All it seems to be this season is a roller coaster of ups and downs with a good result being followed by an absolutely appalling one.

There can be no excuses for this result, we have seen it before this season many many times, once again we dominated possession with 59%, we dominated shots on goal with 20 against 9 , with the only real difference to most of our defeats that we also dominated shos on target with 5 against 3, but at the end of the day the only stat that counts is goals scored.

We are not a bad side, but we are a side that has seen its balance and momentum ruined by the way that Claude Puel implemented the rotation system and now the manager has realised the error of his ways it is not so easy just to switch back into being a winning side again.

The rotation system can't be blamed for this one, Puel finally realised the benefit of keeping a strong defence and then subtle changes in the middle of the park, this meant that we controlled the game, however when you are down you get kicked in the teeth and that is what happened here.

This was the fourth Premier League defeat in a row and this needs to be arrested and quickly, the problem for the manager is that he now has games coming at him thick and fast and that is going to be tricky to balance.

But that doesn't mean the situation is irretrievable, what it needs now is everyone to pull together to try and make this season a good one and from that viewpoint we are still stood on firm ground, in the Premier League beating Burnley would have seen us in 9th and we are still only three points from that position, but we need to start getting back to winning ways fast.

Some have become too used to winning and can't accept sometimes you have to take a step back to keep moving forward, I said at the start of the season thatit wouldbe hard to replicate last season in the League and we need to remember that if we finish in the top ten that will be the first time in our history we have managed that feat in four consecutive seasons.

In the cups we still have a good chance of glory and this is perhaps where our priorities need to lie.

There is still a lot to play for, yes there is a few things wrong, but they are not major issues and can be put right by a good signing or two.

I always try to take plus points from defeats and the one from this one is that Puel did not rotate willy nilly as he has done at times this season, hopefully that bodes well for the rest of the season.

Disappointing, I was very downcast after this one, hence the late match verdict, however we have to keep looking forward and not back, we cannot change this result nor the previous ones, what we can change though is the ones going forward, as i seem to have had to keep saying for the past three years, it is never about what you have just done in football, but what you do next !

Photo: Action Images

janecook added 10:40 - Jan 16 As soon as I saw that JWP was playing I feared the worst its like playing with ten men. Davis was badly missed and if he was not fit Clasie should have started if fit. Next in line should be Reed but never JWP. We must buy at least one Striker in January although I would prefer two. If not we will soon be down the Bottom of the table.
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arthurfane added 10:49 - Jan 16 So, so frustrating. Need a striker who can finish and QUICK. Shane Long and Dusan Tadic are hopeless at the moment - JRod needs to start every game until new striker arrives. Note on Cedric - think he's been exceptional recently. Quick, good crossing, amazing last ditch tackle on Saturday, A real stand out of late - to think Martina's been preferred to him at times . . .

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OwenTheSaint added 11:01 - Jan 16 Good rally call Nick, I agree with your comments but in addition, I believe the onus is now on the club, not the fans, to show positive commitment to the cause by signing a few good players (add one more to that list if/when Fonte leaves). We made 25m in the last transfer window and it's been showing all season.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:25 - Jan 16 Its so obvious to everyone that we need a striker. We dominate most games but don't take our chances. If you put Harry Kane into our team then we would be pushing for top 4. No exageration. That's the difference having a top striker makes. Its worth the tens of millions of pounds it costs to sign someone like that. I can't see the club parting with that much cash though, especially in January. It's gonna be a shitty 2nd half of the season for us unless we can get to Wembley.

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thornhill1976 added 11:25 - Jan 16 Long, Redmond and Yoshida are all decent Championship players. They are not top class Premiership quality. JWP has been a disaster. Those people who say "well he puts in a good cross" should give their head a good shake. Every pro footballer who practices 5 days a week should be able to do that! The fact is he doesn't create a great deal, he re-cycles the ball backwards, he can't tackle and he hardly ever scores! He has had his chance. Also the whole notion of "rotation" is utterly ridiculous. In the 70s and 80s (when football was a proper contact sport) players performed twice a week. We don't have an abundance of talent in the squad so he needs to pick his best 11. Every game. And Les Reed needs to sign a striker or take full responsibility for the consequences.

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saintmark1976 added 12:13 - Jan 16 Thanks for your match verdict Nick.You have every right to feel downcast along with every Saints fan,especially those who go to the away games. The fact that it appeared VVD had to play at centre forward for the last twenty odd minutes against a team as poor as Burnley says it all for me. Desperate times or what? Bearing in mind that we have now lost four league games on the bounce I wonder if there is anything to be lost in bringing Gallagher back from Blackburn? If nothing else it would give the manager another option as clearly every combination of Jay Rod/Long/ Tadic/Redmond has failed to deliver the goals we need.

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ExiledSupporter added 12:33 - Jan 16 I accept that the rotation policy has been highly disruptive (sometimes), but on occasions it has also been a necessary evil, as a direct consequence of playing potentially too many games due to our European commitments. The problem goes deeper than just this and it’s in part due to failing abysmally to recruit not just a reliable replacement for Pelle, but even more so it's about why the club effectively abandoned the team structure that it had previously committed to under Poch and Koeman in favour of Puel's preferred diamond system. This isn't Puel's fault, this worked for him in a different league with different players, he made no pretence otherwise, but this may not have been the right decision for the club - but then we didn't show enough ambition to secure RK convincingly before Puel was in the picture. Nor do I blame any of the players who have been signed this year, Boufal looks like being a highly capable player, once he has adapted to the rigours of the EPL; Redmond has got a very unfair reputation although he is too inaccurate in his shooting and I cannot see him really being other than a fast and dangerous winger (with perhaps 7 to 8 goals per season plus assists) and even Hojbjerg has shown some inconsistently promising moments. Austin aside, there is no one to be a consistent target for crosses, a player that can hold the ball up, lay it off to midfielders running into the penalty area and generally bully opposition defenders into mistakes. I’m pleased to see JRod steadily improving, Long for all his undoubted qualities needs to play along side a Pelle type figure, but neither of them fall into the category of ruthless strikers And as we all know a significant consistent contribution of goals from midfield never was going to happen and hasn’t. To their credit the most dangerous players in the opposition half are the two full backs whose runs to the by-line have been consistently effective. We do not threaten to score goals often enough nor credibly enough to cause our opponents any real worries…we barely ever press. The system doesn’t work and credit to Puel for giving more youngsters chances than Koeman did. But the problem exists do we choose the system to suit the players available to us or do we seek the players who will better fit the system?

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aceofthebase added 12:37 - Jan 16 If only Cedric hadn't botched his shot at goal!
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pete_boggs added 12:43 - Jan 16 We needed, and now need more than ever, what all good teams have which is an attacking midfield. Buy some now Les. I also agree with janecook , JWP is a liablity and league one standard at best. When he plays we are doomed.
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highfield49 added 12:45 - Jan 16 Thankfully posters on here don't add to the negative drivel that fills the Echo every week, the last thing we need imo is the Reed out, owner out, manager out rants of those who have absolutely no idea what their replacements, whoever they have in mind, might bring. Most supporters would love to see the purchase (or loan?) of a goalscorer and almost equally a central defender to replace Fonte should he decide to leave or not play for the club. However, like others have highlighted in recent weeks, we also seem to have a goalkeeper who is struggling for confidence at present. It could be said that Burnley won this match because Heaton was between their posts, he made a couple of quality saves compared to Forster's less than convincing handling in general and poor positioning for the winning goal. I suspect Puel will rotate keepers again this week because I think we now have issues at both ends of the pitch.

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bstokesaint added 12:47 - Jan 16 Think Exiled pretty much sums up my thoughts too. We desperately need a striker. I think someone in Benteke's mould would have made a huge difference to where we are in the league right now and also papered over Forster's dip in form and confidence. For the first time this season I'm concerned about the chasing pack. Like you say Nick we're not a bad side, but at the moment we're not playing like a particular good one either. Mediocre performances, or good performances without goals, don't cut it in the PL. We are now just 3 points better off at the same point than we were in our first season back in the top flight when we finished on 41!

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schatfield added 12:48 - Jan 16 It actually wasnt a too bad side we had out - simply put, they had a good young goalkeeper playing well, and we had a crap one in ours. Swap them over and we would have won...(shame Forster seems undropable)
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arthurfane added 13:01 - Jan 16 ^^ it's such a common misconception that Heaton's young. He's 30. Interesting to note after Everton's big win yesterday, the contribution of the youngsters. Am I right in thinking that he suddenly played them (Holgate and Davies) after we beat them 1-0. He reacted and gave those two youngsters a go. Are we the source of Everton's sublime performance yesterday?
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BoondockSaint added 13:36 - Jan 16 We need strikers? Most of us have been on about that since Pelle and Mane walked out the door with their 25 goals! (Remember Nick said they were "easily replaced"? How bad are you when Joey Barton scores against you??? If we had an owner, personnel director, or manager who had any competitive spirit or pride, they would have been wrecking the locker room after 4 straight loses . But I get the feeling as long as the gate receipts were good for those games, they don't care.

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LordDZLucan added 13:50 - Jan 16 Nick, this reads exactly like one of your previous articles after a defeat. We got into a bit of a disagreement over what our expectations should be this season so I won't go there again. But having seen some of the Everton game yesterday, Everton now look like the Saints of the last couple of seasons and we now look like Everton under Martinez. Obviously Everton getting Koeman and our style of play mirroring that of Martinez is part of the story but another factor is ambition. Everton have it; we don't. They spent big in the summer; they have already spent £30m in this transfer window; as yet we've spent nothing.

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SanMarco added 13:51 - Jan 16 Reading the comments I really do feel a very strong sense of deja vu. It is almost as if the same old performances are getting the same reactions from us. It is difficult to find much new to say when the match (as the rather good verdict in the Echo points out) is so depressingly predictable. There was a sense of inevitability about them stealing it. I was interested to see that thornhill lumps Long in with Yoshi and Redmond as 'Championship' players. He (Long that is) wasn't last year so something has happened to his confidence/ability THIS season - any ideas Claude?? One slight issue I would take with the article is that this is a step back to keep moving forward. I simply don't see it. Three steps back (not all of them intended) to create one step forward next season perhaps - remember we will probably have to buy a new defence in the summer. Also - Saturday wasn't bad luck, it was the pattern of our season. Our defensive unit is easily top half, perhaps even top five, our woeful failings in the attacking areas (predicted from day one by many and still in no way being addressed or improving) are relegation standard. If we keep on as we are we will stay up but little more. If the attacking problems are sorted out we could easily still come 8th but if they aren't and the defence collapses we could conceivably go down. We have after all lost to Palace, Hull and Burnley with Swansea, M'Boro and Sunderland all to come away from home - on present form they COULD all be 0-1 defeats. I don't see any of them being easier nthan Burnley, Hull or Palace....

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Pepperwrite added 14:36 - Jan 16 Perhaps the real problem is Puel. His team mirrors his chronic lack of charisma. The Saints manager is by far the worst performer on Match of the Day, he doesn't look either interviewer or camera in the eye, he mumbles, and has nothing of any interest to say, conjuring neither food-for-thought nor excitement about his team at all. After Pochettino and Koeman, a bad choice. And Saints are paying the price. We need a whole new team under a brand-new boss. Exit for starters: Fonte, Ward-Prowse, Long, Hojbjerg, Redmond, Rodriguez. And I'd do away with Austin too: he's so injury-prone now he's become a liability? Back to the drawing board, Southampton.

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DPeps added 15:07 - Jan 16 I'm not panicking as much as some fans, but my 'mild concern' will move to 'blind panic' if we fail to get at least 4 points against Leicester and Swansea in the league. As I've said before, the squad rotation is an issue but the bigger picture is the quality of our squad. We are so dependent on a small number of players: Davis, VVD and Austin (for goals). Without Davis playing we look poor, and a shudder to think what would happen if Virgil got injured! In the past I've been broadly supportive and accepting of the board's decisions, but it's clear to see that we made some errors in the transfer market last summer. To be clear, I'm not saying any of the players we bought are bad, but they're not good enough yet. And, of course, the decision to not get a striker is haunting us badly now. The problem is who? As others have said, which clubs will part with a decent striker in Jan? This is a problem of our own making though!

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SanMarco added 15:50 - Jan 16 DPeps - surely you've got a 'deep concern' position to move to between those two and maybe even a 'fairly concerned' to take in on your journey? Its easier being a total pessimist - I just spend my life at 'deeply concerned' with the odd pop up to 'mildly concerned' if we have a good win. I reserve 'not concerned at all' for when we win the treble - even then of course the only way from there would be down to 'mild concern' or worse. If we lose to Leicester and Swansea I will simply stay at 'deeply concerned' perhaps with a 'very' added - no need to panic when you always expect the worst...

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davepid added 18:06 - Jan 16 At the expense of being ridiculed I actually thought we played well first half except for not converting the 1/2 excellent chances we had. Far better performance than the last away game I saw - Stoke . Given that to score you have to move the ball forwards then let's realise that jwp will never score from a moving ball at his feet! After all, his one moving ball goal at West Ham was more of a sideways pass than a thunderbolt . It definitely helps not to expect anything from him and Redmond .

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