Southampton sold Taylor Harwood-Bellis to Aston Villa on transfer deadline day but their former defender created the emblem that will follow them around for the rest of the season.
The Harwood-Bellis binoculars will be adopted at grounds up and down the Championship, a gleeful reminder that Southampton sought an unfair advantage last term and ended up knocking themselves out of the play-offs instead.
Saints chairman Dragan Solak showed an extraordinary degree of faith in manager Tonda Eckert. His team lost their shot at promotion and were docked four points for 2026-27 but Eckert remains in his post and Southampton have a plan.
Eckert’s Southampton are playing on the front foot and outscoring Championship rivals
There were times last season when Southampton in the Premier League seemed extremely unlikely. Eckert turned those fortunes around and has been given the courtesy of a chance to prove where their results did and didn’t come from.
Not all ownership groups would have responded in the same way. It’s up to Eckert to show that he warrants the backing.
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It’s goals that are his weapon of choice in the wake of ‘Spygate’ and Southampton are delivering.
Saints’ 1-1 entertaining draw at Birmingham City might look at first glance like a quieter night at the office. Viewed from a certain angle, though, it’s evidence that a high-scoring team can go away to the division’s toughest grounds and eke out results.
Eckert’s team have scored 10 goals in their four Championship matches. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers – thanks to a Konstantinos Mavrapanos own goal – have scored more. Southampton’s expected goals (xG) value is the highest in the second tier, 1.5 goals higher than Wolves.
They’ve outscored their xG even so, and the player most responsible for putting away those chances is striker Cyle Larin, who scored twice against Millwall in the win that took Southampton into positive points and off the foot of the table.
The Canadian had two very presentable chances at St Andrew’s but failed to hit the target with either. Eckert was unmoved when asked about his number nine, saying that he’s put everything away so far.
On a night when it was their opponents who had the majority of the game’s big chances, Southampton’s goal came from another source. Defender Keven Schlotterbeck thumped them into the lead with a header from a corner in first-half stoppage time before August Priske equalised 10 minutes into the second half.
The visitors returned to the south coast with one point rather than three but moved up one more rung on the long ladder back, and Eckert can take encouragement from a set piece goal and the return of former captain James Ward-Prowse, whose free kicks at Birmingham drew a good save from James Beadle and led to a disallowed Kuryu Matsuki goal.
Ward-Prowse’s golf-club supply adds to the more fluid influence of Finn Azaz. The 25-year-old remains a crucial component in Eckert’s supply line, playing line-breaking passes from deep and creating at closer quarters higher up the pitch.
All these cogs and more are turning in the name of goals and firepower could be the essence of Eckert’s second promotion quest. Southampton will make mistakes at the back, will concede goals; they did both against Birmingham.
With Larin firing, set pieces producing, Ward-Prowse pitching and wedging, and Azaz’s artistry packing a punch, opposition managers will know that their first job is to keep Southampton out.
The ability of Eckert’s team to keep making chances and taking them at a clinical rate will be key if they’re to bounce back after the brutal heartbreak of a unique and self-inflicted setback at the end of last season.
