AWAY TO NEWCASTLE......

Can Saints get a win and open more of a gap above the danger area??

Tough game to call as newcastle have improved but will have their european away game before hand though dont think their new signings are eligible for that one.

We should have a full squad but then never seem to do well after a period off. Would be happy with a point and think we can get a 1 - 1.

It is good to think that this weekend we could go above West Ham for the first time this season, as currently we stand 3 points behind them on the same goal difference.

Not too bad a Saturday.....defeats for QPR, Reading, Villa and Sunderland. Not sure whether to be glad or sorry that Wigan won at Reading. Shame that Norwich and Fulham had wins.

A win at Newcastle tomorrow and Saints will leapfrog West Ham and Sunderland to go 13th.

Trouble is that at the moment I am having bad vibes about this one, hope to feel better about it after a night's sleep.

Hopefully it's a good omen that when Saints beat Newcastle at St Marys it gave us 6 points from 2 games (the only time so far this season)......and if we win at Newcastle it will be 6 points from 2 games again.

Mike

I get both good and bad vibes about this game and just dont know how to call

Will the 2 weeks rest help us come out fresh so we can play the high pressiing game or will we be sluggish as we havent done well before after a break

Will newcastle suffer due to their trip midweek or will they be buoyed by their win.

Will Pardew determination to get one over Cortese give them the motivation? Didnt seem to work back in November at St Marys.

What team does he pick with Lallana , Ramerez and Forren all pushing for a start or does he stick with the starting line up that did so well against City/

Looks like Krull might not play so if the reserve will he be nervous and gift us a goal ala Hart or will he play a blinder?

Will all the new players for Newcastle still be on a high trying to impress the new boss?

Thats why I have absolutley no idea how this game will go and will settle for a point but desperatley want 3 when we play twitchy on saturday.

Have to try and catch likes of West Ham, Norwich and Sunderalnd as puts some daylight between us and bottom 4 and brings more teams into the battle

Disappointing result and proved that our squad players are not good enough, Fox and Hoovield try hard but for me are not up to this level on a regular basis. Dont know why Forren wasnt even in the squad, cannot believe he is not better than Hoovield unless he had picked up an injury, amazing only player we signed in transfer window and month on still not featured on the pitch. Need 3 points saturday or will be in real trouble, now lets see what the new guy is like, bombing forward is fine but it needs to be built on a solid defence which need cover from the midfield players.

That was a bit rubbish, wasn't it?
No way were Newcastle 4-2 better than Saints. The ref was useless, giving us next to no decisions at all while Newcastle got everything given their way. It's easy to appear a one-eyed football fan but when Adam Blackmore, the BBC radio commentator was saying the same thing, you know the ref is not having a good game.

Fox is shite, utter shite and completely at fault for two of the four Newcastle goals. Hooiveld had no chance with the OG, it was hit into his chest by Fox.

Oh and Ramirez...£12 million quid? Really? Apart from flashes of good stuff, is he actually the biggest waste of £12 million ever? And why was Puncheon not played? Pochettino got it wrong today.

Seems to me that other teams will now know how Tino wants the team to play and will be finding ways to stop us so it's going to get harder. Feeling a bit worried now but 6 points from the QPR and Norwich games would make me happy again.......

Well Mike think it might be 4 points from Norwich and QPR but would still be happy with that.

have to say Fox is beginning to be a liability but especially when Lallana is played in front of him as afraid Adam provides little cover and when you struggle, as Fox does, that is a recipe for disaster. Expect him to kick a couple up the backside and may mean Lallana has to get used to the fact he is not a regular starter unless he turns in top class performance, which he is more than capable of.

I know you cannot blame Hoovield but I do think he unsettles the rest of the back line and will be interesting to see if Fonte plays saturday having been on the bench but also thought Forren could play full back so have him on the bench to cover Shaw.

Think we should be less expansive away from home and would have kept Rodrigues on the bench when away, play Puncheon on right, Davis left and play Lallana in the hole. That should make us more solid, which if we have 2 attacking full backs in Cline and Shaw then would still have a threat. Ramerez? certainly looking a poor buy at the moment and what a difference to the season we could have made if we had invested that £12m in our defence to start the season.

Should also look at the Newcastle scouting system and see how they manage to keep identifying decent players overseas at much less than we have paid

I don't see Ramirez as an immediate impact player from the bench, I think he should start (if considered up to it) and be substituted if he is not influencing the game.

As for Forren, he could prove to be Saints record signing that never played for the team??