Southampton supporters turned up in their usual big numbers and were once again treated to the same type of display that they have watched all season, yet another defeat at St Mary's due to poor defending.
Under Russell Martin we had a reasonably well drilled team that lost games because they were being forced to play the possession football game in tight situations when a clearance was called for, and who passed and passed the ball sideways, rarely playing the killer ball, under Ivan Juric it is the mirror image, his side play a far more attacking game, but are about as well organised as the retreat from Dunkirk.
Once again we saw goals given away as opposition players were left completely unmarked and with us standing off to allow them to pick their shots and their passes.
But the worrying thing under Ivan Juric is that he has a complete inability to actually know who is best players really are and play them in the right positions.
As I mentioned in the Preview, Juric either picks the wrong line up and then has to make changes, but ultimately it is too little too late, or he picks the right line up and then makes bizarre substitutions that see us throw the game away.
He just doesn't know what his best defence is and completely chops and changes, leading to even more disorganisation in what is already a team without leadership.
Most Southampton fans at Ipswich would agree that perhaps our two standout players in that win were Welington & Big Les Ugochukwu, they were strong in the tackle and stuck to the duties they were asked to do.
So why in the following League game after that win, was Big Les consigned to the bench !!!!!!
The Premier League midfields are packed with big strong athletes, Big Les is perhaps the only one of our midfielders who can be classed as that type of players, so why was he dropped for Will Smallbone.
Now I am not going to criticise Smallbone here, it was not his fault he was picked ahead of Ugochukwu, he went out there and battled hard, he was just overrun and out powered, it was disgusting to hear people cheer when he was substituted.
So we had a starting line up that was all over the place, a back three that lacked leadership and organisation and saw a full back in Bree played as a central defender when we had Armel Bella-Kotchap on the bench, indeed we could easily have played Charlie Taylor in the back 3.
The side was completely unbalanced, but more disturbingly it completely lacked leadership and organisation and that was proven after only 14 minutes when Bournemouth opened the scoring with a cross that saw Ouattara completely unmarked to glance a header home, he had a defender in front of him and one behind him, but neither of them were anywhere near him.
After conceding a goal teams look to their Captain to steady the ship, when a team concede a goal they are often at their most vulnerable because they try to score one back straight away, rather than reorganise and make sure they don't get caught again.
We have to leader on the pitch, Jan Bednarek is a whole hearted player who has been a good player for Southampton over the past 7 years, but he is not a leader and that showed only 2 minutes later as we lost the ball and stood off enabling Christie to pick his spot.
Now we were in complete disarray and many feared another big defeat, but we dug in and somehow got to half time without conceding again.
At the break Juric provided his own evidence that he had got things wrong, on came Big Les Ugochukwu, but was this a straight swap ? the answer is no, off went Wellington & Wood and Joe Aribo dropped into the back 3 , with Sugawara coming on as a wingback.
This involved 4 positional changes, hardly helping a team who already didn't seem to know what they should be doing.
On 56 minutes there was another change, off went Smallbone to those disgusting cheers, where were the phrases I see & here all the time "He is one of our own" or "Once a Saint always a Saint" and on came Tyler Dibling.
This lead to a revival of sorts despite the fact that we now had only half of the outfield starting line up playing in the positions they started the game in, all the evidence that you need on this manager and his team selections and substitutions.
We started to look like a team that believed in what it was doing, although it was still a bit disjointed, and on 72 minutes Sulemana scored a goal and suddenly with Bournemouth having failed to kill us off, there were hopes of a revival.
But that hope would last barely 10 minutes until once again we got caught on the break and the game was now well and truly over.
What did Juric do ? He threw on Archer for Sulemana and Manning for Aribo, too little too late, although when you looked at who were on the bench or for that matter not even in the squad and didn't get a game, that perhaps tells you something about where this manager is leading us, Adam Lallana would have been a cool head to bring on as we were getting on top, but not on the bench, Armel Bella-Kotchap seems to be being punished for something and forced to sit on the bench without a hope of even playing.
Albert Gronbaek was played at Ipswich for an hour on his debut, 4 minutes against Burnley in the Cup is all he has been seen in the last two games, Charlie Taylor an experienced Premier League player, another old head who can organise, was on the bench but has barely had a kick under Juric.
This was yet another game that we could have got something out of, Bournemouth have got into the upper reaches of the table because they are the blueprint for those clubs who sit in the mid table and sometimes have a little push for higher, they are full of big strong, fast athletes who are well organised and well drilled, with a manager who knows how to get the best out of his squad.
The stats of this game are not much different for either side, Saints 11 shots on goal with 4 on target and Bournemouth 14 with 7, both sides had 4 shots blocked and out of that total both sides had 4 from out of the area.
On those stats we were not overrun, but those watching know the real story.
If anyone had any lingering hopes that we might be pulling off a Great Escape, this was the game that dashed even the most optimistic Southampton supporters hopes and the home sections were 3/4 empty by the time of the final whistle.
The only hope that we have had in recent months was that we had a side that could be a front runner in the promotion battle next season, but under Ivan Juric even that side is being dismantled, Adam Armstrong already out on loan, Flynn Downes seemingly estranged from the manager and not even in the squad, Adam Lallana marginalised, Charlie Taylor wondering what he has to do to get a chance.
There is no point in sacking Ivan Juric now, the season is done and dusted, but we now need Southampton FC to lead from the front, Johann Spors is the new Director of Football , lets hear from him how he sees the future !
Perhaps he is saying little as with a break clause for manager and club in the summer, he is concentrating on sourcing a new manager.
I would hope so, because the mood of Southampton supporters that had never been higher in a decade last May at Wembley, has now never been lower since 2008/09 as the club went into administration, but back then we had a good excuse.