Whilst it would have been great to still be top 3, I am not downhearted really. I am very happy with Saints, especially as I can only see us being better next year. Not saying we will be higher in the league (because that also depends on the performance of others), but I think we will play even better and score more goals.
And back to this season: one weekend switch around of results and Saints are right back in the heart of the top 4, so don't even begin to think we're not in the mix. If you want a boost, compare a few of the run-ins of rival teams. We're sitting very handily indeed.
I have some sympathy with the article (though not with its tone). I've mentioned reversion to the mean before. So, a run of exceptionally good or bad performances will end without your making any changes, as you revert to your baseline performance. All well and good and a cause for optimism given our recent blip. However, one could argue that the start of the season was our blip in form. We looked like we were scoring whenever we had a decent chance to score and Pelle looked like a hero. However, it could be that those were the abnormal performances and that we've reverted to our true level of play. I hasten to add that our current level of play is none too shabby, but it's not going to get us into the top four. So, I can see the point he's trying to make. It would have been much more palatable without the layer of acid icing. Vin
At the start of a season everyone is sizing each other up and games are a little more open. Teams wouldn't have thought a point against Southampton as much of an achievement. We hit those run of defeats with perhaps a little over confidence from our early season form as we tried to go toe to toe with City. Koeman revised our tactics slightly to be more counter attacking with Mane up top and it worked a treat. Now we've come up against a run of clubs who think a point against Saints does represent value. They're not committing any bodies forward and the emphasis is on us to break them down and it's not been going great. That's probably where the article is correct in it's view that we don't have the individual quality of the other sides and I don't think even the most staunch supporter would think we did. Coutinho, Eriksen, Sanchez all bag goals from nowhere to win games. Can't remember the last time one of our player picked the ball up from outside the area and bent it in the top corner.
