It was the same old problems that let us down as yet another goal was conceded by giving the opposition a free header in our own penalty area, this is perhaps the single most reason that will send us down.

Saints didn't play badly at the London Stadium for most of the 90 minutes, but that counted for nothing as once again an opponent was left unmarked barely 6 yards out from goal and allowed a completely free header.

There can be no excuse for this, especially this particular goal that came from a free kick a long way out from the goal area, we had plenty of time to make sure that we had every West Ham player marked.

For a moment there seemed to be relief, up went the lineman's flag, then came the usual VAR farce, how simple is it to check a goal, whilst they were checking it, I left my seat, walked to the toilet, went in, came back out, chatted to somebody and got back to my seat, all before the goal was finally after about 4 minutes allowed.

This is killing the game, I am for VAR, but it has to be with the proviso that it is about getting most decisions right, not all of them, this is not cricket where the game is stop start, it is about getting the clear and obvious, not drawing lines and then more lines, I can only surmise that those in charge of doing it are paid by the minute and thus stretch things out.

How many times have we seen this type of goal conceded this season, it was happening under Ralph Hasenhuttl, still went on under Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles does not seem to have improved the situation much.

I have lost count of the number of points that we have dropped this season from a free header from a set piece situation, certainly if we had marked our men on half of those that we conceded we would not be in the bottom 3 at the moment or for that matter at any time in this season.

I have been saying that we need to sign an experienced central defender who can hold a line and organise a defence for 6 years now since Van Dijk & Fonte left in January 2017, yet in those 6 years we have yet to sign one player who has these credentials, despite the fact that there were several such candidates available last summer, notably Ben Mee who joined Brentford for Burnley and has turned them into a tight unit at the back.

If we are relegated then this won't be because of this game, it will have been caused by a failure last summer to sign the Mee or someone like him and lets be blunt it has been blatantly obvious for a long time now.

Caleta-Car & Bednarek didn't have bad games, in the main they defended well, but it was all undone by this one moment, we cannot defend dead ball situations.

Aside from this one moment it was a tense game from both sides, Saints looked comfortable and that was part of the problem, we were too content to sit back and not press forward.

We didn't do that with any great urgency till the final 18 minutes when we brought on Tall Paul Onauchu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Onauchu almost rescued a point in the final minutes when he saw his header crash against the bar, but this was too little too late and we went out in this game with a whimper.

But although we look down we are not out, there are still 6 teams above us within 4 points, there is still time and as long as we have a chance then we have to keep believing and keep fighting.

This Saints side is not a poor one, it is one that lacks a leader in the centre of defence, if we had one then we would have at least 6 extra points this season perhaps more.

In some respects this verdict was hard to write, but in others it wasn't in that I have been writing the same things now for 6 years, I could have cut and pasted verdicts from across that time and just changed the names, it is deja vu, but it really should not be happening for this long without it being dealt with.

Photo: Action Images

DellBoyWally added 17:19 - Apr 3 Joe, true comment except for "wasted thousands on"! More accurately I'd say MILLIONS wasted!!!
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Block8 added 17:23 - Apr 3 I have nothing to add except below is my comment on Nick's post entitled Seems apt ; Selles comfortable if he has to deploy fringe defenders! I don't think any of our CB's are bad but what they are is inconsistent, they are all capable of having a very good game but equally a very bad one. The system we play puts a lot of emphasis on our CB's being alert to counter attacks & we are quite often found wanting if the sitting midfielders are breached. However our biggest problem is free kicks & corners coming into the box, I don't know if its inadequate marking, not going size for size (we leak a lot of goals on the far post) or just lack of concentration? If we can stop that happening we have a chance but whatever we do putting the ball in the net the other end more often is vital! COYR

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AmericanSaint added 19:05 - Apr 3 I think everyone here has made some very valid and accurate points. Like I said weeks ago, our issue is that we don't score goals (and/or enough goals) PERIOD, except for the Tots game. None of the players we bought in Jan have contributed except Alcazar (and why is he on the bench while Moi plays???). We have conceded 12 goals (most in Prem) from set plays/corners with 9 of them putting the other team ahead. I believe we have scored 1 goal from the same. This is unacceptable. After re-watching most of the game, I have concluded that one of our biggest problems is we move the ball to slowly. This slow possession game goes back to RH and is engrained in so many players and we have not broken that mentality. When a team sits back and parks the bus, the only way through is quick passing and movement. We did neither yesterday. So all of the other issues, problems and concerns we may have mean nothing is we can't score and WE CAN'T SCORE. One more weekend like this with all the other teams around us winning, then the gap will be too much and we will be done. Not sure if I can watch our slow spiral down where there is no fight left. So reality is seeping in and we will be in the championship next year.

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Colburn added 19:31 - Apr 3 It's fascinating how different the views can be of what to me was obvious on Sunday, and indeed the entire last 2 years since we were briefly top. The game started with the home side nervy and clearly there for the taking if they faced a hungry, if not desperate side with a plan of attack and the energy to match. But our passing was woeful in the first half, some passes just making their target and a lack of know how in the last third. The first 30 mins had Alcaraz written all over it, had he been on the pitch, as with Sulemana who looked a massive threat. But Selles is another without a clue. Walcott played well v Spurs, as expected, but that aside, he and Elyonoussi are the weak links with the ball, their end product is atrocious, panicky and make the others lose heart. We have lost so many games 1-0 that it's clear that the defence isn't the worst issue we have, we just pick the wrong players from the start. The second half was very different with two of our 3 Jan signings finally coming on, when they should have been on at half time. We deserved a point but we should have had 3 points if the right team had been picked. I would get hold of Potters agent ASAP and get him in now to prepare for bringing us back up from the Championship.

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YosemiteSaint added 02:38 - Apr 4 The new recruits arrived too late to make a difference. It was a desperate attempt by a desperate board. One wonders what these players were promised in joining us! (One of them _could_ have turned out to be the goalscorer we need. But it is a big ask.) Whether we have quality defenders and/or quality strikers seems beside the point now, and it's not really the key to relegation battles. The key is leadership. We haven't got that, so we're as good as sunk. The reality seems to be settling in for the zeitgeist as well. This morning's newswires were flush with fresh transfer rumors of Saints wantaways (and Saints who, if they're smart, _should_ be wanting away).

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landsdownsaint added 08:02 - Apr 4 It’s simple in we haven’t got PL class manager , we are the only perk club that would give Selles or Jones a job & what really amazes me the board got rid of a PL standard manager in Ralph who even he couldn’t make it work & replace him with 2 guys through no fault of their own don’t have what’s required , too stand any chance of rebuilding we need to get rid of Selles & get Potter in now , I think we’d go down with Potter but he’d build & get us back .

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underweststand added 09:18 - Apr 4 All these comments only seem to bear out the stats. that we quote every week. Despite having lost half-a dozen games by 3 goals or more(all against teams in the top 8) , the worse statistic shows that we have failed to score in 12 Prem. games - and only lost by a single goal in 11 of our matches. Every side may expect to concede perhaps one goal a game, but our strike record is disasterou from all concerned. The fact that Prowsey (not a recognised striker) is our top scorer shows the lack of goal power from our "strike force". In those games where we had superior % possession AND more shots ...we still managed to score less that the opposition. Despite all this and the "promise" shown by many of our "new young signings" we still lack experienced players to play alongside them. JWP is always there - every game - but now that he is back Bednarek is still our most experienced CB and Stu Armstrong has been inured so often he can hardly play a full 90 minutes, and Theo Walcott (arguably our best player in recent matches ) was ignored by all and sundry until Selles took over. For all their sweat and aggression both Che Adams and Adam A. have failed on too many occasions and we are left criticising the young Mara who seems to go AWOL and floats in and out of play in every game he plays. We need a striker to get some goalscoring form ....and get it PDQ.

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DPeps added 09:46 - Apr 4 I'd love Potter but that isn't going to happen. He'll go to Leicester or maybe Palace ahead of us
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barry_sanchez added 11:10 - Apr 4 We need far more than a leader and a centreback. We need also a goalscorer, guile and heart.
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saint66 added 22:42 - Apr 4 The players are going through the motion . There is no passion in wearing a Saints shirt or putting on a display for the Saints supporters. I begin to wonder if half the team really know where Southampton is situated in the UK. They obviously do not learn anything on the training ground that enables them to score goals and we do not possess a class midfielder who can direct play or a leader in the pack. The Championship will be swallowing us up soon.

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