Saints dug in and got a draw at Wolverhampton Wanderers, appreciated by the travelling supporters, but the bulk of the fans only see the home games and if we want to get everyone backing the team we need to win at St Mary's.

It has been over six months since we won a game at home, ironically against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 13th April last season, since then we have gone 6 games without a win although only two have been defeats and the other four draws.

But most Saints fans judge the progress of the team on what they see and that is only the games at St Mary's, so it is understandable why they are starting to get restless. However the disappointment of the performances at St Mary's has to be tempered with the fact that Saints are very much a work in progress at the moment.

With many supporters having spent a lot of the last couple of years moaning about those in charge of the club and now having seen those bearing the brunt of their ire having left, it is a period of change within St Mary's, there is no point whinging about the mistakes of the past, we now have to look to the future and hope that those coming into the club can improve things.

But that will not happen overnight, the aim is to stay out of the relegation zone and then build on that, OK it is not the ambitions that we had back in 2016, but then again there are very few clubs outside of the big six who have consistently been in the top 8 year in year out.

Our owners have born a lot of criticism of late, but that is based only on the fact that they have not invested multi millions in transfer fees, but ask yourself what club owner has outside of the big six.

Everton are living proof that an owner who spends big is no guarantee of success, that the best way forward are clubs that are sustainable without an owner putting in large amounts of money.

Owners rarely invest money without it being a loan and when they want that money back then that spells trouble.

Gao has not done much at the moment, but none of what he has done so far has been bad, he has continued the way that Markus Liebherr envisaged for the club, a self sufficient business paying it's own way.

But the fans care most about results and in many respects judge a football club purely on this basis, if it is winning games then it must be well run, if it is losing them it must be poorly run.

That is far from the truth and although things aren't great at the moment, they could be far far worse and we have to give those who are now responsible for running the club the chance to prove themselves rather than condemn them out of hand.

So we need the team to show us that things are getting better, we all know we have a major issue in the centre of defence, we can do nothing about that till January, we have to accept that and look to help the team get through a tough couple of months.

A win against Leicester City on Friday will go a long way towards that, it won't mean that things are all rosy again, but we have to see some good football and get the crowd on side again.

The default message of support for the team needs to stop being the anguished cry of "For F***s sake Saints" and needs to be a positive one of encouragement, not everyone is a singer, but everyone can say "Come on Saints" once in a while.

So the team needs to get us enthused and back on side again and if they start to do that then we as supporters need to do our bit as well, the atmosphere at St Mary's has not been great so far this season, but six months ago when we were beating Wolves, Spurs and Everton it was as good as it has been in several years, let's get that back and in doing so kick start our revival.

Photo: Action Images

HythePeer added 13:50 - Oct 21 Saints won’t win cos RH will pick a team consisting of 7 defenders, JWP, someone JWP was talking to in the pub last night, JWP’s girlfriend’s tennis partner and Ings. And 4 minutes from the end when it is 1-1 he will take off Ings and put on another defender.
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SaintNick added 14:20 - Oct 21 Wow Saints can really get back on track when the fans are so supportive
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darthvader added 14:36 - Oct 21 We need djenepo back. He's exciting and gets the crowd going. A good Performance ,a couple of goals too. Smiles and cheers will be many Coyr !
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Saintsforeverj added 14:44 - Oct 21 Thing is Nick, fans will get behind the team but they are not going to support players who stupidly stand there and watch world class players shoot without any hint of a tackle. GK and defender communicating like clowns re. Bournemouth. Players passing sideways and backwards, when we need a goal! It's the stupid way we are losing, that is upsetting the fans. We give up. The fans were fully behind the team when it was 2-1 against Chelsea - our reward, a third goal for them. Plus, how stupid not to get a player like Cahill in the transfer window. Fans can smell the coffee, that's the thing.

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BoondockSaint added 15:19 - Oct 21 Once again, "Blame the Fans" (Yoshi gets a day off?) Badly organized defense, knocking the ball backwards instead of forwards, corners and free kicks are never a threat. Yeah, if only the fans sang louder all this would change. "...but six months ago when we were beating Wolves, Spurs and Everton it was as good as it has been in several years,...." Exactly! if the team plays with some determination and actually try to win games, the fans will appreciate the effort and respond. Fans can accept losing, but they cannot abide lack of effort. "But the fans care most about results and in many respects judge a football club purely on this basis, if it is winning games then it must be well run, if it is losing them it must be poorly run." .........uh,...yeah, that's how it works in sports.....

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underweststand added 15:31 - Oct 21 After almost a year with Ralph at the helm, everyone tries to sound positive but we don't seem to be nearly as positive on the pitch as we were at the end of last season. We know all the usual quotes -" if we can play as well as we know we can ...etc, etc " otherwise I think ..Saints foreverj (above).. has just caught the feeling of many fans. Of course we need more home points and it sounds strange to older fans to say that our away form is in our favour . Years ago ANY away point was almost signal for a street party. So far this season our best player has been VAR. For decades we've come out on the wrong end of many poor decisions and rarely got the rub of the green in such hairline situations, and but for that... we'd have lost 1-3 on Saturday. I'm also fed up with people saying . "if It hadn't been for VAR...etc". Personally I'm glad to see correct decisions made (99% of the time) - even if it goes against us - at least we can see it's fair and correct. I hope it works in our favour against Jamie Vardy on Friday - if for no other reason that (without VAR) the ref. missed his late tackle which broke VvD's foot back then, and he's one of the crudest player to disgrace the Prem...and that's saying something. Does Ralph really think he's picking the best eleven to start ?. .it sounds like he's just waiting for Djenepo to get 100% fit and think that everything will be OK again. Gunn must be very close to losing his place and few can think that in his current " lack of form" JWP can perform better than Armstrong (who) really deserves a run of games. Friday's result ...perhaps even one point will start some street parties to celebrate ...but don't hold your breath.

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1970 added 15:45 - Oct 21 Leicester invested wisely in there squad and went on to do amazing things we just sold all our assets and now they are considerably better than us without wasting money like everton , beating them will be no mean feat and unfortunately I cant see it that doesn't mean I don't support my team coyr
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Saintsforeverj added 15:48 - Oct 21 We are the customers playing £50 plus a match to pay players on £60 000 plus a week, strolling around, letting teams tear us apart. Does this sum it up? I want Saints to win but will accept losing and cheer the lads if I feel they are giving blood sweat and tears. I just don't feel that they are. We have also had a terrible defence for 3 years. The club does nothing to sort it. It's such a hopeless feeling.

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HythePeer added 17:08 - Oct 21 SaintNick This is a discussion forum, support is done in the 90 minutes. And you know when your argument has merit when it is countered by unrelated statement masquerading as an argument.
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Kingsland34 added 17:35 - Oct 21 It's not just a matter of the last six months, the cumulative effect of our appalling home record since Koeman left takes some resolve to be positive about but we live in hope, COYR.
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schatfield added 17:36 - Oct 21 Unfortunately, playing at home means our players will get virtually no cheer and the ongoing boo's and slamming comments our fans always give. With home fans like ours, who needs enemies...
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aceofthebase added 18:04 - Oct 21 I understand that our defence is pretty low average but this is also true of our midfield three. Romeo does a heroic job of tackling and breaking up attacks but is far from perfect in his tackles and dwelling on the ball. Our Captain Hojb has been so disappointing this season. He has very little attacking flair and doesn't dominate the midfield. JWP is such a likeable young chap but offers the front line very little, surely he must step aside and allow Armstrong to start. It so annoys me when JWP demands the ball running back to collect and then promptly returns the ball to the defender. Talking of starting we must get Boufal into the action earlier, incredible that he is just used as a 'bit' player. We haven't seen Danso play in central defence but what we have seen so far is that he is not suited to be left back, right back or if RH chooses goalkeeper. I'm not sure whether we should chance him in the centre of defence, so far playing in the wrong positions he hasn't shone. A few too many moans from me but things are not quite right and I feel with a few changes we could break away from this relegation group.

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saintmark1976 added 18:35 - Oct 21 Nick, I'm certain that you comments asking for better support from the fans are heartfelt but in all honesty they have become somewhat "rinse and repeat" in nature. You correctly identify the problems but put forward no positive suggestions as to how to solve them, other than to suggest we support the strategy of the owners.Clearly the owners strategy of minimal reinvestment of T V money and transfer fees together with little personal investment has failed and that's why the last three seasons have been so miserable for the fans. Is there a way forward? I suggest there is but it involves the current owners putting the club on the market to try and attract interest from those who are prepared to invest and reinvest.The alternative from a fans point of view is more of the same stagnation.

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I_would added 18:39 - Oct 21 Why not edit your message to the fans Nick? Just say "Get used to them losing every week when you watch them at home, and cheer them on just in case they get better by chance."
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cocklebreath added 19:59 - Oct 21 What a pony article, you talk some tripe Nick
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redwight added 10:27 - Oct 22 The word that best sums up all these posts is frustration. Frustration that at least one CB was not brought in and frustration that this has been the case for 4 transfer windows. Frustration that Cahill wasn't signed. If he had been, we would have had the leadership and organisation that the defence has been crying out for since VVD left. This in turn would have meant we could play either PEH or Romeo, but not both, freeing up space for more creativity in midfield (Boufal) = more threat going forward etc. etc. Call it a virtuous circle. If he was approached and wasn't interested then fair enough, but we need an answer. When the next Fan's Forum takes place, would some one please ask this question, because the final frustration is that nobody is ever called to account.

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bstokesaint added 06:57 - Oct 23 I don’t think support’s the issue here. As pointed out by others this a forum for discussion and there is obviously frustration welling up from fans paying good money to watch multi-millionaires jog around a pitch with the commitment of a Park Run. I’ll always give it my all supportwise at games and refrain from picking on or booing individuals. But there are a number of passengers in this leaderless team. I’d love to think we can beat Leicester, but I can’t help think that their better organisation and squad reinvestment has moved them up a notch in the PL hierarchy. We’ve failed to invest well and look at the result. The current model will not work. The club should be put up for sale to find a buyer who is genuinely interested in spending some money on an expensive project. I think we’re beginning to see that sustainability alone isn’t enough.

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Markl2057 added 08:00 - Oct 23 The amount we as fans pay we demand to be entertained!!! Quote 'work in progress' where is the progress?? Playing players out of position doesn't help and It looks like the players feel completely uncomfortable with his system. The lack of positivity on the pitch is spreading into the stands. A light show 'no' a kick up the arse 'yes' As much as Ralph shows passion is sadly doesn't reflect in his squad questioning are the players really playing for him as if rumours are true he tends to upset individuals

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petedoors1 added 09:19 - Oct 23 The trouble with the Saints team now is that all the jewels have been sold the last one went when Tadic was sold. We are now left with a bunch of over paid journeymen footballers and ex academy players who never quite made it. No top 6 team would want to buy any of our players and the wages they are on stops any lower league teams buying them. We have a team that lacks any creativity and a solid defence.

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LoisDeem added 15:35 - Oct 23 So, we can all talk about it, write about it, and moan, but will that change anything? Think about it: how can you influence the outcome of a football match? Fact is -and I'm generalising -the home fans aren't a patch on the away fans, who are less inhibited and get behind their team properly and readily. I don't believe it's just coincidence that's why we get superior performances and results away from home more recently. I have long believed this, and firmly believe that's why Saints used to get some awesome results in the past -with many coming at home, and eventually because of this dogged and passionate support at St Mary's. I am sure my more mature fellow fans won't mind telling the young's that it can be quite exhilarating and fun making a noise and supporting your team in this way. Why wouldn't you want to support your team in this way? Haven't our best days out always been filled with noise? Make a difference on Friday -why not?

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