Tony F Posted 30 September, 2019 Posted 30 September, 2019 So...... we are 7/38 (or 18%) of the way through the season and have the "traditional" measly haul of one point per game in the bag, which, we all know, once again puts us in the "looking down the table, not up" mindset. It is helpful if we can have confidence that there are three teams that we can rely on to be worse than us for the remaining 31 games. Pessimism? Yes, but its the hope that kills you ....... and we've been seen this cycle repeat itself over too many seasons now. Buying a season ticket seems to be buying a whole load of stress you really don't need! After missing our chance to look up the table and not down (I'm referring to the Bournemouth game which we really shouldn't have given away as softly as we did) its starting to look like another "same old, same old" season...... Can Watford, Newcastle and Villa continue as they have so far and give us some breathing space? Or will Saints continue to demonstrate innovative ways to invade the bottom three spots?
saintwiz Posted 1 October, 2019 Posted 1 October, 2019 A left back who can be bothered and 2 decent Central Defenders would improve the team.
Tony F Posted 23 December, 2019 Author Posted 23 December, 2019 I thought it might be worth revisiting this question now we are (one game under) half way through the season and back at one-point-per game which is typical squeaky bum "might stay up" bang average. We need Norwich and Watford to keep up their "form" - plus I guess we need one from Villa, Bournemouth, Brighton or maybe even Everton to have a stinker of a second half of the season. Can Ralph keep Saints'nose over the parapet for another butt-clenching season of Premier league survival? How much longer can we keep playing this tempt-the-devil "flirting game" with relegation? I want to be positive ...... but the days when I would go to a match and look forward to entertaining, flowing football, three points and some goals to celebrate seems so long ago now!!
Ex Lion Tamer Posted 23 December, 2019 Posted 23 December, 2019 Based on this weekend Villa look worse than us, as do Norwich and Watford. We're on target to get a points total in the upper 30s and should be able to steal some extra against safe mid table teams towards the end of the season. But if Ings gets injured then we're in big trouble
Green Posted 23 December, 2019 Posted 23 December, 2019 Based on this weekend, Watford don't look too bad. That team did well for them last year and even though they looked terrible against us they are much better than that, so that means looking for another team worse than us from above (assuming Norwich and Villa maintain a worse position than us). We're still right in it.
sadoldgit Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Watford, Norwich, Aston Villa and us are the worst 4 teams in this division. West Ham and Bournemouth aren’t far off. All of these teams are capable of picking up the odd win but the 3 going down will be out of these teams I think. A lot will depend on the January window for us. We are a couple of players away from being a decent mid table side. The trouble is finding the right players. If we don’t it is going to be an uphill struggle for the second half of the season given our poor home form.
OttawaSaint Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 There’s always one team that people cream themselves about that drops like a stone in the 2nd half of the season. Sheffield Utd are probably a couple of key injuries away from this. Bournemouth are hurting with injuries but always seem to pull out a few shock victories. Would be hilarious if someone like Arsenal went down. We live in hope...
SNSUN Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 I think Brighton could also slip and even with 28 points, Sheffield United are only 10 points off us and it's not beyond belief that a bad run could see them drop, not that I think they will. Every season we seem to be in a relegation battle, I look at the last few fixtures. Ours are favourable this season, especially if we are fighting for points by then.
Jack Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 We have been comfortably amongst the worst 3 teams in the league for the majority of the season so still have a lot of work to do. Squeezing past Watford and Norwich at home then beating a really poor Villa away has kept us alive. There's usually one team who has a sh*t first half of the season then pushes on, as well as a team that starts well then nose dives (Bournemouth this year?). It's going to be interesting, hopefully we're able to push on but I feel we're only 1 injury away from being in big trouble, and the games come thick and fast now.
Doctoroncall Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 I still think Crystal Palace are in danger if Zaha gets injured or sold. Their one star player, like our Ings!
beatlesaint Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Pearson will get Watford out of this, he’s done it before and although Man United blow hot and very cold they looked decent in beating them. Norwich and Villa have to carry on as they are then if we are to get out of it Bournemouth, Brighton and possibly Palace cos they don’t score many. Everton will be ok and if people seriously think Sheffield United will go all to hell that much then, well you can dream I suppose. I would love it to be Bournemouth and even though it appears that the Eddie Howe love in has hit a bump or two I expect they’ll get a surprise couple of results to edge them clear.
OldNick Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Bournemouth are slipping, they were lucky to win t our place (not first half as we were woeful) but 2nd half we should have got a draw. We need teams to slip back into it and Burnley are not above going on another poor run. At the end of the day we need to keep improving and I think as Vectis said on the Dave Watson thread the new man in the coaching staff may be making a mark
Batman Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Bournemouth are slipping, they were lucky to win t our place (not first half as we were woeful) but 2nd half we should have got a draw. We need teams to slip back into it and Burnley are not above going on another poor run. At the end of the day we need to keep improving and I think as Vectis said on the Dave Watson thread the new man in the coaching staff may be making a mark Bournemouth won’t go down. They have a huge injury list and sit a few places above us still.... They will have enough to pull away in the 2nd half of the season.
Fookwit Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 It won’t happen but would love Everton to go down. I think Brighton and Bournemouth can be dragged into the relegation fight to join Watford, Villa and Norwich. Also depends if Saints strengthen central defence, right back and central midfield in January?
Lets B Avenue Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Bournemouth won’t go down. They have a huge injury list and sit a few places above us still.... They will have enough to pull away in the 2nd half of the season. That's them down then.
Matthew Le God Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Bournemouth won’t go down. They have a huge injury list and sit a few places above us still.... They will have enough to pull away in the 2nd half of the season. It is only 1 point and those injured players you mention won't be of use to them for a lot of games in the coming weeks.
Batman Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 It is only 1 point and those injured players you mention won't be of use to them for a lot of games in the coming weeks. still above us and not likely to change...unless of course, we beat chelsea at theirs (like Bournemouth did)!
Matthew Le God Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 still above us and not likely to change...unless of course, we beat chelsea at theirs (like Bournemouth did)! Unlikely to change tomorrow, but given there are 19 games after that and a difference of only 1 point it is hardly beyond the realms of possibility Saints could finish higher.
SNSUN Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Unlikely to change tomorrow, but given there are 19 games after that and a difference of only 1 point it is hardly beyond the realms of possibility Saints could finish higher. Guarantee it won’t change tomorrow!
Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 There aren't 3 teams worse than us. Ask yourself this. Which other Premiership teams could concede 9 at home against Leicester?
Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 Pearson will get Watford out of this, he’s done it before and although Man United blow hot and very cold they looked decent in beating them. Norwich and Villa have to carry on as they are then if we are to get out of it Bournemouth, Brighton and possibly Palace cos they don’t score many. Everton will be ok and if people seriously think Sheffield United will go all to hell that much then, well you can dream I suppose. I would love it to be Bournemouth and even though it appears that the Eddie Howe love in has hit a bump or two I expect they’ll get a surprise couple of results to edge them clear. Agree about Pearson. It's Norwich, Villa and Saints for the drop.
Matthew Le God Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 There aren't 3 teams worse than us. Ask yourself this. Which other Premiership teams could concede 9 at home against Leicester? 1) Why does that matter? Saints have beaten all three teams currently in the relegation zone in recent weeks, Saints looked comfortably better than all of them. 2) It has not been the Premiership since 2007
Turkish Posted 24 December, 2019 Posted 24 December, 2019 1) Why does that matter? Saints have beaten all three teams currently in the relegation zone in recent weeks, Saints looked comfortably better than all of them. 2) It has not been the Premiership since 2007 Why does that matter? Norwich best Man City, Saints best Norwich that doesn’t mean saints are better then Man City.
Jack Posted 26 December, 2019 Posted 26 December, 2019 1) Why does that matter? Saints have beaten all three teams currently in the relegation zone in recent weeks, Saints looked comfortably better than all of them. 2) It has not been the Premiership since 2007 We were comfortably worse than Watford for 70 minutes and got lucky. Yes, we were way better than Norwich for the first half but we were lucky to get away without conceding an equaliser in the end.
Matthew Le God Posted 26 December, 2019 Posted 26 December, 2019 We were comfortably worse than Watford for 70 minutes and got lucky. Really? Saints 63% possession Watford 37% possession Saints 11 shots 6 on target Watford 6 shots 3 on target
OldNick Posted 26 December, 2019 Posted 26 December, 2019 Bournemouth won’t go down. They have a huge injury list and sit a few places above us still.... They will have enough to pull away in the 2nd half of the season.Perhaps but they are not quite as good or a surprise package than they were. Especially if the centre back goes back to Chelsea
Jack Posted 26 December, 2019 Posted 26 December, 2019 Really? Saints 63% possession Watford 37% possession Saints 11 shots 6 on target Watford 6 shots 3 on target Chelsea had 68% possession and loads more shots than us today, would you say they were the better side? We were awful against Watford until the last 20 mins.
Tamesaint Posted 26 December, 2019 Posted 26 December, 2019 Chelsea had 68% possession and loads more shots than us today, would you say they were the better side? We were awful against Watford until the last 20 mins. Wrong. Chelsea had 3 shots on target today. We had 3
Jack Posted 26 December, 2019 Posted 26 December, 2019 Wrong. Chelsea had 3 shots on target today. We had 3 They had 10 shots. We had 5. Either way, we were sh*t against Watford which was my original point.
tajjuk Posted 27 December, 2019 Posted 27 December, 2019 Either way, we were sh*t against Watford which was my original point. Not really, they parked the bus and got a goal through a mistake from a hoof down the channels, pretty similar to Newcastle, we were the better team in both games. We just struggle to break down teams that park the bus but we are hardly the only ones, Newcastle did the same to Sheff Utd and Watford did the same to Man Utd. They didn't create chances on the break anyway near as well as we did vs Chelsea yesterday, we broke with quality passing and got numbers into the box yesterday, neither Newcastle nor Watford IMO did that but our defenders are so error prone they gift goals, that is the problem against teams that defend so deep, we struggle to break them down and commit unforced errors to give them easy chances. It's why we need better defenders and probably some more creativity, and we would then be winning more games against crap teams like that because we'd give them less chances and break them down better. At the moment most of our chance creation relies on breaks and winning the ball back high up the pitch from the press, but crap teams like Newcastle and Watford just sit in all game and camp their box so we can't do that against them.
Dark Munster Posted 28 December, 2019 Posted 28 December, 2019 Villa and Norwich look like good candidates. But with Nasty Nige at the helm and Deeney now fit Watford are starting to look like the team of last season. So it looks like us, them, Hammers, Bompey, BHA, Burnley and Newcastle are going to have a huge dogfight to avoid the third spot. Annoying that Sheff. Utd. are playing out of their skins and look out of it. Credit to their manager for making a silk purse out of a pig's ear.
SNSUN Posted 29 December, 2019 Posted 29 December, 2019 Villa and Norwich look like good candidates. But with Nasty Nige at the helm and Deeney now fit Watford are starting to look like the team of last season. So it looks like us, them, Hammers, Bompey, BHA, Burnley and Newcastle are going to have a huge dogfight to avoid the third spot. Annoying that Sheff. Utd. are playing out of their skins and look out of it. Credit to their manager for making a silk purse out of a pig's ear. Normally I would say 29 points should see them only needing another 6 or 7 for safety but with teams near the bottom (including us) picking up points, I think the safety mark could be quite high this year - somewhere around the 40 point mark. That's why I wouldn't personally rule them out yet - they have the squad that could easily get demoralised from a few defeats in a row and see them plummet. It's still the fixture on the calendar that Saints and other teams should be looking to try and get three points from in 2020. Also I look at Liverpool, and genuinely I think that if they have the title sewn up early, they'll rest players for other competitions - and that bodes well for teams that play them towards the end of the season. Burnley, Brighton and Villa have them in April, and Newcastle in May.
OldNick Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 It has tightened up and it is difficult to see who will be going down. Burnley and Bournemouth slipping
whelk Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 It has tightened up and it is difficult to see who will be going down. Burnley and Bournemouth slipping Those two and Norwich I think.
OldNick Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 (edited) Those two and Norwich I think. The ‘I think’ sums it all up as things are changing so quickly. My gut feeling is Bournemouth Villa and Norwich Edited 1 January, 2020 by OldNick
DT Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 Bournemouth look atrocious tonight Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
beatlesaint Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 Bournemouth look atrocious tonight Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Listened to first half coming back from St Mary’s and even Willo on Solent was struggling to put any positive spin on tonight’s performance.
labibs Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 Bournemouth look atrocious tonight Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk To all our fans who criticise us for selling our best players. Bournemouth have kept Ake / Wilson / Fraser and spent on the likes of Lerma, Solanke. How’s that working out for them?
Batman Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 To all our fans who criticise us for selling our best players. Bournemouth have kept Ake / Wilson / Fraser and spent on the likes of Lerma, Solanke. How’s that working out for them? does not really make any point at all
Dusic Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 This could be a season where a team goes down with 40 points.
tajjuk Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 (edited) To all our fans who criticise us for selling our best players. Bournemouth have kept Ake / Wilson / Fraser and spent on the likes of Lerma, Solanke. How’s that working out for them? They haven't sold their best players but at the same time they have bought terribly, how Liverpool have mugged them for what close to £40 million for Ibe and Solanke is beyond me. Also Fraser shows the other problem with not letting your players go, he's running down his contract and barely putting an effort in this season, much like Van Dijk did for us until we sold him. It's all well and good people saying we shouldn't sell our player but most of them are unprofessional mercenaries that don't give an F, and coupled with greedy agents in their ear will quite happily phone it in, go on strike or whatever to get a move. Most wantaway players are not like Mahrez. Edited 1 January, 2020 by tajjuk
JRM Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 This could be a season where a team goes down with 40 points. Its looking that way at the moment, even the bottom side will end up with more points than usual, should make it an entertaining 2nd half of the season if there's not much between 5th and 18th, we're still capable of a bad run, got to try to keep this momentum going and get points on the board
JRM Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 Bournemouth have Watford, Norwich and Brighton in their next 3 league games, that's their chance to get out of this bad run.
whelk Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 Bournemouth have Watford, Norwich and Brighton in their next 3 league games, that's their chance to get out of this bad run. Last team I’d want to be facing now is Watford.
Tamesaint Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 still above us and not likely to change...unless of course, we beat chelsea at theirs (like Bournemouth did)! How the world can change in a week!!!
GarrettIvo Posted 1 January, 2020 Posted 1 January, 2020 Also I look at Liverpool, and genuinely I think that if they have the title sewn up early, they'll rest players for other competitions - and that bodes well for teams that play them towards the end of the season. Burnley, Brighton and Villa have them in April, and Newcastle in May. Not sure about that. They can easily rotate players in and out without a major drop in quality. And since they're still on track to be undefeated in the league, I can't see them wanting to throw away a chance to finish the season that way. All conjecture either way though.
Tamesaint Posted 2 January, 2020 Posted 2 January, 2020 The fixture list is crazy. After the frenetic Christmas period which saw 4 games in 10 days there are just 4 league games over the next 6 weeks. Players who are injured have time to recover. There are going to be many more "surprises" before the season ends.
SaintBobby Posted 2 January, 2020 Posted 2 January, 2020 This could be a season where a team goes down with 40 points. Yep. I'm usually the first one to scream when people say "you need 40 points for safety". 38 or fewer is often enough. This year though you can imagine a team going down with 40 points or even more. Other than Norwich being somewhat adrift, it's absurdly close from mid-table downwards.
Stud mark of doom Posted 2 January, 2020 Posted 2 January, 2020 Who is going down? Not us. Norwich obvs Bournemouth, Brighton and Burnley also on very long poor runs and only look ok due to goodish starts in the summer. We should now be asking if the are three better teams - or any better teams not starting with an L.
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