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

wessexman added 11:50 - Mar 16 Selles may well have had an eye on the Spurs game but this game should have been his priority. If we had won this game, the Spurs game would have been an awful lot less pressurised. We played so well at Man U so why, oh why did he bring Diallo and especially Elyounoussi in? Elyounoussi brings very little to the table. I think most of us could see very early on that Selles' formation and tactics were not working and Brentford were raiding at will on the left wing . And AGAIN, we bemoan the fact we conceded a soft goal and we cannot score. Copy and paste every game. A costly defeat....especially if KWP is going to be out for a while.

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obelisk added 12:08 - Mar 16 "there is still a long way to go yet". There really isn't. Saints will now need to win pretty much half the 11 games left in order to escape the relegation trap door. Given the inability to score goals I'd suggest that it won't be long before we're beyond salvation.
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DorsetIan added 12:14 - Mar 16 I enjoyed the game. I think we are showing good signs of improvement. It's never easy to break down a team that parks the bus - especially when your attacking threat is as weak as ours. But the goal from the corner! The amount of time and space Norgaard had was ridiculous. Nobody was anywhere near him. He was able not only to flick the ball on but to flick it towards the goal too, so that Tony just had to nudge it over the line. Had any defender been putting any pressure on him, he might had flicked it on still but not with the same accuracy. The one moment lost us the game.

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Farlow added 12:16 - Mar 16 As soon as i saw Diallo,s name on the team sheet i knew we,d lose.Against a big team like Brentford you need a bit of bite.Bednarek marking empty spaces as usual.Trying to win one nil at home is not the answer.I was beginning to have faith in Selles but after last nights Team selection i,m not so sure.
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LordDZLucan added 12:22 - Mar 16 Brentford were by far away the better team up to their first goal. They pressed high and, as wessexman has pointed out, pressurised us down their left flank (our right flank) by putting Schade, a big forward, on KWP and pumping long high balls in his direction. Not surprisingly, given KWP's lack of height, he won every ball. It was clearly a problem and yet we did nothing to combat it. They were getting corners from that tactic and eventually one of them led to a goal. After that it was even stevens until we bizarrely gifted them a 2nd right at the end. So to my mind Selles lost the tactical battle in those first 30 minutes. He needs to be more proactive if we are going to have any chance of staying up.

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Ninja9 added 12:23 - Mar 16 Firstly it was a mistake to sack Ralph . Secondly if he had to go then an experienced manager should have been brought in along with his own backroom staff . I am not one who jumped on the Selles bandwagon . I find it strange that the last 3 managers have all made strange decision with the starting line ups , along with strange substitutions . There is one common denominator with all 3 of those managers , Selles . A big clear out is needed .

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WestSussexSaint added 12:35 - Mar 16 The sad truth of this was it showed us that currently our team aren’t very good. Whether that is due to a lack of confidence, lack of experience, lack of ability, or a combination of all 3, the fact is that last night Brentford didn’t need to play well to get the win. I don’t want to criticise any individual because I think the position we are in is a collective responsibility. One call out I will make is that we had one shot on target against Brentford whereas on the same evening , another Saints player scored a hat trick. Well done Nathan Tella!

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SanMarco added 12:49 - Mar 16 I suppose one message for Tella devotees is that Adams and A Armstrong were banging in them in in that division for weaker teams than Burnley! The starting line-ups and the marking at corners helped do for us here. The rest was cut and paste problems from most matches since last spring...
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felly1 added 13:01 - Mar 16 Think I'm right in saying we've scored 3 goals from open play in the last 12 Premier league matches.
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Ifonly added 13:04 - Mar 16 Nick, I sometimes wonder if you have a clue what you are talking about. You keep going on about how we don't lack quality - you did again in the preview - when it's obvious to anyone who knows anything about football that we lack quality in the final third. Last night proved it yet again. Now you say you can't find "any justification" for putting Lavia on the bench. It's obvious why he was on the bench and I, for one, never expected him to play. He played on Sunday so he wont play on Weds because his body can't handle it. That's been said many times by more than one manager. There are some in the squad who aren't ready for the PL because they lack the experience. Lavia has the ability to operate at that level already but his body isn't ready to play 90 mins per week, let alone 2 games. There was nothing about last night that hasn't been seen and said a hundred times before. Lots of possession that we do feck all with, no creativity or cutting edge, we give away a goal by not marking at corners and give away another one on the break. Same old Saints. Selles is not making any progress in getting us to score more goals. We may as well not have bought any of the 3 strikers we bought in January because we're either not playing them or not playing to their strengths. Selles has his way of playing and he's not going to change it to fit in tall Paul or Orsic, while it doesn't look as though he's using Sulemana well. Maybe he will have worked it out by the end of the season but if it takes that long then we'll be relegated before that.

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saintmark1976 added 13:11 - Mar 16 The game yesterday was lost before a ball was kicked when Sellés decided that it was a good idea to play both Elyounoussi and Diallo. Before the game started those around me were mystified and deflated in equal measure at their inclusion, which then had the affect of dampening the crowd’s enthusiasm and support for the team. The rest is history as they say. Ninja9, sacking Ralph was one of the very few correct decisions that our truly pathetic board have made this season and even then they got it wrong. He should have been out of the door the day after the last game of the 2021/22 season following a miserable run of defeats culminating in a mauling by Leicester, if my memory serves me correctly. Where do we go from here? As others have suggested, we need to win at least five more games to have at least a chance of staying up. The only way we will achieve that is if we abandon our current unsuccessful “tippy tappy” “after you Claude” method of play and stick Onauchu up front and attempt to supply him with some proper service. I doubt it would look pretty, but let’s face it Adams and A Armstrong are not suddenly going to get better now are they.

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dirk_doone added 13:12 - Mar 16 FAO SanMarco Championship goalscoring records: Nathan Tella 1 goal every 2 games Adam Armstrong 1 goal every 3.3 games Che Adams 1 goal every 3.4 games Nathan Tella is not only a much better goalscorer than Armstrong and Adams, he is a far better player.
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wibbersda added 13:22 - Mar 16 Cannot agree with your James Bree assessment. He is quick and decisive and has great ball control, and whips in some lovely crosses. We obviously need goals, and at present, we are not going to get any with our style of play. How about in training you get Bree and Tall Paul practicing together, to form a solid partnership, because at present no one else appears to be able to deliver in any good crosses.

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Avior added 13:59 - Mar 16 Can anyone explain to me what we are trying to do on our goal kicks? We either wait ages for Bazunu to hoof it down field or make 2 short passes and then Bazunu hoofs it down field. None of our CBs are comfortable playing out under pressure. Brentford spotted that last night and went 4-4-2 on our goal kicks which with most of the hoofs aimed at Sulemenia meant they got ball back. Like all of our play we are too predictable and easy to play against. FFS lets gamble a bit.

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wrathoftazz added 14:09 - Mar 16 What a total pile of crap that was. I'd prefer Jones to be manager at the moment... he has as much of a clue as Selles but atleast with Jones you know he would add something to the post match chats to make you giggle. Anyway, Ralph should have gone the SECOND sports republic took over, Jones and Selles should have NEVER been hired resulting in a £10m pay off for 2months work (not even sure you can call it work). The recruitment strategy has been TERRIBLE with players recruited and yet, no one is calling out SR? WHY? It is OBVIOUS they don't give a toss about OUR club and don't give a toss about any of us. We are being relegated straight after they take over. As for the game, I left after the 1st goal. Why stay? We can't score to save our lives, played back more than forward and the few times we did put the ball in the box, Che was chasing a Haggis van instead of trying to score a goal. Dialling was as expected, TERRIBLE, JWP showed yet again that despite being a nice nipper, he can't lead a p1ss up in a brewery, let alone a footie team and Selles showed he has learnt well from Ralph. I'll quite happily do the managers job for £2k a week and I guarantee I'll get the same results. Give me £5k a week and I'll be manager and get a starting 11 from local Sunday league, they would score atleast the same amount as the premaradonas score, be PROUD to wear the shirt and put in a decent shift.

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IanRC added 14:21 - Mar 16 We are in deep dodo unless we can find a consistent goal scorer and soon. Bringing Tella back if we had the option might not be the worst idea and neither could giving Orsic a chance again.
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YosemiteSaint added 14:23 - Mar 16 We can say that Brentford "win ugly," or we can call it what it is and say it's the textbook suite of tactics that beats us time and again. Invite us on knowing we won't/can't score, wait for the inevitable mistake, and pounce on the break. What could be easier against a side with no bite?
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AmericanSaint added 15:30 - Mar 16 So I think this was the game that will prove our downfall. I say this as a win would have put the pressure on all the other teams around us, which would cause them problems. Now they all look at us as a sure fire relegation team and will not give us another thought. Nick, I disagree with you, time has run out. Look at the teams we have to play and with our inability to score a goal(s), then we have little hope. We have scored the fewest goals in the league. THAT is what gets you relegated. As for the game, our inability to clear on corners is out there for everyone to see and how we dont have someone stationed in the front permanently to stop the flick-ons, is beyond me. Don't know why Selels chose Diallo or Moi, but it cost us. Also Sulamana has done nothing and only has speed which we are not using, so Stuey should be starting. Anyways, it doesnt matter as if we cant score, we can win. Oh and Dell1964, you can click on the negative button all you like (as you did on everyone else's comments), but since you dont say anything, your opinion doesnt matter.

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SanMarco added 15:37 - Mar 16 Thanks for those interesting stats Dirk. I would have thought recalling him in January should have been done anyway. Add up the league goals of A. Armstrong, Adams, Big Paul, Sulamana, Mara and Walcott since January and you get a total that Tella would equal before he even stepped on the pitch!!
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SaintPaulVW added 15:45 - Mar 16 Last night's result wasn't fatal but we now appear to need approx 17 points from 11 games. Really struggling to see 5 wins and 2 draws. Or 4 wins and 5 draws. Still, fingers crossed for this weekend. COYR
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Jesus_02 added 16:20 - Mar 16 Have we fielded an unchanged side at all this season
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Farlow added 16:31 - Mar 16 I cant understand why Stuey did,nt start at Man U he was the highest rated player on the BBC sport website despite only playing 35mins.
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Block8 added 16:36 - Mar 16 Sat back and hit us on the counter? Brentford played 3 up front for the whole of the first half. In reality we had a truly defensive set up for a game we needed to win. Frank pushed a man on both our full backs and our attacking options were negated. The midfield for them is an extension of a very tight back four and they win it and play long ball early to a pacey forward line. We can't seem to get away from the 4-2-2-2 mentality or play through the middle or with triangles and our passing was appalling yet again. And all the booing at JWP etc.. for passing backwards our forward movement is atrocious. I'm certain that without a miraculous upturn in our forward play we are doomed and strongly believe we have better players, not making the squad, than some that start the games! first time I've ever been this negative but FFS give us something to get behind in our own stadium!

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JoeEgg added 17:38 - Mar 16 "Nick, I sometimes wonder if you have a clue what you are talking about." Well at least we all agree on something! I watched the Burnley game with Nathan Tella scoring his hatrick. Can anyone remember seeing a hatrick at St Marys? Come to that can you remember the last two or three Saints goals from open play? Tella's second goal came from a brilliant cross and although its the Championship Kompany has them playing aggressive and confident football with strikers who score goals and outfield players who can provide them with great crosses and passes. Brentford played to their strengths and were always more likely to score than Saints. We dont have any goalscorers so how can anyone have more confidence that we are going to beat Spurs or any other Premier League team come to that? Anyway watching the Brentford game I am not sure any more what are strengths are!! Maybe we would have just a chance of scoring with Tella and Ings up front?! Oh I forgot we gave them away. Their replacements are simply not able to provide a scoring threat at this level. None of them and we now have quite a collection! They work hard and often they get precious little service but 14 shots at goal against Brentford and just 4 on target! To get those 5 necessary wins we need to score goals - and I'm sorry to say, we just cant do it.

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ItchenNorth added 17:48 - Mar 16 The wrong starting 11. How Moi starts over Theo (on current form) or S Armstrong (if fit) is beyond me. Also, Lavia has to start. The first half was a poor game of football. Only Alcaraz was on the move and looking to receive the ball. The second was better but by then we were chasing the game. Tall Paul offered little limo. I'd rather Mara be on. Finally, James Bree is a decent player imo. Maybe a squad player yes, but if we go down, I can see him being a really useful player, should Walker-Peters go. Heroes alright everytime I see his play. We'll beat Spurs. COYR

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