Saints desperately need to beat the Foxes to restore some confidence both on and off the pitch, can they do it ?

Over the past few weeks there has been something wrong with our team spirit, we have lost confidence, momentum and have looked a little lost.

When this sort of things happen you need a pivotal event that changes the demographics of the situation, something has to break the circle.

This week we have had a couple, firstly we got the last minute scrambled winner against Norwich City in the FA Cup, it wasn't nice and it wasn't pretty, but in football it is this type of slices of luck that can change a season.

It should be remembered that even in our four straight league defeats with three cup games interspersed Saints haven't played badly, what they have done is failed to finish off chances at one end and keep it tight at the other.

That gives hope that we can end this awful run and make this a week to remember.

The second was the departure of Jose Fonte, yes we have lost a leader of men and a great player, but that was the Fonte of previous seasons, this term he has been a pale image of his past self and he has been more of a disruptive influence than a positive one, we would rather have kept the Fonte of yesteryear, but we are better shot of him and this will bring the squad closer and tighter rather than split it down the middle.

A win against Leicester will work wonders for morale and will push us up the League and stop those fans predicting freefall in their tracks.

But the dilemma for Puel is what side to put out, he can put out a decent side but he will be gambling on key players coming through it OK, but he has no choice but to do this, we need the league points and we need to get some sort of momentum going into the semi final.

The solution to our problems is simple, all Puel has to do is stop his random rotation and do it with some sort of reasoning that keeps the core of the team intact.

The key as always is keeping calm both on and off the pitch, a certain percentage of our support seem to panic and rant and rave at the slightest sign of troubled waters, we need a positive atmosphere in the stadium against Leicester, we have to ask to we want to cheer the team on and help them to victory or do we want to bring them down and help them to defeat.

Saints need to put out a strong side, win this game and then look to Wednesday evening, it will be amazing what two straight victories will do for morale, if we make it a third next Saturday the season will really change direction.

Photo: Action Images

the_saint added 18:20 - Jan 21 I really. Do love your enthusiasm even if u are delusional, puel will take us down or give it a good go trying. I have supported saints all my life and always will, all this time apart from 76 we have not won anything but I have always enjoyed watching us and looked forward to the next game. This season I am not and do not look forward to the next game in any other sport / entertainment you would pull the plug and not bother but we do cos we love our club

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ItchenNorth added 19:18 - Jan 21 Fancy Saints for a comfortable 2-0 win.
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dixiefrog added 19:53 - Jan 21 Another easy win against Leicester with the Boss fielding a strong side, which scores freely and gives the lads an early finish to beetle off home for their Sunday roast. Even Mrs Frog who doesn't follow 'fossball' said she couldn't see us losing this one, although she did also say that Teresa May was a natural speech maker, Trump was a great statesman and that Jose only left us as Wet Spam served pickled eggs on the lunchtime menu. So easy wins against Leicester and Liverpool, will mean Les will need to take calls from Christiano's and Lionel's desperate agents. Happy days and come on Saints!

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AmericanSaint added 19:58 - Jan 21 @Carrolll - Puel will not take us down, but after seeing the Norwich game in person, I understand your dislike to seeing the next game. When I watch the games on TV, there seems to be a different flow and speed than when I watched in person. Our side passes way too much sideways and back and we do not seem to know the term "over-lapping runs". @nick - If Puel screws around with putting less than our best out (barring injuries), then either he is a complete idiot or he is taking direction from the board who has told him the Liverpool game is more important than tomorrow's game. Betrand, VVD, Yoshi and Soares need this game to try and gel so that they can be solid on Wed. Liverpool is going to through everything at us, especially since they lost today at home to Swansea. In midfield we need to have Romeu, clasie and holjberg playing with Tadic, Long and Jrod. That will will the game tomorrow for us and give us a chance on Wed. Only time will tell now if we will dig ourselves out of this funk or we are going to slog it out for the rest of the season.

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Saintcole7 added 20:05 - Jan 21 Carroll, sorry fellow reader but I do have to correct you, we won the JPT and though this has escaped Nick's memory over the last few weeks I have to admit to it being one of my best days supporting this club, but I do agree that Nick this season, starting with "we've got our best ever squad in depth" through to his "joy" that we "engineered" Fonte out for £8m seems to have lost all sense of reality, not looking forward to tomorrow at all, it will be boring as that's our tactics, awful shame as this season started with so much optimism but after 45 years I'm questioning myself as to why I bother wasting hard earn't cash and being in debt, it's driving me mad but I just don't know why I bother when there is, regardless of what others say a lack of ambition and backbone at the club and its to easy to say it's "modern day football"', the selling senario does not seem to plague any other top flight club. Sorry to all you optimisist out there but that's how I feel and it's not a nice feeling?!

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SanMarco added 21:26 - Jan 21 We are too close to the dotted line to mess around 'rotating' for this one. If we had beaten WBA and Burnley we could have said this one doesn't matter so much but we lost both and therefore it does matter. Our 'full strength' side is not a world beater at the moment but it ought to have a good chance of being a Leicester beater. Just a word in support of Nick - I think that one or two comments about him have slightly crossed the line recently. It is not 'delusional' or 'idiotic' to take particular lines on the way Saints are going. I certainly feel he invested too heavily in the idea of the strong squad and Puel as a good fit for us and these now feel like quite optimistic narratives but there is nothing wrong with being an optimist. The current slump in results and quality feels pretty bad but it is not inconceivable that in 12 days time we will have thirty points, be in a final and the fifth round of the FA Cup.

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GeordieSaint added 21:30 - Jan 21 Make or break time, I understand the frustration with the board and the manager but two wins this week can completely change the landscape. Let's get behind the lads and baniśh relegation worries and make a cup final.
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BoondockSaint added 02:45 - Jan 22 They'll save the best players for the Scouse game so Klopp can see if he wants any of them.
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SaintStu7 added 09:05 - Jan 22 Way too much negativity from some. Article is spot on, we have had a very poor run but only in the league. This week is the turning point of the season, lose 3 games and we have nothing to play for other than a mid table finish. To be honest I would have taken the position we are in now at the beginning of the season as I thought this could be our best chance of actually winning something big and we are so close. I will however be very disappointed if we don't make a final as least. In relation to Fonte Nick could not be more spot on. He isn't glossing over the loss of a great Saints player but telling it how it is. The club could not have done more for Fonte, new contract and then a pay rise on top for really doing nothing extra for Saints. The man got greedy and clearly disrupted the team. Not the actions of committed club legend. The club can't be held to ransom by players like this and took a fair stand. People forget that Fonte was under contract which he was happy to sign and then only he has forced a move that although will put a few more quid in his already bulging pockets is to be honest a little embarrassing for him. Good luck for the next week, everything crossed.

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the_saint added 09:31 - Jan 22 There are always two sides to the story so I for one will always think of fonte as a legend come on we still sing Marion pahas songs and a few more about ex saints non have done as much for us as fonte. All the best fonte on your next chapter u will be missed
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