Saints started off as they finished last season by dominating away from home, but they also showed that some of the old problems still remain, conceding a goal where we failed to do the basics.

When we restarted the season at Norwich City, the winning scoreline didn't tell the story of how poor marking had almost seen us two goals down before we had barely started, then when our defence left a player completely unmarked they failed to score, but at Selhurst Park there was no such let off for Saints.

Virtually every defeat last season saw me report on soft goals conceded costing us dearly, I was getting fed up with writing the story, people told me I was like a broken record, but it is not my fault and once again I.m starting where I left off and I'm sick of it.

The answer is simple, we need a leader at the back, someone who organises, how does a so called Premier League defence just leave someone totally unmarked like this, we had no one even close to Zaha.

Once again we are caught on the break and at sixes and sevens, Mohamed Salisu will improve things, but the truth is that he does not have the experience, it is fine pursuing a transfer strategy of getting in youngsters, but someone needs to lead them on the pitch.

Palace having took the lead were not going to give it away easily, they were organised at the back, they made it hard for us and gave us no gifts, if we are to have a good season we need to be able to keep clean sheets and grind out results.

Otherwise we looked quite good, we dominated possession, 71% to be exact, we had 9 chances compared to the home sides 3 and we had 5 of those on target and in doing so made Guaita in the home goal the man of the match, whereas Alex McCarthy had little to do apart from pick the ball out of the net.

But at the final whistle only one stat mattered and it was Palace who had it !

Last season I spent every preview saying that we always gift chances, it is only a question if these errors are punished or not, this was a day they where.

Ralph Hasenhuttl will be frustrated at yet another error, but he needs to do something about it or else this season is going to be like that each game is a lottery as to whether we get away with it or not.

I haven't pointed the finger at any individual here, I leave that to you to watch the footage and decide, the issue though is not just about poor marking it is about organisation, the good central defensive partnerships we have had in the past have had a contrast, a strong partner and another one that can read the game and hold the back line.

Someone who can make sure that everyone is in place and doing their jobs, when Palace broke we were all at sea, several players were not where they should have been , but that is down to communication and talking, Jose Fonte had that for Saints and we need someone like that again and we need it fast, we are approaching the 4th year of poor defending in the centre of defence,

I have been accused of being harsh on Jack Stephens at times, I don't think I have been, but he like others around him needs a leader alongside him, perhaps he could be a decent player, Jan Bednarek likewise or for that matter Jannik Vestergaard , none of our central defenders are achieving their potential and will not do so unless we have a leader, a communicator and someone who can organise.

Broken record ? Yes but that is't my fault !

Photo: Action Images

redandwhitedee added 21:49 - Sep 13 You are actually insane now. How you can turn that truly abysmal performance by all our attacking players into a let’s blame Jack Stephens again report. Incredible Yawn yawn yawn
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underweststand added 22:08 - Sep 13 Aside from all the comments above - on which most of us seem to agree.. it's refreshing to go into next weekends game seeing that we are above Spurs in the table -- even if it is only alphabetically ....
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Boris1977 added 14:30 - Sep 14 Win some lose some - same old Saints opening day nerves. It would be nice to have an £80 million world class play maker who would sign for us and stay forever but we'll have to stick to the tried and tested method of clicking as a team and becoming more than the sum of our parts. Please, lets not start getting suicidal after a single 1-0 loss. If we are where we are currently in the table in March then sure - start worrying. But talk of next game as being massive is premiership hyperbole.

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Peterx added 18:23 - Sep 14 Would have rather started the match with the hard work of Long replacing the hard work of Armstrong and made that work with Adams and Ings with Ings probably the one to drop deeper. Once Palace scored first we could have done with the creativity of a Boufal to bring off the bench. Also cant believe we don't have a role for Elynoussi. Smallbone does have a role in the future for sure but surely Elynoussi would have been a better bet right now.

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kristianJ added 21:27 - Sep 14 The midfielders were at fault for the goal, rather than the CBS. Certainly can’t fault JS who had to mark two men. I thought we played ok but were a bit flat in the 1st half after conceding. Sometimes you have to credit the opposition, Palace were very well organised and were tough to break down once they got ahead. I thought Redmond had a poor game, but that some of the criticism of Smallbone is unfair, he can pick a quick pass and looks a decent prospect to me.

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deanosfc8 added 12:38 - Sep 15 am timing the '9-0 mention' on commentaries - 39 seconds from kick off on BT Sport... Ian Dark is a skate. I'm surprised it took him 39 sec....
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