To read the full article on the Saints official website click here.

It’s a big relief to have Kelvin back in our lineup since he has signed to a new three year deal with the club. I also have a lot of respect for Davis to come back and help the Saints get back to the Championship when he could have had a chance at playing Premier League Football.

To read the story on the Saints official website click here.

This is awesome. No more dreading, no more worrying. I can’t wait for the new season to begin. Onwards and upwards Saints!

This isn’t too much of a let down as Davis was a much older player with who knows how many seasons left and, personally, I think Bialkowski or Poke could hold their own for us in League 1. But, it still hurts to lose another member of our starting eleven.

Plus, I’m sure Davis wasn’t keen on leaving the Saints. I was angry and felt like he was being disloyal at first but with the uncertainty of the future of the club, I don’t blame him for finding work elsewhere. I’m sure I would have done the same in his shoes. I do doubt he will ever see first team action at West Ham though.

And we have a lot to talk about.

I’ve always tried to have a positive outlook on both life and football. Even when the Saints were relegated from the Premiership years ago, I kept assuring myself in my mind we would be back in the top flight in a season or two.

But things have certainly gone downhill for the Saints, relegation to League 1 and a nasty 10 point penalty that I have no optimistic view of. Not to mention the mess of the club’s ownership problems.

The club has recently also seen the loss of key players in Surman, McGoldrick and Svennson. Thankfully, Stern John is returning to the club along with coach Mark Wotte. Thank God, at least having a stable manager through this will help. However, the Saints still have a lot of work to do to turn this around.

As the saying goes, it’s always darkest before the dawn and I can only hope this is a new beginning for the Saints.

There are 2 things currently lacking that could suddenly see Saints become a force in the division, rather than relegation candidates. Firstly some defensive stability and nous – frankly this seems less likely with each game so let’s forget that for now. What Saints could improve is their gameplan when dominating possession, which on the evidence of the season so far, will be most of the time.

Currently Saints seem a little to eager to make the killer pass – against Blackpool Schneiderlin was doing a painfully accurate impression of Steven Gerrard on a bad day with hollywood passes finding the crowd every other minute. Hopefully the manager will impress upon the team that by working the ball around with a decent level of movement and control they will eventually create better openings.

It’s 6 games in 16 days coming up and we need to take at least 9 points from the 5 league matches if we’re to move away from the relegation zone. All of the games, home and away, are tricky but winnable – if we show the form we showed against Derby rather than Blackpool.

Despite Derby’s struggles an away victory in the league is always a very good result so credit to the players and staff for the result and performance. Whether Saints can maintain their form on the ball and alloy it to better defending (especially from set pieces) will determine whether we can achieve anything better than a relegation battle this season.

Saints passed the ball well for the most part with far more movement off the ball and more chances created then we’ve seen for the last few seasons. However, as at Cardiff, you always felt the taller, more powerful and more experienced opposition would eventually win out. As the game wore on, Birmingham realised that they didn’t need to chase Saints in midfield they could just pack their defence and attack confident that our defence would crumble before theirs.

Losing to two of the better sides in the league is no cause for alarm in itself, especially as we could easily have got results in both games. However, most teams in the Championship plays the way Brum did in the second half yesterday and we are too lightweight both in attack and defence to deal with it. The sale of Andrew Davies to Stoke, as looks likely from Poortvliet’s comments today, will mean the loss of the one player in our squad who could have improved yesterday’s showing markedly.

Ratings
Kelvin Davis: 6 – Made some fine saves when left exposed but still doesn’t command his area the way a top keeper would.
Lloyd James: 7 – Needs to improve his defensive positioning and resist the temptation to hit it long but some of Saints best moments came from his roaming down the right to link up with McGoldrick.
Chris Perry: 6 – Not the centre-back expected to threaten from set pieces so goal was a bonus but overall the defence was shaky, in part due to Perry’s weakness in the air.
Michael Svensson: 6 – Was dominant first-half but still needs more games. Possibly overcompensating for Perry’s lack of height in trying to win everything and is then being caught out of position.
Andrew Surman: 5 – I’ve always felt Surman is a better centre-midfielder then left-winger and he’s even more out of position at left-back. Improved slightly as game wore on but too easily beaten in the air and on the deck.
Simon Gillet: 6 – Gave the ball away a few times but showed huge work-rate across the entire park. Perhaps he would be a better full-back option with Surman moving into midfield?
Morgan Schneiderlin: 6 – Looked very classy on the ball first-half but couldn’t get involved second half when Saints needed someone of his quality to move further forward and create chances.
Adam Lallana: 5 – Started well enough but didn’t create enough in the attacking midfield role.
David McGoldrick: 6 – Always gave Saints an out ball and showed some excellent touches but never looked likely to continue his scoring streak.
Lee Holmes: 5 – Similiar to Lallana, made stuff happen when given the chance first-half but simply couldn’t provide the centre-foward with enough support.
Stern John: 5 – Looked very rusty and really stuggled to hold the ball up which is where he excelled last season. Also missed a very good chance just before Birmingham’s equaliser which would probably have reversed the result.
Manager: 5 – Obviously hamstrung by the experienced players who’ve left and the side initially looked good but failed to react to a far better showing from Brum in the second half. Failed to give adequate reasoning behind the lack of bench options – even if you’re doubtful over one of your defenders you need some attacking options like Wright-Phillips or Dyer.
Birmingham: 7 – Look like a good championship side, big and strong at the back with a stupendous number of options up front. No guile or creativity but that won’t matter until/unless they get promoted.
Ref: 7 – Didn’t have any major decisions to make, didn’t break up the play too much and generally did ok. The rotund linesmen infront of the Itchen was a bit flag-happy to both sides though.
Man of the Match: Cameron Jerome – The enforced change were he came on for Nafti really benefited Birmingham as he provided a powerful and pacy threat down the flanks and middle. Benefited from Surman and James trying to get forward and being caught out at the back but looks like he could cause havoc amongst Championship defences this season.