Saints once again conceded sloppy goals in another defensive nightmare to lose a third Premier League away game on the trot.

Previous defeats have seen some fans turn on who they saw as the scapegoats, we went into this game on the back of a good win and with a defence that many saw as being shored up, the answer was as i have been saying, that the problems with our defending dont lie totally with the defenders, but a big chunk of our problems are our failure to put out Premier quality wingers to cover our full backs.

Both Clyne and Richardson were torn to shreds and Everton arent a side who are known for fast pace on the flanks, I have been banging on about this since the start of the season, it doesnt matter who we play at full back, they are going to get exposed as we dont have anyone covering them, no one with pace or even an idea of what the job of a wide midfield player is in this division, when we signed Gaston Ramirez we were told he was a quality winger, so far he has been used in the centre, I love Adam Lallana to death, but we have to face facts that away from home when we are under the cosh, he is a liability, he would always play in my starting line up, but not as a winger he hasnt got the pace, nor does he have the attributes for the defensive part of the job.

On the right hand side its no better, in fact its worse in that Nigel Adkins doesnt seem to have a clue who he should play there, you would have assumed that Puncheon would have started at Goodison after a reasonable display at home to Villa, but again it was all change as Rodriguez was brought back in, seemingly as we have paid so much for him he has to be fitted into a formation.

As for the formation, I couldnt quite make out what it was, it could have been 4-5-1 but at other times it looked like 4-4-2, I just couldnt work out what role Rodriguez was meant to be playing.

All in all another shambles, it could have been 5-1 at half time as Everton hit form in the 20 minutes before the break, they hit 3 goals in their purple patch and it could have been more.

The second half surprisingly had no goals, but it wasnt for the lack of trying, Saints could have and should have got at least one themselves, and Everton could have doubled their total, only some good saves from Gazzaniga and desperate defending keeping the scoreline respectable.

For those that werent at the game, 3-1 looks decent, especially against a team that in form and right up there at the top of the league, but it doesnt tell the stories of our frailties when defending, I dont know whose fault it is that we havent signed players, but the fact is we paid out money for players we didnt really need like Mayuka whilst failing to address the problems in the areas that 99% of Saints fans were banging on about as needing strengthening, we needed two wide midfielders and two central defenders, seemingly with Ramirez being played centrally out of four positions we needed men in, we have got only one, Yoshida !

The key for Saints will be winning home games, make no bones about it, its going to be a relegation dog fight, we have to make St Mary's a fortress where if we can win a few games we can give ourselves a fighting chance of turning into the new year with our heads above water and with a chance of making a few key signings in the key areas.           

Photo: Action Images

ItchenNorth added 09:45 - Oct 1 For god sake chill-out lol ! We were playing a potential Champions League team (on very good early season form that is too). There are plenty of games ahead that we can win. St Marys will be the key, not away games against teams like these. We WILL pick up points away from home when facing other teams of our stature and in our position. We have Boruc to come, which will help at the back and let face it; defending is just not our thing anyway lol !!!

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slynch added 10:02 - Oct 1 This was the first game I seen, in the flesh, this season, and was sat with the Everton fans, behind the goal in the first half. Consequently, I had a birds'-eye view of the defence. TERRIBLE!!! It's not that they are no good or slow but that they do all the wrong things and stand in all the wrong places! At one point a winger encroached into our half and Clyne and Lallana both ran away, back to the penalty box leaving him an acre to run into. Clyne continually, enthusiastically tackled the winger and let him come inside and leave him for dead. Lallana is worse. Under pressure he comes back to help but only manages to wander over and watch Clyne struggling with a winger who then passes it to the person who Lallana should be marking leaving them both dead in the water. The right side is worse! Richardson's a bit slow and hoofy but solid enough if he had some support and that was Ward-Prowse. Everyone's being saying how good Ward-Prowse is; not from where I was sat! He's a danger to himself and all around him! No one occupies the gap between defence and midfield and Fellow Ani, he wandered around with impunity; it's not as if he's difficult to spot! Second half looked better but at my end Lambert started to look a bit fed up after watching the nth cross from Lallana and Richardson fly well over his head. Towards the end I was found out as being a Saints supporter amongst the blues. What did they do? They started singing Saints' songs to spur our lads on so they could have a better game! Clyne and Punch on one side, Yoshida and Gully on the other, Lord knows? A defensive coach? Lambert has to score 3 goals a game to be save enough for a draw!

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stmichael added 10:26 - Oct 1 Totally agree Nick. When I saw that team I spent 15 minutes trying to work out how we would line up and then gave up. Impossible to find a shape or formation for that personell. I am afraid we look totally disorganised. Organisation,fitness and commitment can get you keep clean sheets.
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SingaporeSaint added 10:48 - Oct 1 I saw it and was astonished with the selection and formation. Everton are big and strong in the middle and with Felliani dropping back, they play 5 in there. You have to compete away from home in midfield. We had MS missing and he is a huge player for us - we needed more cover in central midield. We arguably played 4 forwards - leaving Ward Prowse and Davis, 2 lightweight midfielders to battle the Everton midfield.. They were always going to lose that battle. This was a game for Chaplow to fight in there. We were hence destroyed in midfield and had a back 4 trying to cope with a midfield of runners and their forwards. What was even more baffling was playing Lambert left wing for the first half and J Rod up the middle. Lambert is a good C Forward but he is no left winger and J Rod isnt the strongest. I dont understand the strategy at all - we need to pick sensible formations ongoing.

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tiptop added 11:02 - Oct 1 Agree Singapore and Slynch. Bizarre line up. JRod? What was he doing starting wide again? Surely we've gotten past that. And surley Puncheon, Chaplow,Ward-Prowse and Davis would have been a little more sensible, especially without MS! for 25 mins of the first half we ere over run as i feared, couldnt pass the ball, panicked into hoofing it, particularly Richardson. In fairness everyone was giving the ball away. Some of the tackles were just embarrassing. Lallana on Fillaini was like a joke. Fillaini just looked oddly at him, stepped over Ads flailing limbs and struck a shot for himself. Odd decision buy NA imo to say the leaste.

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SanMarco added 11:05 - Oct 1 Just a point about staying up with home form. Even a very good home season, say 8-6-5 and 30 points leaves us needing 10-12 away points. That's the reality of it and most of our heavy spending has not been based on the nitty-gritty of grinding out away results with clean sheets and efficient defending. Presumably the 4 a game average away from home will go down and West Ham will be a very good test - if we lose that 4-1 will we still trust in NA???

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saintgus added 11:20 - Oct 1 Its alright saying it will come down to our home matches, but that does not change the defence, having watched all the away games this year it is clear we are nowhere good enough defensivley whether we are home or away, quite clearly apart from Nat Clyne,who i believe will be a very good buy, Fonte, Moshida, Fox, Richardson are clearly out of there depth at this level, and anyone who was at Goodison Saturday must surely agree with this

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SaintNick added 11:36 - Oct 1 The problem is, that if you accept that all of those players are out of their depth, then you have to point the finger at both the manager and those responsible for signing players for their failure to identify this and deal with it
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StSaint added 11:55 - Oct 1 Another defeat and more doom and gloom. If you get giddy every time we win and suicidal every time we lose then you are not going to have a balanced outlook. Until January, we are pretty much stuck with the players we have, so there is no point sharpening the razor blades once a week. Ask yourselves the following: Has Adkins been a success for SFC – Yes Does he deserve some trust – Yes Since arriving, has NC made lots of good decisions and does he seem to have SFC’s long term interests in place – Yes Do we know exactly who we tried to sign – No Do we know that they tried to sign more defenders – Yes (according to Buttner himself) Is it reasonable to expect constant success - No Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and some will think that venting their concerns is useful, though the reality is that you try and blame the chairman, players and manager every time something doesn’t work out then you are just causing yourself unnecessary worry. ItchenNorth is correct when he says chill out! We have come a long way in a short time. The team are learning and will make mistakes, though the overall direction and strategy is spot on, so I couldn’t be happier. If we kept the same ethos I actually wouldn’t mind if we got relegated as I know that we are doing things in a way that will see us rise higher than we have been for the 25 years that I have been supporting us (I realise that the majority will find this statement ridiculous). Keep the faith and enjoy the rollercoaster!

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:44 - Oct 1 Good article Nick. Spot on with some of your views. The fact of the matter is; we are probably stuck with the defenders we've got until January. The only way to stop conceeding goals away from home with the players we've got is to stick 10 men behind the ball and look to counter attack teams. The 'Southampton Way' means we should never do this, as we should try to keep possession and control the game. So I can't see us changing our tactics to a more defensive style. As for the formation, it was pretty fluid and changed throughout. I think they started 4-4-2 but both Lambert and Rodriguez looked to be taking turns going wide to receive the ball in the channels. I guess they were told to try to exploit the space behind the advanced fullbacks. The system was working well until we conceeded. Then we completely lost the midfield. When the tide shifted, we needed to dig in and get a grip back on the game but it didn't happen. I suppose thats where you need a bit of experience in the team to calm the situation down, re-group and stifle the oppositions onslaught. Ward-Prowse, Lallana and Ramirez especially struggled in this period. Maybe we have too many players who are good when they've got the ball, but aren't effective when we need to contain teams and win it back. I'm afraid it is Adkins fault for not getting in the defenders needed in the summer, and its a bit criminal really considering we were the 7th highest spending club in Europe in the summer, but he absolutely should remain in charge of the team. We need continuity and unless we are in the bottom 3 at the end of the calendar year then we should stick with him.

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SaintNick added 12:59 - Oct 1 st saint, you make some interesting points and the answers you gave to the questions you posed were in the main right, but you missed the one that asked " because a manager gets it right does he get it right every season ?" the anser to that is no. The fact is however we want to dress it up, that defensively we are a shambles, 18 goals in 3 games is attocious, yes its only been six games and yes we have played some big clubs, but its still an average of three a game and we are well on course to set the record in this division for goals conceded, the worrying fact is though that there is no sign of this poor defending changing. So who do we blame ? only three choices really the players the manager and the Chairman, the truth is though that its probably a combination of all three. Some of the players arent good enough and are making silly errors, the manager has got his tactics wrong on occasions and it seems that the chairman hasnt backed the manager in the transfer market, yes Buttner confirmed that he was coming it was a done deal, why didnt it happen ? Man Utd signed him easily enough with no talk of problems, this is a dog eat dog league, we failed to land Buttner for £500k, that could haunt us 50 fold come the end of the season.

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bstokesaint added 13:05 - Oct 1 It's way to early in the season to making judgements about "relegation dog fights". Last week everyone was purring about a great win against Villa, who subsequently beat Man City. Tactics aside for this game, we must have done something right to beat Villa and they won't be the worst team in the Prem this season. What's more Everton are another very decent outfit at home. We can't keep defending like we are, but the majority of Saints fans I know expected this to be a learning curve and hence tough season. Some of the contents in this article and the following comments are bordering on complete despair. Despite all of our recent results we're still not in the bottom three and a couple of wins on the bounce changes things massively.

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StSaint added 13:32 - Oct 1 Please don't tell me you can't see why we struggled to sign Buttner when Man U didn't. That's priceless!! Picture the scene: Buttner gets an inquirey from a newly promoted club and thinks that it sounds interesting. Shortly after a "3rd party" enter the picture and it turns out they are the most sucessful club in British history. It's a tricky one - do I sign for Man U or Southampton. Maybe I might choose SFC, but an up and coming player from overseas isn't going to think twice. You have no idea how much or how little the chairman has backed the manager. He doesn't tell you his transfer plans. If the manager was so unhappy with the chairman, why would he continue to publicly sing his praises?? Adkins could get another job in a heartbeat and seems pretty honest, so I just don't buy that he is towing the party line. Stop looking to blame everyone and try and understand why things are happening.

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trotsky added 14:18 - Oct 1 He's certainly caused enough trouble in the past, but hard not to sympathise with Jason Puncheon if he were to enquire as to his treatment over the last month. He was looking fantastic against Man Utd and Villa - and perfectly fit - but was hauled off on both occasions and then didn't feature on Saturday. He may have scored in the League Cup, but Rodriguez's presence seems to be more of a hindrance than a help in getting a balanced side currently.

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SaintNick added 14:28 - Oct 1 st saint, the third party entering the picture wasnt man utd, but alledgedly Buttners father who wanted £500 k for some reason, at that stage Buttner was saying publicly he was signing for Saints, whilst Vitesse argued with Buttner and his father about who was going to pay this, we had two choices, sit back and wait to see what happens or pay the money ourselves, we sat back and united waltzed in, bid more than us and paid the £500 k to sort it. Simple as that. Your right I dont know how little or how much the chairman has backed the manager, but lets be blunt here with 5 out of 6 league games lost, one of them is to blame, and possibly to a degree both. As for the manager singing the chairmans praises, remember when pardew and cortese released a joint statement saying that all the speculation about Pardew being sacked was just that speculation and that both of them had a great working relationship that was in June 2010, how quickly things must have change. Managers just get on with the job and if they get sacked get paid off and move to the next one, they dont usually let the chairman get out of paying them off on a technicality claiming they have mouthed off in the press. Did you watch the footballers football show with Martin Allen and Simon Jordan the old Palace chairman, that may have told you a few things

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birminghamsaint added 14:37 - Oct 1 Credit to Everton who passed the ball around patiently and looked a good team. Our passing game was poor with possession often given away far too cheaply. We certainly don't play it out from the back as much as we used to and the cover from the midlfield for the full backs was not good (can see Chaplow having a start soon) I thought SRL also had a bit of an off day. Can't comment on the 3 goals conceded as they were all at the opposite end of the ground and haven't seen the TV replays yet. We really missed Schneiderlin and his quality passing today.

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chilcosaint added 14:48 - Oct 1 On the subject of Lambert and Rodriguez playing together, I think this is a variation on the old argument of whether Lampard and Gerrard should play together for England. The fact is that both Rickie and J-Rod are just too similar in style to warrant being selected together. Rodriguez was bought for the future as a natural successor to Rickie, and in case Lambert couldn't hack it at the top level. Playing them both on Saturday was a waste of a place, whereas picking Puncheon, Guly, or, for goodness sake, Mayuka, would have made a lot more sense. Defensively I would agree that we are stuck with what we have until January, and the easiest short-term solution would be to make Yoshida captain and let him select who else should be in the back four. He speaks a lot of sense. I also agree that the most glaring absence was Morgan Schneiderlin, who would have tightened things up in front of the defence. I just hope he isn't out for long.

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StSaint added 14:48 - Oct 1 I didn’t, but Simon Jordan is an absolute weapon, so I might not have taken too much notice of the content! If you really think that United didn't have him lined up from when we were talking to him (they actually said they had been speaking to him for a month when he signed) and that it was our error that caused him to go elsewhere then you are bonkers. Seems odd his father's problem vanished when Man U came in. Maybe it wasn't the real reason. One thing that you can’t dispute is that NC is tight fisted. After splashing out well over £20M on players I doubt another 0.5 would have been critical. It happens all the time - players wait for a better offer and if it doesn't emerge then they go for a "lesser" club. It's one of the reasons that transfer deals are done at the end of the window. Buttner chose to go to Man Utd – there is no great conspiracy!

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SaintNick added 14:56 - Oct 1 Im only going on what was reported, the player was publicly saying he was signing for Saints, his club were publicly saying it, Ok they might both be liars who knows. I didnt say that NC was tight fisted, all im saying is we are spending money in the wrong areas, Buttner signed for Man Utd a good month after he was signing for Saints, again I didnt say we made an error, I said we just sat back and watched and allowed United to jump in, perhaps we decided that we didnt want him, I dont know, all I know is that we desperately needed wide players and central defenders, the manager bangs on about it all summer yet we dont get any. As for Simon Jordan, he may be a tool, and Allen is certainly got a reputation, but they said quite a bit about how football really works and the confidentiality cluases that managers have to work too when they leave clubs

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Scummer added 16:52 - Oct 1 As football fans, we do tend to be a bit bipolar following wins and losses. The reality is that we lost those three away games to Man City, Arsenal and an in form Everton, and those teams look like they will all be challenging for Champions League places come the end of the season. One of the weekend reports say that we look like a Premiership side going forward, and we make and score chances. Those sides around us that struggle to get the ball in the back of the net face a more miserable struggle. The formation against Villa was better, with two holding midfielders protecting the back four. We do have a defence where three out of the five are new personnel, and they will take time to blend. I am sure that Nigel is working heavily on the defensive side and getting the left and right mid to track back and give more protection. A final point. Look at the list of teams sitting near the top of the table, many of them have long standing managers. Fergie, Moyes and Wenger have a cumulative tenure of well over 40 years, and that stability shows. The managerial merry go round has not served us well in the past and I would hate for us not to give NA the time to adjust to this level as the overall approach and ethos feels spot on. He might struggle for the first month, but he is analytical enough to determine what needs to be done to address the problems and he is the man for Southampton's future.

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OldRed added 22:35 - Oct 1 Did anyone think that it wouldn't be a struggle? At least the problem seems obvious and hopefully everyone on the staff at SMS can see. Man Utd didn't tear us apart and neither did City and we weren't far off of getting points from either game. Give everyone a chance and don't panic...yet.
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