Lallana's Left Peg

Caulker a good 5 yards behind the rest of his defence which allows the striker to pretty much make any sort of run he wants to create a clear one-on-one opportunity. As it goes the striker makes the right run which is running from blindside of the defender so he can't see him and across him to ensure he is onside when the ball is played and then running onto the ball.

Same team but Fonte in for Caulker. Simple as that isn't it?

Think that is unfair on Koeman. In the games I go to (almost all away from St Marys) Koeman is active enough in his technical area. Sometimes he says things sometimes he doesn't. The players are well coached and he trusts them to implement what they have talked about before the game. He cannot legislate for mistakes or massive brainfarts like the one above from Caulker. Caulker himself will know he did wrong, he doesn't need a bollocking mid-game from 50 yards away to know this either. Koeman trusts his players to work things out and stick to the plan.

This time last year we were third. This time last year we lost 5 games in a row (4 in the league) before a team meeting was called and players agreed to run more for each other. Next game was a 3-0 win against Everton (on the 20th).

It was the same this time last year and then we stepped it up a bit. Lets hope for the same reaction this time around.

What are we doing in the League and FA Cup that would be so important that a potential Cup Final doesn't matter? We're going to finish midtable in the League no matter what and the FA Cup is another cup competition that we're 5 games away from Wembley in whilst the Capital One Cup would have been 2 games (the Semi-Final).

He makes saves but he doesn't make good saves. He makes the saves you'd expect any keeper to. He had a bad night but considering the circumstances in which he was brought in he is adequate. Five things for me: 1. We appear to want to play the same way we did last season but we replaced Schneiderlin with someone who is 5% as good off the ball and it has ruined our team. Clasie may be better on the ball but that contribution nowhere near makes up for the stuff we've lost off the ball. 2. We aren't giving players who are going to be wanted in January and the summer a reason to stay at the club 3. Padding out the squad with 'so-so' players is a strategy that ultimately fails - why on earth did we do it? 4. We've lost our identity - I couldn't tell you what sort of team we are any more. We're lost in big games. 5. Caulker needs to be sent back. What is he doing that Jack Stephens on a fraction of the wage couldn't?

£27m owed in transfer fees. Strong rumours that many had contracts which had clauses which made it financially difficult. Summer 2014 cleared that £27m but then there was the question of the training ground spend. This summer I think we underspent.

In for Yoshida at full back?

My own belief is not that we haven't spent money, but that we haven't spent money particularly wisely. ~£10m on Juanmi and Romeu when a single £10m player would have much more difference for example. That said I think VvD and Cedric are great business.

The current 16's / 18's were kids scouted and attained during the years we plummeted from the Premier League down to League 1. Supplementary players - certainly at the U18 level the last few years - have come from other Academies (many were rejects from Arsenal / Chelsea rather than being talents who chose us over them). The overall quality is not as good as it has been. A few aside it will be a lean few years from the Academy. However, in the post-takeover era things have picked up and I told the current 14/15 year olds who came to us 6 years ago are decent as long as their development continues as it has. We just have to accept that the next few years won't be as good.

Report on official website said Jaidi was in charge. Anyone know where Martin Hunter was? If he was there some of the players would be making the journey back with limbs missing...

Juanmi got into some nice positions but in the last quarter of the match Mane decided to do everything and anything by himself. Quite frustrating.

Ignore what position he is playing on the pitch though - it's his ability to make mistakes which are invariably punished. Even in games where we win he has it in his locker. It's not something that only happens when he plays right-back. I wouldn't mind him playing right back if he didn't make those mistakes. But he does, time and time again. Brain farts which cost us goals. If he didn't make them he'd be a very serviceable right-back as backup.

I'm not losing faith in him and I think he has done a fantastic job overall but I do think he makes some very strange decisions at times which appear to really hurt us. We're obviously not armed with all the facts he is in making his decisions but if we are to take his public comments at face value that he will not play Mane and Cedric in the same side when Mane is deployed on the right then basically we're going to end up playing Yoshida at right back for quite a few games this season. The only games we won't will be when Mane plays behind Pelle and Davis plays on the right - but that means one of Romeu or JWP plays next to Wanyama and I don't think Koeman truly fancies either of them there. It's a problem.

I would. But I also think he could have put the same team out yesterday and told them to play our normal way rather than have such a defensive mentality.

A shame we were not more bold from the start in both team selection or set-up. We were far too defensive which invited Man City to attack us and they were only more than happy to do so since the one thing they hate doing is defending (because they can't do it). Only when the game was effectively over did we sort ourselves out and attempt to give them a game. I absolutely hated the balance in the centre of the park with Romeu (who continues to underwhelm for me), Wanyama and Ward-Prowse. When we had the ball the passing was not good enough and having Davis out on the left was a massive waste given the form he is in right now. As for the Yoshida selection, it appears he plays not based on the merit of the opposition we face but rather that when Mane starts on the right Koeman doesn't trust him to support his full back so he plays Yoshida. The logic behind this is somewhat sound but the thing that completely undermines it is Yoshida's ability to make major mistakes which lead to goals. Right now I'd rather be challenging Cedric in that role to deal with Mane's lack of cover than to continue seeing Yoshida cost us. Despite all this we had a golden chance to equalise but it wasn't to be. But the main thing for me - don't be overly defensive in games because he doesn't play to our strengths and our record at coming from behind is awful. We always need a start in games.

Two problems: 1. Formation is far too defensive 2. Players have no idea how to play it. Other than that we're doing brilliantly.

Sterling vs. Yoshida. **** sake.

Go for it: http://www.cultzeros.co.uk/product/18477/jhon-viafara-southampton/

I like the idea that we send a spy to watch players

I'm not giving the club stick for giving JWP all the chance in the world to develop, I just also want to see Reed given some sort of a chance as well. It's not clear to me why one is getting a chance and the other not. There is probably a good reason, but for me it's not evident for any reason on the pitch that I have seen.

Romeu is more physical by virtue of his size I agree, but Reed puts it about too. Romeu is the better player right now but I always thought we would give young players a chance to develop in the first team and that was our big 'thing'. We've done it with JWP despite so many nothing performances I don't see why we wouldn't do it with Reed and saved ourselves £5m and bigger wages on Romeu. I can certainly think of other places in the team that £5m would have been better utilised right now (though a part of that is benefit of hindsight and all that). I think Reed has shown more than enough that he can contribute in the middle of the park for us - and I am sure he could have done it to the degree Romeu has thus far this season. Of course I am presuming Romeu is the finished article - if he goes on to get far better then my point is redundant. But I don't see it myself.

Personally think Harry Reed should have had much more of a chance and the signing of Romeu must have been a kick in the teeth for him.

1. Would you approach all for extensions? Hard to say on a financial level because we don't know what the wage bill is this year, how much wriggle room we have with FFP, and what impact our new sponsorship deals will have in the summer on our budget for wages. I think with the new TV deal and presumed far better commercial income we have the ability to increase our wage bill a fair bit - but so do other clubs. I'd offer Pelle a years extension to give both him and us that security - we'd have to starve off interest from Italy but with Jay Rod having a question mark against him (and being a different sort of player) we have no obvious successor to Pelle and that is a concern. Tadic deserves a new deal if he can piece together a complete season - I'd wait until the summer in that case. Sadly I think Mane is off but it will be for a club record fee. Forster - I am not so sure - feel easier about keepers going into the last few years of their deal as the market for them is so much smaller. Who would he leave us for? Would he replace the keepers for any of the teams who finished above us last season? I don't think so myself. 2. When is the right time to do so? Pelle - January Tadic - summer Mane - forget it, he's off. Forster - 18 months (presuming he has proved he is back 100%) 3. Do you think they would be keen? Pelle - maybe Tadic - yes Mane - no Forster - yes 4. How much of a factor is Koeman's position at the club? Not as much of a factor as money in my opinion.