The result says another opening day disaster for Saints, so what went wrong in a game that was turned on it's head in a 12 minute spell of calamity chaos in the second half.

If you read the match stats before the scoreline you would be hard pressed to predict a 3-0 defeat, so what went wrong for Saints.

Firstly the weather did not do any favours, it was awful, driving wind rain and a pitch that the ball skimmed off the surface and was well suited to Burnley's style of play of going long and chasing everything.

Secondly Ralph Hasenhuttl hasn't got many things wrong at Saints so far, but at Burnley he got his line up completely wrong, the back four lacked leadership and just wasn't suited to the game in hand, if the back four lacked leadership then so did the rest of the team with Pierre Emile Hojbjerg strangely on the bench, the nearest thing we have to a leader.

I can understand why we did it tactically, but we lost so much of his inspiration.

The harsh reality though is that we have all known for over two years where the problem has been and it seems that this summer we have again failed to address it, I hope Kevin Danso will be the answer but at 20 he is going to lack the experience that we need to bring in to the centre of defence.

Having said this we didn't play too badly, up till they had scored Burnley had created very little and although we did not look sharp we looked comfortable with the only issues usually being of our own making where we failed to take account for the slippery pitch.

The first goal though saw awful defending, Burnley knocked the ball long and it swirled in the wind with Jannik Vestergaard failing to judge it's flight, but this was still a long way out and it should have been dealt with.

Jack Stephens go goal side of the player, but failed to make any attempt at a tackle on Ashley Barnes, at the other end Burnley's defence were throwing themselves in front of the ball and making last ditch blocking tackles, Stephens did none of this and allowed the player to get a shot in, perhaps Gunn should have done better, but the damage had already been done.

The second goal was just as bad in that Barnes was unmarked at the far post, no one seems to talk at the back, a policy of young players is all very well and good but they need organising.

The third goal saw us lose the ball and leave ourselves exposed at the back, in fairness Gudmundsson finished well.

The lesson we should learn was up on show at the other end, Burnley defended as their lives depended on it even in the final minutes when the game was well won, several players in the centre of our defence don't seem to make tackles, they don't go to ground and block when needed and that is something we need to address.

Of course there are other issues that need looking at, but we know that we can fix them, as an attacking force we did not look like we were firing on all cylinders, but we still created more chances than the home side, the difference was they did not give us a single thing, we gifted them three goals.

Ralph said afterwards that we lost focus for a period, he is right, but that is why we need a leader in the back line that can organise, Gary Cahill would have been a good option there, maybe hasn't got the pace , but he can make sure that others are in a position to cover that.

If I was Ralph Hasenhuttl I would be looking at what I can do there, there must be someone out of contract out there who can fit this bill and therefore we could sign.

Everyone at Burnley saw what the problem was and what needs to be done, i'm sorry to harp on but the solution is not at the club we need to bring someone in.

We are not a bad side so from that viewpoint there is no need to panic, we will win games, but we will also drop points in games like this where we really should have got something from.

This was a bad day at the office, that cannot be denied, but on this showing we learned nothing from what cost us so dearly last season.

Photo: Action Images

Colburn added 17:50 - Aug 12 I think the club had already committed to the buy of Ings. We also had to be quick to obtain Adams or he would have gone elsewhere. I can only imagine that the Djenepo situation was the same as Adams, get him in before someone else does. To play Ralph's style you have to build from the front and have attackers who can all do the high press. So that's why I think we did our signings in that order. It seems we had to offload Austin before we could bring in Danso and I reckon the club thought they would have got rid of a couple more before the end of the window which would have allowed us to bring in a further CB and maybe a big holding cdm. As we are still stuck with Lemina, Carrillo in particular (could name 5 more), we have to wait until January to strengthen those areas further.. I agree with you now Nick about Stephens, fair enough, had plenty of chances.. But Hoedt isn't the answer for me. Danso will be good if you read all of the German sports reports. Looks like we've found a gem, time will tell.

3

kingolaf added 19:30 - Aug 12 Should have signed Cahill, and Wanyama on loan. Gunn is rubbish as well. My grandad could have got closer to the first one.
2

REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 20:26 - Aug 12 Danso is one for the future. Always a lot to learn at CB at 20 years old. I doubt we'll be able to rely on him 100%. Nothing is like the Premiership. So unforgiving. Every mistake pounced upon. Just ask Jack Stephens or Wesley Hoedt. Looks like the season will pan out like this: we'll improve going forward, especially against teams playing out from the back where we can win the ball back in thier half. But we'll keep conceding sloppy, avoidable goals. Keeping our heads above relegation but not comfortable. Can only hope an experienced leader is purchased in Jan. Might cost £40m!

1

KriSaint added 14:40 - Aug 14 I agree in most of the words written, but don´t forget: If Redmond had scored from his brilliant shot just inside the left side of the box at 0-0 this would have been another story. It took a world class save from Pope to keep that shot from ending up in a goal. We would have been 1-0 up at half time, and it would have been a totally different game. Small marginals sometimes. Bad start, but not the end of the world. COYS.

0

KriSaint added 12:20 - Aug 16 How different things may have been if we had been 2-0 up at half time. Che Adams was an inch away from directing the ball into the net in stead of into the side netting early in the first half. and just before half time, Redmond had a superb thunder shut from just inside the box which was supersaved by Pope. Second half? 11 very committed Burnley kick & rush lads got superb conditions from above from which to take the marginals and score 3 goals within 12 minutes, and the game was over. S-h-i-t :( Better luck next time, Saints-

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Derby County Polls