S-Clarke

I dunno, failure to go up this season will equate to a bigger turnover than what we saw last summer. The team we have now is only our team for the future if we go up, it's going to be mass change otherwise. We will potentially be left with a nucleus of Lumley, Stephens, Charles, Smallbone, Fraser, SAA, Dibling, Edozie, Aribo, Bree, Mara etc. Not bad, but no where near the level we have at the moment. I'm sure we'd invest, but we'd pretty much have to start again which will be a shame as this group we have has so much potential to grow into a PL group.

Could be saying different come that game though. If we win our game in hand (which is the tuesday before they play Leeds) we're 7 points behind them, if Leeds do them on that Friday night and we beat Millwall we're just 4 points behind them - and we have to play them. Not giving up just yet, but this month will confirm it all I think.

I think it's harsh to criticise how many points we have, in most seasons we're top without any hassle. This is just a weird year. We're performing exactly how an auto/champion needs to perform. We have 10 points more and a better GD at this stage than we did when we last got promoted from this league. Leicester have just set a crazy bar, but it doesn't mean we've been poor or not done enough ourselves.

Also, not seen anyone mention this...in a couple of weeks the Friday night game is Leicester v Leeds. 'If' we can keep it up until the Millwall game in a few weeks, we could potentially go into that Saturday game either closing the gap on Leicester or pulling even further away from Leeds. This is a huge defining month imo.

In Extra Time though, in a league game that would have finished 1-1.

Yep absolutely that as well, although Boro were bottom 3 when they beat us (their first win of the season). Being beaten by Ipswich, Leicester and Sunderland did make a dent. We'd be setting records with Leicester had we not had that September, as in any normal season we'd be pretty comfortable in 1st place by now. We already have 10 more points than we did at this stage when we last got promoted in this league.

Scored against Chelsea in September of his first season with us, got injured in the same game and we didn't see him again until December. Not sure what the injury was, but yes - he seems incredibly injury prone, which is a shame as his talent is sky high - but you just feel that injuries will stop him ever achieving any of his potential. He needs to leave Chelsea for his own good though, could head off like you say to a slower pace league and play out his career there.

I find it hard to think of many teams who'd want him. He was so, so bad yesterday. I think he may have had a knock so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but my curiosity is that exactly the same happened in September with him when the window closed. I wouldn't really want to count on him too much in the second half of this season - Mara and Armstrong with Che as third option for me. We've got real quality on the right wing now so we can move Armstrong back to the 9.

Tough place to go to, but so was Coventry, Hull, Norwich, Watford etc. Leeds 'only' won 1-0 at their place a week or so back, but by all accounts they absolutely destroyed them and just lacked a clinical edge to put away their chances.

That is definitely his strength and what we need to make sure we get from him, but only playing as the 10. You don't want him driving forward and leaving Smallbone as the deepest midfielder, that is a recipe for more 5-0's, 4-1 defeats etc. We'd get destroyed on the break by good sides.

Mentioned this yesterday, they keep chattering about our run only coming against the poor sides. But we've played and beaten Leeds, WBA, Hull etc in that period, drawn away at Coventry and Norwich. You don't go 25 games unbeaten by having only done the poor sides, it's daft to think that - they're just scrapping around for chinks to focus on.

I notice people saying that we've had this long run, but we've not played anyone decent etc etc. During this run... Southampton 3 - 1 Leeds United Southampton 2 - 1 - WBA Coventry 1 - 1 Southampton Hull City 1 - 2 Southampton Norwich 1 - 1 Southampton Watford 1 - 1 Southampton Millwall 0 - 1 Southampton I'd say the above are a pretty tricky bunch of games in any season, and they've all been part of the run. Not sure why some neutrals are trying to down play it by saying we have a tough run coming up. That tough run includes Millwall, Bristol City, WBA, Hull - we have already beaten all 4.

Charlies second account?

Another pearl of wisdom from Charlie.

Block 34 myself, there are probably a couple of old farts dotted around! Some of it is because they set their stall out at the start, they didn't want Martin because of x and y etc etc, and they will not be proven wrong no matter how stupid he continues to make them look. Must be a nightmare to live with.

It didn't surprise me really, he's had it in for Martin all season like he's nicked his wife or something. Every sub he makes is the wrong sub, even against Swansea when we won 5-0 it was the wrong subs and he was ripping into him at 2-0. I wish he'd piss off if I'm honest, surprised no one has sparked him yet. The crew around him all agree with him like some sort of weird-cult as well.

So Kane moved to Bayern for Trophies, a pretty guaranteed result if you look at recent history, but seemingly they are struggling. Surely he's not going to go to Bayern and STILL end trophyless? He's got the same curse as Poch.

We already have Downes out, would be bonkers to force the sub of another of our CM's. I'd put Charles next to Smallbone.

Yeah the booing at Half Time was ridiculous, so were the ''Fuck off out of my club Martin'' shouts from an out of touch old fart in front of me. He said the same at the 1-1 against Rotherham too. The booing makes us sound like a bunch of entitled pricks. We're Southampton fans enjoying a once in a lifetime run of form, it's not going to happen every year because we're Southampton. These players have built up an enormous amount of credit for me and to boo them at HT was a poor show, and so were the comments from fans around me.

Seriously? First goal, I give you - awful, should never get past him. How can anyone put the third goal on him though, I mean what on earth is he supposed to be - super human? Incredibly ridiculous to put that goal on him.

What do the media have on this guy? It's mental. He's one of the worst right backs in the league in my opinion, always at fault for goals. Would be shitting myself if we had him in our team and we were playing balls across the back 4. He may be able to pass the ball, cross, score a free kick etc - but primarily his job is to defend and he's absolutely awful at it. The fact they're trying to shoe-horn in into midfield and number 10 says it all for me, coaches know he's not good enough defensively but can't bring themselves to say it. The young kid, Connor Bradley, has looked more assured defensively and does still provide an attacking threat. 'Trent' will go down in most football fans minds as one of the most overrated English players ever.

This season does feel a bit like the L1 promotion season to me, has a similar feel. We had a slow start that season as well. I remember the tussle we had with Huddersfield that year, we won, they won, we won, they won - it was relentless right until the end. I think we'll see that with Leeds.

Rothwell is the winner so far! A cracker, the technique was just perfection.

He starts every game for me, looked a different side with him in it. Adams to the bench, Armstrong in the 9. That's how I'd go.

Changed the game when he came on imo. We really struggled with a focal point today, Adams was horrific (he may have been carrying a knock to be fair) and Armstrong had a real off day. He just injected something different into us, and pushed Huddersfield back.