Tom & Gerry

A coach shouldn't ask a player to do something he can't do. Martin didn't last season so there's no reason to believe he will this. Martin may be stubborn but he isn't stupid. He wants to win the game whatever he might say about playing a certain way.

Is this the same McCarthy that was so sound at the end of last season that everyone is rubbishing or have we signed another one? People seem to have been spooked because in a few practice matches he practiced doing a few things he's not very good at and found he's not very good at them which is what practice matches are for, I thought. So he won't do them in a league game, I hope.

I don't think that's fair. He has all the attributes, but we've had players before from George Lawrence to Michael Obefemi who had all the attributes to be a great player but weren't.

I think I've laboured the point enough, but all I'm saying is that to call us the 4th best team in the league is not particularly relevant to how we will do this season. By the end of the season our form was on a par with the other 2 teams behind Leicester who also had some bad results. I think we were a better team by the end of the season than at the start, that's all.

They were better over the course of the season, but by the end of the season there was not much in it. It's the direction of travel. If 2 teams finish level in the table and 1 starts well and then levels off and the other starts badly but finishes well, the team that finishes well is going to feel better about it's future prospects.

There's an argument for 2nd. I know we lost at Ipswich but we were by far the better team.

We may have been the 4th best over the course of the season but by the end of the season we weren't 4th best. How many times would we have had to beat Leeds to convince you of that? To improve players need to improve not necessarily be changed. Just like runners or swimmers they do improve and we have a number with the scope to do so. Big money signings have never really worked for us so I am excited to see who we will undoubtedly bring in before the end of the window.

Probably no point having an academy then. Even a genius needs to learn the game and will be inconsistent at that age. There's no hope for late developers.

Smallbone not only passes the ball but makes himself available to be passed to. He also gets in to goal scoring positions. Vastly underrated and hugely important to the team.

Yep, just as I remember looking for a linesman's flag all those years ago.

2 great moments of my Saints supporting life. Stokes to McCalliog, he's onside 1-0. Smallbone to Armstrong , he's onside 1-0

It's scary if we win, it's scary if we lose yet we all (nearly) just want to win and worry about the consequences later.

Thanks, I won't bother going.

0-0 is such a horrible result. If we had lost 2-0 we could be properly pessimistic and if we had won 3-0 we could be ever so slightly optimistic, but 0-0 anything could happen and probably will.

He had the dregs of a failed premier league team, loan players that were surplus to requirements, ie not good enough for their premier league team, and some wet behind the ears youngsters who may or may not make good players. I don't see any top clubs rushing to sign any of our players like they use to in the past.

The most goals scored by a Southampton team for 60 years. Not bad for a team that spend most of the game tip tapping the ball around in their own half.

Has anyone considered that maximising the home atmosphere may be a good thing if the team is doing well but could make it more toxic if the team or individual players are doing badly?

Of course we probably won't beat Watford, and of course winning 6 in a row looks impossible., but how about we win the next 3 and then anything will look possible

It's his job to do that, but how can he or any manager get Chez or the other players for that matter put the ball in the net from the chances they create. The players have to do their job too.

When the team most needed our support, the crowd got distracted ( rightly or wrongly). I just wish they'd have that level of passion for the team. Just shows what a noise they away fans will make when they are put in a corner.

I heard some of him doing the Bournemouth v Man City game for 5 live and he was very good

I'm not saying we will finish in the top 2, but the trick is to stay in touch until the final 5 or 6 games, and then it's the teams that can handle the pressure best. It might be us Leicester and Ipswich look as wobbly as us.

I'd like to see us play in a playoff final at Wembley. I've seen us in an FA cup final, a Charity Shield, 2 League Cup finals, a semi final, JP trophy and that other thing when we played Forest but a play off final would be a new experience, another one to tick off the list, and if we won it would probably be the nearest thing to a cup final win that we are likely to see.

No, its down to us. If we keep winning we'll stay in the top 2. If we don't 2 of our 3 competitors will be above us,in all liklihood.

It doesn't really matter because if Saints don't keep winning Ipswich will end above us as well as Leeds or Leicester. We can't expect 2 out of the 3 to drop many points.