Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has bemoaned his sides lack of cutting edge against Cardiff City in Saturday's defeat at St Mary's.

Mauricio Pochettino is right to be worried about our lack of goalscoring form on Saturday, but although some of that can be put down to the loss of top scorer Jay Rodriguez, a loss that is probably harder to cover than mot other positions in the side, the Saints boss also has to look at what other circumstances have contributed to our lack of firepower on Saturday.

In other home games this season we have failed to hit the target, being honest the issue when attacking is our lack of invention in midfield going forward, I don't completely blame the midfielders here, but our system does not allow for creativity, Gaston Ramirez would thrive in a side like Liverpool where he would be able to thread balls through for pacy strikers, but we don't have that, Rickie Lambert is a legend but he isn't a channel runner and this season he has often found himself isolated in our system, to his credit he has still scored and created chances, but in many game he has been passed by for large chunks and as we found on Saturday, this wasn't the first occasion where once a side has got the behind the ball and dug in, we have found ourselves lacking invention to break them down.

Cardiff themselves are embroiled in a row over a leaked team sheet, no one needs to leak ours, in most games injury apart the team is little changed from the previous week and our opponents know exactly how we are going to play, substitutes are always like for like and we dont seem to have the ability to change games.

It's fine for Pochettino to highlight the performance of David Marshall "Their keeper made three or four outstanding saves" he said in the post match interviews, but thats not how I saw it, we only had six shots on target in total, although Marshall made one outstanding save and perhaps one more decent stop, apart from that it was routine for him and yes as Pochettino says we had "Control control control" the fact is Cardiff dealt with it fairly easily.

Perhaps if we had varied things a little, why did we leave four at the back all game, why did we have a bench where the only attacking option was Gallagher and to a lesser extent Guly . why did we not change formation ? there were other options other than what we used.

But the core of the problem goes back to the signing of Osvaldo, back in September I warned that Osvaldo and Lambert both wanted to play in the same position and that Osvaldo had fallen out with Roma over where he was being played, I would imagine the Italian would have been given assurances of his role at St Mary's, after all he wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to come here, we had to entice him with big wages and I would assme the promise of playing in his preferred position.

But the manager didn't seem able to make a decision on playing one or the other, often trying to play both in a hybrid set up that suited neither of them, hence by Xmas we had one player who looked demoralised and out of form and another who clearly felt he was lured to the club under false pretences.

Perhaps Pochettino didn't want Osvaldo, perhaps it wasn't his decision to bring him in, after all we know what our ex CEO was like for his marque signings, but having got him here a situation has been created where we were stretched for attacking options once Osvaldo had gone and now with J Rod's injury we are over stretched to breaking point.

So it is fine to bemoan missed chances, but we should look at the circumstances that have now led to us having to rely on an 18 year old kid coming off the bench or a 32 year old who has scored 1 league goal in 2 1/2 years.

Im not blaming either, Guly has been a good servant to this club but isnt up to the Premier League Standard, Gallagher is not ready for it yet and if we are not careful we could ruin his career before its even started, some players are ready at 18, some take time to mature, Gallagher is the latter, he is an undisputed talent, but he has not yet learnt his trade and it won't help him to try and do so in the current situation.

So our problems on Saturday have been brewing since September when for the sake of the vanity of our former CEO we had to spend a club record fee on a player who didn't really want to be here in the first place, history shows when we have signed players early in the summer and gone for potential we get value for money as shown by Rodriguez, Clyne, Davis and Lovren, when we get involved in Dutch auctions for players who are being sold by their club to the highest bidder we fare less well.

It should be noted that Pochettinos strengths lie in taking promising talent and making them better, thats what happened at Espanyol, they are as yet relatively untested as to whether he can operate at a higher level than that and motivate superstars, in their own heads or otherwise.

Hopefully now we have learnt our lessons and those in charge will be better placed this summer to do things the right way. Perhaps this season will now peter out, it needn't do though, yes Gallagher needs to be taken out of the firing line, but we have other youngsters, why don't we freshen things up, play to Rickie's strengths in the final games, get in one of the young wingers, change shape perhaps.

The last four games arein the hands of the manager, but as have always said, in football iof you do the same things you get the same results, fine when you are winning, but the best managers know how to win a game by changing it sometimes and surprising opponents.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 10:09 - Apr 14 Your analysis seems flawed by the fact that apart from the top 3 Saints have scored as many goals as everyone else. So the problem of being a better football team, lies elsewhere, it seems? But to put things in perspective, this is probably the best Saints side of all time.
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danvaughan89 added 12:18 - Apr 14 Good article, although we have scored goals we have been extremely wasteful and lost more points from winning positions than any other team in the league. Signings are definitely needed - but most importantly we need to keep what we have. Imagine if Rickie had been sold to West Ham like we are told he was hours away from?
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SaintNick added 12:35 - Apr 14 slynch, we have scored goals this season, but we have to look at who and when we have scored them,there have been too many games where we have not scored as many as we should. I dont think this is the best saints side of all time at least not yet, i think that is an overstatement, if it is what are we doing languishing in 8th
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halftimeorange added 13:03 - Apr 14 It's quite likely that we'll lose some of our stars over the summer and new faces will be promoted from within. I really cannot understand why a pacey youth wasn't on the bench on Saturday instead of the predictable few. Saints will finish ninth if Newcastle can get their heads together because I really can't see us gaining many, if any, more points this season. Lambert's decline as a striker will soon begin if it hasn't begun already due to his age and our all-out style. With Rodrigues injured and Osvaldo seemingly a misfit we could see hard times next season. I will be surprised if Saints finish eighth or ninth next season and am ready for a season hovering above the relegation places or actually amongst them - a sort of where WBA are now campaign. Sometimes, like Saturday, we were boring to watch. I willed Lallana and Cork to carry their several forward runs into the Cardiff penalty area where I'm sure a leg would have been available to trip over but, no, they either stopped and passed or shot into the wall of opposing players. I do think that this is as good as it gets for us which is conceivably better than I was hoping for last August. Hope I'm wrong.

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slynch added 13:15 - Apr 14 My knowledge of the past is no comparison to your encyclopedic Saints' mind so when have Saints finished languishing higher than 8th in the Premier League?
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SaintNick added 14:11 - Apr 14 You didnt say best Prmier league position, you said best saints side of all time, in the Premier league Gordon Strachan finished 8th in 2002/03 plus an FA Cup final appearance to technically that is our best Premier League season so best side in the premier years. In the top flight how about 7th 1968/69 7th 1970/71 8th 1979/80 6th 1980/81 7th 1981/82 2nd 1983/84 5th 1984/85 7th 1989/90 So thats a fair number of seasons we have finished higher or the same than this one, so this is far from being our best side of all time at the moment, in fact in terms of top flight football we have finished higher in around 25% of the season statistically speaking. I think this could be the best saints side ever, but it isnt there yet

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saintstuinoz added 14:26 - Apr 14 I know GK isn't our most needed position, but I'd love us to sign Marshall, if Cardiff go down. He's absolute class, and at 29, a great age for a keeper.
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slynch added 14:48 - Apr 14 I knew you wouldn't let us down!
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davepid added 16:44 - Apr 14 Thank u for raising the possibility that MP isn't as perfect as some of his supporters maintain. If mc queen was the most puzzling team selection of the season, Gulys on Saturday instead of one of the youngsters is a close second. Marshall for our keeper-? gets my vote. You are right about the standard of his saves on Saturday. One was excellent, the others are what you would expect form a premier keeper.

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thegeneral added 16:54 - Apr 14 A good article. I consider MP to be extremely lucky that he inherited a team with a plethora of young talent and players that have come right through with us since league one. On a daily basis, Shaw and Lallana are reported in the media to be "deal done" and on their way, untrue but flattering. I can't think of anyone i'd rather have in the team to replace Cork and Schneiderlien, Lovren, JRod, Shaw, Lallana and Boruc and Chambers and Clyne are both very good players. Thats a lot of talent for not a lot of money (by premiership standards) so i therefore think that any moderately talented manager would have had a decent season, including Adkins. As i said in the Cardiff games verdict i do not know why MP plays the same formation regardless of opposition and the injury list, why two holding midfielders against such a poor team? He does give the impression that he is lacking ideas. This could be lack of options from the bench, where apart from the midfield we are woefully lacking talent so i believe Pochettino should be given the summer to get in who he wants, and then we can see if he's got what it takes to move us up the league a place or two.

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luffy22 added 18:22 - Apr 14 Watching on again on Saturday I feel that our style of play does not always help us create goal scoring opportunities. We have so much of the ball its unbelievable, but because we play so high up the field and pressurise teams it leaves no space for the forwards or midfielders to exploit as the operation always have 9-10 men behind the ball. We may have had six attempts on target but they are generally half chances. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with our style of play or that we should change it as i'm loving watching the saints but I wanted to put it out as a thought.

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abingdonsaint added 18:28 - Apr 14 Well, an interesting piece, although I did lose count of the number of conclusions being jumped to by the second paragraph! Regular contributors will know I am a huge Poch fan, but once again I am feeling the need to explain a few basics here. What Saints are trying to do is completely different to other clubs of comparable size, and this was made very clear under our previous chairman. The ambition is to compete at the upper end of the Premier League, which given the resources of the biggest clubs, is all but impossible using conventional methods. So, a strategy was devised, I am sure with major involvement from Les Reed, to 'break the mould'. The declared aim was to have a distinctive style of play, along with extensive use of the academy. Our record of bringing quality through is unrivalled, so the logic is that if we cannot attract the very best players, then we have to produce our own. Having decided this strategy was our best chance of success, it was then a case of identifying the best personnel to take this forward. I was as surprised as anyone when NA was replaced, but it had nothing to do with results or whether he could keep us up. There was no knee jerk sacking with no replacement in mind simply for the sake of change. There was no shortlist or interview process. Poch was specifically headhunted because he was known to have a distinctive philosophy on how the game should be played, as well as a reputation for coaching and developing young players. So, his appointment was all about establishing a philosophy throughout the club. Sorry to ramble on, but the whole point here, and with philosophies in general, is that you believe they are right. Bayern Munich have a philosophy, so do Barcelona, so do Arsenal. So, I am afraid that those of you wanting us to suddenly go 4-4-2, or hit it long, are going to be disappointed. We are not perfect by any means, but I think that supporters of any other Premier League club would be laughing their heads off to hear that we lack creativity and need to use more youngsters! Personally, I have thoroughly enjoyed our football this season, but everyone has their opinion. If I was promised to finish 6th instead of 8th with a Sam Allardyce type manager, then I'll stick with what we have any day please! My final point is that the players clearly think the world of Poch, with both Luke Shaw and Morgan recently coming out to say extending his contract is vital to our future. If he stays, I think we have a good chance of retaining our star players, which is obviously crucial to the strategy. If he goes, who knows? Whilst we do need to reinforce, keeping our stars is the most important thing. With them, next season can be better than this, but the basic style will not change. Poch will just try to make it better and more effective!

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Dystopia added 09:18 - Apr 15 I'm with Nick, just because we have a philosophy doesn't mean we can't have a plan B, doesn't mean we can't pick youngsters on the bench. What is the point in having Guly on the bench at this point in the season, I'm not a Guly hater, but he's 32 and out of contract at the end of the season the likelihood is that he won't be staying, so why not try one of these promising youngsters? In regards to a plan B, we don't have to go all out hoofball as a plan b but it was clear after half an hour that, firstly, what we were doing wasn't working and, secondly, we didn't need all three of Davis, Cork and Morgan, we needed something different. Also, the use of Clyne and Chambers, it seemed to me that we used Chambers when we want more defensive cover and Clyne when we want a more attacking threat, so why wasn't Clyne starting? and your comments regarding Allardyce are irrelevant no-one is calling for us to play hoofball every game, but when Plan A isn't working we need to try something different. I would rather be 8th under Poch. than 6th under Allardyce too, but that doesn't mean we can't improve and we can't find a way of both having a philosophy and also being able to change things and win games.

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Zambucco added 09:26 - Apr 15 abingdonsaint, very well said! As I frequently tell my fellow ticket holders "there is no plan B" we play this way because it works, at the moment not all the time, but we're a still a team in the making. This project will take another 3 or 4 years before it is perfected. Unfortunately the only way to beat it is to shut up shop and we struggle. But Barcelona struggle too. My only criticism is, why had Poch not taken the chance to blood a few more youngsters, after all that is his forte?

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BoondockSaint added 16:51 - Apr 15 He only figures this out now? If MP was a loyal reader of this site, he would have know this months ago!
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Sango123 added 03:58 - Apr 16 For guys who think there is no such thing as a plan B, just look at Arsenal in the FA Cup. They were struggling until they decided to throw in another striker and use Mertesacker, Sanogo and Giroud's height. Imagine a team like Arsenal resorting to a plan B by playing long and high balls which is against Wenger's way of playing, why wouldnt our team need a plan B? Seriously we need to learn to win ugly. We have to learn to win when we are behind. It shows the inability to overturn games. The 2nd half of the season shows more teams able to adapt to our pressing tactic by playing counter pressing, by exploiting the gaps in the flank etc. We must learn to counter against others. The biggest problem i have is that we use the same tactic against everyone and it does not work. When it does not work, Mopo cant turn it around once we are down. I have mentioned numerous times that we are not creating enough or scoring enough for our possession even during our good run. Our defense was the real reason for our good run

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