The fact of the matter is unless saints do something different on Saturday then they will get the same result as in the previous three games this season.
Long term readers of this site will know that one of my favourite sayings in football is "If you do the same things, then you get the same results" last season i was critical of our central defensive pairing, for most of the season many disagreed with me and told me how wrong I was, however most could not fail to notice the cracks widening in the final ten games when 13 goals conceded almost cost us promotion.
From the very end of last season, I harped on about the need for Premier quality central defenders along with width and pace out wide, as the summer wore on and these areas were not addressed I was very worried and sadly my worries came home to roost in the opening three games.
Although we still carried on strengthening in areas we didnt need to ie up front, right at the closure of the transfer window we made two crucial signings in Gaston Ramirez & Yoshida, now I like most have no real idea how these players will perform in the Premier league in that they have never played there before, but someone feels that they are value for the money we have paid, so the time to throw them in is now.
The fact of the matter is that like the tail end of last season, most of our goals were leaked through the centre of defence, so Yoshida has to be played at Arsenal assuming he is available, likewise Ramirez, we can keep on playing forwards on the left wing and to be blunt Lallana as great a player as he is, doesnt have the pace that we need down the flanks in the Premier..
Nigel Adkins reputation is now on the line, whoever is responsible for the transfer dealings or lack of them, the truth of the matter is that the buck stops at the managers door, Adkins clearly knew the weaknesses hence the attempts to plug the gaps three months ago to little avail, Adkins may feel he hasnt got the quality of signings that he hoped for, but this is what he has to work with.
Plainly Fonte & Hooiveld arent good enough as a central pairing, Adkins has to put in Yoshida and decide which of the two would best compliment him, when the chips are down managers have to manage and make tough decisions, in some respects Adkins hasnt had many toughies to make so far but now he has, the finger pointed to him regarding his substitutions against Man Utd, now he has to get it right from the very start otherwise we could come unstuck, Nigel has to be brave and accept that if he does the same things at the back, then we will get the same results, the Premier league is an unforgiving division, we have already thrown away at least five points out of the first nine, now we need to do something different to get the first point on the board.