Was this a pont gained or two points lost ? this was the question after the game amongst the travelling supporters and no one could quite agree !

This was an awful game and one that the watching Saints supporters fully expected to lose once the home side had equalised, it was a tale of two sides, one newly promoted to the Premier League was full of players who were desperate to prove themselves at this level so played with passion and determination an then there were Saints who despite the undoubted quality in the side again played with fear and well below their best.

The big shock before the match was the dropping of Yoshida for Hoedt a decision I said should be made in the pre match article on here, it gave us better balance at the back and especially in the second half Hoedt carried the ball forward and used it well, not that it did much good in the final third.

But it started well with Saints moving the ball well and looking like they were ready to capitalise on last weeks late winner and kick on, James Ward Prowse hit the woodwork with a free kick and there was Steven Davis to head home the rebound.

This wasnt the cue for putting the Seagulls to the sword though, if Saints controlled the first ten minutes then the home side had the net fifteen, before another ten of Saints looking comfortable.

But Brighton went into the break looking stronger and you felt that they would come out in the second half and have a go.

That was the case and 7 minutes into the second half they were level, again Saints supporters are divided on whether Fraser Forster should have done better, having seen it on TV mulitple times both at the stadium and back home, I'm still not sure, it wasn't the hardest of headers in terms of power and that perhaps foxed Foster who was expecting it to be headed back across him.

At that point I wouldn't have put much money on Saints getting even a point out of the game.

But we weathered the onslaught of much Brighton possession and balls pumped forward and to be fair finished strongly, or at least strongly up to the final third and in the final ten minutes perhaps looked more likely to win than lose.

But a point was all we got and for our lacklustre performance, it was all we deserved.

So what was the problem ?

The same as every week is the answer, we are playing without passion, we are playing with fear and we are not set up in midfield to create chances for the way we are playing up front.

Brighton played with an energy we lacked and the fact that we could hold them fairly easily despite all their bluster suggests that it is not the quality of personel that is not right, but something else that is hard to pinpoint.

I had hoped that it was something that could be cured by a win or two or a goal or three, but we are struggling to do either and that in itself is draining the confidence in the side.

It started last season and for whatever reason Mauricio Pellegrino is finding it hard to change the mindset, the bench looked strange yesterday, Yoshida, Stephens, McQueen was very defensive and to be blunt none of them would have got in the Brighton side yesterday and that is telling us something, Austin was injured so that left the manager short on bodies, but the bench was weak so much so that Pierre Emile Hojbjerg was on it and came on for his first appearance of the season.

Saints didn't play badly in this game in terms of the fact that they didn't get beaten or really look like getting beaten, but it is still the final third, we only created six chances with only one on target, Brighton were no better managing only one more chance both in total and on target.

But Brighton are a strong home team, in their previous three games at the Amex, they had beaten West Brom and Newcastle, drawn with Everton who needed a last minute penalty for the point and lost only to Manchester City, this is a harder place to come than most would think, from that perspective this was a better result than it would first look.

The manager has a lot of work to do, if you are going to play wide players, Redmond and Tadic are essentially wingers, then you need someone in the box to get on the end of crosses, if you only have one man and he is barely 5ft 8, then he is always going to struggle to win the ball against two big centre backs, something has to change we have to get the right balance.

We either have to play more through the centre of midfield, or we have to get an extra man up front, we cannot keep playing with two wingers, the fans moan about Tadic and Redmond continually checking back and not taking the man on and crossing the ball, but the reality is that they look up and can't see an end ball, so choose to keep possession rather than hit and hope.

The fact that we got a draw and that we sit 9th in the league is testimony that we have a good squad, we need to use it better and more importantly get our players playing like Brighton's with passion, with energy, with enthusiasm and with confidence, once the fear is gone we can prosper.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 08:36 - Oct 30 It's weird, everything I've read suggests that Pellegrino doesn't like setting his teams up with a big target man for a striker, but goal kicks from Forster were continuously lumped up field and received by their defenders. I think teams know that if they mark our defenders during goal kicks then they will severely limit our possession. Couple this with the amount of crosses we are able to put in the box that come to nothing and the problem becomes clearer. We need someone who can win the ball, hold it up and play in our other attacking players or we need to change our tactics and set up.

11

SanMarco added 08:41 - Oct 30 Good summary of the game. Our problems are to do with tha balance of the squad and have been since the end of last season. MP is doing all he can to try and find the 'least worst' combination in the attacking third but if I was him I would sell Long, Redmond, JWP and Tadic in January and bring in replacements who will fit in to an attacking strategy. I would keep Boufal because if his talent becomes focused he could be very good. As for Forster - two genuine neutrals who I watched the match on tv with felt that he should have done better and my instant reaction was surprise that it went in. I think that he has never been the same since his injury and like Jayrod seems to move as if he fears it (the injury) will happen again at any moment. Burnley is a big game now because we only took 4 points off the big six last year soreally do need to go into (yet another) international break with points on the board. Oh and Lemina has become a key player very quickly. I hope he is back soon because Romeu is one booking away from suspension...

16

IanRC added 08:51 - Oct 30 Definitely two points lost, instead of moving forward with confidence after our goal just sat back and allowed them to come on to us. Very disappointing tactical performance - again.
12

LordDZLucan added 08:59 - Oct 30 I have to say I was utterly dismayed when I saw the team sheet before the game and expected us to lose. Our 3 most effective players this season, namely Lemina, Yoshi and Shane were missing. Now I know Lemina was injured but not playing Yoshi and Shane was inexcusable and ultimately cost us a win and I’ll tell you why. Hoedt is not an upgrade on Yoshi; he could have done so much better in the lead up to Brighton’s goal and was generally dragged all over the place by the man of the match, Pascal Gross. I’m sorry but I’m not sure he’s good enough at this level. And if you’re going to play one up top against 2 big central defenders it can’t be Gabbi, it has to be Shane. I’m seeing too many strange team selections by Pellegrino. Yes, Puel chopped and changed the team but he had to as he was in 3 competitions. We don’t because we’re only in 1. We’ve now got 5 of the top 6 to play in the next 9 games. If things don’t look up against Burnley Pellegrino has got to go as that would give us the International break to get somebody else in who can prepare us properly for those matches.

0

Bridsaint added 09:41 - Oct 30 Said it before, we have not only chosen the wrong manager but the fact that our performance has not been good enough over the last two seasons coincides with the appointment of Black on the management team and now our first team coach!
10

saintpp added 09:50 - Oct 30 Good first half tho we should have killed them off after we scored. Terrible second half tho our defence we looked solid. These players are better than that so why dont they show it some of them are shadow of their former selves Forster getting the blame and maybe he should have saved it but cedric shouldnt have been marking Murray who was allways going to beat him in the air. We should have killed the game off with another goal or two then it wouldnt have mattered. But the real concern was not forster but the rest of the teams 2nd half performance lack of creativity and boring football. Puel was sacked because of that but we did sparkle in some games last years esp away from home and ive seen no improvement in entertainment this year. Not suggesting he should be sacked and at least he changed things around but it was the same again. Only positives is that we are unbeaten in 3 games and have scored in them all and had we won we would have gone 7th which wouldnt be too bad. We have some tough games coming up can only hope the players raise their game as they normally do when we play the big teams and grab some points. Boufal was getting some stick on sites but he did earn the foul for JWP set tadic up for great chance and put a lovely ball thro to Gabbi in the second half whose shot was just blocked.so in fact he created more than anybody else. Looked like we badly missed Lemina and considering hes a new player we shouldnt be relying on him so much so soon. The result i guess was ok but the performance wasnt.

3

saintmark1976 added 10:20 - Oct 30 What on earth has gone wrong with us? A goal to the good after six minutes against Brighton (yes Brighton not Man City) and in the end we are happy with a draw. We should have taken the game to them, not surrendered the midfield in the hope that we would not concede a goal for the rest of the game. Some how we manage to let a 34 year old has been forward get a free header to level which I suppose Nick, was the fault of Yoshida yet again? How much longer are we expected to put up with this one forward rubbish? It's not working and every man and his dog can see it, plus it is simply not the "southampton way". Things need to change and change quickly before the whole "attacking give it a go" culture of the club ebbs away to be lost forever.

10

skiptonsaint added 10:42 - Oct 30 I think the point away at Brighton would of been fine if we had picked up a few more in this easy start. MP and his coaching team have now had 16 matches including the pre season friendlies and cup loss and 1 transfer window to look at the squad and work out an effective system to essentially get us scoring again. Black and Watson have been here even longer so our squads limitations should not be a surprise. 4231 isn't working with Gabbi we all know that so try something new. Teams have worked us out and I now find myself thinking we looked better in the Christmas tree formation at the start of last season At least then we were creating chances and missing em. Now we are not even creating chances. We go into a run now where it is possible against , a toughened up Burnley , a fired up Puel , Everton possibly with a new manager and a huge local derby for bmouth especially and the big six where we might well not win for 8 / 9 more games. The table will look pretty poor with how close the teams around us are then and a move to 7th yesterday would of papered over a lot of cracks Les quote about more attacking high intensity football looks very odd now and is making him look bad. I can only think something isn't gelling with the new MP / Black backroom set up compared to what he had in Spain.

3

1885_SFC added 11:01 - Oct 30 I'm trying really hard... but I can see no improvement whatsoever in our style of play this season and under Puel last season. We are very dull at times and carry no threat up front at all. Sure, we don't concede many goals - something MP was known for before he was appointed - but at the other end of the pitch - we are woefully inept. Even the likes of Lukaku and Kane in a Saints shirt would struggle to score in our current set-up! The answer is for MP to change the system. Whatever he's trying to do isn't working. We do have some very good players at the club that aren't being utilised to their full potential. MP has sorted the defence and made us pretty solid at the back (bar the keeper who's confidence is shot away) - and the likes of Lemina and Romeu are top quality defensive midfielders...but we are crying out for at least 2 hard working and creative attacking central midfielders to supply the striker/s.

11

GeordieSaint added 11:02 - Oct 30 God that was dull. The full backs really don't get up enough and support the play. Bertrand in particular looks like he has been tethered to the half way line. It does feel really hard to know why this team isn't clicking, we clearly have some decent players but something is clearly not quite right, still, hopefully MP can pick a player or two to sort it out in January.

6

darthvader added 11:10 - Oct 30 Dissapointed not to win this game as in the first half they were for the taking . But as its saints and as we all know too well it's the ( mostly dashed ) hope that gives us the will to carry on to the next game . Always seemed to do things the hard way but that is the Southampton way right now
1

underweststand added 11:19 - Oct 30 Why feel we MUST play a 6'7" keeper just because he's 6'7" I'm not sure, but he clearly must share some responsibility for 3 or 4 of those conceded goals this season. The only way to know if McCarthy is serious competiton for FF ..is to play him. I'm OK with the two full backs, but central defence is becoming a problem. Clearly VvD must get some game time, if we are going to sell him in January, but Hoedt also needs games (if he is to replace VvD?) .. as he seems pretty pi**ed (in interview) at not playing, as does Hojbjerg who would have been my first choice for the injured Lemina. Leaving out Yoshida may be a necessity - (if we are to see Hoedt and VvD together), but Maya really is our most consistant defender, and we don't look as safe without him. JWP did his bit, but he'll not get a regular spot whilst Davis is playing so well. Tadic is now barely a shadow of the player we first saw in the Koeman seasons, and although Redmond makes good runs, but is still as "goal shy" as the others around him. We understand Pellegrino has to see them all in action, but most of the fans would be satisfied with last seasons line-up ...if only the strikers could find the net. Not his fault. The service to the front man/man is pathetic, and the likes of Gabbiadini and Boufal need more service ..or have to go it alone (like Boufal last week). Most fans seem to like Shane Long, but would like him even better if he could score (!). The Mayor should declare a Public Holiday when he does eventually get the ball in the net. As for MP's tactics up front...he just doesn't see a place for Charlie Austin (even when fit) and Charlie would be my choice to disrupt life in the oppositions penalty box, instead of all this "lightweight " attacking force we have now . Clearly MP is still "experimenting" to find his right formula, but failure to get a good result (AND play well doing it) v. Burnley before the international break is vital. We failed to impress against Brighton, so its best not to dwell too much on all those " nightmare fixtures " against the top 6 teams we have upto New Year.

2

Fordy added 11:22 - Oct 30 What on earth has Tadic done this season to deserve starting every week? Apart from the odd dive here or there he does nothing. We need to get rid in Jan and get in a genuinely creative player.
11

saintsaintsaint added 11:29 - Oct 30 Sorry for the moan, but Tadic was awful and his diving absolutely pathetic - i really hope he doesn't play agin. The biggest problem for me in this game was the lack of team spirit - epitomised when Redmond played a ball to JWP, it went way past him and instead of the normal hand raising from the player receiving the ball in acceptance of a good attempt at a long pass from hi team mate, JWP looked at the ground in disgust and Redmond had a moan at JWP!!

3

REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:38 - Oct 30 We need a striker who can attack crosses. Someone dominant in the air. All we do is cross the ball and its easy for the opposition defence. We need a new Lambert/Pelle. Gabbiadini is a good player but we create nothing for him because we don't play with a creative number 10. Our creativity comes from the flanks, but they have no target man to hit with thier crosses. Tadic is lost without a realistic target in the area. His skill is creating a yard of space to get a cross in. Every manager since Adkins has been focussed on winning the midfield battle playing 3 combatitive central midfielders, which is fine, but you need to have the right blend with your attacking front 3. And that's what we lack. Lallana/Lambert/JRod was an almost perfect blend, as was Mane/Pelle/Tadic. We need to find the right blend again, and I think we'll only achieve it with a Benteke/Llorente/Chris Wood/Andy Carroll type up front.

12

LordDZLucan added 12:08 - Oct 30 You're so right Reedy. In the meantime Shane Long is the only attacking player we've got who can win anything in the air so he has to play!
6

mattlegod added 12:12 - Oct 30 Is it only me that can see the consistent influence to our current set up?? Eric Black seems to have influence despite being first team coach and not the assistant that he was to Puel. Get rid and quick.
10

schatfield added 12:31 - Oct 30 I was quite pleased to see Hoedt in but would have dropped VVD to the bench and partnered him with Yoshi. Ward Prowse was surpringly good and I rate Hojbjerg highly, so was good to see him back although thought he could have started. Forster, Tadic and Redmond were awful. You are right though, we have no real leaders in the team.....and man, its painful to watch Saints these days.

4

landerwal added 12:40 - Oct 30 The team seem to be in the last season mind set playing dull uninspiring and oh so slow football. The key word in the article is fear. Almost every player is genuinely scared of giving the ball away hence a continual stream of passes between defenders and back to the keeper and is absolutely no different from how we played under Puel and he was sacked for it. Perhaps we should do the same to Pelligrino. The ex Everton manger is still available for hire I believe.

9

SNAILOB added 13:05 - Oct 30 We are so boring and predictable to watch. The build up from the back takes so long, that by the time we do reach the halfway line, the opposition have every player behind the ball in a solid formation ready to defend. we are seeing this every week yet nothing changes. Compare that to Brighton who were able to shift the ball from back to front quite quickly which in turn caused us defensive problems. Thought they were quite good to watch at times. Think the 'Southampton Way' has truly lost its way.

8

wibbersda added 13:06 - Oct 30 It is clear to me given that we are playing the same as under Claude Puel that the common denominator is Eric Black. Well overdue to get rid.
10

TimSaint added 14:41 - Oct 30 We simply got our tactics wrong again, leading and turning defensive instead of killing them off when we were on top. These tactics may work in Spain but not in the Prem, as we have seen so often this season already. Creating only 6 chances and getting only 1 of those on target is nowhere near enough, so why do we go so negative ? Once we sat back, we then go all negative and we don't perform as a team - instead having to carry at least 3 under performing players. Lemina was a massive miss and we STILL do not know our best formation or players for those positions. There was an article a week or 2 back, telling of our solid start - but We are still tinkering, still carrying players every week and still creating virtually nothing because we are not playing to the strengths of those who are playing. Carry on as we are and the Must Win meltdown will begin, if it hasn't already !!

4

simmo400 added 15:18 - Oct 30 Harry Kane wouldn't score in our team. We are so slow in the build up play it's joke. Pass sideways, sideways, sideways back back sideways, forward forward sideways back. Boring boring. Hardly an end product in our play and an effort on goal. Same every game I see. Don't know how fans keep interested.
4

Whatsforpud added 16:27 - Oct 30 As usual, Yoshida is the first one named in Nick's report, even when he doesn't play! Re Forster, a lot of fans have been moaning at his disability to get down quickly enough for the low shots, but now we find he can't get across and up to soft ones in the top corner.
1

TeamCortese added 16:30 - Oct 30 GET RID OF ERIC BLACK. GET RID OF LES REED. GET RID OF PELLEGRINO! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CLUB? THE WAY WE'RE PLAYING WILL GET US RELEGATED! This was the first time in a while where I was geniunely disinterested in watching saints. I was literally saying to myself: "Why am I watching this?", "This isn't fun to watch", "Stop passing it back Prowsey!", "Why are we so sh*t?". Then I thought to myself it's Eric Black. Then I thought who brought in Black, Claude Puel and Pellegrino? LES REED. I will admit he got it right with Roko but we were very lucky under him--given how things have gone with Everton. Not to mention he was riding a wave of success with Feyenoord through bringing players like Pelle and we got really lucky with Mane and to certain lesser extent Tadic. We need to get rid of Les Reed. It's literally the scouting team and the foundations laid by Nicola Cortese that brought us success. Cortese sacked Pardew and brought in Adkins. He then sacked Adkins and brought in Poch. It was his ruthlessness and drive that got us where we are today. I feel like we've regressed recently over the last 18-months and this is due to KL and Les Reed.

5

Blogs 31 bloggers

Lincoln City Polls