Ex Lion Tamer

This was my first game of the season so I may be out of touch. But an I right in saying there was goal music after we scored, and if so is this new? Thankfully it was quiet so not too intrusive, but still a bit crap

So many players have seemed totally awful and gone on to be good, so I wouldn't write him off.

Way too much responsibility on Shaw's shoulders at the moment

Ok I will go with the majority then!

I'm not trying to knock the guy as he has made a big difference for us, but for the sake of balance I would suggest that his positioning for their goal was 'interesting'. I wouldn't be unhappy if we gave him a new contract but equally I think we'd be able to get as good a keeper in the summer if we decided to let him go

Under Adkins our centre mids were always a bit static, and to be fair it served us well. But it is really great to now see Morgan and Davis breaking into the box at pace and scoring tap ins

The US declined to make big cuts to their economy, they even lost their AAA credit rating, and yet their economy is now growing. Given that we're not in the euro there's no way our economy should be performing worse than most European countries. It just needs a proper growth plan with investment in infrastructure. This whole idea that we have to urgently pay off our debt is a false one spread by politicians who have an ideological belief in reducing the size of the state

There appears to be an outbreak of sanity on this thread, someone stamp it out

He will justify his price tag next season. Unfortunately we need him now, and that is the flaw with our transfer policy of signing young players with potential

Who was the guy on Solent who pronounced Le Tissier phonetically for about 15 years?

Ok they didn't necessarily play at the top level but they observed how top clubs operate in other roles, eg Mourniho was interpreter at Barcelona, AVB worked in lesser roles at Porto before becoming manager. Anyway, I was responding to the assertion that all managers lack top flight experience until they get it. In fact most get that experience in other roles (I'm sure there are exceptions). Adkins has been at a disadvantage compared to most rookie managers as he has never worked within a top flight club in any capacity

He's played at the highest level at least. At lot of people seem to value Premier League experience for players as well as managers but what's really important is top level experience

They do if they've played in it

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