A third straight defeat to teams that were around them in the table was not good news for Saints, once again it was the same old story of slack defending at one end and a combination of missed chances and great goalkeeping at the other.

There has been a lot of ranting going on about this game, so the first thing I am going to do is try and put things in perspective.

Ralph Hasenhuttl made several changes after the defeat last time out at Villa and to be honest this wasn't the issue, the first half saw both sides flat as a pancake, Everton for their part were the better side and seemed to win the second ball far too often for my liking, luckily for us though, once they won it they seemed unable to pass it to one of their own players, so the 0-0 at half time was representative of two sides playing poorly.

That all changed shortly after the break though, on 49 minutes Juan Larios made a great surge forward passed to Che Adams who laid the ball for Joe Aribo, who took the ball in his stride and fired home to give Saints a lead.

Surely this was going to see us take command, the answer was no, within minutes Everton were level, Everton won a free kick on the left and we defended too deeply, the cross was perfect, it left Gavin Bazunu unsure whether to stay on his line or come, truth is the ball had to come a long way through a crowd of players, it really should have been dealt with by our defenders, who failed to stop Everton knocking the ball back across goal, nor did they track Conor Coady who smashed it in in from close range.

Saints reply was quick, in quick succession we pounded Everton's goal with 3 quick fire shots which were blocked with some desperate defending, but within seconds we were 2-1 down, yet again a cross that wasn't defended and left a man free at the far post to fire home, yes perhaps the keeper should have done better.

So 2-1 down within minutes of going 1-0 up, but we still had plenty of time to rescue the game, in truth we had the chances to do so, the pick of the bunch was Adam Armstrong's superb shot to the top corner, clawed wide by Pickford and a shot on the volley by Caleta-Car which bounced off the top of the bar from close range when it should really have been in the net.

So at least Saints didn't go down with a whimper, 22 shots on goal, but sadly on 6 on target and only 1 that went in.

No one can say too much about the first half, it was poor, but the second saw us have the lions share of chances, but once again revert back to the issues from last year at the back.

When Everton scored their first goal we had plenty of time to organise before they took the free kick, but we didn't, no one seemed to be in charge at the back and we paid the price.

On another day we defend that goal and we go on to win this game, but this wasn't that day.

It comes back to the fact that we lack a leader and organiser, perhaps Caleta-Car will be that man, but this was his first start for the club, he didn't quite show it in this one.

Everton showed us how you win a game, when they got in the lead they were packed full of experienced players at the back such as Conor Coady, Tarkowski, Coleman & Jordan Pickford who knew how to organise and knew how to defend and had experience.

Our back 5 including the goalkeeper had an average age of 21 and if you take out KWP at 25 and Caleta Car at 26, the other 3 going into this game only had 14 1/2 Premier League games to their name, 7 each for Gavin Bazunu & Armel Bella Kotchap.

If we want to pick fault with were we went wrong in this game it was the lack of Premier League experience in that back 5, take out KWP with 80 or so to his name & the other 4 weren't even in double figures.

Indeed our starting line up could only amass around 750 Premier League games between them, over 300 of them by James Ward Prowse, this was a side with too much inexperience.

Two were making their first start in the Premier League, the balance was just not right at the back, Everton knew how to exploit our weakness's and did so.

Of course there is little excuse for this defeat, we should really not be conceding goals like these anymore, but at least this was a performance, unlike the one at Villa were we competed and in the second half at least were the better side and created more chances.

The first half showed that we lacked edge, we couldn't seem to step up our game and it needed something to happen to enable us to do so, this is a lack of leadership, it is easy to blame Ralph Hasenhuttl for this, but once the players are on the pitch he can do little to stir them up.

I do think here that he made a couple of changes for change sake, at the back there was no reason to drop Salisu, nor for that matter throw in Juan Larios when he had both Moussa Djenepo and Romain Perraud at his disposal, there was the hint of squad rotation, but most of our players had barely played in the last month, surely there were no tiredness issues.

The call is growing for the manager's head, it is hard to defend him after the last 3 games, but that doesn't mean that sacking him is the right thing to do, next week is a free hit, Manchester City are evidence of why the Premier league is finished as a competitive entity, it is fast becoming Spain or Germany were 1 0r 2 clubs dominate and the rest are also rans, they have won 4 of the last 5 Premier League titles and with Erling Haaland now in their side no one would bet against them making it 5 out of 6.

So we have to get the City game out of the way and then we have some winnable games, too many clubs assess their manager early in the season and replace them, already 3 managers have been sacked and there are several including Ralph who are in the red list to be next man out of a job.

It was never going to be an easy start, we have completely revamped our squad and that makes it hard for it to gel straight away, the starting line up on Saturday saw 7 players who have only joined the club in the past 3 months, two of who were making their first start for the club.

Ralph got the balance wrong on Saturday, he didn't pick bad players, he just picked too much inexperience and we are now a decent enough squad, but we are not yet a team.

Again I can appreciate that some will say that the manager picks the team and as mentioned think he got it wrong on Saturday, but now is not yet the time to sack him, that time may come and it may come soon, but it is not quite yet.

But if you are going to call for the sacking of Ralph Hasenhuttl then only do so when you have something better in mind to replace him, at the moment I can't see anyone better out there, some will say his replacement is at the club, Ruben Selles, but Selles has never been a manager only an assistant and then only in Denmark, Azerbaijan & other minor leagues, he is not ready to take over in the Premier League just yet,

Photo: Action Images

Bazza added 10:09 - Oct 3 The fact that Selles has never been a manager should not be a factor if in fact he has been a major contributor to this team. Every manager started as a newbie.
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Mattsgrandad added 10:16 - Oct 3 I am fed up watching us attack on the break only for it to slow and start sideways and backward passing allowing the other team to recover and defend. We are not a Barcelona at their best or a man City. The problem is the defensive midfield who obviously are instructed to play this way because the forwards are not sharp enough to react. When we had a clever forward who could hold the ball and create ( pelle was the last we had) he could bring others into play. Why not play caleta carr with jwp next week to sure up that area otherwise we are facing maybe another record loss.

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HythePeer added 10:17 - Oct 3 "But if you are going to call for the sacking of Ralph Hasenhuttl then only do so when you have something better in mind to replace him"...my grandmother is available!
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DorsetIan added 10:18 - Oct 3 It's difficult to build a team if you keep chopping and changing the players. You are spot on that he didn't need to introduce two debutants to the defence for this game and given that he was (necessarily) making changing in midfield and up front, a sensible manager would have welcomed the opportunity to at least stick with a settled back four. We don't have a sensible manager. We've just had three winnable games and lost them all. This sort of thing is always going to happen while he remains in charge.

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JoeEgg added 10:29 - Oct 3 "Ralph got the balance wrong on Saturday, he didn't pick bad players, he just picked too much inexperience and we are now a decent enough squad, but we are not yet a team." And now we read that the Board have chosen to give Ralph more time! How many more mistakes does he have to make before he gets shown the door? Will 0-9 against Man City make the difference? No - give him more time! Anyway I think the City boss will take pity on Ralph and probably play his reserve team and settle for 0-5. In all honesty with the players we have there will be natural improvement and a few good results will come our way even if the likes of our Nick was asked to take over the maagement. Of course things will get better. Is it even possible for them to get WORSE? Every manager worth his salt gets the better of Ralph - Gerrard did it and Lampard did it. Wolves did it and the Wolves manager then LOST his job! The first half tactics Saurday and subsequent performance should have been enough alone to get Ralph the boot. I wonder how Salisu must have felt being left out just when he has appeared to be more reliable at the back and doing a better job? He was gaining in experience only to be left our for his efforts. How will our players EVER know what they are supposed to be doing on a Saturday afternoon when they are continually messed around and played in different positions? We could well be in the bottom three by the time the World Cup breaks up the routine. I am sure Poch wouldn't dream of a Saints return but I have to believe that many of our players are fed up with Ralph, his inconsistencies and confusion. Time for a Change.

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geezershoong1 added 10:34 - Oct 3 Yeh, but we're sitting comfortably in 16th so there's no problems.
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kingolaf added 10:36 - Oct 3 Ralph is not a football genius. He has lost the dressing room. He didn’t even speak to the team after the game, according to reports. He is easily replaceable, and should be sacked now in my opinion.
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SanMarco added 10:37 - Oct 3 I have a feeling that if this turns into another long Ralph bad run (and including the end to last season it already is) then Ralph will be gone whatever any of us say. Dropping Salisu and Perraud while making 4 other changes further up field is typical Ralph and the hard fact is that it didn't work and we lost again. Man C is maybe a 'free-hit' but another 0-9 will hardly raise confidence levels, and watching Man C yesterday filled me with dread (especially as Manure got 3 and Ralph might decide to 'go for it ' as a result.) Ralph has for a long time defied the usual rules of football management but he can't do so forever. The idea that you don't sack in case the replacement is worse is pretty thin and if we are in the bottom three when the break comes in November I can't see him surviving. It is a great shame - he is a likeable character but you can't survive forever with long bad runs and just enough good shorter runs to survive. This time the good runs may just be too short. Yes, we have some exciting new youngsters but we are still sloppy at the back and not scoring enough. When a side defends well against we lose - and being the Prem League you can expect most sides will defend well. I am not screaming 'Ralph Out' from the rooftops like some are but the ball is now firmly in the court of his defenders to justify 3 wins in 20 with not even many draws. The Wolves bloke's record was better than that.

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saintmark1976 added 10:54 - Oct 3 Nick, you say “ now is not the time to sack him, that time may come and it may come soon, but it’s not quite yet”. You are giving further implied support to a manager who’s team has obtained only twelve points from the last twenty Premiership games and who on Saturday made six changes to the team including starting three debutants for pity sake. My question to you is how do you justify such blind faith in Ralph when all the evidence points in the opposite direction? Take Djenepo as just one simple example. Ralph starts the season by playing him at left full back where he performed well. He then plays him at right midfield before dropping him on Saturday to play a young lad who at eighteen should be nowhere near the first team yet. What on earth does such scatter brain thinking do to Djenepo’s confidence going forward, let alone other members of the squad. As for your suggestion that there is nobody to replace Ralph. Frankly given Ralph’s record of only twelve points from the last sixty available it’s not ridiculous to say that you yourself could do a better job. It would be difficult for you to perform any worse wouldn’t it ? As was mentioned by another contributor over the weekend, maintaining Ralph in position is simply sucking the life out of the players, supporters and the club in general. A friend of mine who attended on Saturday summed it up perfectly when he said that Ralph has a spinning top footballing brain. It’s not now a question of “ In Ralph we trust” it’s simply become “with Ralph we rust”.

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pwithers123 added 11:01 - Oct 3 As we could all see - neither team was good in the 1st half- then in the 2nd half Saints moved the ball faster - had more intensity and played massively better. However, as noted above Everton experienced defenders were able to ensure Saints did not capitalise on their good 2nd Half - whereas our defence made some basic errors. We can easily blame the Manager - as we all often wish to do. However, we should also examine the big change in business strategy - which is to bring in very promising younger players - who are good enough to play yet who do not get the opportunity to play in the rich teams who soak up much of the talent. We buy them in at lower price and sell them at a higher price - its worked for years at Saints. It is now a very explicit and pro-active strategy that increases capital value of the club and makes money for the club Saints are attractive to those younger players - however there is one issue. They have to get games. We must play the younger players and also play those who have less PL experience. It is better to do that earlier in the season. It is a massive gamble - yet it is the only choice when you have bought in a great many new young inexperienced players.

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landsdownsaint added 11:15 - Oct 3 Completely agree with you regards Djennepo & Perraud , Iv played reasonable standard & know a dressing room & how he’s rotating the squad it a little unfair , their seems to be an unfair system of selection going on . As you rightly point out we should’ve won comfortably . Regards managers , Vincent Kompany is getting a bit of notice
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halftimeorange added 11:23 - Oct 3 I'm not sure that gambling on one's future in the EPL is what most fans want to hear. As others have pointed out, there were too many changes to Saturday's starting line-up. It might have looked attractive on paper but, in reality it simply didn't work. It also was apparent that the players hadn't worked together as a unit for anywhere near long enough to gel. I lost count of the number of misplaced passes in the first half. There is now the possibility that this very young squad will lose heart, especially if Man City decide to go full throttle. If that happens our already noticeable lack of leadership will make things even worse. The flair and fight that was on show against Leicester and Chelsea already seems to have evaporated. Saints are in trouble and it remains to be seen whether Ralph can rescue the situation. The inability to score indicates to me that he will not succeed, sad as that prospect is.

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SaintPaulVW added 11:25 - Oct 3 First half was dire from both sides. Aribo got an Aribo goal, good footwork in the box placed shot. Our defence then went missing for 2 minutes. I take the point on the leader, if you had watched the Arsenal game earlier as soon as they scored Xhaka got everyone in a huddle and shouted at them to get them to concentrate. That's the leadership we need. We had the chances but Armstrong and Adams, I can't fault their work rates or off the ball work, just couldn't sort feet/heads/body positions to get that clinical conversion. Despite our huge recruitment of young talent I'm hoping we don't come to regret not getting that proven striker we really need. Ralph gambled and lost making all those changes. A young team was seen off by a niggly experienced Everton side that was happy to get in our young players heads to put them off their game- eg maupay and ABK handbags. Should have at least started with a settled defence and then made changes. Maitland- Niles was no Romeu replacement, I think we need Lavia back ASAP. Crazy given how young he is. To my mind, Ralph really has until the World cup break to get some results or I can see a change being made. Just never know with us tho -after all this doom and gloom, what price a backs to the wall draw at Man City? COYR

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Jesus_02 added 12:26 - Oct 3 Say what you want about Ralph but he has everyone guessing... even our own players
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SWH1748 added 12:44 - Oct 3 A M8 of mine said Haaland would never score 40 goals this season, well I can see him getting 9 alone next week. We need to sort tactics out, missing Lavia big style and Romeu experience. JWP is playing too deep therefore doing nothing other than back/sideways passing. My belief is he should play Diallo in front of the back 4 and behind JWP and S Armstrong in the middle then 3 up front or two deeper behind the lone central striker away from home. This would allow our marauding fullbacks to get forward with the security of Diallo covering the gaps left as that is where we are constantly picked off. Ralph has till the World Cup to sort it or he has to go.

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Colburn added 12:54 - Oct 3 We're going down under Ralph. He still coaches them from the side like it's a Tyro under 10 game.. Clown.. He said the shape worked on Saturday, it didn't, we lost and Everton looked like they had more to come. We looked all over the place at times and still the basics of stopping crosses evades our full backs, especially KWP who can't defend and dribbles with his head down like he's under 10.. The players aren't the issue, as I keep saying, it's the manager and it is dire to watch.. Anti-football, sideways yawn. He sends them out with fear rather than freedom and this site will constantly defend him because its narcissistic, can't ever be wrong, can it....? Pathetic.. Time for the fans to come together and demand a positive minded manager who knows how to attack other teams. Kompany would be my choice at this moment.

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Colburn added 13:11 - Oct 3 To add, we won't keep the brighter youngsters for very long, they will quickly become disenchanted by the tactics and lack of freedom. BK already looks angry and fed up with the situation. The board are being too weak and are displaying their naivety by keeping things as they are.
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ItchenNorth added 13:35 - Oct 3 It was the starting 11 most fans have been calling for. The team was set up well and we created loads of chances. So you can hardly blame Ralph when players paid 10s of 1000s each week can not find the back of the net. The main issue is the same as it's always been. We needed a striker in the transfer window. That's a club / recruitment issue, not Ralphs as he'll get what he's given. Aribo aside, we've not got the player in our squad yet that looks like they'll consistently hit the back of the net. I thought Larios played pretty well and Carta Car looks like he's the real deal. I like all of our new young signings and when Tino and Lavia are back; this team is so much better than those we've watched in recent seasons. We just need to stay in touch with the pack. Ride it out, and we'll be fine as the World Cup break is perfect for Saints to get regroup this season.

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codge added 13:55 - Oct 3 After watching Man City Sunday fear for what will happen if we continue to defend like we have for the past games .Nine might be a let of hope lm wrong but have a bad feeling about this one.
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smashley13 added 14:48 - Oct 3 The biggest surprise today wasn't the Chancellors U-turn on tax cuts, it was that I didn't receive a Sky Sports news alert by 10 o'clock this morning saying Ralph had been sacked. What are we actually waiting for?! And as per other comments....I seriously fear for Saturday!!!!
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underweststand added 15:47 - Oct 3 the upside of recent defeats (if there is one?) is that we are not conceding goals by the bucketload, mostly one goal differences (although I may need to reconsider that statement after next Saturday's game). It will take time for our new defence to settle and no-one can blame Bazunu for every goal we've conceded, although I was impressed by Larios' input, (although he's clearly not upto 95 minute games a.t.m). Caleta -Car acquitted himself quite well in his first game, but I was not impressed by those critics who blamed his last-minute missed effort as the reason we didn't get a draw, as the real reason for our lost points is clearly the general lack of shooting prowess from our front men. 22 shots = 1 goal and many of those missed ended up in Row M. You can still get points -even though you concede goals, but clearly the failure to land our best-choice striker(s) in the summer is becoming embarrassingly apparent. Everton got 2 goals from 12 shots. The absence of a full half-season before New Year may be our saving grace if we can make it to the January window and buy ourselves a couple of decent strikers, instead of relying on the myriad midfielders we seem to have on the books at present.

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AmericanSaint added 16:31 - Oct 3 Many fair comments, but I think "underwestand" makes some excellent points. I, like many of you, am frustrated by RH and some of his decisions. For me, I didn't mind the changes but for LB. I think RP should have started. He provides a good cross and is an experienced defender. Personally as a former keeper, Bazuna should have taken the 1st goal cross as a ball sent in from that far out with that much height to the back corner is an easy take. Again we make primary school defensive mistakes and not sure how Rh can keep screaming at them to concentrate and these professionals don't? While I can agree in principle with many for RH to go, I think he will get to the WC break to turn things around. If he doesn't then he will get sacked. That will give a new manager 4+ weeks to work with majority of players. i guess this is what being a Saints fan is about, the highs, lows and lots of frustration. RH better play a 5-4-1 next weekend against MC and not be "brave" cause that would be STUPID and NAIVE.

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Sanguin added 16:32 - Oct 3 After the difficult of previous seasons and investment in youth over the summer transfer window, my goal for this season has always been survival. With the inexperience, I feel if we survive this season then we can kick on and do well in future seasons. But, while we started the season well and may not have deserved to lose these three games, lose them we did. I've been firmly in the keep Hassenhuttl camp up until now, but with the reports of him not talking to players I'm starting to feel that we may need a fresh start with a new manager. I'm just not sure who that manager might be.

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felly1 added 17:29 - Oct 3 The pivitol moment for me on Saturday was Che Adams not scoring from a brilliant position where he had time when the score was 1-1. How can we have an improved squad when our season has fell apart because an 18 year midfielder got injured? Ralph plays a very talented 18 year old fullback but it's clear to see that he will be physically outmuscled in this league...so naive. Maitland Niles looked very shaky but maybe will come good after a few more games. Mara looks to lightweight and offered zero threat. We looked better when A Armstrong came on. We look like we're in for a very tough season indeed as the young lads get battered and bullied and learn the ropes for the benefit of the big six as we play nursery teacher till we eventually sell on. I reckon Ralph will get sacked either after the Man City Game or they'll wait for the World Cup break which puts him in last chance saloon. Confidence now looks shot to bits.

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StAnt added 17:57 - Oct 3 I'm still baffled by the claim that you can't call for the manager to be sacked unless you can come up with somebody better. It is patent nonsense.
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