 Monday, 23rd Aug 2010 08:50 Im afraid nothing has changed since last season. Last season too many match reports on this site spoke of the fact that we were too one dimensional and of poor team selection and substitutions, sad to say that after three outings this term nothing appears to have changed. Back then many supporters refused to lay the blame at the feet of the manager, he needed a season to bed in a side they said, but is has to be said now that something is clearly wrong within Southampton Football Club. I know Im being harsh on the manager, after all it is only three games into the season, but the problem is its the same old problems that we had last season, and if we havent managed to put it right by now, are we ever going to do so. But it isnt just the manager, Saturday's side contained only one player not in the squad last season, Saints fans expected more spending in the summer and although Alan Pardew has bought wisely it has to be said that in one of the signings Ryan Dickson, ironically the only one we paid out any money for, we have a player who it seems the manager clearly doesnt rate, axing him after only one half in his supposed best position of left back, worryingly we lost two attacking options in Antonio and Waigo and havent replaced them, this is were something is clearly not right, after all we have had nearly four months now since the season ended to do so, the question is why havent we ? has Pardew got his hands tied in respect to transfers, given his well documented scatter gun approach to signing players, it seems strange that he wouldnt have brought in at least one forward or wide man by now. But I digress, on Saturday on the bright side we created a lot of chances against an Orient side that created one, yes it could be put down to bad luck, but these are games that we have to win, when it became clear that orient were coping fairly well we couldnt change our way of playing, we couldnt do something different to throw them out of their stride and perhaps sneak a goal while they were disorganised. At the back we restricted them to one meaningful effort, but the downside is, like the plymouth game, that one chance went in and this lack of concentration has to be sorted and sorted fast. But perhaps the biggest worry was again the substitutions, too little too late and in the case of Barnard who looked the only player likely to score, why was he taken off, Lambert was clearly still not fit yet and should have gone off, but it was Barnard who made way, despite being the type of player who will scramble you in a late goal when it looks like a goal wont come. Why did we not change formation for that last ten minutes, Orient were on the back foot, why did we not be brave and go 3 at the back, bring on, we could have thrown on Connolly as a third striker, moved Puncheon to the left to accomodate Chamberlain on the right and put Lallana in the hole behind the strikers, but once again no imagination or spark, we have players who are clearly much better than their opponents so why arent they winning League games. It pains me to write this piece, mainly because its exactly what I was writing far too often last term, yet nothing has changed, Im sure some will come back and point out our form in the second half of the season would have got us comfortably in the play offs, but the key two words are play offs, we should be going up automatically. Im sure Saints will start to get it right, however this is another two points dropped and we cant afford much more than this, I am starting to feel that the end to this saga will be tears, if Alan Pardew turns things round and put us in the promotion spots, will it then be only a matter of time till a Championship club or maybe even a struggling Premier side comes calling, the other option is that if we lose at Bristol Rovers and follow that with failure to beat Rochdale that Pardew will be sacked. Neither of those scenarios gives me any pleasure, I want Pardew to do well and win games and take us up, but I dont think this story will have a happy ending. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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