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Make or break month ?


alpine_saint

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Wouldn't go so far as to say make or break because there will still be 30+ matches to play. Also, I'm not sure the results will prove anything in terms of final positions. If we lose them all we will still be challenging for play-offs minimum. If we win them all we will still only be a few points ahead of second. I agree with your cautious optimism as we have shown that we can score in every match we play, which means the opposition typically have to score at least twice to beat us. I can see us picking up a few draws this month and probably losing our 100% home record, but I'll be delighted if NA retains his record with Saints of having never lost back to back league matches.

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Too long a season to sum up our chances over 4 league games. Obviously if we lose all 4 then we'll doubt our chances to be able to take points from the better teams in the league, but I can't see us doing that. I think our fitness will be a massive plus when the fixtures start to pile up.

 

But no, I don't think it's make or break just yet, but could be a good indication as to how strong we are

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It's a difficult call really because it's true to say (almost) any team can beat any other team in this league on their day. Things have changed for us - at one time we would beat top teams and come unstuck against the lowly cloggers. Our fitness, skill and tactical awareness is paying off now, but there are still frailties - agreed. We will not win every game in the next 2 months, but I don't think we'll lose them all - results so far would indicate that to be the case. We have everything to play for and nothing to lose - we'll not be relegated this season, so sit back and enjoy the ride - it could be extremely exciting for us that's for sure.

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the biggest reason why this month maybe a pivotal 1 is because of the january transfer window. being top now means that for the club management promotion is a nice thought, go into january still in the top 2/3 it because a realistic option and may mean money will be spent in the window to make it happen rather than see how it goes and enjoy the ride.

 

to compare and contrast octobers games to novembers is like chalk and cheese so if we come away this month with 3 wins and a draw(inc watford) we go into november still in the top 2 at least and a very winnable fixture list in november. if we have a bad spell we still have a strong points total already and have little concerns for the season but plans for spending arent made in january they are made much earlier so if we are still top mid november january could be quite exciting.

 

Overall for the rest of october we have everything to gain and nothing to lose, so lets just enjoy it

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Thanks to our position, every game right now is a cup final. This month can help define how our season goes but that could be said for any month while we are top of the league.

 

 

Not really. It was last season, as our awful start meant we had no room for error. We have given ourselves plenty of room for error as the season progresses. QPR lost only six last year, but Norwich lost 8 and they both drew plenty.

 

Of course, there is a faction of absolute idiots on this forum who think we only need to get what the third place team gets and then we'll finish second. Those people would point to Swansea losing 14 games. But then, they are convinced that 80 points is "enough" to finish second and laugh at those who disagree. So if you listen to those wallies we've got plenty of games to lose.

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Next few weeks will go a long way to proving whether we will be there or thereabouts come May.

 

I am cautiously optimistic, but am a little worried by our showings against Cardiff and Leicester.

 

I hope NA has done a lot of work with the defence over the break.

 

Why would you be worried about our showing against Leicester? We played like Barcelona in the 2nd half and were cheated by a blatant foul for their 3rd goal. Alps, I think you need to grasp the fact that just because we lose, it doesn't necessarily mean it was a poor performance.

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Agree with most replies really, it can't be described as make or break this early in the season, but it will certainly be an interesting test of where we are right now, and how far away we are from where we want to be.

 

We need to make sure that, as fans, we are going by the same mentality that NA has instilled within the players - don't get to high when we win, and certainly don't get too low when we lose. We will have periods of bad form, we'll lose some games we should win, but as someone posted a bit earlier, enjoy the ride!

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It's a good opportunity to beat promotion rivals that's all (Derby, Boro' and West Ham).

 

I don't see the need to think about buying in January, the only bit of transfer news would be for Hooiveld and for any player that gets a long term injury. Apart from Cardiff the team have put in decent efforts to win the games so far and there is nothing to say that will not continue.

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It's a good opportunity to beat promotion rivals that's all (Derby, Boro' and West Ham).

 

I don't see the need to think about buying in January, the only bit of transfer news would be for Hooiveld and for any player that gets a long term injury. Apart from Cardiff the team have put in decent efforts to win the games so far and there is nothing to say that will not continue.

 

I detect a bit that some of our fans are getting a little too comfy with our position; this statement is the most extreme example of that, it sounds almost lazy...

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I detect a bit that some of our fans are getting a little too comfy with our position; this statement is the most extreme example of that, it sounds almost lazy...
so what if it does sound lazy....?has no bearing what so ever on the resultsI am totally comfortable with this team, I dont for 1 min think we will finish top 2 but I know that we will give a damn good tryif we dont go up, then so what. We have a team that tries its very best no matter what and you cant argue with that
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I detect a bit that some of our fans are getting a little too comfy with our position; this statement is the most extreme example of that, it sounds almost lazy...

 

 

A shame you don't argue a case rather than being so dismissive and go for a personal attack, perhaps then this forum can be as such.

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A shame you don't argue a case rather than being so dismissive and go for a personal attack, perhaps then this forum can be as such.

 

"sounds almost lazy" is an attack ?

 

F**k me, you're touchy.

 

As far as I am concerned, we are in the driving seat for promotion, and therefore we should be redoubling our efforts, more than if we were sitting in a relegation spot, to ensure that we fulfill our potential.

 

I take every game we lose as the end of the world, and I would be worried if NA doesnt think the same way. There is something seriously deficient in the desire and committment of any player or fan who thinks "ah well, we lost that one, plenty of games left". That sort of attitude is what got us into the mess in the first place.

 

Oh, and as for TDDs "never mind, you tried your best" mentality, that's what I say to my kids. This is a professional sports club with huge amounts of money involved. The two things are completely different.

 

To borrow a comment from manji, it seems some want our patriarchal, comfy, unambitious social club back...

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I don't think it's make or break, but it will tell us a lot about our position and whether we can maintain it for the season. A two-week break for all clubs will see a lot of injury or fitness worries dealt with, meaning everyone comes back fitter and ready to go, so our competition will take a step up a gear.

 

As for Jan, if we're serious about promotion this season then Jan is the time to bring in Prem-ready players. Bringing them in Jan will give them time to integrate with our team, get used to this new 'Southampton way' so they are ready to go next season.

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I don't think it's make or break, but it will tell us a lot about our position and whether we can maintain it for the season. A two-week break for all clubs will see a lot of injury or fitness worries dealt with, meaning everyone comes back fitter and ready to go, so our competition will take a step up a gear.

 

As for Jan, if we're serious about promotion this season then Jan is the time to bring in Prem-ready players. Bringing them in Jan will give them time to integrate with our team, get used to this new 'Southampton way' so they are ready to go next season.

 

But apparently we dont need anyone in Januarary..... :rolleyes:

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"sounds almost lazy" is an attack ?

 

F**k me, you're touchy.

 

As far as I am concerned, we are in the driving seat for promotion, and therefore we should be redoubling our efforts, more than if we were sitting in a relegation spot, to ensure that we fulfill our potential.

 

I take every game we lose as the end of the world, and I would be worried if NA doesnt think the same way. There is something seriously deficient in the desire and committment of any player or fan who thinks "ah well, we lost that one, plenty of games left". That sort of attitude is what got us into the mess in the first place.

 

Oh, and as for TDDs "never mind, you tried your best" mentality, that's what I say to my kids. This is a professional sports club with huge amounts of money involved. The two things are completely different.

 

To borrow a comment from manji, it seems some want our patriarchal, comfy, unambitious social club back...

 

Not touchy, just using a statement to make a point and elicit a decent response.

 

I don't see how we should or can redouble our efforts - I would be interested to know how you would change things that could have an increased effort to what is being done now. What is lacking to fulfil the team's potential?

 

At the moment what the staff is doing with the team is working, as surely all the team can do is follow the process. Sure the staff need to keep the team on their toes - be aware of complacency, learn any lessons from the last match and focus on the next.

 

Agree on the mentailty, irrespective of money, the focus is to win which Adkins has pretty much stated in many of his interviews.

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Like others have said, I dont think its make or break but it should be a good indication of where we are headed. If we are still in the top 2 heading towards Janurary thoughts may turn to what we might need to compete in the prem. But anywhere in the top 6 has to be considered a good effort this season so we have given ourselves a good bit of breathing space and less pressure. That could in its self help us to promotion better than say next season when NC will be expecting us to go up if we dont make it this season.

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".Oh, and as for TDDs "never mind, you tried your best" mentality, that's what I say to my kids. This is a professional sports club with huge amounts of money involved. The two things are completely different.To borrow a comment from manji, it seems some want our patriarchal, comfy, unambitious social club back...
who is this 'we'...??3 people on the internet..? what we say here has no bearing what so ever on the whole mindset of the club....ffs, all summer 'we' were saying we needed 15 new players...until about april...'we' never thought we would go up..who is this 'we' and how on earth do they manage the mindset of the whole outfit that is known as SFC..?christ, calm down, if we lose all 4 games, so what, bet we win a fair few more....I dread to think what is going to happen when the teamm dare lose a home game (as it is going to happen sooner or later)
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But apparently we dont need anyone in Januarary.....

 

I think our current squad so far has shown its good enough for this league so in theory and not allowing for injury's there is not really any need for big changes in Jan. Maybe keep hold of Jos or get a replacement but what else?

 

If we are for sure looking at promotion to the prem then I would of thought there will be a few more changes but I cant see too many happening even then.

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who is this 'we'...??3 people on the internet..? what we say here has no bearing what so ever on the whole mindset of the club....ffs, all summer 'we' were saying we needed 15 new players...until about april...'we' never thought we would go up..who is this 'we' and how on earth do they manage the mindset of the whole outfit that is known as SFC..?christ, calm down, if we lose all 4 games, so what, bet we win a fair few more....I dread to think what is going to happen when the teamm dare lose a home game (as it is going to happen sooner or later)

 

I really dont think you get it.

 

After 10 games we are top of the table. Anything less than play-offs now represents a collossal f**k-up.

 

If we lose these 4 games (and 3 of them currently look like 6-pointers), we are on our way to dropping out of the top 6. Simple as that. Those 4 teams will win their games against the bottom-half crap like we have AND will have beaten us.

 

When I wrote in the title "Make or Break", I wasnt referring to the club. I was referring to this season. Now, come early August I was happy (as I said on more than one occasion) with mid-table consolidation. After the start we've had, that would be a MASSIVE anti-climax.

 

I think if the likes of you and a few on this thread are stuck in the "we've done our best, maybe next year" mentality, then its safe to assume its an attitude prevalent throughout the fan base. I am fairly certain that Chairman, Manager and players dont feel the same. They will be looking at the table and the fixtures and fancying their chances if they can get through the next month with a decent points haul.

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I think our current squad so far has shown its good enough for this league so in theory and not allowing for injury's there is not really any need for big changes in Jan. Maybe keep hold of Jos or get a replacement but what else?

 

If we are for sure looking at promotion to the prem then I would of thought there will be a few more changes but I cant see too many happening even then.

 

We still seem to weak at CB and up-front for a 46 game season, imo.

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"Make or break" is probably the wrong expression, but i can definitely see where Alpine is coming from. For me the month should go a long way to answering some questions (perhaps doubts) i have about us. No one can argue that it hasn't been a fantastic start, and i think for most of us, expectations have been raised. Before the season i thought we might be able to nick a play off place. Well, how well we do this month should give us a good indication on if that is what we should be aiming for, or if automatic promotion is a realistic target.

 

I still have doubts about our team, especially away from home - however i think that is more to do with that lingering nag in the back of my brain that is telling me that saints will always let me down no matter how good it seems sometimes.

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"Make or break" is probably the wrong expression, but i can definitely see where Alpine is coming from. For me the month should go a long way to answering some questions (perhaps doubts) i have about us. No one can argue that it hasn't been a fantastic start, and i think for most of us, expectations have been raised. Before the season i thought we might be able to nick a play off place. Well, how well we do this month should give us a good indication on if that is what we should be aiming for, or if automatic promotion is a realistic target.

 

I still have doubts about our team, especially away from home - however i think that is more to do with that lingering nag in the back of my brain that is telling me that saints will always let me down no matter how good it seems sometimes.

 

Yep, good post.

 

I couldnt think of anything better than "make or break", but of course it makes it sound a bit black-and-white.

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We still seem to weak at CB and up-front for a 46 game season, imo.

 

We do appear weak at the back. We've not had a settled back four all season and this needs to be addressed quickly. Pretty football wins you plaudits, clean sheets win you trophies.

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I really dont think you get it.

 

After 10 games we are top of the table. Anything less than play-offs now represents a collossal f**k-up.

 

If we lose these 4 games (and 3 of them currently look like 6-pointers), we are on our way to dropping out of the top 6. Simple as that. Those 4 teams will win their games against the bottom-half crap like we have AND will have beaten us.

 

When I wrote in the title "Make or Break", I wasnt referring to the club. I was referring to this season. Now, come early August I was happy (as I said on more than one occasion) with mid-table consolidation. After the start we've had, that would be a MASSIVE anti-climax.

 

I think if the likes of you and a few on this thread are stuck in the "we've done our best, maybe next year" mentality, then its safe to assume its an attitude prevalent throughout the fan base. I am fairly certain that Chairman, Manager and players dont feel the same. They will be looking at the table and the fixtures and fancying their chances if they can get through the next month with a decent points haul.

 

So presumably by that token, you think Newcastle fans should be aggrieved if they finish outside of the Champions League places?

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We still seem to weak at CB and up-front for a 46 game season, imo.

 

Yes and no imo. Without Jaidi back yet and the problems with DS we look a little week but I expect the club may be looking at getting Jos in more long term or for a replacement for when he is gone. Martin has done well and is good enough to do a job covering any injurys and suspensions. If we get DS and Jaidi back this season then the CB problem has been stregnthend enough for this league. If we are starinng at promotion come the end of it then I would worry about all the CB's in the prem.

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Not make or break, but obviously a strong indicator for the future.

 

I would also humbly observe that The Championship appears to be an even more competitive division than League 1 and so the likelihood of any promotion/play-off positions being settled early are remote. I expect us to be 'in the mix' for automatic right up until the last month. Will we be ultimately successful? IMHO I think we could just as well as end up first as seventh - there are simply so many teams who can beat eachother.

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I really dont think you get it.

 

After 10 games we are top of the table. Anything less than play-offs now represents a collossal f**k-up.

 

If we lose these 4 games (and 3 of them currently look like 6-pointers), we are on our way to dropping out of the top 6. Simple as that. Those 4 teams will win their games against the bottom-half crap like we have AND will have beaten us.

 

When I wrote in the title "Make or Break", I wasnt referring to the club. I was referring to this season. Now, come early August I was happy (as I said on more than one occasion) with mid-table consolidation. After the start we've had, that would be a MASSIVE anti-climax.

 

I think if the likes of you and a few on this thread are stuck in the "we've done our best, maybe next year" mentality, then its safe to assume its an attitude prevalent throughout the fan base. I am fairly certain that Chairman, Manager and players dont feel the same. They will be looking at the table and the fixtures and fancying their chances if they can get through the next month with a decent points haul.

 

 

Your opinion certainly chimes with the chairman who is expecting us not to just go up, but go up as champions.

 

However, you have to remember that the "we're trying" mindset is that of the manager, who like it or not, is going to be playing stuff down all season. He is patently not Billy Davies and he has his we'll keep trying and see what happens post-match routine perfected.

 

But let's not forget that behind the scenes I have no doubt focus is there.

 

But I think you have to accept that the next four games are not make or break at any level - not for this season, not for the club, not for nothing. If we lost all four of them we still would be in touch for if not still in the top six which before christmas is absolutely fine. Plenty of clubs have had a storming first half of the year before petering out. We will have a bad run this season.

 

However annoying it is, and it does annoy me as you know, people being equivocal on a web forum won't actually stop us winning games.

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Yes and no imo. Without Jaidi back yet and the problems with DS we look a little week but I expect the club may be looking at getting Jos in more long term or for a replacement for when he is gone. Martin has done well and is good enough to do a job covering any injurys and suspensions. If we get DS and Jaidi back this season then the CB problem has been stregnthend enough for this league. If we are starinng at promotion come the end of it then I would worry about all the CB's in the prem.

 

Definately agree with this - although Fonte could do a job, the thought of going into the prem with our current defence is terrifying.

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Thanks to our position, every game right now is a cup final. This month can help define how our season goes but that could be said for any month while we are top of the league.
I disagree with the cup final tag, its us who are 2 points clear at the top, its ours to lose, I think that is easier to manage amongst the players than if we were trying to break into the play offs or top 2. Southampton are the team to beat, the pressure is every bit as much on the opposition as it is on our players.
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After 10 games we are top of the table. Anything less than play-offs now represents a collossal f**k-up.

 

I'm not sure I agree with that. Ten games is not enough to really determine how the season is going to go. We've hardly played any of the better sides yet. Only when we have will we really know how good we are and be able to set realistic targets.

 

I therefore would suggest that the next four games will go a long way to seeing how good we really are, but failing to make the top six won't represent a **** up, it will just show that we had a good start but found our level. Hopefully we'll win all four and then you really can start talking about potential **** ups if we don't make the top six.

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We still seem to weak at CB and up-front for a 46 game season, imo.

 

I agree. I think Hooiveld has looked very good since he's arrived and hopefully Barnard's troubles will soon be behind him and he'll be back in contention. Even so, we've been relatively lucky with regards to injuries during the first half of the season and if this luck were to change then we could start looking weak in these positions.

 

With regards to this month, I think we'll take a majority of points on offer. This team creates so many chances - even in the games we don't win - that it'll be hard for even the best defenses in the division to stop us from scoring. We may lose key players to injury throughout the season or just lose form but I don't think that will happen this month.

 

I predict we'll get at least 7 points and progress to the next round of the Carling Cup but as people have said above, this won't have too much bearing on where we are come the end of the season.

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Definately agree with this - although Fonte could do a job, the thought of going into the prem with our current defence is terrifying.

 

Fonte looked great in league 1, looks good in championship but could you see him being a 1st teamer in any of the current prem teams? I agree he could do a job but its still a step up for him that may or may not work.

 

The championship is probably stronger now than it ever has been yet the difference between a pretty good championship defence and a just about good enough prem defence is huge.

 

Should the club worry about a prem defence starting January? Or worry about that at the end of the season when we have a good idea what division we will be looking at?

 

The next months games might give us an idea on what we realisticaly should be aiming for, which may have a barring on possible transfers in January but I think we have plenty of room to adjust should things not go so well and still come out of the season pretty pleased with the results.

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I disagree with the cup final tag, its us who are 2 points clear at the top, its ours to lose, I think that is easier to manage amongst the players than if we were trying to break into the play offs or top 2. Southampton are the team to beat, the pressure is every bit as much on the opposition as it is on our players.

 

I read it as its other teams cup final? As in we are the team that every team wants to beat due to us being top of the league. This could make it harder for us as other teams raise their game to try and beat us.

 

Could be wrong though. ???

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I read it as its other teams cup final? As in we are the team that every team wants to beat due to us being top of the league. This could make it harder for us as other teams raise their game to try and beat us.

 

Could be wrong though. ???

 

That was my thinking. When you are top of the league you are there to be shot at, teams will consider you as something of a scalp.

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Why would you be worried about our showing against Leicester? We played like Barcelona in the 2nd half and were cheated by a blatant foul for their 3rd goal. Alps, I think you need to grasp the fact that just because we lose, it doesn't necessarily mean it was a poor performance.

 

+1.

 

We've lost plenty of games where we were the better side on the day. For that matter, so has every other team. (Apart from the skates of course, they deserve to get slaughtered the moment they set foot on the pitch)

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