This should have been a game that brought a little life relief to Southampton supporters, instead it was possibly the worst performance that we have produced this season, it had little hope for the future either this season or next.

Both sides made changes for this game, but it was only Burnley who rang them, they made 9 whilst Saints made only 4 from the starting line up against Ipswich, one was the goalkeeper and the other enforced with the injury to Taylor Harwood-Bellis, so just two otherwise.

That surely had to mean that we would continue where we left off at Portman Road, but the reality was far different, it was firstly difficult to work out what formation we were playing, was it 3-4-1-2 ? who knows, but we had 5 defenders on the pitch. only one of whom was a specialist central defender.

Whatever it was it lacked leadership, no one seemed to know what they were doing and it meant we created very few chances and when we did we didn't finish them.

Burnley might have made a lot of changes but they all knew just what their task was and the formation they were playing, they were disciplined, we were 10 outfield individuals all over the place.

It was perhaps more about the players that weren't there, than the players who where. Adam Armstrong might not be Premier League class when it comes to goalscoring, but he was the best striker that we had, likewise Flynn Downes, it appears that both of them wanted away in this window, it seems both have fallen out with the manager.

We could have done with both on the pitch for this game, they might not be quite Premier League class, but last season they were two of the bedrocks of our promotion winning side, how will we replace them next season ?

Ivan Juric is putting his stamp on our squad, but worryingly he seems to be dismantling rather than evolving the squad, that doesn't help us much either this season or next.

Back to this game though, it was an utter shambles, we were too predictable, Tyler Dibling looked like he would much prefer to have played in a deeper role where he could get the ball and run at opponents and Sulemana has plenty of pace, but so has a greyhound, there was nothing done differently or out of the ordinary to try and change the game.

There was no cohesion or leadership on or off the pitch, we started the game with 5 defenders we had another 3 on the bench who didn't get on, at the back we had Jan Bednarek with seemingly a back three with James Bree on one side & Welington on the other, sometimes you thought that Joe Aribo was dropping into the centre of defence, but you were never quite sure.

When Tall Paul came on nothing changed, in fact it got worse, he had no service and to be blunt you have to use him by trying to hit him in the box, with Tyler Dibling on, we had the hope that he would produce a little run and some magic, that went when he was subbed off.

I couldn't work out what we were doing, when Burnley scored with 13 minutes left, you thought we might go for it, but we didn't, on 82 minutes the answer from the bench was to bring on Will Smallbone for Big les Ugochukwu, what was that about, I like Smallbone, he is a tidy player and sometimes gets unfair criticism in some quarters, but here we are losing 1-0 with 5 defenders on the pitch, why was one of them not brought off ?

We made a double change in 86th minute, an attacking one with Albert Gronbaek & Cameron Archer, but too little & far too late.

So few people came out of this game with any credit, on the playing side only Welington could walk off with the satisfaction that he had had a decent game, off the pitch the finger has to be pointed at Ivan Juric who seems to have decided to impose his way on the squad, by taking out some senior players such as Armstrong & Downes and bring in players such as Tall Paul & Sulemana who over the past two years have shown very little loyalty of commitment to the club up to recently.

I understand that some will feel neither Armstrong or Downes were Premier League quality, but they were no worse than anyone else in the squad, if you judge them by those around them.

We will find it hard to replace them next season in the Championship.

As I said this game should have given us a little joy and a little hope, but after last weekend's win over Ipswich, it now feels like we have gone backwards not forwards.

All Photos Via Reuters

DorsetIan added 10:52 - Feb 10 He's a magician this Juric. To turn the performance and result against Ipswich into this in such a short space of time is pretty impressive.
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A1079 added 11:09 - Feb 10 Compare the impact the new Plymouth Argyle manager has had with the impact our new manager has had. It is like chalk and cheese.
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Bowlercow added 11:13 - Feb 10 At one time we had a back 3 of KWP Wellington and Fernandez because Manning Bree and Bednarek had all pushed forward Not in an attacking way just in an attempt to win the ball He obviously encourages this type of play and in Italy it may work They don't have m/f players pressing and pressing until they overrun you Burnley players all knew and understood their roles They consistently and effectively broke up the play but always managed to keep a solid defensive line Ivan has now proved that he is not upto either the PL or the Championship Imagine next seasons game against the blue few and we perform like that

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underweststand added 11:18 - Feb 10 Scrappy game with end-to-end play and little creativity. Predictable result?..We may have had a few near misses, but with a lightweight strike force (Dibling and Sulemana ) who looked encouraging enough going forward, but have scarcely half-a-dozen goal between them, we look distinctly " lack lustre" coming up against the best defence in the country. With Ross Stewart (remember him?) permanently out, Cam Archer is now our only recognised striker (and he doesn't have a great scoring record either). At the back, the defence still haven't remembered that Russell Martin has gone and some of the suicidal short passing made it bad for my blood pressure, especially when McCarthy played a 6 yard pass direct to a Burnley player. Thankfully this wasn't another 3 points lost, but we also saw a number of other Prem. sides falling to lower league sides, and without VAR in the FA Cup games we might well see Man .Utd getting to the Final with a little more of their " luck at Old Trafford ". For those fans who haven't given up hope on a revival the two upcoming home derbies will either be two more nails in the coffin, or give some hope of another Great Escape.

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andywelsh added 11:43 - Feb 10 Can’t help feeling Juric may be a case of be careful what you wish for as results have not improved at all. To my mind we looked better under Martin. I realise it will take time for his ideas to bed in and he probably needs a pre season but the magical manager appointment to save our problems is either unobtainable or doesn’t exist. I would still prefer Danny Rohl back, but he’s not guaranteed to be able to fix this mess either.

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SaintStu7 added 11:53 - Feb 10 I’m not sure there has been a more depressing time to be a Saints fan. Realistically we haven’t a meaningful fixture until the start of the Championship in August. It’s only football but hurts to see a team in such disarray.
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SaintStu7 added 11:53 - Feb 10 I’m not sure there has been a more depressing time to be a Saints fan. Realistically we haven’t a meaningful fixture until the start of the Championship in August. It’s only football but hurts to see a team in such disarray.
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goalie66 added 12:03 - Feb 10 Spot on summary. My first visit this year and probably my last too. I could not believe how awful we were. We even tackled each other which about sums up have far we have descended . Welington was the only light on a grey day as at least he showed some ambition. Like Nick I was trying to figure out the formation as I suspect the players were too. On this showing Juric is not the answer nor the problem. SR are answerable but I do not think they will ever understand the questions let alone the answers needed on recruitment. Finally to get back to the station I had to circumnavigate the ground from the Chapel. Who's idea was that.?

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Farlow added 12:28 - Feb 10 Why we are paying Bella Kotchap and not playing him when he is by far the best central defender on the books beggars belief.Why the clown Manning was on the pitch and not in the stands was beyond me.A good cup run would at least have given the supporters a little joy but i dont think Juric appreciates the status of our FA CUP or surely he,d have picked a more attacking side.

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arfurdent added 12:37 - Feb 10 team is in a major decline based on lack of quality incoming and wierd tactics, death spirals are always difficult to rectify On the bright side the seasons in League 1 were enjoyable
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JoeEgg added 14:41 - Feb 10 It was very gracious of Burnley to put out their reserve team so we could see just how low our standards have dropped. The manager is a hopeless case and another waste of space and time. Sulemana cant score a goal to save his life and Dibling is not used to best effect. Its now not only a question of can we win another point or two before the end of the season, but also do you think that there is any possibility of ever scoring another goal? Where on earth did Sports Republic get this clown of a manager from? The players are poor enough without having to be made to look even worse by a complete hopeless case of a manager. How do Sports republic do it? Where did they dig Juric up from? Our hopes for any success this season are now zero - but what is worse, between them SR and the new manager are leaving us with a below average team to perform in the Championship next year.

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kingolaf added 18:58 - Feb 10 Not too bothered about Armstrong going. Not bothered by Downes either after his pathetic performance v Forest. Got to be honest though, Juric’s management yesterday was worse than any player’s performance this season. Totally incompetent. It seems SR have sh*t the bed yet again.
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bryanK added 21:26 - Feb 10 I really thought Juric was restoring some semblance of pride but this was an exceptionally poor performance. I cannot figure defensively what he is trying to achieve. The backbone of any side starts with a strong spine so 2 strong centre backs with a good goalkeeper is really the starting point so I am at a complete loss of individuals such as Bree being part of this. What a complete mess totally fed up and issues with the idiot Downes compounds the feeling of total hopelessness.

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