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2014/15 Season. Saints top 6. Nailed on.

Rut

By Rut,
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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
why is it not realistic? This is shaping up to be a very average league this year. Everton will have distractions from the Europa League, Man U are struggling and only Chelsea are a stand out team so far.

 

Because it just is. This thread will look foolish in may imo. It's much too early to start saying things like 6th is realistic. Let's try to get as close as we can to last year first.

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CB Fry

CB Fry

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Posted
why is it not realistic? This is shaping up to be a very average league this year. Everton will have distractions from the Europa League, Man U are struggling and only Chelsea are a stand out team so far.

We will not finish 6th. Get used to it.

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igsey

igsey

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I agree with you, 6th is very possible - if we had our first choice team available all the time. It won't be. Tadic gets injured and that's most of our attacking creativity gone; Pelle gets injured and we've got no 'proper' striker. If Forster picks up a knock and Boruc isn't in shape to step in, then we're in the same position as last year with keepers, and we all know how well that went. If Clyne gets an injury then we're vulnerable at the back in defence and we lose most of our attacking ability down the right hand side of the pitch.

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Saxon

Saxon

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Well I put a cheeky punt on 7th in the pre-season prediction thread :blush:

 

I think after this game 7th is looking more realistic though, 6th, not sure, could do if Everton struggle due to Europa, not sure they will though. I do think Man Utd may well struggle though. I've said to other people I think top 5 would be amazing for them this season, can't see top four, even with DiMaria. Looks lke an absolute shambles over there atm.

 

I reckon, if we can start to get the players to start the games like they finish them, we could do well against the bottom half teams again, but its looking like we have a bit more resilience against tougher opposition and some guts to come back from going behind, add that in, I like our chances. I don't see why we can't do what we did last season. We still had plenty of sh1tty results, there's plenty from last season we can improve on IMO.

 

I think the biggest challenges to 7th will be:

 

Swansea; they look like they have a rocket up their collective arses. Lets see if they can keep it up all season (as with us :p )

 

Our squad depth; lets hope we don't get so many squad critical injuries at the wrong time like last season. Be interesting to see how we deal with that, but Yoshida is looking very good so far this season so that's a huge positive.

 

Man Utd (obv), if they actually manage to get their sh1t together. Could well do, but at the same time, you never know, they are low on confidence, this is a brutal league, stranger things have happened in the world.

 

Hope we do improve on last season, but ofc, this has a huge heap of salt with it :lol: just feel a little more light hearted about it after today's match :) (watch us struggle against Newcastle at home and then get shredded by Swansea away :p now)

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Dark Munster

Dark Munster

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8-12, satisfactory. 12-17 disappointing. 18-20 unthinkable 1-6 impossible.

12th will be confusing because it'll be both satisfactory and disappointing. And 7th will leave us wondering what to think. ;)

 

Anyway, basically agree with those positions. We don't have the squad depth to finish above the CL big boys + Manure, Spurs and Everton.

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Saint_Tony

Saint_Tony

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6th won't happen, but the fixtures look fairly favourable up until the end of november and with a bit of confidence and momentum we are capable of stringing together a few wins. I'd be content with anything as low as 14th after the summer we've had, but it's too early to make wild assumptions. Things are going ok, but defeat in the next game and the forum will revert back to relegation talk.

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alpine_saint

alpine_saint

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F**k off you predictable wa*ker.

 

Anyone left on this forum who ENJOYS a Saints win? Prob not...

 

I took great satisfaction from it. So much so, I had a wee drinkie.

 

Some of you Über Fans seem to have headed straight for this site to attack your fellow poster. Speaks volumes..

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Ewell

Ewell

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Top 6 are nailed on, top 7 if Van Gaal sorts Utd out. We're looking at 8th at absolute best but would be fighting it out with a handful of other sides who are all much of a muchness for that position.

 

Yep, fully agree with this.

 

 

Yesterday was great, we picked up from the 2nd half at Millwall and completely bossed the whole match against West Ham who looked a poor side to me.

 

There is no doubt RK knows what he is doing and his team is showing signs of potential. I can see us doing well in the cups and improving as the season goes on. If we match last years 8th place then we have had a good season but I fear as it's a new team results will be a bit up and down. Despite the great victories last season on the road I can't recall one I enjoyed more than yesterday.

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sadoldgit

sadoldgit

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Just as we weren't relegation fodder after the WBA match we arent world beaters after the WHU match. What we aren't though is what many people wanted to believe and that is nailed on for the drop. Anywhere mid table will do for me after the summer we have had.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Bermuda Saint

Bermuda Saint

Posted
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What the F*&k do you people want!!!!

 

We have been playing very good football, unlucky to loose at LP, boring but solid against WBA and crushed WH and NC. Each game they seem to be gelling quickly, new boys proving they are as good as their reputations.

 

We have a bunch of winnable game at home coming up, and could be within that top six (we are now 3rd) come Christmas.

 

Many of you quote that we will not get in the top 6 for reasons like a key player injury, the teams in the top 6 are to strong....etc......I call Bullcrap!, any team that looses a key player will fear a decline in team performance, we have better depth and money for January if we need to strengthen.

 

I don't see why we can't be in that top 6, i only see three shoe-ins (C,MC,Ars). I have seen enough now to stick my neck on the line and predict we will beat 8th place last year.

 

A huge accomplishment after such a tumultuous summer. We have more to add with Jrod, Mane and promising academy players to boost out squad.

 

Love the way Roko is setting his team up, good substitutes at the right times. Our press is still very good, doing it in groups, closing down and picking up the free man (tks Poch, that's the last compliment u will get). But not over pressing, mixing it up with long balls and more attacking passing. Roko has proven to me he is a better coach than Poch in 3 short months.

 

So I go into each game like the coach and players, WITH THE BELIEF THAT WE WILL WIN!! top six is attainable, because we are that good!! Saints go Marching in!

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Dellman

Dellman

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Posted

Suddenly we have a strong squad with the likes of JWP, Boruc and even Big Vic warming the bench at times and that's before JRod comes back or Sadio Mane starts cracking them in. Must be a bit discouraging for Gallagher, Reed and Isgrove and looks like Gardos amy not hold a place either. This tells me we should keep ahead of the also rans and 6th is not beyond us, results like Sawnsea next week will give a good indicator whether I am right or wrong: 6th for me!

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broken spoke

broken spoke

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Posted
Suddenly we have a strong squad with the likes of JWP, Boruc and even Big Vic warming the bench at times and that's before JRod comes back or Sadio Mane starts cracking them in. Must be a bit discouraging for Gallagher, Reed and Isgrove and looks like Gardos amy not hold a place either. This tells me we should keep ahead of the also rans and 6th is not beyond us, results like Sawnsea next week will give a good indicator whether I am right or wrong: 6th for me!

 

Agree with this... next three games will show where the land lies for us this season.... So far everything is looking good.

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FloridaMarlin

FloridaMarlin

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I'm not the sort that gets carried away on a cloud of euphoria after a couple of good wins, nor do I ask my other half to lock sharp objects away if we lose a couple on the bounce.

 

It is early days, but after the way we strengthened during the summer, you are then left to ponder how many clubs are better than us this season?

 

On our day last season, our first XI was capable of competing with the best in the league but we lacked depth and when hit by injuries, dropped points to teams around and below us.

 

I'll reserve judgement as to whether our best XI this season can mix it with the top boys when we play one of them. I tend to discount the Liverpool game and I'm sure had we played them Saturday, we would have beaten them just like Villa.

 

I think, though, our strength in depth will benefit us down the stretch and we should always be able to put out a strong and competitive team to take points off the lower teams.

 

So which teams are better than us? Clearly the top four/five. Chelsea, Citeh, ManUre and Arsenal have beefed up enough to maintain the difference. Liverpool? I can see them finishing outside the top six this season. Early days, I know, but they have little to suggest they are not a one-man team who are now missing the one man.

 

Everton have made a good signing in Lukaku, but they have struggled defensively (although I think anybody will against Chelsea). Despite our feelings towards Spurs and Pochettino, they do have some excellent players and a good squad. It will be a poor manager who is not able to produce something with that squad, even if it is just short of a player or two to be a Champions League squad.

 

While I would love to see us break into the top six, I cannot realistically see who that might be at the expense of. Everton perhaps, but they - like us - have a damn good manager.

 

What of the teams who finished around and below us last season?

 

Have Stoke added to their squad as effectively as us, or enough to overhaul the six point deficit of last season?

 

Newcastle? I think we saw the answer to that on Saturday. Crystal Palace had an amazing second half to last season, thanks mainly to Pulis. I don't think they will repeat that under Colin, although they might have enough to stay up.

 

Same question of West Ham, Sunderland and Villa. In the same way the big boys have strengthened enough to maintain the differential with us, I think we have done the same to them. Villa have had a great start, but they suffer from a similar lack of depth to which we did last season.

 

The game against Swansea will be as good an early indicator of where our season might be heading as any against Chelsea/Citeh. They're a similar team to us in terms of how they play, and although they might not have spent the money we did, they've made some shrewd signings. They've also had a cracking start and like us, have a bit of early season momentum.

 

I think we'll finish 8th or 9th, and our main contenders for the 8th spot could be Swansea, even thought they fell away badly last season.

 

Of course, I could be completely wrong and Ron's tactical genius and inspirational man-management will propel us up the table and towards Europe.

 

But I don't see there are any more teams better than us than last season.

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