"Southampton Expects" should be spelt out on the flag poles outside St Mary's !

Its possibly been since the opening game of the season thirty years ago in 1980 and the arrival of Kevin Keegan since a Southampton crowd has been so expectant about the start of a season and so confident of a positive outcome.

Last season the Saints support was more forgiving than usual and willing to give Alan Pardew every excuse as to why a play off spot was not achieved, some of those excuses were valid and some where not and the big question will be whether the lessons of last season have been learnt.

The honeymoon period is now well and truly over and Saints supporters now wont be slow in demanding answers if there are some tough questions.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to many was that Saints havent been more active in the transfer market, certainly the trio brought in so far look to be quality, but most supporters I have spoken to feel that they were expecting a lot more given the number of players that were shipped out.

I dont neccessarily concur with this, I feel that even now the squad is large and that although there should be maybe one more addition, it should now be a question of quality and neccessity rather than buying just because we can, not that we probably can, Saints invested heavily in January and there is the suspicion that they were buying in players then that they would have normally waited till summer to bring in, however it did have one negative effect in that it limited the opportunities for Papa Waigo, meaning that he saw the writing on the wall and preferred to explore other options, I feel that of all the players that are gone from last seasons squad he will be the one that will be missed the most, yes many would say Antonio, but sometimes supporters mistake blistering pace for skill and in my book Antonio never delivered end balls into the box and created chances in the way Waigo did at say Yeovil for that late goal.

In truth it wont take a genius to predict most of the starting line up against Plymouth, although injury may mean a stay of execution for Dan Harding, Lallana and Puncheon are/were fit then surely Dickson would be slotted into left back with the aforementioned duo as the wide pairing, with Lallana out the man from Brentford will probably play in midfield.

Otherwise the only real questions are do we have any other injuries and whether Pardew will opt for his preferred 4-5-1 or go for 4-4-2, I think the number of injuries in midfield might make up his mind for him and he might have to go for the more conventional line up if only for that reason, lack of bodies in the midfield.

Up front it will be interesting, could Lambert be rested ? if he hasnt quite fully recovered , the manager could opt to play both Connolly and Barnard up front, both looked good against Reading and although Lambert will always play when fit, when he isnt 100% its time for Pardew to use his strikers equally, in my book last season he didnt, meaning Barnard spent less time on the pitch than he should have and quite often not at the right times, as he proved he is the man to pop one in late on, but often he was the man to make way with 20 minutes to go.

But we should be optimistic going into this season yes being favourites sets us up for a fall, but we do have the quality in the squad to take the division by the scruff of the neck and the depth of squad too, some would say we are still a player or two short and i could agree with that in a Chelsea sort of way, however look at every position and we have at least two players who can play there and whats more 90% of the teams in this division would love to have them in their team.

Our most maligned player by the fans is probably Joseph Mills, this is pure bigotry, Mills is paying the price for being plunged in before he was ready under Jan Portvliet, later that season he went on loan at Scunthorpe and was a virtual ever present as they stormed to a play off spot and promotion, slag him off if you will, but it shows the depth of our squad that even a player many dont rate (yet) has been there and done it to the level we require this season and you can ask much more than that. We have virtually two teams of players that would get in most other sides, this should be more than enough. 

The squad being good enough and big enough is beyond question so pronmotion is now down to one thing and one thing only, the abilities of the manager to get the best out of them, that they are properly prepared and properly motivated and go out on the pitch believing that they are Champions.

Last season we didnt do that, there was an air of apology in the crowd, as was seen on message boards, fans made the excuses for the team and manager early on and didnt demand promotion, did this attitude filter into the dressing room, certainly Saints dropped silly points against teams they should really have beaten comfortably.

Plymouth themselves will be no pushover, Peter Reid is an experienced manager, but look at the team, they have two ex Saints in BWP and Lee Molyneaux, would either get in our team now ? I would say no and whats more i would say neither would get on our bench on Saturday or any other Saturday if everyone was fit, so this should tell us something and this confirms my earlier point about the size and quality of the squad when compared to others and i would also add Plymouth are no mugs and will be looking to be there or thereabouts in the promotion spots.

But Saints have to beat the Pilgrims tommorrow, we have to grab the season by the scruff of the neck from the start and never let go, punish Plymouth and we send out a message to the entire division, OK we will be injury hit, but this gives a chance for those that are not first choice to show that they are worth a place, Pardew needs to create a culture of winners and that starts against Plymouth.

The time for excuses is now well and truly over, the only acceptable result tommorrow is a win and Plymouth fans going back to Devon thinking that they have just wasted one of their free months car insurance !                      

Photo: Action Images via Reuters