Crystal Clear V Palace
Monday, 13th Aug 2007 08:36

Regular contributor Chris Newman hits the nail on the head.

I never ever expected to see the day when Saints would lose 4-1 at home to a team such as Crystal Palace a club of similar size to our own. I suppose though we should have expected it. Saints weakness at the back is nothing new and has been there for over two years - a wretched indictment - further compounded by the recent loss of three very good young defenders in Bale, Baird and Cranie. Added to this is a complete lack of protection for Bialkowski - a potentially good goalkeeper - who now looks as shell shocked and bereft of confidence as Calvin Davis did last season after his nightmare at Sunderland.

Recently there have been cries of "oh well we won't meet a team of Lazio's quality every week".This completely overlooked the fact that we would still be facing physically strong and powerful sides in the Championship. This was of course something we didn't cope with last term and won't this time out either, unless manager Burley can find the right dominating centre back - something that should already have happened months ago. Palace's Peter Taylor did exactly the right thing going into this game having Scowcroft and Morrison up front, knowing that Saints back four would once again be there for he taking. And they were.That makes 9 goals conceded in the last two home appearances.

I'm also not impressed with the continuing rumours linking Jhon Viafara with a move away from St Mary's. We have no real midfield bite to start with. Viafara has physical presence as well as skill and therefore should be played in the middle alongside Safri with Surman on the right. Jermaine Wright doesn't offer anything like enough. However, the main talking point around me on Saturday was why Adam Hammill didn't play from the start, because before he came on, Saints had nothing at all going down the left flank.

I was interested in some of the fan comments doing the rounds coming into the new season. There were the usual "cloud nine" predictions talking of automatic promotion and I particularly noticed one viewpoint saying that we'd finish second. I thought this was shrewd until I realised that they didn't actually mean second to bottom but divisional runners up instead.

Of course its early days and hope always springs eternal in a Saints fans breast but in conversing with other supporters, the REALITY IS there is very little optimism around. Even after all the years I've followed Saints I found myself wondering again on Saturday if a season ticket at Eastleigh might not have been a better option this time rather than one at St Mary's. Because Saints fans have not been valued anywhere near enough since the reverse takeover of the club - or seen enough quality put on the field either (where it really counts) for a long time.

Photo: Action Images

Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.