Cabrone

What a time to get a run of form going, Europe is suddenly looking on again and I never thought I'd be saying that after Everton. So, this season we've beaten Chelsea (a) Utd (a) Spurs (a) + thrashed Arse at home. Not sure when that will be repeated again. Bonkers season hopefully topped off with a Europa place again

Cheers Swansea for really trying to give us a shot at Europe, first you beat Pool and now you look like beating Spam. Looking at the remaining fixtures I see West Ham have to play Man U and Pool have to play Chelsea so if we could somehow snatch 3 points off a grief stricken Spurs 6th might not look so far fetched. It would be a fitting finale to one of the most topsy turvey seasons I can remember. Come on Saints!!!!

Has the fixture list dealt us a bonus ball playing Spurs just after their title hopes have been crushed? TBH I'm not convinced, I think they'll be out for blood plus they will want to secure a higher position than Arsenal. However we still harbour a slim hope of European football, our tails are up, we are scoring goals and we've got some recent history with Spuds that would make a good result up there taste pretty sweet. This one has all the ingredients to be a great match but IMO a draw at best for us though.

Good for them, really pleased for them. Will be interesting how they react to this next season when they will be going to grounds as champions and teams will be wanting to knock them of their perch. Also fantastic news for the premier league which has been crying out for something like this since it started. Plenty of fans will now be thinking 'if they can do it then why can't we' and if there's any club outside the big boys who might be wondering if they too could break through you'd think it would be us. Could also be interesting as far as transfers go, if the big boys are losing their grip then maybe they won't have such a stranglehold on the best players, only time will tell. We'll see.

Come on, they are outliers. You could just as easily quote a load of players that cost a lot but were a flop. Vardy has been a revelation this season (come on Roy, you know you want him up front) and Leicester got a lucky break on that one, good for them. Kane too but Spurs fans will just as easily reel off a list of flops that cost them a fortune. I'm not knocking our strikers, I'd like more goals BUT I think they've given the service that their price suggested they would. SFC obviously would have hoped that one of them might have done a Vardy but they haven't, we've simply got our money's worth. The 'if only our strikers were better' line is felt by fans of all clubs outside the very big boys but in reality you generally get what you pay for. My biggest hope is that Jay Rod and Charlie Austin can get over their injuries and recapture their previous form, that really would be a big bonus for the club.

Our forwards have given us the service that we paid for, routine fees and a routine number of goals. Pelle, Tadic and Mane are streaky, when they are good they are very good but they can go missing for long periods. Shane Long gets into great positions and works hard but struggles to finish. Charlie Austin has an injury question hanging over him. Jay Rod has a question mark over him after his injury, the jury is out as to whether he can ever get back to what he was. I'm not knocking them, they are solid mid\upper mid table strikers but let's not expect them to be world beaters. You get what you pay for and that's what we have, no more, no less.

They are in such a mess that I can see them going straight through to league 1. Villa might even have to go through what we went through - i.e. be pushed to the edge - before they recover. That club looks a train wreck from top to bottom. From our perspective it was a welcome win, probably made more difficult than it should have been. I don't see us getting into Europe but whilst it's still mathematically possible we need to keep going. Hopefully next season with Austin up and running we'll have a bit more goals about us, IMO it's been our biggest problem this season.

For such an oddball season this was actually a result that was consistent with where we are right now, a solid mid/upper mid table prem team, on our day capable of troubling the big boys but not quite good enough to consistently kill off our competitors. Ah well Europe is deffo gone, tbh it probably was anyway but it is now. Deckchairs out and sunscreen on. Funny old season, I think it will be a long time till we experience a campaign where we win at Chelsea and Utd and **** Arsenal at home yet we've been totally **** poor at times too. Onwards ad upwards to the Euros - actually looking forward to seeing how Vardy and Kane (surely roy has to pick Vardy?) do for England. Hopefully we'll have a good tournament for the first time since France 98, it's about time. Been a strange season but not a bad one.

Everton will always be our bogey team after 84 and the fact that they had the hex on us for ages in the 80s and 90s. These things scar you as a fan. If we lose Europe is dead IMO but if we can win then Villa (a) is next (win - surely?) and I feel we could go into that Citeh game with a bit of momentum and get the win......then things might start to get interesting. Bottom line - this is a must win if we are to have any chance of Europe (barring some freak set of cup results\table positions\divine intervention).

Can't see it, we'd have to win all our games and still rely on slip ups around us. Looking at the fixtures I can see 12 points at the very best and realistically more like 7 or 8. I think we'll finish 7/8th, Pool will overtake us whilst the only team I think we could overtake is West Ham. Could be wrong though and this has been a bit of a topsy turvey season after all so whilst it's still mathematically possible the players should push for it.

They are obviously a good team but if we put our winning heads on we can get something up there. A win would be massive. Only trouble is this game comes after an international break and we always seem to be sluggish after one of those. Hopefully we get the three points today and they go on to win the title, I'd be happy with that.

Well that's happened enough times to us in the past so good to see us do it to someone else for a change. Comebacks are always superb. Still can't see us getting to Europe, too much competition but we're still in the hunt and there are signs of our strikers going on a purple patch so you never know.

Good point, how could I forget Micky Channon. Sorry Rickie - you'll have to make way on the subs bench.

Based on what they were like for Saints I'd have: Antti Niemi Mark Dennis Toby Alderwiereld Killer Svensson Ivan Golac Rod Wallace Alan Ball Dave Armstrong Terry Paine MLT Big Ron Subs Jimmy Case Steve Williams Shilts Mark Wright Ricky Lambert Dave Watson That would be a team I'd be happy to pay good money to see.

Defensively Toby gets it for me, an absolute beast of a defender. He did his job so well you never really noticed him yet we hardly conceded any goals when he was playing. A Rolls Royce player. Offensively VVD gets it for me, a real springboard for attack with a pretty good goal instinct. He's also a very decent leader in the back line with great aerial ability. Overall Toby shades it but VVD is a class defender and has come on leaps and bounds this season. If we can keep him next season we've got a hell of a CH on our hands.

Pelle, he's a bit of a conundrum isn't he. When he's good he's very good but then he disappears for large parts of the season. If he could get more consistency he'd be a top draw striker. Still, hopefully he'll go on a run now and score a load just in time to get picked by the Azzuri. VVD yet again was fantastic, enjoy his performances - he'll be on his way if not this summer then next. Good win but I don't think we'll get Europa now, we've let Pool and Chelsea gain too much ground but you never know.

The season so far.........won 1 in 8 -> unbeaten in 8 -> won 1 in 10 -> unbeaten in 6 with 5 clean sheets -> back on a downswing with no wins in the last 3, 2 against teams we'd expect to get better results against. Up and down we go. Good goal from VVD, good player. Pelle should be moved on, too streaky, if we get a decent offer then it's time to say goodbye. Same with Mane. Looking forward to a Long\Austin combo up front next year. I think Sunderland will stay up, they might not be the best but they have spirit and that should see them through. Love him or hate him Allardyce is the sort of guy you'd want in your corner when things are tough. Villa are dead and buried, based on their performances Newcastle are taking the last rights and I think (sadly) that Norwich will be joining them. As for us, looks like the players are already planning their holidays. Safety assured, time to start preparing for next season already. Ho hum.

TBH if you'd have offered me at the start of the season 3 points from our games against Chelsea I'd have taken it. Shame about today but I'm not entirely surprised, they are in a false position and will climb the table. Need to get our focus back and kick start another run starting with Bournemouth (a). Still all to play for.

Yes, I think they are the biggest challenge below us but there are also ManU, Liverpool, Everton and even Stoke who are capable of putting on a bit of a run. Plenty of games to go and lots to play for yet, looks like it's brewing for an interesting finish to the season especially if one of the top 4 has a bad run.

Probably but if Fraser and the defence can keep those clean sheets coming and Charlie nips in with a few goals then we could yet make it interesting. Never thought I'd be saying that when I saw us sink to a bang average Norwich side just over a month ago, amazing turnaround in form.

Defensively we aren't as good as last year but not far off. That's hardly surprising as we were a rock for most of last season and Toby was sublime. However Virgil is closing in on him in terms of defensive abilities and has better attacking qualities. Considering his improvement since arriving from Scotland the guy looks set to be a top top defender. Enjoy him while you can, he'll be on his way in a couple of years IMO. Midfield wise we are slightly weaker having lost Morgan but like the defence there isn't much in it, the replacements are good and improving with more games under the belt so who knows - we might not even miss Morgan as much as we thought. However up front we are greatly improved, we now have a specialist goal scorer which will make a big difference. We haven't had one of those since Rasiak. We'll let in more than last season but I believe this team will more than compensate in the goals for column so overall we might be slightly stronger. Having said that we'll probably lose the next 6........

Who knows, this has been a complete funfair ride of a season. Since Newcastle (a) our form has been .........won 1 in 8 -> unbeaten in 8 -> won 1 in 10 -> unbeaten in 5 with 5 clean sheets. Funny old season so far. The only thing I am confident of is we're not going to get relegated.......I think.

He's also building an unwanted reputation and becoming a marked man amongst refs which doesn't help. He's a good player and players of his type are always going to pick up bookings but with all these suspensions he's tipping the balance into the 'liability' end of things. If someone could work on his head and teach him be able to pick and choose his on pitch battles he'd be a hell of a player.

Tickets still available apparently....

Tough game, they are pretty solid defensively but if Charlie is on the pitch I fancy him to score. Frazer's on a record 5 cleans so he'll be really pumped up to get it. Also should be a big incentive to cut the gap between the clubs. If I was to have a bet I'd probably go for a Saints win but I wouldn't be atall surprised if they got a draw. I don't think they'll win now that we seem to have found our mojo again.