SaintBobby

Brilliant idea. Good luck!

Seems to me they'd be crazy not to rest their top players. It's a bit odd to prioritise next year's UCL over this year's (this could be their best chance to actually win the Champions League in many years) Furthermore, they are pretty damned likely to end up in the top four even if they lose to us. Perhaps they will further weaken their line up if either Arsenal slip up v Norwich or Man Utd are failing to beat Leicester.

I think the encouraging thing is that even with that nightmare run at the end of 2015, we're on track for a solid 8th place. The issue is whether we can ever really "push on". It's easier to go from an average of 50 points to an average of 60 than it is to go from 60 to 70, I guess. Nevertheless, in our four seasons back in the Premier League we are averaging around 9th place. That's way better than I expected when we went up in 2012.

Yep, that's fair enough. I don't even mind Yoshida and Stekelenberg as back-ups. But beyond those back-ups, there is absolutely nothing at all. Whereas is we lose, say, Jay and Austin for months on end we still have a good attack. I really want to buy some cover at centre-back, we should have 5 decent players who can play there (even if one of them is also a DM or LB/RB). I think we currently only have 3, given Gardos has been out all year. If we had an injury to VvD and a suspension for Fonte, who the heck covers those positions?

Ok, not quite true...Crystal Palace have beaten us twice this season, given the FA Cup defeat at SMS. But with 3 games to go, no team has done the double on us in the league, right? That's quite a weird stat - have we ever got this deep into a season before without a league opponent taking maximum points from us? Have we ever gone a whole season in any league without being "doubled" by an opponent? Of course, all of our next 3 games are against teams who have beaten us once in the league, so we'd need to avoid defeat in all of our next three games to get through the whole league season without being "doubled".

Trying to work out how we might get into a situation whereby we hand the title to Leicester with a result at Spurs. There are loads of ways either Leicester or Spurs can win the league, but for us to specifically have a role, I think we need to go to WHL with either of the following: 1. Spurs six points behind Leicester and we win or draw 2. Spurs five points behind Leicester and we draw If Spurs are >6 and

The mystery for me is that our attacking options look way, way better - and deeper - than our defence. But the goals for/against tally tells a very different story.

I'm still laughing at the mere idea that Southampton play even remotely like a Pulis Stoke team. I don't think anyone else in the world shares that view, even in jest.

I think you mean "Why not?" not "Why not." An example of very poor punctuation.

Think we need 9 points to equal last season's total, but last season we just squeaked 7th and it was a tad unusual for this position to be good enough for Europe. If you want us to qualify, you probably need Liverpool to screw up badly in the Premier League but not win the Europa League and Man Utd to win the FA Cup. If those things both happen, 9 points might well be enough. If they don't both happen, then 12 points probably isn't enough anyway.

If only we had the imagination of those teams. They're leaving us behind. This is probably because we need to sign players quickly in early June. Or something.

Classic. "Absolute maximum". Lols.

Villa were truly appalling. They could tumble down the leagues. Good riddance. They've been awful for several years and have only stayed up because they have managed to float like a turd.

This thread and opening post just get funnier and funnier with each passing match. A bed wetting classic.

When was the last time we were 2 goals down with 30 mins to go and win? Brilliant.

I think I'd rather skip Europa this season. We got in by a mathematical fluke last season (League Cup and FA Cup winners being in the top 6 and us in 7th) That may happen again, but I hope not. If we storm into 5th place or 6th and are ripping our way up the division, fair enough. But getting into this tournament (which no one much cares about) on some bizarre chain of results that ends with us ahead of, say, Everton on goals scored or goal difference is just a joke. Best avoided.

It turns out that (a) Shane Long was worth £12m and (b) that people paid very large amounts of money to decide these things know much, much more than fans on a website. Neither of these things are particularly surprising. Lock thread?

I'd settle for 0.841 points now. Where do I cash that in?

I'm conflicted on this. Sort of still have an old-fashioned "romance of the Cup" streak in my DNA, but am also noticing I care about it less and less. I also want Saints in as many competitions as possible in the hope of winning silverware. I still cherish the JPT win. So, some random thoughts: 1. Merge the English and Scottish League Cups from round 4 or 5. 2. In the 3rd round of the FA Cup, Premier League teams should always play away to any lower league opposition they are drawn against (in all other circumstances, the team drawn first out of the hat plays at home) 3. Replays in the third round, but decided on the day in all subsequent rounds (prob after extra time, rather than straight to penalties) 4. Premier League teams can only name a maximum of two players in their squad who have not started a league match so far in the season. 5. Bonus points in the Premier League for the winners and also possibly the runners-up/semi-finalists. Say +4 for the winner, +2 for runner-up and +1 for semi-finalists.

Thanks. Does anyone know if that's the all time record?

Is six clean sheets in a row a goalkeeping record for Saints? At least in the top flight?

Can we agree it's a "must win" match?

This.

This isn't really true, especially if you use betfair. A couple of years ago, I placed a bet on Saints to win the league. Which is never going to happen (and even more "never going to happen" than relegation!) The odds moved in by about 90% in the first couple of months, just before we lost 2-0 away Arsenal. I cashed out just before this match, making a 1,000% return on my stake. If you could get 1,000,000/1 on Saints being relegated a little while back, you'd have been made not to take it (even on an expected value basis, even if you can't cash out). And as we sit today, 1,000,000/1 is probably worth it (although it would probably be some weird points deduction for something that would be more likely to get us relegated that us losing 13 matches in a row).

reading this thread is 20 mins of my life I aint getting back. gees....