Saints v Bristol City - Saturday 3pm

[skintsaint]

51 minutes ago, trousers said:

West Brom (current leaders) aren't going to get automatic promotion... Whilst in catch up mode, we just need to keep auto-promotion rivals West Ham, Wolves and Middlesbrough within striking distance, which we are.

If we carry on our form over the next 40 games, would put us on about 80 points with the deduction. Should be enough this season I feel. Whether we can keep this form up is another question...but hey ho.

[SNSUN]

We're getting points, we're unbeaten since the opening day in the League but we lack a little consistency still. Another win against Brizzle and maybe we go into our away fixture with Wrexham full of confidence to try to get that ellusive away win we need to kick start that side of our campaign.

Of course, if we then beat Wrexham, we go into an important game full of confidence when we play the Skates.

But it all starts  with a win against Brizzle.

[saintant]

11 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

If we carry on our form over the next 40 games, would put us on about 80 points with the deduction. Should be enough this season I feel. Whether we can keep this form up is another question...but hey ho.

Assume you mean for a play-off spot because 80 points will be nowhere near enough for top 2.

[Saint Garrett]

Gotta be same team I think assuming all are fit.

Bit of a bogey team for us, so wouldn't surprise me if they frustrated us, but should get atleast a draw. 

What we do know is that we will concede...lets hope we have 2 or 3 in their net.

[skintsaint]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

Assume you mean for a play-off spot because 80 points will be nowhere near enough for top 2.

Yes you are right

[Saint86]

49 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Gotta be same team I think assuming all are fit.

Bit of a bogey team for us, so wouldn't surprise me if they frustrated us, but should get atleast a draw. 

What we do know is that we will concede...lets hope we have 2 or 3 in their net.

A few of the City fans i know reckon they can't defend either. I reckon this will be something like 2-2 (given they are a bogey side for us). The -4points remains an issue for us i think as we're constantly playing a game of catch up (and when we're not winning it adds pressure mentally).

 

[Cabrone]

2 hours ago, skintsaint said:

If we carry on our form over the next 40 games, would put us on about 80 points with the deduction. Should be enough this season I feel. Whether we can keep this form up is another question...but hey ho.

IMO there are at least 2 teams in this league capable of 90+ points so I think 2 per game (92 over the season) would put us in the final mix.

We need to make SMS a fortress, starting on Saturday.

[Football Special]

2 hours ago, Cabrone said:

IMO there are at least 2 teams in this league capable of 90+ points so I think 2 per game (92 over the season) would put us in the final mix.

We need to make SMS a fortress, starting on Saturday.

St Mary’s has been a fortress for a while already,  no league home defeats for 8 months. 

That's my fear,  we had a similar record in 2011 calendar year,  something like 20 straight home league wins then along came Bristol City....

Last season we achieved something like 8 consecutive wins (was that a record?) then along came Bristol City.....

23/24 season was the record breaking unbeaten run, then along came Bristol City....

Might only be a curse when we're on club record runs in which case we might be fine for Saturday 👍 

Edited 4 hours ago by Football Special

[The Wyvern]

57 minutes ago, Cabrone said:

IMO there are at least 2 teams in this league capable of 90+ points so I think 2 per game (92 over the season) would put us in the final mix.

We need to make SMS a fortress, starting on Saturday.

Could there be an argument that as there are so many strong teams this year everyone will regularly take points off each other and no-one runs away with a high points total? 

[Saint86]

27 minutes ago, The Wyvern said:

Could there be an argument that as there are so many strong teams this year everyone will regularly take points off each other and no-one runs away with a high points total? 

I agree. I am not convinced there are stand out teams so far... although i think the most likely 2 are ourselves and west ham.

The 8 team play offs should also keep the league competitive and make it hard to pick up soft points near the end of the season - will impact automatics and relegation places imho. (I'd be worried if i was a shit team this season as so often they put together a nice little run vs sides that have nothing to play for and stay up as a result... not sure that will be the case this season).

Edited 5 hours ago by Saint86

[Charlie Wayman]

3 hours ago, Saint86 said:

A few of the City fans i know reckon they can't defend either. I reckon this will be something like 2-2 (given they are a bogey side for us). The -4points remains an issue for us i think as we're constantly playing a game of catch up (and when we're not winning it adds pressure mentally).

 

The point I was making earlier in the thread, we started off 4 points behind everyone now we are 6 behind WBA, 4 behind WHU, Swansea, QPR and Charlton etc. We have lost ground to the league leaders and made up none on the others mentioned.

[saintant]

7 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

I agree. I am not convinced there are stand out teams so far... although i think the most likely 2 are ourselves and west ham.

The 8 team play offs should also keep the league competitive and make it hard to pick up soft points near the end of the season - will impact automatics and relegation places imho. (I'd be worried if i was a shit team this season as so often they put together a nice little run vs sides that have nothing to play for and stay up as a result... not sure that will be the case this season).

Our issue is that we are very much reliant on keeping Larin free from injuries, fatigue or suspensions at least until January unless we have a free agent in mind. The fact that there are two international breaks may help us get through to the start of the Jan window. However, we need to have options in mind and act quickly once the next transfer window opens so that we can get a signing or loan in early rather than right at the end which would lose us another 4 weeks.

[Saint86]

18 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

The point I was making earlier in the thread, we started off 4 points behind everyone now we are 6 behind WBA, 4 behind WHU, Swansea, QPR and Charlton etc. We have lost ground to the league leaders and made up none on the others mentioned.

This will always be the case unless we are ourselves top. Which we essentially were after Swansea. All we can do is try to stay top few in the form table - the points will sort themselves out then.

[trousers]

26 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

The point I was making earlier in the thread, we started off 4 points behind everyone now we are 6 behind WBA, 4 behind WHU, Swansea, QPR and Charlton etc. We have lost ground to the league leaders and made up none on the others mentioned.

If only there was another 40 games to play to offset any concern about dropping a couple of points on the league leaders this early in the season...

(This post was brought to you by 'Sorry for the Sarcasm' Inc.) 

Edited 5 hours ago by trousers

[Patrick Bateman]

40 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

The point I was making earlier in the thread, we started off 4 points behind everyone now we are 6 behind WBA, 4 behind WHU, Swansea, QPR and Charlton etc. We have lost ground to the league leaders and made up none on the others mentioned.

That's okay, whenever someone is top, we beat them ... hopefully everyone will have a go at being top before January ....... 

[VectisSaint]

40 minutes ago, saintant said:

Our issue is that we are very much reliant on keeping Larin free from injuries, fatigue or suspensions at least until January unless we have a free agent in mind. The fact that there are two international breaks may help us get through to the start of the Jan window. However, we need to have options in mind and act quickly once the next transfer window opens so that we can get a signing or loan in early rather than right at the end which would lose us another 4 weeks.

Canada have 3 friendly matches in the upcoming international break, not sure how that will help us get through to Jan unless Cyle isn't selected of course.

[Badger]

35 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Canada have 3 friendly matches in the upcoming international break, not sure how that will help us get through to Jan unless Cyle isn't selected of course.

Looked it up today. They play USA on Oct 7th, four days before the skates game. 
 

Can’t see him not wanting to be involved in that one 

Edited 4 hours ago by Badger

[Football Special]

22 minutes ago, Badger said:

Looked it up today. They play USA on Oct 7th, four days before the skates game. 
 

Can’t see him not wanting to be involved in that one 

Terrible timing that 

Hope we upgrade him to first class on return 

[sfc4prem]

2 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

The point I was making earlier in the thread, we started off 4 points behind everyone now we are 6 behind WBA, 4 behind WHU, Swansea, QPR and Charlton etc. We have lost ground to the league leaders and made up none on the others mentioned.

Wait, what!? We have to play the mentioned teams twice, right? That's 6 points right there.

Happy to help.

[Eric The Red]

43 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Terrible timing that 

Hope we upgrade him to first class on return 

It is Wednesday our time but Tuesday evening their time . No reason why he can't be on a plane Wednesday tea time and back in the UK Thursday morning. Should be fine for Sunday lunchtime.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

On 09/09/2026 at 13:51, Midfield_General said:

Around this point of last season we were getting ready to play the skates. We were a disjointed mess, and after narrowly winning our first game were in the middle of what would turn out to be a run of six matches without a victory. 

The first XI we put out against the skates in mid September last year was: 

Bazunu; Roerslev, Stephens, THB, Manning; Downes, Charles; Fellows, Azaz, Fraser; Archer - managed by Still. 

The likely first XI we'll put out against Bristol City on Saturday is: 

Peretz; Bree, Wood, Schlotterbeck, Manning; Downes, JWP; Fellows, Azaz, Scienza; Larin - managed by Tonda. 

Looking at those two line-ups there's a valid argument that we are the same or stronger in literally every position, including manager, than we were when we were fresh out of the Premier League. (People may argue about Charles vs. JWP but personally I'd have them on a level. I also don't think there's any drop-off between THB and Schlotterbeck, who has been outstanding so far). That's no mean feat. 

We're still going to have the odd blip like all teams, but we really have come a long way in a year. 

I think we'll win on Saturday and I'm starting to genuinely feel like we're going to compete for the automatics, now the -4 is a distant memory and the team is starting to find its rhythm, especially at home. 

4-1 win, followed by a win at Wrexham and going into the break with the top two looking over their shoulders. 

COYR

Interesting comparisons. Peretz v Baz +1 goal. Larin/Scienza v Archer/Fraser +1 goal.

The last home game was 2-2. So score should be 4-2. Entertainment guaranteed!

[RedArmy]

I hope he’s got a better plan for them this season than that wanky 4-2-2-2 he tried in April. 

[Football Special]

43 minutes ago, Eric The Red said:

It is Wednesday our time but Tuesday evening their time . No reason why he can't be on a plane Wednesday tea time and back in the UK Thursday morning. Should be fine for Sunday lunchtime.

Yeah but jetlag, midday Sunday will feel like 7am to him, he'll probably sleep through his alarm 

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Yeah but jetlag, midday Sunday will feel like 7am to him, he'll probably sleep through his alarm 

Give him a double drop of melatonin at 10pm Saturday night, a couple of cans of monster and he'll be running around like Ben Johnson

[RedArmy]

24 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Give him a double drop of melatonin at 10pm Saturday night, a couple of cans of monster and he'll be running around like Ben Johnson

I’d he happier if he was running around like Ben Thatcher.