The other day whilst trying to avoid the blanket coverage of the Olympics, and desperately trying to find some football to watch, I stumbled across ITV4 and an edition of The Big Match Revisited.

One of the main games was Saints against Manchester City from March 1983. This was a Southampton side that had struggled in the first half of their first Keegan-less season, but who had recovered from being in the relegation zone to challenging for a place in Europe. They were up against a Manchester City side that were on their way to relegation on that fateful day at Maine Road when Luton’s Raddy Antic would score the winning goal, causing David Pleat to skip in a rather campy way across the Maine Road mud in celebration in one of the era’s defining football moments.

Saints won this match at a canter and thanks to a Steve Moran hat-trick, they stormed into a 4-0 lead by half-time, but in reality it could have quite easily have been 8-0 at half-time. City would grab a consolation, and a relaxed Saints side would fail to add to their tally in the second-half, but Moran could have bagged 6 goals all by himself.

This Sunday Saints make the journey to Manchester in a match that could well see a reversal of that match from nearly 30 years ago. I do not think many people would be surprised if the home side are once again four goals to the good at the interval, because the gulf between the two sides is at this moment in time, is an almighty chasm.

Maybe just maybe playing the champions first before they get into their stride could be a blessing in disguise, but having watched them in the community shield last Sunday they are already looking the business, especially going forward.

There are many unanswered questions regarding Saints at the moment, and the lack of strengthening in defensive areas is more than just a minor concern.

We still have a defence that at times last season was woefully outpaced by a number of mediocre attacking players and with an ageing Kelvin Davies between the posts we are more than capable of shifting a large amount of goals this season. Add to that the less than impressive pre-season results, and the fixture computer doing us no favours with the toughest start of any of the three promoted clubs then you have a recipe for a string of early and potentially heavy defeats.

Just why there has been a lack of signings is a question that only the powers at be at the club can answer and with no news coming out of the club for weeks, all kinds of rumours are doing the rounds on message boards at the moment. Rumours still persist, that manager Nigel Adkins job is on less than solid ground, and there has been a few rumbling’s of discontent with a new 4-3-3 formation that has appeared to contribute to some pre-season defeats.

What am I expecting on Sunday? Well obviously I am hoping for a win, unlikely I know, but even the most boring of goalless draws would be welcome, that is also unlikely. What is more likely is that we are on the receiving end of a football lesson, a sort of “welcome to the Premier League, boys” type hammering. I hope I am wrong and to be honest I am expecting a defeat, I just hope it is not a heavy one.

As for what I am expecting to happen this season, well we will do one of three things. We will either do what Norwich and Swansea did last season, and avoid any last day relegation drama, or we will revert back to how we used to be, i.e. play rubbish until April then start winning and survive by the skin of our teeth. Or the worst case scenario is that Derby County’s record low points total from a few seasons ago will be seriously under threat.

Nigel Adkins has come out and said that he expects some more signings to arrive at St. Marys before the closure of the transfer window at the end of August. Whether he will still be manager of the team by then remains to be seen.

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