JAN Poortvliet has got to find an answer to Saints’ poor home form very quickly.

What has been an issue of concern is quickly becoming a very major problem.

Just one home league win in ten attempts, and against the sides that Saints have faced, is not good enough.

Poortvliet and his players know that but it might need a radical rethink to try and turn this around.

Whether it is a mental problem or a tactical problem is difficult to say but the longer it goes on it’s becoming increasingly impossible to argue it is neither of these things.

From a tactical point of view one school of thought is that the formation Saints play is an excellent counter attacking one, which is why they are so good away from home when the opposition take the game to them.

At St Mary’s where teams look to sit deep and hit Saints on the break, often choosing not to mix it with them in terms of passing football, it doesn’t look so effective.

If it’s a mental problem then it stems from having a young side feeling the pressure.

Whenever they are the underdogs, which is more often than not away from home, they thrive.

When the pressure comes on and they are expected to win it has regularly been a different story.

Poortvliet needs to get to the bottom of the problem and sort it out very soon because Saints won’t survive on the back of away results unless they have a run the likes of which is almost unheard of.

You won’t beat a Reading away every week – and even if you do, it needs to be a bonus result followed up by a home win and not a home draw.

It was hardly a game of many chances, or indeed much excitement, against Plymouth.

In the first half Plymouth offered very little threat to Saints but were happy to sit deep and soak up pressure.

In fairness they weren’t overly worried themselves defensively.

Saints did work the ball quite nicely at times, Bradley Wright-Phillips showing what a couple of goals does to a player being the biggest threat.

Encouragingly he was prepared to run at players down the outside as well as cutting inside.

The main problems came elsewhere as those familiar final ball and final finish in the final third troubles were clearly visible again.

After Saints had come flying out of the traps searching for an early goal on the back of that Reading result, Plymouth created their only decent opening of the first half.

Rory Fallon flicked on to Steve MacLean who held the ball up with his back to goal and laid it into the path of Fallon but his sidefooted shot was straight at Kelvin Davis.

There were plenty of good moments for Saints that should have led to chances but only a few of them did.

Of the ones that did, David McGoldrick saw an effort deflected wide while Wright-Phillips and Morgan Schneiderlin forced Romain Larrieu into saves with efforts from distance.

Adam Lallana’s corner on 39 minutes picked out the head of Jordan Robertson but he headed just over when he should have hit the target.

The same was probably true of McGoldrick who headed wide just before half time after another good run from Wright-Phillips down the left and a ball stood up to the far post.

The second half was a different tale altogether as Plymouth sensed there was a win on offer if they were a little more adventurous.

And with two changes from Paul Sturrock early on they were.

Paul Gallagher, one of those subs, was causing most of the problems, forcing Chris Perry to head over his own bar on 57 minutes before seeing an effort deflected wide moments later.

The other sub, Craig Noone, robbed Lloyd James of the ball in the Saints area on 68 minutes but then put his shot wide.

Marcel Seip had an opening four minutes later after Saints had failed to clear the ball but he headed wide at the far post.

He should have done much better on 77 minutes when heading from a corner but missed the target.

Saints did create one good moment in amongst all that when Lallana picked out the run of McGoldrick.

He was through and rounded Larrieu but Plymouth got back to scramble the shot off the line.

Noone gave Saints a late scare when, with five minutes remaining, he turned inside then out before unleashing a shot that flew just wide of Davis’ near post.

In the end it was another evening of frustration at St Mary’s when so much was expected. Perhaps, just perhaps, that’s exactly the problem.