After the defeat at home to Sunderland its vital Saints get a win in the next three games or face dropping back into the relegation zone.

The Xmas period usually goes a long way to sorting out those that are going to struggle in the new year and Saints loss to Sunderland at the weekend was a massive blow to their survival hopes when you take a look at the larger picture, this has left them with the need to pick up points from the next three fixtures or risk not only dropping back into the drop zone, but seeing the teams above us start to pull away.

This is highlighted by todays fixture at Craven Cottage, a win against Fulham would see us only two points behind them and leave them looking nervously over their shoulder, whereas a win would put them eight points clear and at this stage of the season thats a hefty gap.

So the defeat on Saturday has left us needing to get something from these three games or risk going to the fourth game, the trip to Villa Park in real trouble and that could be compounded by the fifth and sixth game, in football the old adage is take every game as it comes, but in this Premier League where there are three, even four divisions in effect, its not quite that simple sometimes.

So Nigel Adkins has to get it right for this game, as has been well documented he got it badly wrong, his comments that Mayuka played because he had been outstanding in a practice match, for me dont ring true, if thats correct then I am worried, practice matches and training are different animals to the premier league, our selections and substitutions on Saturday were appalling we cannot afford that again.

There is no doubt that we are on a learning curve with very few from the Chairman down to the kit man having much Premier experience, however on Saturday we made basic errors in our selection, in the previous half dozen games it looked like we had turned a corner, however that didnt seem the case against Sunderland where it looked like we had learnt little from earlier in the season, for every step we take forward it seems we take one sideways and one back and that cant keep happening.

So the key to beating Fulham will be the manager getting it right, playing those that got us out of the drop zone, forget tinkering we havent got the squad to do it, we have won our points against the lower sides, now we have to start picking them up against the mid table sides or risk being cast adrift.

Harsh words towards Nigel Adkins, but Im afraid sometimes you cant gloss something under the table, this criticism doesnt mean Im calling for his head or anything else, its merely calling the shots as I see it, the dfeat against Sunderland could not be dressed up in any other way than I have done so, I dont want to be writing the same things about the visit to Craven Cottage.

A vital vital game for Saints, if they win then the relegation battle is wide open and we have just scored a morale boost against those not only under us but directly above us, a defeat though in what is our easiest game in the next half dozen or so puts us right back in the mix and under intense pressure.    

Photo: Action Images

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