There are some Saints fans who are a little concerned that Saints have not done enough in the transfer market in the summer.
I know this was covered in an article a couple of weeks ago, but on the eve of the season its probably a good time to reiterate the point, we have the best squad in the division in the terms of both quality and quantity, I have been asked whether Saints can live with the burden of being favourites and that Leeds made some great starts to their campaigns in League 1 only to fade twice, likewise Charlton who started well last year along with Leeds but faded and couldnt get automatic promotion in the end.
Can that happen to Saints ? well of course it could, but unlike the aforementioned two Saints have the advantage of strength in depth, when injuries and suspensions strike Saints have enough cover in all positions.
Of course the key is going to be the managerial skill of Alan Pardew and i would hope that he has learnt his lessons well from last season and can use that to our advantage, too often last term we showed sides too much respect away from home, especially to the lower third clubs where we frequently did not get results nor the upper third where ironically we only won once against the top nine, that at Norwich, of the other seven clubs we lost 4 and drew 3 and again that will be a key area, if we want to go up automatically we have to avoid defeat and more against the top teams.
The fact is that we have to make teams fear us and not the other way round, play every week like we did against Huddersfield at home rather than when Oldham visited SMS, look at every areea of the team ts strong, opposition defences should be overun by our strike force, our midfielders should dominate and our back four should be able to tuck most opposition strikers into their back pocket and if that all fails then there is Kelvin or in his absence Bart.
The time to be brave is now, we need to show our intent to the rest of the division from the off, Plymouth will be no mugs but a comprehensive win will give us the start we need and put the fear of god in the watching rest of the division, St Mary's needs to be somewhere opponents come and quake in their boots, not somewhere they relish playing, we as supporters need to turn their legs to jelly with the noise.
Markus Liebherr has chipped in and helped build a squad worthy of this division, now its time for us to show him we are grateful, I may be in dispute with certain people at the Club at the moment, but that doesnt mean that I dont want the team to do well and Saints to be promoted.