Saints V Sparta Prague The Verdict
This performance was unacceptable, but we only have ourselves to blame.
I have been very supportive of Claude Puel and I remain so, however the blame for this defeat has to be placed very firmly at his door.
I said in the build up to the game that we needed to put out our full strength side or at least something approaching it, but the manager made seven changes and they were not for the better.
The fans in Prague were very angry and to be blunt felt let down by the manager, I was certainly one of them !
The issue was that the back four was makeshift and to be blunt not good enough, Sparta caught us cold early doors and we never recovered, if you have a system that relies on getting full backs forward then you have to have players that can play that system well, to be blunt (again) Martina is not good enough going forward, he had a lot of the ball and plenty of opportunity to use it but did not put one telling ball into the box that asked questions of the Sparta defence.
The stats showed that we had 71% possession, more shots etc etc, but we rarely looked like scoring, some would say we lacked forwards, that wasn't the issue, the issue was we didn't get the ball to the forwards and create opening for them, we could have had Messi, Drogba or anyone that you care to name up front, they would not have scored as they would not have got the ball.
So 2,000 Saints supporters went to Prague and were let down by this team selection, as I said at the beginning I am firmly behind Claude Puel, but he has to take the blame for this one, yes he was let down by his players, but if he had picked at least the base of the side he put out against Liverpool then we would have been tight and organised instead of a team that lacked direction which is understandable given the number of changes.
Luckily this defeat is not terminal, but it is damaging, our fate is completely in our own hands, we keep a clean sheet against Happoel Be'er Sheva we go through simple.
I don't like to say "I told you so" but I did and I was proved right, managers making selection errors is not new, every manager does so, this is not a crime, but if we don't learn from our mistakes then that is a crime, we did not learn from the defeat at Milan and repeated it again in Prague, enough is enough.
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