Saints season once again stands at a crucial point after three games without a win, but is it really a crisis.

A fortnight ago things looked rosy for Saints and then suddenly Chelsea scored two late goals and Bournemouth rocked us and we were suddenly a club in crisis if you read the Saints message boards.

The actual reality is that now for us a crisis is dropping out of the top 10, whereas two seasons ago we would have been grateful to be in this position, three years ago we would have been ecstatic and in the best part of decade before that, it was nothing more than a pipe dream.

This shows just how far Saints have come and that being the case perhaps a reality check is needed by some.

Of course we should have aspirations and of course we should have ambition but these should always be firstly realistic and secondly achievable, of course a top five or six finish is all of these, but if we don't achieve these each and every season that does not mean things are all doom and gloom.

Each year the squad gets bigger and stronger, but the reality is that as we have more success, then the more the big clubs are going to covet our players and that is going to cause problems of their own.

So our ambitions should be dosed wit a touch of reality and that means accepting set backs with good grace and trying to use them positively.

A top ten finish will be a good ending of the season for Saints, we have to remember that that would be equaling our best ever run of top flight finishes, that being the case we are not under achieving, but doing as well as we have ever done in the league in our entire history.

That certainly surely cannot be described as a crisis !

So Saints will march on, of course it will be disappointing if we don't at least equal last season's 7th place, but it will not mean we are going backwards, far from it, this season has been another of steady foundation building, we are building something that lasts, we are not throwing everything a a couple of good seasons followed by meltdown, we all know how that plays out from looking down the M27.

Photo: Action Images

A1079 added 12:24 - Mar 11 This is the first time that I have even heard the word crisis used. I am not aware of any fellow Saints fans suggesting we are in a crisis - which of course we are not. We may have had an indifferent season (and a sense that the quality has been missing and with better quality in the squad we could have competed at the top), the football has been patchy and quite dull at times and there are frustrations with some of the players attitudes and performances and it looks like we have reached the safety point and just looking towards summer now, but there is a sense of resignation about that. No one is suggesting a crisis and you should not confuse constructive criticism with the word crisis. Branfoot was crisis, going into administration was crisis, being a Newcastle or Leeds is crisis.

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BoondockSaint added 13:43 - Mar 11 "Two years ago....three years ago..." neatly overlooks last year, when we were doing a Leicester until what has unfortunately become a habit: beat a big team and then lose 3 or 4 games to teams well below us in the standings. I don't really see the squad as "bigger and stronger" as it seems every week we have an article about RK having to shuffle his lineup because one or two players are out. Yes, we may not break into the top 6 every year, but this was a year when those spots were there for the taking. The way the standings are this year, with everyone tightly packed, losing or drawing to teams below you for a stretch of 3 or 4 games can have a huge impact. And if you beat the teams you are supposed to, you can be Spurs and everyone thinks your manager is a genius

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saintsnutcase added 13:53 - Mar 11 It is true that our squad is bigger and stronger than before. But that applies to every club around us in mid table. The truth is that several of them have improved much more than us since season - eg Stoke, WHam, Spurs and Leicester. I don't see why we should be thrilled by that.
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SonicBoom added 14:18 - Mar 11 Intelligent management by Ron. We have cleverly avoided the usual pillaging by Liverpool and Spurs by making our star players perform below their potential this season. We can now be confident that we will retain them in the summer.
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DPeps added 16:23 - Mar 11 There's no crisis but I do mostly agree with the other comments above. Sunderland game was ok, just the final ball was terrible throughout. Sunderland also defended well. Also, not sure what Martina did to deserve a hammering: he defended well, and his final ball was no worse than anyone else's!
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SaintBrock added 20:14 - Mar 11 The lads above have got it right Nick, simply we are under achieving by our own recent standards and dare I say on the slide! Results do not lie however much spin is put on performance. Maybe we have been spoiled by 5 years of upwardly mobile progress following Marcus Liebherr's take-over of the club but to me and clearly many of my fan colleagues our scintillating rise has stalled whilst teams around us have steadily improved and frankly by playing football that is every bit as attractive to watch as ours. You wouldn't have said that three years ago. So, Nick it may not be a crises but there is less a sense of optimism in the air in all quarters going forward and in this football business very clearly if your are not going forward you are bound to go backwards. The others are not just there to make up the numbers and watch us play pretty tika-taka.

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aceofthebase added 22:58 - Mar 11 Crisis! What crisis! Nick you do make a crisis out of a molehill and paper over the cracks metaphorically speaking that is. Saints have gone downhill in my humble but perfectly formed opinion. You can go back a few years and quote a league position that was inferior but that is not the basis of my judgement. It is the style of football, the commitment and the reason why Saints have been a joy to watch and impress not just our own fans but the opposition too. We have become a dour defensive team that can barely string a few passes together before losing possession. The only time we retain the ball is when passing across the back line or back to the goalie. We now watch our opponents dominate us and that is depressing, we seem to have no answer and I'm afraid neither do I. We have bought players that came to us incapable of playing at the required standard and we have lost the reputation of blooding our own young talent. This season having weak players in our team has cost us many points and a few lucky and often undeserved wins or draws has save us from a relegation battle. I'm afraid to say but the Bournemouth game has proved the true standard that we have slipped to and as a supporter I like you have my opinions. It maybe that I should lower my expectations but Put simply I used to enjoy watching Saints play, can't say that at the moment.

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SanMarco added 23:41 - Mar 11 We haven't had a crisis since before the Liebherr takeover. It is probable that this season we will end up lower in the league, with less points and playing less entertaining football than in the previous two seasons. So in the short-term that doesn't feel like progress and one might feel that a stronger squad would have us playing better rather than worse - the key for me is this coming summer when the club has to be in charge of the comings and goings rather than reacting to them. Then maybe this time next year we really can talk about progress.

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IWOZTHERE added 13:23 - Mar 12 Excellent post SanMarco. I will say that injuries this season have had a really big impact despite the increase in squad numbers, (the only benefit to come out of the 'euronuisance'). League position IS an indicator of progress and I think the only real 'excuse' for accepting backward movement in that respect would be if we'd used this season to 'bring on' 4 or 5 youngsters. That aside, there's too much talk about 'accepting our place' rather than demanding reasonable ambition.

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LennyJam added 13:36 - Mar 13 no one think we are or have been in a crisis. so have no idea what you think that and enough to make an article of it Also, I do not believe we are as good as we have been in the last two seasons.
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