bjk Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 They've won again tonight and you have to admit they've been very consistent all season.Adkins says he wants to win the league and rightly so but for me it's looking like a battle to finish second,I don't see us finishing above Brighton,so we have to be better than Bournemouth,Huddersfield and I think Charlton for the rest of the season to win the battle. Wouldn't surprise me if we end up in the play offs though,which looking at the teams currently in the play off positions I do think we will win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannysfc Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 They've won again tonight and you have to admit they've been very consistent all season.Adkins says he wants to win the league and rightly so but for me it's looking like a battle to finish second,I don't see us finishing above Brighton,so we have to be better than Bournemouth,Huddersfield and I think Charlton for the rest of the season to win the battle. Wouldn't surprise me if we end up in the play offs though,which looking at the teams currently in the play off positions I do think we will win. I don't know if we will catch Brighton Tbh as I think they should go on and win the league now and would be a miracle for us to catch them and win the league sooo I am just hoping that we get back into the 2nd place mix starting off with a Win at Exeter and Peterboro and hopefully the teams around us like Huddersfield, Bournemouth, etc will slip us and that we Should capitalise and take 2nd place but we will see ! COYR !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saints-cris Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Dont really care, there happy to 1st as long as we get 2nd. They're way more consistant than us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K,Billy's supersound Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 no, but second will do just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa Shango Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 No. We must be favourites to finish 2nd now though. Can't see Bournemouth lasting the pace, especially now Eddie Howe has gone. Think Huddersfield, Peterborough and Charlton will be our biggest threats. It won't be easy and we'll have a few more days like on Saturday at Tranmere, but I think we'll just about make it over the line, a bit like Leeds did last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthamSteve Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Difficult to say for sure but it's theirs to lose. We have just under half the season left though, that's an awful lot of football to be played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSFC Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I still think we will finish 1st but a lot still depends on whether we sign the 2 or 3 better players. If not it will be very close and go down to the wire depending on injuries and suspension and possible jail sentances! On our day we are the best by a mile but inconsistancy early season has meant we are chasing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Garrett Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 We have some tough games left, and I would have said top if we had more home games than away games, I don't know we will see, but if Lallana is missing for a few more weeks then its just games passing us by without points unless we get in someone who can make us tick, I haven't seen us as one dimensional as we were on Saturday for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint J 77 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Right now I'm feeling very negative about our chances. I would like to think at the very least we would win the play offs, but after the last two crappy results i have to say we might not even make the play offs if we can't win a game with Lallana missing. We definitely need to bring in some new players if we are going to have a chance at second, I dont think we will catch Brighton now, but i hope I'm proven wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaintNeil90 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 If we were to play as well as we know we can i.e. performances like those against Huddersfield, Exeter, Peterborough, then I still believe we will finish top. However the last two performances, along with the Brighton and Brentford games, have been very concerning and if we keep having these drops in performance then we will be lucky to finish 2nd. I think to win the league, it will involved winning at least 14 of the last 21 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrent Of Abuse Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Head: No Heart: Yes If we aim for first place, we may end up having to settle for second. If we aim for second, we'll probably have to settle for the play-offs. Such is the nature of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
del boy Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 It would have been a different set of responses after the Oldham game. If we re-capture the form of the six or so games leading up to that match we could still end up top, but I'd settle for 2nd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Slightly warped logic alert... Having a team a few wins ahead of us COULD actually work in our favour. Knowing how adept we are at snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory (perceived or otherwise) I would much rather we were in the chasing pack than in Brighton's position right now. It keeps our minds focused on the chase rather than constantly looking over our shoulders. Being naturally pessimistic supporters, we look at Brighton's position and think: "sod it, we'll never catch them" and yet, if it was Saints in their position we'd be looking at the gap nervously and saying: "it's nowhere near safe yet folks, they can easily still catch us" Chasing pack for me every time. This was a statement by the Reverse Psychology Party Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 No, we wont catch Brighton, and looking at the teams around us, I reckon we have an insurmountable challenge to get into 2nd and hold on to it. Playoffs is the best we can expect, sadly.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxstone Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Brighton are very, very consistent ! We are not!! So unless there is an unexpected turn in form I would say no. Second place is our realistic objective though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceandfriendly Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 With games running out it will be hard to catch Brighton, but 2nd is extremely realistic. Playoffs is the best we can expect, sadly.. Oh, wait. Clearly it's not. I'll have to take your word on this one alpine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Tone Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I'm more worried about peterborough catching us. They have a game in hand and can overtake us, so automatic promotion is no longer in our own hands as it briefly was a few games back. We now need others to do worse than us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 (edited) No, next question!! They have a better manager and a better keeper, that alone is enough to keep them top. Edited 26 January, 2011 by Window Cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I'm more worried about peterborough catching us. They have a game in hand and can overtake us, so automatic promotion is no longer in our own hands as it briefly was a few games back. We now need others to do worse than us. In fact as we have to play them still our destiny is still in our own hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saints-cris Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 We had a brilliant run. topped off with the Oldham 6-0 win. If you asked me after that I would have said definitely, but since then we have lost our form a little bit and now I don't think we will catch them. What has been frustrating is if we had won our last 2 games we could be really clear in 2nd place as other teams around us have been dropping points too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I dont think we will to be honest.. We are going to lose around 2-3 more games IMO.. Nad draw a couple too.. Brighton would need to lose another 5 games for us to catch them.. Can't see that happening.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Marco Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 If we don't start being more consistent we won't get 2nd let alone 1st. 3 months left to go pretty much and our last two dire results have opened the door for those below us. My concern is we have played a lot of home games this year due to the bad weather cancelling games. And those results overall have not been top 2 standard. We currently sit 6th on home games http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D2/home.html Played 14 and won only 7. In contrast Bournemouth have played 13 and won 10. And Brighton have not lost any home games this year in the league. Our away form is even worse http://stats.football365.com/dom/ENG/D2/away.html having won 5 and lost 5. And we have only had 11 away games. We now go into the make or break period. 6 of the next 8 games are away. If we come out of those away games with our current points per game (1 point a game) ratio then we can forget the top 2. But this is why Adkins was brought into the club. To win those normally tricky games for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I don't see why we can't still win it, plenty of matches to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 If we don't start being more consistent we won't get 2nd let alone 1st. We are consistent. We win about 5 in a row then drop a couple of points. That'll be good enough. And the home record is down to the crud results at the start of the season more than anything. Lots of aways to come, we'll have a much better idea of potential by mid-March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madruss Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 God you're a pessimistic bunch. 8 points is all we need to make up. I think it will come down to the game at the withdean, win that and we'll be champions. It's as simple as that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfc1971 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Unless we get some cover and competition for certain places we will be lucky to finish in top six. We have played more home games than most others and some have games in hand. I`m begining to wonder if we do have a pot to ****** in ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 God you're a pessimistic bunch. 8 points is all we need to make up. I think it will come down to the game at the withdean, win that and we'll be champions. It's as simple as that We need to make up 3 games with ~20 left, whilst comparing our tendency to go off the rails with their consistency. Oh, all the while forgetting Bournemouth, Peterborough and Huddersfield. God you're an optimist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank's cousin Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 ...got to smile - WE STILL HAVE HALF THE SEASON TO GO.... alot can and will happen, look at us, slow start but last 10 or 12 games and its championship winning form overall - we will ups and downs, as will ALL clubs, yes Brighton have an 8 point advantage but we both have 21 games to go - 63 points available so lets see what happens. Yes we have some diificult games and many away, but if you look how tight the top six has been ALL season, its certainly going to be exciting - surely that is what this malarky is all about? Cheer up FFS - for the first time in 27 odd years we are in with a shout of winning the division and some of you miserable feckers are are seeing all doom and gloom...jeez... Sure it would derail the 'plan' if we dont go up, but its not a diaster and its not good worrying about that now, we can leave that until the end of the season after we know what has happened. Personnaly we can still win this league - yes Brighton need to slip up and drop a few points, but there are 6 or 7 sides that could still win it with a good running streak and we ARE ONE OF THEM...so whats the problem? Fecking drama queens some of you lot ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFrost Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 We need to make up 3 games with ~20 left, whilst comparing our tendency to go off the rails with their consistency. Oh, all the while forgetting Bournemouth, Peterborough and Huddersfield. God you're an optimist. Well you said yourself during the Tranmere game Our promotion campaign hangs by a thread considering we are 2 points off automatic promotion with a game in hand with 20 games to go (21 for us) are you surprised a lot of posters are more optimistic than that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Got to be automatic, I will be away on the play off final day, would be absolutely gutted to miss it firstly would want to be there when we won it and secondly, never been to Old Trafford. Gut feeling is we will be 1st or 2nd. COYR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFrost Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 The Exeter game is pretty key, there must be a reaction and we need to win to keep the long term momentum going. when huddersfield beat us we won our next 4 games, when brentford beat us at St Mary's we won our next 5 games. That indicates some ability to bounce back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 ...got to smile - WE STILL HAVE HALF THE SEASON TO GO.... alot can and will happen, look at us, slow start but last 10 or 12 games and its championship winning form overall - we will ups and downs, as will ALL clubs, yes Brighton have an 8 point advantage but we both have 21 games to go - 63 points available so lets see what happens. Yes we have some diificult games and many away, but if you look how tight the top six has been ALL season, its certainly going to be exciting - surely that is what this malarky is all about? Cheer up FFS - for the first time in 27 odd years we are in with a shout of winning the division and some of you miserable feckers are are seeing all doom and gloom...jeez... Sure it would derail the 'plan' if we dont go up, but its not a diaster and its not good worrying about that now, we can leave that until the end of the season after we know what has happened. Personnaly we can still win this league - yes Brighton need to slip up and drop a few points, but there are 6 or 7 sides that could still win it with a good running streak and we ARE ONE OF THEM...so whats the problem? Fecking drama queens some of you lot ;-) Stop moaning FFS! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madruss Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 We need to make up 3 games with ~20 left, whilst comparing our tendency to go off the rails with their consistency. Oh, all the while forgetting Bournemouth, Peterborough and Huddersfield. God you're an optimist. Well it's nice to have some balance! It'd be boring if we were all optimists or all pessimists All I know is that I've seen Brighton play a few times and they really don't look like champions. They're a shadow of the side norwich were last year. It's ours to win and if we keep our last 8 game form going for the rest of the season we'll win the league (providing one of those wins is against Brighton) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simster Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 God you're a pessimistic bunch. 8 points is all we need to make up. I think it will come down to the game at the withdean, win that and we'll be champions. It's as simple as thatTO put this into context, when we (BHA) went top in September, we were 9 points clear of 18th placed Southampton. Today, we are 8 points clear of 4th placed Southampton, which shows that a) your form has picked up to be promotion form but b) not enough to overhaul us, as you have earned one point more than us over that four month period, having played one more home game than us. Southampton remain my favourites for second place, as Albion would have to suffer a horrendous loss of form to lose it from here. And all those discounting Bournemouth should really take another look. Dean Court remains an absolute fortress, they rarely play really badly, and they've taken 4 points off Brighton this season and there won't be many who manage that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabrone Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Yes we can catch them and I still think we have a fair chance of doing it - provided we get our heads in the right state. I think Brighton will feel the heat at some point and falter - all it will take is for them to lose a couple and we could be right back in it. My biggest concern is our own players, they must go into every game wanting it more than the opposition and if they do then they have every chance of going on a big winning streak. The big question in my mind is are they mentally strong enough? We simply cannot afford another pathetic performance like Tranmere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scummer Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Brighton went 5 games without a win recently. If that was to happen again it would be game on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpturner Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 No - but second will do me thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WATERSIDEIFASAINT Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I believe it will all come down to if we land our transfer targets in the next 6 days!!! If we don't I think we will be very lucky to land the 2nd automatic place.We would need to be exceptionally lucky with injuries.If we land CMS and a couple of others then I believe we should land 2nd spot and might catch Brighton but at this stage I would happily take 2nd place Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BARCELONASAINT Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I am struggling to feel very positive at the moment. Brighton have been very consistent and you have to give full credit to them and their manager. At the moment i can not see us catching them aand to be honest i think we will do well to finish second. I think alot depends on the next 5 days...will we lose AOC this window, is Lallana out for long, is Punch staying, is Bernard about to be sent down....will we sign anyone to potentially replace any if not all of these!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadhall Saint Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Lots of ups and downs to go yet. So the answer is a yes we can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Wayman Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Not a snowball's chance in Haddes! FFS we are 8 points behind and they've lost 3 all season. Just because Nicola has demanded we win this league it is not our Given right as some on here seem to think; right now we look at best, good enough only to scrape the play-offs. If Lallana is out for any length of time even that might prove beyond us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micky Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Not a cat in hells chance - they have their feet firmly on the accelerator whilst we are in neutral at the moment. Honestly cannot see them blipping again this season either, I think they will win it by a country mile. Unfortunately don't think we have enough consistency to get second either - we seem to be unbeatable one game and unbearable the next, too much of a swing in form. The play-offs are a lottery, would be a great way to go up, but I don't see us making that either. As people have said, there is a way to go yet, but if my house was on it - we will be in this league come this time next season, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labibs Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I don't think so no. I just don't think we are consistent enough. There always seem to be a Tranmere or a Brentford result waiting for us around the corner. Assuming Lallana isn't out for several months, I would still expect us to get 2nd place though. Which will do for me. Really not that bothered about winning the league, just don't want Saints to be playing in it next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjk Posted 26 January, 2011 Author Share Posted 26 January, 2011 TO put this into context, when we (BHA) went top in September, we were 9 points clear of 18th placed Southampton. Today, we are 8 points clear of 4th placed Southampton, which shows that a) your form has picked up to be promotion form but b) not enough to overhaul us, as you have earned one point more than us over that four month period, having played one more home game than us. Southampton remain my favourites for second place, as Albion would have to suffer a horrendous loss of form to lose it from here. And all those discounting Bournemouth should really take another look. Dean Court remains an absolute fortress, they rarely play really badly, and they've taken 4 points off Brighton this season and there won't be many who manage that. This sums up your great consistency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 No chance, only 4 of our next 13 games are at home - we are in a false position as it is. We will do well to get 2nd spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cestrian Saint Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Not if we keep putting in performances like we did against Tranmere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Unless we get some cover and competition for certain places we will be lucky to finish in top six. We have played more home games than most others and some have games in hand. I`m begining to wonder if we do have a pot to ****** in ?? Actually only Peterborough can catch us by winning a game in hand, and we're playing them next week. As for home games, meh, it doesn't mean anything, we scored 6 at Oldham and don't always get better results home than away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alanh Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 If the question had been asked after the Oldham game everyone would have answered yes. Following the last two results there's a lot more negativity. We have responded very positively to our most recent losses and need to again to give ourselves a chance. I'm naturally an optimist and my current thought is that we can make the top two, but champions will probably come down to how we respond to the recent defeat - we need to win the next 4 / 5 to keep up the pressure / close the gap - and also what we do at the Withdean later in the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 I'm more worried about peterborough catching us. They have a game in hand and can overtake us, so automatic promotion is no longer in our own hands as it briefly was a few games back. We now need others to do worse than us. Oh know, I fell into this trap on another thread. Given we still have to play them, it is still in our hands, if we win all of our remaining game s(unlikely I know) we would finish 2nd whatever other teams do, because in winning all our games Posh would have lost 1. Must admit I am worried that certain people think we have an insurmountable challeng to get 2nd let alone 1st. FFS we are in 4th place, games in hand over most, and apart from Posh have the possibility of the 2nd highest points total. We will still catch Brighton IMHO, there is still a very long way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 26 January, 2011 Share Posted 26 January, 2011 Oh know, I fell into this trap on another thread. Given we still have to play them, it is still in our hands, if we win all of our remaining game s(unlikely I know) we would finish 2nd whatever other teams do, because in winning all our games Posh would have lost 1. Must admit I am worried that certain people think we have an insurmountable challeng to get 2nd let alone 1st. FFS we are in 4th place, games in hand over most, and apart from Posh have the possibility of the 2nd highest points total. We will still catch Brighton IMHO, there is still a very long way to go. That's not true either, if Brighton lost 2 games in addition to the one that we'd have beaten them in by winning all of our matches we'd win the League. Hypothetically speaking, in case anyone thinks I'm being "unrealistic" or something. I'm still not over the BHA bloke warning us about Bournemouth, who we've already rolled over twice so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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