SaintLondon

Starting to feel sick with nerves constantly.. I think if Watford get a positive result tonight it'll be massive for tomorrow - I do worry about Norwich but I think if we can start the game well and get the monkey of our back then we can hopefully kick on... Up the Saints!

There is next to no margin for error and I think it'll come down to a point or two so all focus should be on the league but Arsenal should be considered a free hit. Put out a decent team and we surprise a few people by playing well. We lose the game playing well with our heads held high does no damage (IMO) to morale - losing to the PL champions elect. Win and it could very well be the game the catapults us to play offs. For what its worth I think we might just fall short but my eyes are on Hull - I think Wrexham will make it into play offs.

You don't have to worry any more - I did a Championship predictor for remaining games and had Saints finishing 6th on 70 points and Hull finishing 7th on 68. If you're interested, Wrexham finish on 73 and Ipswich have a late surge to usurp Boro and finish 2nd. Pompey stay up on goal difference. WBA down.

Got a mate still looking for a ticket if anyone hears of one

Got a mate looking for a ticket if anyone has a spare

Any boozers nearby that'll be selling pints at 11am?

More tickets released - just got two.

There is an automated messaged when you call the ticket office to say it's sold out but they're awaiting info from Fulham as to whether we can have more.

AH I just had a work call and finished just in time for them to sell out... SO I'm looking for 2x if anyone has a change of heart. Gutted!

It's an odd choice this - surely it makes more sense to keep AA until the summer rather than risk it with a 30 year old with a poor scoring record?

Apparently Armstrong to Boro according to some local hack on Twitter - it would make sense from a geographical POV

Ipswich in for Piroe on a permanent deal

Is mad that there hasn't even been a sniff of an incoming transfer - fair play for keeping it quiet (presuming LeG's source is correct and we're working on two)

Let me rephrase, you're right, plenty will want to come here BUT I don't think they'll be able to tempt players here that we, the fans, deem better than we currently have. People have been talking about players such as Callum Wilson, Josh Sargent and Taiwo Awoniyi and I'm saying nobody of that sort of calibre is going to come here. Not a chance in hell. So, we'll be left with players who are seen as risks - lower leagues etc or young foreign imports. Obviously for every Scienza there is a Damion Downes so it's just more gambling. We shouldn't have signed Downes in the summer, we should have signed a proven Championship striker who at the time would have seen us a shoe in for top 6 and an easier sell. Once again, they opted for a clever move and once again it's not worked out.

As we’ve discussed plenty of times, while SR are shite, they’ve never been afraid to spend money. I imagine they’ll feel they have to bring in some reinforcements - if nothing else, to take the heat off themselves for a bit. But, as with last January, who exactly is going to want to come here? Everyone keeps banging on about needing a big, strong number nine, but anyone half-decent isn’t choosing a mid-table Championship club unless it’s a gamble for them. And if we do sign someone, we’ll inevitably be up in arms about either (a) an unknown quantity or (b) someone with pretty underwhelming numbers. It’s a lose–lose. To be clear, the blame sits squarely with SR - we shouldn’t be anywhere near this position in the first place. But right now they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Semmens absolutely put us in this mess by selling to SR, but on reflection I think he and the old board did a better job than I gave them credit for at the time, especially given the circumstances.

Five days until the window slams shut and not a hint of a rumour. I asked a mate who knows someone high up at the club to ask some questions for me and I've been told that we'll most likely sign a couple but don't get excited by them.

To reiterate my post from a few days ago - it's all a bit miserable isn't it. Obviously there is PR guff in Bazunu's interview but quite clear to read between the lines - it's toxic here and he couldn't wait to get out. That said, he probably also wasn't enjoying getting pelters from the fans week in week out for being shit. (Btw I'm in agreement - he is shit). I'm not expecting some phoenix rising from the ashes career turnaround from Bazunu - he's average at best and always will be.

Is this just on the basis that we'll probably lose against Sheff Utd and Portsmouth this week or that you know something hellish that is going to happen imminently?

It's all a bit miserable isn't it.

This would worry me - Wolves will be in the Championship next year and so will we - I don't to help a potential rival.

I don't think we're going to sigh a striker - I reckon Ross Stewart being 'back' is it. What a load of bollocks. Or we'll try very late in the day to get a loan striker in - some 19 year old from Villa or something.

Obviously, we’re not going up this year - and hopefully not going down either - so it’s fairly clear that January is about offloading as much as possible and cutting our losses. The hope, presumably, is that once that’s done we can at least draw a line under this season and use the summer to begin the long-overdue rebuild. It all feels a bit like Ferrari downing tools halfway through a season to focus on the next set of regulations. Sensible in theory, deeply uninspiring in the moment - and, if history is anything to go by, unlikely to deliver the immediate step forward we’re all hoping for. I suspect we’ll fare about as well next season as they usually do in those scenarios. Which is to say: shite.

Wasn't it against Sheff United in the cup? We lost 1-0 or something and things were a bit bleak?

Because we're about to bring in a set piece coach so we can use our typical PR spin to say we've solved the problem and now we push for play offs ... yawn. Will finish nearer the relegation places than play-offs.

I was chatting to a mate over the weekend and we were trying to pinpoint the last time we felt genuinely content with everything at the club. Depressingly, for me it was the 2015/16 season - a decade ago. Of course, no club is ever on a constant upward trajectory; there are always peaks and troughs. But from my perspective, what we’ve experienced since then feels less like fluctuation and more like a slow decline, as we continue to circle the drain. You can’t lay every problem at SR’s door, but I do think they represent the single biggest issue we’ve faced over that ten-year period. No one has asked for my opinion, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.