david in sweden

A big step up for Danso, who didn't look out of place in his few appearances but he became the scapegoat for poor performances from others in the team who were a more permanent fixture in Ralph's set-up. After that he never got off the bench which I think was a bit unfair of RH who might have persisted a with him.

It's not wrong to consider these lads are worth " some minutes" at the highest level - they have to start sometime, but we should be careful not to overload the team with too many untried youngsters all at once. Most of the teenage summer signings were a good investment, but there is a world of difference between being the " star act " in someone's B team, and then coming up against hardened internationals in the toughest league in the World, but to start 3 or 4 of them every week- is a recipe for disaster, as we have seen to our cost this season. Looking back Prowsey got game time in our first match after Prem. promotion 2012-13 , but was sparingly used as a sub for several seasons before becoming an automatic starter, whilst learning to play alongside others who were already established professionals with international status. 400 games later, he's still first on the team sheet and (statistically) covers more ground than any other Prem. player. He's paid his dues to Saints. In time, some of the new arrivals will undoubtedly make good careers, and some of our current group of U18's (who have been playing together since they were 8 year olds), have been the backbone of the U21 success this season, and one or two will still be eligible for the U18 's next season. Certainly the best Academy group in the last 10 years. (was JWP, Stephens, Chambers, Shaw, Targett, McQueen and Reed ) from memory. Playing at a lower level (Championship) will certainly give our new U21's the opportunity for real game time and progress in their careers, but we must sign a few seasoned pro's who know the pitfalls of the lower level (we already have Bree), and our own loanees like Tella and Smallbone who have sampled the lower level with some success. IF - we do go down, there will be a huge generational shift and hopefully a real start for the brightest / best of our youngsters.

interesting comment. Rickie said Adam Lallana was clearly the best player he played alongside in his time with Saints.. Clearly Brendon Rodgers over looked that fact when Liverpool signed both but seldom had them both on the pitch at the same time. Their success with us was due to their partnership, not their individual skills alone....

Massive, gy-normous ...or whichever vital-type superlative you choose, it may be one of the most meaningful games since Gabbiadini's goal at Swansea kept us up.... or the way the Man.Utd .game imploded and relegated us to the Championship in 2005. With Forest sitting just above us in the drop zone, you don't need a calculator to see that anything less than 3 points will certainly condemn us to relegation - as the remaining 3 games afterwards (2 of which are away) are against in-form sides who are all going for some measure of Euro glory for next season. .....so that we need to see 4 top class performances from all players - who are either wanting to cement a place in next season's squad, or are looking for a " big club" to buy them out, so that they can stay in the Prem.. ..... whichever way you look at it, unless there is another doom-laden word that illustrates this match better than.........massive.

1) ....except that Nathan Tella is under contract to us until summer 2025. He'd be first choice in a Saints team and he knows how to play in the Championship. There's no guarantee that Burnley will do well , with or without him. IF he were to go? we'd need an really big offer that no-one could refuse bearing in mind we've just spent 40 million on TWO strikers who don't get regular game time under this manager, or score when they do get on the pitch. 2) Mmm...a new striker in an attacking force.(!)...that would be a novelty after all these sad years. IMHO we need at least two real goalscorers. Maybe " tall Paul " would get some game time (under another manager) and we might even play with two real wingers / wing backs in a formation that players like. IF.." a relegated Saints" are serious about getting back to the Prem. in short order, we need another Pelle, Mane or a Lambert who can find the net regularly. Looking at the current promotion candidates... Burnley have scored 84 goals, and even 4th placed Midd'boro have clocked up 83 already. It's a strain on the memory to recall when Saints last scored that many.... in any league. ?. The Championship is a minefield of 24 clubs of vastly varying abilities, who play on uneven pitches and pack their squads with tough guys, who play long ball tactics and have defenders who tackle hard and " don't take prisoners". Skill takes second place on pitches that will look like a ploughed field by New Year, and don't get repaired afterwards. We will need a good group of determined CB's and Midfielders who can match them, and very few in our present squad of players are even 6 feet tall, and many are fairly " lightweight " by comparison. A lot will depend on who will manage / coach the club after the summer, a.t.m. ... I see no obvious names to enthrall over ....

I watched my first game ..64 years ago, but I feel much the same as you... eurosaint. Despite the fact that Ralph kept us up for 3 seasons, we have been going downhill ever since Koeman jumped ship. His move to Everton was a monumental disaster for them, and showed what a difficult club they are to manage and that they should have been relegated long ago for breaking every financial restriction that UEFA had ever set-up. Koeman's two seasons produced some good games, and even better players. Mane, Pelle, Tadic and a few more ..(take your pick), unfortunately their replacements failed miserably and it cost the club a fortune in a long list of poor signings....(make your own list). Likewise with managers. Puel, Pellegrini (?) and Hughes struggled with a ragbag of indifferent signings made by Les Reed and Ross Wilson. In retrospect only Gabbiadini's goal at Swansea, and a couple of seasons of Danny Ings has kept us from relegation two or three years ago, and we have failed miserably with every attempt to replace Ingsy and shown the clear distinction between the levels of the first and second tier. Relegation if it comes - may be some sort of a blessing - as this squad has proven itself incompetent of retaining top level status and a fire sale of our " most-valued " international players will enable them to stay in the Prem. ...and give us finance to buy in new blood, and a clearing out of the "dead wood", in order to give the next manager the nucleus of a squad to get us back up to the Prem. in 1-3 seasons. It will also be the gateway for some of the current crop of excellent U21 players to get game time they would never normally have at Prem. level. Even if we don't bounce back straight away, at least sign us a couple of decent goalscorers, in the mould of; Ron Davies, Channon, MLT Beattie, Lambert, Mane and Pelle.... and at least we'll have something to cheer about at SMS.... regardless of whichever league we are in...

Quite right Badger, I've asked myself the same question. The Championship is a hard place to escape from. In the past few years there are several sides who have had good seasons and ended up there ..or thereabouts, yet failed to win automatic promotion - or even get through the playoffs and it needs spending money they don't have. and can't get. Burnley ..(never a club to spend big money) have bounced back first time, but the likes of Sheffield Utd, Norwich and Bournemouth end up being " yo-yo" clubs, who are too good for the second tier, but just become cannon fodder for Prem. sides. Aside from our own predicament, there are still a few " big name clubs" who might still go down.... one way or another. After the 2009 bankruptcy, we built well in L1 and The Championship and were well worth our promotion, but it took 3 seasons to get there. We need to find another Fonte, another Lambert and a new young Lallana, and finding the right manager is even more difficult. Not an easy ask. Remember - even after his disasterous sojourn with us, Nathan Jones had done minor miracles in the lower leagues with almost no money at all.

.and he won't be alone either. Prowsey has already been promised a well-deserved move for his many years of service and a real chance of some England glory with "top club". Lavia will surely go for decent money, and maybe ABK and the hitherto unplayed Orsic, and Onuacho maybe good but won't want Championship football. Bednarek is always very concerned about his regular spot in the Polish side and won't fancy playing Championship football either. Those who don't want go down should be given a lifejacket, or at least place in the life boat , and let us keep those who will see a career playing at a less-demanding level. Those out of contract , or with a year left, should be sold for whatever we can get . The downside will be 46 rugged games - on less than perfect pitches - coming up against 6'3" bully-boys who weigh in at 13 stone and will cripple our young talents before they get started. In short we need a few bully boys of our own in midfield to survive , and a proven strikers who can spend 90 minutes lurking around the opposition penalty area waiting for half-chances and will score 20 goals a season..

This fixture is the one I've been most concerned about all season - even considering the Arsenal game. We have produced some of our best performances away from home ...Wins at Leicester, Bournemouth, Everton and Chelsea, and draws against Man Utd and Arsenal -that is 14 out of our measly 24 points. Only the thought of another two homes games is more fearful - considering we have suffered 11 defeats so far. Newcastle historically have a great fan base and still pulled in over 40,000 for home games - even when they were down in League 1. Few can doubt that Eddie has done a great job - with the help of a few hundred million spent on the right players, and they have performed very well. The doors of ...the Last Chance Saloon ...are still swinging in the breeze, and we still can't get in ....or should it be ... get out?. Many of us would select "our best side" , but right now, it seems Selles is sticking with those he knows from his start back in the summer. Whatever the players may have thought about Hassenhuttl and Jones, they seemed to respect Selles (in the start), but now the gloss has worn thin. However, his recent team selections have baffled many of us and he seems unwilling to try any of the many January signings to start a game, and JWP's enforced absence in the second half v. Bournemouth showed how much we miss his influence on the rare occasions when he is absent. There may have been some justification for replacing Bazunu with McCarthy (a goalie I have seldom had much faith in), but we still see the same starters every game ( Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong offer very little to any game), and although Walker-Peters and Perraud look very positive going forward (rather like their long ago predecessors ; Bale, Shaw and Targett ) appear rather mediocre as the defenders they were meant to be. I would be happier to even see Maitland-Niles or Bree as an alternative defender. It seems unlikely that we will ever see Orsic or Onuachu play more than 45 minutes of Prem. football (which is cruel considering that they are both senior players with vast experience in their particular roles.) One can only hope that a changed in formation / or personnel may give us a lift, but sadly I fear that the line-up may be boringly predictable.

Aside from the 99 other excuses / reasons quoted above....losing 11 home games doesn't help...

Correct Saint_clark. He scored 30 Prem. goals in 1999-2000 season. Amazing to think that he started as a schoolboy with Saints and was on the books for 6 years before being released - as it was considered he was "too small " to be a striker, (and even a full back ) !. Similar storyline with Dennis Wise who was released by Saints - for the same reason. Kevin Phillips spent several seasons in non-league football after being released by Saints before ending up at Sunderland (who were a good Prem. side). His goal scoring record with Sunderland was nothing short of miraculous as he scored 130 goals in 235 apps. in all competitions.

If it was 2 million? ( I stand corrected).... but Souness said he was disgusted at the offer as it was far from realistic in the market at the time.

What we have is a TEAM problem. If you look at that short list of.. "wanna go's " they have all shown their personal skills / talents, quite frequently during the season. Many of our defeats have often been down to individual errors on the day but those named are far too good for the Championship. In any summer fire sale, I could see us getting 100-120 mill. without any doubt.

Any Prem. player who has experienced International football will want to keep his stock high and not drop down a division, AND a salary scale. LIfe at the top can be precarious and while we may offer new contracts to some, I think some agents already have a Plan B - if Saints get relegated. As I wrote before, Those " class acts " ....JWP, Lavia, KWP, Salisu and ABK won't be short of interested suitors and may well move during the summer. Elyounoussi may join Redmond at Besiktas in Turkey (?), whilst I'd keep Walcott and Caballero for another year (if only for the value of their experience). Adam Armstrong and Che Adams will be in demand elsewhere, and " as good as they maybe" , I don't see them "suddenly" finding form in the Saints set-up. The likes of Djenepo and Aribo (who have been demoted to the bench), would likely run riot against some Championship defences. Hopefully, the new crop of youngsters might do well in their second season, whilst the likes of Ballard, Doyle and Payne - who show talent far above their age group - would certainly develop quicker playing at a lower level. We have a number of others away on loan and both Tella and Smallbone have made a good impression in their performances with Championship clubs . Jack Stephens (currently loaned to Bournemouth) is under contract to Saints until 2025 (?) and might well be back , unless he moves to B'mouth permanently,(?) .. or even moves back to his home town Plymouth side (?) ...who may also be a Championship side by next season. Obviously we might survive in a " The Great Escape " scenario again, but in all honesty I don't see this squad avoiding a similar fate next season, despite having already spent 150 million in the last year, but to little effect. Relegation would give us +/- another 100 million in transfer fess / reducing the salary bill, and give our younger talents a chance to show up well . Neither survival , or relegation seems like a good solution a.t.m. - but for totally different reasons.

Like many who went before him, DM managed to keep us afloat for that one season, which was a just reward for a man who managed our Youth squads for 10 years and brought on talents like; MLT, Shearer, Maddison, the Wallace Brothers, Kenna, Benali, Dodd and a series of lesser well-known players many of whom went onto make league careers at various levels. Alan Shearer once commented (with respect) that Merrington often gave the youngsters " a hard time" , but succeeded in turning " the boys into men " and they all benefitted from his " hard, but fair " methods. Rupert Lowe must have thought he did well by replacing Dave with - Graham Souness, (who distinguished himself by signing Ali Dia), but at the end of his one season, bu**ered off to manage in Italy - after Lowe told him he'd have one million pounds...as a summer transfer budget !!!! (joke).

I recall that Beattie didn't get off the mark until game 9 (?) that season, then went like a train the rest of the time and was only pipped for the Golden Boot by Thierry Henry - who scored just one goal more....

Lots of fans playing " the blame game" on here and outing certain players, but that does no credit to the overall team performance. Considering some of the games we've LOST to inferior opposition this season, this game should be seen in a more positive light. Going up against the league leaders away from home, then scoring twice in the first 15 minutes must be some sort of a landmark, and with three goals on the board and 88 mins on the clock shows what they can do - but the stats. show another side to the game. Overall we had just 26% possession and scored 3 goals from just 8 shots, whereas Arsenal needed 25 shots to get their 3 goals. It's not often that we score 3 in a League game (we had 3-3 v. Spurs when coming from behind) but I thought Selles tactic with 5 at the back in the last quarter was a good ploy that almost worked, but then Arsenal showed why they have led the table for most of the season, and we even withstood an extra 10 minutes without conceding more. The rest of the season may be purely academic in terms of league position, but when looking back we cannot avoid admitting that the season was essentially lost through those record 10 home defeats and those home games we lost v. Palace, Villa, Wolves and Forest ( all ironically on you know whose watch ) ... were most likely the turning point from which there was no return.

Watched an interview with James Beattie... a while ago. Said he always liked playing for Saints and was a bit sad about having to make the move to EVERTON. Didn't really want to go, but Saints were very hard up (as usual) and just couldn't afford to turn down the 6 million offer... ............(not the first time I've heard that storyline from a former player)...

Absolutely YES .. Can I like this post more than once ? Signed by Mc Menemy (I think)..and got plenty of game time. Saints re-habbed and perservered with him after he broke a leg, but he later fell out with Chris Nicholl .. ( I know who I'd side with ) ...and then moved onto pastures new. He may have done well for himself later, but there is the possibility that he might have finished his career ....with Weymouth.

..." oh Ye of little faith".....

Knowing Saints' unpredictability when playing against top clubs, we might be able to surprise everyone. Let's face it ..playing away in an evening game against the side who are top of the league ...What could possibly go wrong ?. What are the odds on a Saints win ?

Right Turkish... Firstly sign a 6'2" striker from L1 / L2 who clocked up 20 goals this season, and won't cost us a fortune... .........then get a routine tough / very tough CB who can take care of himself and knows his way around the leagues. If we are talking " Championship" next season .....let's sell 'em all + sell-on fees... and balance the books and go back to Celtic for their best assets. Prowsey, KWP, ABK, Lavia.. they're all talented internationals, and far too good for the second tier. They deserve a better class of football. Whenever .. we get back up to the Prem. (?) ...then go out and find some more young talents.

He will need a very large size shirt to put that name on.......otherwise we print his name in 4 point size.

Agree with that "Ron". Although we (rightly) credit Nigel Adkins with our quick return to the Prem. (Adkins-like Nathan Jones) underestimated the challenges that face a Prem. Manager.... (as we have seen with much bigger names already this season). However, I think many failed to give praise to Alan Pardew, who in one season took us from -12 points in L1 to the brink of the play-offs and managed to win the JPT. Pardew was responsible for signing Fonte (who in retrospect was a class signing who partnered 6 different CB's in his time with Saints), before being criminally released (by Claude Puel?)... to go on and play for Lille and win trophies - and is still in their first team squad at age 39. Perhaps Pardew's best achievement was signing the overweight, pie-eating journeyman Rickie Lambert whose career rise took him to a World Cup with England. The tailpiece to this story was in 2009 (the then) chairman Nicola Cortese seriously challenged Pardew's decision to sign Lambert in the first place. Witnessed from a later Sky Sport interview, Pardew said Cortese asked him... " do you really want to spend 1 million pounds on a 27 year old L1 player ? " Cortese' own judgement in signing players was shown worst with his agreement to sign Gaston Ramirez and Dani Osvaldo (both on borrowed money) and whose disasterous deals that eventually cost the club almost 50 million in bank interest, signing-on fees.... and salaries. Apparently Saints once refused the chance to sign a certain Jamie Vardy from the (then) non-league Fleetwood. Somewhere out there - in the rest of the footballing world - is another Fonte and another Lambert and one way or another we need to find them PDQ.

it will take a few more years before you get the reality of being a Saints fan. Another Prem. season with this squad will be no better. I watched my first game in 1959 (!) and the ups-and-downs along the way have only gone to make life more... " interesting ". We are not relegated YET, but if/when it happens we will sell our best players to cut the salary bill to cover the loss of TV money, and then clear out the " dead wood" and adjust to life at a lower level, and promote some of our creative young talents. We need to find a real CF (that's centre-forward in old football terminology). Someone who can score goals ... and do it regularly. (Remember those critics who said Rickie Lambert would never be able to score goals in the Championship - after we were promoted from L1). ....also go out and find ourselves a creative midfielder, and a tough S.O.B. at centre-back who can organise the backline. SEE... no problem.