at Palace, keen to sharpen up his first choice eleven ahead of Sunday’s visit of Tottenham.

Danny Ings went close to opening the scoring as he agonizingly slid the ball wide from Ryan Bertrand’s superb first time cross.

Southampton adopted Hasenhuttl’s preferred high press but Brentford bypassed it when Josh Dasilva found Bryan Mbeumo in space and McCarthy was forced into an excellent save at the near post to deny him.

Saints began to get a foothold towards the end of the half and a swift move involving Bertrand and Nathan Redmond created an opening for Che Adams but Bees keeper Luke Daniels got a crucial touch to divert his low shot against the post.

But the Championship side led after Christian Norgaard headed in Mbeumo's corner with little sign of any Southampton marking.

Brentford were two up at the break after an excellent break saw Shandon Baptiste tee up Dasilva who finished superbly from the edge of the box.

Saints toiled and Jack Stephens went close with a header from Bertrand’s corner. Just as at Selhurst Park on the opening day, the inability to create chances will be a huge concern to a team so dangerous after the restart last season.

Match details

Southampton (4-2-2-2): McCarthy 5; Walker-Peters 6, Stephens 6, Bednarek 5, Bertrand 6; Ward-Prowse 6, Romeu 5; Tella 5 (Obafemi 84), Redmond 5 (Djenepo 71); Adams 6 (Long 84), Ings 6.

Subs: Forster, Vestergaard, Smallbone, Vokins.

Booked: McCarthy

Brentford (4-2-3-1): Daniels 6; Dalsgaard 7, Sorensen 7, Goode 7, Thompson 7 (Henry 71); Norgaard 7, Baptiste 8; Mbeumo 7, Dasilva 8 (Marcondes 71), Fosu-Henry 7; Forss 7 (Dervisoglu 77).

Subs: Henry, Pinnock, Marcondes, Zamburek.

Booked: Thompson, Dalsgaard, Goode

Referee: Mr J Brooks (Leicestershire)