I have waited a couple of days to write this report, to give me time to reflect on what I watched on Friday evening with some sort of clarity rather than raw emotion, but there is no easy way to dress things up and the problem and indeed the solution is there for all to see.

It seems that teams have worked out what you need to do to beat Southampton, it is all quite simple really, firstly you go at them in the opening minute of the game, then you sit back and wait for the opportunity to win the ball and counter attack and then you go at them in the final minutes of the first half, the opening minutes of the second and then the final minutes of the game itself, injury time of both halves is crucial in this.

Still at least it couldn't start as badly as it did at Sunderland, but it could, Jamie Vardy scoring after only 21 seconds as a shapeless and undisciplined Saints flayed desperately before the ball was slotted home by Vardy.

In truth we could have and should have equalised with a couple of good chances either saved by the keeper or spurned before McAteer doubled the lead on 18 minutes.

On 25 minutes Sam Edozie got a well taken goal and surely now it was game on, for a while it was and although Saints didn't get a second you felt that in the second half at only 2-1 down they could take the game to Leicester, put pressure on them and and get something out of this.

The problem was that they couldn't even hold this deficit, in the 3rd minute of 3 minutes of injury time they conceded another shoddy goal and now it was an uphill struggle.

Leicester now had a simple task and one they they were disciplined and organised enough to implement, sit back behind the ball and wait for their opportunities.

Saints for their part had their opportunities to reduce this deficit, but 20 minutes into the second half and the game was truly over, we had the ball in the left hand corner flag, a simple pass was mishit and suddenly 3 Leicester players crossed the half way line with the ball with not a Southampton player in sight.

How the hell does this happen, this is schoolboy stuff, you always keep someone back on the half way line, but we don't.

Now I can't believe that Russell Martin has this as part of his game plan, that he insists that all of his 10 outfield players push on and leave no one at the back to cover, this is just a plain lack of organisation on the pitch and there we have the problem in a nutshell !

I am sick to death of saying this but there is no leader, it is easy to blame individuals, the goalkeeper is an easy target, but look at the first goal, it is fired past him and he has two defenders next to him, he has no room to spread himself, what are they doing marking fresh air on their own goal line.

The next two goals were similar tales of woe, the second goal McAteer completely unmarked to slot past Bazunu and the third goal saw defenders sliding in everywhere, but nowhere near the ball.

I have already dissected the fourth goal and it is this goal that perhaps gives us the clue as to why we are shipping goals.

Gavin Bazunu was left completely exposed, three Leicester players way ahead of any other Saints player, how does this happen, on the face of it our back four was strong, we had Walker Peters proven in the Premier League and played for England, Taylor Harwood- Bellis, very experienced in the Championship and a member of Burnley's back four last season, Shea Charles a great talent, but needing as any player does at his age a mentor and Ryan Manning supposedly the best left back in the Championship last year.

So where are we going wrong ? a lack of leadership is the answer and unless we either find this leader or change our style we are going to keep leaking goals at a higher rate than we can score them.

The full backs job is to push on that is what they are instructed to do, so it is harsh to blame either KWP or Manning for doing their job, the issue is our failure to keep two players guarding the back line as we push on, that falls down to the two central defenders and also the two holding midfield players.

When we attack they all push forward, but none of them really look around and see the gaps that are appearing and plug them.

It is in essence the Charge of the Light Brigade, onward and onward, the only focus what is in front of us and not what we are leaving behind us, it is quite frankly football played by six year olds.

As I have mentioned Russell Martin surely isn't instructing them to do this, so why is it happening, sorry to bore you, but a lack of leadership.

If I was the manager I would be scouring the out of contract player lists for a 32 year old central defender from somewhere, otherwise we have to adapt.

As I mentioned in the preview to this match, perhaps have a back three allowing us to push the full backs forward, but also meaning we can keep two of that three back at all times, perhaps sitting Shea Charles in front of the other two, certainly we also need at least one of the central midfield players to sit and hold.

We have to go back to basics and build our side from the back, not just during the game, but our side in general, great sides are built from the back upwards and with a leader in the centre, both in the defence and in the midfield, great Saints sides have also been built that way, Chris Nicholl & Alan Ball when we were promoted in 1978 and for most of the following 4 years, Mark Wright & Jimmy Case and in later years Fonte & Steven Davis.

But can you see two players of this ilk in our squad ? I certainly can't, having experience is one thing, leading by example is another, but being a leader is a completely different thing altogether and we do not have one.

Even an organiser would greatly improve us, but again we have no organiser in defence, someone who holds the back line.

The plain truth of this is that we are not a bad side, I would say that we are one of the top 3 sides in the Championship in terms of quality, if not the top, but all of this is useless without leadership on the pitch.

This is why we are being beaten, the other sides know how to play against us, they know how to exploit our Achilles heel, as I say we have to change something and we have to do it fast.

This was another set back for us in the space of a week, but there are still 40 games to go in this season, we are still only 1 point off the play offs and at this stage 5 points from the automatic promotion spots is not a large gap to make up.

No one said this season would be easy, we did well to start it in such a great fashion, we have hit the buffers, but that does not make it terminal, it is an issue that we have to deal with now and keep ourselves up with the promotion race.

Ipswich Town arrive tomorrow night and we cannot afford a 3rd defeat in a row, we have to stop the rot.

Photo: Action Images

onetowatch added 10:22 - Sep 18 Nick, sorry, but whilst everyone will agree there is a lack of leadership on the pitch, your refusal to point the finger at RM is unforgiveable. Our tactics, strategy and style come completely from him. You state it is not his plan to be so exposed at the back when we push forward, but it's happened so many times already in the small no of games we've played so far. So surely he must have addressed that, let alone the fact he's stood on the touchline and must be able to see that. He is simply a far more polished NJ, but just as clueless.....So much is wrong in his selection and tactics. No Saints fan, or fan of any club, wants to see a revolving door in place at the Managers office, we all have seen the negative impact that has, but for him to come out after and praise that performance shows he's so stubborn, he will not learn from his mistakes...

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harrapuk added 10:23 - Sep 18 I think it is more simple than just lack of leadership. Any team that tries to play out from the back is bound to present the occasional gift to the opposition. The first rule of football used to be never mess around with the ball in your own 18 yard box. When did that rule go out of the window? Even Leicester looked dodgy trying to play out from their goal line but we weren't able to capitalise. Our best ball and safest ball was Bazunu to the winger. Trouble is we were already too far behind before this tactic was employed. Unless we have a fundamental rethink we are doomed. But this is RM's way and I cannot see him changing soon.

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felly1 added 10:38 - Sep 18 Russell Martin said he was proud of the players after Friday's game . He asked them to go toe to toe with Leicester. That implies the players did exactly what ge expected them to do..including leaving no one back as cover. Your obsession with the mythical leader to solve all our problems continues unabated. It's a shame you don't look a little deeper into our flaws. Maybe Jack Stephens is that man you desire so much Nick. We seemed to have gone down the pan quite quickly since his injury.

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Ifonly added 11:01 - Sep 18 More nonsense from Nick, who seems to think professional teams are like pub teams with some knackered old geezer at the back barking out orders. That's not how it works. The players are doing what they're told by RM and an extensive coaching team. The problem is that the tactics are always going to ship a lot of goals because they take a lot of risk. In the case of the 4th goal, at the moment we lost the ball, we had 2 players further back than any Leicester player - one at left back and Smallbone in the middle. The player at left back (Manning?) was looking to overlap and Smallbone was holding. The others were in and around the box looking for a cross that never came. The players were no doubt following the instructions for that stage of the game. The problem is that this is a dangerous game and the players aren't very good at executing it. When the ball was intercepted, the Leicester players were facing the right way to break immediately and were hungrier than their Saints counterparts. The only good point was that after the game RM acknowledged that we are vulnerable on transition, so maybe in future games we won't be taking quite so many risks. But have no doubt, this is the way that RM sets his teams up.

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goalie66 added 11:04 - Sep 18 No Nick not leadership on the pitch is the problem but strategy off it. In military terms the General defines the strategy and officers execute the tactics in line with the strategy. Our General aka Martin has a kami kaze strategy and our team our the sacrificial lambs to a strategyy of possesion when we are not good enough to execute it. Insanity is continually repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different outcome. Thiis only going to end if he changes his strategy and adapts to the players abilities or he will be gone by the end of this month

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mgprobert added 11:10 - Sep 18 Well I agree with you Nick. We've finally got a decent pair of CBs but you can't see that chaos happening with a Coady or a Mee at the back
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landsdownsaint added 11:18 - Sep 18 We was conceding goals with stephens playing !…. Isnt often I disagree with your posts but you got this one wrong . We have a manager with a proven track record of exactly what we’re seeing atm , we needed a big name like a Gerrard who would’ve done what it takes too get out of this league instead we got an elite football academy possession coach ! We got the players , the money & support too get out of this league comfortably but our arrogant board want us too be different dare I say the “ Southampton way”

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Kingsland34 added 11:28 - Sep 18 Leadership may be a problem on the pitch but that issues from the type of leadership we have at the very top. SR's policies mean we have a collection of players made up of those they did not manage to sell, promising young players, lack of experienced heads and loanees. This is a SR team, not a left over from Chinese austerity or Ralph, and its not a good formula to have Premiership aspirations based on. Can RM make something of it all? I guess we have to grant him a long game to sort it out, and himself, but my worry is the SR long game. We are losing our heritage, tradition and status, third best in the South now!.

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cramd1 added 11:31 - Sep 18 As MG Probert says Coady and Mee, along Tarkowski should have been considered as CB options. The 2 from Burnley were both available on frees. Perhaps taking one of them would mean we would still be in the PL.
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DellBoyWally added 11:31 - Sep 18 Nick, your report is total nonsense. Lack of leadership on the pitch has nothing to do with it. There is a GIANT common factor here: Milton Keynes; Swansea; and now us. THE MANAGER! All three play(ed) exactly the same way and the outcome is exactly the same. Concede, Concede, Concede. KYP, one of the worse players on the pitch, in the first 20 seconds has abandoned his RB position and gone to central MF. Huge gap that LC exploited and 1-0. That is the manager's tactic, not some failure of an imaginary leader on the pitch. It happens every game. It happened last time out at Sunderland. They just took a bit longer. The manager has to go. SR have to stop going for unsuccessful managers who have some cute idea they know more about football than the thousands of managers who have gone before over the past 150 years! Unless we change we'll be lucky to avoid a relegation fight. The only prize will be for the record number of goals conceded in a Championship season. Sorry Felly but if you think Stephens is the answer you haven't been watching! He has been as bad this season as all his other seasons except we fluked some wins. Scraped past SW - 23rd with 10 conceded. QPR - 20th with 11 conceded. PA - 14th with 7 conceded. Even against NC we were saved by one very soft penalty and one that shouldn't have been given. We have been bad in every game this season following RM's tactics. A leader on the pitch won't make a scrap of difference while this goon is in charge.

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IanRC added 11:33 - Sep 18 Utter tripe, how long will we have to put up with Martin and the likes of Manning. Think I will support the women's team more actively for a while as at least they have a good manager (appointed prior to SR's arrival)
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Ali_Diarea added 11:35 - Sep 18 What RM said to the press after the game and what he said to the players in the dressing are two different things…I hope. I commend him for sticking up for the players in public as this defeat sits squarely with the manager. Games are won and lost in midfield and he substituted 3 of our 4 starting midfielders. To me this says he has no clue what his best team or how to set up his team to play his one style of play. A manager who is unable to adapt his style to the players he has at his disposal is on borrowed time in the championship…

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Boris1977 added 11:39 - Sep 18 We are certainly entertaining the football world but mainly the Swansea and Poopey fans. Sports Republic own the mess the club is in and this will not change while they are in charge. The Multi ownership model is a distraction at best and ruinous at worst - there plenty examples through-out football of how this spread betting approach fails clubs. The team on the whole now consists of average, young and players who didnt get out over the summer - they are not suddenly going to turn into an effective efficient mean, keen passing machine any time soon. The big yellow warning sign was there for anyone at St Mary's against Norwich. Unless RM climbs down from his self-made pedestal and tries to play to the players strengths, before he completely destroys their confidence, things will not change for the better. COYRs

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cramd1 added 11:49 - Sep 18 BTW anyone notice that Onuachu scored on his debut in Turkey?!!!!!!!!!!
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Number_58 added 11:59 - Sep 18 Not sure how it can be said that the players aren't obeying the manager's orders. The corners are a perfect example. We weren't leaving anyone back in the first half against Leicester and we looked vulnerable every time the opposition won the ball back (or more often, we gave it to them). RM had ample opportunity to sort it out and didn't, and the inevitable breakaway goal ensued. I wonder if he has so much confidence in our ability to keep the ball that he's not spent any time instructing the players what they should be doing when we lose it. Hopefully he'll turn it round but it's gonna take some major changes to his principles or we'll just keep getting battered.

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saintmark1976 added 12:11 - Sep 18 Nick, the average number of goals conceded by any team winning promotion ( including those that subsequently qualified via the playoffs) to The Premiership during the last four seasons is 42. The only recent exception to this fact was five seasons ago when Norwich let in 57 goals but scored 93 goals. So far this season we have already managed to concede 16 goals. Using past history as a reliable guide, unless our style of play changes very rapidly and we become very much more defensive ( and better at it ) I think it reasonable to already suggest that we are not going to be promoted this season. The only alternative is for us to suddenly start scoring hat fulls of goals and to do a “Norwich “ which given our last two games looks very unlikely indeed. Who is in my opinion is at fault for making promotion almost certainly out of reach after only six games? None other than the Board of Sports Republic in assembling a team with no effective defence, midfield, forwards or management.

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SaintPaulVW added 12:20 - Sep 18 I'm also inclined not to lay all the blame on lack of on pitch leadership. If the full backs are to push on EVERY GAME then the CB's are key players. Starting a game against a top of the table side with a brand new partnership with one guy having only just arrived was therefore suicidal. Probably a better decision would have been to adapt our tactics for this game to give us more cover at the back. That decision rests with RM. I have praised him when it has gone well so far but completely exonerating him for this game is unfair. Plenty of time to put things right before the business end of the season. Sometimes a wake up call is good. COYR

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Block8 added 12:22 - Sep 18 Could it possibly be that we don't have the players to play this style of football. Common sense would dictate that you play a system that your players are comfortable with, we look anything but comfortable. I'm pretty certain that Jason Wilcox should be sitting down with RM and looking at ways to improve performance & if that means adapting his desired system to something we can manage, then that should be happening! Also if there is no short pass at the back we have some real pace so drop a ball over their back four.

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JoeEgg added 12:24 - Sep 18 "we are still only 1 point off the play offs and at this stage 5 points from the automatic promotion spots is not a large gap to make up.3 Well I'm glad you took your time Nick before giving your verdict, otherwise we may never have been treated to this little gem! Russell Martin isn't going to change his tactics and SR cant afford to fire another badly chosen manager. I cant believe that just a few weeks ago Nick claimed we were getting better with every game played. Sunderland, Leicester and most probably, Ipswich, know better. Okay there is no leadership^but neither is there any backbone. If the defence is a joke at the moment, how much better is our 'invisible' and ineffective midfield? A Graham Potter, or at least a manager with a worthy CV, would never have tolerated the chaos and lunacy Russell Martin has created. If things stay this way we shall be reading at the end of the season: "Russell Martin, in his first season with Saints, guided them to 13th place in the Championship"

5

wibbersda added 12:25 - Sep 18 "it is harsh to blame either KWP or Manning" Are you insane? Most of the goals against come from Manning & KWP going on a holiday all over the pitch, except where they should be, back defending their area...and let us not forget that nobody appears to be man-marking.
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davidargyll added 12:27 - Sep 18 Dear Rasmus Ankersen. Right now I presume you are sitting at home scratching your head saying to yourself, “How on earth could my stats-based techniques have gone so disastrously wrong? Can it really get any worse? Or are we about to seriously fall off a cliff?” Well Rasmus, my old China, there have been precious few positives this season so far, leaving aside the debacles against Sunderland and Leicester. And even you must be thinking that we are now looking more like a L1 team in waiting rather than a PL one. So do you stick or twist? Ultimately your pocket will tule your head, in which regard the key questions you need to answer now are: 1. At what stage will you decide that - the current tippy-tappy philosophy cannot/will not ever work, as the players/manager are simply not capable? And - Your acquisition and disposals programme has gone disastrously wrong? - I reckon you’ve got a month tops to make up your mind on those two. 2. How long before RM loses the dressing room? If there aren’t rumblings already, two or three weeks at most, conceivably less. 3. How long before you lose the fans? Days? if you’ve not lost them already… So stand by for fireworks on Tuesday, Rasmus, your actions have unquestionably lit the blue touch paper…

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davidargyll added 12:27 - Sep 18 Dear Rasmus Ankersen. Right now I presume you are sitting at home scratching your head saying to yourself, “How on earth could my stats-based techniques have gone so disastrously wrong? Can it really get any worse? Or are we about to seriously fall off a cliff?” Well Rasmus, my old China, there have been precious few positives this season so far, leaving aside the debacles against Sunderland and Leicester. And even you must be thinking that we are now looking more like a L1 team in waiting rather than a PL one. So do you stick or twist? Ultimately your pocket will tule your head, in which regard the key questions you need to answer now are: 1. At what stage will you decide that - the current tippy-tappy philosophy cannot/will not ever work, as the players/manager are simply not capable? And - Your acquisition and disposals programme has gone disastrously wrong? - I reckon you’ve got a month tops to make up your mind on those two. 2. How long before RM loses the dressing room? If there aren’t rumblings already, two or three weeks at most, conceivably less. 3. How long before you lose the fans? Days? if you’ve not lost them already… So stand by for fireworks on Tuesday, Rasmus, your actions have unquestionably lit the blue touch paper…

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barry_sanchez added 13:00 - Sep 18 Well if we can see that why can't Wilcox? He can I suspect but we have to buy a certain type of money ball player, this is what got us into the shite.
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I_would added 13:09 - Sep 18 It's all over with this manager. You can only dress up dummies in a shop! !!!!!!!!!! RM OUT ASAP !!!!!!!!!!
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PezzaSaint added 14:09 - Sep 18 The fact remains, we will not get back to the Premier League shipping so many goals. The best defensive teams generally go up. It happened last season from the Championship. The playing out from the back tactic is far too risk when you have new players coming in and team confidence is low. If we carry on doing this against Ipswich we will get the same result. I'm not sure RM appreciates another way of playing, which is the most concerning thing of all. He has got to show quickly that he knows another way of playing and is prepared to implement it or its going to be another long hard season and I'll be voting for him to go!

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