West Ham have a couple of difficult away games and Boro have Hull. We could be a few points clear again come the start of 2012! What do people think the top will look like on 1st Jan?
Hard to say, but we've not got it easy. Our Christmas spirit has got us gifting points to the opposition left, right and centre at the moment. Palace will be no push overs and Bristol City will be keen to do the double over us. For the first time this season, I feel a sense of dread about our run-in.
We should really take advantage of these two home games and the difficult games others have to play. Don't expect to stay top come end of the season, but we should really aim to stay top come new years.
Well I think that we've had our blip. That's the same blip that every team at the top of their division has every year. I am not under-estimating the opposition in coming matches or the overall task in hand but I think that we'll be in the same position on New Years Day as we will be at the end of the season - top.
Saints dont traditionally have a good christmas, at least from memory they dont, and I've no stats to back it up. But this year I think may be different. Everyone has been waiting for us to wobble, well we have wobbled and we are still top, with two home games to come (neither easy but both winnable). I expect Nigel and the team to be desperate to use this opportunity to steady the ship and consolidate our position, and I actually think that is just what they will do. So for me I think we will still be top and if WH drop a couple (which I think they might) we could be 3 pts clear again.
Just think of the psychological effect of us still being on top of the league after all the pain and anguish of the last few weeks. West Ham, Cardiff, and Middlesbrough must be tearing their hair out thinking "What do we have to do to knock them off the top?" If we can be on top at the start of the window and make a couple of juicy signings they'll all be in despair. Get back on winning form at home and tighten up away, job done .
So long as we win our games i will be happy. The most important thing is that we get back on track. If West Ham and the rest slip up that will be a nice bonus! Sorry back to the question. Position on New Years day...Cowgirl
As the West Ham poster wrote recently, in answer to a colleague's view that Saints would fall away... ...but they're at the top of the league. Maybe this is their blip and they will get their act together and win everywhere..? And someone has written above about Saints traditionally having a poor Christmas. I would answer that by writing... this isn't the traditional Saints. We can all have wry looks and shakes of heads and point to past failures, but those are of a club with a different tradition. Saints are practically a new club in everything but name and supporters. We wouldn't want to change the name, but I think it's about time we refreshed our views. All logic points to 6 points from the next two games, so that's what I'm going for.
I think, and I stress the word think, that the Pompey draw was the sixth straight year that we've failed to win our last game before Christmas. Off the top of my head though, our record for our first game post-Christmas is actually alright in recent years. Huddersfield last year, Exeter the year before - although I'm sure during our last spell in the Championship, we twice lost away to Plymouth on Boxing Day.
I hate to say it and I'll probably get shot down in flames for it but I have a bad feeling about the Palace game, that our unbeaten home run will come to an end. I hope I'm wrong, though. *Dons tin hat, flame-proof jacket and runs for cover.
I won't shoot you down in flames, but I do wish people would give a little more reason than I have a bad feeling about this. All that could mean is that you aren't feeling as positive about yourself today as you normally might be, and are carrying this over to SFC's potential prospects. Why do you have a bad feeling..? Give reasons, please. It doesn't have to be an essay, but something to read that might be valid.
You're perfectly entitled to your opinion Jean Luc, but I'm afraid I disagree. The team will hopefully be getting back to full strength and we should see Chappers and Connors for at least some of the game. Plus there will be a full house at SMS and the players will all be up for this one. Nigel will work his magic and I predict a bit of a rout for Palace.
Tbh he has a point, Saints have found it hard to deal with teams with pace. Palace have bags of it to. I just hope they don't pack the midfield or it will be even harder. I'm still going for a Saints win, but can see Bergs point.
But what point is it..? What are you reading that I'm not..? BTW, to Huddersaint - I wasn't criticising your statement about traditional Saints, just using it to make my point.
I'm confident that NA will pull them all together, we'll carry on this run (although I think everything does have to come to an end) and a big signing in January will lift spirits aswell. Let's hope so!
It's probably why he has a bad feeling about the game, that we could lose our record etc. We found it hard against hull because they packed the midfield. Palace have a lot more fast players, which we proved we find hard playing against (Bristol game). If you combine both of these it will be a very hard game, I just hope Palace go for it and pick a attacking line up.
The only consolation I can take from the Pompey and Blackpool games is that we could have won both of them. It's not like our form has totally deserted us, but we are failing to convert chances. At the beginning of the season we were scoring from all over the pitch..now we've become more reliant on Lambo to save us. Perhaps the weight of being top is beginning to tell. One game has to be the turning point, so I'm going for a win on Boxing Day to herald the start of another winning spell.
Blips are often a direct result of influences beyond the team's control. They can also be constructs of statistics rather than a true representation of actual performance. I don't have the luxury of attending presently and may therefore be wide of the mark but I have managed to watch four of our last six. What I saw against Blackpool was chances falling to the wrong players, some magnificent saves and two blatant penalties not awarded. What I saw against Pompey was an individual error that cost us two points. I haven't seen anything to shake my confidence in the team/squad. I think we've had our "blip", I think we're stronger for it given that we're still top and I think we'll push on. I am genuinely more confident now than when we were five points clear.
