Redknapp fury at wayward finishing

Last updated : 15 September 2005 By Chris C

Harry was interviewed by reporters in the heat of the moment after the Ipswich game in which Saints once again had to come from behind to draw in a game that they should have won by some distance.

True football is all about goals and Ipswich scored two of them from more slack defending at set pieces. However, Saints mustered a whopping 20 shots on target and some contenders for miss of the season along the way. Even Ipswich manager Joe Royle admitted to Redknapp that “he has used up his luck for the season tonight.”

Harry bemoaned the lack of a proven finisher that would have won the game for Saints: “I have never seen a team create so many chances and miss so many chances. If we had had Andy Johnson and Clinton Morrison we would have won by six, if we had had Peter Crouch and Kevin Phillips we would have won by seven.

“We played great and opened them up but we could not finish. This is very much two points dropped; the game was there for the taking. It was a crap result for us - a real waste. We should not settle for a point here - maybe a year ago, but that is not what I want. We played some great football but we need people to score goals.

Redknapp picked out terrible misses from Higginbotham and Ormerod in particular, although they weren’t alone. While Higginbotham may have got carried away after his rare strike against QPR last Saturday, Ormerod is a striker and should have converted at least one of his chances, this coming after another terrible miss against Coventry.

Harry may feel he has seen enough from Ormerod, particularly considering his comment that: “Players cannot be something they are not. Those who score goals will do it and those who don't won't.”

The question now is how Harry will react for the next game against Derby. After three successive draws in a row, it is vital that Saints rediscover the winning touch. Saints remain in fifth, but can’t allow the likes of Sheffield United and Reading to get too far ahead.

There are no shortage of strikers available to him, but they have either not been scoring or are young and unproven. With the midfield creating so many chances at the moment what is needed is a cool head to finish off the moves.

Many fans are calling for the poaching skills of Blackstock to be given a run in the side and as one with a few senior goals to his name, the lack of form of the other strikers will surely earn him another chance sooner rather than later. He was given a full run out against Sheffield Wednesday but failed to get on the scoresheet, although he managed to score shortly afterwards at Southend United in the cup.

Jones’ early season form looked to be Saints most likely source of goals up front, but even he has suffered something of a dip in form and was guilty of some of the kind of wayward finishing against QPR that Harry was bemoaning. Fuller has only managed a solitary goal and despite their undoubted potential Walcott and McGoldrick are better suited to the subs bench to aid their development.

Harry may look at playing 4-5-1 with Belmadi playing off a solitary striker and Jones as the holding man, but whatever the formation Saints need a regular goalscorer and it is up to one of our many strikers to take their chances and provide the goals up front that our recent play have deserved.