Saint_Tony

We just over-performed at the start. We're not sh1t, just not as good as a lot of us thought. I said a couple of weeks ago that a top half finish will be an incredible achievement that we should be happy with.

Back to reality. Forget the league now, it's done. Let's focus on the League Cup now

Massive opportunity missed. Our good fortune has dried up. Would expect Burnley to go on and win this now

Big half time team talk by RoKo needed. Anything less than 3 points and our top 6 hopes will be over

Very poor so far, can see Burnley winning this

Not getting enough protection? I thought he has the defensive midfield powerhouse, the one and only Mr Liverpool Steven Gerrard to protect him?

Any win will do, if we perform like we did monday then we should create plenty. One thing's for certain, Mane can't be any worse if he plays. If he finds a team mate with even one pass, it will be an improvement! I can't see either Liverpool or Spurs winning tomorrow so we need to increase the gap over them.

We created plenty of chances againt United. If we play with the same intensity we had for the first hour then the goals should come. Burnley 1-3 Saints (Pelle hat trick)

Adrian Chiles at full time 'that was painful viewing even for the neutral'. It was anything but, it was hilariously entertaining

It's fine arguing that there's plenty of games left. Ive mentioned the games against the bigger sides, but are we realistically going to take maximum points from the likes of west ham, swansea, stoke, sunderland and hull second time around? Because that's what we will need to do.

So after taking zero points from City, Utd and Arsenal, we can still make 3rd or 4th? And top 6 is a certainty?

Devastated, what can you say? We can look at the stats and try to take positives, but ultimately we've lost again. We need to get a bit of perspective, there will be no top 6 or 4 finish. We need to focus on the league cup now and take a mid table finish. But that was our chance, and I'm gutted its gone. One of the most painful defeats in recent years.

That's the bottom line, feels like our chances have come and gone. Absolutely gutted, think that's our top 6 hopes destroyed. We've deserved more out of these games, but it's a game of fine margins

Just read back over the thread. I get called negative, but some of the posts before we scored are embarassing. Weve played well from kick off with the exception of Fonte's shocker. Have to give the players credit as I thought their heads might drop. Absolutely huge 45 mins coming up

Fair play to RoKo, it might backfire but he's really going for it. We're going to need a massive performance from Wanyama

Chelsea Man City Man Utd Arsenal Liverpool West Ham Saints Swansea Everton Spurs Newcastle Stoke Villa Sunderland Hull Leicester QPR West Brom Palace Burnley

No youre right, safety is the aim. Les and Ralph have agreed on 40 points as a target

Exactly, we are not in a relegation battle. Assuming the target now is probably top 6, there are certainly no 'bonus' games. We need to be picking up points in a high percentage of games, that includes those against Man Utd, Arsenal and Man City. It's easy to say we're punching above our weight right now, but I'm sure the club's aims and objectives have changed since the summer.

I believe so. We always knew these three games would be our toughest test, I just think a negative result will knock the team's confidence and belief of whether we can mix it with the best. It will put massive pressure on the players to get a result against an improving Burnley side. A win would really put us back on track and send out a message to the other teams. What are your thoughts?

This really is our last opportunity to prove we can get results off of bigger sided. As mentioned above, the result will decide the rest of our season. I think we might scrape a draw, 1-1

West Ham are now competing for a top 6 spot. It's worrying as this season theyve played some good stuff whilst also using 'hoofball' to great effect. Also have better striker options than we do

Aguero off injured after a few minutes, massive blow for City

Yep, now we're a big team all the big sides are taking us far more seriously. We are the mighty Southampton, if only we were a bottom half side they wouldn't take us as seriously and we'd be beating the like of Man City and Arsenal. So frustrating.

There really aren't many strikers who score week in week out in this league. 15 goals would be a decent return, and he's course to get it. The expectation of strikers is too much these days

Obviously someone will finish there, but it's difficult to make a case for any team to finish third. It really is up for grabs this year. It's all well and good saying the results have gone for us, but it's up to us to take advantage of the situation. It really is an odd season, you'd think 70 points will be enough for fourth place. To stay on course for that would mean winning 3 of the next 4 as it's going to take some effort after christmas to match the first half of our campaign.