Cardiff came with a gameplan and they executed it with precision to beat a Saints side that lacked variety and cutting edge.

I said in the pre match preview that i though that the loss of Jay Rodriguez would effect Saints in more ways than just his being missing, that our entire tactics and formation relied on our two fast attacking players cutting in from the wings and without either one of them we would struggle, this proved to be the case and without J Rod we did now have a player outside of the two full backs who had genuine pace.

From the very start it was clear how Cardiff had set themselves out, everyman behind the ball, let Saints pass it around in the middle of the park where it looked nice but did very little damage and stop them creating chances.

This they did and although Saints had 68% possession and 19 shots on goal, the Cardiff keeper Marshall only had one save of note to make.

If Saints had got a goal you feel they would have won the game comfortably, perhaps then the visitors would have had to open out and we would have had a chance to put them to the sword, but the problem was that we could not deliver either in the way of decisive passes and crosses or making the Cardiff keeper earn his pay.

Thats not to say we didn't have the opportunities to break their stoic defence down, Shaw time and time again got down the wing and into decent positions, but time and time again he failed to deliver a cross that caused Cardiff problems.

At the back both Fonte and Lovren looked dodgy especially in the second half and didnt seem to be playing in tandem, in the first half they had little to do but in the second they found themselves busier and they didnt look happy.

In goal all eyes were on Gazzaniga, in the first half he had little to do apart from a succession of corners where he was put under pressure but dealt with it each time, in the second half again he had little to do but as the game went on you could see him rise in confidence and he made a great save late on when Zaha was through on goal.

Saints now have Stoke City breathing down their necks and only five points behind, my concern is where the next points are coming from, we seemed to lack motivation yesterday and more worringly we lacked innovation and leadership, as mentioned in the preview, we dont have the players to play the managers preferred formation now, we have to change otherwise there will be plenty of repeats of this result.

I was also sad to see the bench devoid of some of our promising youngsters, what was the point of having Guly there, now im not a Guly knocker I am appreciative of what he has done for the club, but he will leave in the summer so what was the points, surely far better to try someone like Harrison Reed, Omar Rowe or Josh Sims.

On Saturday we were far too predictable, Cardiff with the poorest away record in the division handled us easily, in the last four games that has to change otherwise not only Newcastle will catch us but Stoke as well

Photo: Action Images

LesVivian added 09:50 - Apr 13 Start Gallagher, play RL in behind! Simple!
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slynch added 10:54 - Apr 13 Playing proper football causes possession; not the other way around.
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Fordy added 10:58 - Apr 13 I thought our first half performance was ok, but instead of stepping it up in the second we seemed to come out looking very disinterested. I think the only player who did ok was Cork who at least tried to get things going. Lallana looked particularly poor in the second half. One thing that has changed is that in the early part of the season Lovren used to bring the ball out of defence. I remember him going on plenty of storming runs. He never does this anymore, has he been told to stop it by MP. I think all the fans would like to see a few more of the kids given a chance in the remaining games. We haven't really got anything to lose now.

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mikesaint added 11:48 - Apr 13 A lack of good strikers on the bench. What I have seen of Gallagher he not the answer. Yesterday both Lallana and Shaw we very poor.
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abingdonsaint added 13:02 - Apr 13 Frustrating afternoon, but that happens, and without Jay we did lack penetration. Couldn't really say it was a poor performance though, and whilst Cardiff obviously knew they had no chance if they tried to take us on and had a game plan, conceding that much possession is always a huge risk. They got the breaks yesterday, but it always makes me laugh when the manager praises the 'great performance' after the game when they have sneaked the win. Could easily have post 3 nil, then it wouldn't have been quite so great! You are being a bit pessimistic about the remainder of the season Nick. We are more than capable of beating anyone on our day, and I would think from what I have seen of Villa, our next points will probably be next Saturday! Keep the faith!

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abingdonsaint added 13:02 - Apr 13 Lost not post!
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codge added 13:06 - Apr 13 We really struggled with the final ball into the area especially Shaw, l think this will cost him his chance to go to Brazil, tlme and again the balls into the area went nowhere. Once again Cork was outstanding we need him to stay, all in all very disappointed yesterday, agree we need to change the bench up and give some other young guns a chance now......
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thegeneral added 13:28 - Apr 13 I don't understand why no matter who we play or what players are available, its the same tactics and formation week after week. Jrods injury should have prompted a formation change, a straight 4-4-2 perhaps, and after twenty minutes it was clear Cardiff had nothing going forward, but we still persisted with two holding midfield players (until late(ish) in the second half). For me MP does not react quick enough to the games dynamics, he will hopefully improve the squad and be able to show he has a bit more up his sleeve. A world class manager would have probably got us to a 5th or 6th placed finish this season because we've dropped an awful lot of points from a winning position and had a couple of very poor home performances, we of course cannot demand such a manger but with that in mind i think the pressure will be on next campaign to finish higher and rightly so.

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davepid added 14:24 - Apr 13 MP has taken us as far as he can. Yesterday was same old , same old. Possession - no goals; same tactics; no imagination with the bench make up. Let's say thanks MP and get the next managerial level up to replace him.
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BlackRod added 16:02 - Apr 13 Agree with davepid. Poch is a one-trick Pony. Best to let him go to Spurs where he will be another AVB. If we lose eighth place his days will be numbered and if we end on a low this season we will start the same way next season. Adkins would have done at least as well given the resources available.
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saintmark1976 added 17:13 - Apr 13 davepid and BlackRod, I have been posting all season that MoPo is, in my opinion, a "one trick pony"and the majority of posters have been telling me that I do not know what I am talking about. The facts however do not tell lies. I think I am correct in saying that this season we have dropped 18 points from winning positions and only beaten one team (Liverpool) in the top half of the table. Why? Again in my opinion when we are ahead we continue to play too open(Spurs away) and when we are behind or drawing the system does not change quickly enough (Cardiff yesterday). I truly think that Mo Po has done a good job but taken us as far as he can. Having said that if he wants to go to Spurs then I suggest he looks at their turn over of managers in recent seasons before he jumps ship.It would be worthwhile home work on his part!

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SanMarco added 18:45 - Apr 13 "18 points from winning positions." This particular statistic didn't exist until a couple of years ago. It is largely irrelevant, just something invented by commentators - yes we have lost a couple of 2 goal leads which is bad but Spurs away was the only late goal that lost us points. Late goals and 2 goal leads used to be things we specialised in losing. In our home match against Arsenal we led and then went behind and eventually drew - therefore BOTH sides lost 2 pts from a winning position. We scored after 15 secs at Chelsea and lo and behold we lost 3 pts from a winning position. If you lost every game you would lose 0 pts from a winning position. Losing points from a winning position is not our problem - spells of poor defending and not enough cutting edge to go with our good football is our problem.

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davepid added 19:41 - Apr 13 Saint mark. Ok so now at least three of us think he's too one dimensional and has done us very well but hasn't shown any evidence of learning as he goes on - though his post match comments yesterday suggest he now maybe. Saint Marco . Good point about losing from winning positions. But there have been games this season we should have won after being ahead - spurs home, Sunderland away. I love the entertaining way we play but sometimes it reminds me of my grandsons school team - enthusiasm over tactical nouse,fast and furious without the discipline.

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ItchenNorth added 23:07 - Apr 13 Suggestions that Pochettino has taken Saints as far as he can and that we should change manager is ludicrous ! He's barely been manager 18 months and we sit 8th in the Prem on more points than I can remember in god knows how many years in the top flight; and in April too ! If history tells us anything, continually changing managers rarely achieves anything. Madness. The best thing for SaintsFC this summer would be MP committing his future to us.

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cheltenhamsaint added 00:32 - Apr 14 "For the first hour of this match, Southampton produced a typically effervescent display. Each attack resembled a magician's trick, with speed, illusion and sleight of foot outfoxing Cardiff's defence. When you thought the ball was heading left, it went right. When you thought Rickie Lambert would take a touch and assess his options, he instinctively fed a deft flick to Adam Lallana, who had somehow ghosted into the box." Clearly the Guardian reporter was watching a different match and having gone from bottom three relegation fodder to 8th position in about 15 months it is clearly time for our manager to depart and be replaced by Brendan Rodgers (assistant at Chelsea, sacked by Watford but got Swansea playing some nice football). After all losing 18 points from winning positions says nothing about the manager's skill about making the most of former League 1 players or teenagers. And to finish with another quote from Steve Gerrard just this week "We don't have a Plan B or Plan C. Just a variation of Plan A" Sorry. a second quote from Phil Brown s to why Liverpool may win the titiel this year from today. "Liverpool dominate possession and from that position you are not far away from winning a lot of football matches"

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Dystopia added 09:35 - Apr 15 That guardian reporter clearly was watching a different game! We never truly 'outfoxed' their defence all our best chances were from outside the box. Most of the game we just passed it around the midfield where both teams were comfortable. That quote from Gerrard highlights exactly what we need, not a complete new plan but a variation of plan A, the trouble is we don't have any variation just a very rigid plan A. Yes liverpool dominate possesion but they have one of the best strikers in the world who can finish their chances, if we had Suarez on Saturday we probably would have one the trouble is we don't have that quality of player and at the moment we aren't in a position to bring that type of player in. Therefore when things are going against us we need to change things to allow the players we do have to have a better chance of scoring. I don't think we should replace Poch. yet, we need to give him a chance, if he can realise that sometimes you need to have variety he can be a world class manager, however, if we spend another season doing exactly the same things we aren't going to progress.

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montecristo added 20:36 - Apr 15 If Mo Po does go it would make complete sense to get Laudrup in sharpish he would get Saints playing in a similar way plus have the respect of the players. Would be a good fit at Southampton.
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cheltenhamsaint added 01:14 - Apr 17 Dystopia - Good response to my post
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