The defensive frailties that have been evident in the last three games all came home to roost.
Over the past couple of weeks a recurring theme has been part of both my match reports and match previews and that has been that in each of our previous three matches prior to the trip to leicester Saints have had perids where they have defended abysmally and that unless this is addressed we will pay the price.
Each of these observations was usually met with a howl of derision and me being firmly told that you should not change a winning team and that I was was wrong, the first half at Leicester confirmed my fears from the previous games. Indeed I have delayed this match review to make sure that I have seen the replays on TV and confirm what I thought on the day.
The difference in this game to theothers though was that the Foxes did not allow us to settle and made sure our dodgy defending spell wasnt later in the game, but right from the kick off, within minutes they were ahead and it was the old chestnut of a ball put into the six yard box and the keeper rooted to his line allowing the attacker to nip in and prod it past him, the keeper wasnt the only defender found wanting in fairness and granted Kelvin Davis redeemed himself later in the game with a couple of fine saves but the damage had already been done, the final stats showd six shots on target and three goals conceded, far too high a ratio for a team with its eyes on promotion.
The second goal was equally as poor, Harding was out of position and Seaborne held up the man inthe left back spot, Harding arrived back but made a clumbsy attempt at a tackle that wrongfooted Seaborne as much as anything and allowing the Leicester player to check back and lay the ball back for a sublime finish, watch this on the BBC website, the marking positional sense and tackling were appalling.
Harding partially redeemed himself with a headed goal, but those at the game will confirm that he was up in the opposition penalty area having run himself into a dead end with a run going nowhere, lucily for Saints they regained the ball quickly and got the ball into the area where harding was there to score.
The third goal in truth should have been disallowed, Lambert was clearly fouled but he is the biggest strongest player on the pitch, surely he should not allow himself to be bullied in this way, he should have stood strong and headed it clear,
Some will say this is harsh, others will say Im biased against Harding, Seaborne, Davis and anyone else i have criticised in the start of this review, I say Im merely setting standards that we will need to achieve if we have hopes of promotion, put bluntly a side top of the leage and in the run of form Saints were in should not have crumbled as they did and it could easily have been five at half time.
In the second half Nigel Adkins made a tactical change and Saints looked a lot better, it firstly steadied the ship and secondly enabled them to get forward a little more, Connolly's goal put the jitters up the home side and in truth Saints were the better team in the second half, they should have scored at least one more and would have if it hadnt been for Kasper Schmeichel who had one of those days where at times he didnt know where the ballwas, but like his father beofre him, he made himself big and got something behind it.
Im sure that Nigel Adkins knows what he has to do, Im sure he knows where we need to change things, after all thats why he spent £2 million on a left back and has tried to sign several central defenders, whilst I can sympathise with him on the centre back situation, as Im sure that whatever he says publicly, the manager cannot be happy that three centre halves have agreed terms had medicals and for one reason or another have not signed, all for reasons beyond his control, but as the old saying goes, Adkins also knows that the buck stops with the manager, despite it not being his fault they did not sign, he is the man who has to shoulder the blame for this defeat and its defensive frailties,.
However as much as he can be excused not really having choices in central defence, there was no such excuse in the full back positions where we were ripped to shreds at times in the first half and which ultimately cost us the game.
Nigel Adkins now has a week or two to get things back on track, he has a big enough squad that this should not be more than a blip, we can go on strongly, but as I have said many times before never changing a winning side is a cliche thats outdated, in fairness at Scunthorpe Adkins perhaps didnt have this problem working with such a small squad, but hopefully on Saturday he learnt a valuable lesson, the job of the manager is to pick sides and change tactics, the best managers are pro active and are not afraid to make decisions and be brave, Nigel Adkins is still learning, he will make mistakes,every manger does, but ultimately he willbe judged on how he bounces back from adversity.