Some comments on social media seem to suggest that Saints are in big trouble after failing to land anyone in the January transfer window, but I would disagree.
Like most Saints fans I am disappointed that the club has failed to make a signing in January and Im a little concerned that we have loaned out Cedric and Hoedt that leaves us short in key areas at the back, but I'm a little concerned and no more than that.
Obviously it would have been better to have plugged gaps but a panic buy didn't help us much last season and it won't help us now, the club have stuck to their guns and only signed players if the player and the price is right.
So why does this not spell disaster ? The simple answer is history !
A year ago we were in a worse position and falling fast and we still stayed up, that is the first piece of evidence and also the most flimsy.
However the rest has a lot more substance, the first is Ralph Hasenhuttl, in his two months at the club he has transformed the team from a disorganised, demotivated poorly lead group, into a spirited squad who can win games and grind out results, the Austrian's points per game record is far better than last season and if maintained will see us stay up easily.
Secondly there is no reason why it should not be maintained, the squad has not been improved in the transfer window, but with Cedric the only player who has left who has played any real game time since Hassenhuttl arrived it has not really got any worse either, indeed with the likes of Lemina, Bertrand & Obafemi all set to return from injury it could be said that Hasenhuttl will have a better squad to selet from than at any point since he arrived.
Thirdly we now have a game plan, the manager is focused and the players clear on what our objectives are that in turn leads to good team spirit as mentioned before, compare us to a year ago and it is chalk and cheese.
Fourthly man management, there are still some players who come under fire from the fans, Charlie Austin who appears good enough for at least three other Premier League clubs to want him is slagged off mercilessly by some as is Mo Elyounoussi.
Now both would probably not get in anyone's starting line up, but they could still both be the most vital players in the remainder of the season, Austin isn't fit enough for 90 minutes nor Hasenhuttl's pressing game, but he is fit enough for 25 minutes at the end of a game to come on and score goals and nobody can deny he has a knack for that, not letting Austin go unless we had a replacement was a wise move and the manager knows exactly where he can fit in.
Likewise Elyounoussi, he has failed to impress so far, but he has the ability and is perhaps the nearest we have in the side to a true playmaker who can turn games, again Hasenhuttl recognised that on Wednesday when he needed to change the pattern of play and bring someone on who could slow the game down and play a killer ball, OK i didn't have a direct impact on the goal, but the time will perhaps come for Elyounoussi and we should recognise that just because he hasn't been great at first that does not mean he will never improve, Redmond and more recently Stuart Armstrong are cases to prove that point.
Finally the fans ! Most Saints fans are a lot more positive about the club than a year ago and rightly so, if you want to know how important the fans are to the team ask Ralph Hasenhuttl, he has spoken on the subject recently.
WE now need just positivity both on and off the field, that will be worth a few points that we lost last season but will gain this, slagging off the board or the owners will achieve nothing between now and the end of the season, everyone has to be given a chance to prove their worth and that the club is on track, at the end of the season is the time to judge between now and then we need the support that we have seen in recent weeks.
The travelling fans at Leicester roared the team to what at the moment is a vital victory, against Everton the St Mary's crowd was superb, against Palace less so with a few moans creeping in, but we got going in the final 15 minutes and need to keep doing that.
The supporters are the lifeblood of this and any football club, lets have some pride in our club and what it has achieved and continued to achieve, we want to get back the missing 3,000 on Wednesday night, a year ago things looked bleak, but now we are on the up again, this is not the same club as a year ago, even three months ago, Im proud of Southampton Football Club, in the main i'm proud of most of our supporters, I want a full St Mary's every week roaring the team on nothing more nothing less, if it isn't then I respect why people don't want to go.
So the future is starting to become brighter, things are not quite right yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day, it is a long steady job back to where we were, we won't get there by short term fixes and this transfer window showed that the club recognise that.
We will get there by doing things the right way and sticking to our plan, a plan that has never changed in the last five years, just sometimes not worked as well as we have hoped and been subject to events beyond our control e we can't force players to stay as Van Dijk showed. But although we panicked a year ago and veered off the plan, we are back on course now.
This transfer window does not mean disaster for Saints as individual defeats will not either, it s one step at a time and we will take some forward ones and some back ones, stick with it.