Yet another opening day of woe for Saints against Spurs in North London, yet it could easily have been avoidable if we had signed a leader and organiser in the back line, there was little to be praiseworthy about.

I was hacked off about the result at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but even more hacked off about the manner of it and the fact that I have to now sound like a broken record again and pointing out what seems to be painfully obvious, but not to those in charge of the transfer strategy.

That is a complete lack of leadership and organisation in the defence.

Ralph Hasenhuttl seems determined to play 3 at the back with 2 wingbacks, it didn't work, not because we haven't got the players to play it, but because we have no one who can organise it all on the pitch.

Some would say that Jan Bednarek who is now 26 and a player with 132 Premier League appearances to his name should now be that leader, but he just doesn't seem to be the type, nothing wrong with that, there have been many great players who have not been leaders of men, however this system cannot work unless we get someone in the centre of that back three to steady the ship and organise.

Early doors Spurs were looking to get at us, what was clear on the left was that Moussa Djenepo needed someone to keep him focused, he was playing an alien position and here was also a player who has barely played in 18 months, having started just 5 games last year.

Djenepo came in for a bit of stick from some fans, but it wasn't just his fault, he should have been talked through the game and it wasn't his fault when Spurs pushed their men forward and double teamed him.

Going forward though he looked ok and he made a great run and pull back for James Ward Prowse to open the scoring after 12 minutes and you hoped that this might settle us.

At this stage this is when you need a leader of men, calm the side down, regroup and keep us focused, we didn't have that, we just carried on playing as we did before the goal, chasing shadows and leaving men unmarked.

That perhaps showed as the lead lasted just 9 minutes, Spurs got room and our left and put in a great cross, Kyle Walker Peters is not used to playing as a wing back either and he allowed his man to get in front of him and head home giving Gavin Bazunu no chance.

Again time for leadership, but we were still running around like headless chickens and it was no surprise when Eric Dier headed home completely unmarked on 31 minutes.

It was now going to be a long day, but we dug in, there was plenty of spirit, just no leadership and we got into half time just a goal down.

For the first 15 minutes of the second half we were still in the game, then came a goal that really should not have happened, a harmless cross was going out for a goal kick, no Spurs players anywhere near it, we had 3 or 4 close, you would have thought that one of them would have called to Salisu to let the ball run or even to put his foot on it, but with no shout and he himself clearly unaware of who was around he smashed the ball into his own net.

This epitomises what we lack, there was no talking no organisation, 2 minutes later and the game was over when a fourth was added, the only real question is how the hell did we manage to keep the score at that level for the remaining half hour.

So this was a bad day at the office, not the first one on the opening day of the season and it is still not a terminal blow, although some Saints fans seem to think we are relegated already.

According to Ralph there is transfer business to be done, talk of a goalscorer coming in, but our problem is not scoring goals it is letting them in, our most crucial element in our defending is luck, if we have good luck we can keep a score down, if we don't then we concede.

I can accept it when sides are better than us and rip us to pieces, but when we gift goals and the reason is clear it is hard to take, especially since it has been going on now since January 2017 when Fonte left and Van Dijk got injured.

So apologies for having to write the same things I have been saying for 5 years now, but it has to end.

Bizarrely in the Southampton B set up, Saints recognised the very problem I am talking about, last year they signed Ollie Lancashire to mentor the B team, they wanted someone to sit in the back for and talk the youngsters through the games.

They knew the value of having an old head around to help the players to develop and gain experience, they do that with 18 year olds in the B team so why do they not do it in a back line in the Premier League that is only a couple of years or so older than the B team players.

Some will say we have the experience out there already, they are right we have JWP, Oriol Romeu and Stuart Armstrong, but they are not leaders of men, they lead by example and there is a big difference.

They must be frustrated as they work hard to win balls in the midfield and keep the side going only for time and time again teams to score goals through our own poor defending.

This team is quite capable of a good mid table finish, but unless we change things it will be another season of boom and bust and 15th.

The talk of scoring goals is all well and good, but that is not our problem, the issue is stopping goals, it is a lot easier to bring in a good experienced central defender and stop leaking 15-20 unnecessary goals a season than it is to find a striker who will score you 20 goals.

Saturday was no surprise, I have a lot of faith in Ralph Hasenhutt, but surely he and indeed those who advise him can see this problem.

Photo: Action Images

AmericanSaint added 13:45 - Aug 8 So I posted some of this in the match report (bottom). I have one BIG issue with what you wrote Nick - KWP is not a wingback. WTH is he then? That is why we got him. You are making excuses here. He was outplayed and that was a great cross. (from previous post) Next, I have supported RH for the last two seasons, but believe that these first 5 games should determine his future. He did a few things poorly yesterday in his set up. (1) Dnejepo should have been on the bench and Parraud should have started. RP can play the wing back and a team like Tot, you need a seasoned LB (which they exploited well). He can cross the ball well and can occasionally score too. (2) Lavia should be playing the top of the triangle in the midfield and no Romeu. He has better feet, speed and looks forward first instead of back. (3) RH should have exploited Dier in the back and played more over the top balls for AA to run on with his speed. Didnt do that once. (4) Aribo should have been changed at halftime. (5) if RH thinks AA is better than Che, then he has lost the plot completely and needs to go period. We should be going after Conner Coady as we need a season CB badly. Him in the middle, with JB and MS on the sides could be very good. I wont even talk about a striker as we will not spend the necessary 20-30 needed to get a proven one. Finally, it was the just the first game, so we shouldnt panic, but, we have a run of games that we need points from and if August has us at the bottom, then I foresee a need to change the manager, but who is out there that is any good? Ideas?

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ItchenNorth added 14:02 - Aug 8 Anyway, who's up for a home game next week. If ya not, stay at home, please ! OH WHEN THE SAINTS, oh when the Saints, GO MARCHING IN, go matching in. COYR.
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landsdownsaint added 15:03 - Aug 8 I still fancy us too beat Leeds
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Ali_Diarea added 15:22 - Aug 8 “This team is quite capable of a good mid table finish” - come on Nick. I think you do a great job running this site, and staying positive when things go wrong, but what have you seen that no one else has? After last season (and the previous 3) the squad needed a complete revamp, it’s been clear for all to see. We needed to spend £200m to plug the gaps from previous years of under-investment. Instead the new owners have opted for long term prospects to make money down the line. Meanwhile the same old tosh pull on the shirt. Alarm bells should be ringing when, after singing six players, Djenepo starts as wing back, Stephens comes on as a sub, Valery starts as CB, and Adam Armstrong starts as a lone striker. All of these selections are signs that we have a very poor squad. I would love to think that everything will fall into place with one experienced CB but it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to turn us into a good mid table team

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sidsaint added 15:32 - Aug 8 Most of us are singing from the same hymn sheet. Unless we win on Saturday we have until the end of the month to save the season with some tough decisions to be made. Is the board up for this?
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GRIM added 16:23 - Aug 8 "erick's" comment about JWP + Romeu + Lavia being in each others pockets is a good one. Both Romeu & Lavia are genuine holding central midfield players. So Romeu reverts to instinct & gets in Lavia's way then JWP being asked to play on the left is not natural for him so he drifts back to a central position hence a good reason not to play players out of position. Wing backs priority is to defend but KWP is playing like a winger & Djennepo just cannot defend. Over 90mins we played 3 players that could not even get into the side last season ( Adam Armstrong + Stephens + Djennepo). That would suggest that Ralph does not trust the newbies. As I've said before , we may have a bigger squad but we don't have a better team. After the Spurs result we have no chance of attracting/signing better players, business should have been done before the season started. Unless Ralph starts playing his best players in their best position then we could set a new record of lowest points ever scored in Premier lge.

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mattthelegend added 17:34 - Aug 8 1 win in 14 says it all really.
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saintpete01 added 17:45 - Aug 8 Your Times up Ralph
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felly1 added 18:40 - Aug 8 If we lose to Leeds, the atmosphere will be toxic and the owners will have to make a Big decision. I want to believe that we've just been heavily beaten by a top 4 side away from home. This will happen to alot of teams coming here. It's the standard of performance, tactics and overall player quality and a continuation of last seasons thrashings and endless terrible defeats. Ralph will have to go as that's what happens but the malaise stems from serious under investment in the team. We've been overtaken by the likes of Palace, Brentford, Brighton, Wolves and Villa in terms of oven ready Premier league quality players.

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SanMarco added 18:53 - Aug 8 Having suffered form over the last 3rd of last season that was as bad as the famous lowest ever Derby County season all of us fans knew there were BIG problems. We hoped they would be addressed. Have they been? Still playing a novelty left back, still no defensive organisation and still nothing up front. I agree that a 'personality' organising at the back would help but it goes a lot deeper than that. We are all over the place and the manager STILL seems surprised and baffled. I think Nick is wrong to say that goal scoring is not a problem. It is not either/or. A side that has got 5 points in 14 games has more than one problem and up front is nearly as worrying as the defence. The bottom line is without proper experienced signings in the next couple of weeks we are in big trouble. Yes it is just one game and we are not already relegated but only the eternally optimistic will not be feeling that troubled times will continue. Ralph needs to go - he has had long enough and if he is still baffled at what is going wrong then he is not the man for the job.

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landsdownsaint added 19:12 - Aug 8 We all know Talph will put a wining streak together & all the pundits including Pep etc will rave about us & as soon as that happens we will go on another disastrous losing streak … we won’t go down under RH
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YosemiteSaint added 19:27 - Aug 8 That Ralph spent the pre-season trying yet again to assemble a 3-5-2 formation once again illustrates that (1) he doesn't understand our players and (2) he doesn't understand EPL football. The sooner we revert to 4-4-2 the better. Either that or we're long overdue for a new gaffer.
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Cotswolds added 10:10 - Aug 9 Another embarrassing result, We are crying out for a Conor Coady type leader in our defence,but I wonder if the man himself was even on our club’s radar? Anyway,too late now. I can understand the plan to buy young great prospects,but you need to blend them with experience,and as everyone seems to realise we are crying out for at least one leader of men on the pitch.Any ideas out there? Everton have already snapped up Conor Coady & James Tarkowski both of whom would have been great signings for us,giving us valuable experience in defence. We also need an experienced striker as has been observed here,and another creative midfielder maybe,although Joe Aribo could be very good.

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Peterx added 11:54 - Aug 9 Ralph thinks he is a tactical genius and there is no No 2 with a strong enough voice to talk through the "great ideas" & come out with sensible line-ups and subs. I was hoping Selles was that person. Apart from that his (RH's) enthusiasm / loyalty has been good and energising at times with some marquee results over the last few years. I still think there is a chance we can keep RH and succeed but things will get toxic very quickly if we don't get points against Leeds.

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Peterx added 11:56 - Aug 9 Also Bazunu, Lavia and Aribo all look like they could be very good, so still some hope.
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