The phrase of the moment seems to be "Keep calm and carry on" that has to be very relevant for Saints at the moment as they head into the final six games.

I said in the pre match articles that in many respects the Blackpool game was a free hit for Saints and with West ham getting beat by Reading that is very much the case with the gap between us and third still being six points and in truth West Ham are in far more disarray than ourselves as we speak.

But lets not kid ourselves this was a one off on the road, we might have won at Leeds and Millwall but we were awful and defensively we were bad again on Saturday, the second goal was the killer and Jose Fonte was brushed off the ball with far too much ease, allowing Dobbie to slot the ball past Kelvin Davis.

Saints just didnt look at the races and again made a substitution at half time, this for my mind happens far too often, we should not need to do it, we have either got the selections and tactics wrong or an individual just isnt performing, in a side top of the league this shouldnt be an issue, but it is.

I have been saying this all season about our defensive frailties on the road,often i have been shouted down and told to look at the goals against column, yes we dont concede many, but the problem is we concede goals at the wrong times, just as we need to be tight as at Bloomfield Road we collapse and that has been the story of our away form, our failure to keep tight when pressure is asserted, it happened at Millwall, its happened again on Saturday, indeed it happened at Leeds, it was just that be some miracle they didnt score.

But rant over, we cant change Saturday's defeat, what we can do is win the next six games and that is what we now have to concentrate on, we are good enough to push on and clinch promotion, with six points between us and the Hammers I know what position I would rather be in now, we just have to hold our nerve and win our games, if we win four we will almost certainly go up on goal difference even if the Hammers win all of theirs, so lets get these games ticked off as quickly as possible, good teams get beat and beaten well from time to time, the sign of a good team is the way they respond in the next game.

Photo: Action Images

stmichael added 10:20 - Apr 2 Not the time to point fingers but it would be easy to do so as Saturday showed our weaknesses and any of the remaining teams that we have to play will have seen them too. That result had been coming as despite recent results we were playing efficiently but not particularly well. We are one injury away from disaster. We simply cannot afford to be without Rickie Lambert - simple as that. He is injured but how badly will be key to our hopes.

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TimSaint added 10:26 - Apr 2 Most of us will have seen this on BBC2, if we didn't go to Blackpool, so there is little to say or discuss about this. Yes we were awful, we didn't have SRL, so didn't have any confidence - but goals change games and we had the best of opportunities to go 1 up. Additionally Jos could/should have equalised, but they went up the other end and got their 2nd. Our pen was harsh, but theirs was outside the box, the guy dived before making contact with Morgan and the ref evened up his previous decision. Anyway, enough of that. We need to take this on the chin and move on - we have a massive game on Saturday and in the words of our old mate Iain Dowie, we need to show our BOUNCEBACKABILITY !! Time to start another winning / unbeaten run - this time 6 games will suffice.

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VeloSaint added 10:40 - Apr 2 Jos was to blame for their 2nd and 3rd goals, though Fonte should have rescued him for the 2nd. We didn't play well but should have been ahead (poor miss from Guly and the less said about Sharps pen the better), would have been a different game you'd have to think. Having said that, yet again when you want players to step up and take a game like that by the scruff of the neck they go missing. As good as Lallana is he often seems to go missing in that type of game away from home. Chaplow has also not got back to the form he had before his injury. Thought Morgan had another decent game but either didn't want to risk a forward pass or the movement wasn't there, Guly and Sharp really didn't get involved enough although a couple of interchanges showed promise (Sharp was unlucky with a couple of offside decisions). We do seem to have a big problem against sides that use the channels well, have pace out wide and close us down (particularly preventing our fullbacks from getting forward). Adkins either doesn't want to change our style to combat that or can't see it, probably the former given our position. Reading play a similar way, so will be interesting to see how we're set up for that one.

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Whatsforpud added 11:01 - Apr 2 Nick, quite a positive report, despite the embarrassing performance. We shouldn't be relying on Lambert, but it seems we do. The last time we lost away was at Brighton, where we were playing well until he was sent off, after when we fell apart. Even when he is not on song, like Doncaster last week, he is a willing target man, bringing others in with his knock-downs and touches. All this was sorely missed at Blackpool. Certainly his penalty taking was. The 3rd goal was similar to our 1st against Doncaster. After that we played plenty of possession football without any penetration. It was as though we were trying to hold on to a lead. However, we have had a good run, having won the previous four aways. Also the 6-point gap to West Ham has been maintained, with one more game chalked off.

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nobby added 11:19 - Apr 2 There wouldn't have been a penalty to take if Lambert was playing as Guly would have not been in that positon to get fouled! Those who have only seen us on TV this season must be wondering how on earth we are top of the league. It was one of those games where IF we had scored the penalty and IF Jos had scored with that header then it could all have been different, and quite honestly for a team that are topping the table we should have done but I'm sure we will get it right again against Pompey, and also at Palace with nearly 6000 behind us. Even the Reading game I think we will take 3 points because Reading stick to 4-4-2 and do not play any other way so it will be a good open contest.

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St_Beano added 11:42 - Apr 2 I hope that abysmal display was just a blip, cause I personally think we will need 6 points out of the next 2 and for Reading to slip up before we play them so we have that buffer again.
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stmichael added 12:31 - Apr 2 Another point. Whichever combination we use our full backs are not good defensively. Against pacey wingers we are roasted! It does not help when at least one of them does not have ANY positional sense whatsoever. Its ok being good going forward (or in this case a good deliverer of the ball because he is not great going forward) but if you cant defend FFS! Dont want to start another GULY thread but Saturday!!!!

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Whatsforpud added 12:37 - Apr 2 Re St Beano's concern, if the No.1 target is promotion, then we need to maintain the buffer between us and West Ham. It would be great to win the title, but lets just get up.
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bstokesaint added 12:44 - Apr 2 That was without doubt the worst Saints game I can remember this season. Without Lambert we looked clueless. It was reminiscent of the game at St Mary's when the team news went out on Twitter and once again there was a key name missing, and the news quickly circulated around the pub. It is a worry that we look such a diffent side without Lambert. That goes some way to showing how good he has become and important to the forward link-up that we have. We need to have some sort of back-up plan when he doesn't play, because we're not a one man team as has been suggested by some of my Reading buddies. There were too many bad performances on Saturday to single out individuals' mistakes. I'm sick here of hearing the Guly abuse because he was no worse than Lallana, Chaplow, Hooiveld or any other of the usually more dependable players. Plus he won the penalty, a rare occasion when we got in their box. What's more as Nick pointed out we got destroyed down the wings and had no answer for it. It was in summary an absolute stinker of a game and unfortunately the whole British public got to witness it. We're so much better than that. Maybe I'm just more scathing because it's a long way to travel to watch that rubbish. I hope the players are hurt by the match DVD when they watch it back. Maybe this will be the kick up the backside that will inspire them to take it out on Pompey. Let's hope so because derby games are generally a close run thing and we really need to come back with a home win to steady the ship. Let's take one game at a time and just think about our own game.

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bstokesaint added 12:46 - Apr 2 I accept Morgan played alright. The problem was I think he was the only one who had a half decent game.
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slynch added 13:09 - Apr 2 Nearly every successful attack against Saints is by the opposition's right wing. Fox and Lallana are good players but they go missing defensively, right wingers have space to burn. Fox hits the long ball (not necessarily a bad thing) and by passes Lallana, too often. Harding needs bringing in at RB and Fox up to MF and Lallana has to be told that staring at the opposition from 10' away doesn't work.

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rjh added 13:15 - Apr 2 We were poor, Butterfield had an absolue shocker and left far too much space available down the right wing. Must be our first penalty miss for a long long time. Need a win on Sat and all will be well.
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FarnhamSaint added 14:24 - Apr 2 Our destiny is still in our own hands....just can't afford too many performances like that!! I felt a bit of sympathy for Fonte on the second goal, the chances are if he had responsed to Dobbie slight shoulder check, there is very chance Dobbie would have gone down for a penalty, makes life very difficult for a defender these days. Maybe away from home we need to go Hammond and Cork holding midfielders with one up top? Especially early on to soak up the inevitable early pressure and try to control the midfield? trying to be optimistic, had the penalty gone in &/or Jos' header found the net it would have been a totally different game, in my opinion. Maybe in future away games we should set up a bit more defensively early on with two holding midfielders in Hammond and Cork, one up top and try and soak up the inevitable early pressure and gain a bit more control of the midfield? A draw on Saturday would have been a massive result in the context of the league

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FarnhamSaint added 14:25 - Apr 2 sorry for the two almost identical paragraphs, the website was playing up
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Libertine36 added 15:52 - Apr 2 It was a crap game but we must stick together hence the "We love Southampton" chant at the end of the match. Together we will go up COYR'S
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luke47ni added 18:37 - Apr 2 I live in France and generally only see telivised matches, however I have been a season ticket holder and have supported Saints for forty five years so I have sen ups and downs. After seeing the Blackpool match I would simply like a regular live watcher to comment on the following; Is De Ridder good enough and do we ever pass to him going through the channels as per the Blackpool wingers. Is Sharp good enough? I know about his loyalty and honesty but is he good enough for next season.

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tiptop added 19:44 - Apr 2 Primarily it was the group of players that failed to keep the ball and penetrate. Thought Guly looked better than most. He played accurate forward passes and does not deserve stupid flak. It was a bad spot kick from Sharp. But he is a box player and we didn't get the ball in there nearly enough for him to do anything bar the penalty. Lets not forget we have Tadanari Lee waiting to come back. No idea how far away he is but he will be in the team pretty sharply! Expect Richardson back sat too.

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davepid added 20:02 - Apr 2 We are on the verge of something quite special. Southampton have been no worse than second place in their leagues for 48 consecutive games .That betters any other team in the premiership and football league except Man Utd. We have had at least a 4 point cushion between third for much of this season. Currently we have a 6 point cushion and West Ham have to get 7 more points than us out of six games. Havent we learnt that we have bad games but overall our record is 2 points per game .I cant see a single reason why that record wont continue.

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Jackflash1975 added 05:55 - Apr 3 I think we are 7 points ahead as i have always regarded superior goal differnce being an extra point when it comes down to the wire. Could it not now be a psychological issue as much as a tactical one?
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