This was not a good day at the office for Saints, but the performance although not great, we not as bad as the result, poor defending and organisation cost us dearly for the third game in a row in the Championship.

This Verdict is going to sound very similar to the last two League games, poor leadership and poor organisation in defence cost us dearly, with once again an opposition player being left completely unmarked for what turned out to be the winning goal.

Stoke on the other hand were well drilled and well organised and that is why they ground out a result and sit top of the League after the opening 3 games.

Will Still obviously realises that he has a problem in his defence, after all we have not played the same back three in each of the games, after the problems against Wrexham he replaced Ronnie Edwards with Taylor Harwood-Bellis, after the Ipswich game he replaced Joshua Quarshie with Nathan Wood and not only that he shuffled the pack and put Wood in the centre of the three and moved Jack Stephens to the left of the trio.

But sorry to say the same old problems reared their ugly heads.

For the first 54 minutes Saints looked in command, they were controlling the game and although they hadn't scored, we were looking more likely to the best chances of the game had seen Jay Robinson hit the same post twice in the space of 10 seconds in the first half and a Taylor Harwood- Bellis header producing a world class save from the Stoke keeper and after bringing on Damion Downs at the break you hoped perhaps the goals would now come.

But it was Stoke who opened the scoring, it started with a free kick to Saints on the left side, we had plenty of time, but inexplicably we took it quickly and short, giving Stoke time to press, we did not look comfortable and they won the ball back and with our defence all over the place, fired home after Gavin Bazunu had done well to keep the first effort out, we had 5 players marking fresh air.

It looked like it would get worse 10 minutes later Stoke broke with 5 players against our 3, we were again all over the place at the back and a perfect through ball to Mubama seemed to have won them a penalty as he flew through the air with the greatest of ease, however Bazunu had not touched him and luckily for us the referee saw that and booked the Stoke man and it being his second yellow card he went off.

So with Stoke down to 10, surely we could win this one, Flynn Downes should have scored, making a great run but getting his angles all wrong with his header.

Then came the second goal of the game and this again showed how poorly organised we are at the back, Johansson in the Stoke goal caught a cross and spotted that Thomas was all on his own on the half way line, and found him with a long throw, this is totally unacceptable, a professional football team in the second tier of English football all charging forward like a team of 9 year olds. the only man back was Jack Stephens and he was nowhere near Thomas, who ran on and fired home.

Disgraceful, yes the Captain has to shoulder part of the blame here, he was last man back and could see the play in front of him, he should have been pulling someone back to cover, he didn't, but he also had 9 other men on the pitch and they should have been aware about what is going on around them and how we had left ourselves exposed.

Total lack of leadership, if we don't bring in someone in the back line who can control situations then we are going to see this week in week out, as we have done in the opening 3 games.

A few minutes later and we had hope, Taylor Harwood-Bellis shook off his marker and headed home, but although we had our chances, the poor miss from Ross Stewart not counting because the offside flag was up, we never really looked like getting back into it.

So Will Still has a lot of problems to deal with, the main one being the issues at the back which have cost us all 4 goals conceded in this campaign so far, that is a nailed on fact and an unacceptable one, all 4 goals coming from unacceptable defending.

Still has changed personnel in each game as I have mentioned, how is he going to change it for the trip to Watford next week ? perhaps be could bring in Ben Mee, who after leaving Brentford is a free agent, if we had done that 3 years ago, perhaps our history might be a little different.

I have been pointing this out for a long time now, but you cannot have a back four or three or whatever without an organiser and a leader, the problem is obvious, perhaps the answer isn't as no one at the club has shown that they are that man.

But that is only one problem, at the other end our issue is creating and converting chances, we had 18 attempts at goal, but only 2 on target, Stoke had 12 with 4 on target, although 2 of those were in the 2nd goal debacle.

We need to start finishing our chances, at the moment we are snatching at them, but hopefully this will improve.

As I said at the start the performance was not as bad as the result, for most of the game we were in command and could easily have been 2-0 up before Stoke scored, however we weren't and once again found ourselves playing catch up, this time we didn't have a get out of jail card.

So how did we lose this one, we all know the answer to that question, we now look to see if Will Still deals with the situation, he clearly isn't happy with his back 3, as I said he has changed it each week to try and rectify the problem, he has to bring a fresh face in, a leader, an organiser and yes I am getting as sick as writing this week in week out, year in year out as you are reading it.

You will have read this next sentence many time as well, "Do the same things and get the same results" that is self explanatory, I don not want to be writing the same Verdict week in week out.

Having said all this, we need to evolve not panic, we have a good squad in Championship terms, the sale of Tyler Dibling will give us money, we need to spend it and spend it well.

There is a long way to go in this season, the transfer uncertainties are not helping us, but we are hanging on in there, when things improve we can move up the League.

Will Still is an unknown quantity, we will soon find out if our trust in him is well founded.

All Photos Via Reuters

TripleNiemi added 09:35 - Aug 25 This line is key for me: Quote “ Having said all this, we need to evolve not panic, we have a good squad in Championship terms, the sale of Tyler Dibling will give us money, we need to spend it and spend it well. End Quote. We need quality ‘now’, not a Sport Republic ‘for the future’……
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WestSussexSaint added 09:51 - Aug 25 Just a couple of observations 1) we desperately need a striker that can put the ball in the net. It’s telling that the 4 league goals scored so far , 3 have come from defenders. We are creating chances but we need someone to put them away. 2) What has happened to our ability to tackle. It seemed like Stoke had the freedom to ghost passed players at will. Each time the ball was played into their attackers they were given time to collect, turn and play forward in tight situations with our players (possibly with exception of Wood who I thought had a good game) not willing to get stuck in.

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SaintPaulVW added 10:11 - Aug 25 Sure poor defending but if 2 strikers get the ball a yard out and both fail to hit the target, I think that should be highlighted too. I also think Bazunu could have done a bit better with the second goal. Agree that the three man CB set up isn't working. I seem to recall Ralph also tried this but gave it up to put a better player on instead of another mediocre defender and we looked better for it.

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saintmark1976 added 10:25 - Aug 25 Firstly all credit to Stoke, they came with a plan (and an experienced Championship manager) and stuck to it together with playing twenty odd minutes with ten men. The game changed when Flynn Downes gave the ball away for their first goal and then missed the chance of equalising when he missed an absolute sitter at the other end. Having said that it’s obvious that our main problem is Sports Republic have assembled at great cost, a collection ( Stewart, Breerton Diaz, Archer and Downs) of supposed forwards who simply can’t score goals. Armstrong appears to be pasts his best and Robinson is still learning his trade. Yes,any defence will on occasions ship goals but if your forwards can’t put the ball in the net at the other end you are always going to struggle. The question now is will Sports Republic actually buy a proper striker before the current window closes ? If they don’t the best we can hope for is mid table mediocrity.

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Boris1977 added 10:44 - Aug 25 Bazuna looks much sharper this season but the second goal was a specialty of his - shots across him were something he often conceded from. The CB and striker issues have not been addressed for 5 seasons so can't see how they will now. Money in the bank doesn't get results on the pitch.
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Bawdrip added 11:01 - Aug 25 Not a bad game but very frustrating with some awful defending and misses galore upfront. Stoke were much more composed and organised though didn't like their blatant time wasting and disruptions as the game went on. Referee was inconsistent but good to be brave in his decision re the sending off. Wood played OK but far too many errors to give confidence. Far too many sloppy short passes all over the pitch. Fernandez started really well but faded and Downes looked lost at times. The forwards look good on paper but not on the pitch! The crowd were great again and really tried to lift the team. Not sure where we go from here.

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BigbadBarry8myboat added 11:35 - Aug 25 Hit the nail on the head. You should always start from a solid defence but we do not have that. Jack Stephens was given an extension because of his leadership qualities but after being ever present it shows he has none. The last time we were in the Championship our best defensive record was without Stephens available. While I accept our strikers are failing, even the best teams can't consistently score their way out of being behind because we can't organise our defence. Look at Wrexham this is why they brought in Conor Coady. Ben Mee, Craig Dawson, Daniel Smarty are out of contract,get one of them. All leaders, although older can organise and that's what we need. Add a striker to that and we have a good foundation.

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wibbersda added 11:45 - Aug 25 Why does AA always snatch at shots? You would think that any striker would learn to compose themselves in front of goal. You have every striker trying to prove themselves with desperate outcomes. Even if SR bought a proven striker, which they won't, they will end up cursed like the rest.
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Monksway added 12:14 - Aug 25 Difficult and important week for Saints. So many issues appear to need addressing. I'm hoping that Still will eventually settle on a back four and move us on from the RM legacy. Up front, there are plenty of past Championship goals but will Diaz, Armstrong, Stewart or Archer ever find that form again - at the moment it doesn't look like it. To be fair this period was always going to be chaos and Leicester and Ipswich are similarly struggling. Not much change at teams like Stoke and Preston has meant they have got the ground running. Really hope that despite the financial challenges Will Still has a sensible sized squad after September that can be moulded into an effective team before he runs out of time.

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IanRC added 12:17 - Aug 25 Utterly pathetic display, with the exceptions of Wood, THB and Robinson, even Fernandes had an off day - perhaps a response to selling Dibling ?. When will our manager realise that Stephens is just not up to it. He should have pushed their striker out wide for the second but just let him cruise towards goal. I did not see their first goal but I gather Flynn Downes was largely to blame. Completely agree with saintmark1976 that we have a collection of forwards who cannot hit a barn door. Was really hopeful about Stewart but, whilst it may not have counted if offside, he still missed the target from inside the six yard box. Really dispiriting day.

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Colburn added 12:58 - Aug 25 In 4 games Will Still has merely shown me that he is another manager who hasn’t a clue what he’s doing. As such he takes the negative defensive route. Playing 5 at the back and 2 holding midfielders at home against Wrexham and Stoke is the problem. 3 attackers in a 5 foot 5 guy who wasn’t good enough for West Brom, an 18 year old and a guy who isn’t really an attacker and doesn’t want to be here. This is why our season has begun so poorly and the high energy and the other hull that Still has come out with is impossible with the line up he puts out. Another who refuses to see that 3 centre backs doesn’t work and invites pressure on the defence and defensive midfielders so we’re left with the likes of Downes to try to receive on the half turn and become Pirlo. You have always slated my idea of having Lampsrd as manager and the difference is easy to see. We will never hit 7 at home or 5 on the road with this bottler, we should, yet again, have gone for Lampard, he was keen, our owners and recruiters are morons. They have had all summer to sort out the crap and we’ve done nothing. How many new signings started on Saturday? Zero This club is going the wrong way again because they don’t know how to recruit players or managers, now we have another with zero experience of the league he’s managing in.. Total jokeshop, 3 attackers on the pitch will get us fighting relegation not promotion.

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kingolaf added 13:09 - Aug 25 If we had the Stoke keeper, who is available by the way, we would have won that game.
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Colburn added 13:30 - Aug 25 Spot on KingOlaf. Our recruiters are pathetic. Still handed the 2 points to Stoke, not the players. He should be taking the responsibility. We only came back against Wrexham because we ditched the stupid system we are starting with and Ipswich are a poor side who hadn’t replaced their stars lost, we still had ours. They were there for the taking and we scraped a draw. I was so excited and enthused by Still’s words but he and the board have displayed naivety and a sense that they don’t learn from their lessons or indeed other people’s lessons. After last year, I’m almost done with SR already, a day and a half off work as holiday to go to Sheffield in 4 weeks is now looking questionable. They need to get this Dibling mess sorted quickly now after wasting 2 weeks so we can actually get some attackers in who can do the business. We need about 4 judging by what we’ve seen this month.

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sandywelsh added 13:43 - Aug 25 Will Still needs to go a back four against Watford by dropping Jack Stephens. Up front I would play Stewart and Archer dropping Armstrong. Downs should be nowhere near the team sheet.
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codge added 14:00 - Aug 25 So Nick your sick of writing about the same thing each week well believe me so are we sick of it too.
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BroughtonJim added 15:16 - Aug 25 Is 3 at the back a boardroom decision rather than a dressing room decision.? We are now into our fourth successive manager who persists with this lunacy of a formation. It simply doesn't work on any level, especially given that none of our players look at all in control or comfortable playing this way. Last seasons problems still persist with our defenders unable to stop the goals going in and the forwards fluffing their lines, however they are getting into positions to miss these chances Was Cap'n Jack's contract extension granted by another pound sign boardroom decision in the hope that if RM came calling, that he would be worth more.? I hope that bringing in the "Mads-Man" at right back will force us to change to a better formation for everyone, as he looked sharp when brought on.

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Bowlercow added 18:28 - Aug 25 Still has already said that when he gets the right players he will use a 4>2>3>1 formation The usual suspects are already questioning his appointment For goodness sake after 4 games Really I want to see how Leeds and Sunderland fare this year having had more time in the lower level to build a team Since SR took over in Jan 23 we are now on our seventh manager Surely now is the time for a bit of stability and team building Let's see what squad we have next Tuesday and support them unconditionally from then

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