After watching our superb second half display today it got me thinking about how many Premier League clubs could have lived with us today. We have been on a consistent rise through the leagues for one and a half years since the bulk of the squad was brought together and seem to be going from strength to strength. The times that we have been tested against Premier league opposition in the cups, we proved that we could 'live in their company'. The best thing is that the squad is young (average age 24), so potentially will improve in time without making drastic changes. My own personal opinion is that this squad would survive in the top league and get better.
Think we should concentrate on one league at a time. In a one-off cup game we could probably beat a few Premier League sides, but we would struggle over a season. I'm sure that Nicola would have to improve the team somewhat if/when we get promoted.
If, and it is a gigantic if, we produced that 2nd half performance week in, week out, then I'd have every confidence that we could survive in the premiership. However that 2nd half performance was so sensational, so wonderful, so out-of-this-world, that I just don't believe we could reproduce it on such a regular basis. (Though if we can, then £300-odd for a season ticket suddenly becomes the best deal in the world. I'd pay double that to watch that sort of football for 90 minutes every other Saturday).
I get what you're saying Fran, 'one match at a time' and all that, but I really do think that we have something very rare and special going on at the club. There is a togetherness that takes time to build and the team is so much bigger than any one individual. Credit for that must go to Nigel Adkins and the coaching staff and I like the fact that they are constantly working to improve the players on the training ground in their skills and physical fitness, "to be the best that they can be".
I feel that we will need new players in the PL (if promoted), but I agree with SaintsAlive that the best part of our team is the team togetherness. Any such new signings would have to be carefully selected and integrated into our team.
Why can't we 'do a Norwich'?...The bookies are making us strong second favourites for promotion and they are not in the business of getting it wrong too often, it is only Saints fans who find it hard to believe in the team sometimes.
I'm not writing us off. We really could do a Norwich and I know people that don't support Saints that have said 'We will go up!' I'm just saying we have still got 36 games left. We could lose a considerable number of them. We may not win again this season... I'm just saying let's not get our hopes up when we are not even a quarter of the way through the season... Enjoy the moment by all means but don't get too excited and look too fat ahead into the season
We would struggle to survive in the prem,our defense is just not good enough we would need a premier league class CB and midfielder and also a striker to survive,I'm sure we would sign these players and more all of which would be exceptional players...all of these is in the future and we must concentrate on the championship then we'll see.We mustn't get too high when we win or too low when we lose,this seems to happen a lot on this forum.
Something I've noticed Adkins mentioning a lot in interviews recently is the impressive stamina of the team and how we gain more and more control as our opponents tire. This will be a great quality to have in the Premier League.
Also, it annoys me a bit when people talk about getting ahead of ourselves and taking it one match at a time. We're the fans, we're not playing. We can't get complacent and affect the performance of the team. We can think as far ahead as we like. In fact, if anything, being overly optimistic can only improve the atmosphere at games. So please stop saying "one match at a time", it makes no sense.
Being an optimist has its faults just the same as being a realist.....As previously posted either way is not wrong. The realty is you must have your feet on the ground. The standard of play is fairly good but not good enough in my view to do anything else but struggle in the premier. Compared to the type of play we had 3 years ago what we are seeing now is like a dream. Reality and optimism have to meet at some time and as long as you realise that then there is nothing wrong in dreaming.......
Most players have been put on a long contract which keeps them together if we have another year in Championship and gives them investment in us getting to PL. However, the present team will be a skeleton to which new players will get grafted should we gain promotion. I love our team and am very proud of them, but only a few are truly good enough for the Prem.
I feel that you really have to go back a long time in Saints history to match a time when it has been possible to feel so comfortable about the squad. During the home games this season, we have demolished opponents and the performances have not only concluded in comprehensive results but in a manner and style of football that is a pleasure to watch. As I have said before, we have had the basis of a good Championship team for a third season and feel that the current squad is good enough to challenge for a play-off position. However, I would have to add that there is some serious competition in tis league and would argue that there will be week's when we will slip out of the automatic promotion positions. Currently, Leicester, Derby, West Ham, Boro and maybe an outsider such as Hull could easily make an effective challenge. I do not feel that you can say promotion will be guaranteed this season. (I have always been told the story by my father about when Bates was in charge of Saints and we were well clear throughout the season of our Division Three promotion rivals and ultimately managed to blow it through injuries. This this was the 60/61 season - older fans will be able to put me right!) Assuming we get promoted, I think there will be wholesale changes to the squad. it is worthwhile recalling that duirng each of the home games this season, we have had periods of 10-20 minutes where we have been dominated. The first quarter if yesterday's game is a good example as Watford had us on the ropes until we scored and they did manage to prevent us from playing our passing/ attacking game. In the Premiership, this would be fatal. Obviously it is a position we would all love to see but the squad would have to be augmented , especially the defence which , as pointed out, can be prone to making errors. As fantastic as we have been this season, the stem up to the prem would be a massive shock and whilst it is easy to compare us with weaker teams like Wigan, Blackburn, Swansea, Bolton and Fulham, I would also add that those teams that I would predict we ould beat are currently looking like the ones that may go down. Ultimately, wondered if anyone else agreed that the Premiership will prove to be tougher next year with some of the least capable teams occupying the current relegation zone and the Championship being challenged by teams like West Ham, Boro , Leeds and Leicester all believing that they should be playing at a far higher level?
lets not get too ahead of ourselves, watford were poor yesterday, not a great yard stick for the premier league.
I'm enough of a realist to know that our upward path must stop somewhere, but I guess that the message I was trying to convey was that we haven't seen the full potential of this squad yet and every individual seems to be getting better as time goes on and of course the team is understanding each others play the more they play together. Another thing is that we have seen several times this season NA changing formation and style to turn a match in our favour. A football match is 90 minutes long and it is not how you start a game that always determines the result, it is also how you finish it. People say well we didn't dominate the whole match, but that very rarely happens in the English football league, but i'm always confident that we will have spells of domination during a match as well as good goal scoring opportunies. The team is always good for at least one goal a game.
A lot of people, including me, said they'd enjoyed League 1, but we didn't think we'd enjoy the Championship as much. It's turned out to be just as enjoyable up to now. I accepted the general view (including Nigel's) that about half the league would be going for promotion. I know it's early days, but I suspect it's more like about eight teams, including Saints, Leicester, West Ham, and Middlesborough. We have a good chance if we keep up our home form and beat the lower teams away. October will really show our promotion credentials.
