BBC Blog on L1 Promotion race

[S-Clarke]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/03/who_is_going_up_from_league_on.html

 

Saints were superb as they thrashed Huddersfield 5-0 - strong in defence, tigerish in midfield and clinical in attack. I have rarely, if ever, seen a performance of such quality from a third-tier team.

[alpine_saint]

Enjoyed reading that.

 

The other teams are looking over their shoulders at us.

[Matthew Le God]

Is this a new and positive alpine_saint?

[Saint_clark]

Is this a new and positive alpine_saint?

 

Has anyone really said Lallana doesnt give 100% ?

 

I just think sometimes he is a headless chicken.

 

 

Nope.

[alpine_saint]

Nope.

 

Wow, another stalker...

[Saint_clark]

Wow, another stalker...

 

I answered a question. It just happened to be about you.

[Deanovski]

Wow, another stalker...

 

you should purchase a gun

[1976_Child]

I like Alpine Saint. Leave him alone.

[London Saint]

whats unfortunate is that this seems to be an exceptional year for League 1, whereby the 6th placed team will have a much higher points tally than usual.

 

Huddersfield in 6th are on 58 points. By comparison, look at the Championship, where currently 49 points will get you 6th place from a similar number of games!

[Deanovski]

I like Alpine Saint. Leave him alone.

 

2nded

[Glasgow_Saint]

2nded

 

3rd'd

[Tom28]

Although we only play Tranmere in the next week, its a huge week for us in terms of other fixtures:

 

Saturday:

 

Gillingham v Huddersfield (Gillingham have a good home record; don't concede many (9 in 17 games)

Swindon v Bristol Rovers (Bristol have won 2 in a row and could hold them)

Walsall v Millwall (Walsall top half of the table side and will want to respond to the 5-1 drubbing we gave them)

 

Tuesday:

 

Carlisle v Millwall

MK Dons v Swindon

 

And then on the Saturday we have Leeds, Huddersfield are at home to Norwich and Millwall are at home to Charlton.

 

Not sure what my point is, except that the sides above us we are competing against for the 6th playoff spot have some tough games in the next fortnight and IF we keep winning, that 14 point gap is going to start closing up very quickly.

[The9]

3rd'd

 

Only 7462 users to go...

[Fowllyd]

That's a good read, not least in that it gives a clear indication of just how fast Norwich have risen - note this comment about Leeds' match at Old Trafford in the Cup:

 

That fixture took place on 2 January and Leeds travelled to Old Trafford safe in the knowledge they had an eight-point lead over Charlton in second.

 

At the start of the year Norwich were eleven points behind Leeds, having played the same number of matches; now they're five points ahead of them, and nine ahead of Charlton. That's a hell of a lot of ground to make up in a relatively short time. And, if Norwich can do it, so can we!

[farawaysaint]

+1 alps is always a level head amongst the masses

[NickG]

...

[stmusicdude]

I like Alpine Saint. Leave him alone.

I think most like him mate, dosent mean we agree with every post or that sometimes we feel our views are very very different

[The9]

That's a good read, not least in that it gives a clear indication of just how fast Norwich have risen - note this comment about Leeds' match at Old Trafford in the Cup:

 

 

 

At the start of the year Norwich were eleven points behind Leeds, having played the same number of matches; now they're five points ahead of them, and nine ahead of Charlton. That's a hell of a lot of ground to make up in a relatively short time. And, if Norwich can do it, so can we!

 

Disappointingly it says more about Leeds' faltering form than Norwich's.

 

But if we win every game until June we'll go up, and it looks slightly more likely than it did a week ago.

 

Tranmere away to break our crap pitch hoodoo, then Leeds and Swindon at home, if we get 9 points we are poised to challenge. Lots of matches between the other top sides but we've played most of them by then and our toughest game left at that point is Bristol Rovers away, where we've already won this season.

[SNSUN]

At the start of the year Norwich were eleven points behind Leeds, having played the same number of matches; now they're five points ahead of them, and nine ahead of Charlton. That's a hell of a lot of ground to make up in a relatively short time. And, if Norwich can do it, so can we!

 

That takes into account, though, the fact that Leeds's form dropped after the Manure win.

 

Yes we can do it if we win all or most of our games, but we also need two of the play-off sides to really balls it up.

[LaptopSaint]

And of course we have to hope that we don't get distracted and drop stupid points in the games before or straight after the P!ss Pot Trophy final.

[Jez]

And of course we have to hope that we don't get distracted and drop stupid points in the games before or straight after the P!ss Pot Trophy final.

 

Not going to Wembley then?

[ponto1963]

And of course we have to hope that we don't get distracted and drop stupid points in the games before or straight after the P!ss Pot Trophy final.

 

I take it you're not going then

[London Saint]

The bookies like what they see from last night. Before the game we were 12/1 for promotion and thats been slashed to 7/1!

[up and away]

Originally Posted by alpine_saint

Has anyone really said Lallana doesnt give 100% ?

 

I just think sometimes he is a headless chicken.

Nope.

 

I would not word it exactly as Alpine has, but I can definitely see a point. There have definitely been times when we were not playing well that Lallana drifts into positions that do not help. Equally the same effective energy levels are not there or not so effective.

 

That said, when others are doing their job properly, Lallana is a real asset and shines within the team. He can do it on his own but not as I expect of Puncheon. I really doubt Lallana will be able to keep up the levels of recent performances throughout the season, that would only be natural for a lad his age.

 

Lallana is still young and will suffer in a demanding league such as this. It does not mean the player is crap, but it does mean he still has things to learn, stamina to build, which will all eventually come in time. It happens to all young players, I particularly remember Surman going through a very long period, sandwiched by good periods that made him a target for the Premier.