Saints take on Newcastle United on Saturday and speaking to Saints supporters the feelgood factor is very much back in town.

The doom and gloom of the summer seems to be a million miles away as does last season for Saints supporters, some supporters felt that they would never trust the club again, but here we are for the second home game of the season and amazingly people are looking forward to it with enthusiasm.

Even three weeks ago when we opened our home campaign up against West Brom there was a feeling of worry about the place, although the new signings had dampened down the knee jerk reaction brigade from the summer, there was still a feeling that things were not quite right, but what a difference the time since then has made, firstly there was a magnificent win at West Ham where we not only showed we could change tactics, but that we could come from behind and win, but more importantly a couple of players who were getting a bit of stick played vital parts, those up in East London left energised by the performance.

Then there was the end of the transfer window, the two signings brought in enthused the bulk of Saints supporters, they just seemed to be the icing on the cake and finally Ronald Koeman's squad seemed to be complete, suddenly the next game could not come quick enough.

Anticipation has been building over the past days and there is that air of confidence about the side that has been lacking, on paper at least we now seem to have a squad that not only wants to play for the club, but looks potentially to be better than last years squad.

The win at West Ham showed that we are no longer one trick ponies and the words coming out of the club show that our ambition is still there, but now its realistic and achievable and when we have done just that we can then look at the next step afterwards.

But having the feelgood factor back is fine, but we need to show it on the pitch and a bit of patience is called for here, at the moment we stand on exactly the same number of points that we did after the same number of games last season, our 4th game back then saw a 0-0 draw with West Ham, if we beat Newcastle then we will have exceeded the points total from last seasons openers and that would b ideal.

Saints supporters can see that there have been some quality players brought into the club, a few performances from them that their quality promises and the good times will be back again.

Photo: Action Images

100percentCotton added 13:35 - Sep 11 Your right everyone feels a lot better. The only worry i have is that were still very weak if anything goes wrong at the back, If we were to lose a CB or wing back to injury for any long period of time then we will be very vulnerable. Hoping Pelle hits a golden streak with us.
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Butty101 added 14:08 - Sep 11 Playing devils advocate, you could say that from the 4 equivalent games last season we had 9points and at full time at best we could be 7points, 2 worse off than last season.
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slynch added 14:09 - Sep 11 If Saints beat Newcastle they go 6th.
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SaintNick added 14:15 - Sep 11 100 percent, we are stronger at centre back, we have replaced lovren with alderweireld and Gardos
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aceofthebase added 14:53 - Sep 11 Is Gardos going to get a game and what about Alder...?
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bigrob68 added 15:17 - Sep 11 bit gutted about the cost of shirts, programmes and food, thought they would stay the same until at least January, still happy with the team now.
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nomorerumours added 15:57 - Sep 11 I agree with SaintNick - we are a lot stronger at the back with good cover. Florin Gardos was carrying a groin injury until 2 weeks ago and RonKo probably decided to give him a little more time to get fully fit - I expect that he may well play on Saturday. My current views: Florin (centre and left) and particularly Toby (centre and right) can play just as well in several positions, giving RonKo even more options. When Nathaniel goes on his forward runs down the right, Toby can cover the gap he leaves with Victor and Morgan also well able to back track. When Morgan goes forward, Toby or Florin can fill in - same for Ryan's forward runs on the left. Toby also goes forward and has a good goal scoring record for a player in his position. In forward midfield, Dusan and Sadio (probably on the bench just for this week with no time to train with the team but I expect him to be a regular in our 1st team after that) are both renowned for their roaming roles and are completely interchangeable (Sadio can also play up front alongside Pelle if required to) which will cause opposing defenses a nightmare. Graziano will get some great service from these two and will also create opportunities for them - he is great at drawing out defenders which will create space behind them for Sadio in particular (with his great pace) and others to exploit. Graziano will also lay on some direct assists for them too. Shane, Simon and James will be there or thereabouts - bench or starters. Jose will play for a while but there is real competition for his place. What an abundance of talent and quality we now have. Once we've picked up some more points, I see RonKo giving some late game time to several of our academy starlets - he loves to bring on youth. Yes, it will be a juggling act to keep everyone happy and sharp but RonKo will get the best out of all of them. He will balance maintaining the bulk of the first team with some squad rotation and regular bench changes. This will be our best ever season with silverware and Europe a real possibility even this term but definitely next term and loads of goals, more than double last season's haul.

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