Welcome back to LFW Mark Higgins, Southampton fan here to tell us whether they really can maintain that Champions League push ahead of this weekend's trip to Loftus Road.

Assess Southampton's amazing season so far for us, and will it have a happy ending?

It’s been remarkable on the pitch, backed up by what has started to become normal off of it — the emergence of a well-run, forward thinking club. This season had all the hallmarks of becoming a copy of last season — a heady start at the top end of the league, a terrible run that dropped us down to mid-table and a finish there as injuries and suspensions took their toll on a small squad. That is, until we started winning games again meaning that, as we speak, we’re still in the top four.

It’s a ludicrous proposition frankly, but the table doesn’t lie — we’ve won enough games to be there, we’ve scored enough goals and we’re keeping enough out. The fact that a home loss to Swansea warranted a few boos around St Mary’s last weekend is testament to the fact that expectations have been raised, and whilst it’s never nice to hear it’s a sign that the fans expect this team to live up to their potential and finish the job they’ve started this season.

As far as I’m concerned, there are four goals in the Premier League: survival, Europa League qualification, Champions League qualification and winning the thing. We’ve all but assured the first one — and believe me, there’s a sizable part of me that’s still worrying about that — so logically the next step has to be looking at finishing at least fifth (or likely sixth, as these things tend to work out). The advantage we have is that we’ve played home and away against a couple of major rivals around us in the shape of United and Arsenal — and the six points we took from those two recently has to be seen as the high point of the season.

The home matches against Spurs and Liverpool are going to be very tasty indeed, but if we can do well in those I don’t see why we can’t achieve European football for next season. There’s a lot still to do but after bringing in Filip Djuricic from Benfica and the return of a few injured players the squad has to believe they’re capable of it.

What has Ronald Koeman done well, what does he have to improve on?

The most important thing is probably the flexibility he’s added to the system. Pochettino’s high-pressing game could be dramatically effective but often left us vulnerable to letting in goals on the counter as opponents learnt what we were doing. The midfield’s ability to assist the defence as well as push forward is something we weren’t capable of doing last season, and that’s why we’ve let in fewer goals. The full back partnership of Bertrand and Clyne is a remarkable one — I can’t think of any wingers that have got the better of either of them this season.

Koeman didn’t come in and change everything about the club — he was hired based on his ability to work within how the club was setup and saw it as a long term challenge. His targets to bring in — the likes of Dusan Tadic and Toby Alderweireld — matched the club’s philosophy. His impressive pedigree as a player and his calm demeanour means he’s got the respect of the players and that matched with confidence from winning under him goes an incredibly long way.

On the other hand it sometimes feels like there’s no plan B when things aren’t going well. Against Swansea we should have wrapped the game up with a quick goal — they came for a draw and left with a win and we weren’t able to break them down. A well timed and placed substitute to change the system around might have been welcome, but he’s not a man for spur of the moment decisions.

Plenty of high profile departures last summer, why have none of those players who left been able to replicate their Southampton form elsewhere?

The main issue here is that at Southampton, those players were part of a distinct team with a distinct style and a distinct goal. Pochettino’s high pressing game depended on every player working together, pushing hard and trying to get the ball back at all opportunities. As a squad fitness levels were generally high, we didn’t fade towards the end of the match and players like Lambert and Lallana were responsible for defensive as well as offensive duties. It was fantastic seeing them chasing down players, getting the ball and working for the team. What fan wouldn’t enjoy that?

They haven’t had that at their new clubs. Dejan Lovren is probably the best example of this. Without the likes of Wanyama, Schneiderlin and Davis acting as a shield, the errors he made last season aren’t covered up any more. That’s why a player like Jose Fonte, widely seen as the weak link of that centre back partnership last season, has looked so good this year. He’s working with the midfield and knows he’s got that support, and that confidence makes him a much better player. Lovren wasn’t able to adapt fast enough and in a team with as many players as Liverpool is going to have difficulty getting back into the first eleven.

Lambert is a real shame on both counts, because he should have known he wasn’t going to get a lot of game time with the likes of Sturridge and Sterling in that Liverpool team. When they were able to spend £16m on the likes of Balotelli without any real hope of a return he must have known the game was up. We’d have him back any time. With Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers you could argue that Utd and Arsenal were paying for potential but of the two only Chambers seems to have found any rhythm so far. They’re examples of how Southampton have got something special but it only works if everyone on the team is doing the same thing.

Who's next off the academy production line? Arsenal were asking...

Ryan Seager came off the bench against Swansea and is probably the best hope for a striker from the academy — Sam Gallagher was the last one to get a run in the first team towards the end of last season and looked extremely green. He’s been injured but I wouldn’t expect to see him back there any time soon. Harrison Reed has been starting a few games in the wake of our injury-ravaged midfield and looked solid, making some good tackles, playing intelligently with the ball and working with the back four.

Matt Targett has looked good at left back, which is useful given that Ryan Bertrand will be suspended for the match this weekend as well as West Ham and Liverpool. Necessity has brought all these players into the team and in my opinion is one of the few benefits of such a small squad — the responsibility comes quickly and it’s up to the players to show they’re good enough.

Who have been the stand out players, and where are the weak links?

Steven Davis has been a model of consistency this season — one of those fairly average players who found his game jumped up a notch once he came to Southampton. He’s tenacious on the ball and gets amongst everything in the middle of the pitch. Not the most glamorous player perhaps, but one you’re always happy to see on the team sheet. Similarly in the midfield, Wanyama and Schneiderlin are a huge part of the team and are notable in their absence at the moment — we always look a much more dangerous team with them both playing. After a season of playing like a bull in a china shop Wanyama looks solid and capable of some real moments of flair, whereas Morgan has realized his best chance of playing for a top four team this season is to try and make Southampton one. How long he stays remains to be seen but for this season he’s more than made up for the want away antics last summer.

Graziano Pelle is a quality striker, but when he’s not scoring it’s a problem and that’s been a few games too many at the moment. A blistering start to the season but he looks lost on occasions. Some of that’s due to the lack of service he’s getting from midfield, and teams learning that keeping it tight around him makes it easy to stop him from breaking through, but he needs to be doing more. We’re low on strikers, borne witness by the fact that the eminently goal-shy Emmanuel Mayuka has been getting on the field, and Pelle needs to step up. Sadio Mane has had flashes of brilliance but also more than a few flashes of falling over. He’s got a feeling of a luxury player about him which we can ill afford at present. Shane Long could do with knocking a few more but in fairness we knew that when we bought him.

Short, medium and long term aims for the club? Can Southampton realistically push for the top four consistently?

Short term has to be Europa League qualification. We’ve shown we can stick it at the top end of the table, and to capitulate now after showing what this squad is capable of would be a sickener. Medium term it has to be to maintain a European place. Obviously it would be a treat to play European football for a season, but if that results in a drop down the table all the hard work will have been for one brief spell. We’ve seen what’s happened with Spurs, Everton and Villa on Thursday nights and squad expansion would have to play a part — fortunately, the academy has shown itself to be pretty decent at supplying the odd player or two.

Long term, our best chance of getting into the Champions League has to be winning the Europa League. Finishing fourth in the league is a hard old business as Arsene Wenger knows all too well, and at the moment I don’t know if we’ve got the clout to bring in the players to consistently achieve that goal. Everyone likes a cup final as well.

The Twitter @higginsmark, @loftforwords

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Photo: Action Images

simmo added 11:13 - Feb 6 'Necessity has brought all these players into the team and in my opinion is one of the few benefits of such a small squad – the responsibility comes quickly and it’s up to the players to show they’re good enough.' EXACTLY. Someone remind me to bring this up in the next thread about our young players not being good enough!
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AgedR added 23:50 - Feb 6 After tomorrow, I'd be delighted for you to win every one of your remaining games
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TacticalR added 11:54 - Feb 7 Thanks to Mark. It's interesting that Southampton have been able to adjust to different managers and different players, and yet still retain a feeling of continuity.
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