Saints V Chelsea The Verdict Monday, 7th Oct 2019 08:53 Sadly I am going to say the same old things about the same old problems that once again have ended up with defeat. Saints started this game brightly with Nathan Redmond hitting a dipping shot only inches over the bar with barely a minute gone, but from there it went all downhill and once again we were the architects of our own downfall with a defence that has no organisation or leadership and gifts chances to the opposition that a team like Chelsea won't turn down. Up to the opening goal we looked fine, but then came the first gift, a through ball put Abraham through and with Yoshida never likely to get a challenge in out came Gunn who himself was never going to get their first either, Yoshida made a valiant effort to keep the Chelsea man's lob out but it was a good foot over the line as TV replays showed. Then it was two, a signature piece of Saints defending, plenty of men around but no one knowing who they should be marking and we were carved open again with a fine finish leaving Gunn no chance. A brief respite when a great run from Valery saw Danny Ings stab the ball home, but the two goal cushion was restored when again our defence stood off and let Chelsea shoot from range, the shot would have been saved by Gunn but took a deflection and sent the ball in completely the opposite direction, leaving the keeper no chance. Danny Ings almost cut the lead again, he beat the keeper but it was cleared off the line with a sliding tackle, you had to ask then would our defenders have had the reading of the game to do that. The second half was a lot better in that Saints competed, but they huffed and puffed in vain and with the damage done although a goal could have brought us back in it, we rarely looked like getting it. Ironically the 4th Chelsea goal in the last minute highlighted the lack of leadership we have one the pitch, a minute earlier Valery had pulled a hamstring, he signalled to the bench, in fairness he should have gone down, but he clearly signalled he was injured, no one responded, not even his team mates and with the game continuing he had no choice but to keep going, Chelsea seemed to see he was crocked and targeted that side and carved us open to gift Batshuayi an easy finish. The problem for Ralph Hasenhuttl is he is picking the same players in defence who are bringing the same results, he has tried every option but so far all have failed him, not once but constantly. The only option he hasn't tried is the very man he signed to play in that central defensive position Kevin Danso, the Austrian player must wonder why his countryman signed him he has played him only three times, all of those games out of position as a wideman. That is not his game, he is big strong and has pace, surely this game was the game that was needed in the centre of our defence, yet we didn't try him, even when we were being torn apart at the back and 3-1 down we didn't make a change and instead took the attacking option that we could outscore Chelsea to get back into the game. I have been banging on about this for nearly three years now, there is no excuse why we have not signed the leader that we desperately need, Danso would only be plugging a gap or two, he is too young and inexperienced to be that organiser and leader that we have lacked since Jose Fonte decided he was Billy Big Boots and threw his toys out of the pram. This season will be one where we win some games as we did at Sheffield United because we get lucky, the question is will we get lucky more times than we get punished as we did on Sunday against Chelsea. I'm sorry if you feel that you feel that you are reading this yet again, I'm hacked off at writing it time and time again, so much so that people think I have something against certain players, that is far from the truth, but the real truth is that those players are not good enough, they try hard, but ultimately they are not good enough and are part of the problem not part of the solution. Ralph Hasenhuttl is a good manager, but good managers make mistakes and have bad periods, now he has to get us through this and to do that he has to do something different with our central defence, he has enough in other areas, it is just this one problem that really should have been sorted in the summer, that was not Ralph's fault, but Danso sitting on the bench was and he has to find out if Danso himself is part of the problem or is indeed at least part of the solution. Good teams are built on good central defenders, if you don't concede easily you put pressure on the opposition, but if you leak goals then you put pressure on your own team. The good news is we are still not in the bottom three and in our opening 8 games we have played four of the Big Six as well as Burnley and Bournemouth who are both in the top 10. We now have a couple of weeks to regroup and get people fit and firing on all cylinders, then we have to try and get it right at the back, the next two games are crucial we have to get something from them, otherwise it could be a long winter again. Things are not a crisis yet, we know what the issues are and what we can do to rectify them, we have options including the January transfer window, we have to get there first though in a good position so we can build going forward and not fire fight as we have done the last couple of years. 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