After the behaviour of Liverpool and especially their manager last summer there aren't many Saints supporters who wished Liverpool well this season, however we all now need to bite the bullet.

Im sure that some Saints fans will already be spitting feathers at the mere mention of Liverpool and even more so at my suggesting that they should have the glory of an FA Cup Final, but we have to look at what Saints are trying to achieve first and if that means that Liverpool have to get to an FA Cup Final then Im happy with that.

The whole crux of the matter lies in Saints qualifying for Europe, at the moment to do that we need to finish 6th, however at time of writing Saints are 7th and as good as that is, it will not qualify us for the Europa League unless the FA Cup produces the right winner.

Sadly the right winner for Saints is preferably Arsenal and secondly Liverpool, that would mean that 7th would get a Europa League spot, if Aston Villa or Reading were to win the cup then they would qualify for the Europa League, but the runners up spot does not get the Europa league place any more.

So to cover our bases the best news for Saints would be an Arsenal V Liverpool final, assuming that Liverpool didn't drop out of the top 7, then that would mean that we could actually be guaranteed a Europa League spot well before the end of the season, in fact if results went our way it could actually be on the weekend of the 27th April.

So although it would be painful to see Liverpool in an FA Cup Final especially that arrogant smug manager of their's, from our perspective its about achieving a Europa League spot and I would prefer to do that than finish 7th and miss out on Europe because Villa or Reading had won the FA Cup.

So like most Saints fans I will have to bite the bullet on the weekend of April 18th/19th and for the good of Southampton Football Club overall pray that it will be a Liverpool V Arsenal final, however once we are in Europe I will prey that Dejan Lovren blasts another spot kick into outer space at Wembley.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 14:32 - Apr 9 Can't Do it. I am happy for Arsenal to win the cup beating Villa in the final. The good thing of course is that the results will be in no way affected by who I/we want to win - if they were then Saints would be champions with 114 points every season.
0

A1079 added 16:42 - Apr 9 I don't care who wins or who gets to the final. If we qualify for Europe I prefer to do so under our own steam and not be reliant on the results of others (though I am not stupid enough not to realise that others results always play a role in your own outcome wherever your final position is), but I don't want Liverpool to win the cup and would prefer that they did not get to the final. If we get to Europe it is because we have done enough over the whole season, if we don't, then paradoxically it is because we have not.

0

schatfield added 17:15 - Apr 9 funny, i was thinking the same thing watching pool v blackburn last night. cant stand the scallies, but wanted them to win just to get to the final. I dont care if others help us to europe, i would even take it via the fair play league, so long as we get there! After 11/12 years, playing in europe again would be ace!
-1

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls