Southampton F.C - Empty seats?

[DanielCHillier]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/southampton

They are out of the equation now.

Not entirely, but they are definitely faltering and i'm fairly confident that as long as we don't slip up we'll finish above them

 

[Shea]

Not entirely, but they are definitely faltering and i'm fairly confident that as long as we don't slip up we'll finish above them

I think it will come down to a fight for the final CL spot between Us, Utd and Liverpool

With us currently 3rd favourites and Utd best placed

Of course Arsenal could drop off and Utd take third but in that case I think Arsenal would still secure 4th as they always do

We need Liverpool to lose to Man City and we need Utd to go on a bit of a poor run of form

Frankly I can't see us being consistent enough from now until the end of the season but I do hope we finish strong with a decent enough run in and soon to have no more cup commitments

I think it will be beyond us this year though and the shame is I am not sure if we will continue to get as good a chance to break the top four as we have in the last two seasons

 

[prawnsandwich]

I think it will come down to a fight for the final CL spot between Us, Utd and Liverpool

With us currently 3rd favourites and Utd best placed

Of course Arsenal could drop off and Utd take third but in that case I think Arsenal would still secure 4th as they always do

We need Liverpool to lose to Man City and we need Utd to go on a bit of a poor run of form

Frankly I can't see us being consistent enough from now until the end of the season but I do hope we finish strong with a decent enough run in and soon to have no more cup commitments

I think it will be beyond us this year though and the shame is I am not sure if we will continue to get as good a chance to break the top four as we have in the last two seasons

FFP will have a bigger impact on the "usual" top 4 than ourselves. I don't think it "has" to be this year. What makes my guts wrench is that it "should have" been this year.

 

[StartingPrice]

I think it will come down to a fight for the final CL spot between Us, Utd and Liverpool

I agree.

With us currently 3rd favourites and Utd best placed

United are best placed (largely thanks to spawniness!).
I suspect folk are overestimating Liverpool a bit too much (again). They were not all that against Everton, and considering how much we exerted ourselves against the Goons and that they were the home team, I really don;t think they looked that much better a team than us. Next time out, before they scored they should have conceded two penalties (with two cards...either red or yellow), and another two yellows, that would have left most of their defensive half treading on eggshells, and later on they should have had their goal-keeper dismissed for handling outside the area. It was a singularly awful officiating display and obscured the fact that Southampton were the better team for most of the game. True, we weren't all that either in our next game, but it was the Spammers cup final and our minds are clearly on a cup final. If anything they were even more abject than us in going out of the Europa and were only a goal up in the first place thanks to a traditional dodgy penalty.

They have, arguably, the hardest run-in of all the contenders, and will still have a cup distraction that we will no longer have after tomorrow (as will United). I don't see them as any more favoured than us TBH.

Of course Arsenal could drop off and Utd take third but in that case I think Arsenal would still secure 4th as they always do

You are probably right . Bluddy Goons!

We need Liverpool to lose to Man City and we need Utd to go on a bit of a poor run of form

Here's hoping Citeh put in a decent performance, then, and not one of their shambolic ones. Probably a good job they were stung by Barcelona midweek. Liverpool have less time to prepare and had to go through extra-time and penalties. Don't now what the situation is, but Sturridge was limping.

Don't know about United being on a good run of form now. There results are good. Some folk consider the two to be the same thing, I don't. They needed their traditional hand-up from the ref today to overcome a basically very ordinary Sunderland team - and at OT. Not only did he send a player off, when a yellow would have been more than enough, but he even sent the wrong man off - and the wrong coloured man, FFS Really pisses me off: Rooney pulls down Harry Kane in an extended rugby tackle and there's not even the sniff of a pen, let alone a sending off, but when its for United the ref is so frantic to give them a pen and send a player off when it wasn't warranted, IMHO, that he goes colour blind. They have been lucky...we need their luck to run out.

Frankly I can't see us being consistent enough from now until the end of the season but I do hope we finish strong with a decent enough run in and soon to have no more cup commitments

I'm veering towards the opposite. We were improving fast and showing a fair amount of consistency - and I would include the visit to Anfield in that. So, really, it is only the Europa and the Spammers game, where fatigue, depth of squad, and the natural tendency to look forward to the final (no matter how much it was claimed it wasn't happening) have produced a couple of lacklustre displays. Win and we will have a bounce in our step, lose and I think it will galvanise the team (and Poch) into not having the season can't for nought - and hopefully we can gt back to the rapidly improving and pretty consistent team from before the distraction of the CC final. And from here-on-in no distractions what so ever...and, therefore, less stress on our pretty good first team.

I think it will be beyond us this year though and the shame is I am not sure if we will continue to get as good a chance to break the top four as we have in the last two seasons

I am still pretty hopeful. It's a tough ask - but if this new look Spurs really do have something more about them, as is being claimed, they should at least give it a fahooking good go

 

[spursfan77]

Forgotten how to score goals and not concede them. Will be a few weeks before they sort themselves out

 

[mill]

Forgotten how to score goals and not concede them. Will be a few weeks before they sort themselves out

Is that us or soton?

 

[StartingPrice]

I agree.

United are best placed (largely thanks to spawniness!).
I suspect folk are overestimating Liverpool a bit too much (again). They were not all that against Everton, and considering how much we exerted ourselves against the Goons and that they were the home team, I really don;t think they looked that much better a team than us. Next time out, before they scored they should have conceded two penalties (with two cards...either red or yellow), and another two yellows, that would have left most of their defensive half treading on eggshells, and later on they should have had their goal-keeper dismissed for handling outside the area. It was a singularly awful officiating display and obscured the fact that Southampton were the better team for most of the game. True, we weren't all that either in our next game, but it was the Spammers cup final and our minds are clearly on a cup final. If anything they were even more abject than us in going out of the Europa and were only a goal up in the first place thanks to a traditional dodgy penalty.

They have, arguably, the hardest run-in of all the contenders, and will still have a cup distraction that we will no longer have after tomorrow (as will United). I don't see them as any more favoured than us TBH.

You are probably right . Bluddy Goons!

Here's hoping Citeh put in a decent performance, then, and not one of their shambolic ones. Probably a good job they were stung by Barcelona midweek. Liverpool have less time to prepare and had to go through extra-time and penalties. Don't now what the situation is, but Sturridge was limping.

Don't know about United being on a good run of form now. There results are good. Some folk consider the two to be the same thing, I don't. They needed their traditional hand-up from the ref today to overcome a basically very ordinary Sunderland team - and at OT. Not only did he send a player off, when a yellow would have been more than enough, but he even sent the wrong man off - and the wrong coloured man, FFS Really pisses me off: Rooney pulls down Harry Kane in an extended rugby tackle and there's not even the sniff of a pen, let alone a sending off, but when its for United the ref is so frantic to give them a pen and send a player off when it wasn't warranted, IMHO, that he goes colour blind. They have been lucky...we need their luck to run out.

I'm veering towards the opposite. We were improving fast and showing a fair amount of consistency - and I would include the visit to Anfield in that. So, really, it is only the Europa and the Spammers game, where fatigue, depth of squad, and the natural tendency to look forward to the final (no matter how much it was claimed it wasn't happening) have produced a couple of lacklustre displays. Win and we will have a bounce in our step, lose and I think it will galvanise the team (and Poch) into not having the season can't for nought - and hopefully we can gt back to the rapidly improving and pretty consistent team from before the distraction of the CC final. And from here-on-in no distractions what so ever...and, therefore, less stress on our pretty good first team.

I am still pretty hopeful. It's a tough ask - but if this new look Spurs really do have something more about them, as is being claimed, they should at least give it a fahooking good go

LoL - what do I know
Obviously, since writing this, the Dippers have beat Citeh. I think I'm going to have to revise my claim that they have the hardest run-in, too. Since looking at the remaining fixtures and observing that they had the hardest run-in, they have beat us, Southampton and Citeh, meaning they have won some of those hardest games and have less hardest games remaining. On current form, they could take one of those top four spots, and it could be United who miss out. Horrible conundrum: if it is between the Goons, United and the Dippers, who would you want to miss out the most?

Anyway, I still think either winning or losing today could galvanise us, so I wouldn't write us off, either.

 

[Shea]

LoL - what do I know
Obviously, since writing this, the Dippers have beat Citeh. I think I'm going to have to revise my claim that they have the hardest run-in, too. Since looking at the remaining fixtures and observing that they had the hardest run-in, they have beat us, Southampton and Citeh, meaning they have won some of those hardest games and have less hardest games remaining. On current form, they could take one of those top four spots, and it could be United who miss out. Horrible conundrum: if it is between the Goons, United and the Dippers, who would you want to miss out the most?

Anyway, I still think either winning or losing today could galvanise us, so I wouldn't write us off, either.

I'm afraid I really can't see us finishing in the top four now

I'd prefer Arsenal to drop out of the three - the other two have missed our recently and Arsenal pride themselves on always being there

I think we have less chance than in recent years although I don't think top four was a fair expectation for Poch in his first year considering the state of the squad

I'm personally just hoping we finish the season strong and show signs of progress so that next year we with some more experience to key players and some clever transfers both in and out we will be in a good position once again to challenge for the top four and silverware

Liverpool, Utd and Arsenal are the 3 in the race now I think - one will miss out and it could be any of them.

I think any fan who thinks we will make top four will be in for disappointment though - I'm more than happy for us to finish in the top six this year as long as we continue to show progression and more of the Chelse and Arsenal type performances that will give us hope for the years to come under Poch

 

[gilzeantheking]

This could be a big loss for them

Simon Peach ‏@SimonPeach 2m2 minutes ago
#SaintsFC goalkeeper Fraser Forster has undergone surgery after damaging patellar tendon. Usual time frame for injury is nine to 12 months.

 

[Marty]

Forster out is a huge loss. Davis and Gazzaniga are nowhere near the same quality.

 

[mightyspur]

Forster out is a huge loss. Davis and Gazzaniga are nowhere near the same quality.

Whoever it is they'll no doubt have a worldly against us. #spursy

 

[FinnYid]

Think it's official now, despite some injuries they managed to improve over reign of Pochettino.

 

[Ribble]

Think it's official now, despite some injuries they managed to improve over reign of Pochettino.

Terrible end to the season though, they've won 1 of their last 6. They've probably got 7th sewn up (unless Swansea produce something special against Arsenal or Man City), but they could easily not record another win before the end of the season which would put something of a dampener on it.

 

[FinnYid]

Terrible end to the season though, they've won 1 of their last 6.

Bit like us?

 

[Ribble]

Bit like us?

Quite.

... Although all of a sudden now Swansea are right on their tail. Lowest they can finish is 8th again but that's not really improvement. Interesting to note that they've scored fewer but also let in far fewer, how much is that due to having a more consistent GK?

 

[dontcallme]

One of my best mates is a Saints fan and at the beginning of the season he genuinely wasn't that worried.

He thought Shaw was a great long-term prospect but in the shotrt-term not particularly good so wouldn't be much of a loss. Bertrand getting into the Players team of the season more than fixed that.

Chambers only played around half the games so again wouldn't be a big loss in the short term. He also never thought that much of Poch.

Lallana was the big loss and Lambert was quite damaging too but they replaced them very well.

He's much more concerned for next season as he's certain they'll lose Clyne and Schneiderlein. He doesn't think that much of Wanyama so unless Harrison Reed or Ward Prowse are used more they don't have a natural replacement.

Think they'll go back to around 10th next season.

 

[Ribble]

One of my best mates is a Saints fan and at the beginning of the season he genuinely wasn't that worried.

He thought Shaw was a great long-term prospect but in the shotrt-term not particularly good so wouldn't be much of a loss. Bertrand getting into the Players team of the season more than fixed that.

Chambers only played around half the games so again wouldn't be a big loss in the short term. He also never thought that much of Poch.

Lallana was the big loss and Lambert was quite damaging too but they replaced them very well.

He's much more concerned for next season as he's certain they'll lose Clyne and Schneiderlein. He doesn't think that much of Wanyama so unless Harrison Reed or Ward Prowse are used more they don't have a natural replacement.

Think they'll go back to around 10th next season.

I think that he should probably be worried about losing Alderweireld and having lost Forster too, given their GD has improved only really because of the defence.

 

[thinktank]

 

[FinnYid]

So we eventually just managed to keep 'em behind, pointwise we dropped from last season and they improved.

 

[Geyzer Soze]

What a deft title change.