I said in the preview that Ivan Juric and his coaching staff do not have enough Premier League experience between them or for that matter any real knowledge of the Saints squad, that was exposed for all to see on Saturday's debacle.
I will start this by saying that although this result virtually condemns us to relegation, especially after Ipswich's draw at Fulham on Sunday afternoon, that I am not one of those calling for the head of the manager after only 4 games.
The truth was it was always going to be a hard ask to keep us up, in many respects it is about trimming the squad and rebuilding for next season and this game just confirms that.
But having said all this the blame for this defeat has to fall squarely on the head of Ivan Juric and his team selection.
To be honest the fact that he selected Kamaldeen Sulemana for the starting line up was just incredulous, in his two years at the club Sulemana has had but one good game for the club, that in a dead rubber against Liverpool, since then he has just not performed.
It was strange when Russell Martin suddenly recalled him to the side and he didn't perform then, he didn't perform coming off the bench for Juric in his opening 3 games in charge, so why the hell is he selected in the starting line up against Brentford !
If Ivan Juric had walked down Above Bar and spoken to any Southampton supporter, they would all be united on one opinion and that is Sulemana has not done anything for this football club and has shown no sign of actually doing so any time soon.
Likewise the selection of Tall Paul Onuachu, he too was awful at Palace and although he had some good chances against West Ham, they were just that good chances but poor finishes, that was the same for his header on Saturday against Brentford.
He too did not deserve a start, how did the pair of them start whilst Cameron Archer & Adam Armstrong sat on the bench, both of them have their critics, but they have both scored goals and provided assists, not least Armstrong for Tyler Dibling's goal at Palace.
Brentford dominated the first half and we were lucky to just go in a goal down at the break, at half time Juric made two changes, Charlie Taylor of for Nathan Wood and Suguwara for Bree in what was an attacking strategy,
On 55 minutes off went Onuachu & Sulemana and suddenly we looked like we might get something out of the game, Armstrong worked his socks off and was clearly out to make a point to the manager, the crowd got behind the team and for 7 minutes we looked good.
But just after the hour the visitors doubled their lead and again they carved through us with ease.
7 Minutes later and they were 3-0 up and everyone knew the game was up, the only real surprise was that we went into injury time with no further goals conceded, although that was soon to change and they netted twice in the time added on to turn a defeat into a rout.
As I have said the manager has to take a lot of the blame hear, but so do CEO Phil Parsons and his board, Juric is an experienced manager, how do they leave him with no real Premier League experience in his coaching staff, aside from his own men and the Goalkeeping & Tactic's & insight coach (Yes what it means I don't know either) the only other coach is Carl Martin who up to June 2022 when he was promoted to first team coach had only coached at Academy level.
Where is the experience ? and perhaps more importantly where is the Premier League experience and where is the spirit !
Perhaps both Southampton players and fans can get through the next 4 months is to perhaps take note of this quote from the TV series Band Of Brothers.
"The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it."
Perhaps that is a little dramatic, but it can be converted to football, the sooner that we all accept that we are not going to survive this season, the sooner we can get behind the team and start to look forward to next season, rather than gripe about this one.
Get rid of the dead wood and then rebuild in the summer.
Most of us go to football to enjoy it, we go in hope, so when we lose it hurts, we now need that siege mentality, get behind the team and have pride in our club and our City, if you don't want to do that, then fair enough it is your choice, but perhaps better not to put yourself through the rest of the season.
Owners, managers and players come and go, supporters in the main stay loyal, Southampton are no different to most other clubs, we have a loyal hardcore who will turn out every week no matter what and others who will pick and chose game, indeed pick and choose seasons, I have no problem with any of that, but I do get embarrassed to see people leaving in droves with 20 minutes to go.
Onwards and upwards, all we can hope for now is to win a few games and not have the stigma of the lowest ever points total come the end of the season, the only way we will achieve that is by a fighting spirit both on and off the pitch.