Last season Saints got into the Europa League courtesy of Arsenal winning the FA Cup, this season they may have to rely more on their own endeavours.

Of course Saints supporters would prefer their club to finish in the top five and therefore qualify for Europe under their own steam rather than like last season rely on Europa League places being put back into the Premier League positions after teams in the top four have won the two domestic cups.

They might prefer it, but it is still better to have all bases covered and therefore once Saints are out of the FA or Capital One cups, then sadly we have to root for the big boys.

Therefore in next weekend's Capital One Cup Final it is far better that Manchester City win it than Liverpool, at least as the League stands at present.

But after yesterday's pathetic showing by Manchester City at Chelsea where Pellegrini put out a side packed with kids and paid the price, added to by Tottenham Hotspur's cup exit to Crystal Palace and Arsenal's draw at home to Hull, not one top four side is definitely in the quarter final's of the FA Cup yet.

That is not good news for Saints although one good bit of good news is that should they both get through Arsenal & United both have home draws albeit against Premier League club's.

The other bit of good news is that seemingly Manchester City have given up on all competitions bar the Champions League and hopefully the Capital One Cup, Manuel Pellegrini made it quite clear with is team selection that yesterday's game at Chelsea was far down on his list of priorities, he is focused on winning a trophy in his last season and that trophy is not the FA Cup or Premier League, he will take the Capital One Cup as a small consolation, but his aim if the Champions League and go out in a blaze of glory.

This could help Saints who although are still 7 points behind City, could well still catch them, indeed our last 6 games saw us gain 8 more points than Pellegrini's side did in their half dozen, so given we still have to play them at St Mary's and this is not the City of old we could well overhaul them.

Perhaps yesterday showed that the FA Cup needs to be looked at, but not by watering it down and cutting out replays etc, but by upgrading it and making it truly a competition that is worth winning, put a Champions League place up for grabs for the winner, that will not only put the prestige back in the Competition, but strengthen the Premier League in that a lesser club winning the FA Cup would spread the Champions League prize money more evenly and allow the likes of Saints, West Ham, Everton etc to start to truly compete with the big clubs again.

Yes there are those who will say that Leicester are showing the way, but the stars all aligned for the Foxes in a way we won't see again for a very long time, I would not bet on this being a regular occurrence for them or any other club of similar stature, the rich clubs continue to get richer and unless this is addressed then the Premier League will continue to get less of a competition and more of just half a dozen clubs who only need the rest to make up the fixture list.

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 09:12 - Feb 22 Agree with much of that other than awarding a CL spot to the FA Cup winners.
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Sanguin added 09:23 - Feb 22 They considered giving champions league spots to cup winners a few years ago, but the league is a better indicator of quality since just one poor game can see a team knocked out of the cup competitions. I don’t think it would do our chances of keeping our fourth champions league spot any favours if weaker teams entered the competition. If anything, they should abolish the League Cup.

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schatfield added 09:30 - Feb 22 i think chelsea are, by far, faves for the fa cup now. so if they remain below us in the league till end of season we have to really end at least 6th place. A toughie as I presume Liverpool will put a run together at some point soon.
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Scummer added 09:35 - Feb 22 I'd be happy to get rid of the League Cup. Get rid of the Europa League, and replace it with the Cup Winners Cup again. Straight knockout competition. Personally I would like to see the Champions League revert to the older shorter format as well. That would make the number of games more practical for those competing across the board. And then the Premier League could revert to 22 teams.

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legod7 added 10:17 - Feb 22 Get rid of FA Cup & League Cup replays. No extra time. Straight to penalties after 90 minutes if the game is a draw.
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SaintBrock added 10:31 - Feb 22 Agree! Europe for me this season has always been unlikely as too many others around our level and close behind in this poor league season, one slip and we're on the back foot playing catch-up.
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Jesus_02 added 12:38 - Feb 22 Cant see the issue.. Saint are going to finish 5th, Maybe even 4th if Austin gets off to a flyer
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BoondockSaint added 21:51 - Feb 22 Agree with all about reformatting the whole cup(s) system, unfortunately, the more games, the more money for the owners and FIFA officials.
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halftimeorange added 13:16 - Feb 23 If football is not to implode then the only possible answer in this money-greedy sport is to take the top four teams from England, Germany,and Spain, add two from each of Holland, France and Belgium and one from any other six European nations and make a super league where they can play on their own, have their own rules, their own dedicated TV channels and media circus. Whoever finishes bottom each season can go back to their domestic league and be replaced by that leagues' winners. The rest of us can get on with truly competitive competitions and kick-off times can universally revert to 3 p.m. on Saturday. I might not have thought it through thoroughly but the seeds of revolution have been showing signs of sprouting with the "Twenty is Plenty" campaigns and people leaving grounds early, more viewers watching free to air live streams and a growing awareness amongst supporters that clubs like ours are only ever going to be seen as a nursery for the big boys. Now they're talking of wild cards for the likes of Man U and Chelsea if they don't make the Champion's league. How long before flukes such as Leicester are told they aren't welcome in Europe's top competition as nobody outside of England has heard of them?

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