Southampton 0 Brentford 5: Abysmal Saints destined for the drop with Ivan Juric’s side ten points adrift of safety

3 days ago 8

IVAN JURIC may as well resign now or start planning for life with Southampton in the Championship.

The Croatian boss has a break clause this summer in the 18-month contract he signed after taking over from axed Russell Martin.

Yoanne Wissa, left, Bryan Mbeumo, centre, and Kevin Schade, right, got on the scoresheet[/caption]

Brentford's Kevin Schade celebrates scoring a goal.

Kevin Schade broke the deadlock[/caption]

Keane Lewis-Potter scoring a goal for Brentford.

Keane Lewis-Potter added a fourth for Bees[/caption]

Yoane Wissa scores a goal during a Brentford soccer match.

Wissa compounded Saints’ misery late on[/caption]

So if his continued involvement with Southampton depends on their Premier League status he can forget that. They do not have a cat in hell chance of beating the drop.

Two second-half goals – one from the spot – from Bryan Mbeumo as well as strikes from Keane Lewis-Potter and Yoane Wissa added to

Kevin Schade’s first-half opener bagged Brentford their first Prem win on the road this season.

And had it not been for some wasteful finishing from Wissa and Lewis-Potter, a fine Aaron Ramsdale save and the crossbar this would have been more embarrassing.

Southampton are 10 points adrift of safety and that gap could expand further if Ipswich win at Fulham today or if Wolves get any kind of result at home to Nottingham Forest tomorrow.

Juric said: “It was a bad day. I am disappointed with everything.

“I expected more after two weeks here. I felt we could compete and do better. But today felt like someone kicked you in the head.

“The players know the situation is bad but we must try to get better.

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“I’ve never had this feeling before. There was such a huge difference between the teams.

“Today I thought we could take a step forward but took three back. We cannot live this day again. We cannot lose 5-0 at home.”

Brentford fans mocked Saints by chanting: “How s**t must you be, we’re winning away!”

And boss Thomas Frank said: “This is one of my biggest moments as far as performances with Brentford in the Premier League.

“To go down to Southampton a team fighting for their lives with a new manager and energy is difficult. To win in the way we did was satisfying.

“We were in complete control for 90 minutes. We gave nothing away. We scored five and should’ve scored even more. I’m pleased and proud of that.” Saints got off to the worst possible start, falling behind in the sixth minute.

Mikkel Damsgaard played a lovely pass into the path of Schade, who hit a lovely shot with the outside of his right boot to beat Ramsdale.

Then Yoane Wissa was denied doubling the lead by a point-blank save from Ramsdale.

Christian Norgaard then met a Mathias Jensen corner but his header bounced back off the bar.

2 goals, 1 assist, 78 touches, 56 passes, 6 duels won, 3 tackles.

Brentford thought they had doubled their lead after the break when Sepp van den Berg headed home from a corner.

But Wissa had pulled down Jan Bednarek in the lead up to the goal and ref Stuart Attwell overturned his decision after watching it on the pitchside monitor.

Wissa missed a sitter after he was played in by a Schade flicked header but he lobbed well over the bar.

But they finally grabbed their second.

Mbeumo played a one-two with Wissa before rifling an angled effort into the roof of the net.

And it got worse for Saints when clumsy Lesley Ugochukwu hauled down Sepp van den Berg and Mbeumo coolly slotted home from the spot.

Wissa saw an effort on the turn kept out by Ramsdale and Lewis-Potter shot barely an inch wide after being played in by Mbeumo.

But Lewis-Potter snatched a fourth in stoppage time after being set up by Mbeumo and there was still time for Wissa to add another after he pounced on an awful Yukinari Sugawara header to slot home.