In recent weeks Saints have gone off the boil a little in a run of form which almost exactly mirrors the second half of last season.

A look back at last season after the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino and then a comparison with this term shows a remarkably similar run of form, back then Saints struggled a little in the first games of that run, went on a superb streak of form and then tailed off without winning a game in the final six.

This is almost identical to what has happened this term, in the first four games after the win at West Brom we drew 2 and lost 1 of the next three games before our purple patch, now we find ourselves having gone 5 games without a win.

In those 16 games last season under our new manager we gained 19 points, in the first 16 this term we have 24 and we now stand on the threshold of six difficult games culminating in Sunderland away exactly a year to the day when Mauricio Pochettino was unveiled to the world as our new manager.

What we do in our next six games will not only go a long way in deciding which direction we will be taking in the second half of the season, whether it will be upwards and revive hopes of a top six finish or whether it will be downwards and a similar position as to last year.

But given the similarities to the two runs of form in that at the start of both we were looking over our shoulder at the bottom three, picked up magnificently and then when we reached a comfortable mid table position we took our foot off the gas, we have to ask the question of whether pressure on the players is a big factor in getting them to perform at their best.

back in the 1990's when Saints fought a few relegation battles, what kept us up was despite the fact that for most of the season we would be well beaten, at the end with the pressure truly on we could focus win vital games and stay up, when we went to places like Arsenal etc we were resigned to defeat, we didnt feel we could win, play Coventry or Charlton etc and we were focussed.

Certainly there is evidence to support this now, too many mistakes have been made this season through lapses of concentration and individual error, when the pressure is on ironically enough you dont tend to get this as much as you might think, players become focused and have their minds fixed on just what they need to do, however when that pressure is off it is easy to become complacent and make stupid mistakes and in rcent weeks there has been far too many of these, both by those seen as first team regulars as well as squad players as in Yoshida and Hooiveld in recent games.

Again we dont seem to truly have the faith that we can finish in the top six, there have been some fine words spoken, but professional footballers know the score and whether a team is truly good enough and we have just lost some focus, the pressure we thrive on is about keeping our heads truly above water rather than winning the race.

Im not criticising anyone here its perhaps a sign that a team that finished in the lower half of the table last year cant just expect to jump to being a top six club just with the inclusion of a couple of new players, it needs to evolve and that takes time, we need to build a spirit where deep down we truly know we are good enough to attain the targets that are realistic, fine words are just that ! fine, but in any walk of life what you are striving to attain needs to be achievable otherwise it is not actually motivational, but has a negative effect.

This seems to be the situation at the moment, we reached a place where we knew we couldnt keep it up, the pressure that the players were playing under wasnt the same as that of Man City, Liverpool or Arsenal, it was the same as it was last season, pressure coming from the bottom not the top.

But this isnt the end of the world, what we need to do now is re focus our players on just what actually is achievable this season, at the moment that is probably a top ten finish with perhaps 8th as the maximum, we need to concentrate on longer term goals, ie a top ten finish this season, add some more players both in January and the summer and then focusing on improving again next season.

Im sure Mauricio Pochettino will know exactly what is needed, the trick in any business is to under promise and over deliver, if we are guilty of one thing this season it is the exact opposite of that after our recent poor run, we need to re focus and get back to winning ways.

If we do this and set ourselves realistic aims then we can get the pressure on ourselves again in the right way

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 16:27 - Dec 17 Hmm, but you have to look at who we played recently. We were rolling along nicely and then we played Arsenal away, Chelsea away, City at home then Newcastle away. OK Villa was a screw up but then we dominated the game just didn't win. A tough run of games for anyone and we weren't slaughtered in any of them. Agree that we need to get past those and get back to winning the games we can and should starting with Spurs, who knows what they will be like now. At home though so no reason we can't win the game.

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SaintNick added 16:54 - Dec 17 you cant use who we played recently as an excuse as it works both ways so you could also point to runs of good form as "who we played recently" as well. I dont think we are in terminal decline i just think we havent set expectations at the right level yet, perhaps we will get there, but in football you have to have that extra something in players for certain games, we havent had it in recent weeks

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SanMarco added 17:00 - Dec 17 I think SonicBoom's point actually proves the wisdom of the article - if we had a top 4 mentality we would expect something more than 2 points from those games. Yes Villa was a freak result but I reckon we know that 8th is the best we can hope for...
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schatfield added 17:39 - Dec 17 8th would be a very good result. I think thats where West Brom ended up last year, and then expectations rose, and then they sack their manager. Funny old game football. I wouldnt be surprised if the same happened to Poch next year following this season.....
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abingdonsaint added 17:40 - Dec 17 A comparison between this season and last based purely on results is irrelevant really Nick. I go back to my usual principle of believing my eyes, and can't say I have detected any 'lack of focus' to be honest. We have not won games due mainly to difficult fixtures coinciding with injuries to key players (although those who have come in have generally performed well), and the Villa game was a freak! If you played that game 10 times, we would win 9 of them! Anyone who thinks we are not much stronger, and playing much better than last season really needs to pay attention. We are not the finished article, but I am still confident we are more than capable of a top six finish this season, and with the average age of the team, along with the probability of others coming in both from the academy and outside, the only way is up! Keep the faith!

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abingdonsaint added 17:55 - Dec 17 Ps.... just read schatfields comment, and I have heard a lot of these West Brom comparisons. Again, not relevant in my view. West Brom really were a 'surprise package' in that, with respect, they had some solid players playing well in a fairly basic style which involved doing the basics well, then getting the ball to Lukaku. Once he went, they were always going to struggle without that outlet, and their spend and academy intake was minimal. Saints on the other hand have some truly exceptional young players, as well as the 4th highest net transfer spend in the country. This has been added to an imaginative manager ingraining a unique playing style throughout the club. We are only 'surprise packages' because the media is invariably ill-informed and relies on lazy stereotypes. Don't worry.....this is just the start, not a 'flash in the pan!'

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BoondockSaint added 18:43 - Dec 17 It's been our history. Look at the finishes in League 1 and the Championship when we should have won the divisions but fumbled the titles away in the last weeks sometimes losing to teams well below us. I'm hoping we are starting to lose the tendency of playing to the level of the oppostion. If we want to play with the big boys, we have to play with the same attitude they have: that they are going to win no matter who they play. You don't change a team's mental make up overnight, but I think MP is getting there.

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Bulgarian added 19:52 - Dec 17 "the trick in any business is to under promise and over deliver, if we are guilty of one thing this season it is the exact opposite of that" - I am sure the targets set came from NC. He is an honest businessman, so it's his realistic target to aim at the top 4 in the near future, and he'll definitely not buy any lowerings of this target by MP or the players. "The sky is the limit" - I read this as a declaration that this season we don't have a fixed place to aim at, but in a couple of years we should have a go at the Champions League - no excuses made. So everybody from our camp, who mentioned "top 4" in August/September, is just keeping in line with the Chairman's vision. If one dares to play down such talks, he will ruthlessly be sold the next transfer window. That's my interpretation of the situation, I stick to it and I have nothing against it. NC knows where he wants to be, he has the means and intelligence to do it, he will eventually do it or leave the Club. That's it. Happy to be a Saints fan today.

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brianletiss added 20:24 - Dec 17 We need to be realistic though. We have a Manager who has really got the team performing and a great youth set up that keeps bringing through quality players. But we are currently competing against the likes of Swansea and until recently West Brom for eighth spot. We are not going to finish ahead of Man Utd. We don't have the strength or depth of squad - centre back, left back and goalie a case in point. That's nothing against those who have come in - they are either learning their trade or just doing their best. Arsenal supporters moan about their lack of spending but Walcott and Ox Chamberlain have barely played this season and that is £20 million that they paid us in days gone by. You can add Podowski to that. So we might have spent a lot in this transfer window but not relatively over the past few seasons when you look at the others. Yes we need to be ambitious and strive for a bit more than you can reasonably expect but competing with the millions of Man City, Chelsea et. al. on crowds of under 30,000 is not going to happen immediately. Those with even medium term memories will remember all the changes of Manager we had in the mid to late 2000's. We need to build on what we have got and not get over excited and chop and change with every new manager coming in having different ideas and wanting his own players. Yes and I am loving these times at St Mary's too!

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Zambucco added 21:27 - Dec 17 It really annoys me when any current team is compared to those of the past. There is no comparison, what so ever, different owners, chairman, manager, ground, players, the only constant is the supporters and their blinkered vision! This is an entirely new set up and I fully support it and believe that it will take Southampton Football club into an era of trophies, Europe and recognition. I also think that Nick you are wrong in saying that it doesn't matter who we've dropped points against recently, bloody right it does, the 3 teams that are dominant at the moment, and apart from Chelsea we gave as good as we got, and yes glaring mistakes cost us. But aren't those same teams capable of mistakes? I would wager that all those teams will suffer defeats similar to ours against Villa, well Arsenal already have and against Villa and Chelsea just scraped through against WBA. I won't even mention our injuries to key players, but who knows. As for the pressure, I think that with the mentality going through the players they thrive on the challenge and are not fazed by any pressure. WHAT PRESSURE? It's time for the supporters to expect more, to put pressure on with the level of expectation, this is what the big teams react to as well, it pushes them to achieve more to aim higher. It is very rare I disagree with you Nick, I'm not saying you're wrong, we will have to wait and see. Still a top 5 finish for me

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davepid added 10:19 - Dec 18 Abingdon Saint is right: the fundamentals of this club are good. He might have added that our spine of RL, AL, MS and JF have played together for 5 yrs as another factor to our success.i also applaud MP for playing a couple of rising academy stars -let's hope they make it. So we will make league progress probably not to 4 th 5th but a few places below. Whether that's good enough for our owner personally I doubt but that's another matter.

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SaintNick added 10:33 - Dec 18 I take all the points, but I will say, yes 9 times out of 10 we would have beaten Aston Villa, but then again Swansea battered us when we beat them 2-0, 9 times out of 10 they would have beaten us in that game, its swings and roundabouts. I applaud the Chairmans vision, but the problem is there is no measurement to it, on one hand the club are making great strides in getting the press to write glowing articles about how nothing is left to chance, yet on the other hand there is no set measurable plan in going forward in terms of league position and this is why i wrote this piece. Realistically this season our squad is not good enough for above 8th, a look at the table shows us that, especially when you consider that Spurs and Man Utd two clubs supposedly in turmoil are still above us. We should have realistic goals both short term and longer, its fine to say we want to be challenging for the top 4 in say 3 years, but to expect to do it this season with a squad that apart from three additions almost got relegated last season. Realistic target should be 13/14 - Top ten finish, 8th seen as overachieving 14/15 - Top seven finish 5th seen as overachieving 15/16 - Top six finish challenging for top 4 16/17 - Top 4 finish. All these are targets that are measurable and are about building slowly but surely. Some think its about just about following a manual and if we do the right things then success is guaranteed, far from it, indeed our main failings have been in major signings and that is perhaps the biggest worry, unless we start getting these right then how can we hope to step up.

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Bulgarian added 15:06 - Dec 18 I'm just trying to see it in terms of the "Cortese's way". This season it must be top 10 at least - if I'm not mistaken, it's the end of the Five Year Plan, which means it would be great to measure the progress from bottom half of League One to Top ten Premiership. What Nick writes is very believable to be in line with NC's path (but I guess he will never reveal it to details). However I am sure of one thing: the term "ovearachieving" is not in StMary's dictionary today - i'm convinved the next or the third 5 Year Plan will be how to win the Prem.

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