Which Saints side will step out of the tunnel on Saturday.
The first question on Saints fans lips at 3pm on Saturday as the kick off looms is just which Saints side will be out there on the pitch, by that I dont just mean who has been selected, but will it be the side disinterested unmotivated side that faced Plymouth, the one dimensional team that played Bournemouth & Orient, the super charged squad that demolished Bristol Rovers or the directionless performance from the Swindon game.
Hopefully the players will have got their disapointment out of the system from Tuesday night and will be in the mood to show that they are far better players than most of their performances suggested.
Alan Pardew had his supporters and had his critics, however at Bristol the squad showed that he still had the dressing room in both their performance and body language whatever rumour might say otherwise, that seemed to be confirmed by the lacklustre performance against Swindon, now they need to show that life goes on and that whatever the manager was dismissed for it wasnt because he had assembled a side incapable of promotion and there is only one way to do that.
In the past Saints sides and indeed the supporters have rallied together in times of adversity and turned negative energy into positive, used the situation to focus themselves and win vital games.
After the sacking of Ian Branfoot Saints supporters spurred the team on to win the home game straight after before Alan Ball was appointed, later that same year in 1994 when the Bruce Grobbelaar scandal broke, Saints fans used it to turn the Dell into a cauldron that even Arsenal couldnt live with and another 1-0 result was the end product, indeed usually in times of adversity Saints have come through and Saturday against Rochdale is another of these situations that we seem to have experienced more than any other club.
So Saints V Rochdale is more than just a game, its a time to show everyone that Southampton Football Club is part of the community and that a football club is only as good as its supporters, without supporters clubs cannot prosper, yes money will propel clubs up the league, but unless that supporter base is there it cannot be sustained for long.
If Saints harness the energy from the crowd thenthey can win this game and win it well, if they dont then they will sink just as they did against Swindon.
For those that were not old enough to remember those great Dell days when the crowd really did get behind the team, the protest chants were reserved for before and after the game, the moment the team kicked off the crowd were right behind them right until the final whistle, goals for, the roar could be heard in the Docks, goals against and the roar to spur the team on was just as loud, the fans would not let the team give up.
For this season it hasnt been the case, a tleast not at home, Alan Pardew commented on this after the Bournemouth game, when things werent going well the groans could be heard, indeed the side was booed off, those at Bristol will testify that the supporters never gave up throughout the game, they wouldnt let the team take their foot off the gas and this has to be the case against Rochdale.
At this moment in time its hard to predict a result, on paper its always Saints because of the quality and quantity of our squad, but the real difference is not on the pitch but off it, we the fans now have to step up to the plate !