SNSUN

Davis MOTM, honourable mention to Cork, Morgan, Clyne and Jay. Poor games from Ramirez (despite the goal) and Rickie. Full reaction when I can feel my fingers again.

Haha! He could've chosen any shirt colour in the world, but no, he plumped for the colour of their hated rivals. Airbrushing. Or theft, one or the other! So is the 10 point deduction happening this season or next? I'm rather hoping League 2 is a definite...

If Oxlade-Chamberlain had stayed with us, my guess is he wouldn't currently have received a full cap on our run up the leagues. Move to Arsenal, capped for England. This is perhaps why I'm worried we'll lose Shaw, and perhaps even one or two of the other jewels, unless Saints can really progress next season and try to hit the top 6-8. (Personally I prefer club football, so I really am not too fussed with the England team, despite patriotically supporting them (in vain) in competitions.)

+1, it wouldn't be a bad result, a point closer to safety and that 38 point mark that some think would keep us up, but personally we're good enough to beat West Ham. The virus thing could prove decisive though. I know it doesn't do us personally any favours, but I'll also be routing for Newcastle on Sunday...

I know we as fans love the good things written about us and automatically hate the bad but this is a great summing up of what I think of Pochettino so far. Sacking Akdins wasn't the wrong move, it was just a strange one because of the timing and of what Adkins had achieved. Had we not seen much in the way of change under Pochettino, we could have questioned the decision to remove Adkins, but, as the article shows, we're better off under Pochettino statistically and from the new style of play. Polishing off Reading last week also shows we've adapted to beating those teams that try the long ball as well as passing - which makes me wonder if we had that QPR game now, whether the result would have been different.

For the record, I personally have to say I love Norwich fans.

This is my worry. The only big leaver I can see this summer is Shaw, and I think that would be the case whether he was under long-term contract or not. He's such hot property now, the big clubs would tear their budgets apart to get him. Ideally we'd keep him, and I hope we do, but I think it will prove very tough. We'll all be sick of the media reports about him come July. Most importantly though is that Saints are in the driving seat, and he'll demand a high transfer fee as long as that contract is signed. Am I right in saying we get a development fee if he leaves without the contract? That would be criminal. I have faith in the club to do the right thing with the Shaw scenario, and should the worst happen and we lose Shaw, have faith in the club to sign the right replacements. While we're on the topic, would Ryan Bertrand be an unrealistic target if we sold Shaw (perhaps even to Chelsea)? As Ashley Cole's signed a new contract, he'd be a decent choice to replace Shaw. (Hypothetically of course, I sincerely hope we keep Shaw.)

Not read through this thread then!?! HELL NO. Young players please, not has beens. I see one reporter is linking us with Bolton's Alonso, 22 year old left back, if we sell Shaw. I don't know enough of him to comment, but he'll be a Bosman, so he could be the "back-up" people want.

He'll stay at Reading IMO. Adkins seems to have faith in him over Pogrebnyak (who no doubt will be off in the summer anyway) and Hunt.

Perhaps it's more cut and dry than I thought! Poll mods?

...and Young Player Of The Season. So, we're reaching the climax of the season, seemingly staying up and doing so comfortably. What a season, full of ups and downs, surprise wins and surprise losses, additions along the way that have made us a better team, (Shaw, Boruc) and additions along the way we, presently, remain puzzled by. (Forren) But who is YOUR player of the season overall, and who is your young player of the season? For me there are a number of stand out players, Morgan, Cork, Lambert, Puncheon, Yoshida, Shaw, Boruc, Clyne, which may make this debate more interesting as there's no ONE player that stands out, but for consistancy over the whole season I have to give it to Morgan. He gets better the higher league he plays in and judging by the stats previously posted on here, he's outplayed the rest of the Premier League for his position. For 'young player' it will be a lot easier IMO. Luke Shaw. Not only has he shown class defensively, offensively and positionally, he's only 17 AND he sorted out a problem position for us. Class, and I truly hope we can keep hold of him. JWP started the season well but sadly for him chances have been limited. I liked what I saw though, especially against United in the 3rd game.

I'm normally positive but I still won't be comfortable until we're mathmatically safe from relegation. Yes I think we'll win a few more and finish comfortably mid-table, but there's always a chance we won't! Still only 6 points clear, 2 or 3 losses (while perhaps unrealistic) and it could be squeaky bum time again. All that said of course, I think we'll beat West Ham on Saturday anyway which will push us up to 40 points, after showing yesterday that we can beat long ball teams as well as passing sides. I think we'll draw against Swansea and West Brom, lose to Spurs, draw against Sunderland and beat Stoke. So 46 points, or 48 if we can beat Sunderland, which is the game I'm not too sure about. In fact, play as we are, and they're all winnable, although our trip to White Hart Lane sticks out as the toughest.

Safe? There's a couple of young Derby lads that are supposed to be cracking youngsters - Hendrick and Hughes. Nick 'em....

Whilst I think he'll be great for us next season, I also wouldn't complain too much if we sold him for cost or profit, as long as we replace him correctly. If he's not happy here it would be silly to force him to stay. However if we can keep him, and all our best players, and add to them in the summer, we could have a cracking team next season IMO.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?44121-Putting-pressure-on-Boruc-to-sign Thibaut sounds like he should be a Shakespeare character.

Thousands of posts on a messageboard - I think that ship sailed for some of us a long time ago. :-)

Well, let's keep proving him wrong. Perhaps the Beeb will look back on his performance in the prediction league at the end of the season and decide someone else would be better at doing it. His positioning of QPR and Swansea is laughable.

Gotsta be Moyes for me. Our last two results are impressive (even more so if you take into our performances in those games) but this is traditionally a time of the season when Everton switch off having secured safety. 3 wins in a row for them is particularly impressive. The 1-2-3 in my eyes would be Moyes-Pochettino-Ferguson.

I thank and appreciate everything Nigel did for us, and while his dismissal was shocking, it seems Pochettino has what it takes to move us forward. We can beat the big boys now, we've proved that - now we need to find a style which beats the "lesser" teams. Was the sacking of Adkins timing wrong? Well put it this way, the timing was a damn sight better than what Reading or Sunderland have done recently. I see Reading as a yo-yo club, bouncing between divisions and surviving off the parachute payments. Anton has a bit of money behind him but not Liebherr type sums - but if Adkins does get them promoted again next season, I do think they'll make a better stab of the Premier League than they did this season. I do think Adkins will be happy there, and I wish him all the best - but Pochettino is the future for us now. I also think he'll be a bigger draw in terms of transfers than Adkins was - as he's a bigger name in world football. The transfer window in the summer will be very exciting - that's my prediction. (pending of course that we do survive, which I think we will!)

The double for Jonathon Forte against MK Dons, widely heralded as the accelerator pedal for our League One promotion. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9436579.stm

No, we're not safe. Not close even. We're safe when we mathmatically cannot go down. Do I think we WILL be safe? Yes, I've seen enough progression in the club to think we'll pick up enough points needed.

All fingers point to us winning but we are away and this is just the sort of game that Reading will be up for. Normally I'd worry about this game, but for some reason I trust Pochettino to get the lads to pull off a professional winning performance. A draw is no bad result either, an extra point towards safety and it would still mean little to Reading. Win this though, and surely we're as good as there. 37 points is what Twichmeister general thinks will be enough to keep QPR up. It won't be, and they won't get anywhere close to it either, but that would mean we only need 2 or 3 points until the rest of the season to maintain safety. I can see us beating West Ham the week after, so 6 points from these two games would mean a 4 game winning streak and would power us up the table. Exciting times, but I hope the lads don't get too carried away. Even now, safety is still our goal. Still, 1-3 to us on Saturday, even if it is live on Sky.

I know that prediction league on the Beeb is the biggest joke ever due to it's inaccuracy - I mean do you base results on whether team is better on paper, recent form, etc etc - but I just did it again and still Villa get that third spot. It goes down to the last game of the season and Sunderland, Wigan and Villa are all in with a shout, but Wigan beat Villa at home and stay up. Somebody said it on another thread, that last game of Wigan vs Villa could be the one which determines who gets the final slot. (Oh, and even trying not to be biased we finish on 46 points.)

It's hard to say which - who knows what the Di Canio factor will be like at Sunderland, but I've seen enough from Wigan and Villa recently to say they'll make a fight of it. As it stands I still think over the course of the season it'll be Villa that deserves to take that final spot, but Sunderland are in big trouble. Of us, Norwich, Stoke and Newcastle amongst those others, I see Norwich as being the ones to struggle and join the relegation battle. They can't buy a goal at the moment. Poor form from them.

I couldn't care less whether Fulham are catchable. I want Fulham to win this and sink QPR hopes once and for all. We can do the same to Reading on SAturday. The sooner we get rid of QPR and Reading and get down to that one spot, the more confortable I'll be.