Southampton player ratings from 2-1 Derby County comeback: Scienza 9/10, Azaz poor

Southampton player ratings from the 2-1 Derby County comeback at St. Mary’s. Leo Scienza 9/10, Finn Azaz poor for the Saints.

Southampton have mastered the art of going ahead, grabbing a 2-0 lead and then cruising past opponents under Tonda Eckert. At Derby County, the Saints also channelled a second half comeback spirit.

In Tonda’s eyes, this 2-1 Derby County win had shades of a Leicester City style comeback performance. And honestly, coming from behind to win games comes handy just before the playoffs.

Clean sheets are probably the only area where Southampton needs to be better. With that, let’s head over to the Southampton player ratings on a scale of 10 from the 2-1 second-half comeback win over a resilient Derby County side.

Southampton player ratings from 2-1 Derby County comeback

GK: Daniel Peretz – 6

Just like Wrexham, Derby County didn’t force many saves from Peretz. The goal conceded was a mix of a poorly gifted corner and lazy defending. Still, Peretz could have done a bit better at guessing the right way instead of standing still.

LB: Ryan Manning – 8

Laid a good early cross for Ross Stewart who couldn’t get a good contact on it. Played a few exchange passes with Finn Azaz on the left. And it was Manning himself, who stepped up for the free-kick and assisted Taylor Harwood-Bellis for the crucial 2-1 goal.

CB: Taylor Harwood-Bellis – 8.5

Harwood-Bellis was back at it with his build up passes to Flynn Downes and Caspar Jander in midfield. Trusted his instincts to place his header at the near post and score his 6th goal for Southampton across all competitions this season.

Facing Carlton Morris was going to be tough, but Harwood-Bellis partnered Stephens well for large parts of the game.

CB: Jack Stephens – 6

Jack Stephens was shaky at Wrexham on Tuesday and kinda started the Derby game in the same way. Failed to track Morris on Derby’s goal and lost a number of aerial duels to him as well. Bailed out by Taylor Harwood-Bellis in the dying moments of the match.

RB: James Bree – 6.5

James Bree stayed behind often in the Southampton defence with Manning bursting forward with crosses from the other end. Blocked a Derby shot in the first half, fired a decent chance wide off target and recovered possession here and there.

CM: Flynn Downes – 7.5

Won the free kick that led to Southampton scoring the second goal. Helped out in heading Derby’s chances away and partnered Jander well in the middle of the park.

CAM: Finn Azaz – 6.5

Caught up in two minds in the first half where Azaz went for placement instead of power on 2 shots. Rushed for a pass and gave away the corner from which Derby County scored. On his part, Azaz got the assist on Leo Scienza’s goal which was mostly down to Jander pulling the strings from midfield.

CM: Caspar Jander – 9

Brought in for Shea Charles in the starting lineup, and did that job to perfection. Jander broke through the Derby County midfield a couple of times, dribbling past 3-4 players just like how Charles does.

His pre-assist on Leo Scienza’s goal came the same way where Jander latched on to a loose ball from his own half to enter the final third before releasing it to Finn Azaz, and then to Scienza.

LW: Leo Scienza – 9

Scienza was a proper threat on the left wing, but wish his teammates could be more clinical. Scienza teed up Ross Stewart and James Bree near the edge of the box but both of them failed to shoot on target. Eventually, the Brazilian had a go at the goal himself and found the bottom corner to start the comeback.

ST: Ross Stewart – 5

Stewart had scored in consecutive matches for the first time in his Southampton career but a third goal in a row evaded him. Mistimed an early header and then couldn’t get a shot past the defender. His replacement, Cyle Larin got much closer to scoring than Stewart on the afternoon.

RW: Tom Fellows – 7

Fellows had a quiet game in the first 45 minutes. Got more involved later by delivering a couple of decent crosses, and skied a header from point blank range.