The most unpredictable of weeks ended in the most predictable of fashions.

Saints failing to win a game they should of at home, pegged back by a late goal. It didn’t come as that much of a surprise given the way the match against Watford went.

Nobody wants to be melodramatic about these things, but Saints’ form at St Mary’s has officially to be placed in crisis territory now.

Before they play at home again it will be just one league win in a full calendar year at home. That is simply dreadful and cannot be papered over by hard luck stories or words about improvement. This is a long-standing trend, not just about an odd decision here or there.

The deeper problems at the club are also in focus after a headline grabbing week.

The team can still perform well, as they did against Watford, and yet somehow look totally devoid of confidence at the same time.

Mark Hughes is doing his best, and made some effective changes, but almost every team he sends out, no matter how well they do, cannot get themselves over the winning line. It is just one win in 12 this season from a kind start.

The departure of Les Reed has seemingly left the footballing side of the club rudderless. It feels like the right thing in the long term, but it is a decision that surely could have been made at the end of the last campaign. To have waited and act now smacks of a lack of long-term planning and leaves a void.

Add to this an owner whose desires for the club are unknown, and a transfer policy that has cost Saints so dearly that there is all but no money to spend to turn things around in January. Wow.

Another international break arrives for Saints to sweat over. On the other side it is Fulham away before a really tough run.

Things need to turn around quickly to prevent the table looking incredibly distressing come January 3.

Again, it could have been so different.

Saints put in a performance to defeat Watford, but as the nerves set in it felt as if the script was written.

Referee Simon Hooper didn’t really help anybody. His performance was one of the worst seen at Saints in an extremely long time.

Should Watford have had a penalty? Yes, and that might have seen Saints reduced to ten men.

Should Saints have had a goal that was wrongly chalked out for offside? Yes.

If that was it then it would be bad enough, but those major calls merely typified his display.

For all that Saints still should have won. They couldn’t manage the game well enough again and once more paid the price.

While Hooper has taken the brunt of Saints’ ire, there is so much more to this story, and the tone of it has to change very soon.