It was a sorry Sunday afternoon for a hapless Middlesbrough, who struggled to bring anything to the table in their 1-0 loss to Southampton at St Mary's Stadium. With only three shots on target for Boro and two for Saints, it was not a game for the purists. It came down to a moment of solo brilliance by Sofiane Boufal to nudge Southampton to victory.
Positives
Pulling out positives is a tough call as the away side offered little in the way of ingenuity in what was a very flat performance. However, left-back Fabio did well to keep Dusan Tadic very quiet in the first half and midfield engine Adam Clayton worked his socks off throughout.