A very disappointing result that saw 70 minutes of dross followed finally by a period of intensity but it was too little too late !
As I predicted in the preview, Mauricio Pellegrino made little change to the team that started against Burnley with Josh Sims in for James Ward Prowse the only change.
Clearly Pellegrino was worried about Saints getting caught on the break and that was to be fair a genuine concern with Stoke sticking to their game plan that involved getting behind the ball and trying to go on the break and they seemed work well and but for some awful finishing from the visitors this result could have been disastrous.
The game only livened up in the final third and Saints should really have won it when a great cross from Nathan Redmond was headed wide by Sofiane Boufal from barely six yards when it looked easier to score.
Sains huffed and puffed in those final 20 minutes or so and although Jack Butland had to make a couple of decent saves to keep his side in the game, it was still a performance from Saints that was pretty much running to the script that most home games this season have run to rigidly.
Many wil blame the failure to play two up front, but I don't think that this is the real problem, even when we had two up top in the final 20 minutes we still didn't get the ball into their area and create chances enough times, most of our chances were shots from outside the area, we just don't get anyone one on one enough, this being the case we could play five up front and still not score, we just don't seem able to create enough chances.
The real problem was that our game play was based on two wingers getting in crosses backed up by two overlapping fullbacks, Stoke are a team of giants, we were playing straight into their hands, the end result should be no surprise.
The issue is one of intensity, the game only burst into life when the players upped their intensity and took the game to Stoke in the final third, too often up to then we passed the ball around well but the visitors were happy to let us do that.
Something has to change if we are to avoid relegation, Mauricio Pellegrino seem only to be able to coach us to a certain level, we are not being beaten and that is good, but ultimately we need to win games and we just don't seem able to do that.
There is only one thing left to change and that is the manager !