Jo Tessem, an ex-Southampton player, believes that Saints winger Sam Edozie must master the fundamentals before he can excel at beating defenders.
Edozie joined Saints on a five-year deal from Manchester City last year, although he largely served as an impact replacement for the rest of the season.
However, Edozie’s game time at St. Mary’s has improved dramatically this season, as he has already started nine league games under Russell Martin and contributed five goals.
Southampton beat Blackburn Rovers 4-0 in the league last week, and Tessem believes that if Edozie had put more crosses into the box, the score would have been even higher.
Tessem emphasized that Edozie is still in his development phase, but the former Saints player made it plain that Edozie must perform the simple things well or else his smart work beating people will be for none.
Tessem commented on BBC Radio Solent of Edozie’s decision-making once he beats a defender with his talent, “He needs to be better at creating opportunities in the next phase.”
“It’s pointless being good at the difficult thing if you can’t do the simple thing when you put the full-back on his bum and go past him and can’t cross the ball.”
“And that is the only criticism you can level at him, but he was excellent at being direct; he should have included more crosses.”
“And then we could have probably won by even more.”
“That’s the difference of being a top, top player and where he is, in the development phase.”
Edozie will be hoping to maintain his starting spot against QPR on Saturday.
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