The finish with a flourish failed to materialise as Saints ended the season with six games without a win.

I was looking forward to ending this season's verdicts with a flourish, 14th in the table could have been 10th and with a win would have turned out to be 12th after the other results, an extra £1.6 million in the coffers to put it bluntly.

But like many of our other games in this six match winless spell, we enjoyed plenty of dominance, shaded the possession stats, created more chances, but failed to turn those chances into goals and get three points.

It was disapointing and predictable in many respects, but Im not going to dwell on this, Mauricio Pochettino has acheived the target he was set and that was to keep Saints in the Premier league, this is now all in the past and we have to judge him going forwards.

By this I mean that the Saints manager clearly wants to play in a certain way and style, but as yesterday and indeed the last half dozen games have shown, he doesnt have in the squad the overall quality to play his way, thus we cant judge him on recent weeks, where to b blunt our displays have been somewhat lacking, we have to acknowledge his contribution this season, back him for next and then we will hopefully see our manager working in the way he wants to with the players he wants to.

The only real shock was the inclusion of Kelvin Davis with Boruc seemingly injured as it was Gazzaniga on the bench, apart from that it was pretty much the same team that has played week in week out recently and that perhaps tells us a story.

This game was a bit of a damp squid, but no different from past weeks, as mentioned we dominated, then as has been the norm recently we get caught cold with a goal against the run of play, yes we had our chances after but we just couldnt seem to create, we had to bludgeon them through work rate and in many ways that played into Stoke hands, they are set up to deal with balls up to a centre forward, but we lacked that quality to get wide and go round them.

Hopefully that will change next season, our problem this has been although we have a fairly decent 15/16 players, after that the other squad members arent really up to it, a look at the bench emphasised that, apart from Puncheon there was no one else there who you thought might come on and change the game.

So this season is over, its ended as well as any Saints fan might have expected, as said many times the hope for most Saints fans was survival, few looked beyond that and our opening fixtures confirmed that, back in August most Saints fans would have taken where we have finished and that being the case its been a succesful season.

Back in August I said that we would need around 37/38 points to guarantee safety and I was right, but this seasons compact nature of the bottom half of the table makes it hard to make judgement based on league positions, were West Ham in 10th any better than us ? I would say not, were Sunderland in 17th any worse than us ? again I would say not, in fact we got a single point out of six from both of them to emphasises that point, so what matters now for Saints and indeed probably all the teames from West Brom in 8th down to Sunderland in 17th plus the three promoted teams, is what they do next and in Saints case that means how we operate in the transfer market, make the right signings and a top ten position is achievable, but that is the case for every side this season between 8th and 17th, fail to land players in the crucial areas we need and relegation is as likely as a top ten finish, again that is as true for the other 9 clubs either side of us.

But Saints have the basis of a great squad, there were many plus points this season, but its the basis of a great squad and it needs to be improved, its not about money spent, its about spending it wisely.

Photo: Action Images

Fordy added 10:25 - May 20 A shame we didn't go for it a bit more. I would have liked to have seen Punch in for Davis or maybe even Cork and just given it a real good go. We had more to gain than to lose. And, as much as he has his critics and he has been frustrating we do look a little more predictable without Gaston.
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ExiledSupporter added 10:58 - May 20 Good joke about that "damp squid" Nick, trouble is that squid are normally damp and have no element of disappointment about them when they turn out to be wet, as opposed to "damp squibs" which never work as expected and are disappointing in performance (ref. Pedant's Dictionary)
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Horndeansaint added 11:28 - May 20 Nothing wrong with being pedantic, exiled. I am frequently criticised for being one but who cares when you are right!!?? Perhaps Nick would like to carry out an exercise when he has a few minutes based on his predictions of who we needed to/ would get points from. His article earlier in the season was well reasoned and, ultimately fairly accurate in respect of points total but I bet is was well wide of the mark when you consider who we ended up getting points from. Just goes to show how difficult it is to win the pools! We managed to take points off of a number of the top teams, the exceptions being Man. U. (they were lucky in both games) and Spuds (Gareth Bale starts an 18 month sentence in Wormwood Scrubs for daylight robbery at WHL next week) so good stuff there. On the other side of the coin we got only 1 point from Sunderland, 1 from West Ham, 1 from Wigan none from West Brom etc. All in all, a bit topsy turvy. Move on, we know what the next targets should be.

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bstokesaint added 12:15 - May 20 I'm personally very satisfied with the season we’ve had. 14th is very reasonable for a team who have previously won back-to-back promotions. I was a bit disappointed we couldn't finish with a win against a poor team like Stoke, but I think next season we'll be even stronger and 8th-10th shouldn't be an unreasonable target. We have some excellent players in Morgan, Clyne, Shaw, Cork and Rodriguez and if we keep hold of these players and add similar quality next season we will be a force to be reckoned with. We definitely need some more competition in the centre of defence as Jos still scares me a bit. I'd love to know why Forren hasn't featured yet. I also think Lallana needs some more competition for his place. I don’t believe we got the best out of him this season and it hurts me a bit to criticise him, as I’m one of his biggest fans. Puncheon has definitely been the surprise package. I didn’t think he could cut it at this level, but he’s been excellent. Lastly I think we need another really top quality striker who offers something different and more of a cutting edge. I’m not sure that Mayuka is that man. I know I said previously that Rodriguez and Lambert were a potentially lethal partnership, but against some sides, such as Stoke, I think we need a plan B in attack and as Nick correctly points out we don’t have a particularly strong bench at the moment. Onwards and upwards. COYR.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:36 - May 20 We're only a few players away from being a top half side. Poche needs a centre back (or two if Forren isn't any good) and a couple of quality attacking options. I think maybe next year Lallana will be a squad player rather than 1st choice. If we'd signed Coutinho then this would already be the case. I reckon Poche will be keen to sign another striker, a goal scorer who can finish more of these chances we create. I can see J-Rod and Ramirez having to fight for thier places in the team, which can only be good for us. With the state of Spanish football, most teams have no money, and Poche's knowledge of the the players there, maybe we'll get our players from La Liga this summer rather than from Italy where Cortese has his links.

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LostBoys added 12:47 - May 20 I was not expecting much from this game after Wigan's result but I though we would win by the odd goal. We dominated the game for long periods as they sat back but we just could not make it count as well as shooting at their keeper and his lucky foot. Overall the team is short in places and there have been some consistently poor players this season but now is thetime to look forward not back. I think we need 5 players spread around the team and we will be a force to bev reckoned with next season.

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SaintNick added 13:41 - May 20 Lostboys is right we need to look forward and need around 5 new players, I think with Forren, if he was any good he would have got a game by now
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sidsaint added 15:13 - May 20 A good season. I think we would have taken 14thth last August. I would hope that Pochettino learns some English in the summer as a fans forum with NC would be very interesting but I doubt if that will happen. I really would like to know what he thinks of Forren and if he is going to be given the opportunity to show if he is as good as people in Norway think he is. I think Pochettino has a good idea as to what players he wants and I think they will probably be Spanish or Latin American. I hope he knows of another Coutinho and I agree with others who say we need 5 or so to strengthen the squad all round including a goal poacher who is quick and can finish in the box. I also hope Ramirez will stay and that Pochettino can build on his talent and of course that we hold on to Luke and others. I look forward to an interesting summer and a stronger squad for next year.

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JDawg added 16:34 - May 20 All things considered a good and honest season, across the whole season we didn't punch above our weight and we didn't under perform. As Nick has mentioned we do not have a plan B and have no backup for when players have bad days. Here's my squad suggestions: Goalie - Boruc + a new reserve. Kelvin as a player coach and Gaz out on loan Right Back - Clyne + a new backup Centre backs - 2x new first 11 CBs! Can't decide whether any of them are worth keeping. Really want to know if Forren is any good, I'm guessing he isn't. Left back - Shaw + an experienced backup ready to start thinking about coaching to mentor Shaw. Fox out. Right Mid - Punch + McManaman from Wigan Centre Mid - Cork + Spiderman, Davies and a different type of player. Nzonzi although yesterday he looked totally disinterested and he's a dirty player, but the sort of player who would offer us a plan B we could use. See if we can get our money back on Ramirez Left Mid - Lallana + a different type of 1st 11 left mid. Strikers - Lambert, JRod, Sharp, + Darren Bent maybe one more for the future as Sharp is unproven in PL. The rest of them can go. I think if we shop wisely we'll break into the top 10 next season, possibly even making us think about Europe (in the same way we all secretly thought we'd make the top 10 at the end of this season!)

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thegeneral added 17:16 - May 20 I think Cortese will settle for nothing less than top 10 next season, and pushing for a champions league spot the season after, if MP can't do it Cortese will not hesitate to bring someone else in and i wouldn't be surprised if once we hit the top ten MP is sacked for a manager with champions league experience, we'll see. I'd hoped for better yesterday, delivery into the box was awful as it has been in many games, but overall happy we've stayed up. Big test over the summer is who we don't sell as well a who we buy. Can't say i'm happy about Shaw and Clyne (i think), going off for some mickey mouse under 20 tournament, they need a break, youngsters play too much football these days. My dream signing would be Christian Eriksen from Ajax!

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TimSaint added 18:10 - May 20 Frustrating is perhaps the best word to sum us up yesterday. Although it could have been so different, had Ricky not been off side in the first minute, it looked in the end, a typical end of season - both teams safe - nothing to play for game. Once again we lacked width (until Punch came on) and with players inter-changing from left to right to centre, I am sure many of them didn't know where they were supposed to be playing - and boy, did it show. Same really can be said for our 3 or 4 games before this too !! Still haven't grasped Kelvin's insistance to play it short all the time and his kicking accuracy was woeful (as per last season so often !!) - too many times we needlessly gave the ball away in dangerous areas - and ultimately this, along with a slip, lead to Crouch's goal. Still, we got the deserved equaliser and thought we would then go on to win it. Perhaps on another day, Davis, Lallana, Morgan and Ricky would have notched, but again - we have the lion's share of possession and chances - including shots on target - but still lose or draw. Our needs for next season should be...... 1. Striker - offering something different - a plan B that we needed so much this season but were never able to offer. ie PACE !! 2. 1 or 2 wide players / wingers How Coutinho could have changed us !! As someone else said, perhaps McManaman would be good, or get the Ox back !! Adam needs some competition for definite - but has not been the same since his injuries. Do we have any youngsters coming through in this area ? 3. Defenders - at least 1 centre back and possibly 2 full backs for cover - or in Luuuuuuuke's case, perhaps someone to share the workload of a full season ? Shame we now have 3 months off - but I am sure there will be so much transfer gossip involving Saints - both for ins and outs. Expecting some top notch signings and a big clear out - with perhaps a few leaving to be with their old boss at Reading ? Roll on the pre-season.......... AND - Hopefully the season ticket price announcement will be kind to our pockets on Wednesday !! Finally - thanks for all the work and effort this season Nick - obviously not everyone agrees with you - but this site is all about opinion and I have enjoyed it this season and it is good to read what others are thinking - please keep up the good work !!

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hmmm added 18:28 - May 20 I agree with most of the above as to what we need for next season. I would be interested to know how close to the first team squad other players in the Academy are. As for targets for next season. I would guess NC is looking for a certain number of points (as position can be a bit arbitrary - just look at this season). Given that if we had won two of our last six games instead of drawn (four more points), and not been rubbish at defending in the first ten games (say five more points - which would still be less than a point a game) then we would have got 50 points. Which gets a top 10 nearly every season in the prem. My guess is NC would be looking for a few more than that. Say 55, which is more than Liverpool got last season ...

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Bulgarian added 20:58 - May 20 Thanks to Nick for another season of coverage and interesting views and reviews. Concerning yesterday and the last 6 games - I am worried about another thing: the fact that we showed the element of complacency once we sniffed safety. IMO the difference between 17th and 8th is not only players and tactics - it's the mental approach. It doesn't matter if we play ManU or Stoke on the last day - true battling sides manage to show some extra character. And that's exactly what's been lacking in the last 6 games. If we can't address that immediately, no new player would solve our problems. The worst feeling yesterday was that we really need a punch in the face to really start producing. With all my respect to the boys, Poche and conceding "against the run of play", it was the lack of gut that made us continue "play our game" and waiting for Crouch to slap us. Next year it's goin to be about plans B, as well as playing with real desire no matter what the opposition is. MoPo must work harder to motivate the boys especially when we are facing "milder" opposition. Apart from this - let's be happy: safety and only positivity for next season. A sunny summer to you all!

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BoondockSaint added 03:29 - May 21 Right you are Bulgarian! As much as talent is important, we need players with CHARACTER! How many points did we lose in the last minutes of games? How many points did we lose to teams we should have beaten? The last 3 seasons, glorious as they have been, in the waning weeks we almost undid all our good work by not winning one or two games when we needed and instead had to rely on other teams to do our work for us. We need mental toughness and a will to win or we won't make any progress. Right now only Lambert and Boruc look like they have this fire inside them. And thanks Nick! This is my first year on here and you do a great job with level-headed reporting, Here's looking forward to the craziness of the summer transfer market!

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aceofthebase added 08:00 - May 21 Weekend Times newspaper report seems to think it is a done deal that Luke Shaw will be going to Chelsea when he is old enough to sign a contract. Anyone in the know on this matter? To lose him would be a major step backwards
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aceofthebase added 08:03 - May 21 PS Nice to see Lambert in the box to snap up a chance rather than going wide and providing the crosses. A bad and seemingly unnoticed POX tactic?
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