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

the_saint added 16:33 - Oct 30 I think the players show no passion or could not give a damn about us traveling supporters they never come up to us after the game to show us their thanks this has happened at every away game pellegrini did push a few in our direction but they just seem to applaud from distance then get off the pitch as quick as they can. Every away team at St Marys go straight over to their supporters after the game. I for one would appreciate it as I have sent my money and time to travel hours to watch them .......rant over

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RogerToye added 18:10 - Oct 30 Yoshida is no1 to start at the back forster is number one in Goal but needs to position his feet better and come off his line more 3 at the the back pushing full backs up field for the crossing and pack the midfield Lemina /romeu to start apart from gabbs up front with Long its how to support them with passing that hits the target man Tadic, redmond, boufal, ward prowse and davies all got qualities if you put davies you got box to box hard work ward prowse delivery with the hogging talent of the other three seems though we have lost the art of feeding the strikers with balls they can eat up and the high press. u21, u17 won the world cup lets snap a few of these players up or get are own in as Alex fergie said it's about the Youth ... Saints best ever season was a blend of youth and experience we finished with 2nd place long time ago now ...

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sambat added 18:55 - Oct 30 FFS Nick, when are you going to get off Yoshida’s back. For the past year he has been the most consistent player, and has been grossly under paid until recently. We would be so much worse off without him. Let’s look elsewhere for the rot in the team. Flapper Forster looks like he is having a fit when the ball goes near his goal. Time to change keepers. Tadić is just a waste of space, change him. Redmond has the potential but cannot perform. Boufal has started falling over again, no doubt he has had a refresher course from Tadic. Time to spend some money in January. Maybe Pelle has a twin we could buy, as, excluding the cup final I haven’t seen a really good game in years!

7

DPeps added 19:19 - Oct 30 Agree with a lot of the comments. We want to play tippy-tappy stuff but there’s not quite enough quality in possession and not enough movement further forward. So we end up pumping it forward, losing the first ball and then the second ball. In short, there are some quite fundamental problems with our attacking set up and the players we have.
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SanMarco added 19:30 - Oct 30 Just a thought on the saint's point re away fans and the players. Is it possible that they are showing solidarity with the several players who are being booed? If I were e.g. Redmond I wouldn't be applauding those that quite clearly wish I wasn't on the pitch. It isn't impossible that team mates might troop off in solidarity with the unpopular players.
1

abingdonsaint added 20:52 - Oct 30 Yoshida would have saved that header.....
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oldeastterrace added 06:31 - Oct 31 We are coming in to a clutch of tough games . I suspect after these games we will be in the bottom six. I agree with Phil Neville and Jermain Jenas we are a team that is 'Over' coached and tied down. We could be so much better even with the players we currently have. New additions are required but a MAJOR rethink is required SOON. We need to let players play not contain them in a negative system. We have not been great to watch over the last 18 months. What i want to know is ...WHO is responsible for it? Is it negative managerial appointments OR is there some pressure that has been put on Puel and Pelligrino to play such a way. Whatever the answer IT NEEDS TO F----G CHANGE!!! This club has always played attacking football EVEN with less talented squads than we currently have. Lets restore that way philosophy NOW!!! You can stick your negativity right up your A-R-S-E!!!

5

SaintBrock added 14:16 - Oct 31 There is a simple answer to this whole conundrum Nick, we just do not move the ball around quickly enough or accurately enough to play the high tempo game needed to catch the opposition off balance when in retreat. The ball has to move faster than their players can run. We've forgotten the essential mantra of football - Make the ball do the work! Without exception our players receive the ball, look around and then pass - all too often safely to a player near them and level - or worse take a touch or two forward whilst thinking what to do next. The manager should ban side-ways passing for a start and yes surging runs by CBs look the goods but they are not as it gives defenders time to get back to their lines. van Dyke striding forward with the ball looking around for options is nowhere near as fast as a defender running back without the ball. One touch football has disappeared from our menu for reasons unknown and things won't get any better until we rediscover this art. It begs the question of course whether any of our current crop of players is good enough to play one touch football. Watching them in warm-ups you'll notice nearly all of them take a touch to control the ball before passing it on.

3

Nomaesaints added 15:02 - Oct 31 I have to agree with Simmo. We are tippy tapping the ball around midfield and back to the central defenders most of the time for no reason at all. This obviously gives the opposition time to get back and defend in depth and we are unable to score against blanket defences. Get the ball up to the front men as quick as possible . As for Forster hes going through a Dracula period again(he's afraid of crosses) I mean that ball should have been plucked out of the air before it landed on Murrays head. Tadic is outstanding for Serbia so I don't understand why at times he is poor for us? When Boufal was signed I watched some videos of him and he mostly played on the right yet he is generrally asked to play on the left! Tactics need to be changed or I can see us only picking up the odd point here and there and sliding down the league.

1

SaintBrock added 19:36 - Oct 31 I docked you a point Nomaesaints simply for the worst joke ever seen on this forum ;-) How long did you have that one waiting before you could air it? What in hell's name is a Dracula period when it's at home?
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AmericanSaint added 19:42 - Oct 31 So late to the board to add my two cents, but here it is. Many valid points have been said, but I think one thing that is missing is confidence. Brighton have said that they are a mid level table team and are playing like it. We do not know what we are. I think that MP is still trying to figure out the Premier League and that is going to hurt for a while since we are coming to a hard group of games in December. I think he is playing some players out of position and the frustration is showing. MP is playing it too cautious as he has seen what happens to managers who do not produce right away. Look at us, we got rid of Puel after one season and now he is at Leist. He won his first game 2-0. Do not be surprised if Leist. end up above us in the table at the end of the season. This should be a warning to us. While we are not playing attractive football, we need some stability because if we get rid of MP after one season (like Puel), NOBODY is going to want to come and coach us. Final note: FF, Tadic and Redmond need a seat to show that they are not untouchable. Next, without Lemina, we do not have the midfield to move the ball fast enough to disrupt a well organized defense. JWP and Davis do not think about moving forward first, but rather sideways or back. After watching last night's U23 game, Pierre H., should that his first instinct is to pass a ball forward and that is what Gabb needs as he is making the diagonal runs of the shoulders of the defenders. Anyways, it will be a hard season to watch if we keep this up and we need a little patience because I think there is a lot going on in the boardroom that we are not hearing and would not be surprised if Les and company are gone at the end of the season and yes, I agree with everyone else, Black needs to go now. On to the next.

2

aceofthebase added 21:41 - Oct 31 Cedric allows Murray a clear header and Forster gets it in the neck.
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SaintBrock added 09:40 - Nov 1 No aceofhebase, not down to Cedric or Forster. Cedric couldn't reach it, just isn't tall enough. Yoshida would have had that situation covered van Dyke should have done but didn't, You don't expect your full backs to be challenging strikers for the ball in heading duels in front of goal, their job is to cover the posts. van Dyke didn't track Murray because he was ball watching and not marking his man, so it ended up as out of desperation that Cedric covering the post had no option but to jump otherwise Murray was completely free. Forster had seen Cedric on the post so thought that was covered off hence his slow reaction. It was van Dyke's fault pure and simple well out of position and losing his man in the box.

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aceofthebase added 19:40 - Nov 2 SaintBrock if he isn't tall enough then what the hell is he doing in the team. You are right Yoshida playing right back would have prevented the header.
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