There might be a change of manager, but Saints defensive frailties are still there and costing us valuable points.
It was business as usual in the Saints defence on Saturday at Wigan as a fine performance was ruined by schoolboy defending, for most of the game our defence was solid, but as has been the case for all of this season and much of last we just seem to lose concentration at vital moments and gift the opposition soft goals. Wigan's opener was conclusive proof of this, Caldwell spun off Yoshida and left him marking space with the Japanese International then getting nowhere near a cross that really should have been a simple clearance.
To their credit though Saints kept playing football and clawed their way back into the game by keeping passing the ball, in the second half pinning Wigan back for long periods with Boruc rarely being troubled, the first goal saw Jay Rodriguez win a header and Lambert showing quick reactions to get their ahead of the keeper and head home, the second was a class goal, again it was Rodriguez who took the ball down the wing, beat his man and then got to the byeline to thread a cross into the path of Morgan Schneiderlin who couldnt miss from close range and didnt.
That looked like game set and match for Saints, certainly the home fans thought so as they streamed out of the stadium, but Saints just couldnt defend a lead again and these two points squandered means that so far this season we have dropped 24 points in games that we have led in at some point, OK some like the defeats at Old Trafford and Goodison Park have been games that we took early leads and were soon behind, but some like this one and the game at Stoke have seen us drop points in games were we have dominated and then let in a late late equaliser, those extra four points would now see us nearly safe rather than still having one foot trailing behind us and with the danger of it being dragged back into the relegation dogfight.
This game showed that Saints should be more than capable of pulling away, but the blunt truth is that we havent dealt with our problem areas in the transfer window and that could still cost us dearly if we are not careful, complacency and taking our eye off the ball meant that we returned home with only a point on Saturday, the overall cost could be far worse if we are not careful.