Will Still explains what Southampton ‘must learn’ after goalless derby draw vs Portsmouth

Add as preferred source on Google

Southampton and Portsmouth played out a feisty 0-0 draw at St Mary’s on Sunday afternoon.

Southampton and Portsmouth achieved a feat not seen in 125 years with their goalless stalemate in the South Coast derby draw at the weekend.

Will Still’s hosts enjoyed 60 per cent of possession but failed to carve out many clear-cut chances against Pompey.

Former Portsmouth boss Guy Whittingham believed Portsmouth earned a “very good point” at Southampton, and it was thoroughly deserved for their spirited display.

The stalemate was the Saints’ third out of five at the start of Still’s Championship tenure, and the Southampton boss outlined where his side must improve after full-time.

• READ MORE: All Sheffield United transfers this summer including Vini Souza and Japhet Tanganga

Southampton must ‘learn’ from derby draw vs Portsmouth

Portsmouth’s defensive grit proved insurmountable for Southampton, with Still’s side unable to break the visitors down.

With the Saints struggling for form and potency in front of goal, Southampton fans are unimpressed by Still after his poor start in the St Mary’s dugout.

Still must learn to adapt his playstyle and overcome Championship defences sooner rather than later, but Still explained after the game that his side must “learn how to take a game by the scruff of the neck”.

Still told Southampton’s media: “We need to learn how to take a game by the scruff of the neck and play, and impose what we want to do on the opposition, which I think we did better in the second half.

“We’ve got to deal with that, because Wrexham tried to do it in the first game as well, which was quite chopped up and bitty and not very attractive.

“We’ve got a lot of new players in, and we looked a bit like a team that were searching ourselves and looking for the right pass lines, the right areas to play in and where to receive.

“We’ve got to get back on the training pitch, analyse what we need to analyse, keep building and keep moving forward.

“We’ve got good players in but there are quite a few of them and it’s a changing team, it’s a team that’s going from one identity to another.

“There’s a big turnover, so I knew everything wasn’t going to be perfect, but we need to stop wasting time, looking at each other and finding excuses, like we did in the first half, and just get on with it.”

• READ MORE: Richard Kone’s incredible Queens Park Rangers start summed up by one mad revelation

Southampton must start converting possession into goals

Still is a possession-orientated coach, so in that sense, his start to Championship life at Southampton has gone exactly to plan.

However, the glaring concern hanging over Still is Southampton’s inability to be clinical in front of goal despite enjoying the highest average possession (59.1%) in the Championship so far this season.

In stark contrast, Coventry City are second behind Southampton in the Championship for average possession (58.3%), but sit nine places higher in the table after scoring nine more goals than Still’s side.

We at EFL Analysis backed Southampton as promotion favourites in our early 2025/26 Championship predictions, and the Saints must learn to find the back of the net more as well as Still’s aforementioned demands to achieve a top-six place this season.