Toothless Saints slip back into familiar territory

Southampton 0 Charlton Athletic

The verdict from the short, fiery red-head was typically direct. "Terrible. They are terrified of getting beaten. Both teams just sat back and played 4-4-2," said the midfielder who performed with such distinction for club and country. Not that Alan Ball, who was at St Mary's as a pundit but who once played for and subsequently anything different from the man now in charge, Gordon Strachan.

For the Scot there was a lack of character with players lost in a "Bermuda triangle" once inside the opposition's area. In other words, they bottled it.

Alan Curbishley, the Charlton manager, spoke of the need for points not performance. "It's a question of getting some on the board." But then this is the percentage Premiership, where entertainment and freedom to play are sacrificed in the pursuit of points. Little wonder the crowd was the lowest so far at Southampton's latest home.

No one can blame Strachan or Curbishley – there is simply too much at stake. But this game cried out for someone to be bold. It was summed up in the 81st minute when Wayne Bridge, Southampton's England international left-back, burst into the box. With a clear sight of goal just 15 yards out, he chose to square the ball to an imaginary colleague. Bottle.

Southampton chose to drop their Welsh international goalkeeper, Paul Jones, following his extraordinary blunder against West Bromwich Albion last week, and give a debut to Antti Niemi. In one of those cruel twists Jones spoke in the match programme of his determination to "hold on to the shirt". Instead the Finn, a £2m signing from Hearts, pushed away Claus Jensen's 35-yard free-kick at the end of the first half to provide the only real moment of quality in the match.

For the home side Marian Pahars, as ever, was lively with the midfielder, Jo Tessem, alongside him in place of James Beattie. Tessem proved to be a handful in the air and had a header cleared off the line by Chris Powell in the 39th minute.

Charlton's best moments centred around Jensen, although the neat midfield play was often swamped by Southampton's more aggressive approach. Up front for the south Londoners, Jason Euell was dangerous but isolated. His striking partners, Jonatan Johansson in the first-half and Shaun Bartlett in the second, were equally anonymous. Only when Kevin Lisbee came on in the 85th minute did Charlton have any spark.

It was this fixture last season that provided Southampton with their first win at the smart but passionless new stadium and exorcised talk of evil spirits. On Saturday, however, a few demons returned and the Saints slipped into a relegation place.

Southampton (4-4-2): Niemi 6; Telfer 4, Lundekvam 5, Williams 4, Bridge 6; Fernandes 5 (Beattie 4, 75), Delap 5, Oakley 5 (A Svensson 5, 68), Marsden 5; Pahars 7, Tessem 6. Substitutes not used: Jones (gk), M Svensson, Dodd.

Charlton Athletic (4-4-2): Kiely 6; Young 4, Powell 5, Rufus 4, Fortune 5; Jensen 6, Bart Williams 5, Robinson 4 (Lisbie 5, 85), Konchesky 4; Johansson 3; (Bartlett 3, h-t), Euell 6. Substitutes not used: Rachubka (gk), Fish, Kishishev.

Referee: P Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent) 5.

Bookings: Southampton: Delap, Bridge. Charlton: Euell.

Man of the match: Pahars.

Attendance: 25,714.