A 2-1 defeat at Vicarage Road on Sunday handed Southampton the worst possible start to a season in which the club have publicly declared automatic promotion as their target. BBC Radio Solent's Adam Blackmore, reflecting on the result, concluded that the performance fell well short of the standards Southampton set in the second half of last campaign.

A damaging seven-point swing

The margin of defeat matters more than the scoreline alone. With rivals collecting three points while Southampton collected none, Blackmore notes the club already sit seven points adrift of where they need to be relative to their stated ambitions. He points out that, over the past five seasons, sides who have gone up automatically have averaged seven defeats across an entire campaign. Southampton have used up the equivalent of one of those defeats on day one.

The room for error, as Blackmore puts it, is smaller for a club that has set its stall out so openly. Saying you want automatic promotion is a hostage to fortune when the opening-day performance produces the kind of defensive fragility seen at Watford, where the hosts' forwards repeatedly ran at a back four with too few Southampton players tracking back quickly enough.

Tactical questions for Tonda Eckert

Much of Blackmore's concern centres on the pre-match decision to play Leo Scienza at number ten and push Lewis Dobbin out to the left, reversing the system Southampton had worked on throughout pre-season. In Blackmore's view, and that of analyst Jo Tessem on the same post-match programme, the change stripped Scienza of his biggest threat: operating wide, where he can run at defenders. Southampton improved noticeably once the shape shifted and Finn Azaz came off the bench.

Eckert defended the selection after the game, as managers invariably do, but the first-half display gave his critics little to rebut. Blackmore stops short of calling the performance a crisis, yet he refuses to reach for the comfort of "it's only game one". When a squad contains nearly all of the best players from the previous season's strongest run, the expectation is that quality shows itself from the first whistle.

The mental shadow of May's play-off final

A subtler concern runs through Blackmore's analysis: whether the manner of Southampton's exit from the play-off final in May has left a residue of doubt in the dressing room. He asks whether that experience, however galvanising it has felt for supporters and publicly for players, might quietly reduce the squad's tolerance for adversity when things go wrong again. Defeats, he suggests, risk feeling bigger than they should when a squad carries that kind of unresolved disappointment.

Chairman Dragan Solak's backing of Eckert over the summer brought many supporters back onside, and Blackmore acknowledges the importance of that unity. But he warns that "Spygate" and the questions surrounding Eckert's future will resurface quickly among those who were never fully convinced, if performances like Sunday's continue.

Stoke City visit arrives at the right moment

The fixture list has handed Southampton an opportunity to respond fast. Stoke City visit St Mary's on Saturday, giving Eckert a home crowd and a chance to put the Watford display into a more flattering context. Blackmore's conclusion is straightforward: Saints need a convincing performance and a win, and Eckert needs it every bit as much as his players do.

One defeat does not define a season, but the manner of it, the defensive lapses, the tactical miscalculation and the subdued press of players who looked capable of so much more last spring, means that Saturday's performance carries weight well beyond three points.

Frequently asked

What was the score in Southampton's game at Watford?
Watford beat Southampton 2-1 at Vicarage Road on the opening weekend of the Championship season.
Who is Southampton's manager in the Championship this season?
Tonda Eckert is Southampton's head coach, having guided the club through the previous Championship campaign.
What is Southampton's next Championship fixture?
Southampton host Stoke City at St Mary's on Saturday, giving them an immediate chance to respond to the Watford defeat.