CanadaSaint

Whenever Mané has to think he's screwed. Lots of brilliant instinct but no real football brain.

What worries me most is that we have lost the key elements of the identity we worked so hard to build over the last few years - a reasonably stable line-up, a solid defence, a trademark playing style with lots of off-the-ball movement, width and quick passing, high fitness levels, a solid core of English players, and a willingness to bring youngsters through. And always, in the players, a clear commitment to "the cause". I took great pride in all those things, and they earned us respect throughout football, but they all seem like distant memories now. We're forever chopping and changing, 'tactics' are all over the place, key players seem to lack commitment and don't look like they know what's expected of them, our fitness levels are poor, players are making the same mistakes as they were making at the start of the season, and we're dropping points week-in, week-out for the same reasons. Most of that list sits at the manager's door - and he can no longer say that he's trying to play his style with another manager's signings. It's as though the players no longer enjoy playing for Koeman, and I have to say that - even though I like the guy - I probably wouldn't either. He seems quite an intimidating presence, which is okay as long as he's delivering. But, like LvG, he certainly isn't. With Ranieri opting for stability and consistency, Koeman is the new Tinkerman, and it isn't working. Les Reed has gone silent, and Koeman is sure enough of himself to publicly diss Reed's baby - the academy. Is there someone in the club who's big and brave enough to confront Koeman and get things back on track?

I think we have a character issue in the team. We've actually been playing quite well until we hit some adversity, and then it goes pear-shaped in a hurry and we don't look like recovering. The individual errors are killing us - weak midfield giveaways, unforgivable ball-watching and an inability to finish. It doesn't help that we have a spineless and self-centered midfielder responsible for providing the spine in our midfield.

We are so fragile at the moment. Playing quite well and then we cave in at the first sign of adversity. Weak giveaways, ball-watching and slow getting back. We don't seem to have much spine, and if we're counting on Wanyama to provide it things won't get better. He's been going through the motions pretty much all season.

That's harsh. If there was a "not for the first time" to be applied, it should have gone to Bertrand IMO, who - not for the first time - was caught upfield and didn't get back in time.

I didn't say "Davis doesn't score" - I said that we don't get enough goals from midfield. Two between him and JWP is woeful. And yes, he does have chances but he seldom scores from them, which is the very problem I'm talking about.

Yes, two* in 19 appearances. And "nearly" didn't get us a point. * That's two more than JWP. Look around the division and see what other forward midfielders are doing.

Some goals from midfield would transform this side. We do okay at conceding them but we're really crap at scoring them. It's not as though the problem isn't obvious to Koeman and Reed when we're picking Davis and Ward-Prowse as a duo. December probably isn't going to be pretty, results-wise, but I can see us addressing the attacking midfield problem in January and pushing on strongly from there.

If Koeman has "lost it", it's happened in the last four games. Until then we were second in the form table and going well. Sure, he makes some strange decisions but hacking away at Koeman, the players and the Board is ludicrous. They definitely need to spend some sensible money in January, but I think they know that. My bet is on a real quality attacking midfielder and that could transform this team.

Our inability to finish has cost us for some time. Pelle needs to finish better but he contributes more than just finishing. Mané is infuriatingly inconsistent - from minute to minute more than from game to game. But Long doesn't contribute much more than finishing, which is far below the 12 million level. JayRod will be back but his top level future is in doubt. We don't get anything like the goals from midfield that we should, and that's what I think they will try to address in the window rather than buying a striker at a poor-value stage of the season. I'm taking the club at their word when they say that nobody will leave in January. I can see United switching to Bolasie if we turn them back - or talk crazy money - for Mané.

I thought we were okay against a good side, especially as we were lacking key players. Romeu's "half-marking" job against Cabaye decided it. A 12 million striker should be putting the last-minute chance away. I'll stick with my pre-season view - that we'll have a weaker first half of the season but a much stronger second half.

Romeu "half-marked" him.

I'm struggling to understand the modern game's preoccupation with tall keepers, and - with Forster and Stek - we're fully bought into it. The advantage of height is the ability to be strong in the air, but the holding and blocking mayhem in the box these days has made that a rather redundant skill for keepers. They don't seem to come for crosses anywhere near as much. The disadvantage is that the higher centre of gravity makes it harder for tall keepers to get down to low shots. For me, that's a weakness of both Forster and Stek. Shay Given was the reverse - too short to dominate his box but able to make great reaction saves.

Very true. I still think JWP will come good but one thing that really frustrates me with him is his tendency to under-hit his forward passes (when he makes them). He has normally picked out the right ball but time and again the receiver has to check his stride, stop running or even come back to the ball. It's a momentum-killer we can't afford if we want to attack before the defence is set. I thought we played pretty well today, against admittedly-poor opposition, but the slow build-up and failure to take chances will hurt us every time.

It's hard to shake the feeling that not all is right at SMS at the moment. We used to "play for eachother" all over the park but there's been little sign of that for several weeks. There doesn't seem to be any leadership on the pitch - nobody taking responsibility, nobody trying to make things happen. Just a succession of "passing the buck" plays.

We have become very uni-dimensional up front. The running off the ball and quick ball-movement are gone, and the out-ball to Pelle - once used sparingly - has become our only means of launching attacks. Very worrying.

Same gain. Caulker marking space, Cedric - again - not anticipating the ball over the back, and Stek beaten disappointingly-easily.

Agreed, but lose both of them at the same time and we get very lightweight in a vital area. I think they're both on the verge of suspension.

As much as I like the guy, there's a stubbornness about Koeman that infuriates me. I'm okay with Yoshida as cover in central defence, but how many more chances does Koeman need before he realizes that his lack of pace kills us when Maya's played wide? City must have been salivating at the thought of a Sterling/Maya match-up. JWP blew his marking assignment a number of times today - mainly with ball-watching, and compounded a poor performance with several bad midfield giveaways. He's going to be fine but for a smart kid he seems to be learning very slowly. Mané is what he's always been and probably always will be - a tremendous instinct player whose game falls apart if he needs to think before he does something. Koeman should have addressed the "silly bookings" issue long ago because it's been a problem for some time. We don't have the squad to be able to lose players like Pelle, Mane, Wanyama and Romeu. Thank god we signed VvD. I just wish we'd signed Vardy when we should have done, back in 2012.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/585922/Southampton-Ronald-Koeman-blasts-Memphis-Depay-Manchester-United

I enjoyed that article and all the others that cast our club in such a good light, but there's something even more satisfying about this one, given the source: http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/10/fsg-witness-merits-southampton-model-liverpool-look-progress/ Sure, we may not be on the same planet as Liverpool in terms of size and stature, but there is an implication behind the article that the route to success may involve much more than just throwing money around - even for a club like Liverpool.

I posted the rather sweeping comment after last week's game that I thought fitness was an issue, but after watching today's game I'd like to revise it. I think Wanyama's fitness might be an issue. Last week I thought his second half drop-off was due to his first half yellow card but today he didn't have that excuse, although he did take a knock. Maybe I'm seeing something that's not there but he seems to me to be a much less effective player after half time, and the drop-off in that "powerhouse" element really hurts our defensive midfield. I'd still pick him every game, of course, but I'd like to see better second halves from him.

They really need to reconsider this "penalty and automatic red card" thing because it's such an extreme punishment. It was meant to cut out the deliberate professional foul but it's gone way beyond that. Coloccini's challenge wasn't that far from what used to be viewed as "shoulder-to-shoulder with the ball within playing distance", and the keeper was well-placed to collect it anyway. Now they're a goal down and a man down in a very big game. And it's Madley again.

I guess we just have different recollections of how we played against most clubs outside the Top 6, and that's okay.

From my recollection it was indeed used sparingly that season, mainly against "the big boys", and that IMO was because Pochettino knew that it wasn't sustainable with then-current fitness levels. Our results against those big teams were very good but we dropped a lot of points to the 'lesser' teams when we weren't playing the press anywhere near as much. That's the dilemma I think Klopp will face - not an inability to play his press but an inability to play it consistently this season, especially after Europa excursions. On Sunday, for example.