The Elephant in the room - Champions?

[Charlie Wayman]

On 16/12/2020 at 14:20, marc_saint said:

Would have been more convincing with a Saints tie but fine effort anyway.

Not this year alas, we are not consistent enough and some promising young players need developing and first team experience before we can have the quality in depth that Champions need. 

Next year will be our year, no doubt about that!

[SaintBobby]

On 17/12/2020 at 06:29, Nolan said:

I think calling it a "period of good form" really undersells what we have achieved in 2020. We have Lost 9 premier League Games in the whole of 2020 up to now. 5 of those came before the initial lockdown.

 

 

 

 

 

I'd say this table is about right...we are somewhere around being the 5th best team in England. We have probably over-performed a bit, but that's roughly where we are just now. About 5th. And about 18 points off first.

[Nordic Saint]

11 hours ago, SaintBobby said:

I'd say this table is about right...we are somewhere around being the 5th best team in England. We have probably over-performed a bit, but that's roughly where we are just now. About 5th. And about 18 points off first.

They said in the TV commentary early in the Arsenal game that we were 3rd in that 2020 table but then we dropped those 2 points. But, 3rd-5th is still separated by just 1 point and the year's not over yet.

There was one year in the 80s when we were 1st in the annual league table. If only we could have put it together over a season rather than the second half of one and the first half of the next one, what might have been. We still had a better record when we finished runners-up in 1983/84 than Pompey did when they won the league in 1949/50. 

Edited 19 December, 2020 by Nordic Saint

[tajjuk]

On 15/12/2020 at 21:22, Lighthouse said:

We’re a 7-12th team

I'd slightly disagree on that, I'd say on form in 2020 and probably over 12 months, coupled with the continued inconsistency of the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd we are more like a 5th - 8th team, maybe even a 4th - 8th team if we can get really lucky with injuries.

I am not sure you can say we just in 'good form' when the results have been consistently amongst the top 6 for like 6-9 months. 

[Sheaf Saint]

Not a chance in hell we will finish above Liverpool this season.

[skintsaint]

On 19/12/2020 at 22:15, Sheaf Saint said:

Not a chance in hell we will finish above Liverpool this season.

If we beat them home and away I might start thinking 'hmmm maybe' ....

 

 

no fooking chance. 🙃

[Toussaint]

I believe we have peaked, our painfully thin squad being our achilles heel. We could of course we do splash some cash in Jan bit it would have to be for proven established talent, so therefore unlikely. Saturdays substitutions demonstrated how weak we are beyond the first choice eleven. 

[Lighthouse]

17 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I believe we have peaked, our painfully thin squad being our achilles heel. We could of course we do splash some cash in Jan bit it would have to be for proven established talent, so therefore unlikely. Saturdays substitutions demonstrated how weak we are beyond the first choice eleven. 

Having the likes of Forster, Redmond, Armstrong, Diallo and Salisu on the bench is not, "painfully thin." I’m not sure what calibre of player you’re expecting to be backup for a club like Saints but that bench is as good as it’s been for a while. Even under Poch we had players like Kelvin, Fox, Hooiveld and Mayuka on the bench.

[Whitey Grandad]

45 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I believe we have peaked, our painfully thin squad being our achilles heel. We could of course we do splash some cash in Jan bit it would have to be for proven established talent, so therefore unlikely. Saturdays substitutions demonstrated how weak we are beyond the first choice eleven. 

I don’t think we’ve peaked. I think it’s more a case of coming up against a couple of very good (and expensive) teams plus Ings not back to full sharpness. Let’s see how the we get on against the ‘softer’ teams.

Edited 21 December, 2020 by Whitey Grandad
Spelling

[Lord Duckhunter]

On 19/12/2020 at 14:15, Sheaf Saint said:

Not a chance in hell we will finish above Liverpool this season.

We never do. It’s only ever happened once in my lifetime. 

[Charlie Wayman]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

We never do. It’s only ever happened once in my lifetime. 

We were even runners up to the effing bindippers in 1983/84, our best season ever!

[cloggy saint]

I think the elephant has left the room and is making it's way to the front door.

[Whitey Grandad]

10 minutes ago, cloggy saint said:

I think the elephant has left the room and is making it's way to the front door.

After trampling on our chances on the way out.

[Toussaint]

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Having the likes of Forster, Redmond, Armstrong, Diallo and Salisu on the bench is not, "painfully thin." I’m not sure what calibre of player you’re expecting to be backup for a club like Saints but that bench is as good as it’s been for a while. Even under Poch we had players like Kelvin, Fox, Hooiveld and Mayuka on the bench.

Disagree, those on the bench were either out of form,  maybe never to regain form, or unproven. I assume Armstrong was rested for good reason, but when it came to it we had no one to bring on to affect the game on Saturday, which, if you are a title contender, which is what this thread is all about, you can't have. 

[Toussaint]

3 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I don’t think we’ve peaked. I think it’s more a case of coming up against a couple of very good (and expensive) teams plus Ings not back to full sharpness. Let’s see how the we get on against the ‘softer’ teams.

I say that in the context of we need our best 11 playing at 100% all of the time to maintain form.  A few injuries and a bit of fatigue will take its toll as we are not able to rotate players in and out the way the real contenders are.

[Wurzel]

Bookies don't know what to make of us. Many of them have us the same odds to win it as to get relegated, most of them 150/1.

So mid table mediocrity it is then.😥

[Micky]

3 hours ago, cloggy saint said:

I think the elephant has left the room and is making it's way to the front door.

I don't think there was ever an elephant in the room.  A few getting overly excited of our early season form on a bit of a pipe dream.  As it does every year,  the cream will rise to the top, we will end up mid table,  10th to 12th.

[Toussaint]

13 hours ago, Micky said:

I don't think there was ever an elephant in the room.  A few getting overly excited of our early season form on a bit of a pipe dream.  As it does every year,  the cream will rise to the top, we will end up mid table,  10th to 12th.

We will, it’s the best we can hope for given our resources. The top clubs existing a different realm.. 

[jasonb]

On 21/12/2020 at 15:28, Wurzel said:

Bookies don't know what to make of us. Many of them have us the same odds to win it as to get relegated, most of them 150/1.

So mid table mediocrity it is then.😥

They are rarely wrong so sounds about right to me. We can fight it out with Everton, Wolves and Villa? for the 'best of the rest' title. 

Beating Everton again would be a small victory in itself given the budgets of both clubs. 

Edited 24 December, 2020 by jasonb

[charlie saint]

On 21/12/2020 at 18:01, Micky said:

I don't think there was ever an elephant in the room.  A few getting overly excited of our early season form on a bit of a pipe dream.  As it does every year,  the cream will rise to the top, we will end up mid table,  10th to 12th.

You could argue we were never even top, as it was only ever because others had games in hand. 

But it's Christmas, so let's not worry about it. It was exciting while it lasted, and you'd have to be a terrible churl to deny that.

[Sheaf Saint]

We've won 2 of our last 7 games. One of those was because of a very lucky late penalty decision in a game we didn't deserve to win, and the other was against the team bottom of the league with 1 point from 11 games. 

No team that is forced to start Shane Long when they have one striker injured is going to challenge for the PL title. 

Edited 26 December, 2020 by Sheaf Saint

[CB Fry]

Villa streaking ahead of us in the title race, I see.

[Lighthouse]

That elephant starting to look a little bit ‘Earth Song’.

[bangkoksaint]

Embarrassing thread. Close it.........unbelievable 

[Dark Munster]

[Turkish]

15 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

We've won 2 of our last 7 games. One of those was because of a very lucky late penalty decision in a game we didn't deserve to win, and the other was against the team bottom of the league with 1 point from 11 games. 

No team that is forced to start Shane Long when they have one striker injured is going to challenge for the PL title. 

Why randomly pick out last 7 games? Picking other random numbers We’ve won 2 of our last 5, 4 of our last 9, 6 of our last 12, none of our last 3 only scoring once. 7 is a odd number.  
 

we weren’t forced to play Shane Long, the manager for some reason thought that it was a better option than playing  Walcott and Adams up front has he had done last time we had a striker injured, or Obafemi and Adams which has also been relatively successful in the last or one of our two younger strikers. 

Educate yourself!

[hypochondriac]

On 15/12/2020 at 22:59, hypochondriac said:

Lame thread which will look more lame as the months go on. We have a great chance of Europe this year which would be superb. 

I mean I don't want to say I told you so... 

[Saint Troy]

Potential champions win that 1-0 after being given the penalty 

[kwsaint]

We dont have the depth of squad to break into the top 6. But we do look like a top half side. Scraping into 7th and getting into europe would make it a fantastic season. I think that is realistically the best that we can hope for this season. But given the dross served up in recent years and the number of bad signings i am just enjoying watching a decent team and a bunch of players who seem happy to play for saints.

[Saint Garrett]

Not sure anyone thought it was likely. Just that there was a tiny possibility that if we could keep everyone in form and fit, we might have a very slight outside chance if other teams dropped points.
 

Unfortunately, not beating Arsenal when we arguably should have done, losing to City in a game we had a lot of the ball, and not being brave enough to attack Fulham, we’re now where I’d expect us to be. 
 

Injuries, and suspensions, have had an impact, we don’t have the squad depth. No team in the premier league will rely on players as good as Long and Stephens, and find themselves at the top of the league. 
 

Top half is still very good for us, especially now the “big 6” is now more like 8 with Everton and Leicester. 
 

We might be able to sneak 7/8th, but we need to find some form, and soon. And we need Ings to come back firing when fit, and stay fit.

[Charlie Wayman]

It's getting a bit depressing at the moment, every time you look at the table we seem to have drifted a place or two lower. Even Everton & Villa are above us now, clubs that we beat comfortably a few weeks ago.

If the Hammers do their usual rug pulling trick on us tomorrow followed by the inevitable loss to the Scousers, much of the excitement and anticipation of the new 'Southampton way' will have evaporated and current media intrigue will wane. 

Weirdly we do not seem to be playing badly yet we are no longer scoring for fun and the results are not coming quite as freely as a month ago. 

Ralph said he was comfortable with the draw at Fulham. I hope he was biting his lip when he said that. We've not had a win in three and soon it could be no wins in five. This is not the time for complacency otherwise what looked like being a very good season for us might suddenly take on a whole new complexion.

[CB Fry]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

This is not the time for complacency otherwise what looked like being a very good season for us might suddenly take on a whole new complexion.

Like what?

From what I have seen the "complexion" of the season is being on track for a good mid table finish. Nothing is going to change that over the next few weeks. 

People talk about "complacency" but the most complacent thing is threads like this: we have a decent little run and people start twatting on about being champions and getting the hump because we're not maintaining third place week in week out. Mental, and total complacency.

We're safe from relegation so let's not start chatting shit about being "dragged into it".  

Edited 28 December, 2020 by CB Fry

[Jimmy_D]

Just for the moment at least... we're back in the title race

[CB Fry]

8 hours ago, Jimmy_D said:

Just for the moment at least... we're back in the title race

If you apply the internationally recognised rules for conkers, then we beat the champions so officially we are the champions.

[trousers]

Little old us? In a title race? 

 

[Sheaf Saint]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

Little old us? In a title race? 

 

They've only done that because they wanted to include Everton who are currently below us on the same points but with a game in hand, which if they win will put them a point off the top.

[Jimmy_D]

7 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

They've only done that because they wanted to include Everton who are currently below us on the same points but with a game in hand, which if they win will put them a point off the top.

I think they've done it because we're almost halfway through the season and there are 7 teams separated by 4 points!

Even if we weren't involved in that... it's nuts that it's this close this season!

[JRM]

There's a new Elephant in the room, relegation battle. 

Thank God the bottom 3 are so bad as we're going to be 17th pretty soon. Utterly mad to think we were top of the league so recently. 

Brighton winning at Anfield tonight. 

Funny old season. 

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, JRM said:

There's a new Elephant in the room, relegation battle. 

Thank God the bottom 3 are so bad as we're going to be 17th pretty soon. Utterly mad to think we were top of the league so recently. 

Brighton winning at Anfield tonight. 

Funny old season. 

There is no relegation battle. We aren't in one, haven't been in one and won't be in one this year. For the first time in a good few years that isn't even in the realms of possibility, so you can sleep easily.

[Jimmy_D]

13 minutes ago, JRM said:

There's a new Elephant in the room, relegation battle. 

Thank God the bottom 3 are so bad as we're going to be 17th pretty soon. Utterly mad to think we were top of the league so recently. 

Brighton winning at Anfield tonight. 

Funny old season. 

Fulham's points per game so far: 0.67

Fulham's required points per game to catch us: 0.88

That's assuming we don't get another single point this season.

We're not in a relegation battle. Not this season at least.

[Dark Munster]

If we'd won our last 5 matches instead of losing them we'd be 2nd, breathing down City's neck. It's a fine line between success and failure.

[Lord Duckhunter]

If Sheffield Utd won every game, they’d be top of the league. It’s a fine line....

 

[StDunko]

If mu Aunty had bollocks she'd be my uncle.

[Toussaint]

If we win every game for the next three seasons we’ll win both cups, finish champions twice, win the Europa league and the champions league, c’mon people, we can do this, all we have to do is believe, all hail the elephant!

Edited 8 February, 2021 by Toussaint

[Uncle Albert]

7 hours ago, StDunko said:

If mu Aunty had bollocks she'd be my uncle.

It's 2021, she could be the elephant for all somebody cares.

Edited 8 February, 2021 by Uncle Albert

[Dark Munster]

19 hours ago, StDunko said:

If mu Aunty had bollocks she'd be my uncle.

It's a fine line between an aunty and an uncle.

[JRM]

On 03/02/2021 at 23:19, S-Clarke said:

There is no relegation battle. We aren't in one, haven't been in one and won't be in one this year. For the first time in a good few years that isn't even in the realms of possibility, so you can sleep easily.

Do you still feel the same a few games on? 

For me survival will come down to whether Fulham can lose momentum, at the moment they've got real belief (and a better goal difference than us) , I still see them as a threat. 

[S-Clarke]

7 minutes ago, JRM said:

Do you still feel the same a few games on? 

For me survival will come down to whether Fulham can lose momentum, at the moment they've got real belief (and a better goal difference than us) , I still see them as a threat. 

I still feel the same, we're not in one yet. Our form is relegation form, without question, and we are getting dragged down incredibly quickly. Fulham aren't going to carry on getting 7 points from 9 until the end of the season. And we still have a decent cushion. It may look even more scary in the coming weeks, but we should still have enough.

We have more than enough chances to obtain the 6 points we will likely need. If we don't manage that then everyone at this club should be sacked with immediate effect in May.

Edited 23 February, 2021 by S-Clarke

[whelk]

Anyone?

[S-Clarke]

This aged well. People get too carried away by the ups, and equally, too carried away by the downs.

Makes much more sense to look at things over a period. We're actually pretty bog standard mid-table averageness and it's a bit daft to expect anything more from this bunch.