Saints take on Stoke City in the final pre season game.

Most Saints fans are struggling to see what the point is of the friendly against Stoke City, in truth the only real question is why this isnt being played behind closed doors as the final pre season games often are.

It cant be for the money as the crowd will do well to top 4-500 and with most of them taking advantage of the half price offer, effectively thats a max of £7.50 a head.

It will be strange for all the crowd to be sat in one stand, the kingsland, at least for a first team game, although hopefully it will create a little bit of atmosphere.

On the surface its hard to see what Saints will get out of it, playing what would be the full first team would be a big risk with the opener at Cardiff following only four days after, but the dichotomy of the situation is that this game more than the West Ham game is the one in which the youngsters need to be tried, in short the Potters will be a more physical test for Saints and will play in a more Championship style than the Hammers.

But there are players that need to try and play their way into Poortvliet's plans, the Dutchman would have liked to have seen a few departures by now, that would have enabled him to bring in a few new signings, so he is caught in a conundrum, does he play players who might not be here in a few weeks, or does he go for bust and play those who genuinely have a future at the Club.

In truth there are probably six who the club would offload if the price was right, Rasiak, John, Skacel, Euell, Thomas and even Saganowski, the fans would like to see perhaps two of those stay, bu for the club to move forward at least four have to go.

What Saints do need though is another morale booster before the big kick off, they need a physical test and if they can do that it will silence a few doubters who even after the West ham game are sceptical, claiming that the Championship requires a physical side.        

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