Ex Lion Tamer

We don't know what went on behind the scenes though. Maybe Boruc's attitude was wrong with regard to getting his fitness and he needed to be punished with a spell on the sidelines. I just find it hard to believe that Adkins would be foolish enough to stick with Gazza otherwise

Edit: ignore

This is a good point. Player unrest could be a sign that the manager is no good, but on the other hand it isn't a popularity contest. If the manager is pushing the players hard then the players may not like it but it could be good for performances. Let's see how popular Poccy is after a few months of hard training. I do think our fitness will improve now though, too often we were getting tired in the second half of games. Would be great to get back to where we were under Strachan. I fear that Nigel still had a bit to learn about the level of training required at the top level, which is surprising for a physio.

Will be interesting if the crowd starts getting hostile if we go behind, even though we may well have lost under Adkins

OK I've inferred that, it was Adkins who said it: http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/news/adkins-sets-high-ambitions_34357.html This thing is I just can't believe that a football man like Adkins would be that unrealistic, even if he is a particularly positive character. Top-half I could see but Europe was a ridiculous aspiration, and only served to make him look stupid. It was in no way in his interest to give himself a high target that he couldn't hope to achieve. My feeling is that he was under pressure to match the sky-high ambitions of Cortese.

I almost agree with this, but I can't say I fully trust his judgment. Yes, results have been excellent so far and he has made two (possibly three) excellent managerial appointments. However, it concerns me that he seemed to think we should challenge for Europe this season, and it is always dangerous when a chairman with no football background is making transfers over the head of the manager. We have succeeded so far through professionalism and by outspending our rivals, but in this league he may find you can't afford to marginalise/dismiss managers who are doing a decent job. Things will be especially tough if/when we start trying to be self-sufficient

Psychologically speaking Adkins was absolutely brilliant. You feel that he really was good at coaxing the best out of players

I wouldn't have sacked Adkins and think it is very harsh but we ought to be clear that Poccy does have some credentials. He kept Espanyol up several seasons in a row despite having his best players sold every summer, and indeed got them into upper mid table playing great football. Ok his last season was a disaster but there was only so long he could keep performing miracles. In Spain he is talked about as a future Real Madrid manager. This article explains it well: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jan/18/southampton-mauricio-pochettino

"Re: Southampton. Pochettino is, in my opinion, a very good manager indeed."

Demba Ba had a very low release clause, which is why his transfer could be tied up early. Most clubs will haggle on the fee, delaying things until the end of the window

He looked good when he came on though, won several fouls which were vital for taking the pressure off

Nice to have some quality to come off the bench for a change

Commentator said Seaborne was about to come on until Shaw got injured and the plan changed

It was evident last season as well that Adkins is very good at getting results against teams we are better than / equal to. We rarely shock teams above us but we usually do the business when we ought to. It's probably a sign of good psychological preparation

Seriously, Robinson's not that good. No one conceded more goals from long range then him last season

Agree he doesn't deserve blame for the own goal, but he does have a habit of doing other things that are a red rag to the crowd, like the open goal miss against Stoke and more generally not jumping for headers

To be fair though, the big difference between Benali and Guly is that Benali was a grafter who got stuck in, whereas Guly has a style which makes him appear lazy (emphasising the work 'appear').

As far as I can see he has done ok after some early jitters

He tries to run with it every time, and often gives it away as a result

All those people who were certain he should be playing despite not having the benefit of seeing him in training. In fairness though, it doesn't help with confidence when we're constantly chopping and changing. Keepers need security as there is already so much pressure on them

The thing about this season is there aren't really any clubs underperforming due to bad managers, a la Keen, Megson, McLeish. Except maybe Man City. Makes it tougher for us

He was dreadful today but it's really over the top to write him off. He has got plaudits for other performances this season. The money could probably have been better spent given that we needed a consistent performer but he is playing a useful role

We have a transfer committee

Let's not forget that Sunderland have mostly been pretty solid this season, they've just struggled to score goals. Our passing was also off but we know we can play better than that

To what extent are the conditions to blame? We seem unable to string a pass together, and we know we're better than that