saints_is_the_south

It's hard not to get too excited after you've just given the Champions a right good tonking, but looking at our next 3 fixtures, there's a distinct possibility that we could be there or there abouts in terms of safety when we come to face Liverpool at St Mary's. Newcastle Away - Would have preferred playing them a few weeks ago. They added some real quality in January, to what was already a very good squad. Injuries are returning too. But they have a trip to Eastern Ukraine on the Thursday before they play us, which means they won't get back until Friday morning, probably won't train til Saturday giving them a days preparation. I'd be more than happy with a draw here, and that I think we'll get it. Newcastle 2-2 Saints. QPR Home - If we want to survive in this league, and push on further up the table then this simply is a must win game. Remy will probably be back, but defensively they were all over the place against Swansea and I think we can really hurt them there. 3-1 Saints. Norwich Away - If we can keep it tight against them (Norwich have scored 1 goal in their last 5 games) then we give ourselves a very good platform to go on and win the game. They're in pretty poor form, no win in 9 and 5 defeats amongst that lot. Again, a draw wouldn't be a disaster either but definitely one we can win given our present form. 2-0 Saints. 7/9 would give us 34 points. 4 more points (38 will be more than enough this season IMO) to guarantee safety from 9 games after that. Then we have 2 back to back home games. Whilst still only 4 points above the drop zone, I think we are in a very good position. Playing some really good stuff, have some very winnable games coming up, 2 week break before our next game which will allow even more time for the squad to get to know Pochettino and his staff better, and baring any training ground injuries MP will have a fully fit squad to choose from with Shaw, Fonte, Ramirez and Guly all likely to be back in contention by the Newcastle game. A fully fit squad in February, got to be unheard of. Add that to the confidence the City win would have given the side, I think we are going to be absolutely fine. Our current form reads 9 points from last 6 games. If that can be maintained over the next 12 then we'd end up on 45 points. So even if our form dips slightly we are still going to be OK. I wholeheartedly agree with the point made in the blog that our current league standing reflects our dreadful start too. We are not playing like a bottom 6 side, and neither have we since the start of November in my eyes. Touch wood we do not suffer any major injuries, and as long as we don't then my final place prediction for us is 12th. Onwards and upwards.

Whilst Howe has done a great job without doubt, they've spent a far bit of money on that squad and were underachieving at the start of the season. Would expect them to go up automatically from here. Would be interesting to see how they'd get on in the Championship. I guess they'd look into building the 4th stand too, and I'd imagine Dean Court would be sold out for most games at that level.

What I meant was is I think it will be close and could go either way, e.g. I don't expect them to win by 2 goals or more and neither would I us. Two evenly matched sides at the moment, both in decent form, both who like to attack and both who have goals in them just as much as they are prone to conceding a few.

It's not must win, but it is a massive game. The winner would really pull themselves away from danger, and possibly up to as high as 11th depending on other results. The 1st leg of Newcastle's Europa League tie is this Thursday, it will be interesting to see the sort of line up Pardew fields in that game as it will give us an indication of how strong a line up he'll field in the 2nd leg, on the Thursday before they play us. A toon supporting mate thinks he'll name a weak side. Strange I think, for a club their size that hasn't won anything for 50 odd years you'd think the EL represents a decent chance of doing just that. PL the priority I guess. He also said that Ben Arfa should be back to face us, and Gouffran has said he'll be back for Saints. I think we can definitely get a result here. A thrilling 2-2 or 3-3 draw would not surprise me. Either that or it'll be a narrow defeat or narrow win.

I posted this a few weeks ago: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?42777-UEFA-Respect-Fair-Play-Rankings The official Premier League fair play table hasn't been updated since 15th January - We were joint 2nd with Fulham then.

Yesterday is right up there, possibly even the best. What are everyone's other most memorable ones? 3-2 v Arsenal in 02/03 4-0 v Spurs in 02/03 1-0 v United in 03/04

That is all.

Shaw (and Clyne) both pictured training (running) today. Both laughing and seemingly in good spirits. Reckon both will be alright for tomorrow.

The last of those games was played nearly 3 years a go. Why does that record have any bearing on the game this season? Before this season Spurs had lost 5 out 5 games at SMS scoring 0 goals in the process. How are those "well thought through" signings from last summer getting on by the way?

Waterside area (Fawley, Langley, Hythe, Dibden...etc) is nice, where I used to live before moving into town. The A236 can be a bit treacherous at times. You'd probably want to be closer to Winch than here though.

41 points and 13th place finish. 9th downwards to be very close together IMO. West Brom and Stoke in poor form, the latter always seems to tail off towards the end. Think Newcastle will climb the table into the top half. Sooner or later I think we are going to become level with Norwich/Fulham/West Ham and then the bottom half will be a bit of a yo yo until the end of the season. Bottom 3 as it currently stands.

18 in all comps. 8 League defeats in a row. 1 away from equalling club record on both fronts apparently.

Bompey away on Saturday, then Hartlepool away next Tuesday. This time next week they'll be propping up League 1.

Any inclination on how bad it is, and whether he'll be missing Saturday or not?

I still think that some of the teams (Fulham & Norwich) above could get dragged into it, although they will ultimately end up being OK. It's not beyond impossible that we could finish higher than 16th. As long as we can maintain our current form (7 points from last 6 games) over our last 13 games then we are going to be fine. That form would essentially give us 38 points with the Stoke game spare on the final day. Any dip in that form and we are going to be in trouble, any better then we can look forward to mid table security.

Points dropped from leading positions this season: Man City 3-2 Saints - From 2-1 up - 3 points dropped Saints 2-3 Man Utd - From 1-0 and 2-1 up - 3 points dropped Everton 3-1 Saints - From 1-0 up - 3 points dropped Saints 2-2 Fulham - From 1-0 up - 2 points dropped (although we then went 2-1 down, so can also be seen as a point gained from losing position) Saints 1-1 Swansea - From 1-0 up - 2 points dropped Saints 1-1 Norwich - From 1-0 up - 2 points dropped Stoke 3-3 Saints - From 3-1 up - 2 points dropped Saints 1-1 Arsenal - From 1-0 up - 2 points dropped Man Utd 2-1 Saints - From 1-0 up - 3 points dropped Wigan 2-2 Saints - From 2-1 up - 2 points dropped Total points dropped from leading positions - 24 In contrast, we have only earned 6 points from losing positions. With those 24 points, we'd currently be sat in 3rd. With just over half of them we'd be sat in 8th. The worst ones for me are the Swansea, Norwich, Stoke and Wigan points thrown away. The former 2 coming from 2 direct errors from Gazzaniga, in games where the opposition didn't look like scoring until he gifted them their goals. Stoke, 3-1 up, and should have been 4-1 up 60 seconds before they pull one back. Wigan, 90th minute from a set piece, the only way they looked like scoring. Even with the 8 points from those games we'd be in 10th place. I hope we won't come to regret all of these lost points, but if we go down then our inability to hold onto leads will be the paramount reason for relegation, just as it was in 2004/05.

Yep, and out of our remaining fixtures, there are at least 4 fixtures you could pick a Saints win from. QPR, West Ham and West Brom would be 3 fixtures I'd definitely look at thinking we must win. Then there is Stoke on the final day of the season, who should be on the summer holidays by the day that game comes. I think we can pick up points at places like Norwich and Sunderland. And I think we will get at least 1 win against a big team before the season is out. If we can continue to repeat the level of performances we have seen in the past 3 games, then surely we are going to start converting draws into wins.

Think we can and will get a draw. Will need to play at the top of our game to get anything of course, but with no Toure or Kompany our chances certainly increase. Ramirez was poor yesterday, but his best performances in a Saints shirt have all come at St Mary's. If he is fit then he should start. I'd bring Lallana in for Punch. Otherwise same starting line up. Keep Davis as a super sub, his best performances have came when coming off the bench. Prediction: Saints 1-1 Man City

It's not only the games you have mentioned above. Look back further than that and you have Norwich & Swansea at home, where 2 individual errors gifted the opposition a point that neither looked likely to get. Then there is United at home, 2-1 up with 5 minutes left and we end up losing. You could say Arsenal at home too, they never looked like scoring and needed us to put one in our own net to give them a point. I like most, am very pleased with the way we are playing but we must start converting draws into wins. I think it is something like 25 points dropped from winning positions this season, 25! With half of those we'd already be safe. On the bright side we've got through a period of tough games, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and United and we are still 3 points above the drop zone with City to come. March and April look to be good months and sort of mirror November/December when we picked up most of our current points tally. I think we'll win enough games in this period to ensure we are fine.

Have to agree with the OP. Only sang consistently after we'd equalised. Thought Wigan's support was OK too, again up until we equalised when they then became very tense and very quiet. Superb in numbers from us, and good from Lambert's goal onwards. Otherwise poor.

That's not the full interview. Doesn't include the bit that has been shown on SSN today.

Checked out the Anvil online, looks a nice boozer. Arriving in Wigan about 11 so shall head there I think.

Yeah they've just showed that bit again. Would be good if they could put the whole thing up online somewhere, there's obviously more to it than has already been shown.

If somebody offered me a respectable 1 or 2 goal margin defeat now, I'd take it. The Wigan game 3 days later is huge, and we could really do without a confidence denting hammering at Old Trafford before that game.

If somebody offered me a respectable 1 or 2 goal margin defeat now. The Wigan game 3 days later is huge, and we could really do without a confidence denting hammering at Old Trafford before that game.