Some have been saying of late my verdicts have been like a broken record, that is because defensively it has been like watching Groundhog Day.
Saints did not play badly at Chelsea, but they were undone by poor defending, if Claude Puel is happy with his central defensive pairing, as has been suggested in various press conferences, then i am afraid that his standards are far below mine, I am not happy and another four goals shipped in this game added to three on Saturday should be telling Puel something.
But if Puel picked the wrong team was his first mistake, then failing to change it was his second, at 3-1 down shortly after half time the manager sat on his hands for 15 minutes, surely if he was ever going to give Martin Caceres a run out it was now with Chelsea now rampant and pulling us all over the place, but it did not seem to be even in his thoughts.
I do not know whether Caceres is the answer, but I do know that 18 goals in 10 Premier League games is not acceptable and certainly not the answer either, that is 1.8 goals per game, that is a ratio that over 38 games would just about make us the worst defence in the football league.
The big question is why is Puel happy with this and why is he not trying something different, even if Caceres is not the answer and to be blunt the reason he is not playing cannot be football related given our defensive frailties, why has Puel not tried something different Flori Gardos perhaps or even moving Ryan Bertrand into a central role.
Sorry is some do not like me saying it, sorry if they think it is like a broken record, but if we were tight defensively and not continually leaking soft goals then I would not be able to say these things, but 1.8 goals per game is an embarrassment to the manager and even more embarrasing is his apparent acceptance of it and failure to deal with it.
How frustrating must it be for the players out there who ran their socks off for 90 minutes, they had worked hard to get back into the game after we had conceded a goal so early and deserved to go into the break at half time level before we let Chelsea have two free headers to take the lead on the stroke of half time.
If we had gone in level then we stood a chance in the second half, but when Chelsea again had the freedom of our penalty box just after the break and we were 3-1 down there was going to be no way back for Saints.
But amzingly Puel did nothing for 15 minutes as it suddenly looked like Chelsea would swamp us, there were no changes from the bench for a full 15 minutes and when it happened it was Redmond on for Boufal, in itself it was baffling why Redmond hadn't started the game in the first place, Boufal did not play badly but he does not have the work rate of Redmond and that in itself caused us problems.
With 8 minutes left it was Long on for Ward Prowse, was this brave or foolish from Puel, did we stand a chance of getting back into the game ? the balance of the side was now very much upset, 3 minutes later and Gabbiadini was off for Rodriguez and you sensed that the manager didn't know what he was doing and it was no surprise when Costa made it four a few minutes later, most of the travelling Saints support missed Ryan Bertrand's late consolation.
At 3-1 down to the Champions elect and 35 minutes still to go and a defence in disarray most managers would look to shore things up, get back into the game slowly and hope to get possession and find a way back, Puel's idea is to try and outscore the opposition, baffling.
I'm sorry f you have read this before, I'm sorry i have seen it all before if it is any consolation.
I have nothing against any Saints player, I have to personal reason to want any of them dropped apart from my issues with their performance levels and week in week out I see the opposition being gifted easy chances, in some games like Bournemouth, Palace and West Brom the failure of those teams to score from free chances at close range meant we got more points than perhaps we should have got, but Manchester City and Chelsea are a little bit more clinical in front of goal.
If anyone disagrees with me that is fine, football is about opinions, but I will say this, given the quality of central defenders e have had in the past four seasons, if either of these two are first choice next season would anyone actually be happy with this ?
The answer is no, that being the case the excuses I hear about giving them game time etc and bringing them on are not relevant, in fact if Jack Stephens is going to have a shot at a future at Saints then playing him alongside Yoshida is counter productive, as a duo they are not good enough and never will be, at least not to the standard of the pairings we have had in previous years.
Sorry Claude Puel, your team went out and did it's best it matched Chelsea for workrate and battled hard, but it was let down again by shoddy marking and defending at crucial moments, that is not the fault of Yoshida or Stephens they are doing their best, their best is not good enough, again they cannot be lambasted for that they give 100% but the team is being let down by it's manager who is failing to lead it and show that he is tactically aware of his side's failings and indeed strengths.