mitch01

Agreed

It amused me when Schneiderlin's passing to the fullbacks was lauded at 0-0 and derided at 0-1 by the commentators (once one eventually went astray). I thought we were playing well until we conceded, very much in control of the game. After that it was more difficult as they had something to hang onto, but we got our reward on a night where none of our attacking players were playing particularly well. I'll take it. It did seem strange to me when pundits have previously been talking about our 'options', and the depth of our squad. I've never really seen it that way; we are two more injuries/suspensions away from a significantly weakened first 11 (if Cork had to adopt Davis' ACM role for a few weeks, for example, and Reed cover Morgan in DCM). I think our best 13/14 players have found an excellent formula to dominate and win games, but that would be very hard to recapture in the wake of just one or two more absentees. That's not a criticism, but I think our form will drop severely if our squad gets too stretched. The sooner we get JWP and Rodriguez back the better - they could give us a second wind and take some of the pressure off.

Hutton did a great job on him last night. Gave him nothing and then Mane started making the wrong decisions to try to force the issue. Bad night for him but he looks a good prospect to me considering his performance overall this season. How old is he, 22?

Absolutely quality player for us, major reason for our reaching the PL so quickly and then our best player last season (no mean feat). Left under a bit of a cloud, clearly desperate to make use of the remaining best years of his career as high as he could and joined a massive (although currently misfiring) club in Liverpool. Disappointed he felt he had to force it but pales into insignificance given his service. Would have been great to see him and Tadic in the same team. Loved watching him play. Unfair to compare his departure with Rickie's, they were entirely different circumstances. We have no idea how Rickie would have reacted if the club had resisted Liverpool's attempts to get him.

Very happy with Bertrand's performances so far, he has a lot more to his game than I expected - whipped in some beautiful crosses today. But Shaw will be one of the game's top defenders for 10+ years, which is why we charged £30m.

My third home match in a row - hope it's as enjoyable as the last two! Interesting stats I have heard: 85% of teams with 22 or more points after ten games have reached the Champions League. Only two with this amount (Wigan and City) have ever dropped out of the top six.

Sorry, if you think Lallana and Lovren were holding us back last season you can't have been watching very carefully. They were both absolutely outstanding last season. I agree our squad could and should probably have put a few more points on the board last season though.

You hardly ever get a penalty for those. The player got his shot away before the challenge, the goalkeeper was making himself big and his momentum took him into the player when the ball was gone. It's one of those strange areas of football where the rules are not enforced to the letter. It happens all the time; a player gets a shot away and is wiped out by someone trying to make a block, but because he almost scored with the shot it isn't considered as a possible penalty. If Fletcher had a chance of getting to the ball it would have been 100% a red card and penalty, but because it was a shot referees don't allow you a 'double chance' by giving a penalty. I'd have been surprised if it had been given.

Agree with this. AL is definitely one of my all-time favourite Southampton players, even if the manner of his exit was disappointing.

Wow, he must be the first person ever to change their mind about something in the face of drastically altered circumstances...!

I don't know, I still think AOC will be one of the best players in the country before long, and Walcott had been playing very well for quite a while before his injury (although I agree, he hasn't lived up to the 'next Henry' tag he was given when he first arrived.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

Looks like I got this one very very wrong. Didn't hold high hopes when he signed, didn't like the look of him when I saw him vs WBA. Had heard he performed well in the next few and when I got to see him at the Emirates I was very impressed. That goal this afternoon confirms that I was way off in my initial assessment of him, and I'm delighted to be so!

'Having given'? Dear oh dear, it's late.

Still completely bemused by some fans' attitude to one of our best players of recent times, having given years of quality service. The good far far outweighs the bad as far as I'm concerned. One of my favourite ever Saints players.

Lallana - absolutely superb for the whole of last season and very influential for 3 or so seasons before that. Tadic - very good start to his Saints career, especially impressive tonight. Not wise to compare yet.

That was absolutely brilliant. Before today I was still somewhat sceptical that we were up to the standard of last season, but that was a really top performance, although arsenal weren't at their best. Hard to pick out a MOM, but Pelle was always available as an outlet and brought others into play very well. Not a bad night for £10.

I've got no doubt he'll end up as a quality player. He's only 19, in three years time he'll still be a young CM but he'll get better and better the more he plays. He already has a massive amount of technical ability, more than plenty in this division will ever have, and the physical side will come. Like with Morgan who took a few years to really learn to apply his ability properly, JWP will steadily become more effective the more he can assert himself on games. I struggle to think of another club's fans that would regard such a talented young local lad with the indifference seen on here. Future England international I would say.

A satisfactory window, and considering where we were six weeks ago it's been an excellent recovery that has averted my fear that we might plunge to 15th or below. However, I would say that talk of our squad and management being 'better by all accounts' is probably presuming too much. Management - Koeman has undoubtedly instilled a calm and steely authority to the management of our squad when vitally needed. Whether or not Schneiderlin and Rodriguez were on their way out the door before Krueger responded to the furious outcry from fans we may never know, but Koeman has clearly done a good job since then of dealing with the situation diplomatically and stabilising things. I was satisfied rather than excited when he first took over, as I saw MP as one of the most exciting managerial talents in the sport, but he seems quite an impressive figure and 2 of the first 3 games have been very good. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's an upgrade on Poch, who I think will go right to the very top, but it's an encouraging start. Goalkeeper - A certain improvement here, for me. Very impressed whenever I watch Forster. Great handling, and more than a bit of the Schmiechel about him (as seen with his superb block vs WBA). At 26 he has years left at the top and we got him for a very decent price, I feel, for somebody who will earn us quite a few points this season. Defence - Our strength in depth has almost certainly improved here, with two good players for each position in the back four. Excited by the signing of Alderweireld, although I'm unsure of where £6m Gardos fits in now since captain Fonte is unlikely to be dropped. Our first choice back four though, is weaker than last year. Whatever you think of Lovren, he is a fantastic CB and will likely develop into one of the best in the country and go on to win major honours. Shaw was superb last year and will play at the top level of the game for the next 15 years. Losing him was inevitable given his potential and while Bertrand is a sound replacement, he won't offer as much as Shaw did in my opinion - and the gap between them will widen every year for the next 5/6. As many predicted on here, Chambers looks very comfortable at CB so it's a real shame to lose him as it didn't feel at all necessary and he could conceivably have improved our back four and partnered Lovren this season. A drop in quality over last season, but hardly surprising since we took £63m for three of our defenders this summer. Midfield - Keeping Schneiderlin was massive, and my hope would be he takes on new levels of responsibility and leadership on the pitch now others have gone. I think we could even expect him to raise performance levels now he seems to have come to terms with the disappointment of the summer. He'll likely be gone by this time next year, but it was vital he stayed here during this current transition. Certainly a huge blow to lose Lallana. His performance levels last season were extraordinary and I feel some on here may be underestimating how hard he'll be to replace - by all rights he came from nowhere this time last year and should have ended up in the England starting lineup in Brazil. Tadic looks good so far and could well be a great signing at £10m but I'd be very surprised if he matched Lallana's contribution this season or next. I'm disappointed we've lost Gaston, I thought the time was right for him to really push on, but I can't say it will effect the team massively since he didn't play enough for whatever reason. Overall, I feel our midfield may be slightly weaker than last season, mainly due to the loss of our best player in our best ever PL season, although it still looks very reasonable. Strikers - I loved every second of watching Rickie play, and I was gutted when he left. However, this would have been one of the positions I'd have had us prioritise, and at 32 he wasn't a key part of our future. Pelle was wholly unimpressive in games 1 & 2, but it can't be easy stepping into this league at age 29 - maybe he'll surprise us. My gut feeling would be that he'll struggle to hit more than 10 goals, and his touch isn't close to Lambert's, but only time will tell. We still have Rodriguez, whose form at the time of his injury was really taking off. Hopefully, like Schneiderlin, he can take on a more senior role now others have left and hit new heights. What little I know about Mane I saw on a 5 minute youtube video, so it is hard to comment on how much he improves us. Shane Long I do know a bit about and I think he's a very solid player. At £12m we have been taken for a ride, but regardless of value for money he definitely improves our options up front where last season we only had the raw Gallagher and the absent Osvaldo. As with Pelle, I think he'll struggle to score many goals - but hopefully that burden can be shared with Mane and Rodriguez too. Judging our strike force compared to last season's overall is difficult - we'll know more in a month or two - but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Great signing, surprised one of the top six haven't taken him. Hope we get an option to buy.

I don't think it's premature to say that Van Gaal will almost certainly achieve more in the Premier League than Ronald Koeman. From what I've seen so far I like RK a lot, but his record doesn't compare to Van Gaal, who, whether you like him or not, has achieved a massive amount as a manager.

JWP didn't have a good game yesterday - Mulumbu bullied him out of it. However, he's got loads and loads of ability and is steadily improving physically. Not unusual for a player his size in his position to struggle at times, but I fully expect him to have more effect on games as he becomes stronger and quicker. I think sometimes a talent like JWP is wrongly dismissed as powderpuff or lightweight after a string of ineffectual games when he is still young - he has something special and the more comfortable he feels at this level the more we will see of his fantastic ability on the ball. Most teams in this league would love to have a young English CM with his kind of potential.

He has scored at least three goals for Spurs (debut goal at the Lane IIRC, one in the Europa League and one at Villa last season), not that that makes my point but let's get that right. Can't think of any which have been 'screamers' but maybe you can think of another one I've forgotten. Maybe you're thinking of that incredible volley for QPR? I disagree with what you say about lacking goal-threat. Whenever I see him play he looks dangerous, and his form was really taking off when he unfortunately got injured for Spurs last October and I feel that a full season in a settled team could really see him kick on and probably be a feature in the England squad. Lennon comparison is a strange one to make. Lennon only really has the capacity to go down the outside which limits his effectiveness as a winger, while Townsend is comfortable taking the defender inside and out - something that I always maintained made Adam Lallana hugely valuable, even when he was at his least popular on 18 months ago. He's got a sweet strike with either foot, can dribble and is direct. I'd be very happy if we managed to get him for £10-15m - his potential is just streets ahead of Long's who we bought for a similar price, and at 24 he has loads of time to fulfill it. Still, I can't say I've watched extensive footage of the games he's played in the PL for Spurs (maybe you have) but from what I have seen I'd be delighted if we landed him.

Townsend would be a great addition. Happy on either foot, has pace and goal threat. That said, not sure why Spurs would sell with Lamela still misfiring.

'Another nail in Luke Shaw's coffin?' He's going to be a fantastic player for them for a very long time.