The final pre season game against Stoke answered a few questions and posed a few new ones.
With the real kick off so close it was always going to be about giving most of the squad a game, and Jan Poortvliet kept to his pre match promise of sticking mostly to the side that drew with West Ham for the first 45 minutes against Stoke.
But before the game had got properly underway Saints were behind, they failed to deal with a ball into the penalty area and Kitson lost his man to tuck away the knock down, you could hear the groans in the crowd, was the bubble about to burst on the Total Football regime and to be truthful Stoke looked like giants and Saints miniscule in comparison.
But the home side dug in, weathered the storm and got stronger as the half wore on, there are still places up for grabs for Saturday and the side played for their positions and played for the team, the heart of the team seems to be Schneiderlin and Lallana and they beavered away to get Saints back in the game, David McGoldrick tucked away an equaliser well, but in truth looked lost for large parts of the game, the jury is still out on him.
The second half saw a complete change of team, all apart from Wayne Thomas and the good news is that they competed and for large parts of the half outplayed their Premiership opponents, but as in the first half, what we have to do is cut out getting caught by the sucker punch.
Firstly a quick break saw Ex Saint loanee Vincent Pericard take a couple of strides then unleash a thunderbolt into the top corner from 25 yards, why couldnt he do that last season for us ?, a quick equaliser followed but then another momentary lapse caught us cold, Saints conceded a harsh free kick just outside the box, it was quickly taken and laid into the chanel's a quick ball laid across the six yard line saw only two possible outcomes and Jamie Hatch could do nothing but put it in himself for an own goal as opposed to a Stoke player putting it in himself, no blame can be attached to Hatch, but Poortvliet will be keen to talk to his players about keeping alert.
All in all it left saints fans leaving the ground in a feel good way, however there are still a few questions to be answered with regard to the starting line up on Saturday.
Firstly in midfield, Schneiderlin and Lallana are a must in the centre and Gillett has been giving some terrier like displays, but Paul Wotton gave a sterling display in the second half, the problem is though he is a holding player similar to Scheiderlin and if he was to be brought in it would be at the expense of Gillett's work rate, however it has to be said that Wotton could well play a big role next term.
Also in midfield is the question as to keep Jake Thomson on the right or replace him with Nathan Dyer, the good thing is that although Thomson might just have the edge at the moment, to have Dyer chomping at the bit is good.
The main problem position though is up front, at the moment Saints appear to have an abundance of talent with McGoldrick, John, Rasiak and Saganowski, however truth is the latter three might well be gone in the next three weeks, do we play them and although perhaps it might result in more goals, in the long term it will dent McGoldricks confidence, or do we go with McGoldrick, I feel that the latter is the best course of action at present with the option of the former on the bench.
All in all the 5,040 (it said 5,041 on the big screen) crowd went home happy, well the home fans at least, the smattering of Stoke supporters must have gone home worried, if they are intending on taking on the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd with Vincent Pericard, a player who couldnt even get in their squad last year, they are going to have a long hard season ahead.