Stu

Does "prior to the signings" include getting Cabaye, Staylor and Tiote back?

Who was it who named it 'fantastic February'? I owe that man a beer.

Bale pops up to net the trixie - had even gone in again on Spurs in-play after the Carroll penalty. Glad I wasn't watching

Got a few comments for suggesting that only Spurs (a), Citeh (a) and Liverpool (h) were our biggest challenges remaining in the league. Fully expect Swansea to be on a cup hangover next weekend - they're gonna do the cup parade and there's no danger of them being relegated so a great opportunity to pick up the win. Stoke and Wigan after that - potentially a fully fit HBA back in the side but the Europa games in-between. Still see two winnable games now that we have some sort of squad. Thats's 7-9 points and all of a sudden, 1 defeat in 8 (if we're using the team form as Pardew's measuring stick).

Had this and Cardiff (@6/4 IIRC) instead of Chelsea in another trixie. Paid quite well.

Gone for Gala, Plzen and Spurs for tonight.

true, but you've completely missed out STaylor returning (co-incidentally with Williamson getting dropped) and that Cisse is now back to a central position with someone else on the wing (replacement: Gouffran, but I'd imagine it'd be Marveaux/Obertan if not). That's two of our first XI PLUS the return of Tiote into the team (with a semblance of form). January also allowed for the Colo situation (which can't have been helping matters off the pitch) to be resolved for the season and let him concentrate on getting back to his full form. As Yorkie said above, maybe it should be split into "think we could be in trouble" and "never been worried about relegation" - the latter isn't the sign of a delusional or arrogant fan but one who sees things in a more optimistic light than the others. EDIT: so my point is that I never thought you could judge our survival chances by how we'd performed without STaylor, Cabaye, Tiote and leaving Cisse on the wing to accommodate Ba. (leaving HBA out of it as he's been missing most of the season). Just my two cents, mind. Not expecting it to be gospel

Cabaye - I'm a massive fan of his, think he's been the best thing under the Ashley regime to happen for the club (left Champs League footy to sign onto the NUFC project - speaks volumes for me). Given that he'd been struggling with the groin injury from French duty (iirc) - they finally had to operate on him. For all your talk of him not being in form pre-injury, I think the team's performances after his absence says it all - even when he's not playing all that well (by his own standards) he's our most influential player. I'll accept that having his best mate in the team has boosted his morale a bit. Pardew - yup, you don't like him. Not sure what relevance his WHU situation has for us. It's 10 years on, different team, different circumstances (nae shopping at Iceland). More recently, he's also presided over our best defensive start to a season. I agree that he was starting to get a bit desperate but only because he'd realised that his 'squad' players were such a big drop off from the first XI - half of which sat out injured during that run (which was all competitions, remember). I think he, along with the fans, underestimated HBA's injury and that last season's good run/confidence allowed a number of 'squad' players to overperform. You can't underestimate mental strength when it comes to the pinnacle of professional sports - the athletes are all within a few % of each other physically, it's the ones who can deal with adversity who get the rewards.

But what was in front of our eyes was that way back in the first two months of the season, we went through a stage of only losing to the current English champions and current Europeans champions. I think it was only until we had that shocker of a game against West Ham (after Europe?) when we finally lost to another team. Alright, so we hadn't been firing on the same cylinders as the end of the previous season, but there were some things happening off the pitch and we weren't doing a great deal coping with Europa (turning home wins into draws). Even so, we were still midtable and a couple of wins off the likes of Everton (who, by all accounts, had enjoyed a brilliant start to the season). To take the 11 in 13 stat on it's own and apply it to the rest of the season does the players and management no justice; it just adds weight to the naysayers who want to ignore the realities of our season and carry on their tubthumping. We've seen how influential Cabaye has been now that he's back from injury, both creating and covering - he was still going to come back without the new signings. We've seen Cisse somewhat rejuvenated since getting his central position back and not being forced out wide due to Ba - this was still going to happen without the new signings. We've seen a splash of Tiote's old form - I'm not sure how much this is affected by Sissoko or if he's just got his head down after Anita and Cabaye (after injury) have been pushing him for a place. I'd like to think he couldn't continue in his pre-Xmas slump for the last half of the season. We've seen how much more robust the team is with Williamson given a much needed break - the lad was mentally shot in November and Pards hasn't had the luxury of giving him a breather. It's not that he's utterly shite (or whatever the hyperbole-spouters will preach), he's just shouldn't be starting regularly in a Premiership team (especially if they're struggling for form). Staylor had to come back from injury at some point - even if it's only for a month before he next breaks down - that gives Williamson a chance to rest up and get his head sorted. He's had no confidence. Why was the 11 in 13 seemingly irreversible? Can you point to another reason why we went on that run? Perhaps you think the manager is fundamentally poor at team selection, preparation and motivation at this level (evidence suggests otherwise, mind). Perhaps you feel (or felt) that we genuinely don't have a very good squad (not including the later January arrivals) and that the injured players wouldn't come back in time to have an impact on the league (Cabaye, Staylor, Cabaye, etc)? If you've been scarred by the Robson/Souness/Roeder years on unprecedented injury lists, I wouldn't blame you, but we've seemingly attracted more resilient players in recent years who don't cry off with a sore calf, tennis elbow, playstation thumb, etc. I always felt that the November horror show was the nadir of our season; the performances were beginning to improve (even if the results weren't) and I took a great amount of encouragement from our 11 goals conceded at OT and The Emirates - a team that were playing out the string wouldn't have shown as much initiative as we did for 120 minutes of those games.

Guess it depends on how you see things - even after that shocking run of form (in all competitions, mind) - were we ever in the bottom 3? Do you need to be close, just outside or in the bottom three positions to be relegated?

if you thought that in december you're insane 1 for me too now mind you, that was an important win to get yesterday and should get the players (and hopefully pardew) over the mental hurdle Not really, I felt a lot of the 'relegation fear' was being talked about on here because people were dreaming up even more outlandish ways to be negative. Yes, we'd had a very poor run, but the reasons for that were fairly clear to see: key players missing, poor decision making on/off pitch during matches (often by over-played 'squad' players) and the novelty of Europa affecting pre-match preparation for the coaching staff. We also had the Ba shenanigans hanging over our head, which was affecting Cisse's form as he was shunted out wide (don't know why we didn't just play one or the other - Pards trying too hard to keep senior players happy IMO). I was expecting two or three new arrivals in January (with one, maybe two departures - including Ba). More importantly, the return of Cabaye (from injury) and Tiote (from ACON/lack of form) was going to help us out. Obviously, I'm an insane contrary bassa; but then again, I do get a lot of enjoyment out of our matches (win, lose or draw) so it's swings and roundabouts.

Was 1, still 1.

good summary, thought Debuchy had his best game for us (at least going forward). I thought Shaw was supposed to be their left back with Rodriguez on the left of the front three Southampton played well for periods of the match, but didn't have the quality to keep it going for sustained periods. They should stay up comfortably, as they're far better than QPR, s*nderland, Villa, Wigan from what I've seen this season.

That lad who sits behind Pards, giving him abuse at the start of each half irrespective of the team. Doing with his head, innit. Piss off you twat. you're a joke of a supporter. People genuinely think you're the SRS of N-O, then they realise people have actually met you

That lad who sits behind Pards, giving him abuse at the start of each half irrespective of the team. Doing with his head, innit.

You (and others) were slagging Pardew and his dog before we'd even got going - sometimes, the opposition do score from their first attack, especially when individual mistakes allow them a free shot in the box. There's no way the manager told them to go out and drop off Southampton (nor fuck up). The first few pages on this are depressing reading. It's the same, tired old cliches rather than people responding to what is actually happening on the pitch.

I especially like this. You're like the fat Southampton fan who told me Cisse is "a fucking waste of money" right before Jay Rodriguez swung wildly for a volley. £9million well spent, aye?

Beautifully done by the club, very classy. Can see some mongolites grumbling though.

Haters gonna hate

NUFC Chelsea DNB Swansea -1

Samadan is a beast. Get him on your team

Cry with laughter?

Why is Southampton now colossal? [insert generic img] Haddawayandshite, man.

*with