I think we'd still make play offs next year tbh so would still win far more than lose. We'd definitely sell a **** load in the summer though so the team would be very different. It's the season after when things would start getting dramatically worse.
Yeah the only players from our “best” 11 (obviously depends who you include in that) I would confidently predict will be here next year are Manning and A Armstrong
Hard to say we'll make the playoffs when we have no idea what the side will look like. Our wage structure currently is impossible to maintain for any length of time with the Championship financial rules. It's not just that there will be outgoings, the quality of loanees will drop sharply because we won't be able to afford to cover PL wages anymore.
The win was expected…but that did wonders for their GD! If Leeds win tomorrow as you’d expect them to too, Leicester will not only be knocked off the top, but third will be just one point behind them.
Yeah I get that, we'll have to pretty much sell anyone we get reasonable offers for this Summer imo. Despite that though we'd still have a financial advantage over the vast majority of the league so definitely should be aiming for the top 6, and bar recruitment being a disaster I back us to be in it relatively comfortably.
I think that the beauty of being a Saints fan at the moment is that nobody can confidently predict how the next few seasons will go for us. We could get promoted and emulate Villa, Brighton and even Bournemouth and consolidate or become a yo-yo team or we could become a fixture in the Championship. I believe that these owners have shown that they want the best for the club and will continue to invest to give us an opportunity to succeed and we will continue to be competitive no matter which division we are in and we are still in the early days of their tenure with changes throughout the club and it might be that next season is when it all comes together, it will be interesting finding out for sure.
Are we hoping for a Leicester win tomorrow and a draw in the semi with Coventry, to distract them from the league? Leeds are the best team at the moment and should tie up one of the automatic slots. I watched the first half of the Ipswich game today and before they scored I thought they looked quite open at the back and I thought their second goal would have been ruled out by VAR for a foul by the goal scorer, but they know how to win games. Leeds are the team I least want to play in the playoffs.
All four of us have a tricky April coming up. But I think Ipswich's might just be the most difficult - five of their six matches are against top 10 teams, including three away games. And because one of those away games, against Coventry, will now have to be moved (probably to the midweek immediately before the original date), that will reduce their recovery time. Us and Leicester both have four of the top ten in April. Leeds have three. I still think it will be Leeds and Leicester. But we'll see.
Leeds are nailed on for the autos. Their only tough fixtures are Hull at Home, and Cov Away. And us of course but I think they'll be up before the final game.
Why are you mentioning VAR like it’s a perfect solution to (possible) referee errors? I’m doubting your sanity
Agreed. At the moment I would also consider away to Boro to be a tough fixture for them. But the problem is that Boro have to play us, Hull and Ipswich before then - all away from home. The chances are that by the time they host Leeds, they'll have nothing to play for.
TBH at this stage of the season it's just as much about who holds their nerve as it is difficulty of fixtures.
Top 3 so so tight now. What’s got Leeds into this position is their defence. They just don’t concede. We should have been 4-0 up at half time against Millwall, they did nothing and yet went into halftime 1-2 up. That second half non performance from us still pisses me off. Be interesting to see how a faltering Leicester react to finally being caught.
We’ve got to get 3 wins and a draw better than Leeds/leicester. And hope Ipswich fall away. I’ve officially given up on autos.
Yeah their defence is unreal. They haven't conceded a second half goal since Boxing Day, when they had 10 men. They've only conceded four first half goals since then.
To a certain extent it is in your own hands, you have to play all of teams above you ( away) As we showed against Cardiff we do have defensive issues which are not highlighted as we tend to score more than we let in.
