A bad night for Saints as despite the bulk of the possession, they did little with it and allowed a Brentford side to win the game in what has now become their win ugly style of play, but this is a setback not a terminal blow.

This was going to be the night when Saints pulled out of the bottom 3 and made a statement of intent, but it turned out far different and yet another night of disappointment at St Mary's with the visiting team catching us with sucker punches and ending the evening celebrating in front of their own fans.

The writing was on the wall when the team sheet came out an hour before kick off, there as predicted weren't many changes but what changes there were, were surprising, Elyounoussi in for Walcott & Diallo in for Lavia.

There weren't many who agreed with those changes or could find any justification for them.

We needed Lavia to hold the midfield and get forward, Diallo did not have a bad game, he did what he was there for to win the ball and play it short and perhaps Ruben Selles thinking was that rest Lavia for Saturday as essentially the holding role was going to be bypassed by Brentford's long ball tactics.

But bringing Elyounoussi in could really have to much credence, Theo Walcott has played well of late and should not have been on the bench, Brentford sit back we needed to get them on the back foot with pace and a little guile, this change did not work, I can see the rationale behind resting players, but in truth it's about taking each game in turn, win this one and worry about Spurs after.

But we still should have had enough to win this game, the truth was that Che Adams was isolated up front and although we got in plenty of balls into the box, we barely got on the end of any of them.

Crosses are food and drink to them, they now have a way of playing that is not pretty to watch, but can be effective, they win ugly, they were applauded into the Premier League as the plucky underdogs and now to stay there they have realised they have to get down and get dirty, sit back soak up the pressure and then catch on the counter and set pieces.

Their opening goal on 32 minutes was evidence on this, at previous corners their tactics were clear, they packed 7 players into the 6 yard box, with two players taking the corner and just a lone player on the edge of the box, as the kick was taken they dispersed out of the box and we could not cope.

On the third corner in succession their gameplan worked perfectly, Norgaard lost his man and unmarked flicked the ball to the far post for Ivan Toney to stab the ball home, a true sucker punch that should have been prevented.

From then on they were not interested in attacking apart from on the break, but Saints had no inspiration to actually cause them any damage, we failed to be able to break them down and get in any telling balls to our men in the box,, there was no variation it was play the ball down the wing and then cross, this was food and drink to them.

Our most threatening attacker was Kyle Walker Peters and on several occasions he got into the box and delivered the ball only to find very few of his team mates to aim at and even fewer able to escape their marker.

His night ended when he pulled up injured on the hour mark and then on we struggled to get any real threats going.

The arrival of Tall Paul Onauchu was predictable, but he never got into the game and in hindsight was probably not a good move in that he was a lone figure for much of the time against a solid and resolute Brentford defence, he barely got a kick, in short (or tall in this case) we tried to take them on at their own game when we would perhaps have been better trying to run at them in the centre instead of down the wings.

I think we missed a trick when KWP went off, we brought on James Bree who is not a real attacking threat, I think we would have been better to have left him on the bench and perhaps dropped to a back three, and brought on Adam Armstrong to forage down the right wing instead of Romain Perraud who would have stayed further back in the defensive three.

Brentford are the type of side we struggle against, those who stay mainly in their own half and soak up pressure, we are better against those sides that try to attack us, which is why our form is far better away from home.

So a disappointing night and although it feels a crushing blow there is still a long way to go yet, bizarrely I think we stand a better chance of a win against Spurs than we did against Brentford, we now have to lick our wounds and go again, there is a long way to go but we have to keep believing and fighting till it is mathematically impossible.

As I said it is about 3 game runs, this meant that in the last 3 games we have got the 4 points we need to maintain the ratio needed stay up, we now have to make sure we keep up that ration going forward.

Photo: Action Images

davidargyll added 20:37 - Mar 16 Anybody who doesn’t think thaT we are well and truly stuffed now is clearly not of this world. The championship beckons. And almost the sooner it’s a done deal so far as I am concerned the better. Looking at the game we played yesterday, and indeed a huge number of the games we have played over the last 12 to 18 months, what has become abundantly clear to me is NOT that we are badly managed, nor that we do not have some seriously good talent in the squad. No, what it is is simple, with the exception of Charlie Alcaraz, Tino and possibly JWP, WE JUST DON’T SEEM TO HAVE SUFFICIENT SKILLS AMONGST OUR TEAM MEMBERS. AND THE ONLY CONCLUSION I CAN DRAW FROM THIS IS THAT THE COACHING SQUAD IS VERY POOR, AND DEFINITELY NOT UP TO PL REQUIRED STANDARD. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THE RESULTS HAVE IMPROVED ONE JOT, IN FACT GENERALLY THEY’VE GOT WORSE SINCE THE BACKROOM STAFF GOT THE BOOT AND SELLES AND HIS MOB CAME NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNTIL WE GET A REALLY TOP TEAM IN THE BOOTROOM. SELLES I AM SURE THAT WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE BUT DUE SOUTH WITH YOU AND YOUR DODGY BUNCH.

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Colburn added 23:36 - Mar 16 Why did we buy Mara, Edozie, Larios and Onuachu. Edozie aside that's almost £50 million hardly used. Edozie has at least shown a bit more about him than some in the match day squads. I thought Tella going out on loan at the start of the season was lunacy, he was involved in a fair amount of goals last season when he actually got a chance and this season should have been his break through. It was clear then he would offer more than Armstrong, Walcott, Elyonoussi, etc and we loaned him out. Aside from scoring goals he brings so much more and then we buy Edozie! A player younger and less experienced.. Lunacy. We deserve to go down as a club because of the woeful key decision making by SR since they took over and now we have a manager who has never managed a senior team before.. It is mind bogglingly laughable. I agree with the responses to your comments on Bree, he is a quality player and you are biased because he was a Jones signing. And no, there is not a long way to go.. We have Spurs, City, Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and Liverpool still to play, along with tough trips to West Ham and Forest.. We can't score against ten men or at home, yet again, to an average team who have a plan. What a catastrophic said season of decision making.

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halftimeorange added 09:09 - Mar 17 Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow - except without the quick. We displayed absolutely no will to get the ball forward at speed in either passing or from throw-ins or corners. Such a lack of urgency must stem from complacent management. Also, taking Alcaraz off when he looked to be our one player ready to follow up through balls was as bad a decision as starting Diallo and Elyounoussi.

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