M271

According to the BBC 26 points dropped from leading position since the start of last season.

After over 50 years of supporting the Saints I knew what the script would be last night at half time. My wife was out so I texted her " Saints 1-0 up at half time. Much the better team but can't see Brighton being that bad in the 2nd half! Saints don't do holding a lead" Obviously hoped I would be wrong and when we weathered Brighton coming 'out of the blocks' early in the 2nd half and scoring our 2nd goal I hoped our 'luck' had changed but when they scored soon afterwards I knew we would not go on to win but gutted by such a late goal from the opposition AGAIN. That's already 5 valuable points lost from winning positions this season which would have doubled our points so far! (3 points lost in injury time)

I see that if Burnley beat Aberdeen they have Istanbul Basaksehir away in the next round on the Thursday before our Sunday home match with them. So they do have a long away trip before us.

My son's shirt arrived today with other items he ordered, he paid for next day delivery. Sunday ordered Wednesday delivery.

My son bought a small adult shirt this time yesterday and had the order confirmed email but has not had the follow up order processed and dispatched email yet, so fingers crossed. Are others in the same situation? I have read on here that order cancellation emails can be received but hopefully he would have received one of these by now if that was the case.

IF it proves to be that this design is not the actual one for this season maybe it was a prototype / mock up used as an option with other designs? Seems a lot of trouble to go to otherwise. Does anyone know if 2, 3 or more design options are actually made up in material to show the club 'in the flesh' to decide which design they choose?

Apart from 1st December to 1st January period where we play 5 of the 'Top 6' at a time of year we don't seem to normally perform well, the season seems quite well balanced with easier (on paper) start and ending.

For the first time on my mid-March predictor league I have Saints going down, as we are 2 points behind what I predicted (had draws for us against WH and Chelsea). The late goal by Hudds to win on Saturday was as hard a blow to our survival as us losing to Chelsea as I always had us and Hudds neck and neck with us staying up on GD. My latest prediction: Huddersfield39 Swansea 38 Saints 36 Stoke 34 West Brom Bottom With the following results (probably now optimistic seeing as we have let in 3 goals in each of last 4 league games!): Leicester a 1 Bournmouth h 3 Everton a 0 Swansea a 3 Man C h 1 The whole season has been totally mismanaged, we knew after the opening 'easy' matches that not enough points had been gained and 'unfortunately' a good result against Everton and spirited performances against Man C, Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal which only resulted in 2 points (could easily have been 5) + progression in the cup kept Pellegrino in his job longer then he should. As was the result on Saturday every time we put in a performance some lapses of concentration knock us back to square one again. I know that the we have to play better for any perceived luck or opportunities to come our way but the footballing gods really haven't helped us this season, up to and including the Alonso foul on Saturday. But you largely make your own luck and if our defence keep switching off as they do during matches we will ultimately not get the results that we need.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43480460

Which of our first team players will be away on international duty and will not benefit from the full build up to the WH game with Hughes and the squad? Bertie, Cedric, Sims u20, Long, Højbjerg? In country squads. Gabbi, Romeo and Hoedt were out of favour Yoshida? and Davis injured. So maybe not that many missing.

No match of the day tonight? Thought there would be on quarter final day.

Hope it''s before 12.30 as kick off is at 1.30. I'm getting 11.09 from Crewe.

For what it's worth (not a lot!) I went through the remaining fixtures for Newcastle and below (didn't bother with WBA assuming they will be bottom), gave us 10 points from remaining matches 2 wins and 4 draws. I can see Palace getting out of it with easier run in, Zaha return and if the spirit they showed against MU continues. Conversely I see West Ham having a tricky and hopefully unsuccessful run in (have our match with them down as a draw but could be pivotal if either side wins). My prediction league came out very close with 3 teams finishing on 38 points and only our current superior goal difference keeping us up: Palace 42 Newcastle 41 Swansea 40 Saints 38 Huddersfield38 Stoke 38 West Ham 37 West Brom Bottom

Every team bar WBA, Stoke and us seem to play with the energy and intensity required to win and survive, even West Ham before they capitulated yesterday. Maybe that will be the bottom 3 unless things change.

Come on Manure, don't let us down.

If our kick off time is 12.00 or 12.30 there should be a big enough gap in start / finish times to avoid much mixing of our travelling fans, as Oldham v Portsmouth isn't until 15.00.

I also fear this might be the case, they haven't won since Woods went out injured around christmas time.

Looks like Burnley have some players coming back from injury, whether them getting through the training ground match against Blackpool makes them ready for Saturday is another matter. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43132870

This was the schedule last year, I guess that this year will follow a similar schedule but if a match can't take place on the Monday (as it's International week) then I presume will be on the Friday instead. With the Wigan Run on the Sunday hopefully our match will be one of the Saturday matches not Friday evening. Saturday 11 March Middlesbrough v Huddersfield Town or Manchester City (12.15pm) – BT Sport 2 Arsenal v Lincoln City (5.30pm) – BT Sport 2 Sunday 12 March Tottenham Hotspur v Millwall (2pm) – BBC One Monday 13 March Chelsea v Manchester United (7.45pm) – BBC One

The directions to get to Devereux Road are coming from the South.

Last season we parked on Devereux Road which has no restrictions. Directions are off the M5 at Junc 1, 1st left into Roebuck Street, left at The Vine pub into Roebuck Lane then right into Devereux Road. The Vine pub was very busy. To get to the ground walk to the dead end of Roebuck Lane into the subway under the M5 and then walk along the path by the side of the train track until it meets Halfords Lane then up to the ground, quite an easy walk taking 15 to 20 mins. Getting away afterwards was fairly easy taking Salisbury Road to the High Street and along to Junc 1 but you can also take Roebuck Lane depending which end of Devereux Road you are parked. It is busy but did'nt take long to get onto the motorway.

3 - 0. WBA have similar next 5 matches to us, will they still be 6 points behind us after them? Their performance tonight has been good for the most part but like us if you don't take your chances the best sides will punish you in the blink of an eye.

Sturridge injured after 2 mins!! Did we dodge a bullet! Hamstring.

Come on Chelsea don't do a Man U on us. We need to get a least one club cut adrift from the pack.

Chelsea down to 10 men after 30 mins. 0 - 0 current score.