Professor

Worried by the Portsmouth result. How can it be that we could not beat them last Saturday, yet Millwall can beat them at FP in front of their own fans and previously, Burnley thrashed them? They scored two excellent goals against us but only because we let them have the ball. Are we playing possession football as well as we did earlier in the season?

West Ham have only won 3 out of their last 10 games so why should they win the next four? Apprecfiate you can't rule out the possible until it becomes impossible but it is so improbablo as not to merit serious consideration. We are going up and the only real question is whether it is as Champions or as Runners-up, but as Brighton found this year, once you move up, the position in which you ended the previous season makes no difference.

Its confirmed what we already suspected. BHA are a lower league club with a second rate team. This first season in the NpC, mainly on the fringe of the play-off zone may prove to be a peak for them. Expect them to settle in the middle of the second level. It may be many years before we play them again, unless they get lucky and draw us in a cup game, although we could do them a favour and offer them a pre-season 'friendly'.

In the history of this football club there have been some great moments. 5-1 away to Man City in the FA cup in 1960. 7-1 home win against Ipswich in the FA cup in 1961, the year Ipswich got promoted from Div2 and the year before they won the Div1 championship. 6-3 against Man U in the Prem in 1996. A 3-0 win against Reading to make the Championship title all but certain would rank with the best.

It has to be all 'ifs' at this stage, but IF - we beat Reading, any two other wins will give us the title, even if Reading win all their other games including the tough matches they have away to Brighton and Birmingham.

So we are now 2 wins from the Prem! And if we beat Reading we'll be two wins from the title, even if Reading win all their other matches.

One more point towards promotion, well worth having so no need to be depressed. It does make the game against Palace more important though, as 3 games without a win would not be good at this stage. If anyone could have blocked the shot for the second PFC goal it was Harding but he should not have been on the pitch IMHO - I felt it was a mistake to disrupt the side by changing an attacker for a defender with such little time to go and Harding can't be blamed for not reacting faster when he'd had only seconds to settle in and the rest of the defence the same to accommodate him. I'm convinced if Adkins had not made the sub and if the orders had been to go for possession football, we would have won the game.

Much as we wanted a different outcome, on the balance of play, its simply unrealistic to complain about the result. It was a hard fought derby and its difficult to see how that side lost by 4 goals last week, but it did and that is even more of a worry. I agree with Viking Warrior that it was mistake to disrupt the side with a couple of minutes to go. If West Ham drop any points that would be a bonus, but it must be assumed they win all their remaining games so we can afford to lose one more as long as we win the other 4. As for Reading, if we can't beat Portsmouth I can't see us beating Reading who are on hot form, so I would say the title is now unlikely.

You can't totally rule out a defeat in any single game, as we found last week, but that was against a team pushing for the Play-Offs itself and on its own ground. We should have every confidence of a win today and a clear win. If the unthinkable happened and we were to lose we would not deserve to be promoted on the basis of two consective defeats when our opponents are showing great consistencey, but that is not going to happen.

The Saints v Reading game is a major obstacle for us both but not necessarilpy a title decider. If either club wins all 6 remaining games they will be champions and deservedly so, but it is more likely that both of us will drop a few points. Our 2 point lead and a GD that is very unlikely to be bettered gives us a 3 point advantage that still aakes Saints' most people's favourites because we can afford more of a slippage than Reading can. If we win the game against Reading, our buffer becomes a virtually unassailable 5 points +GD (based on the pre-Easter totals) whereas if Reading win against us, their advantage on the same basis is one point and still vulnerable to any slip. But the fact that most of us are now looking at a 2-horse race confirms that very few people believe we will not be promoted, even if we can't claim it until the maths are absolute.

Before the Good Friday games:- [TABLE] [TR] [TD=class: xl66][/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD=class: xl74, width: 64]Played[/TD] [TD=class: xl74, width: 64]Remain[/TD] [TD=class: xl74, width: 64]Curr Pts[/TD] [TD=class: xl74, width: 64]Max pts[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: xl75]1[/TD] [TD=class: xl70]Saints[/TD] [TD=class: xl70, align: right]40[/TD] [TD=class: xl70, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl70, align: right]78[/TD] [TD=class: xl71, align: right]96[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: xl76]2[/TD] [TD=class: xl72]Reading[/TD] [TD=class: xl72, align: right]40[/TD] [TD=class: xl72, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl72, align: right]76[/TD] [TD=class: xl73, align: right]94[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: xl77]3[/TD] [TD=class: xl68]West H[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]40[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]72[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]90[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: xl77]4[/TD] [TD=class: xl68]Birmingham[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]40[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]66[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]84[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: xl77]5[/TD] [TD=class: xl68]Middlesbrough[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]40[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]63[/TD] [TD=class: xl68, align: right]81[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: xl78]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl69]Brighton[/TD] [TD=class: xl69, align: right]40[/TD] [TD=class: xl69, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: xl69, align: right]63[/TD] [TD=class: xl69, align: right]81[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Acknowledgement to Brizzle Saints

Has anyone suggested Davis? Must have more experience of penalties than anyone bar Rickie.

The premise of this thread is based on a preconceived judgement that there IS something wrong. That is what the title says. There is no purpose in a discussion that appears to be aimed at undermining one particular player. I'd close this down.

Just seen the All Angles Covered on Saints Player.. Seems to me that both penalties came from cheating. First Guly, then Taylor-Fletcher.

Last season, 84 points were enough for automatic promotion (that was Norwich, 2nd behind QPR on 88). 84 points may well be enough again this year and to prevent that, WHU have to get 13 points from their last 6 games. They haven't managed an average of 2 points a game all season and have averaged 1.5 per game over their last 10 games so WHU getting to 85 looks very unlikely. Saints need 6 points to get to 84, which with our superior GD, requires 85 points to get above us. We have to get 6 points from the games against Portsmouth, Reading, Coventry, Palace, Peterborough and Middlesbrough. Surely it is unthinkable that we will not win at least 2 of those games. It is more likely that we win 3 or 4 of them.

I agree. Three points from this and enough goals, at least 4, to restore the GD after the Blackpool game is just what the doctor ordered. Give us a 4-0 win and things will look very different.

It is difficult to discuss the Lowe years on here because the sensible contributions tend to be interspersed with a few mindless insults and historical inaccuracies. But this thread wasn't about the Lowe years, it was about the concept of finacial management that he promoted and which went awry although for some of that time, Michael Wilde and others were running the club. What Lowe did say was that we had to live within our means and that the SMS was a gamble but a necessary one. He said that remaining in a 15,000 capacity ground was unsustainable for a premier team but that financing it depended on retaining premier status. It was relegation that really made the rot set in, and its worth remembering that the decision to bring in Harry Redknapp and to strengthen the side in the January window very nearly succeeded - one more goal in any drawn game to give us three points instead of one, would have kept us up. We didn't get that goal and it's ancient history now. So is Lowe as far as SFC is concerned and Cortese certainly doesn't need any lessons in finance from Rupert. Financial common sense is essential as football is gradually beginning to learn, and whether we had it before or not, we do have it now.

This is truly frightening!!! Why are a bunch of New York Mafia Thugs pictured above our result? Did we lose because of an offer we couldn't refuse??

It wouldn't be right to say the result doesn't matter but the fact is that no team can be expected to win every game and an away defeat to a side in the play-off zone is not especially surprising. It is still the case that for both West Ham and Reading to get above us is very unlikely and its also unlikely that both of them will win all their remaining games. The home game against Reading could be a title decider and it is looking fairly certain that it will be Saints and Reading who go up automatically even though we can't both get maximum points from that match. One thing that is a worry though, is that despite some excellent results in the last few weeks, there have already been indications that the team is not as good as it should be. Even when we have won it has sometimes had too much element of fortune about it and we have seen lower sides dominate us for long periods, such as Doncaster in the first half at St Mary's. We may well have done enough for promotion, if not for the title and should get the required points for a top-two place from the last 6 games, but as one door closes so another opens. We do have some obvious candidates for the Prem side but my impression is that to be secure next year this team is not good enough overall and will need significant strengthening.

Billy. We are Southampton. We don't miss penalties. But, haven't seen the TV replay yet so whether the referee was correct to give a penalty, I don't know. There is so much simulation in the area by all teams, penalty kicks are a blight on the game. Reading's penalty looked like a dive to me, and it'll be interesting to see that again but cheating is now endemic in the whole game. Maybe Billy's miss was justice, I don't know.

Watching on streaming TV just confirms the early impressions from the commentary on Saintsplayer that Blackpool are the better team. Can't win them all and this is one of those we aren't destined to win. Question, Why is Guly trying to get booked? How does that help?

We're not up until promotion is a mathematical certainty but as we all know, to miss out requires both Reading and West Ham to get above us, not just one of them. Statistically that is very unlikely when there are only 7 games to play and there is a 6-point gap to 3rd. The unexpected can happen in football but because of GD, WHU have to get 7 points more than Saints in just 7 games and if they do take points off Reading today, the prospect of Reading getting above us becomes less likely. Vice versa also applies of course and a draw is even better for us as the two clubs would drop 4 points between them. We'll all be watching for that result today but I don't think it really matters. As for Saints, we have this 10-game unbeaten run but it hasn't all been plain sailing - at Leeds for example - and you can't rule out losing a game or two during the run-in, even if that seems unlikely on current form. We can afford to lose a couple of games and still get to 90 points which, even if one of our rivals got to that total, is almost certainly too much for them both to reach. So, you can't take it for granted and if the players did so, it would be a major mistake (remember Brighton's slump last year after they got enough points to win the title) but I'm with those who believe promotion is going to happen. And we may not even need 90 points for that.

I vividly remember that after relegation from The Prem at the end of 2004/05 season when there was a lot of talk about how quickly we could get back up, I posted on here "Welcome to the CCC years" (it was the Coca cola championship then). I expected those years to last for more than 4 but I didn't expect them to end by the club droppining even further into L1. But from the moment we began in L1, with the ML takeover, the whole picture changed and here we are going to Blackpool as another step to bring the Championship (and L1) years - all 7 of them - to an end. This is the same Blackpool, that as a Prem Club last season, brought a weakened side to the SMS in an FA cup tie to save their best players for teh relegation fight. A lot of good it did them as we knocked them out of the cup AND they were relegated. Since then, they've lost most of the team they had in The Prem while we have basically the same team but strengthened with the likes of Cork, Hooiveld, Sharp and Lee. Should we be expecting to win at Bloomfield Road? This is football and sometimes the unexpected can happen, but we should be expecting to win, simply because we have the better players and the better team.

If Rickie Lambert is fit, I'm sure he'll play but if he's not, I'd be very interested to see Tadanari Lee and Billy Sharp together up front. Adkins says that one or two people may not be able to play due to being ill with colds. I hope that does not include Morgan, as his steady influence in midfield has been a major factor in the unbeaten run.

Correct that in his interview, Dan Seaborne talks about being close to match fitness. But speculation on a website is no evidence at all and its most unlikely that he'd be put in the first team after just two games. I imagine even Jack Cork is ahead of him at the moment. But to say Seaborne is a terrible CB shows why Nigel Adkins is a professional football manager and Whitee1987 is not! Best for fans to stick to watching matches, that's what we are good at.