The biggest game of Saints season so far takes place at Loftus Road in West London, defeat is unthinkable.

Sometimes the fixture list just deals you a bad hand, we all knew meeting up with Man City, Man Utd and Arsenal in the opening four games of the season would be difficult, but little did we know that our away fixtures would be that much tougher with the good starts to the season made by Everton, West Ham & West Brom, sometimes the difference between survival and going down can be playing a club such as these three at the best time for you ie when they are doing badly, so it is that out of our first five away games they have all been against clubs in the top 8 and thats harsh.

However the trip to QPR is a little different, Rangers are at the bottom of the division without a win and only four points to their name, Saints have no excuses about playing top sides or even in form sides, the game is there to be won and the question is do Saints have the bottle to go out and do so, by 5pm on Saturday we will truly know if Nigel Adkins does have the aptitude for the job or whether there is something seriously wrong that he is not going to be able to fix.

I sincerely hope that he triumphs at Loftus Road and shows us, as he did on more than one occasion over the last two years that he learns from his mistakes and uses what he has learnt to move forward, against Swansea last week there was enough there to give us hope that he has improved as a manager even in a short while.

What is needed against QPR is stability and although Swansea wasnt a good as it should have been points wise, it was perhaps the game this season that saw the most confidence and the least mistakes, if we can take both of those and improve on them then there is no reason why we should not win the game.

This means though, sticking pretty much with the team that started against the Swans, although there are still a few problems to be ironed out, it was a line up that looked like it had shape and confidence, Adkins was a little too cautious at the end of the game in my opinion and could have thrown on another attacking option in the dying minutes but then again its been his substitutions that have cost us dearly in other games so perhaps that a sign he is learning, but if we start with that line up again it can do a job and we have plenty of options off the bench.

With regard to substitutions it will be making these that dictates whether the supporters keep behind the manager, to be blunt Guly has not been worth the number of appearances he has made and the crowd are smelling a rat, if he appears again on Saturday before certain other players and we lose then I fear that the supporters will lose patience with the manager, I dont like to make this seem like a threat, but the current mood is such in the stands.

The job for Saints though is not to let QPR get on top, show from the start that we are big enough to deal with any threat they have and then get our own grip on the game, quieten the home crowd and then turn it against its own team by knocking in a goal or two, OK this is a bit hopeful but its a good gameplan if we can follow it.

Make no mistake this game is crucial for both clubs, whoever wins will take a huge step forward, whereas the loser will find themselves cast adrift at the foot of the table, its a long season and we need to take short steps forward and keep taking them, we took one last week lets make it two in a row.    

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 13:22 - Nov 16 I agree. Scoring goals is an incredibly good gameplan.
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slynch added 13:25 - Nov 16 Gazza Clyne Fonte© Hooi Shaw punch Davis Cork Guly Lambo Ramirez
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 13:33 - Nov 16 slynch - you're having a laugh! Hooiveld has been a liability. Yoshida is a much better option at the back. His partnership with Fonte is getting better with each game. Guly instead of Lallana!?! What a joke! Guly has been awful for well over a year now. Lallana is one of our best players going forward. Why no Schniederlin? He's not suspended. Keep him in the middle with Cork. They did well against Swansea.

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slynch added 13:56 - Nov 16 REEDYREEDOREEDZ Hooi has had to play CB AND LB due to Fox's absenteeism in that position. Hooi outplayed Caroll in the air all match and stopped a complete thrashing. He has scored some ogs I admit, but these were due to diving-in as a last ditch attempt cos someone's been standing on the edge of the box unmarked getting a free shot. Yosh messed up last week and is weak in the air compared to Hooi. And who should be standing on the edge of the box - Spiderman; never there, ball-watching and fouls all the time. Lallana: does alright up front but a complete liability behind the halfway line, dashes aimlessly about leaving players unmarked who then go on to score or assist. That area has been a joke this year. And his diving is getting worse and worse, LOL. Gully's big and strong and Saints need that! Without Hooi and Gully who's heading the balls out on corners, set-pieces and crosses? Only Fonte left!! Except Lambert and he should have better things to do.

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dixiedean added 14:44 - Nov 16 reading this as a QPR fan ( albeit one who is also a closet Saint) I can say it doesn't matter who you pick,cos we have got such a bunch of gutless prima donnas with no heart or self-respect,so you could probably give Matt Le Tiss and Mick Channon a game and still not lose ! We can't defend set pieces either, as Reading exploited 2 weeks ago. Hoping we win tomorrow but Saints go on a winning run thereafter so be both stay up at the expense of Reading,Naarwich & 1 other. See you at St Mary's in March and hope we're both mid-table by then

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Whatsforpud added 15:52 - Nov 16 Thought Lallana played well against Swansea. However, if he was to be left on the bench to come on later, maybe the better option on the left is to have Shaw at LB and Fox at LM. Fox did well attacking-wise at the end of the Swansea game. That could be his position.
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SanMarco added 17:52 - Nov 16 Good point Whatsforpud - if Fox is worth his place then it must be LM with all the knock-on consequences of that. I cant see how both Ramierez and Lallana fit in with that though in a 4 man midfield
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redandwhitedee added 19:02 - Nov 16 Gazzaniga Clyne fonte yosh shaw Cork Jwp/schneid davis lallana fox Lambert
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kingolaf added 19:03 - Nov 16 Very good article. I would consider Boruc if he has been training well and lost some weight. Apart from that, I would keep the starting 11 from last week.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 19:50 - Nov 16 Hooiveld is good in the air but not good enough on the deck. I think Yoshida deals with pace and skill better than Hooi. As Zamora is a big doubt for QPR tomorrow I'd go with Yoshida against Cisse, and continue building the Fonte/Yoshida partnership. Schneiderlin and Cork did really well against Swansea last week so they should definitely start tomorrow. As for playing Fox left wing, it would only be a possibility if Adkins is going to set us up to be solid defensively and hard to beat. This really isn't Adkins' style so you can expect Lallana and Puncheon on the wings with Ramirez in the hole. Adkins will probably go with the same starting 11 as last week and have a go and attack. So there is bound to be plenty of goals! As for Guly, he might be tall but he isn't that strong and his workrate is not good enough. I wouldn't have him in my team. Too laid back and not enough class to warrant it. QPR have got a lot of good attacking options: Taarabt, Grenero, Hoilett, Cisse. They could cause us problems. They'll have Bosingwa bombing on down the right so Lallana will have to up his defensive game and track his runs. I can't see Adkins dropping him to cope with this. I think Saints can definitely score a couple of goals tomorrow, just need an error free afternoon at the back to get the points!

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BlackRod added 23:14 - Nov 16 An error free afternoon at the back. Haven't seen one of those for an awfully long time. I reckon both sides would settle for 0-0 but not much chance of that with these Kamikaze defences. Hope Adam gets fair treatment from the ref this week. In Nigel we Trust.
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tiptop added 06:44 - Nov 17 Taarabt cutting in and marauding forward centrally is going to create a prob. If our defence and midfield does its job and of course ffs cut out unforced errors we'll have a chance!! Hopefully their team spirit will come under pressure and we can exploit that. Good point about the subs Nic.ie is NA learning or being too cautious. Never the less would like to see Mayuka or some one with pace to get on the end of Ramirez's slide rule passes and play off of RL. Action packed afternoon. COYR's!!

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