Saints stand at the crossroads after two straight wins has put them perhaps only one win away from safety.

The crossroads in question however seem to have two good destinations whatever way Saints end up taking, now in a strong position to avoid relegation, even a mediocre end to the season should see them garner enough points to stay up and that would be the main aim of this season accomplished.

However with several Saints players talking in the press about how Mauricio Pochettino has instilled a new confidence in the side, perhaps Saints may be taking the high road in the final seven games, with only Spurs to play out of the top seven clubs, the opportunity is certainly there for Saints to put a few clubs to the sword and in the meantime wrack up a few points and surge up the table a little.

I still think we will have left it a little late to hit the top ten, however if Fulham were to fail to win against QPR tonight that road might just open up, a situation that was highly unlikely just a couple of weeks ago, which just goes to show how quickly things can change in the bottom half of the Premier, where currently only six points seperate the final relegation place and 10th.

So if Saints can maintain their positive form then there is every chance that a decent final placing can be obtained, as i say if Fulham win tonight I think they might just have put too much inbetween them and us for us to catch up with such a short number of games left, however we will have to wait and see on that one.

However in all this positivity, a word of caution, we have seen how quickly are position can improve with two straight wins, we have to make sure we dont get to complacent, we are still only four points off the drop zone, two straight defeats could plunge us right back into the mire, we shouldnt count our chickens till they are hatched, lets get the points under our belts and when we know that we arent going to be relegated, lets then re focus our targets for the run in to the end of the season.

Photo: Action Images

LostBoys added 11:10 - Apr 1 I thought 37 or 38 points would see us safe but now it may need to be 41 or 42 now
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SaintNick added 11:33 - Apr 1 I still thing 38 will be enough although we want to be a few clear of that
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thedelldays added 11:45 - Apr 1 38 points will see us safe with our goal difference they all have to play each other...those teams below us that is and be honest, they are all not that good
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saintmark1976 added 12:04 - Apr 1 As I posted earlier in the week, did not West Ham go down with Forty odd points or so a few seasons back? Things look much better now but the job is not done yet and I agree with Nick that we should not become complacent. Whilst "thedelldays" makes point. Against this, whilst the teams below us may have to play each other, logically somebody has to get the points surely?

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Bulgarian added 12:30 - Apr 1 The title of this article says it all in many ways: I think the difference between a "mediocre" mid-table side and a club with euro aspirations lies in mental strenght. Now it's all about the willingness to carry on, the exrta effort needed when it looks you don't have too much to play for. It's one thing to say "we're trying to win every game before us" and another to instill the drive for success week in week out. I think this was the main reason we couln'd get a result against QPR: we were just refusing to believe they will come at us. So with a lot of the pressure now off, MoPo can start and build his psychological foundations for next season: motivating the group to prepare themselves for real battles every single week. IMO the first big success here for MoPo was to show he doesn't fear the big teams. We seem to have cured from paying too much respect to the top 6 names. If Poch is the man for the job, he needs to do more than that: and the remaining games should tell us how he fares with motivational issues.

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slynch added 12:31 - Apr 1 St Nick you are living in the past, along with a lot of other supporters. Staying up was not the main aim of the season. Winning the league was. Even Adkins said so in a pre season interview. I put £10 on it at 2,500 to 1; that guy owes me big-time. With the advice of NC the Liebherrs have put millions into the club to get into Europe at the very minimum; and to design a new way of running a football club that self-feeds itself with players so speculative £50 million transfers (ie Torres, Carrol etc) or make-or-break finance ie Portsmouth are are not necessary. Without that Saints and their 33k supporters, have no hope of achieving anything other than mid table. You say that this position was unlikely a couple of weeks ago but it wasn't, it was inevitable, which is why it happened. The days of mid-table mediocrity and the plucky underdog have gone replaced by ambition and proper business decisions. I suspect many supporters are happier with the way things were and tramping home after a 3-1 loss enjoying defeat with a stiff upper lip and well worn jokes. Well NC sacked NA and everyone hates Saints, and because of that everyone is also starting to fear them. Watch when Tottenham host Saints, it'll be them setting out a team to defend deep, relying on one-up-front and scoring on the break. And StNick get as complacent as you like, what you, or anyone else feels, makes no difference what-so-ever. `So we all might as well feel hope and joy; sit back with a beer and watch someone else go through the pain of training and tough business meetings so you can watch the "best" talent in football - selected merely on their Heat Magazine appearances - get trashed in front of the new force in football, that is Southampton.

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A1079 added 13:16 - Apr 1 I suppose my sense of caution will not go down well, but unless I am reading the table incorrectly, if we were to lose our next game and some of those below us were to win, then would we not be just one point out of the relegation zone. Whilst we have made a good step forward at the weekend, I prefer to feel that until we are mathematically safe then I take nothing for granted. I sense we have been here before. Had a good win and people suddenly believing we can win the league. They tend to be the same fans that think if we lose a game we are facing armageddon. We aren't good enough yet to challenge for a euro place (not sure I want to yet anyway), and we are better than alot of the teams around us, but talk is cheap and we are where we are because of frailties in our team, which still showed on Saturday, have been our undoing in the past and may yet still show again.

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davepid added 15:17 - Apr 1 For the longer term I agree with Slynch .We are going to be following a team . Its a bit naive to want us to have a rich owner with ambition and then complaining when he exercises his power in pursuit of that ambition. He wants us to be a top premiership club .So do I but our history tells us that wont happen if we want to keep the other things we love about our club - its underdog small club reputation, wanting loyal long serving players, a sprinkling of local players ,bringing on youngsters and then selling them on for them to excel at bigger clubs and at international level. Personally I wold forgo the success on the pitch at all cost as long as we retain our character. It will mean seasons of surviving interspersed with the very occasional highlight of a cup final or a top league finish.But that is Southampton and I love them for it. AS for the short term ,we are ina dog fight and we could still be relgated if Sunderland, Villa and Wigan make a late surge and we dont.

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SonicBoom added 17:02 - Apr 1 Huh? You would forego success to retain character? The entire point of sport is to compete. I for one don't want to remain a plucky little club that narrowly avoids relegation every year. That got very old. Besides I think you are too late. We lost our 'character' when we moved from the Dell. Let's look upwards. There is no reason why we can't be a solid top ten team, compete well for domestic cups, and win some games in Europe over the next few years. I for one have enjoyed beating the top sides and I would love us to do it regularly. Why not?

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moran89thmin added 21:02 - Apr 1 Wow - five clichés in one sentence! Good work Nick!
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bstokesaint added 12:33 - Apr 2 On this rare occasion I agree with Slynch. I had to take a few weeks off the forum pages as I was in danger of getting signed-off with depression. I can't understand why there is so much negativity amongst such a large amount of Southampton fans. I admit 10 points against Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea have got to me too.. From the first game when we narrowly got beaten by Man City I was impressed with this team. Yes, they've been a little naive at times, but our lads are generally young and inexperienced. There’s no doubt there is talent there though. Anyone who has watched us play the last few seasons would know that. The only gulf between the top clubs in English football and the lower ones is that the top players will hurt you more if you let them. Sure an exceptional talent might create something out of nothing, but most showboaters and prima donnas can be made to look ordinary by honest hard work. This team should be looking at a top half of the table finish. It takes a lot for the likes of Gary Linker, Gary Neville and Charlie Nicholas, amongst other pundits, to purr about our playing style. There’s no reason to fear the teams below us. We didn’t play with fear when we were in the relegation zone so why should we now? Sure Newcastle, Stoke, Villa, Sunderland, Norwich, QPR, Wigan and Reading might all go on a late surge (that would be most interesting as that would indicate an unprecedented and shocking collapse at the top of the table), but we should only be looking upwards. I’m inclined to believe there are actually a large amount of fans that actually enjoy a relegation dogfight and are unused to dealing with success. I know a number of season ticket holders who are agreed this is the best Southampton team they can remember.

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Whatsforpud added 23:39 - Apr 2 When we came up we were probably one of the favourites to go back down - we certainly were by the end of September. When we were in that position, the idea of finishing only 17th was probably more appealing for us than for, say, Arsenal or Chelsea finishing 'only' 4th from top. For all our recent form, we are maybe two defeats from the dreaded zone.For now, lets just concentrate on being here for next year, then we can set our ambitions a little higher next time.

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