Saints At Burnley The Verdict Monday, 4th Feb 2019 09:41 It was a tale of two penalty decisions, Saints would claim that the referee got one right and another wrong, but the truth was sloppy defending cost us dearly. Saints almost had the three points in the bag, the 4 minutes of injury time had been played with little incident and they just needed to clear the ball and the whistle would have gone, they didn't and three points were thrown away. Saints got to grips with Burnley from the very start of the game and the longer it went on the more it looked like there would be only one winner. But the same old issues came back and if a year ago the same result felt like a momentous win, this one felt like a crushing defeat. Burnley will claim they should have had a penalty and having seen the replay they have a point, but they have a point because their player did what most seem to do these days, when the keeper goes to ground then the opposition player dives over him. From this perspective I thing the ref got it right, yes there was contact, but the ball was long gone, a decade or so ago a player would just have jumped over the keeper, but not these days they throw themselves to the ground. We shoud have opened the scoring with the lively Danny Ings in the first half but once he was off things got a lot harder to create chances, but we battled and looked up for the task. Nathan Redmond put us ahead with a great goal from 25 yards and from then on we looked in charge for most of the game. The arrival of Peter Crouch rattled us though, there was only one Burnley tactic from this point on and the nearer the final whistle loomed our defence started to waver. WE seemed to struggle to clear cleanly Stephens should have cleared easily but didn't and the rebound to their man saw McCarthy make a reaction save to keep the scores level, then Stephens again was a yard off his man who volleyed against the bar and over. The alarm bells were ringing, if Burnley were going to equalise it was going to be from our own failures more than skill on their part, like many teams before them they knew the weaknesses and the ball was slung into the box with frequency. But it looked like we were just about home when the penalty was given, the first question was whether it was a penalty, the answer is yes, no one in the ground failed to spot the hand ball, what was Jack Stephens doing jumping with his arm up in the air like that ? The answer could be he was fouled, but that is no excuse, replays are inconclusive on the foul and possibly Stephens reaction said it all, his team mates appealed, he just put his head in his hands. This was a good performance in many ways it answered a few questions for Ralph Hasenhuttl, in my book the answers were as follows. McCarthy looks shot on confidence, he was uncertain coming for the ball both for crosses and off his line and for the Burnleypenalty shout he dithered then came and almost paid a big price. We should have signed a central defender in the transfer window, we can get by with what we have got, but only just, there is a good reason why we keep conceding soft goals, there is a good reason why we concede late goals and there is a good reason we conceded goals that are both soft and late and its been happening for over two years now, it happened again on Saturday. The squad is stretched to the limits we should have bought someone in in the window, Ings is likely to be out again for the next few weeks and we will miss him, we can cope but only just. Their is good news, most of the team stepped up to the plate, Vestergaard looks to be getting to grips with the Premier League at last, Bednarek is getting better by the week, Matt Targett is a different player than Ryan Bertrand but he is worth his place in the team for the way he uses the ball. Callum Slattery will be a player, he looked comfortable in the side and as he said after the game he played without fear which is more than can be said than for a couple of his team mates. Nathan Redmond looks to be a candidate for player of the season and an England call up, there will be those who still can't find it in their hearts to admit it, but he is showing the potential we signed him for and has been for most of the season. James Ward Prowse is starting to look like the player he looked like he could be Hasenhuttl has got something into his head, he plays like a man now and not a boy. Overall this was disappointing, if we had held on then we would have taken a big step towards safety, four points ahead of Cardiff but just as importantly three ahead of Burnley and level with both Palace and Newcastle as it stands we could drop in to the bottom three if we lose on Saturday. But there were many plus points as well, it was another game unbeaten in the League in 2019, this was a tough game, Burnley are on their own unbeaten run and are no pushovers, the actual fact we got a point there was good, but the way we dropped three was unacceptable. But we march on and go into a big big game on Saturday, this game should be a sell out,if you are a Saints supporter and haven't got a ticket yet then get one, this is going to be about getting behind the team when it needs it's supporters, yes some will have an excuse, but most won't, this is a game that could shape the rest of the season and indeed the future of the club, No Excuses. 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