A few weeks ago all the talk was of top ten finishes and pushing on next season, however after having to look to Wigan to lose games it has emphasised just how hard the Premier actually is.

After the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino in January, all the talk was of the next step and many Saints supporters forgot that we needed to complete this seasons step before we could talk of next. A trio of wins saw us soar up the table, but then our current four game streak without a win saw us start to look nervously over our shoulders, so much so that a Wigan win last night at home to Swansea would have seen them and indeed the final relegation place only one point below us.

The events of the past few weeks have highlighted that we are far from the finished article in the Premier, its a league where every season anyone of perhaps 15 clubs could find themselves battling relegation, after all Newcastle are living proof of that, fifth last year above Chelsea, Everton & Liverpool, yet this year they are now fourth from bottom and would have dropped into the bottom three if Wigan had won last night.

In the January transfer window we took an almighty risk by failing to strengthen the squad and one has to ask the question how much was our transfer strategy affected by the change of manager, clearly it was hard to chase players whilst Nigel Adkins was still in charge and he had no input on the arrival of Forren who was announced literally in the same breath that Adkins sacking was made public.

Now we sit virtually safe, it will take a big swing in other results now to send us down, but perhaps now is the time to find our form again and show that we truly do have the basis of a side to take that next step next season, rather than one that is no better or worse than another dozen clubs, now would be a good time not to wait till next Tuesday and rely on Wigan to drop points at Arsenal to cement our safety, but to finish with a flourish and achieve that under our own steam.

A win at Sunderland is very achievable, the pressure is still on Sunderland to a degree, like us their goal difference is worth a point to them, however a win there will send us right up the table and if we can follow that up with a win in the final home game against Stoke then finishing as high as 11th is achievable.

If we finish with a flourish though, perhaps we should learn our lessons from the past few weeks, this is a tough tough league, just having ambition doesnt mean that its easy to achieve, all we will have done is shown that we have the foundations to survive a second season and that with the right players brought in, perhaps we will be able to take that second step and establish ourselves in the mid table challenging for a top half finish rather than a constant battle against the drop, which to be blunt much of this season has been except for a few weeks in early April.

So lets see a flourish, but lets not get carried away and see it for what it is, a decent end to the season, one that we would have all taken this time last year.           

Photo: Action Images

redblooded added 09:21 - May 8 Agree with much you say, but if there is no effort to move up to the next level, Saints will always be one of the fifteen "liklies" that could get relegated. And if you look at most of the clubs they are trying to do the same thing. It is all down to budget, canny purchases and developing new talent. I have to say that overall our rated players did not move up to the next level themselves, Lallana is a case in point, but also Ramirez. We need the key players, those that can turn a defeat into a draw or win. Our style of play creates goal scoring chances, but we need the quality to put these chances away more often. At the beginning of the season all the worry was about our defence, but overall the problem has been up front, not being able to finish teams off or put away the chances the team created. Can we buy Van Persie?

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St_Beano added 09:22 - May 8 I hope we can get 3pts at Sunderland and then relax and watch the rest scrap it out.
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davidhosey added 10:27 - May 8 Of course it is always good to win and finish as high as possible, but after successive promotions survival was all I was praying for. In a way a top half finish may have given Cortese a false sense of security. If we just survive he will maybe release the funds for the players we need to make next season less worrying and more enjoyable, ie top keeper, quality central defender, powerful goal scoring midfielder, cover for Luke Shaw, quality striker to assist SRL ? (Too much to ask for ?)

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stmichael added 11:14 - May 8 I dont think there is anything wrong with the squad. As I have said before our bench is better than almost all the sides of our stature. You only had to look at the bench last night for Swansea and Wigan. How about this for a 2nd string DAVIS RICHARDSON FOX FONTE FORREN PUNCHEON WARD PROWSE RAMIREZ CHAPLOW RODRIGUEZ GULY Like every team we can strengthen the 1st 11 but the squad has plenty of depth and options and there are good players not even making the bench. I can assure you that SouthamptonFC will not be able top buy better bench warmers than the above!!

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davidhosey added 12:05 - May 8 With respect stmichael, the only players in that list I would like to see here next season are Davis, Puncheon, Ward-Prowse, Ramirez and Rodriguez. The rest would not compete in the championship without a 30 goal man like SRL (not sure about Forren as he has not been tested). They have served the club well but we need more strength in depth or we will be struggling again next season.

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bstokesaint added 12:28 - May 8 I still think we're being too hard on ourselves. Do we really need a top quality keeper? I haven't seen Boruc do much wrong? Another quality striker as well? Rodriguez and Lambert are a poptentially potent combination. And powerful goalscoring midfielder? To be fair Cork, Schnedierlin and Davies have been our engine. We just need a few more goals from them, not to replace them. We need a bit more cover without wholesale changes. We didn't struggle against Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, Spurs or Arsenal recently. We just need to wise up and stop the silly goals at the back. We had a horrific start to the season and without that we'd have faired much better. I think sometimes (with the greatest respect) we need a reality check. We've had a pretty decent season really and have gained many fans along the way. We're still a club very much on the up.

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davidhosey added 13:42 - May 8 Yes I see your point, but we do need some cover for Shaw. When he is out my heart sinks (Fox is not good enough). Cork and Spider are not natural goalscorers. It may be that with the new manager and a good start we will be ok but I feel one or two new signings will make us more competitive
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bstokesaint added 14:18 - May 8 I think Fox may have played his last game for us. I heard rumours we had another youth team left back in the same mould as Shaw. I'm not sure how much truth there is in this.. Cover is definitely required though.
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trotsky added 15:21 - May 8 Echoing Hosey's first point, I'd like to finish with two wins, but I suspect finishing above 15th would lead a summer of listening to the pro-Cortese lobby claiming this justified the decision to replace Adkins and that we'll all be in the Nou Camp next October. Not sure it's worth it.
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Scummer added 15:43 - May 8 @bstokesaint Do you mean Adam Targett? It would be good to blood both him and Forren on the last day if we become mathematically safe on Saturday. (Can Targett play if he is not named in the squad?)
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SaintStu7 added 23:57 - May 8 I very much agree with stmichael, we have a great squad with some players who have not had a sniff all season Mayuka, Guly, Chaplow. We also have players waiting in the wings such as Ward-prowse and Forren. Other than the top 4, who have quality players adorning their benches happy to sit and not play? Who will want to come Saints and sit on the bench. We have let too many good players go in the past being too keen to bring in supposedly better known players, Nathan Dyer, Matthew Mills, Dexter Blackstock, Martin Crainey to name a few. Rodriguez and Ramierz have only just got started! Lets get behind the team we have and with a couple of quality signings and bring through a couple of the youth team we will have a squad to be even more proud of. Well done boys for this season!

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bstokesaint added 12:14 - May 9 Yes Scummer, the name rings a bell. Presumably he can't play this season, but I'm wondering if he'll be able to step it up (like Shaw has done) next season to the first team, or whether we find competition for Shaw from an experienced pro.
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