nta786

As is the stoke forum ‘10-0 defeat to Swansea anyone?’ from one poster.

Get shane on- he may not score often but he did it for Ireland against Germany- we need some magic like that. I am so nervous, but 0-0 at half time is not a disaster. Come on SAINTS.

same- have not felt this nervous in years- not even before our cup final.

That is interesting as when you read Stoke fans forum etc, recruitment is the reason they seem to hate Hughes and call him all sort of things. A lot of Stoke fans blame Hughes for them going down and say that boils down to his buying of ‘mercenaries’- talking about players like Jese, Wimmer, Imbula...

“I believe in myself and I believe in my players,” Carvalhal said. “My target now is to try to get the players to believe in themselves and believe in their colleagues. “These are the things that we must do. I would be talking in a completely different way if, for example, we had to win on Tuesday and then had to wait for two or three other results to go our way. “That would be a really bad situation for us. But when it is in your hands to do it, you can just concentrate on doing it." ---------------------------------------- the above suggests he is content with a draw tonight! I hope we can smash a cautious Swansea then- I reckon they will play on the counter with Narsingh and Dyer tbh

:lol: brilliant. heard MDMA is the worst.

i'm happy to sell our best players if it means we get a good fee for them- that's because it means they have been successful and in turn would suggest the team has been successful. blame them for recruitment, not for selling- unless the PL imposes some sort of wage cap I don't see how we can stop players moving if they only have 2 years left on their contract. it is a risky strategy to employ yes

tbf to MLG he is right in the sense that staying in the PL is the best way of any form of success in this day and age. if we want a cup/good cup run- far more likelier for that to arise from being in the PL. If we want Europe, then again, far more likelier by being in the PL. So yeah, sure there might be downs like this season- but finishing 17th one year and then getting recruitment right offers a better chance of finishing top half the following year, and repeat. to go into the championship now takes us back a lot- and to see all those big clubs there scrambling for 3 promotion spots doesn't fill me with confidence to say we can go straight back up.

On paper- yes. There is a massive difference between playing City at home and already relegated Stoke at home. Although I hope the players don’t have the mindset the majority of us fans have and remain confident in getting 6 points from final 2 games

Paul Merson: This is a cup final and as big as a Championship play-off final game - whoever wins, you would have to say is safe. Huddersfield will be sweating on Swansea winning this game as they have Stoke at home in their final game, while Southampton have Man City at home. Swansea have gone off the boil a bit though and they have tried to stick a few times - when you get these free swings, you are better off just going for it and gambling, instead of just playing to nick a draw. But at the end of the day, Swansea could win this game and stay up because of their goal difference, with them having not been smashed by other teams, so it is a bit of a catch-22. The game they will be kicking themselves about is Everton at home, which they dominated and they were by far the better team. If Southampton draw, they are out of it, but Swansea have two home games now. However, Swansea are good at home and have decent players, and I think Southampton have to win - they will not want to go into the final match against one of the greatest Premier League teams of all time needing to win. Southampton are playing well at the moment, they were good against Bournemouth, even though they were hanging on a bit at the end, and then they were unlucky against Everton. However, I am going to go for Swansea to win - I am going to forget their last few results, which were hard fixtures, and say they will win at home. And if it is 1-1 with 20 minutes to go, I do not see all-out attack from Swansea as I think they will take their chance on beating Stoke at home. PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 to Swansea.

I can’t help but feel Stoke want to throw it away next Sunday against Swansea purely in spite of Hughes, and the way Paul Lambert spoke the other day saying ‘the rot for Stoke started in June’ (inferring that Hughes is to blame), then I reckon Lambert’s a bast*rd who wants Hughes to have this title of taking 2 teams down in one season, and that Stoke fans would be content with that outcome. I hope it doesn’t work like that! and based on all that- we just MUST WIN tomorrow night!

If we parked the bus we’d still concede to City

Where have you seen those odds?!?

Anyone else considering betting near on their savings on a Swansea win or draw?!?! I can’t wait for Tuesday night wish I was able to go- biggest game of the season

Same after reading this thread!!! Mods lock it so I don’t have to read anymore new ones!

What if we beat Everton and Swansea!!! Then we would have been safe! Alas it was not to be, hopefully heads have not dropped. It would be pole position but unfortunately the fact we play Man City compared to Swansea playing already relegated Stoke at home tips the scales in their favour. We are also reliant on Huddersfield to not get anymore points- which albeit very unlikely cannot be ruled out- to be level on points with them would have been psychologically massive- they would have had to go for it for the rest of their games- as it stands they might be able to park the bus and get a draw potentially. It’s always better to have the points than to chase the points. However, it’s in our hands. I don’t see the goal difference being swung- so officially must win for us vs Swansea- not quite so much for them (key assumption being they will beat Stoke and we will lose to MC!)

Not quite winner takes all, they can afford a draw, they will beat Stoke easily (which is why I wanted Stoke to win today). However, it is in our hands. We know what we need to do and on this showing we should have enough to beat Swansea. As for the game, refs are an absolute joke.

Agreed- I want to add Watford’s handball goal to this list too- could go down because of it

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/thread/279192/throw-swansea-game-southampton-relegated lol. if swansea lose this I reckon Hughes will set up for a point tonight tbh. because that point would take us above them and mean Swansea might attack us more for the game on Tuesday. if swansea win then we might just go for it tonight.

these types of threads have never managed this many replies! in past 5 years we have rarely been reliant on other clubs!

wow. 10 year stay gone now.

exactly. we beat bournemouth at home that we easily could have dropped points had it not been for 2 great saves by McCarthy- the Ake shot and the one at the end- was by no means comfortable. I don't see any of our last 3 games as bankers that we can say, yes we have a very good chance of winning.

okay glad about that. that is a blow for them. let's go saints, if we win then we have just bought West Ham and Huddersfield back in it too.

yeah. that is what it is. that swansea game is truly a must win though, which i don't like but it is what it is. although if stoke did lose today then it does mean 2 of the spots are sown up. (however also means swansea play a stoke team with nothing to play for which could get them 3 easy points)

Call the ticket office, ask for collection from Goodison Park?