Professor

Guly preferred to Cork against Portsmouth; Butterfield preferred to Richardson for the last few games. Adkins' selections are limited by the squad and sometimes by injuries but he hasn't always picked the same 11 when the same players are available. He has obviously been doing hsi best but the team has lost 3 of the last 6 games while winning only 2, so lets not pretend they are invincible. If we get past Coventry, as we surely will, there will have to be serious thought about who in the squad is capable for the Prem, but even if we were facing another year in the NpC recent performances suggest changes would be needed anyway.

Come the last game of the season and the best 11 does not pick itself as can be seen by debate over Cork/Hammond; Butterfield/Richardson; Guly; Chaplow; SDR. The fact that there is this uncertainty amongst fans is probably an indication of where the weaknesses have shown up leading to some of the disappointing results in the last couple of months. Fortunately this last game is against a weak team because if it had been against the likes of Cardiff, Blackpool or even Leicester, we would be really worried about the team selection. As it is, we should see Coventry off without too much problem, almost regardless of who starts, but there are some hard decisions to be taken once promotion is settled.

Reading posts isn't compulsory you know and there is an ignore facility if you can't control yourself but one thing to learn in life is that other people have different opinions and are as entitled to them as you are to yours.

Its too late to do much about Saturday's game. Adkins can only pick from the squad he has, and although 3 defeats in the last 6 games doesn't look too good, they have been against sides significantlky stronger than Coventry. So this has to be broadly the same settled side that has been almost picking itself, that does have some weaknesses such as RMF, CB, FB but it is still in a different class to Saturday's opposition. Much as Wet Spam make noises off, the fact is that this is our Play-Off Cup Final only we aren't playing a top-six team, or on a neutral ground, so we have every advantage. So, its too late to do much about Saturday's game except to play it but looking at the two teams and playing at St Mary's anything other than a clear win is just not conceiveable.

The dream scenario - We are 2 goals up against Coventry at half-time and score again early in the second half to win 3 - 0. West Ham's result is immaterial. The nightmare scenario - Five minutes to go, we are 2-1 up against Coventry, whilst West ham are 3-0 up against Hull. On the live table we are 2 points clear in 2nd place. Then Coventry score, resulting in a 2-2 draw, whilst West Ham score to win 4-0. Outcome West Ham go second on GD by 1 goal. Too many nightmares over the years as a Saints fan not to believe the worst could happen but surely, surely, it won't! It won't, will it?

The suggestion that had Oxlade Chamberlain remained here, we would have been stronger and would probably have secured promotion with games in hand seems a fair assessment but it was a decision of the club not to re-invest the transfer fee in a powerful replacement and instead to keep the bulk of the money in the bank. SDR, who was probably intended to be the regular RW proved to be no more than a squad player who could not nail the position down as his own. When Nigel Adkins was quoted as saying, "so near and yet so far", perhaps he was regretting some decisions that were not taken in the transfer windows. As it is, promotion is still highly probable, either by WHU failing to win at Leicester or by Saints getting the point or points needed at St Mary's next Saturday, but hopefully lessons will have been learned about having too much faith in some players who are good but not quite good enough. Next season we could be up against established internationals costing £20m or £30m and somehow Cortese and Adkins have got to find a way of competing at that level.

We also had a boost knowing that a win would mean promotion, and possibly the title, but if you can only get promoted by playing against teams that have nothing to play for themselves, you have to ask if it would be deserved.

Of course we haven't 'over achieved'. That is a really silly phrase to use. If the team had not won as many games as it did in August, it would have been necessary to change the squad before the window closed, and again in January, although a case can be made to say we have under-achieved since December and that other strengthening should have taken place in January, not just the two strikers, in order to improve a couple of the cracks that were beginning to show. There is no disgrace in failing to win at Middlesborough, they have been a strong team this season, but relegated Doncaster got a draw there, so we should have done at least the same, and its no use blaming the ref for making us play 11 against 11. The real failings that have lost us the title are some of those other games where points should not have been dropped, such as Bristol City, Doncaster, Portsmouth, and Ipswich.

My BHA supporting friends are very disapointed in CMS. I'd have been quite happy if we had signed him last August as he looked so good at Posh. Maybe he would have done better here than he has at Brighton, but its not as if he's been playing in a really poor team since Brighton have scored over 50 goals. Its just that not many of them by have been by Craig. A good one to have avoided.

So glad that someone came up with the 'lets not rush things' option but I think it very unlikely that Nigel Adkins is not planning for the future. The one game at a time statement might be OK for public consumption but any manager who did not plan for all eventualities and did not look ahead would not be doing his job. As far as signings are concerned if you want maximum choice you have to be early through the door. Its as simple as that.

What signings should Saints make during the summer? How soon should the club start looking? Do we already have a list of possibles? Just in case anyone thinks that's a bit premature, Reading's prospective new owner claims that Reading have been scouting for Prem players for the past 3 weeks and that they do have a list of targets. That suggests they were thinking about next season well before promotion was certain for them when there were still about 8 games to go and they were only 2 points ahead of West Ham. It suggests that the one game at a time philosophy may not be the approach at Reading. They have performed better than we have over the last 3 months, doing us for 3 - 1 at home on the way but given the attention they are getting, it would be very nice if they lose at Birmingham and we pip them for the title! It does look as if complacency is not in Reading's forward plan and I don't think anyone would accuse Cortese of complacency so what do we expect to happen to our squad in the close season? Will there be a well-earned rest after which the club will see who's still available in July, or will we hit the ground running? Or maybe there will be loyalty to the players who won promotion with only minimal changes unless or until we start losing games. Will there be a major clear out of fringe players and one or two who are creeping over the hill? Who wants to see us hit the ground running and who thinks we can wait until August?

So are we all agreed? Promotion is not mathematically certain yet but will become certain if we win at Middlesborough. A draw on Saturday does not make it certain because we could lose our last game against Coventry whilst Wet Spam could win their last two games. If these four results brought about a net GD change of 6 goals in WHU's favour, we would finish 3rd. The title is still achievable if we win our last two games and Reading lose one of theirs. One other thought - Regardless of what Reading do on Saturday, if we win away Middlesborough, the title will depend on the last day results, Saints v Coventry and Brum v Reading. Will the Football League have the Trophy at a hotel near Oxford and a fast car to head off north or south as soon as the outcome looks certain? Or will there be a replica trophy at both grounds?

Bye, bye, Brighton. We were just passing by. "The booing is not acceptable, I would like to tell them not to come if they don't like it, if they don't like the way we play, stay at home," said the Seagulls boss. "There's something wrong in this football club...."

Boro have drawn at home to the bottom club, Doncaster, so it really does look as if promotion will be confirmed in the NE!

Billy so proving his worth.

OMG. I hadn't seen that interview. You get the impression that the men in white coats are just out of camera shot.

My Brighton supporting pals are hugely embarrassed by the WHU result and are saying it suggests their team is far more fragile than they realised. They are saying that this has been coming with some poor results paving the way over the last couple of months. I think it also suggests more determination by WHU to get back to the Prem, but it is in our own hands to stop them with the three points we have in hand. There must be total commitment in these last 3 games.

With all due respect there is a need to correct Mr Avenue there, because we did buy two strikers but he can be forgiven for not noticing an immediate impact because one (Lee) had to settle into a completely foreign style of football and the other (Sharp) was not seen by the manager as in contention for a starting place. What we did not buy was any player with an established top level pedigree. Even Chung's international experience is not in a top tier international team. Reading's run since they signed Roberts has been remarkable and WHU already have several players with more Prem experience than any of ours. Of the three clubs, and given our poor performance in Dec, it was Saints who appeared to have the greater need to bring in experience and quality rather than future prospects.

I don't disagree with a lot of that but when things started to go awry in December, if we had only got to top spot by over-achieving, the January window was available to add the extra quality needed to build on that advantage. When you look at what Reading and WHU did in bringing in new players, it does look as if they were more determined to add players who took them up a level than we were. So if we do fail to get promoted it won't be just the final 7 games that will be looked at but also that bad run at mid-season. At the moment Nigel is still making confident noises, and I wouldn't want him to do anything else, but fair or not, it's conceivable that the season may be judged on what happens, not in 7 games, but in 3!

Why sign players who have just been relegated. Being part of a team that wasn't good enough for the Prem doesn't seem to make a great CV.

One win in the last 4 is not only not promotion form, it is relegation form. Coventry and Portsmouth both have one win in the last 4. We need to win at Peterborough to show that we deserve to go up, although even then needing a draw and a win from the last two games doesn't make promotion certain. I hope Adkins is talking more forcibly at training than he does in public just in case there are players in this team who think that by going up they might lose their job. It should be made clear that if we don't go up there will be some major changes so that missing out will not be comfortable for the 'fantastic' players in this 'hard-working' squad.

The beatification of Nigel Adkins is reminder that the same attitude was adopted, by the same people or their predessessors, over Whisky George. (In George We Trust). Nigel has done a good job but he's no superman and there are undoubtedly other managers, including Alan Pardew, who could have done the same but it is Nigel who has got us where we are and he deserves credit for that, but at the moment the job is not yet done. Unless we get 7 points from the last 3 games it is quite possible that West Ham might take second place, followed by the lottery of the play-offs. Whist Nigel will deserve the credit if we get promoted, the other side of the same coin is taking responsibility if we fail despite being in the top two all season. Whether Nigel is seen as a Saint or a Sinner may depend on these three games but if we do go up, it would still be nice if he could get some better PR support to improve those post-match, pre-match, comments!

Obviously if a couple of those chances had become goals we wouldn't have lost, but it wasn't the only reason we lost the match. Having seen it again on TV this morning, we also lost because we let in two goals as a result of poor defending. If we do get promoted to the Prem some serious surgery will be needed to stay there because having a fantastic group of players all working very hard, isn't going to be enough to compete with premier level players and regular internationals, some of them world class, on a weekly basis if we cant avoid losing at home to a team like Reading and can't beat a relegation side like Portsmouth.

We had chances and didn't take them - Jos, Lallana - Reading had chances and did. When a team beat you 3-1 at home you can hardly complain if they finish higher in the table. It is crucial now to win our remaining 3 games, because WHU might do just that in their last 4.