Are Saints good enough to stay up ? the answer is at present no one can b quite sure, but after the QPR game we will have a better idea of our chances.
Over the past few weeks many Saints supporters across the world of the internet have been espousing of how Saints are ready to move on to the next level and how a points total of around 48 was realistic, but the win against an appalling disinterested Man City side who gifted us three goals merely glossed over the fact that although we had changed the manager it was still the same old players and as we have just found out if you try and do the same things with the same players you get the same results, 5 points out of the new managers first 5 games in charge are excactly the same points average as we had when he arrived and indeed 2 less than Nigel Adkins got in his last five games in charge.
So the QPR game represents a benchmark, defeat would see big questions being asked, especially if other results went against us and we found ourselves only out of the bottom four on goal difference, a draw wouldnt do too much for us either way, however a win would see confidence restored and would mean a points total of 8 from 6, not tearing up any record books bu a rasonable total for a team who wants to avoid relegation.
As I have been banging on about for weeks, there is still a long way to go in the relegation dogfight and for a team in our position what we need now is back to back victories starting with QPR that will take us soaring above that 30 point mark and the safety line in sight, by the end of this weekends games it will be clear whether we are good enough to pull clear at a canter or we are going to have a lot of sleepless nights.
Dont get me wrong I like Mauriccio Pochettino as a manager and i think in the long term he could be very good for this club, but in the short term we havent given him the tools to do the job, there werent many Saints fans who didnt think we had a poor summer transfer window and that we failed to get Premier quality players in key positions, most assumed that we would rectify that in the January window, what happened again was that we didnt sign known quality, in fact we signed unkown quanity in Vegard Forren who over five weeks after signing is still to appear in a Saints shirt and indeed on Sunday couldnt even get on the bench, sorry but there is something strange here, it cant be about fitness any longer he has had the same amount of time as the average pre season to get fit now.
So the task of the manager is now made that much harder, like Adkins before him he is playing a formation that isnt suited to the players that he has to hand, as was shown at Newcastle were former Saints boss Alan Pardew did his homework and did it well highlighting that our passing game will only work if we have the pace in the back four to stop us getting caught on the break, perhaps Man City's goal should have reminded us that we dont.
So beating QPR is crucial but far from assured, for their part Harry Redknapp will know he is well into last chance saloon and that defeat at St Mary's will leave them needing 20 points from the last 10 games to stand any chance of staying up, are they good enough to do that, given its either 6 wins and 2 draws or 5 wins and 5 draws with no defeats I would say no, Harry will be urging them to throw the kitchen sink at us.