Son of Bob

Really? So everyone who causes trouble is raised on a council estate then? Hmmmm. OK. Edit: Seen apology but point still stands

3-1 to Man Utd. They will go 2-0 up by half time. We'll come out all guns blazing in the 2nd half and pull one back. We'll then press for an equalizer and get hit on the break for 3-1 in the last 10 minutes.

Get rid. I've not seen anything to convince me he's got anything to offer. We should be looking at giving the youngsters precious first team time rather than wasting it on this guy.

It's all about the money unfortunately. We cannot compete with the bigger clubs due to the financial fair play rules governing wages.

Just out of interest Steve, where do you think we'll finish this season?

I'm genuinely excited to see how it goes against these 'top teams'. Would love to silence the critics of our current easy run once and for all. We'll probably lose all of them though...

Anyway we digress. The whole point of the thread was that our current style of football seems far more sustainable than the high pressing game favoured by Pochettino.

People keep talking about how much more depth we have this season but other than midfield, we will start to become stretched once injuries and suspensions rear their ugly head. If we were to lose Alderweireld to an injury and then Fonte was to get suspended we'd suddenly look very thin at the back.

Great post!

Amen to the tedium of winning I say. If you could truly get bored of our success I'd say give up following football full-stop.

People seem to be panicking that our current form is unsustainable and that we'll inevitably tail off like we did last year but we do we have one or two major advantages over last seasons team. Koeman has changed the way we play as a team and his style, in my eyes, is far less fragile than Pochettino's. As we saw last season our pressing game was great until everyone else woke up to it and figured how to counter it but our new style is based on strength in defence and patient possession. This change means our form should be far more sustainable as it's difficult for opposing teams to come up with a plan to counter it. If you're defending as well as we are there's only so much any other team can do to break that down. Also, it was clear last season that there was no plan B to our pressing game and when we came up against teams that were well drilled in how to play against that style, it fell to pieces. Koeman strikes me as having far more tactical nouse than Pochettino and I'd have far more faith in him having a plan B and, if required, a plan C and D as well. Personally, I'm not sure we have the legs to make a top 4 finish but I see no reason why we couldn't finish a solid 6th or even 5th this season which would be fantastic progress for us. I'd like to be proved wrong but I guess only time will tell on that one!

Was this the Sunderland fan Alan Shearer commented on who was shown shaking his head in despair? If so I'm not surprised he looked so fed up!! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2800558/sunderland-fan-completes-unwanted-hat-trick-watching-black-cats-lose-8-0-time.html

So are you suggesting that we no longer have women competing in the Olympics as their best times at events such as the 100m are not as good as distinctly average men's times? What's the difference here?

I think we have more strength and depth to the squad than we did at this stage last season. I see no reason why we can't match, or even surpass last years league position. Well done to RK and the board for turning things around in this window. I have a new found spring in my step this morning!

I'm being realistic Hypo. Where's the appeal for a top player (such as Hernandez) to drop down and play for us? We're a mid-table club who are currently losing their best players at an alarming rate. From the outside we appear to be a club that people can't wait to leave. As fans we will always see the silver lining but to an outsider, we're one big grey cloud at the moment. We're finding it easy to source players from outside England but that's for one reason only. They want to play in the Premier League. Do you think one single player we've signed sat there when they were 16 and said to themselves - "I want to play for Southampton Football Club one day"? We're a sinking ship with limited appeal to anyone currently playing within the premier League but that's waht we need - proven Premier League talent. We've signed some good players from abroad but we all now that's a gamble that often doesn't pay off.

Long's not a bad player at all. yes, £12 million seem's a hell of a lot but player prices have gone truly mental this year. I think he'll bring something valuable to the squad and give us great attacking options, especially if we need to switch tactics during a game. I'm not saying he's the best signing in the world but he'll give us depth and at this moment in time, that's something we really need. To the bed-wetters on this post, if we are in negotiations with Hull and they fall through, and we end up with no Shane Long, would that really make you happy? What then happens when we don't get anyone else and we're left starting the season with our current options up front? Believe me, we are far better off with a player like Long than we are with nothing at all.

14th-16th

I'm supposed to be doing some of the support driving for this.

KL probably has £20m in her car ash tray. She's probably earnt that in interest in the time it's taken me to write this post...

Is he sipping Champagne on Paul Allen's yacht?

Lots of stories connecting Mancini with us cropping up on the interweb. I suspect that's more down to the fact that, if he favours a return to the Premier League, we are probably the highest profile team looking for a manager at present. Lazy jouralism...

The only plus I can see is that he'd have good pulling power to get some decent players in. Would certainly raise our profile!

Mancini is a huge name and it's flattering to be connected with him but he is hardly a fit for us is he? Highly unlikely.

I noticed the odds dropping quite rapidly on Mancini yesterday. Can't see it to be honest. Not 100% sure I'd want it either?

Yes please but I think he could be off to loftier heights!