Another display blighted by lapses in concentration, errors and just plain bad luck, something needs to be done.
Yet another game where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory or at least a draw, yet again it was a tale of poor defending through lapses in concentration and poor marking.
I was disappointed when I saw the line up to see Shane Long dropped, I have defended Puel's rotation policy at times and the truth about it is that for most of the games he has rotated he has needed to, but what he cannot seem to do is realise that for some games you have to keep in the players who are in form.
That is the case with Shane Long, he scored at Swansea and looked our best player, yet he was back on the bench for this one, with Jay Rodriguez back in, this was wrong and sends out the wrong message to players.
But it all started so well with Manolo Gabbiadini striding on to a great through ball from Jay Rodriguez to rifle in a shot that neither the keeper or most of the crowd saw fly into the goal.
But then came the bad, once again at a moment when we should be looking to concentrate and keep things calm just after scoring a goal we handed the Hammers a lifeline, it was a nice little through ball to look for Carroll but it should have been cut out by Yoshida and wasn't and you could feel the mood change.
The second goal once again came at a time when we should be looking to close out the game, but where was the organisation at the back, where was the leadership, we dealt with a West Ham corner well but Obiang was on his own 40 yards out with no one covering the edge of the area, he had time to stride forward 5 yards and with still no Saints player anywhere near him let fly from distance and put the visitors ahead.
This was yet another lapse in concentration, we should not have every player back in the box, a team needs someone on the edge of the box to close down and press when the ball is cleared, we were defending like schoolboys.
Some blamed Foster and it cannot be denied he was a little slow in getting down, but given the sheer number of players right in front of him I would say he didn't see the ball till very late.
The real problem though was the lack of discipline.
Saints started the second half well and were nearly level when Ward Prowse almost squeezed in a free kick at the near post, but when things are going against you they go against you and within minutes we were further behind.
This time though it was all about the luck not going with us, firstly it was never a free kick when the referee decided that one of their players had been fouled when it was clear to everyone else in the ground that he had slipped, but it got worse, Noble's free kick was not that brilliant but it was right in the danger zone although it looked like it was going straight to Forster, Steven Davis had to go for the ball though and his toe gave the keeper no chance with the deflection.
That perhaps should have been that but in fairness Saints did keep going and should have got back in the game with Gabbiadini missing a sitter that would have turned the tide, but despite decent pressure and attempts on goal the bitter truth is that once again we shot ourselves in the foot with poor defending and lapses in concentration.
How many times have I used that phrase ? too many this season and it has to stop.
But what is the answer ?
The stark truth is that it is hard to see one, the reality is that we do not have any quality in the centre of defence without Virgil Van Dijk, with him we could just about get away with playing Yoshida and probably Jack Stephens or Gardos alongside him, but without Van Dijk, any other combination for various reasons is a recipe for disaster.
It's pains me to be so blunt, I don't spend the games screaming abuse at Yoshida or Stephens, I'm sure they are not doing it deliberately but they are not good enough and we should not have been in this position.
The popular view is to sack the manager at present, but that is a simple solution and one that although many seem to want it, few have any idea who would take his place.
The fact is that the next month will be crucial to Puel, he needs to win games, f he doesn't then you feel that there will be no way back for him now, but it is amazing how much winning the League Cup and then a good run in the league will change the opinions.
But although my support of Puel is still there even I know that there is something not right, not all of it is down to Puel, he has had injuries to key players at the wrong time, it is easy to blame Puel but he did not injure Charlie Austin or Virgil Van Dijk or indeed any of the players on a long injury list.
I am sure that he would rather have seen a central defender brought in last month, but he wasn't doing the negotiating.
So there are mitigating circumstances as to why we are struggling and not all of them are down to the manager, he has been dogged by bad luck and injury all season.
When we play well there is enough there to suggest that not everything is as bad as it seems, but the manager just seems to be plain unlucky.
That is not to say that he hasn't made mistakes, but they have not been as numerous as some would have you believe.
A couple of months ago we were winning games and people were complaining that they were not being entertained, now we are losing games but no one can moan about the entertainment !
Me I would rather have watched a dour game where Manolo Gabbiadini's goal was the only thing to get excited about in the entire 90 minutes.
There is the hope going forward, we now have plenty of attacking options and when we get VVW back we can finish the season strongly.