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Saints Need To Improve Results Against Top Six Sides To Stay In Top Ten
Monday, 24th Apr 2017 09:55

With seven games left to play, four of them are against the top six sides in the Premier League and so far Saints have not fared well against those teams, it has to change !

Last season Saints did well against the so called Big Six, so much so that they managed to push one of them, Liverpool out of the top six and sneak into that last position ourselves.

In the 12 games against those clubs last season we won 6, drew 3 and lost only 3, scoring 22 goals, conceding 13 and in doing so gaining 21 points and average of 1.31 per game.

This season it has been the complete opposite, in the 8 games played so far we have taken only two solitary points at an average of .25 per game, a draw at Manchester City away and another at home to Liverpool, losing the other six games, we have scored only 4 times and conceded 16 and that perhaps tells you why although we are comfortably mid table, why we are not pushing Everton for 7th spot and another season of European football.

Given that over half of our 7 remaining fixtures are against top six sides, it is plain to see that either we improve our ratios against them or we struggle to finish in the top ten.

At the moment Saints season is in the balance, we are capable of overtaking West Bromwich Albion and securing 8th place, but failing that we should be able to finish in the top 10, however unless we take a few more points against the top sides than we have been doing then we could find ourselves drop down the table.

Burnley in 16th are only four points behind us in 9th and sandwiched in between them and us are another six sides.

The good news is that we have games in hand on all of them the bad news is that they are against Chelsea away and Arsenal and Manchester United at home.

This means there is a lot to play for the difference in prize money between finishing 16th and 8th is around £16 million pounds in prize money, so those that say there is nothing to play for could not be more wrong, we are playing for a sizable addition to our transfer kitty and a big whole in it if we slip down the table.

We really need to take points from these three games in hand, four points would be ideal as it would almost certainly secure us top ten and would give us a good chance of taking on West Brom for that 8th place spot.

Sadly I dont thnk he first of those points will be at Chelsea tomorrow night, they have too much to play for, if they drop points to us and Spurs win at Palace on Wednesday the title race would be wide open, Chelsea will be focused on the task and will put out their strongest side.

But we can get those points in the home games against Arsenal and Manchester United, both have fixture pile ups of their own and neither are infallible.

These are the two crucial games in the run in, we have to remain unbeaten in them and preferably win at least one.

But first we need to get points in other games, anything at Chelsea would be a bonus, Liverpool at Anfield tend to struggle against the mid table sides and then we need to dispatch Hull at home.

That too has been our problem, our ability to win games we really should have, Hull away, Swansea away, Palace away, Burnley away all four of which were defeats that really should have been avoided but for lapses in concentration in defending and poor finishing.

If we had taken just four points from those games then the League table would look far different this morning.

But having failed to dispatch the bottom clubs, we have to do it the hard way.

Our final position is in our own hands, yes the three games in hand are against the top clubs, but in affect they are free hits, anything we get is better than nothing and even if we lost all three it would then be a case of just polishing off the other four games.

But we don't want that for several reasons, not least a 4th consecutive top ten finish makes a big statement as where we have come as a club and where we are now, the prize money is important, but most important is the manager himself, how he puts out the team and how it performs will go a long way as to telling us if he is the man to take us forward.

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highfield49 added 10:36 - Apr 24
If Puel leaves Romeu on the bench when he's available to play then I know how I will view the season. That would be one crazy team selection too many for me.
2

vanmans added 11:31 - Apr 24
Well said Nick. You have just explained why this season is a big let down for most fans. Last season we had better players, played better football and were capable of beating anyone. This season we cant even expect to beat the teams at the bottom of the table.
To progress we need to start spending big. We need two new central defenders and a creative midfielder just to start with.
5

SanMarco added 11:38 - Apr 24
Is that being reported highfield? Without Romeu tomorrow we will definitely be hammered. It would be insanity not to play him.

This season has been a bit of a dog's breakfast - too many games, eccentric team selection and tactics + the major mismanagement of in-coming transfers have set the tone. A player like Gabbi signed last August + a decent CB to replace Fonte and a second strong defensive midfielder to share the load with Romeu and we would have quite a few more points. Our league position was looking a bit dicey for a while in the New Year and if this manager and transfer committee are staying for next season they need to learn from their mistakes. Let's face it a decent CB signed in January would probably mean that we would now have a trophy for the first time in 40 years....
10

bstokesaint added 12:28 - Apr 24
I think this season (proved by the stats – only 6 points better off than our worst season back in the PL under Atkins/Poch) showed that we have underachieved against recent seasons. Given that we had our cup final and chance of success I can’t say I’m angry. There’d be a heck of a lot of hypocrites out there if they went with this view as I remember all too well a lot of posters saying that they’d be happy with a top 10 finish and a good run European/domestic cup run. We were probably due a less spectacular season in the league as improving on last season, especially with the strengthening of the top sides (and Everton), was a big ask. Like others have said though had we bought in defensive cover and Gabbi earlier on then I’m not sure 15-20 points more would have been too unrealistic. I don’t subscribe to the view that we suddenly have a poor team, or don’t play good football. I think we are 2-3 players from being a very good side. We stand at a crossroads (again) this summer and cannot afford the same mistakes to be made for the 2017-18 season. We need to make signings in June-July and draw a line under any sales (which need to be minimal) in the same timeframe. This season should be viewed as a lesson to what happens when you get complacent.
6

SaintBrock added 16:48 - Apr 24
Luckily the clubs around us seem to have settled for 40 points and another season in the PL. How else can you explain Watford losing to Hull or Stoke bottling it agains Swansea?

We all worry about the four games against top 6 clubs but I'm more worried about Hull on Saturday. I know Chelsea rested players on Saturday ready for us tomorrow but it is not a nailed on certainty that they will beat us, we are quite good away for some perverse reasons and often do well at the Bridge possibly because there is no overnight travel trip involved.
5


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