Saint Charlie

Are we out of the top 4 "race"? Obviously not mathmatically but (IMO) we clearly aren't going to be 3rd or 4th.

Was an article saying that Chelsea and United were fighting to sign him.

7th most likely Glasgow.

Tadic, Mane, Pelle has been our best front 3 over the season as a whole. I would just stick with them get Toby back and Davis in with MS and VW. Thats our best team. Playing Long and Elia would just mean a lack of composure. Mane is miles better than Long.

Team selection starting to be more inconsistent too which doesn't help. Pelle gets the stick but Tadic has been poor for longer and Mane/Elia are good but inconsistent. One thing I am sure of: Long isn't the answer, he has been a poor signing overall. Lets try and beat Palace then have a decent break, think the squad are going away somewhere so hopefully that will get the life back into some. Transfer speculation for the likes of Clyne also has an impact. He was very unprofessional to retweet that Chelsea/Utd tweet and maybe has taken some of his focus.

Is this what will ultimately see us dropping to 7th?

Palace will fancy beating us on Tuesday. That really is a must win for top 6 hopes.

Must be a pretty good percentage liklihood of us coming 7th. Hard to see much different to that.

Long isn't the answer. He won't have suddenly improved since the last time he played.

Some people would still say he is LOL.

Now we will see what some of the players are really made of. Who can step up when things aren't going well, like Lambert always used to.

West Brom our nemisis team style wise. Sitting back and then two pacy strikers to hit you on the break. We will get chances though, just need to take them.

Agree and yeah he sounds good but I havent seen a lot of him and the PL is a much tougher slog than the Dutch League as Pelle and Tadic have found since November. Good point on Reed. Wonder if losing Mitchell will have manifested as a blow? Have we replaced him? Recruitment ultimately will be the judge of how good the summer is, if we replace those players well and sort the positions we are weak in (RB cover, GK cover, Striker) plus beef the squad for Europe if we get there, then we can do well. But somewhere along the line you will struggle to keep replacing quality with equal/better quality and will be a worse team for selling your best players. That is just normal.

If we replace with good players then no. Key difference is we are prepared this time. Last year at this point the Club were deluded: the Reed interview saying we didnt have anyone interested in our players and they werent scheming behind his back when they clearly were, and that the MP issue wasnt a problem. It was. We seemed very naive and reactive and Krueger's football related interviews were simply dreadful and made it worse. This year we have eyes open so should be a lot better. Clyne will go, Schneiderlin will go, Toby won't sign. We are all aware and the Club probably are more prepared. Plus its less emotional than with Lambert and Lallana.

Clyne is quality. All Saints fans know this and it is the reason why Man Utd and Chelsea apparently are tracking him. We won't get near £25m for him and will do well to replace with someone of anywhere near the same ability.

Yeah players as good as Clyne are gagging to play for Saints so should be a simple task. Not sure why United and Chelsea want him, he is crap. Schneiderlin poor recently as well (when he bothers to play) and we are fine defensively without Toby. Amazing really that Lovren kept Yoshida out the team last year. (Its started already, and its simpler this way to downgrade anyone clearly leaving).

And next year it will be someone else, West Ham, Swansea, whoever. They will have a great season beyond all expectations. Flirt with top 6 and then finish 7th or 8th as the underachieving Spurs, Liverpool or Arsenal stutter into life in the final months of the season promising themselves a shot at the title the next season, only to repeat their poor early season form.

I will be sad if he doesn't praise the "good spirit" of the players and say that we play "out of a good organisation".

Will happen each year. Will be Wanyama the year after as he won't extend his contract either. Fine, just puts a lot of pressure on the recruitment success. Is a slight shame though that despite how well we are doing we can't get our best players (the ones who have the choice to move to bigger clubs) to sign new contracts here. In two summers we will have lost: Lambert, Lallana, Shaw, Lovren, Chambers, Clyne, Alderweireld, Schneiderlin and possibly Jay Rod. Any club that keeps growing and improving despite that is a miracle worker IMO. Get a few of the signings wrong in key positions and it becomes dodgy.

In another thread Unbelievable Jeff said Clyne would sign a new contract because he "seemed honourable". Of course he won't, and its pretty obvious why, anyone in his shoes would do (and be instructed to do) the same.

Agree. Hope we can beat one of those teams and get top 6. Also hope no Saints fans are overly disappointed when we don't make top 4.

Never a number 10 player. Hasn't got an attacking instinct. Good member of the squad, but our best spell of the season possibly was when he was out injured. Not a patch on Davis in the advanced position IMO.

Bet they move Can into midfield then which is a shame as he will make them a lot more solid in there. Not a lot of mobility in the back three though, need to draw them out into wide areas.

1-0 Arsenal, Cazorla pen

Hard not to see United and Arsenal winning today. Both teams have so many good attackers on the pitch.