When the team was announced before kick off there were many who thought that Mauricio Pellegrino had lost the plot, perhaps his selections appeared strange, but Saints nearly nicked a point.

The two real talking points about this game where the team selections and Fraser Forster's part in Chelsea's goal, but lets start at the beginning.

Mauricio Pellegrino made it all change again for the trip to Chelsea, the most surprising decision being that Virgil Van Dijk was dropped to the bench and we appeared to be starting with a back three, none of whom have appeared to have been the managers first choice at some stage over the past few months.

This is the worry about Pellegrino, good managers are consistent, they know what their best teams are for any given game and who their best players are, when you get wild changes week in week out, both in the starting line up and substitutions, there is something wrong.

Most puzzling is that Pellegrino has tinkered with what had been a side that looked like it was coming back to something approaching decent form, there was no need for too many changes.

Wild changes it was on Saturday at Chelsea and you have to surmise when a manager is suddenly starting to play players he has virtually ignored for several months that something is not quite as it should be.

Like the Arsenal game it was a game where Saints were soon pressed back and forced to spend a lot of time beehind the ball and this perhaps suited the side they had put out at the back.

There was a setback early on though when Cedric Soares was smashed into the advertising hoardings and unable to continue, but perhaps that was not the disaster it could have been, with a shuffle bringing on Lemina whose tackling ability helped , although he did not look like the driven player of a month or so ago.

The goal in the 2nd minute of first half injury time was another lapse of concentration, firstly a silly free kick was given away 30 yards out, it was needless and it would cost us dearly.

Many will blame Fraser Forster for the goal, but most will blame him for the wrong reason, the keeper was not slow in getting down, indeed he got quite near a ball that was shaving the bottom of the post, perhaps the most difficult save to make, but the real mistake was in setting up the wall.

Forster had assumed that Willian would hit the free kick and set up the wall appropriately, but it was Alonso who hit the ball, probably because Chelsea had noticed that the Saints wall was too far over to the left, meaning that there was the opportunity to bend the ball into our right hand corner.

So yes Forster was at fault, but his blame lie in not setting up the wall properly to cover that angle meaning that he had to try and scramble across in vain from a starting position that was all about William striking the ball to the left of the goal, if the wall had been set up as it should have been the ball would not have got through.

Ironically if Forster had saved the shot or the wall blaocked it then he would have unquestionably have been Saints man of the match making half a dozen decent saves and dealing with just about everything else compently, but that is what a keeper is all about, a striker can miss several sitters and have an awful game, but if he scores one and wins the game then he is a hero, in reverse like Forster on Saturday, a near perfect performance is ruined by one lapse in concentration.
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Our tactics seemed to be to hang on, get to the last 15 minutes and then try and have a go, we were scared to leave our own half for long periods and it was only after Charlie Austin came on that we offered any sort of attacking threat.

Overall this game was one that ponders a lot of questions off th pitch rather than on it, Saints put in a good display on it, although it was all about sitting back and defending rather than matching Chelsea in all areas.

But Pellegrino cannot say this was a tactical team selection, if it is then why have our best players been on the bench in the past three games, that is not tactical it is about issues in the dressing room and that is worrying.

I would guess that Pellegrino has issues with Van Dijk, Hoedt and Lemina, undoubtably these are his best players, but given the change in attitude on the pitch yesterday, certainly it was miles better than on Wednesday, it seems that the manager is in a quandry, the likes of Yoshida, Stephens and Ward Prowse will give 100% and a good attitude, but that still does not make them a better player than either of the aforementioned trio.

Van Dijk is better than either Stephens and Yoshida even at 75% effort, but that lack of effort is seemingly damaging the team in other areas.

So the manager appears to have a dilemma, does he try to play his best team and get a result, or does he go for one that will play for him and give 100% but ultimately is not going to be able to compete in the same way.

Something has to change and that is the worry for Pellegrino, it is easier to change one man than replace several players, if he isn't getting the results then his position will become untenable.

This was a result that most Saints fans would have taken before kick off, especially when they saw the team, but that is the problem at the moment, we are lowering our standards, we are accepting second best and that has to change.

Photo: Action Images

AirFlorida added 18:59 - Dec 17 Maybe we've got all this wrong and VVD wants championship football, not champions league? Hope so, as this is our reality :-D
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skiptonsaint added 00:32 - Dec 18 A lot been said and I feel this result and performance if it had come after Arsenal, would of been fine but after Leicester it just makes it clearer that we have wasted so many winnable games. Two main issues I have 1 Even if we get a new manager it is not going to be a big name that will command the respect of the team because the club don't want that. They want undiscovered coaches after Koeman challenged them. Senior players then kick off and also with a big bloated squad left over from Europe other non playing players join in no doubt 2 As mentioned , We have a big bloated squad of average but high salaried players. How are we going to get rid of them ? Ie Shane long (50k a week) hasn't scored for a relegation prem team for almost a year. He would have to go to a championship team who won't be able to afford his wages. Same goes for quite a few more ie Redmond , Davis, Gados, even Tadic might be surprised how many want him. So are we going to just sign another couple of big players because if they are not 25mil in this market they won't improve us (ie giroud etc). I remember this problem when we started our slide down through the leagues last time. This issue will also halt the youngsters like Hesketh, Sims etc I think we have to accept our position and pull together. both fans and dressing room. It's a crap season and we just need to survive and then do some major work in the summer. Club won't act till after Palace game due to holidays probably and winnable games coming up from jan. 6 points from next 4 games and I would give him longer. There is a bit of me that feels a bit sorry for him. VVD is looking like a big headed royal prick who prob just wants to see club suffer and I think that whole situation without any clear other Leader in the dressing room would of tested a lot more experienced managers than MP

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redandwhitedee added 08:14 - Dec 18 You don’t half talk some nonsense. ... “A side that looked like it was coming back to something approaching decent form,” Did you watch the Leicester game ??? Of course he had to make changes. VVD was appalling against Leicester.
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saintwizzler added 09:05 - Dec 18 Walcott will go to Everton or West Ham as they will offer bigger wages. Unfortunately that’s what will sway the multi millionaire. Where is Ralph Krueger these days?
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TeamCortese added 11:12 - Dec 18 I think people are over-analysing us. The simple reality is we have have a sh*t board; sh*t manager and a just above average squad of players who have become sh*t as a result of the club's leadership. None of this is rocket science. We need an owner in who's actually interested in football; get rid of Les Reed, Eric Black. Get a decent manager in i.e. Peter Bosz, Thomas Tuchel etc. Within our squad we need to get rid of Redmond, Van Dick, JWP, Davis, Long, Tadic, Forster and McCarthy. Goodness me I've had enough! There are too many idiots involved at the helm.

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AmericanSaint added 11:16 - Dec 18 Well I am sorry to hear so much negativity towards MP. While he has done a little too much rotation for my liking, I think he deserves time. I said this last year and was hammered by many of you, we should have kept Puel for another season. Look what he is doing at Leist. Don't tell me that they are much better than us because they are not. Too many Saints fans are so quick to bash the manager and say 'sack him'. Your expectations are so high and unrealistic. Everyone thinks we should be battling for the 6th spot each year and that is crazy, especially when we keep changing managers. These comments about getting a whole new creative midfield are so stupid. We have that in Hojberg and Lemina. I think Boufal needs to get 3-5 games as a starter instead of Redmond. If you play Gabs then you need Hojberg to be able to release him with passing. If you play Austin then you need crosses coming in and Tadic and Boufal on the wings. Look I know this has been tough and there are about 2-3 games we should have won, but for everyone who has jumped on the bandwagon to fire the manager, you all need to take a sedative. Its not going to be pretty but I think we will scrape by and survive. Have a little faith as I remember when we were worse off back in the early 2000s and we made it through.

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schatfield added 12:31 - Dec 18 I for one am glad he dropped Van Dijk, the player has been very sloppy as of late and disagree at 75% he is better than Stephens and the others. The others at least look like they give a f.... Goal aside, we played very well in the first half.
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