Now is the winter of our discontent turned glorious summer by this son of Setúbal.
Jose's late clincher put a cherry on the top of a much improved 2nd half performance against Clapton Orient but the old frailties, the inability to keep a clean sheet and the shakiness under pressure were still there for all to see.
But lets be positive. We are scoring goals and creating chances, the team is settled for the first time for ages and we are trying to press and pass.
As at the Valley only a few days ago, Soton are likely to allow us room to play as they try to do the same. The Saints are on an impressive run at home and have scored 3 goals for every one coincided at St Mary's.
The season is still very much alive for the South Coast club with this being one of three games in hand available to them to close the five point gap on 2nd place 'Uddersfield. Unfortunately we have nothing to play for other than pride and, perhaps for some players, the small matter of new contracts or places in the team next season.
Major changes seem unlikely. Big Joe and Frank Leaburn could both be pushing the impressive Benson for the role alongside BWP. The former Saint limped off on Saturday so could be rested giving
@NE39 a rare start.
Michael Stewart did enough in his brief cameo to leave fans wishing for a longer look but if Parrett and Semedo are fit it would be harsh to drop either.
The back four seems unlikely to be changed more due to the lack of any viable alternatives than any thing else.
In goal Robbie finished both halves in obvious pain from what seemed to be a hip injury so Sullivan may get a start.
Saints have midfielder Oscar Gobern available after a three-match ban, while winger Jonathan Forte may make his full debut after scoring twice in the come from behind (ooh err) win v MK Dons at the weekend.
Another promising performance but not enough to prevent the Saints marching on. 3 - 2 defeat.
Comments
Or 3 - 0 to them and back to square one.
Can't see beyond a Soton win I'm afraid.
brighton, soton, huddersfield and erm err us were my shouts for the automatics ...... i may have been a year early on us !
the pressure is all on soton and may give us a sniff
2-2 or 2-3 victory i see it
Nor can I, but we did last week :-)
Duly edited.
We'll be expected to lose and them to win so we really don't have much pressure going into the game, hopefully we can play more like Orient 2nd half, if we do we are good enough to beat anyone in this league.
We played some nice football on Saturday, but they still hit the bar twice and had a goal ruled out for nothing. I want to see us scrapping for results in preparation for next season not just trying to play pretty triangles.
Think Southampton will be too strong for us tonight 2-0.
Assuming the same squad as last Saturday is fit, I would play the same starting 11, but maybe stick NE on the right in place of Waggy and I would like to see Stewart given the nod to start, perhaps by giving Jose a well earned rest?
If Robie is still stuggling with his hip then lets start Sullivan becase against the Saints attack we need a fully fit kepper not one that may only be 75% fit.
So predicition is a battling draw with some scarey moments in the addicks area as the game heads towards the closing minutes.