JOIN Daily Echo Saints reporter Benjy Nurick from St Mary's as he assesses Southampton's damaging 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.

It was a frustratingly familiar tale for Saints as they started well enough but failed to take their chances in a scoreless first half. And once Eberechi Eze gave Palace the lead ten minutes after the restart, Saints offered nothing in retort.

Another meek surrender in another huge game. There were no illusions about the importance of this clash beforehand.

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Four points adrift of safety and with games running out, Saints desperately need wins and with fixtures coming up against Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton, and Liverpool - the first three of those away from home - this felt like the time to get it.

But yet again, Saints failed to step up in the biggest moments. And in this season of failure, that will be what ends up defining them should they go down to the Championship.

So who's to blame for that fragility No doubt the players on the pitch haven't stepped up in the ways required of them - after all this is a team on their third permanent manager of the season.

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The men leading the group - those three managers - can't be absolved of blame either as once against Saints appeared a scared group set up in a scared manner with scared tactics.

Or does the fault lie higher up? With those in charge of the club? Ultimately, as with any crisis, there's more than enough blame to go around.

All that and more is discussed in the video below. 

We want to hear your thoughts - who do you think is at fault for this spate of fragile Saints performances?