Lots of doom and gloom again on here, most of it well founded and understandable.

BUT

The next two weeks give this side the opportunity to turn the fans opinions around.

Can't do it in a tough game? Cas and Wigan to come, prove us wrong.

Can't back up a good performance? Get one over on Cas then prove us wrong against Wigan.

Out enthused in Derby games? Prove us wrong.

Losing Lomax is a blow, but I think people underestimate how many points Wellens can be worth at full back through his timing in defence and indeed supporting in attack.

Last week's returnees should be better for the game (albeit Alex now out for the Cas game).

The players and club can really turn around some opinions over the next two weeks, or roll over and prove that all the misgivings are accurate. What will they do?

Wellens
Makinson
Turner
Percival
Swift (if not Dawson unfortunately)
Wheeler
Walsh
Masoe
Roby
Thompson
Sia
Jones
Manu

Lance (we need to spell Roby to get some of his much needed impact back up the middle)
LMS
Greenwood
Savelio

Against my better judgement, I still believe we could take 4 points from 4.

Come on saints, restore everyone's faith!

I hope the chairman has given Brown the clear message to win the next two games or his time is up.

Cas at home is hardly a big game. Look at how they approached the Wigan away game in the league. They are not a side that can play well every game, they will target certain games. So I wouldn't be seeing a victory over Cas at home as anything to celebrate personally.

I see this game very similar to the Leeds and Huddersfield at home ones. A positive attitude is all that is required associated with good defensive line speed.
Our ball retention has been really poor in completing our sets so hopefully there is a marked improvement on Sunday.
I,m hoping Lance is at 6 and not Wheeler, Lance's all round game is better.

Will fans really think all is well if we win the next 2 games???

You can't sack a coach for being top of the league

If we win the next two games it will have an enormous impact on the mood of the club and its supporter base. Personally, I think we're entering a critical period for our season.

My prediction at the start of the season was Saints will lose 7 games to stay in the top 4.
We,ve played and won 12 from 16 so far, the majority of the games well below par. So on a positive note if we win 8 from the next 11 we will be in a good position if we can keep the team stable and healthy.

Not necessarily "all is well" but it will prove we can win a big game against Wigan which is what we need to prove.

A win against Cas would be nice, but wouldn't really tell us a great deal. A win at the DW would be a big deal, though, especially given the recent tendency to surrender in fear when playing against Wigan. Winning there would, I think, remove a massive psychological hurdle for our players and would signal (both to the fans and the players themselves) that we are capable of rising to a stern physical challenge.

Unfortunately, though, I think a humiliating thrashing is more likely.

Whoa!!!!


A win against Cas is no big deal. Sorry, but to me that's building a bit of a straw man.

We can't be our own arbiters of what is or is not a big game.

Cas are playing very well, nearly had the beating of us at their place. Beat Wigan at Wigan, just could not back it up a week later.

We discount Leeds at home as a big game but count the cup.
We discount Warrington away but count the Magic Weekend.
We count Huddersfield in the Cup as a lucky game, but Huddersfield at Saints as not a big game, even though they bounced us at home last year.

We may as well say every game we win is irrelevant, every game we lose is the only big game. There has to be some consistency in our critic of the club. A win this Sunday will be a good win indeed. I'm sure if we lost this Sunday, people would be out in force saying we can't handle important games.

I don't think Sunday isn't a big game. It's just the kind of game that, traditionally speaking, we're comfortable with and used to winning. It's a game we'll probably go into with some confidence. So I suspect we may very well put in a good performance and win. But what this team needs to learn is how to stand up when it's outside of its comfort zone. That's what the Wigan game will provide.

Wigan have just played a mid week game and have injuries so that could factor into next weeks game... but I still cannot see us winning. We haven't played well for months now and our pack has gone to pieces in big games recently with the absence of Kyle Amor.

I think Sunday's game is going to be really tricky aswell. We've got Amor, Walmsley, Laffranchi missing from our front row and Cas will welcome back some good players who didn't play last week. After their defeat to us early in the season they'll be up for it, I just hope we can match up.

Two wins would give us confidence though and I agree that this is a crucial phase of our season more for psychological reasons than anything else. We've hit a lull and haven't really found that early season form.

I think Powell rested those five v Wigan as he thought even with playing them they would lose and also could end up busted.
He maybe has targeted the Saints game as the one most winnable of the two.
The five missing were Lynch, Clark, Sneyd, Shenton and Webster.
They will make a difference to Cas.
Saints have to win this convincingly to go into the Wigan game with confidence.
Lose significantly and the team's confidence could be shot to bits.
Your Chairman's script in Sunday's programme will be interesting reading for those going to the game.