Saints don't just have a big week ahead, its a BIG BIG week with two home games that will go a long way to deciding how this season goes.

By 5pm on Saturday Saints will know if they face looking over their shoulders for the rest of the season or whether they can harbour hopes of a top ten finish for a third consecutive year.

This terrible run is nothing new in Saints top flight history though and in the main we have played through moments of crisis like this and come out stronger at the other end.

This is a funny year for the Premier League though and the table is very condensed, we are still just as near 7th place as we are the relegation zone and when you think we have taken just 4 points out of the last 24 and are still only 7 points off of Palace in 7th, 8 off West Ham in 6th and 9 off of Manchester United in 5th, even just a poor return from the past 6-7 weeks rather than p*** poor would have seen us breathing down the necks of not only the top 5 but even Spurs in 4th with 36 points.

This tells us that although perhaps we have now left ourselves too much of a gap to make the top 5 we are still very much capable of a top 10 finish.

But we have to start winning games and the next two are great places to start in that taking six points won't perhaps move us up the league that much in terms of position, but it will drag us right back into the pack that is chasing 5th -10th place.

This has been a run that no one could have predicted and we just need to win a couple of games to get the confidence back and this is a great opportunity to do it, with respect to both Clubs both West Brom and Watford are games that most club's in this division would target as home wins, indeed early in the season when we were yet to get our full squad up and running we went to both and came away with a goalless draw, we need more of the same in defensive terms this week, then we can start to score again with ease.

I say this every time, but if the crowd stays behind the team then eventually we will break this awful run and climb the table again.

This is a better squad than the one three years ago that finished 14th, so that is a minimum, but it is good enough for far more than that and with the return of Fraser Forster imminent that might be the boost we need to tighten up the defence, cut out the sloppy goals and move up the table.

Photo: Action Images

Zambucco added 09:50 - Jan 11 Talking of the crowd being behind the team, was anyone else as angry as me that the Northam was given over to Palace? I was furious and disgusted. In the bad old days battles were fought for this right, as it rips the heart out of the vocal support, and therefore the passion, so needed to lift a team. I've never been so miserable at a Saints match, the recent 1 - 6 thrashing by Liverpool didn't even come close. It's a strange set up at normal games, with the huge fan buffer making it look like a half empty stadium on tv. Then we have the the sections Itchen, Northam and Kingsland rarely singing in unison. Apparently the away fans have to be in that section for security. Why not put them in that corner of the itchen and the saints fans integrated into the Northam? Better still at the other end of the ground next to the Chapel End? Yours, thoroughly peed off Bitterne!

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SonicBoom added 10:56 - Jan 11 Nick I always appreciate your point of view. I would say we are where we are, more because of the inadequacies of others rather than anything of merit we have done. Without checking exact numbers we have lost 9 out of ten or something. Saying we are just so far behind fifth or so far behind 8th is immaterial and is screening the real problems. We are in free fall. Yes we play ok at times but we lose. That's the bottom line. Whether individual mistakes or not we are losing every game and that cannot be down to bad luck. Personally I would like to see a signing or two just to freshen up the squad and wake some players up. But more than that I would like to see some clear leadership from Ron to address the issues. Losing is a habit and right now we are bereft of confidence. But we need to stop blaming refs or our luck and dig ourselves out. The good news is that if we can scrape a few wins we are indeed still in touch. But we have some expensive players and they all need to start proving their worth.

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schatfield added 11:27 - Jan 11 Sonic is spot on. We may be not far off 7th in terms of points, but we are dropping like a stone. Our confidence is shot completely, and top 10 is as far as removed as possible at the moment, personally I just hope we dont get caught on the slide to the relegation zone. We have some expensive players that are not performing at the moment and need to start.
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saintmark1976 added 11:47 - Jan 11 Nick, I have been posting for weeks that before you can deal with a problem you have to accept that problem in the first place.Our current problem is not one of needing points to get back into touch with the top of the league. It is now about getting enough points to avoid relegation. Put simply we need to forget about winning and concentrate on avoiding defeat and pick a team accordingly. We need 16 points from 18 games and if playing more defensively achieves this objective then I will be quite happy.Stop selecting the "fancy Dan" and "sand dancer" players and put out a team that genuinely wants to give everything for the red and white stripes. If we stay up,and I think we have every chance,then we can address our current longer term problems in the summer.

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ronniedavies added 11:55 - Jan 11 Zambucco is dead right. We will never be able to create an intimidating atmosphere at St. Marys whilst the away supporters are congregated in the Northam. Not only does it look bad on the TV cameras, but it also prevents the home fans having singing together. The sooner SFC address this the better, away fans should be out of sight and mind (ala Newcastle / Sunderland) not given centre stage for all to see!!

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bstokesaint added 13:06 - Jan 11 I think the last article summed us up perfectly, “Deju Vous”, i.e. Start bright, dominate early possession, don’t take our chances , do something sloppy at the back, rarely trouble opposition keeper and generally lose by a goal. That’s pretty much us right now. I still think it’s too early to talk relegation, but it would worry me if the teams under us started picking up points as I don’t think there’s much heart in the team. Koeman’s body language to me suggests whatever he’s doing he’s ultimately being let down on matchdays and he can’t quite fathom out why. I still say like everyone else we need to freshen things up. If our current academy aren’t good enough (and I wouldn’t put Harry Reed in this category because I’ve only ever seen good things from him) then we need at least one out and out goalscorer and a player, or players, with more of a ruthless streak. We’re currently a bunch of rollovers. Teams know if they can whether the early storm, or more appropriately ‘light gale’ we will eventually make a mistake, or two.

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BoondockSaint added 14:08 - Jan 11 It's not been a "funny year" if you are a Saints fan!
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SanMarco added 14:27 - Jan 11 The time to talk about however many points we are off 10th or 7th will be when we have won a few and are back on a decent run of results. Our form over the last ten games is such that we would be very foolish not to be looking down. I still don't think we will be relegated but the club needs to be worring about relegation rather than Europe at the moment. And in my view that means signing a goalscorer and another right back, at the very least.

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darthvader added 15:16 - Jan 11 One game at a time .. get 3 points or at least 1 and then think on the next one . I couldn't care how who or by 1 or 8 let's get that bloody win . Confidence is key not only game to game but during the game .look at the arsenal game ?! Take a bloody shot , see what happens . If it don't go in,? ah well try again but at least have a go , why are we constantly looking to pass our way into the six yard area only to by muscled out of it . Shhhoooottt!

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BarnetSaint added 16:16 - Jan 11 It is utterly ridiculous that we give virtually the whole of the Northam to away teams in cup games. I'm amazed (or maybe I shouldn't be) that the club are happy with this situation. The bland response is that they are where they are is for security reasons. So in this day and age, where as most other clubs shove away fans in a corner or up in the gods, for some reason this can't happen at SMS. I think a concerted campaign by fans groups and forums should be made-it worked when we were given the Archers end at The Dell so why not now.

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SaintJez added 09:43 - Jan 12 Please Please Please just pick a team that gives us a chance from kick off. 4-3-2-1 is the way Saints play best. Cedric is our best right back. if we play Mane and Long, use their pace and get it forward quickly. Set piece delivery is massively important in the modern game - make sure there's someone on the pitch who can hit a dead ball (JWP or Bertrand). If we do that and still don't win, at least I'll only be depressed and not angry... Plus, the likely return of Forster will be a very welcome sight but let's not expect too much of the big man. He'll be rusty for sure - but clearly no worse than his understudies have been..

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IWOZTHERE added 10:21 - Jan 12 Never liked Jonjo Shelvey playing against Saints cos he's big, ugly and got a silly name. It usually follows that he plays well against us and is a battler. Why FFS are we not even getting a mention now it's reported he's having a medical at relegation threatened Newcastle!
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Pecky3 added 10:54 - Jan 12 I totally agree with Sonic. The form in last 10 games is certianly relegation form and the team needs to improve immediately otherwise Saints are in big trouble. I am puzzled by our manager at present. Starting a home cup match with 5 defenders is very very negative and his recent comments about the Saints Academy are not what you want to hear said in public! I cannot believe that some of the academy players wouldn't play their hearts out if given a chance. however since Koeman arrived he has proved like must foreign managers to be not interested in home-grown talent. This a great shame!

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