Having successfully negotiated a tricky October and maintaining a 3 point lead at the top I was just looking at the fixtures until 2012. There are 10 league games, 6 at home and 4 away, and all 4 away games look very winable, and of course we have proved we can beat anybody in the league at home. If we can maintain our great form we have a great chance of stretching our lead by January...COYS! Tuesday, 1 November 2011 Npower Championship Southampton v Peterborough, 19:45 Saturday, 5 November 2011 Npower Championship Coventry v Southampton, 15:00 Saturday, 19 November 2011 Npower Championship Southampton v Brighton, 15:00 Saturday, 26 November 2011 Npower Championship Bristol City v Southampton, 15:00 Tuesday, 29 November 2011 Npower Championship Southampton v Hull, 19:45 Saturday, 3 December 2011 Npower Championship Doncaster v Southampton, 15:00 Saturday, 10 December 2011 Npower Championship Southampton v Blackpool, 12:45 Sunday, 18 December 2011 Npower Championship Portsmouth v Southampton, 13:00 Monday, 26 December 2011 Npower Championship Southampton v Crystal Palace, 13:00 Friday, 30 December 2011 Npower Championship Southampton v Bristol City, 19:45
Being at the top and having played the possible promotion candidates, we now have to consolidate by beating the lower sides. We must remember that we only have a small lead and some teams have had large leads trimmed back as the season progresses. Still a few teams only a little behind us. I trust Nigel to deal with any setbacks.
hull and palace are the best teams we've yet to play (in the league) but we have already proven that we are also one of the better teams in the league
Winnable games are scary! Don't take Coventry (& the others) for granted, they will do thier best not to play football against us.
Indeed, in fact they do it even more so now! Crazy, glad the wheels fell off, couldn't happen to a nicer gaffer.
We've done very well in some tricky fixtures, and now the games ahead look pretty easy in comparison. I'm backing us to get that record of 25 straight home wins.
Before we'd even kicked a ball this season, I'd noticed our fixtures during November and December and made a mental note that we had to be picking up a decent amount of points from those games. But not just because we should be looking to beat many of those sides, also because I hadn't got us down for too many points from August - October. Anything in the 20s I thought would be a top achievement, considering who we had to play. In my head, November and December were meant to be two months that could consolidate our Championship position and potentially set up a play-off charge for us in the new year. They were not meant to be two months that could see us pull away from the chasing pack at the top of the table, and enter the new year with a healthy lead over 2nd or 3rd or 4th place!
We mustn't be complacent. These teams will park the bus. You can bet your bottom dollar that Poyet will come with all his dirty tricks to stop us next month.
Agree with the above we need to remember that the championship is probably the most competitive league in the world and there will be situations where we expect 3 points and get nothing from the game. Remember Rochdale away last season, we all thought we would beat them easily and we got beat because of complacency. I still think we will finish top 2 but there will definitely be some suprises against the "lesser" teams along the way.
My intention was not to create a sense of expectation and complacancy amongst Saints fans, I just wanted to state the belief and confidence I have in Nigel and the lads. Everyone seems to be waiting for the slump to come, but with each passing game the club seems to be going from strength to strength. I really believe that we can win 7 or 8 of those matches and if that happens then we will be in a real position of strength with the January transfer window to come.
Point taken HR, I've been banging on about continuity all season. I don't expect many signings in January, but maybe 1 or 2 to make a push for promotion.
