Professor

The pessimism on here is only the natural fear that something good must come to and end at some point, but that's no reason for it to happen this weekend against a Tottenham team that has only won 2 league games out of 6 so far this season. Saints have the best defence in the league in terms of goals conceded even though we haven't played our best CB pairing in every match. We have considerable talent up front and in midfield to convert chances into goals plus the threat from our attacking FBs on top of which its still early days for our team which is likely to be still improving. I think we are bound to score, probably more than one, whereas I can see Tottenham struggling to score at all. Prediction 2-1 or 2-0. An added bonus for us in this game may be that the Tottenham players will think Pochettino knows how we play and may over-estimate the accuracy of what he tells them, but in fact our team is very different from the one he left. At the same time, half of our team weren't here under Pochettino and won't be awed by him at all.

With the two signings successfully made on deadline day in Sept and JRod to return its hard to see any purpose in January signings unless something is forced by injury. If, unlikely as it may be, we were to get through the hard run of games pre-Xmas and still be in the top 4, I doubt the club would want to disrupt a squad that was performing well by bringing in a new face. On the other hand, if we do drop points against the clubs that can field hugely expensive world class players we couldn't compete with them on transfer fees so it's unlikely we could sign better than what we have. And what we have might well continue to perform better than expected.

Could be that this week's training will include a lot of shooting practice. I certainly hope so because we will lose or draw games that we should win if we don't do better than against QPR. The euphoria of four Premier League wins in succession is understandable - I know because I'm suffering from it as much as anyone, but if you take a deep breath it is possible to see this run as containing elements of luck. The West Ham and Newcastle results were well deserved because we were the better team but the Swansea game turned on the sending-off of Wilfred Bony and even against 10 men we did only manage to score one goal. Against QPR we had plenty of chances to put the game beyond them but in the end it was an individual flash of brilliance that won the game, rather than sustained pressure, and even then they could have equalised with the shot from the free kick that hit the bar. Had we drawn two of these games instead of winning them, we'd be 7th in the table instead of 2nd and we have Man U and Tottenham breathing down our necks. This run of 4 games has been very important but over the next three it would be nice to see more assurance in the outcomes rather than the close calls of the last two games. Having said that, I'd settle for a draw at Tottenham, much as I'd love to see us win, but I do think it's reasonable to expect 6 points from the next two home games to have a chance of holding on to second place.

Appreciate the information that you are not God; I'd be worried for anyone who said they were. Footballers who make some sort of religious signing as if trying to communicate with a god are also a worry, firstly because its a sad sign of how superstition still has such a pernicious hold in society and secondly, because even someone who believes in a god shouldn't be so self-obsessed as to think that this mythical, supernatural being, would favour one individual over another. The idea that a person can influence luck is almost as silly. What is true is that you make your own luck - in other words, what sometimes appears to be luck is a result of a positive action. But that doesn't include wearing your underpants the wrong way round.

The strongest CB pairing may well be Aldeweireld on the right and Gardos on the left but it would be a very difficult decision to leave Jose Fonte out because his captaincy and leadership are an added contribution to the overall performance.

Until we play the rest of the games against last season's top 6, having only played the away game to Liverpool so far, it really is premature to start thinking of a top six finish. If anything, the QPR game showed how close to us the clubs are that we would regard as destined for the bottom half of the table. Our rivals are good and we can only keep winning if we not only continue to make the chances, but take them as well. This is a very hard league.

Not every buy-in by a wealthy owner works out well - on one hand you can have the Pompey outcome where it all goes to catsh*t or to a lessor extent the Coventry and Cardiff situations. If it works to the advantage of the bought club, a la Chelsea and Man City, it then raises questions about whether the league can still offer a fair competition. We have what we have got and I'm not sure the FA could change it even if they wanted to. I think Greg Dyke would if he could but here are so many vested interests. We shouldn't be too complacent here because who knows what would follow if Katherina got bored with it. Unfortunately the days of collective ownership look to be a diminishing thing of the past.

I think you will find it's because the 4th Official measures the stoppages with a stopwatch whereas we fans are busy watching the game. There were injuries in the second half that probably accounted for most of the 5 minutes.

Hard to drop Jose Fonte to the bench and it could be that his leadership compensates for the probability that Aldeweireld and Gardos may be the more proficient pairing but they would both be in my strongest XI.: Forster Clyne, Aldeweireld, Gardos, Bertrand Schneiderlin, Wanyama, JWP JRod, Pelle, Tadic Bench: K Davis, Fonte, Targett, S Davis, Mané, Long, AN Other That is one hell of a bench, all of them worthy of a place in the starting line-up. The cover for RB would be Aldeweireld with Fonte going into CB.

If Koeman is able to pass on some of his skills to the Saints' squad there will be even better to come. See:- (The Best Goals of Ronald Koeman) Watch especially for the one where he chips a group of defenders and then chips the goalie. And he was a CB!

In appointing Ronald Koeman, Southampton got quite a package. He and Erwin are proving to be a top coaching team, and as he says, who can you trust more than your brother. If you look up Koeman's wife Bartina on the web it shows her to be a successful actress and that together they make a very attractive couple. As well as his brother at the club, it looks like Ronald has a remarkable woman as his home support.

When we were told that we should defer judgement on the team until 1 September, I suggested that an assessment on 1 Oct would be more meaningful. With 3 games in September, I thought we needed a minimum of 7 points from the 9 available this month to begin to believe. So far we have 6 points In Sept, so we only need a draw on Saturday to meet my personal target. If we get the full 3 we will have 13 points out of a possible 18. Ok, we will only have played one of last year's top 6 - and lost that game - but unless and until things begin to go wrong, I'm willing to believe that they will not!

He would say that wouldn't he? Isn't going to say his team was knocked out of the League Cup by a run-of-the-mill side. It's just an excuse for losing.

His excuse, that he wasn't the only one to think we might be relegated doesn't really hold water because he masquerades as a football pundit and made that statement as a prediction for the coming season. Not the same thing at all as discussions amongst fans. It seemed at the time that he hadn't really grasped all the facts. The exodus of 5, bad as it was, was only 3, or possibly 4 first choice players, since Callum Chambers was second choice at RB and Rickie Lambert was going to struggle to be a No.1 choice for another season. Perhaps Savage hadn't noticed that Southampton had appointed a top quality European manager and had quickly replaced 2 of the 4 departures with equivalent players. The club had also stated the intention to bring in more players of similar quality. It is likely that very few people agreed with Savage's assessment then and all he has done now is make excuses which don't amount to an apology.

I was expecting an appeal based on Adam Blackmore saying that Matt Targett was walking as fast as the cramp would allow him, but the above might change things. If an injured player has left the field he isn't allowed back on without the referee's permission and would have to go around the touchline. If a player can't walk, the physio can assist or call for the stretcher. But if the injured player is on the pitch and needs to leave, the rules simply say that the physio should arrange the player's safe and swift removal. If Targett had actually left the pitch and then came back on, that would warrant a card for unsporting behaviour. If he hadn't left field and simply went across to the tunnel as best he could when told to come off, the ref may have treated him as simply being subbed, instead of as an injured player. That might be the key as to whether an appeal would succeed.

Seriously, we have only played 5 Premier League games plus two cup ties, one against a Championship side and one against an Arsenal team with mainly second choice players. The results have been fantastic but, BUT, as Koeman has said, this doesn't mean we are on course for a top six finish. It will be a long hard season and even if we are still in the top 6 at the end of November that will still be no indication of where we will finish next May. Its great fun to speculate and I'm dreaming along with the rest, but in football you have to take each result as it comes because no result guarantees the next one.

They might say he is, but it might just be cover for him being back in the beetroot factory. Still, looks like Pelle will just have to keep practicing headers so that he can do them without messing his hair up.

Thinking about Pelle, who is playing well but could, maybe, possibly, be just a little more accurate with his shots or headers on goal. I wonder if we could put this right by getting Rickie Lambert back. Lambert isn't doing much at Liverpool so he must have a lot of free time and we are the second closest team to his heart. How about Rickie doing some part-time one-on-one coaching with Graziano just to sharpen up that aspect of his game that Rickie was so good at in his prime, which sadly for Liverpool (and for Rickie) is probably in the past. One problem with this idea might be communication, because although Graziano speaks English, I'm not sure if Rickie does.

Brilliant. You could have your own car sticker - "Charlie George saw me play!"

August 2012, Man City, the League Champions, playing newly promoted Saints managed to win by the odd goal in 5. Our team was Davis, Clyne, Hooiveld, Fonte, Fox, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse (his first team debut), Lallana, Guly, Puncheon and Rodriguez. Five of those players wouldn't get into today's side which is which is certainly stronger now, so we shouldn't be worried if we meet Man City in the League Cup and definitely not fear Stoke. If you play in the Premier League you have to regard every game as winnable which is why Leicester can beat Man U, West Ham can beat Liverpool and Crystal Palace can beat Everton.

While we are in reminiscing mood about Arsenal games, I was at Highbury for the FA Cup replay in 1979 soon after Charlie George had signed for Saints. Injury limited his appearances and he didn't play in the drawn game at The Dell but at Highbury, when the team was announced, Charlie George was in the side. It had been 4 or 5 years since he'd been at Arsenal but he was still a folk hero to Arsenal fans and when his name came over the Tannoy, there was a massive cheer. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but it felt like a very astute selection by Lawrie Mac to include George for that game. On a personal note, after he retired from football, Charlie George became a pub landlord in New Milton where I was living at the time. Some may remember the car stickers saying "I saw Charlie George Play". I could have had one a few years later saying, "I had my pint pulled by Charlie George".

I wonder if the club have appealed Matt Targett's yellow card. A nonsense decision by the referee that should get an adverse comment in his assessment. Universal praise for Targett's performance but considering it was in front of a crowd of 60,000, probably the largest he's ever experienced, and with world class players on the pitch, its hard to understate just how well he played.

Don't really understand the amount of pessimism among posts on this thread. True, Saints' fans have had disappointments in the past but the present squad has evolved over the last 5 years into a very successful team. The worries of the summer exodus have been turned around so that we still have the bulk of that squad but strengthened with players who appear to be as good or better than those they have replaced. The team is now showing the merits people have been talking about, quality players, strength in depth and exceptional teamwork, all overseen by a highly adept manager. The concern at the start of the season was how long it would take for the new players to fit into the squad and for the team to gel together but even in the very first game away to Liverpool, despite the 2-1 defeat, commentators were unanimous in praising the performance. After one drawn game at home, the team has then won five games in succession. On one hand, this may look like a bubble that will burst, but it may also be evidence that this team is getting gradually better. They have only played together for a handful of matches but they are training together and the integration process is still going on. This means that we shouldn't just expect the good results to continue but we can expect the performances to get even better. If we don't win on Saturday, I will be very surprised and on all the evidence I can't see why we shouldn't expect at least 10 points from the next 4 games. Because this is football there is an element of luck involved as well, which is why not every game is won by the better team, so there can be no guarantees but if we do get those 10 points, we could even be top of the table by the time we play Stoke in the Capital One Cup. This isn't just intoxication following the Arsenal game but a distinct possibility. I'm not suggesting we could win the League given the strength of Chelsea and Man City, but because the fixture computer has put most of the hardest games into the period from the end of November through to early January, there is a real opportunity for the Saints' team to reach its optimum level before it has to face its toughest tests.

Stoke may be half decent but Saints are 100% decent. Stoke fans saying they have avoided the 'big boys' can't have noticed that they've been drawn against the team that is second in the Premier League. Biggest problem might be the confusion of both teams playing in red & white stripes......

Here's a tip if you ever go to London again. Look out for squarish black cars with a yellow light on them. For a modest fee, the drivers will take you anywhere you like. And they'll happily talk football.