Saints have not beaten Tottenham Hotspur at home in 13 years, can they make it unlucky for the visitors and drag themselves out of the relegation zone.

This is a dark weekend for Saints, results in the Saturday fixtures meant that they dropped into the bottom three of the Premier League, but will this be a wake up call for all at the club or will it be something that drags them down.

It cannot be denied that Saints have a good squad, but 99% seem to be in agreement of what the problem is and that is the manager and his inability to make the right selections and perhaps more poignantly the right substitutions, that has been shown in the number of games that we have thrown away in the last minute of the game including last weeks trip to Watford.

All of this has cost us dearly and we have slowly sunk down towards this unnacceptable position.

So can the team use this to motivate themselves and find that little extra that gains unexpected points, something that they are not getting from Mauricio Pellegrino at present.

Pellegrino says he does not fear for his job, that is a terrible thing to say, he should be honest and admit that any manager with the record he has, with only two wins in four months, that any manager would fear the worse, indeed it could be said that no manager would be fearing the sack after this record because they would already be on the dole.

Tottenham visiting is not the best fixture, Spurs have perhaps become a bit of a bogey team for us since our return to the Premier League, in four home games so far we have lost three and drawn only one, away from home it is almost just as bad with four defeats and a single win.

So Saints truly have to play out of their skins this afternoon and show that they have fight in the team, indeed I would say they have to do it in spite of the manager because they are not doing it because of him.

The first interesting thing will be the managers team selection, it is hard to predict and not in a good way, he has a penchant for playing around with his back four and this has lead to confusion, in the midfield he keeps switching and that has lead to the absurd position of Saints having a bench that has almost cost as much as the team on the pitch with our most expensive signings all on it, add Fraser Forster and Jan Bednarek and our subs cost around £65 million between them.

When Saints fought relegation battles back in the 90's they survived despte having a squad that was perhaps in the position it was due to a lack of all round quality, when it got to the business end of the season they rolled their sleeves up and found that extra workrate and commitment themselves.

That is now going to be the case because I can't see the current manager changing, indeed I think his inability to make substitutions has cost us dearly and will continue to do so.

The supporters have to play their part, they are not responsible for the situation, but we all need to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, I can understand why so many are upset, but we can either moan about our lot or we can get behind the team and stay behind it right to the end.

Most have been great this season, perhaps it feels worse because of social media, but we need to make this season a poor one and not a disastrous one, those who were there for the 90's remember the seasons not for the months of getting beaten, but for the classic games mainly at the end of the season when the team and fans united in one common cause and between them created some great results and great memories.

This football club needs positives and not negatives, yes it needs leadership not just from the manager, but from the boardroom, but there is still over a week to go till the end of the transfer window, we have to give them that period to get in a signing or two, if they don't that is the time to chastise them, but not till they have failed.

Today can either be another one of those great days, or it can be a disaster, we have the squad to get something out of this game, anything will do even a draw, but we need to get something, in the main this season we have rarely been beaten comprehensively, Spurs away was one and Liverpool a second, apart from that only Leicester have really done us, indeed aff Watford's 2-0 win and we have not lost a game by more than one goal and then usually it has been a late one or a soft one.

So make St Mary's a cauldron, Spurs are our bogey side and are in a good run, but they are not haing a great season by recent standards, they can be beaten !

Photo: Action Images

Capt_Koons added 09:13 - Jan 21 Leadership is our problem, or lack of it. No leadership at boardroom level, no leadership at management level, but most importantly at this moment no leadership on the pitch. There is no player the others look to when the pressures on, and this coupled with a weak clueless manager will be our downfall.
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SaintNick added 09:19 - Jan 21 The leadership at boardroom level is no different than it has been for the past four year, the problem is that whatever they do they have to keep private, they cannot berate the manager publicly and they cannot divulge transfer targets till they have signed them. You are ight though about the manager and on the pitch
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SanMarco added 10:13 - Jan 21 That last win was in the relegation season if I recall correctly. I think to be fair to MP the article misinterprets his comments about his job. He is not saying his job is secure just that he is not going to waste time worrying about losing it. I would be happy with a draw today but we will only get it if we put them under pressure. Let the Spuds dictate and there will be only one result.

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petedoors1 added 10:48 - Jan 21 Silva sacked by Watford. How much longer do we have to Wait to sack our CLOWN.
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the_saint added 10:55 - Jan 21 Marco silva available I would take him lost his way since Everton unsettled him but reckon he would up his game again with new club
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ChristchurchSaint added 14:09 - Jan 21 Nick, whilst I agree with you that the boardroom has been the same for the last few years, I think most fans would agree that there is a marked change recently. It may be that they do not want to lose face by sacking MP, but the decisions regarding player recruitment falls totally at their door. If they were accepting that VVD was leaving, then surely new players should have lined up and in place within the first week of January. MP’s policy of only playing with one striker is showing up time after time, and his very late tactical substitution policy is also very alarming. Sadly, I feel that Capt MP will be still on the bridge when we sink beneath the waves in April, and still giving his bumbled excuses as the water closes over his head.

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underweststand added 14:42 - Jan 21 All this about getting a replacement CB is a smoke screen when we all know that our real need is for strikers. Stats. show that we've had more than 50% possession and more shots in over half of our games, yet we have converted less than 10% of shots to goals and in games where just one goal here and there would have given us around 27 points and a place in the top 10. The goal drought that caused Puel's downfall last season continues with only Charlie Austin (argueably our best striker) looking anything like a in-form player until injury. IF we are going to turn the corner then one point today would be a ray of sunshine (on a wet day) and the upcoming games v.Brighton and West Brom. are the opportunities to get upto that top half spot. By February 1st ..we will (hopefully) have the new players in place .and if MP is not (?)there will be plenty of other Prem." managerial failures " hanging around and queueing up to take his place.

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