Saints travel to Crystal Palace to take on a side with a worse record than them , hang on a minute there are 7 sides with worse records than us ! Why are some people so pessimistic !
Saints go up to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace with half of their fanbase about to go into meltdown if you read social media, but the fact remains that there is still a lot more to be optimistic about than pessimistic.
Saints have kept last seasons squad virtually intact with the only significant departure being Jay Rodriguez who as much as i liked him has due to his injury problems not made much of a contribution over the last three seasons.
We have added to the squad with Wesley Hoedt and Mario Lemina and given that we did not have three key players in Austin, Van Dijk and Gabbiadini each for over half a season, the fact is that we now have a squad that is better than last seasons.
So why are people talking about this side as relegation candidates ?
Possibly because this time last year the same people were saying the same things, that we were going to be relegated etc etc, we ended up 8th making it a top 10 finish four times in a row and took part in a major cup final for only the 6th time in our history, but for the pessimists this was not good enough, the season was a disaster, the squad was rubbish and the manager didn't have a clue and oh the masses were not being entertained.
Personally I saw this as a good season, from a pure statistical point of view it could be said that it was our 4th best ever in 132 years, now that is telling you something, although some people still think that it is a disaster if we don't finish in the Champions League qualification positions and win a trophy as well.
There can be no doubt that we are in a little bit of turmoil at the moment due to a variety of issues, but this turmoil needs to be put into perspective, when we moved into St Mary's 16 years ago turmoil for this club was spending most of the season in the bottom three and then pulling clear in the last weeks of the season, in 2005 it got worse and stayed bad for several years.
Since then we have been continually moving forward up to last season, but there had to come a time when we reached a plateau and last season was it, from now on we are taking on clubs ahead of us that have far better resources, we have to rely on at least one of them having an off season and we have to punch above our weight.
Last season was not a crisis, it was a miracle given the circumstances and issues that we had and in many respects continue to have, the fact that the club came through it all and finished 8th with a cup final was not turmoil in any shape or form, but some Saints fans seem determined to make a crisis out of a drama.
So it is about time we have a bit of positivity, why are so many predicting doom and gloom against Crystal Palace ? We go there to take on a Palace squad that last season struggled and this season is doing the same with almost exactly the same squad.
There is no cause for alarm, we should be going there with confidence, there is absolutely no reason why we should not, every single factor points to making us favourites to win there.
I have always said that life is about perception, its not always about what is real, but what people see it as and this is the case now, we have been spoiled over the past 7 years, so much so that we now see losing a cup final as failure, hopefully in a few years time we will do, but given our one trophy in 132 years for the moment it is a step forward to reach a final.
So Saints fans need to step back, take a look at what the club is trying to do, accept that some times you have to take a step back to take two forward and appreciate what the club is trying to achieve and back them.
Football teams feel the vibe from the stands when they play, the magic of football is those games when the crowd virtually sucks the ball into the net, remember Dellhurst Park for instance in 1999, the attitude of the crowd helps the team and at the moment the crowd is not helping Saints.
This is a time for everyone to get behind the team and create the atmosphere to help us move forward, I want Mauricio Pellegrino to be the greatest manager in Saints history, I don't get that feeling from far too many of my fellow Saints fans who always seem to have something negative to say about the team.
As I say, I have seen the bad times and last season was not in anyway shape or form one of them, I would be happy being bored sh*tless at every home game if we reached a Wembley cup final every year.
The late great Bill Shankly once said.
"If you can't support us when we lose or draw, don't support us when we win"
He had a point.