As the transfer window enters its final third, the question is can Saints survive without adding to the squad ? Shane Long thinks they can !

Saints striker Shane Long has spoken about how he feels that although a few new faces would not be a bad thing, that the squad can survive is the transfer window closes without Saints adding to the squad.

“I’m sure the club are doing all they can to get new faces in but I fully believe in the squad that’s here. We’ve got enough talent in the team,” Long said.

“The results aren’t going the right way but if we keep approaching it the way we are I’m sure it’ll turn around.”

He added: “Obviously if the club want to bring in a few players to help us out then that’s not a bad thing but the ability is here to turn things around.

“We’ve got a lot of good players. We might be light in one or two positions and I’m sure the manager would like to strengthen that up a bit. It’s how it goes in football; I don’t think a whole change in players would turn things around.”

I agree with Long to a point, he is right that the squad has the quality and is capable of winning games and pulling clear, but the reality is also that over the past few months we have continued to make the same mistakes game after game and have paid the price for that.

The departure of Virgil Van Dijk has left us short in the centre of defence and he desperately has to be replaced, too many goals are conceded through slack marking and lapses in concentration and Im sorry certain player might give 100% etc, but they cannot be taught too many new tricks and continue to let the team down at key moments, not because of a lack of effort or commitment, but the quality needed.

The proof of the pudding is in those results and too many games have seen soft goals conceded that have left us dropping points, yes I do sound like a broken record, I have been going on about it since September and it is still happening, no agendas as some suggest, just the evidence.

The issue isn't just about the quality of the squad though it is about how it is being managed and to be blunt Mauricio Pellegrino is not doing his job properly, he hasn't been since at least October and 1 win in 14 league games makes him statistically the worst manager we have ever had, but it stretches back further than that, it is only two wins in 18 games, that is nearly half a season, that is only 13 points, this is relegation form over a significant period.

The board have to look at the manager and realise that something has to change, give him a new player or two and that will be enough, but if we don't get any new signings, what is there to suggest that he can do anything different in the final 15 games of the season ? The stark answeris he has shown absolutely no sign of learning from his mistakes and continues to repeat them.

Yes bad luck plays a part, but you also have to make your own luck, but continually selecting the wrong starting line up and then failing to make key substitutions has seen too many games lost in the final third and too many points dropped because the manager has let his team run out of steam and cannot seem to spot where tired legs need replacing.

That is just as evident in the last match at Watford as it was three months ago. To be blunt he is out of his depth.

So Shane Long is right, this team has enough quality to stay up without adding to the squad, but if their are no new signings something does have to change and that is the manager.

Photo: Action Images

stmichael added 10:04 - Jan 18 Roger Federer is on in a minute. I literally couldn’t give a shiiiiit. The club have beaten me into submission..
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warrens76 added 10:12 - Jan 18 There comes a point were the evidence of what is happening is so overwhelming, the contempt so blatant, the process of ever lowering our expectations so evident that we reach a point were if it is not obvious now it never will be. There are no happy clappers and neggies anymore, there are just a majority of realists and a couple of WUM's or blind board adherents left, the effort expended to try and convince this rump is not worth it instead we must now focus all our attention on getting 'our' club back. We are effectively being emotionally bullied by our owners and their lackeys, the selling of VVD to LFC and Les whooping it up in their directors room is beyond the pale, Ralph describing the biggest club in the South as 'small' to cover the boards lack of ambition should have been a 'Ratners' moment, one can only imagine how NC or Marcus would have reacted to having their project described as thus.. The disconnect between owners, upper and lower management and fans is as horrific as it gets, contempt has been the most used word on the Echo lately but it goes much further than that, it's as though we are scum to them. A movement has to start now, it needs to spread to every forum and fansnetwork, it truly amazes me the slack that the ECHO and The uglyinside cut this sorry outfit, I was in Denmark for the Midgetland game, Nick and Clive Foley in particular were distraught after the game, yet this is unfolding disaster is on a scale unimaginable to that.... Nick and co have the database and connectivity as does the echo to create a movement and demand action this day. If we are reduced to a nothing club we can blame this unscrupulous outfit, however standing by and accepting it makes us partially culpable.. I have written to the club 3 times, Lander group and dropped a line to Mr Howard at the Telegraph, but one lonely voice in the wilderness is dismissed as a lonely nutter (like justa) you all need to step up....if Gao has access to money (ahem) and does not understand the upper management weakness/greed he has inherited, well we have to let him know.

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cornishsaint added 10:36 - Jan 18 If our own players are spouting this shit then what real chance do we have , where’s the togetherness of the squad ? I thought his interview in the DE was a poor response to our situation The SSN report is a very good read this morning and sums up saints for the last 18 months with les and Ralph running the show. Everyday thousands of us trawl the pages hoping to see a new signing or some news regarding the management but nothing ! The silence is deafening and I genuinely believe the stubbornness , arrogance and total lack of respect for the supporters by the clubs board will see us relegated

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SAINTSNIL added 10:39 - Jan 18 stmichael--could not agree more!! And that is after seeing them since 1963. Even Branfoot didn't do this to me, although perhaps our expectations were not as high then, and The SKYPREMIERSHIT was not insidious influence it is now.
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Santos added 10:41 - Jan 18 To answer the question No!! Not unless we change the Manager then Maybe!! Then there is the question If we do not change the manager and if we have some money to spend transfers, do I have faith the right players will be bought!! Not if MP has anything to do with it!!. Just feel like Spurs and Everton with Bale and Lukaku money it could well get wasted by this guy.
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petedoors1 added 10:44 - Jan 18 NO. WE NEED A NEW MANAGER.
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dovif added 10:51 - Jan 18 Considering that long would be at the top of the list of people being replace. I can understand his view. Our current striker scores once a year. Our midfielders do not even know what a goalpost is. Our best scorer this season (not injured) is a guy the author is trying to replace. Yeah I can see a few area (like 4 gk def midfield forward) we could improve on
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Andylad63 added 10:55 - Jan 18 Clearly it seems to me almost nobody on here, at the club or even the guy himself believes Pellegrino is the answer as a Saints manager. We despite all our gum bumping cannot force the club to sack him. The club will not do a Stoke and sack him before finding a replacement. Koeman is in line to become his country's national manager, he has just received a major financial pay off and Saints previously put him in the position where he had little choice but leave, peeing us off in the process. Why would he want to get involved in a relegation scrap with bosses he does not trust. The Manager clearly needs to stay in position until he is replaced in order to secure his financial settlement. Unless the club can convince a manage with the calibre to join we are stuck with where we are. Until a new manager is appointed we will not attract the quality of player we need.

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wibbersda added 11:16 - Jan 18 Too late now to get a new Manager, there is not one out there good enough, and Koeman won't come back, ever. As for Nick continually banging on about "A new Central Defender" smell the coffee fella, it ain't going to happen.
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SaintBrock added 11:33 - Jan 18 Well Done buddy! Keep this going Nick.. we know that nothing will happen but keep the pressure on the barstewards so that they know we are watching their every move. Hope that those can be bothered to go up on Sunday will sing "Where's the money, Les" Only 13 days to go
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SaintBrock added 11:34 - Jan 18 Good job they've got Sure as a sponsor or we'd smell the fish from here!
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SanMarco added 11:35 - Jan 18 A new CB may not be TOP priority wibbersda but we do need one as we have quantity rather than quality at the moment. The way things are going we are going to get feck all - that + the increasingly ugly atmosphere among the fans, + a manager who is all at sea, spells relegation for me. I think the Sky article does point to one truth - too many of the players who remain thought we were a top ten stepping stone and pulling their sleeves up for a relegation struggle was not what their agents promised them...

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steve73 added 11:40 - Jan 18 If everything stays as it is I reckon we'll finish on about 31-32 points. Not enough. I agree a new central defender is required. But more importantly we need threat in attack. Whether that's players or tactics I'm unsure but basically we're too impotent to survive. Its goals that will keep us up, not a slightly improved 'goals against' ratio.
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highfield49 added 12:05 - Jan 18 Saturday 28 April and we get relegated after failing to beat Bournemouth? I'm already feeling despondent! No point in pleading with the people who own and run our club because the deafening silence from them indicates exactly how much contempt they have for the supporters. I live in hope but not with too much expectation.
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ItchenNorth added 13:37 - Jan 18 Everywhere we go (everywhere we go) People wanna know (people wanna know) Who we are (who we are) Where we come from (where we come from) Saaaaaaaaaaaid We're the boys in red & white (we're the boys in red & white) We love to sing & love to fight (love to sign & love to fight) Woooh (woooh) woooh (woooh) woooh (woooh) woooh (woooh) COYRs
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