After having one of the meanest defences in the Premier League last season Saints have started this one conceding goals, but fundamentally it is about one issue needing to be addressed.

Last season Saints had two of the fastest full backs in the Premier League playing regularly every week in their side with Nathaniel Clyne playing 35 games and Ryan Bertrand only one less, on top of that they were not both missing at the same time which meant raely were teams able to catch us on the break as they have done too many times in the five goals we have conceded so far.

But if we take a look at those goals conceded the real issue here is a lack of pace at the back, yes we do need a strong central defender, being blunt Yoshida is not strong enough, last season he could get away with it in a pacy defence, but not at the moment. So the real problem comes down to a lack of pace along with a couple of concentration issues.

The second goal at Newcastle and the first on Saturday were almost carbon copies of each other, both Newcastle and Everton broke from a corner and crossed quickly and caught us napping, last season this would not have happened because the full backs were quick enough to stop it.

Now this is not really a criticism of either Cedric Soares or Matt Targett, both are good full backs, but both are different types of player to Clyne and Bertrand, whereas the Soares and Targett are more traditional type full backs who make the ball do the work, last season's pairing are as much wing backs as full backs and can often use their pace to get them out of trouble.

Hopefully Ryan Bertrand will be back soon and that will solve a lot of the problems at the back at least in terms of pace and that is really the problem, take those aforementioned goals out and both games might well have had different results.

Of course we still need a central defender, but part of that problem has been resolved already with the arrival of Steven Caulker, Virgil Van Dijk as well will do wonders.

The way some Saints fans have reacted to Saturday's drubbing you ould think the Word was at an end, after the same number of games last season we had the same number of points as now and the bed wetters were out in force then, yes we are still a work in progress, but we had a lot of key players missing on Saturday and that didn't help, at least one more player in and the return of Ryan Bertrand and we will see something like the team of last season, in fact we already have in the Europa League.

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 09:00 - Aug 17 Giving Targett grief is unbelievable. He's been heralded as the next Luke Shaw by everyone. He has one bad game and that's it, he's "not premiership quality". Ridiculous. He'll learn from Saturday. OK he might not be the quickest but he's not slow. He had a hard time but will look at what he could have done differently Of course he made mistakes and that's why he's behind Bertrand but to write him off after that is utterly stupid.

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michaeljoycetf added 09:24 - Aug 17 When we do go shopping for a new c/b I hope that 'price' is not the overriding factor.We have too many new 'squad' players, Caulker being one of them. There is no doubt that we should be looking for premier quality, regardless of the cost. anything less will not be good enough if we want to make an impact this year.In my opinion we havn't replaced the outgoing players with like for like in terms of quality How does anyone believe that we are going to improve on last seasons league position unless we improve the team? I would like to see a little more ambition in our buying policy following the example of other clubs near the top of the table. We will only get one chance at this and we have to make it count if we are to hold our position in the top flight.

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schatfield added 10:10 - Aug 17 why is Caulker not playing yet, is he injured?
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halftimeorange added 10:17 - Aug 17 Caulker has a sinus problem which affects his breathing. What I can't understand is why we don't, on this occasion, pay out and get the players we really want, Van Dijk or Koulibaly or whoever, because any club in the PL next season will easily recoup their outlay due to the new Sky deal. Targett did have a stinker on Saturday but he wasn't helped by the team selection. He's very promising but against Everton he was a sacrificial lamb and the management should accept the blame as the signs were there at Newcastle.

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Olley added 10:27 - Aug 17 Let's be clear the back 4 would be a very reserve 4 in relation to last season [Target & Yoshida] for Bertrand & Toby, whilst Cederic is bedding in and Fonte is not yet at the level of last season, therefore once we have Bertrand back and another CB of prem class [Caulker maybe], then we will be tighter and also I believe until then we need to play 2 DM, Wanyama and Romeu, as the latter looked very promising from his 2nd half showing

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Ddobsy added 11:08 - Aug 17 With only one of the back 5 from last season, and Snierderlien missing too, we were always going to struggle defensively. The comments about the "reserve" team status of the players is true. With 2 England internationals to come back later and a new CB we can achieve previous heights. The Europa League has hidden the fact that our reserves aren't good enough for the PL. that said it has highlighted that lots of the good stuff is there if we can get on top. Too early for panic, let's see if we can't get 3 wins in a row now.

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SanMarco added 11:11 - Aug 17 'bed wetters' eh? The trouble with Saturday was we were so awful that any latent pessimism (or of course the angry brigade who feel let down because we didn't do the treble last season) was bound to come out. Conversely when there are no positives at least the powers that be have no choice but to face up to the negatives. Of course we are getting all the usual 'wake-up call' cliches from the club but I do hope re michaeljoycecf's point that the lesson has been learnt by the bean counters and by the manager - I would be the last one to accuse RoKo of complacency but what else was Saturday?

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SanMarco added 11:12 - Aug 17 Sorry Michael tf not cf !!
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BaselSaint added 11:34 - Aug 17 Someone needs to partner Vic and protect the back four like last season. I hope Romeu can fill that role. Lets not underestimate how important that set up was. Any exposed defence will yield to pressure. Agreed, Virgil and Bertrand will make a big improvement but they still need a solid midfield in front of them. Expect a much tighter unit against Watford; RK will not accept this level of performance.

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aceofthebase added 11:52 - Aug 17 Last season Clyne and Bertrand quietly cut out the majority of crosses. Keep the ball out of the box and most teams will not score. I'm afraid both of our backs could not prevent crossses, Targett very exposed but Cedric was outpaced and very disappointing. Tadic is not any use on the right, and never has been, which beggars the question why he was there. Was Long on the left to help Targett? If so it didn't work. It's ok to have a good squad of players but we really do need to have an 'A' team and I'm not convinced that we can produce that winning team. Who would be certs? Fonte, Bertrand Mane, other positions can easily be filled, but would we have a winning team. A big maybe methinks. Let's hope Bournemouth beat Liverpool tonight!

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saintmark1976 added 12:07 - Aug 17 Sorry Nick but there was much more in regard to the defeat on Saturday than lack of pace. We were outplayed in every area of the game from front to back. In addition I got the impression that all was not well among the players with Pelle being the main,but not the only, culprit in mouthing off when things were not going well. In my opinion it is now the time for the board to start to spend some meaning full money and to show the fans that they have ambitions going forward. Firstly I would suggest that the stop messing about with Celtic and make them a serious one time only offer for their centre back. Follow that up with a similar proper offer for Charlie Austin from Q P R. I appreciate that I will be described as a bed wetter but I saw enough on Saturday to know that the team needs a very quick injection of quality,something you do not get with our "bargain buy" signings of the close season just past. Whilst not wishing to be overly critical of individual players from Saturday I will make an exception in the case of Tadic.Having seen him can I suggest that if he does not wish to put some effort into playing for us then he simply finds a club were his performance levels will be accepted. I

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leighsaint added 12:21 - Aug 17 We were bad on Saturday but if you look to the two teams that conceded the least goals last season, both Chelsea and us have let in five goals. Our defence has been destroyed but Chelsea is the same. It just seems and odd coincidence.
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DPeps added 13:51 - Aug 17 Leighsaint makes a good point. Other teams have obviously worked at the frailties in Chelsea's and Saints' defences. McClaren said as much after the Newcastle game when he mentioned attacking our full backs. Everton did the same, and other teams will continue this until we start defending better from the front. Knowing our approach and our transfer policy I'd say we far more likely to get a CB who can also play in midfield (e.g. Koulibaly) than someone like van Dijk who just plays centre-back. Remember that Alderweireld played in midfield quite a few times last season. Also Koulibaly will be easier to get, as it doesn't seem that Napoli are desperate to keep him - unlike Celtic and van Dijk.

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saintpete01 added 14:45 - Aug 17 Saintmark76 Called it right Les stop messing with sticking plasters,and get signing some quality B4 we go backwards
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SaintBrock added 15:02 - Aug 17 Nick you do at times write complete and utter tosh such as; "The way some Saints fans have reacted to Saturday's drubbing you would think the World was at an end, after the same number of games last season we had the same number of points as now and the bed wetters were out in force then, yes we are still a work in progress, but we had a lot of key players missing on Saturday and that didn't help, at least one more player in and the return of Ryan Bertrand and we will see something like the team of last season, in fact we already have in the Europa League." It is impossible to compare one season with another as so many changes of personnel have taken place during those twelve months. The situation we find ourselves in now is different to anything we have had to face for the past 6 or 7 seasons. Clinging to the belief that because it all turned out OK last season it is bound to work out OK again this season is irrational and self-deluding. What we saw on Saturday was a collection of individuals who were all at sea and clearly not a team by any stretch of the imagination. Just for once on your life please give Maya Yoshida a rest from your endless criticism of his abilities. He was one of our better performers this time as indeed he was at Newcastle.

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BoondockSaint added 16:34 - Aug 17 So it took so long to post this-I was changing the sheets. Unfortunately now that Chelski looked so awful on Sunday they'll be in the market for defence-not that we will be competing for the same players, but a rising tide raises all boats, so prices will inflate for all defence players. Let's get the signings done now!
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GaryKhole added 17:26 - Aug 18 "Knowing our approach and our transfer policy I'd say we far more likely to get a CB who can also play in midfield (e.g. Koulibaly) than someone like van Dijk who just plays centre-back. Remember that Alderweireld played in midfield quite a few times last season. " I'm stick of us signing "versatile" players. Why make a point of targeting Jack-of-all-trades-type players. We have a sufficient squad as is; first teamers should be specialists. Toby isn't a midfielder and it was ludicrous to continually play him in midfield at the expense of a defensive mid like Reed. He really wasn't very good in midfield (remember Man City?). There's no room for the utility man in a first 11 prem side. It's telling and worrying that Koeman doesn't trust his other midfielders. Rant over.

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