There was one big talking point in this game, the goal from Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic after only a few seconds of the game which meant that Saints had an uphill task ahead.
Mauricio Pochettino elected to keep his team unchanged from the victory against Fulham the previous week, the injury to Osvaldo that had kept him out of that game again saw him missing from even the bench for what is always a tough trip.
But as we all know the game could not have got off to a worse start with Begovic's goal coming after only 14 seconds and perhaps the most annoying thing about it was that it was us that actually kicked off.
Personally I don't blame Boruc for the goal as much as some might, Saints did give the ball away cheaply and he didn't expect it coming down his throat so quickly, those present will confirm that the wind was a major factor in this game and it caught the keeper right out. These things happen, after the game Boruc promised in an interview that he would put in a performance that would make up the two lost points, in my book there is no need to, he has already done that and more both this season and last, not to mention a smart save in the second half.
After this freak goal it was always going to be a battle and with the Brittannia Stadium being one of the highest ground in the country there was always going to be wind, what made it worse though was the fact that the stadium has three open corners to it, this meant that the wind swirled around in all directions, meaning it was never going to be a pretty game to watch in any way shape or form.
Saints ground out a point, but it wasn't a great performance, match stats showed we had 61% of the play, but we only managed two attempts on target and quite frankly that isn't good enough, the goal was just about the only flowing move that we made with the wind making any pass more than 4ft off the ground and over 25 yards long very difficult, James Ward Prowse though picked out Jay Rodriguez and the Saints number 9 finished superbly, using the wind to his advantage as he headed the ball into the ground and over the keeper, did he mean it ? look at the way he celebrated, he knew the moment it left his head that he had scored.
But once again Saints problem is that for all their possession they cant seem to create too many decent chances away from home, there isn't the mobility up front that you sometimes need to counter attack quickly and on the break, just about our only decent effort apart from J Rod's goal was a header from Lovren that went just wide, that was from a dead ball situation and this is where we need to sharpen up if we truly want to challenge for a European place, all the possession we have rarely becomes a decent chance, we pass, pass and pass but we have no outlet, JWP showed he has an eye for a pass, but he rarely got a chance to use it, when was the last time we had a player put through one on one with the keeper ? it rarely happens is the answer, we have lots of pretty football and of course we will get the odd chance from open play, but our game relies on dead ball situations and that has to change.
But this perhaps shows how far we have come, In our final game of 2013 we drew 3-3 at Stoke and were delighted even though we had thrown away a two goal lead, this time we have picked up the same number of points from the game, but we are disappointed, we feel its two thrown away rather than one gained and we are totally right to think that.
But what it does show us is that we are still a work in progress and we need to be a bit more than one dimensional as we were on too many times on Saturday, fair play to Pochettino who tried to change the course of the game and brought on Ramirez with 20 minutes to go, but the fact was that in taking off Rodriguez he had removed just about the only option as an outlet for Ramirez passing talents, to be blunt unless you have a channel runner up front Ramirez is never truly going to be of great value, Steven Davis can pass 15 yards sideways just as well and can work a lot harder, this isn't a slur on Ramirez, just an observation that if you use players you have to play to their strengths.
I would have liked to have seen a more daring change, Lambert off with Rodriguez pushed up front as a true outlet for Ramirez, in the swirling wing it was making it difficult to hit cross field balls, this might have offered something different.
Sadly the result dropped us down to sixth after all the fixtures were completed and this highlights just how tough a task we face if we are to consider ourselves genuine top 5 contenders rather than just this seasons surprise package.
In conclusion a difficult game not made any easier by the freak goal, again we looked composed in terrible conditions for football and we showed we can get stuck in and scrap for the ball, but we should read the warning signs that sides are wising up to our way of playing, they give us a lot of possession knowing that we don't create half as many genuine chances that we should do with it, we need to have another dimension to our game, at the moment we don't have it, some will come out with the old chestnut that Im being negative, not at all, I think its great we can ask about the next step forward and that step is a positive one, rather than as we were doing a year ago when the next step forward was many many ones behind the level of steps we need to take now.