A big disappointment for Saints supporters on a weekend when all of our rivals for the top six posted good wins.

The stats said it all 63% possession for Saints and 15 attempts with 6 on target compared with Swansea's 6 shots and 1 on target, but sadly it was that 1 shot that counted.

It would be easy to lay the blame on the fact that Saints have so many out injured, however mot of those players afre defensive rather than offensive and that being the case we could not have dominated possession in midfield any more than we did, we lost because of our failure to break down a resolute defence on enough occasions and when we did a failure to make those chances count, we didnt work the Swansea keeper enough.

But every team has a bd result from time to time and to be blunt its been six weeks since our last one so we were due one coming, we have to chalk this off, learn from experience and prepare for the final months of the season knowing that our squad will only get stronger from now on in.

Did we play badly, no, did we fail to create yes ! but if we had taken one of those chances then we would have won the game againsta Swansea team who came with one aim inmind and that was to park the bus and try and get something on the break.

So there is not muc point in having a post mortem on this display, this season has been about learning from our mistakes and coming back stronger because of that, if we do that again after this game, then it will have been a set back but not terminal.

We March On

Photo: Action Images

BoondockSaint added 14:57 - Feb 2 Could we get one or two players to just practice corners? We have had a lack of quality balls into the box all season. That said, two great stops on the line for them was the game.
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FrankSaint added 15:07 - Feb 2 Agree with every word and as regards learning I can't help think we need to let Elia play closer to Pelle down the middle on the shoulder of the defenders as he did at Newcastle, play balls through the centre at pace without the hesitancy (into the 'red zone' between the D and the centre circle. And let Tadic interchange wings. When Mane came on we started doing this and that is when we got our best chances and it looked like we might break that voodoo spell protecting the Swans' goal.

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A1079 added 15:27 - Feb 2 Agree with your report. We didn't play badly and it wasn't for the want of trying and to be fair to Swansea they did what they had to, which we have done ourselves when needed. But, our crosses into the box were awful and wasteful, whether from corners or from outside the area, nearly every one went straight to their keeper. Add to this our indifferent form when we do have chances. We really have got to improve on our finishing if we want to seriously challenge with the best. But, hopefully it was just one of those days.

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davepid added 15:36 - Feb 2 We have been wasteful in front of goal in many games this season. Pelle, Mame and Tadic have been guilty but for me the biggest culprits are Davis , JWP and to aless extent Long. JWP missed our best chance yesterday when it should have been buried. I hope shooting and clinical finishing are extra sessions in this weeks training for those named above.
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saintmark1976 added 15:40 - Feb 2 I appreciate that what I am about to post will not go down well with the happy clappers.However I will take the chance. As last weekend I thought we were poor yesterday in quite a few areas.In regard to tactics why was Reed taken off? Surely the player to have gone was Tadic who yet again was having an absolute mare of a performance. What is going on with Forster? Am I the only one who thought that he should have saved their goal? Turning to Pelle.To me he spent considerable amounts of time and energy moaning at the other Saints players rather than getting on with the game and once again showed signs of being disinterested. Having said the above I never ever thought we would be in the top four at any point in the season and should, I know be happy.I just feel that complacency is setting in and fear that having not taken our chance in the two cup competitions we are in danger of throwing all the good work away a la MoPo.

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Jesus_02 added 15:46 - Feb 2 We need to at least worry the keeper from distance. We did play well and where unlucky not to break Swansea down (Briton was emense for them). However I think that our lack of ability from distance allowed them to concentrate on defending their area. If either Vic or Morgan where playing the goal would not have been conceded and we may have at least had a threat (all be it a random one!) Personally I though Reed had another great game and if it was about performance Mane should have replaced Tadic ( I think it may have been fatigue more thananything) In short if we had a full squad we would have walked it… we will have a full squad soon :)

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WestSussexSaint added 17:09 - Feb 2 Some of this has been said but to get it off my chest: 1) their goal came from the lack of defensive midfield cover. RoKo gambled by taking Reed off and it backfired. 2) JWP needs to get more clinical in front of goal if he is to play in behind the striker. This is not the first match where all the best chances fell to him and he has yet to score one. 3) Forster should have done better with the goal. It was a decent strike but he got a full hand to it. 4) what game was the ref watching? It was never a red card. Yellow maybe but I hope we appeal that one. 5) Tadic is better on the left. There said it now will move on.

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trampslykeus added 17:15 - Feb 2 I felt that we were undone by the substitution of Harrison Reed by Sadio Mane. From that moment we lost control of midfield and Shelvey started to look good. Tadic should have gone off instead. He was better than most of his recent performances in the first half but his second half was awful. Mind you, we should have scored enough times for it not to matter but tickets & raffles!

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ExiledSupporter added 18:06 - Feb 2 I agree very much with St Mark (aside from his complacency comment) and West Sussex. But I think that our scoring problem has been obvious for quite a while. Pelle is competent enough but turns slowly so needs to be fed the ball with dangerous whipped in crosses from either wing which has recently been less successful. Pelle is also very good at laying off the ball with his back to goal and has to deal with all sorts of poor crosses into the area esp. recently from Tadic and JWP. We really need the likes of Mane and Elia (both of whom look like very promising players) or some more outright striker to support Pelle, to feed off his knock downs or to burst past him into the area to threaten the opposition. At present our corners look innocuous . Since Tadic has lost form we seem to have no ,general, in the attacking midfielders. And finally with the absence of Long we now have no options for Koeman to go to a 4-4-2 formation when required by circumstances. So have to disagree with Saint Nick our forward options are very restricted given the absence of Long, Rodriguez and Gallagher and has been most of the season.

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schatfield added 09:20 - Feb 3 awful game, from which we kept trying to walk it into the net. We deserved to lose to a Swansea side that came with the perfect game plan.
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