John B

Potential does will Promotion outstanding consistent attacking players and strikers do but we do not seem to have any.

GOAL: Cardiff 0-1 Hull City Fabio Carvalho (32 mins) shame we did not persuade him to come to St Mary's as he seems to have scored a few goals at Hull

Five loanees and no Acadamey youngsters in the starting XI shows how we have regressed over the last few years. I know most Championship clubs have loanees but I wish we had more players we had scouted and s[gned

I agree with what you are saying but this year Ipswich Leicester and Leeds have achieved outstanding results which has no doubt put lots of pressure on our players

So where are our outstanding consistent creative players like we had in previous promotion squads?

So you do not think top class football matyches are decided on fine margins on the football pitch with the team making less errors usually victorious especi better ally in penalty shootouts. Clearly if we had had a goalkeeper who let in less goals and strikers who missed less clear chances we would be in a better situation than we are now

I have never thought that we were likely to get automatic promotion I just do not feel the players are good enough I have seen three top flight promotions not sure that any of todays squad would get into any of those promotion sides

FULL-TIME Bristol City 1-0 Leicester Huge result at the top of the Championship!

Seems a strange response to me with a Republic of Ireland squadlike this it is hardly surprising they do not win many matches Goalkeepers: Bazunu (Southampton), Kelleher (Liverpool), Travers (Bournemouth) Defenders: Coleman (Everton), Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Collins (Brentford), Omobamidele (Nottingham Forest), O'Shea (Burnley), Scales (Celtic), O'Brien (Lyon), Brady (Preston), Ebosele (Udinese). Midfielders: Cullen (Burnley), Knight (Bristol City), Smallbone (Southampton), McGrath (Aberdeen), O'Dowda (Cardiff City), Sykes (Bristol City), Azaz (Middlesbrough), Johnston (West Bromwich Albion). Forwards: Ferguson (Brighton), Idah (Celtic, on loan from Norwich), Obafemi (Millwall, on loan from Burnley), Szmodics (Blackburn), Ogbene (Luton Town), Parrott (Excelsior, on loan from Tottenham).

But what is top draw Both him and Kelleher of Liverpool play for Ireland and since 2021 Baz has played twice as many times than Kelleher

It may not be a reality but it is still a possibility

But a play off trip to Wembley would be great

I agree with what you are saying but if we win the play offs I can only see us struggle in the PL

If he was not guilty of some bad misses I doubt he would be playing for us

What do his stats say according to someone they are better than Bree's

Getting more likely for next season perhaps surely will happen soon

Very true But think of some of the strikers we had in our promtion years Martin Chivers Ted McDougal Phil Boyer Rickie Lambert with Terry Paine Alan Ball and Adam Lallana playing as well. Without outstanding consistent players we will always struggle as these days as we are not producing top class players through our academy like we used to do and ex internationals like Ball Keegan Watson Osgood etc no longer come here because of their high wage demands. So we have to see if Adams Armstrong and Mara flourish and if they do most likely they will leave. We are were we are like most of the clubs in the country trying to progress with limited resources I have been very lucky compared with the youngsters of today as a Saints fan to see great players and great matches but that said we have only one major trophy the FA Cup which was nearly fifty years ago. Following and watching the Saints has been a pastime I have enjoyed and I will continue to do so as I approach my 80s and this season has been great especially with the long unbeaten run and there is still the possibility of promotion although if it happens I expect us to struggle in the PL

How is he to address the obvious fact that the squad is not good enough for the automatic promotion places

Clearly at the moment the squad is not going to finish in the top two and I cannot see how it would not be relegation fodder if it did get to the PL It would be nice to see Ipswich in the PL for a season at least

Have you seen Downes play regularly in the PL?

I think we should be focused on getting more points than both Leeds and Ipswich which is not not asurred at the moment as we have to play them both and Leicester away

Does not fill me with confidence really especially if Downes is not fit enough to play

It is 6 miles from West Bromwich to the Centre of Birmingham as a matter of interest

But our results against the top teams has not been consistent we may finish 2nd but I doubt it as Leicester and Leeds are relatively strong

But do you really think this squad is good enough to finish in the top 2 I do not think it has the quality of players that Adkins had and will struggle in the PL but they have done really well so far