All the words of caution uttered before the match were seemingly ignored both on and off the pitch as QPR like Newcastle last week played Saints perfectly to take the three points.

In the pre match previews I warned of the vitriol directed against Harry Redknapp continuing too far into the game and affecting the support for the team, sadly no one seemed to take notice of this, certainly not in the Northam End who when QPR scored in the 14th minute had barely paused for breath in singing anti Redknapp songs.

On the pitch it was Newcastle repeated, only on tis occasion there was no early goal from Saints, for the first 14 minutes the home side dominated the game and pushed Rangers further and further back without really punishing them, then with just about their first attack the visitors took the lead, like last week it was a long through ball forward which caught Saints on the hop and this is really something we need to start dealing with otherwise we might be in real trouble in the coming weeks.

But the game veered back towards Saints on the break, with Adam Lallana having to go off injured on came Jay Rodriguez and Saits benefitted from his more direct approach, the first half had seen far too much passing and not enough troubling of Cesar in the QPR goal, Rodriguez changed all that, he won the ball 30 yards out took a few strides and then cracked a shot off which Cesar couldnt hold and there was Ramirez to daintily chip it over the keeper as he scrambled to recover his error, a minute later and Rodriguez tried the same trick again sadly Cesar held on this time and the game went into the break evens.

The second half saw more Saints domination, but you felt that QPR had a game plan, Harry edknapp was content to soak up the pressure and go on the break at speed and it was this that again caused our downfall, a quick break down the left saw us caught out and Boothroyd put in the resulting cross from close range.

Saints nearly got an equaliser but Robert Green on as a sub goalie pulled off a couple of smart saves, one of them World class to keep out Yoshida and that was that QPR had a rare win and Saints are left looking nervously over their shoulders.

Saints didnt play bad in this game, but the fact is that in the January transfer window we failed to make improvements to the team in key areas and we are paying the price for it week in week out, perhaps the two goals that won the game for Rangers were not as much down to individual error as last week, but truthfully the defending was unacceptably sloppy.

This season should still end in us keeping our Premier league place, but its far from certain now after two straight defeats to teams who were below us in the table at the time of playing them, call me negative if you want but I want this club to prosper and somewhere along the line something is not being run properly on the footballing side of things, this is not a direct criticism of our Chairman, he has people in place to advise him, at them moment some of that advise is looking decidedly risky.       

Photo: Action Images

SaintJez added 11:16 - Mar 4 that's a bit knee jerk, Trotsky. I don't disagree that the Adkins sacking was strange, and that the new manager hasn't really fared any better than his predecessor, but the club won't be helped by yet more change. We shouldn't ignore that Saints had more than double QPR on every match statistic of note other than the one that is all important. We are now getting used to seeing Saints dominate the ball against other premier league teams (think back just 3 years for how far we have come!). Most of the goals we concede are from basic defensive errors. Not playing those that consistently make the same errors and good coaching (or buying 3 million pound international defenders) should be able to resolve this - at least to a degree where we don't give birthday presents to opposing managers. On that subject.. Where on earth is Forren? How bad is he?! Also - anyone know why Hooiveld didn't make the bench on Saturday either? Seems a bit reckless to go into a match with a centre half returning from injury and no cover on the bench.

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stmichael added 11:31 - Mar 4 And let's not forget you did an article on the very subject. All week on here the natch itself was almost a side issue as Harry was slated from pillar to post. Amateur support that got what it deserved. I am very worried looking at upcoming fixtures that 2 defeats in a row could easily and quickly become 5 or 6. We have lost our momentum at a very bad time. Very soon it might be the blue few singing that pathetic " who the fook is laughing g now"

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trotsky added 11:55 - Mar 4 I agree with your analysis entirely, SaintJez, and pointed out that there will be no change and it can serve little purpose now the damage has probably been done. My point is that: a) when you make a completely unnecessary change like Cortese did, you take out the only option you have to address any problems. Most managerial changes intend to reverse a slide: Cortese's has initiated one and we don't have the realistic option of changing managers. b) Cortese has set out standards that are unfathomably high. Pochettino is not meeting them, so does NC lower these standards or sack him? Either reveal a lack of judgment on NC's part. Of course, Pochettino might come good, but the general mood is that the best case scenario now is that we're going to scrape into a second PL season, when six weeks ago, it was looking like we'd do so at a stylish canter.

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ItchenNorth added 13:36 - Mar 4 There are a lot of people panicking on here this week! I didn’t think we played that badly tbh it’s just yet again the same old culprit’s gifted goals to the opposition. As soon as we get rid of that numpty Fox the better. Pochettino must have spotted his ineptness by now too as its plain to see from the stands. I’m not convinced by Maya either. Fonte looked good though coming of the back of a spell on the side lines and Boruc only had to make one save all game! I’d be looking for Fonte, Forren (hoping for in this case!) and Shaw all to be in the starting back line come Norwich this weekend.

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SaintNick added 13:36 - Mar 4 I stick by what i have been saying for months we dont have the players to play the formation that the managers have been ordered to play, im not particularly a big fan of Fox, but what I do recognise is two things firstly whoever plays at left back is badly exposed as we have no natural wide left midfield man and secondly that a portion of our supporters are willing to blame Fox for everything whilst absolvnig Shaw from any sort of blame whasoever, I have just watched the goals again and as i said on both of them our left back was to blame, Shaw's challenge for the second saw him caught in two minds and although he won the ball tamely just knocking it a few yards forward, blame Fox but also see the pattern emerging, whoever is playing at left back is getting badly exposed time and time again and its been happening all season, Shaw is getting burnt out from both getting left exposed too many times and fans expectartions. As for playing Clyne at left back, ask anyone who went to Everton how he played there, as i say the problem isnt who is at left back but who is playing in front of them, sort this out and you sort out the problem

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ExiledSupporter added 13:55 - Mar 4 Nick I don't disagree with your analysis, but the problem here is that because of the failures to recruit to obvious priorities we have no obvious candidates to play on the left to both provide cover in front of the left back and to provide some attacking threat down the left flank. Who would you suggest given our circumstances? I have promoted the idea of playing Cork, Schneiderlein and Davis in front of the defence (because they have the best engines in the team) long before it recently became a popular option with MoPo perhaps forced on him by the extended absence of Lallana. This seemed to work somewhat more effectively than what had gone before, but now seems to have been discarded

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SaintJez added 14:56 - Mar 4 We may never know re: Adkins unless he tells his story one day but I highly doubt Pochettino is ordered to play in any particular formation. He sets Saints up the same way he did at Espanyol and that is pretty much a mirror image of the Barcelona way - and it's certainly not a bad example to follow! I doubt Les Reed has a mastery of the spanish lingo anyway!! Earlier in the season we have seen our full backs get overloaded but that hasn't happened so much since Cork returned from injury and gave our midfield a strong base alongside the excellent Spider. What we are seeing is our full backs get isolated one on one against the forward they are playing against. If you believe in the pressing system you will just consider this a normal event and trust that your full back is competent enough to deal with the individual threat - especially if the ball to the forward is launched from a deep area. Clyne doesn't have great positioning but has good cover pace so can make amends more often than not. Shaw has decent pace and good body posture when someone is running at him which means he won't get beaten too often. Fox has none of these plus a lax attitude to tracking a runner. At the end of the day, football is about winning individual battles and the full backs have to win theirs more often than not. Fox simply doesn't win enough individual battles. For what it's worth, I think we'll do ok against Norwich as they don't really have the raw pace which hurts us so if we can defend set pieces properly our greater midfield quality should win through.

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slynch added 15:19 - Mar 4 There is a mathematical technique that suggests if you sample enough guesses from people who express an opinion them the mean of the sum of their joint opinions, however bizarre some may seem, will be very nearly correct. Using that theory then people on this site think the best team is... GAZZA CLYNE FONTE YOSH SHAW PUNCH SCHNEIDERLIN DAVIS LALA RAMIREZ LAMBO No one can argue about it because they choose it!?!

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SaintNick added 15:26 - Mar 4 I would try playing Fox on the left side of the midfield to cover Shaw, I did suggest this earlier in the season, the fact that Fox wasnt on the field for our second goal added to others conceded on the left when he wasnt on the field, including the second newcastle goal and the last minute one conceded against Wigan when haw played them all on side suggests that the problem down the left is still there even when he isnt playing it needs dealing with Saintjez is also right pochettino played this way at Espanyol which is probably why we went for him as he plays the way we want to play, but the real problem is trying to play this system when we dont have the players at the moment

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zonehead added 21:56 - Mar 4 I always had an uneasy feeling about this game, they won at chelsea without Samba have 2 good goalies and we had to attack still just heard Villa lost so we got away with it, probably beat Norwich so...
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