Southampton V Nottingham Forest The Preview
Wednesday, 4th Jan 2023 10:57

Results went Saints way last night and despite all the protestations of doom and gloom of late, the facts are simple, this is a six pointer, we win it and we could potentially be poy of the bottom 3.

Sometimes in a football season there comes along games that really matter, they are not all at the end of the season, sometimes they are in August and it's not realised at the time how much that the result counted, and sometimes like tonight it is quite clear what is at stake, despite the fact that we are still two games shy of the half way point of the season.

Nottingham Forest arrive at St Mary's 2 points ahead of us, we have to make sure they leave 1 point behind us.

I am not interested in those who want to spend their time whinging about the way we are playing or whether Nathan Jones is good enough, when the game kicks off tonight only one thing matters, not how well we played but that we have 3 points in the bag.

The same people who spend their time slagging the club off on social media and making cheap jokes where the same people who spent the summer of 2014 whinging about the loss of Mauricio Pochettino and that we were a selling club, the same people who criticise Katharina Liebherr whilst failing to notice she presided over our best period in the last 4 decades, the same people who hark after the good old days of the Dell.

Well on this night I'm not interested in their views, they might want a defeat for Saints so they can tell the World that they saw this coming back in 2014, but I don't I want a victory in 2023 and I want Saints to be out of the bottom 3.

Tonight needs to see a packed St Mary's roaring on Saints to victory and lets face it there will be 3,000 Forest fans in the Northam End who will be making a lot of noise, we have to drown them out.

It doesn't matter where you are in the ground all that is needed is that you encourage and don't criticise, no one can be happy at the recent form, but if the team are to turn things around then they need the crowd behind them and not on their back.

Forest arrive with the worst away record in the Premier League, they have picked up just two points in the 8 games they have played, scored just 1 goal and conceded 22.

They have this record for a reason, we have to make sure that is still the case after tonight.

They have one thing going for them and that is they have a team that is playing to it's strengths and playing for the shirt, but truthfully that is all they have, we have a team that is de motivated and shell shocked, it needs help from the stands tonight to get it's confidence back.

At Fulham there were several plus points, a sign that the players themselves were putting in the effort, they ran themselves into the ground and should have got at least a point, they perhaps would have with the right substitutions.

Hopefully Nathan Jones has learned something in his first few games in the Premier League, if he has then we can win this game, if he hasn't then we are in trouble.

But we do have the basis of a squad to get out of this predicament, all it lacks is leadership and confidence, yes it needs an extra couple of players, but it is still good enough to win games like tonight.

I won't predict who the manager will pick tonight, but whoever it is we have to be behind from the first whistle to the final.

Last night showed that there is still a lot to play for this season, Everton are dropping, Bournemouth are dropping and we have to make sure that Forest do so tonight.

As those who hanker for those days at the Dell, most of them in the last 15 years of the Stadium were not great ones, for every packed house and great atmosphere there were two games that say apathetic crowds watching a team underperform, the difference back then was that when it mattered we got behind the team and not on it's back.

The Great Escape season of 1998/99 is looked back in fondness, but only for the final 5 games or so, the other 33 were bloody awful in the main, but we dug in at times and got points that made sure that we could come good at the end , that is what we have to do first.

Lets make tonight about the positives and the fans tonight !

Photo: Action Images

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wessexman added 11:55 - Jan 4

Nick, we have been trying to run a Rolls Royce on paraffin for too long. Tonight, yet again, we are handed a lifeline. Of course we all want 3 points and, I for one, don't care how we achieve them. But, tomorrow, hopefully on 15 points, the club really has start to show some ambition, some clear thinking and a strategy away from the bottom 6. You complain about "some" fans and their desire to be proved right and how they crave a miserable defeat tonight to make their case. Everyone is perfectly entitled to their view but to suggest this is as outlandish as it is crass. The owners and the board now have the ball in their court. You can only play with fire for so long....

UgandaSaint added 12:00 - Jan 4 Well said Nick. I will personally be screaming at my TV screen here in Uganda for Saints to get 3 points.
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mushinexile added 12:30 - Jan 4

Nobody want us to lose. The negativity is born of a belief that the owners are too cynical to care about results . The idea that you can collect a dozen homeless dossiers off the street, put them before another team for ninety minutes and magically make tens of millions of pounds is deluded but it is the business model. The actual business is entertainment and it is far too long since the club gave us any, hence the cynicism. A one nil win would be good. Two one even better but there need to be three points tonight

ItchenNorth added 13:06 - Jan 4 Spot on. Support the team, even if we go a goal (or 2) down. Many games are won from losing positions, many points gained when they look dead, but players need our support, not moaning during the game. COYR
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DPeps added 22:16 - Jan 4 We could have Galatasaray's fans and it'd make no difference. No shots on target in a make or break game against another pants side is criminal
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Boris1977 added 23:13 - Jan 4

Home now. No more evening games for me. Blew out beers with a few mates in my home town for this. This reminded me of the 0- 2 v forest back in 2007 ? In the championship when one of their players scored from the halfway line and we went down with a cost cutting young team . No defence, no strong romeu type in midfield and no striker. Clueless from top to bottom. Not bothered about relegation but beyond that who knows? Rubbish.

StRipper added 23:22 - Jan 4

The fans so wanted to support the team tonight, but even when that happens, something messes it up.

The results are nothing to do with the fans, sadly. As much as some of us may feel that there is too much negativity. It's about performances and results to energise the fans. There is never anything for them to get behind.

The club screwed a great manager in Ralph, by not giving him players that he needed, and have clearly made a disastrous choice with Jones. I don't care what sort of statistical match he might be, his 'style' of play is the complete antithesis of how our team has been set up. Since ever.
It's over already, he's done.

I don't blame Lyanco for his mistake. Without a shot on goal, at best we'd only have got nil nil.
The set up is all wrong. The complete absence of actual players in Midfield, by design, so our confused defenders wonder who on earth to release it to . No one knew what they should be doing. Our only decent players being run ragged to try and cover the cracks.
And expecting Stuey to have a hope of making a serious impact on 4 minutes.

I honestly have nothing personal against Jones and hoped he would show promise. But all I'm seeing is another Puel situation now, stripping out the good things that entertained us. Though without any results this time.
It was painful to see the lack of cohesion, no discernable style play, beyond hoping to cross it in to an isolated Che.

The only chance we really have of stayiimg up is if the club takes action now and acknowledges the error by replacing Jones and sacking who appointed him.

And if not, so be it. I'll enjoy going to games in the Champuonship