There can be no excuses for this game, the manager got it badly wrong.
Whilst I have apreciated the situation that Saints find themselves in financially and therefore the course that has to have been taken due to neccessity, I have always felt that Jan Poortvliet was not the final piece in the jigsaw, that as good a coach he may or may not be, he didnt have the decisiveness needed to be a true manager, throughout the summer I honestly expected a manager to be apointed to work with him.
Ironically enough those who praised Nigel Pearson and defend accusations levelled at him that he took Saints to the brink of relegation, rather than saved them, tend to point to the fact that Pearson inheirited a poor squad to work with, yest in the main these same people do not give Poortvliet that same leeway, however the facts of the matter are that although Jan might well have compiled a squad under difficult circumstances, that he may have got them playing with flair and a team spirit not seen much in these parts lately, NO they are that Poortvliet has continually made the wrong selections on a regular basis and substitutions were no better.
This case was proved on Saturday when the pack was shuffled meaning that Saints put in their worse performance of the season and never got their passing game going as they have done even when being beaten.
Poortvliet had obviously chosen to try and get the ball down the touchline and get in crosses, all well and good if you have a centre forward who is going to put himself about a bit, but in McGoldrick you ahve a player who likes to play with the ball at his feet running towards goal.
The nearest we have to a natural centre forward is Jordan Robertson, yet he wasnt even on the bench although strangely enough Oliver Lancashire was, why is my question ? we were at home and apart from the central pairing, we also had Jack Cork on the field who could drop back if required, quite bluntly the place would have been better used with an attacking player.
The fact of the matter is that all the shuffling and changing around meant that Saints could not find their rythymn and had no one on the bench who could change the game.
But it could have been different, in midfield we have completely lost the shape of only a few weeks ago, Andrew Surman is the right player to play in the "hole" yet he is rarely used in that position, on Saturday it was time to bring in Simon Gillett, if Scheiderlin is unavailable, bring in a ball player to replace him, Gillett might not have the range of passing but he is good at shortening up the game, Gillett and Cork, in the holding roles with Surman in front, aligned with Holmes and Lallana out wide would have been a balanced midfield.
But instead we were disjointed, Jason Euell showed just why he was much maligned last season and David McGoldrick was never in it, but we had no one to truly replace them like for like.
The upshot is that as bad a result as this was and it is hard to find any plus points from the game, the problem isnt the quality of the squad, but the leadership, Poortvliet should stick to what he does best and that is coaching, Saints need to bring in a leader of men, a motivator and a decision maker, they need to do it now, the next few weeks will be crucial to Saints and at this moment in time things arent looking good.