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

saintpete01 added 18:04 - Oct 3 Yes saintmark76 A spinning top for a football Brain IN RALPH WE RUST Ralph it’s just not happening
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davidargyll added 18:37 - Oct 3 Others have alluded to this, but inconsistency is the downside of a team full of youngsters who are still learning our style of play: they’re impressive when everything goes their way but quite the opposite when it doesn’t. Which was how it seemed to me on Saturday. We played 7 players who had all joined this season with an average age of 22! So is it surprising that they cock it up from time to time? But you don’t become youth or full internationals - which all those 7 are - by not having ability; and surely our recent performances show players who still don’t know each other well and are just only learning our way of playing. In other words we may not yet be gelling but we are not a poor team, just a young one which is still very much work-in-progress. And I for one am convinced we will get better as the season progresses as the players get to know each other better. (And as an aside I bet we keep fitter than a lot of the teams with older players). So yes, of course, this is a really frustrating time, but for Christ sake guys keep the faith, because when you play kids you’re bonkers if you expect instant miracles. And certainly another manager is going to make zero difference so FFS can those thoughts. But we do have some real quality in our ranks now and with a bit more luck I am confident we will scrape together a few more points before the WC break. And then maybe the outlook will look just a bit brighter.

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Block8 added 18:40 - Oct 3 It's difficult to add to or disagree with most of the comments above but a couple of things I would like to add. First, yes Larios had a reasonable game but it is pretty obvious that Perraud is by far our best left back and isn't shabby in attack either. Secondly if we really want to stop letting in goals from set pieces we really need to drop zonal marking and go man to man. Prior to the game decide who marks who by size! Onana is 6ft 4" and was sort of marked by JWP 5ft 8" & Mara 6ft, a 4 inch advantage but also with the zonal system wasn't tightly marked, bottom line if he doesn't win the header they don't score? We also were caught ball watching and nobody stayed with Coady who with the zonal marking possibly had no one assigned to him. Second goal was a keeper error end of, whether the ball should have got to McNeill is another question that needs asking.

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StAnt added 18:58 - Oct 3 Zonal marking doesn't work unless the opposition has a player named Zonal. Mark players not zones. If we mark zones next week Haaland will have an absolute field day.
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Boris1977 added 21:40 - Oct 3 Cheers for the patience and the verbatim match report copied from any number of previous games over the last few years. The issue of who could replace Ralph will still be an issue in a months time or so following this argument for keeping Ralph in the job to its conclusion means he will not leave until his contract ends On the basis that Ralph keeps making odd team selections (changing half the team at the weekend is arguably his most eccentric) and that we are not going to sign an experienced CB or a forward who can score goals it's impossible to see how results will improve. The business model saints are employing isn't sustainable for success as building success is built up and maintain over a period of seasons. Selling talent every season will result in diminishing returns and eventually relegation. Im sick, tired and frustrated with the unmet potential within this team which with the right person in charge can unlock. I don't believe Ralph is the man for job based on his frankly mainly embarrassing record and continued bizarre team selections.

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GRIM added 10:37 - Oct 4 Totally agree with the comments regarding Zonal marking, it's a nonsense. By playing zonal marking you're giving the opposition space & "space does not score goals, players do". For God's sake abandon zonal marking, take responsibility & start marking players (preferably mark a player of similar height to yourself & not a miss match of 6'4" against 5'9".) Also the point previously made about our talented young players coming good next season & improving results next season won't happen because these talented young players if any good will be snapped up by bigger clubs. We will then have to go thru the process again & buy young players before selling them to a bigger club. This policy possibly keeps the club bouyant financially but we cannot compete or survive on Premier lge with this policy of constant turnover of players. Ralph is having to play these youngsters to raise their profile & hike up their market value. I'm not defending RH because I think he's lost the plot & def should be replaced but perhaps some of the decisions regarding team selection are determined by the clubs policy to I raise young player value.

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barry_sanchez added 15:16 - Oct 4 Sean Dyche.
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