Saints take on Watford hoping to end a goal drought that the origins of which can be traced back to the final minutes of our visit to Vicarage Road back in March

It has been a solid if not spectacular start but it could have gone either way in all three games, if Swansea, West Ham & Huddersfield had taken their chances then the league table could have looked a lot different today.

That is why Mauricio Pellegrino has to put sentiment out of the window this weekend and put out his best and strongest side, that means that Wesley Hoedt has to come in for his debut, which in turn means that one of of central pairing for the opening games has to go out of the side, assuming of course that he does keep a back four and does not try a back three as he did against Wolves.

We spent £15 million on Hoedt for a reason and that reason is that ultimately the club do not see either Yoshida or Stephens as the answer, tht being the case Mauricio Pellegrino needs to be ruthless, he has to put out the best side to win the game, if Hoedt sits on the bench and we concede a sloppy goal that costs us points then he has not done his job.

If we do put Hoedt in the team I think we have gone a long way to helping solve our goal scoring problem, last season the goals dried up virtually overnight back at the start of March, ironically after we had hit 4 away to Watford and it was this game that changed Claude Puel's way of setting out his team.

Including the game at Vicarage Road we had scored 13 goals in the previous 5 Premier League games, plus 2 at Wembley, we were not struggling to score goals, we did not lack goalscorers, so why did they stop scoring ?

The answer was that we were conceding too many at the other end and Puel was aware of this having nearly seen a 4-1 lead thrown away in the final minutes at Watford.

He knew that we had to protect a weak central defence who were too slow when attacked on the counter, so that meant stopping men getting forward in such numbers when we attacked ourselves, that meant the full backs who had been such a potent force getting down the line, could not bomb forward so much and in the centre of midfield we had to sit and hold rather than commit men forward.

So the goals dried up at both ends in the final games of the season, in the final six league games we only scored 2 goals, but we only conceded 3, there was a direct correlation ! in the six games before this we had scored 7 but conceded 10, can you see the pattern ?

As much as our strikers hadn't become bad players overnight, our defenders hadn't suddenly become world class either, there had been a big change in the way we were setting out the team and ultimately it cost Claude Puel his job, in that we didn't become a bad team overnight but we did become a boring one.

Mauricio Pellegrino's problem in his first few matches was that he had the same issues that his predecessor had, if he attacked then he would see the same things happen, as much as attack is the best form of defence, it could be said that defence is the "first" form of attack, in the past few years we have built our attacks on being able to absord the opposition attacking and then hit them swiftly on the counter getting men forward quickly, but to do that you need central defenders who have pace and can handle swift counter attacks.

You also need central defenders who can read the game, stay organised and keep concentration, Puel knew he did not have that and so does Pellegrino after the opening three games.

Pellegrino put the first piece of the jigsaw in place in signing Lemina to get control of the centre of midfield again, in signing Hoedt he has replaced Fonte and put another piece in place, the final one will be the return of Van Dijk, albeit temporarily if the media is to be believed.

That will give us a strong spine to the team again, it means that we can stay strong and resist counter attacks, which in turn will enable us to commit men forward and this will lead to our central striker not becoming isolated as he did so much at the end of last season as he will have much more support in and around the box, not to mention that Soares and Bertrand will be able to get down the line and overlap.

So sentiment has to go out of the window, Mauricio Pellegrino has to show he is a pro active manager and not a reactive one, that he can deal with a problem before it costs us dearly.

Photo: Action Images

helpineedsomebody added 11:06 - Sep 8 simple get the 2 central midfielders to beat the defensive line that makes space then just pass the ball forwards . you see the top 6 teams try to do this . but sadley with this new manager plus black as 1st team coach we play yo-yo football attacking sideways instead off passing the ball forwards
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LondonSaint added 11:40 - Sep 8 I really hope you're right - I would love to see one (or two) changes at the back unshackle the forwards and get some goals from open-play on a consistent basis, however I worry more about a) the quality of the chances created, b) the number of off-target shots and c) the poor conversion rate of good chances... I just don't know whether swapping players at the back will help that. Pellegrino now has to earn his salary and coach his way out of this which is something I'm looking forward to seeing!

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saintsnutcase added 11:51 - Sep 8 Yoshida and Stephens are not the players that are missing the chances at the other end of the field. Something has gone badly wrong in the attacking third.
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JGH added 12:01 - Sep 8 Hope you're right.
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Saintsfc added 12:02 - Sep 8 100%. Football is, 11 v 11. The people blaming the forwards don't understand football. Very very few footballers can just pick up a ball 50 yards out from nothing and create a goal. Solid players in every position allows further opportunities and different scenarios to arise.. Wesley and vvd back in the side, I'm expecting an exciting season for saints
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saintpp added 12:04 - Sep 8 MP so far has been picking teams with the idea defence is the best form of defence.Playing 3 non scoring mf players wont produce goals esp with the ridiculous notion of playing Barn Door Davis as the most forward of the 3! Davis should be dropped just used as cover for Lemina and Romue and bring a more creative player especially at home and against lesser teams. I hope Hoedt starts maybe in place of Yoshi if he is tired after all his overseas games..

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Number_58 added 12:08 - Sep 8 Brilliant, you're still trundling out that rubbish about our lack of goals being down to JS and MY. I guess all the penalty misses last season were down to them eh? And every time we missed an open goal or the ball was blazed wildly over the bar, that was their fault too? JWP's endless stream of near misses from free kicks? Austin and Gabbiadini's injuries... caused by our centre backs? Shane Long's offside? Failure to sign a creative midfielder to supply the passes to the forwards, yes, that was their fault too. How did we ever stay up with those two carthorses in the team?

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aceofthebase added 12:15 - Sep 8 Number 58 I think you were being a trifle kind to Nick. He watches a different game to some of us and therefore draws different conclusions. If this wasn't his blog pages I would drop him down to at least Championship level, but I guess we wouldn't get many bids for him. Love you really Nick!
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Saintsfc added 12:16 - Sep 8 Number 58 hahaha this is all in reference to longevity.. If you think a sold FOOTBALL TEAM (eg 11 players) should be relying on pens and free kicks I don't even know what to reply to that.. Remember your comments in 6 months, that's all I can say. We have got the exact same forwards but different central defenders, have and open mind and they way you look at football will be forever changed

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LoisDeem added 12:25 - Sep 8 Agree with saintsfc up to a point, but whilst it is about 11 over 90 -it's also about either shoe horning the 11 or getting the best out of the whole squad over 95 or whatever. So whilst it's not exactly chess, we have to appreciate the manager's position and factor in individual poor form or injury too. Whilst everyone wants 'shape' we must rid ourselves of this mindset, especially given that we have intelligent and gifted individuals. For instance, Ryan and Nathan were getting good reviews for their 'partnership' last season, anyone else think that whilst this can work, they do seem to be getting in each other's way lately, so I can envisage a couple of other options were we to go from a 2 to 3. Mario helps to get the ball up more directly too, so this should provide another missing dimension. Simplified though, it's still make and take your goals, boys -starting Saturday!

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SaintNick added 13:02 - Sep 8 Number 58, You are reading the article through blinkers, I am not blaming Yoshida or Stephens as individuals, I am stating as to why we had to change our style which in turn led to a lack of goals, I have backed up my theory by pointing out the results , you point out our penalty misses, but what about the teams that missed against us late in the season Bournemouth and Liverpool for instance, that evens it up a little and it could have made the league table look a lot worse. Perhaps I do see the game differently than some of you, thats football and its all about opinions, I have given mine and backed it up by statistics and facts as to why i think we stopped scoring. I have not called them cart horses, I have merely pointed out that I feel they are not the standard we need if we are to stay in the top 10, nothing personal against them, but if we had had any combination of our central defenders from the previous three seasons playing at Wembley then Ibramobvic would not have had a three header to win them the game. I applaud Yoshida and Stephens for their effort for their service to the club , but the fact still remains they are not good enough to be first choice at any other Premier League club let alone ours, tell me why Im wrong about that !

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Saintsfc added 13:03 - Sep 8 Loisdeem nice comment.. The point I was trying to make is only in reference to people blaming the forwards, the way I'm reading certain comments suggests we have so many layers and dimensions and are creating a vast array of different opportunities and they are being squandered.. If that is true, our transfer window has been worse than barca, chelsea arsenal. It's an easy fix if that's true, one new centre forward job done. Expect we have bought in a holding midfielder a centre back and have successfully reintegrated another centre back. Which suggests what I just said is 100% not true. And these additions should now add those extra layers and dimensions to our play. COYR

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Number_58 added 13:14 - Sep 8 What stats would they be Nick? Presumably you were in Israel, Milan and Prague? Did we not have the world's most highly sought-after defender playing in all those games, yet how many goals did we score? Those stats suggest that the choice of CBs had nothing to do with the goal drought, it was more to do with negative tactics, a lack of a midfield playmaker and some very poor finishing. Perhaps in the league match at Liverpool I can agree that we sat very deep to protect our defence (as the majority of away teams do at Anfield), but to blame JS and MY in all the other games is just nonsense.

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saintmark1976 added 13:39 - Sep 8 Nothing personal Nick but I think you should give up the site and become a politician such is your ability to create spin in regard to JS and MY. Do you really believe what you write concerning our recent inability to score goals or do you say it just to create controversy, therefore getting more "clicks" on the ugly?
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BoondockSaint added 13:43 - Sep 8 How can you blame the defenders? They have been doing their job, it's the forwards and midfielders. Nick if you want to look at stats, look at our conversion rate of chances/shots on target/goals -it's dreadful. You can only blame the defenders if they are the ones taking the shot. Since Les wouldn't by the striker we needed, we need to make the forwards and midfielders stay on the practice pitch until they figure out where the goal is.

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SaintNick added 14:25 - Sep 8 Number 58 I was at all three of those games did we put out a full side ? No, so we cannot judge the side's failure to score in those games on their failure to score in others. You need to read what i am saying, it is not blaming the players performances, but the fact we had to change our playing style in order to protect them, you could call that negative tactics if you want, but we did it in a lot more games than just Liverpool away . Quick question if Van Dijk had not demanded to leave and was fit and we had signed Hoedt before the start of the season, do you think those two would now be in the team or we would still have MY & JS, ? Mark, no controversy here, just based on what I see we have had to protect them and cant commit men forward, you will see that change with Hoedt and VVD back plus the addition of Lemina in midfield

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redandwhitedee added 15:49 - Sep 8 saintnick .. count how many clean sheets JS and MY have had since January (mid way through the Leicester game i believe).. that is your answer to why they ARE good enough. Strikers get judged on goals, CB's get judged on clean sheets. Then look at VVD and Fonte's record.
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aceofthebase added 15:51 - Sep 8 Glad to see that Hoedt has slotted into the saints way and is now the first name down on the team sheet, well Nicks anyway
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IWOZTHERE added 20:13 - Sep 8 The article could have come from a club rep. OK it has some mileage, but 'we didn't sign an attacker, so we'll justify it'? Obviously the plan isn't to score goals from open play, but we'll be brilliant with half a dozen tall C/B's up for corners,
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saintpete01 added 21:27 - Sep 8 CHILL NICK
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warrens76 added 10:01 - Sep 9 The proof of the pudding will be if Lemina and or Hoedt can push the game up the field, if they do and we still do not score the problems will at least be TOTALLY evident...at present the forward, note the singular. is handicapped by our appalling speed of counter play, Soares and Bertie can solve this if given licence although Redmond and Tadic infuriate by not making the instant telling pass...Berite's frustration at Redmond is evident to all. As with life opinions and views differ, for me the answer will be pretty apparent after 10 games, forced to come off the fence I believe we need an all out ATM with proven goals...as well as the signings that have been made...I believe we have too many similar players which offer nothing to change a match. Like for like substitutions also show the unfortunate potential for more of last years issues.

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