Claude Puel made tactical errors against Bournemouth that need to be rectified if we are to beat the Eagles on Wednesday evening.

Claude Puel has asked his players to step up to the plate against Crystal Palace, but I would also say that the manager himself needs to be looking at his own performance on Saturday where he not only picked the wrong team but made the wrong substitutions.

I have staunchly defended Claude Puel for most of this season, where some have cut him little slack, I have always said that he should be judged at the end of the season and not half way through it, especially given the issues we have had to contend with including the loss of three key players through injury, fixture pile ups and just plain bad luck.

However I have never shied away from criticising the manager when he has got it wrong and i think on Saturday he did, both in his selection of the starting line up and the substitutions he made.

His first mistake was not to start Martin Caceres, the defender has been at St Mary's for two months now and has not kicked a ball for the first team yet, it s not as if either Yoshida or Jack Stephens have been convincing and Saturday's clean sheet papered over the fact that Bournemouth only failed to score because they could not finish after capitalising on several errors in the centre of defence, at times we were a shambles.

If Caceres an't get a game now, what was the point of signing him !

Also Shane Long should have started ahead of Jay Rodriguez, the irishman is ahead in the pecking order of Rodriguez, Puel should have recognised that fact in his team selection, I like J Rod, he didn't have a bad first half, but the fact still remains that he should not have started the game.

But I have always said that it is not about what you have just done that matters, it is about what you do next and Puel failed to see what was going wrong and rectify it by good substitutions.

Whilst his double substitution just after the hour was an attacking one, the reality is that it completely upset our formation and left us exposed in the centre of the midfield, Eddie Howe soon recognised this and brought off an attacker and replaced him with a midfielder in Jack Wilshere.

This changed the game and from then on Bournemouth were pouring through from the midfield on the break almost at will, it was only their own poor finishing that kept them from scoring with our central midfield overrun and our central defenders panicking.

At this stage Puel still had options to try and rectify this, but bringing on Sam McQueen was not the answer, we needed to bring in either Hojbjerg or Clasie in the centre of the park to negate Bournemouth's domination in this area, but we didn't, the last change did nothing tactically it was a like for like and we were gambling that we could pour forward and score and that the Cherries would continue to be wasteful.

So for me on Saturday Claude Puel failed to lead his team from the front, so if he is asking his players to step up to the plate, then he has to ask the same question of himself, he has to look at where he went wrong on Saturday and not make the same mistakes again.

As I said at the start, Puel needs to be judged at the end of the season, in general we have come through a difficult season and are still holding our own, teams like Watford and indeed Bournemouth are punching above their weight but are still below us, that tells us that we have a good squad, but it is under performing.

There are 10 games left for Saints, Claude Puel has to show he is the man for the job by winning a few matches and making sure that we finish in the top 10, he has to show that he has learn't from his own mistakes, if he does that then he could go on to be a good manager for this club.

But on Saturday he took a step backwards himself, now against Crystal Palace he needs to take to forward by putting out the right team and making sure he gets it right tactically, if he does so and Saints win then he will throw off any lingering doubts of relegation and can look upwards, if we lose then he will get the moaners on his back again and that will not help us in the final third of the season.

Photo: Action Images

aceofthebase added 11:03 - Apr 4 You supportive of Puel. You are having a laugh! Next you will be saying you have always been supportive of Yoshida or that you only had good words about Fonte. Perhaps you will be telling us to look to the future whilst bringing up some old facts ofa few seasons ago. Nick, sorry young man, but it is time to hang your boots up.
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Sanguin added 11:13 - Apr 4 aceofthebase, I disagree, Nick has been a lot more supportive of Puel than the majority of supporters. I've responded to comments from people calling for Puel's head because we're not challenging for the Champion's League this season. I find the majority of Nick's analysis and commentary balanced and fair. I'm not confident about the Palace game; Benteke and Zaha in attack and Sakho in defence. They're resurgent and have won their last four games including away at West Brom and Chelsea. I wish we'd signed Sakho in January, £20m was a bargain then and having him and van Dijk as a partnership for next season would've been incredible. With Gabbiadini out, I'm not sure tactics will be enough to win.

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SanMarco added 11:13 - Apr 4 I think Nick has been pretty supportive of Puel this season. He is quite right about Saturday though - Long would have terrified their defence and I am beginning to think Cacares was just brought in as emergency back-up. We still need 6 or 7 points and Palace is one of the more 'winnable' games we have left. Play like we did in the second half on Saturday and we will lose to them.

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SaintBrock added 12:49 - Apr 4 I am roughly 100% with you on this Nick. What I find frustrating and difficult to understand is why Puel is never put under pressure at his press conferences by the sycophantic journo's who seem scared to ask challenging questions. For example rather than ask Puel if Carceras is fit and ready to play so that he can bat it away with a smile and his usual throwaway line "he is now in a competition with Yoshida & Stephens", why don't they ask simply "Why haven't you played Carceras?" or "Any truth in the rumour that if he doesn't play we don't pay?" or "Are you satisfied that you put out the best team to defat Bournemouth?" and so on. I doubt any judgement will be made on Puel at season's end unless some senior players ask for transfers because they are fed up with being messed around. Otherwise look forward to gettin more of the same faltering style of play next season with Sam Allardyce joining us in March 2018 to save us from relegation.

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SaintBrock added 12:59 - Apr 4 Last week I posted that Saints will always be Saints as they always have been. When we desperately need 9 points from the next three very winnable games, we can be almost certain how it is going to pan out and we end up with only 4! We are well on course for that target and it will not surprise me at all if we get done over tomorrow night.
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bstokesaint added 13:12 - Apr 4 That's a bit harsh Ace. Well the last sentence at least. I do think Puel can be cut some slack at the moment Nick due to the injuries we have. VVD and Gabbiadini are two huge losses. If they both played for Barca or Madrid and were injured their results would be effected too. They are quality players and the manager must be hugely disappointed to not be able to pick them. I am intrigued to see if Caceres will get a run-out against Palace. As others have stated they are on a good run at the moment and whoever plays at the back needs to be on their A game. That said I’m more concerned about where the goals are going to come from. It's life before Gabbi all over again.

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BoondockSaint added 13:43 - Apr 4 Still can't judge Puel properly because he has no quality players. We can't say he made the wrong substitutions because he can only replace average players with more average players. Don't think he is under any kind of pressure since he is doing what he was brought here for: Get paid much less than any of the big name managers that were available and keep us in mid-table. Sorry, bstokesaint, have to disagree: If they played for Barca or Madrid, the manager would only have to look to his bench and see Messi, Suarez, Bale or Ronaldo ready to come on and have an impact. Puel looks at his bench and sees Boufal and JWP and shakes his head, and Les Reed silently chuckles to himself.

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BoondockSaint added 13:43 - Apr 4 Still can't judge Puel properly because he has no quality players. We can't say he made the wrong substitutions because he can only replace average players with more average players. Don't think he is under any kind of pressure since he is doing what he was brought here for: Get paid much less than any of the big name managers that were available and keep us in mid-table. Sorry, bstokesaint, have to disagree: If they played for Barca or Madrid, the manager would only have to look to his bench and see Messi, Suarez, Bale or Ronaldo ready to come on and have an impact. Puel looks at his bench and sees Boufal and JWP and shakes his head, and Les Reed silently chuckles to himself.

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BoondockSaint added 13:43 - Apr 4 Still can't judge Puel properly because he has no quality players. We can't say he made the wrong substitutions because he can only replace average players with more average players. Don't think he is under any kind of pressure since he is doing what he was brought here for: Get paid much less than any of the big name managers that were available and keep us in mid-table. Sorry, bstokesaint, have to disagree: If they played for Barca or Madrid, the manager would only have to look to his bench and see Messi, Suarez, Bale or Ronaldo ready to come on and have an impact. Puel looks at his bench and sees Boufal and JWP and shakes his head, and Les Reed silently chuckles to himself.

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BoondockSaint added 13:43 - Apr 4 Still can't judge Puel properly because he has no quality players. We can't say he made the wrong substitutions because he can only replace average players with more average players. Don't think he is under any kind of pressure since he is doing what he was brought here for: Get paid much less than any of the big name managers that were available and keep us in mid-table. Sorry, bstokesaint, have to disagree: If they played for Barca or Madrid, the manager would only have to look to his bench and see Messi, Suarez, Bale or Ronaldo ready to come on and have an impact. Puel looks at his bench and sees Boufal and JWP and shakes his head, and Les Reed silently chuckles to himself.

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aceofthebase added 14:24 - Apr 4 ok I apologise for my last para. I deserve a right slapping and looks like i got it.
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BoondockSaint added 16:35 - Apr 4 YIKES!! Sorry about the multiple posts ! (I'm not that adamant about it!) Don't know if its browser or cheap computer at work.....
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NeilF added 18:31 - Apr 4 So is Boufal any good or just played in the wrong formation? Puel bought him but is not sure where to play him. He brought him on Saturday then changed his mind where to put him. So, why is Puel buying / not starting these players and not getting them playing to their ability? If they did not have that ability and potential to command games would you not sign them? Bournemouth played a high line on Saturday and Puel chose the leggy Jay Rod in the middle who made no real impact. Would the pace of Boufal worked on Saturday better in the middle?

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highfield49 added 08:20 - Apr 5 The Caceres situation seems to me to foster the discontent shown by supporters concerning the unwillingness, or complete inability, of the club to communicate with the people who pay hard earned money to watch the players perform. Sometimes it feels like we are treated with utter contempt and as an irritation that the club wish would go away! We're all mystified by the signing of a player who doesn't actually get to play despite the shortcomings of those picked ahead of him week in week out. My best hope is that he's not being risked in case he gets injured and we have to see out the season with Yoshi and Jack, never mind the illusive Gardos. If he's not being played, as suggested, because that would mean actually paying the guy then the supporters are being sold short yet again by the secretive holders of the purse strings. Maybe the next signing should be someone in a business suit who has a grasp of the public relations concept? Hopefully Caceres will be on the pitch tonight and my frustration will be put back in the box for a day or two. At present I don't actually care whether he is a genius or a flop I just want to see him in a Saints shirt not stuck on the bench like an unwrapped present.

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allsaint54 added 14:47 - Apr 5 We shouldn't be surprised at way we played v Bournemouth. CP has been making selection mistakes, tactical errors & poor substitutions all season.
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