Saint86

Haha, yes agreed. I thought our chances were better when i started writing it... and then i just adopted a "i've started so i'll finish" mentality by the end 😂

I thought i'd post this now (in my hubirs before watford crush any slither of a chance)... I wanted to see just what the chances were of a Saints automatic promotion. The answer, i think, is bloody unlikely.... 😄 May be of interest - https://www.worldfootball.net/table_calculator/eng-championship/ So, the following begins with one very large premise / "if" statement... and then continues down that path.... That Premise, or "if" statement, is that Martin is about to morph into the 2nd coming of Guardiola and we somehow manage to win every game.... Then we'd get to 96 points!!! Woop woop!! promotion is on the cards right?!?! Sadly probably not.., although i think almost certainly secure 3rd regardless, which does perhaps give us benefits in the playoff draw? But anyway, in that perfect run in scenario, our rivals for automatics would likely only be Leeds and Leicester. I'm dismissing Ipswich right now for a few reasons (i think they're shitter than the table suggests, am bitter that they got 2 wins against us, and think they'll drop points... there i said it...) But fair play if they can get through some fairly tough fixtures to keep pace with the other 2 as well... Will make the playoff final even sweeter when we send them packing! So then, for what i assume will be the top 2 - how many points will we really need to catch them>>> (For the sake of argument, the following all also include Saints beating Leicester and Leeds). Leicester (Plymouth (a), WBA (a), Saints (h), Preston (a), Blackburn (h). Of note perhaps, is that WBA to Preston is 10day period with 3 reasonably tricky games - and yes, i know our run is worse! Scenarios: Leicester finish above us - very likely (see below) Leicester with an additional loss (lets say WBA away) hit 97points and finish above us - Irrelevant, but may happen i guess. Alternatively, Leicester with two draws 96 points and a significantly better GD - We still aren't catching them... Leicester with one loss and and a draw (you're looking for Preston (A) or Blackburn (H - final day) for that draw mind...) would hit 95points and we could catch them... again, i think this could maybe happen, but very unlikely... Leeds (Blackburn(H), Boro(A), QPR (A) Leeds with an additional loss (lets say Boro away) hit 93points and we can catch them - I can't see this at all. Leeds with an additional draw (lets also say Boro away) hit 95points - Could happen but i still can't really see this. It would also supercharge the last game and make it very hard to get that win at Elland Road (imagine the late night fireworks etc). In this scenario we can catch them and get 2nd though. Yay, party! Leeds win every game bar saints, they hit 96points and finish above us due to their vastly superior goal difference - I see this as a pretty likely outcome for those matches lets be honest. All in all, we have to go on a crazy run with no real evidence that we're capable of it, and we need the other teams to do pretty poorly (by their standards this season)... sadly just one set of dropped points out of the boro, ipswich, and blackburn results would have made the difference...

Looks like a sell out tbh. Left it quite late to book tickets and most blocks are down to only a smattering of single seats available. Should be a good atmosphere. Personally think we'll win this one. Dream to be well and truly on, or dashed, vs Leicester i reckon. If we win every game we've got every chance of getting 2nd even now... Although we would need someone like West Brom to beat leciester.

Stranger things have happened. If Ipswich and Leeds (which is possible) continue to fluff their lines then that final game of the season at Elland Road could be seriously intense. If we did somehow manage to win every single game from here on out then it would be a serious achievement.

#WifeyForLifey....

Barbed wire to stop the players from leaving?

Uh huh... right... and how did Koeman's Everton get on in the SPL? 😉 Selles' record at Reading is of note in comparing to Martin's - particularly as they have somewhat similar possession orientated styles. Similarly, Jones' record at Luton in the championship is relevant when comparing to how Martin has performed at Swansea and Saints - albeit with an allowance for their very differing styles 🤷‍♀️.

Technically, if we win every game (and either leeds drop more points or we turn the epic GD around), then we can finish above Leeds... and probably still come 3rd 🤣

2 assists in 2 for Stephens!

We're run by a man who credits himself with Brentford's rise. What's worse is he's one of those guys who can't imagine doing things any differently to what he's done before, and he's prepared to break any system to suit the mould he wants. Saints were functioning well enough when they came in (given the lack of input under Goa), and had started to turn the transfer side of things around once Hassenhuttle and Semmens had full control in the past year or so. Yes we were losing pace with the league, but what do people expect with no investment compared to every other team? SR then came in, undermined the manager and dismantled the coaching setup, completely disrupted the backroom staff across basically the entire club (from the academy and scouting to the business and financial side), and then they spent over £160M reshaping the squad with players that either weren't needed/ready, or didn't fit... and in the middle of all that, they singularly failed to do the most important thing - which was to sign a bloody striker to replace the goals of Ings. How you can spend £160M on a side with a good manager that badly needed investment and it make them worse is beyond me... but thats SRs legacy - relegation. The level of change they oversaw was a clear klaxon that they didn't know what they were doing, and that they were going to break everything to follow their incredibly arrogant and vain view that they were secret geniuses who were smarter than everyone else and who could do something new in football... The grand summation of all that, is that Rasmus Ankerson has taken the club with the 11th highest cumulative prem points total, and turned them into a club shitter than Brentford (when he was there). Russel Martin is just the latest instalment of the man's ego project. And in terms of transfer policy this summer... No decent fullback cover, no depth at CDM, and still needing a proper goalscorer.

Nothing about today was Jack Stephen's fault...

What, like some of our know it all fans did to Hassenhuttle since the first game of last season? 🤣

Better raise our game for Watford or they'll castrate us on the weekend. They've got some serious pace and power in their locker and will be looking at us with knowing full well that even a counter attacking setup should deliver them at least a couple of goals.

The constant exclusion of players like Edozie and Sulemana is baffling, as was the swap out of Alcaraz for Rothwell. The only conclusion i can come to is that the manager actively dislikes flair players that take responsibility for getting us forward, carrying the ball up the pitch, playing good through balls etc. If we can't get through the opposition with short sideways passes its no good... seemingly anyway. And what is worse, is that i am sure every single person on here could see we needed to make attacking changes from about 30min into the game, certainly long before we did in the 2nd half.

The blueprint for how to knock us out of the playoffs has been well and truly drawn up. 17th in the league nearly beat us and made a draw look easy... our form is in freefall. 🤣