Bailey

Saints 2 - 2 Cardiff Got a draw written all over it this one. Saints never win two in a row, and Cardiff are the draw specialists. We are improving defensively but we still leak too may goals. Cardiff will miss Johnson in defence but they'll still put in a decent performance, even with all their injuries.

I actually think that Mills is a much better prospect than Molyneux. He gets forward well, is good defensively and for a small lad, he wins his fair share of headers. The loan move will do him good too. Some regular first-team football will give him invaluable experience that will only benefit him long term. He should come back to Saints a better player for it and I wouldn't be surprised if he was our main LB next season, whatever division we're in.

He definitely wasn't in the Director's Box on Saturday, and I haven't seen him at St Mary's since we found out who he was on here. If he is still involved at the club, he's been keeping a much lower profile!

Don't suppose anyone has a link to it do they?

I've just had a flashback of his first half performance in pre-season. It was either against Celtic or Stoke. One of the worst 45 minutes I've ever seen from a defender, and I was there for Bennett's debut too!

Does anyone know if his contract is up in the summer? Also, what's the latest with his injury? I'm guessing he won't be back until next season at the earliest?

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/?page_id=11400

Still got alot of time for Beattie. I think he's a top quality striker and he's proving at Stoke that he can still cut it in The Prem. Thought his celebrations yesterday were brilliant too. Such a good penalty taker as well. What I'd give to have him back now!

I'm still not convinced by his defensive abilities but he did a good job today. He got forward well and put some cracking balls into the box. On the whole, James has been decent for us this season when you consider that he's playing out of position, and some of the stick he gets is unjust IMO. He's definitely better in midfield than defence, but we don't have any alternatives for RB at the minute.

Parkin can be a useful player purely because of his size, as players can play off him very easily. However, like I said to my ol' man after the game, when he has a bad game, boy does he have a bad game! Makes you wonder how he's managed to score any goals at all this season . . .

We've definitely adopted a more direct approach since Wotte has taken charge. With Euell up top with Saga, it works too. Euell challenges for every ball and puts himself about. With players like Saga and Lallana to pick up the second ball, it can prove to be very effective, as they showed today. If we get results to keep us in the division, I don't care how we play. Results are all that matter now, nothing else.

Jason Euell for me. The guy put in a first class performance and he brought the best out of Saga. Euell put himself about, challenged for every ball, went up for every header and chased everything. Good to see him bringing the players together and rallying them when Preston scored too.

Credit to Wotte today, he got his tactics spot on. Playing Euell alongside Saga with McGoldrick behind them proved to be a shrewd move and it paid dividends in the end. Since he's taken charge, we've definitely been more direct and physical in our approach, and we look a much better side for it. Lets not get carried away with today though. It's a start, but there is still ALOT of work to be done.

Davies did well in the first half IMO. However, selling him may have proved to be a clever bit of business in the end as he always seems to struggle with injuries. Still, he was first class during his time here but he's left now and so we move on.

What a performance. Couldn't believe we were 3 up at half time! Everyone played well for us today, although I thought Lallana and McGoldrick were quite quiet. No complaints though. MOTM for me was Jason Euell. It would be easy to give it to Saga for his 2 goals, but Euell put in a brilliant performance. He challenged for every ball, worked his socks off and chased everything. Euell and Saga complimented each other brilliantly and I hope to see them playing alongside one another for the rest of the season based on today's performance. Haven't had this feeling on a Saturday night for quite some time. We must remember not to get carried away mind, as the hard work has only just begun. We HAVE to follow this victory up with another 3 points against Cardiff next week. COYR!

Saints to win 1-0 with Euell scoring the winner. Fans will have renewed optimism that we can survive, but Cardiff will quash that by beating us 2-0 the following weekend.

6 points and we give ourselves a fighting chance. Anything less and that really is lights out for us.

Saga will do all he can, maybe Surman too. However, it's too late, the damage has been done and we're heading for League One. Absolutely gutted once again tonight.

Game over, we're down. I've said I've accepted League One football next season, but it's going to hurt like hell when it's confirmed. Will Saints ever be half decent again?

How long we looking at before it's out through Steam MLG?

I made a post about this recently. He was on trial at Charlton but no idea how things went there. I think he'd be a decent signing for us to be honest, well worth having a look at anyway. He's big, powerful, pacey and has bags of potential. Oh and he's Dutch too.

Might interest some to know that Lallana wasn't even going to be on the bench for the Watford game. Not a bad move in my opinion as although it's clear the boy has talent, he looks as though he could do with a rest. As for my XI, I would go with the following . . . ------------------ Davis ------------------ James ----- Saeijs ----- Perry ----- Surman McLaggon ---- Wotton ---- Euell ---- Skacel -------- Saganowski --- McGoldrick -------- Subs: Bialkowski, Lancashire/Liptak, Schneiderlin, Gillett/Lallana and BWP

3 players have been played out of position all season for a number of reasons, but its been really bugging me . . . Lloyd James is a holding midfielder, not a RB. However, he's being played there as there is literally nobody else. Sign someone on loan please! Rudi Skacel has been used at LB, but is most effective at LM. With Holmes out injured, maybe he will get the chance to play in his favoured position? BWP is a striker. Just because his surname is the same as Shaun's, doesn't mean he can play on the wing just as well as him. Mini-rant over.

No way. I just don't like the guy's tactics, and he's proven at both Wycombe and Pompey that he's not up to it.

Thankfully I can make the re-arranged date although I suspect some others may have difficulty getting there on a week night. Still, hopefully we'll take around 1,000 fans as this is a MASSIVE relegation clash. With Charlton coming to St Mary's 3 days prior to this game, it could be a VERY important few games for us.