Saints season so far has not ignited in the way it did a year ago, but there are a few underlying reasons for that, but the win against the Swans has meant that we are now nicely poised to march forward.

It is early days in the League yet and perhaps the disappointment of going out of the Europa League has meant that many have been worried that the Saints bubble had burst, I never felt that way and have always pointed out the underlying factor that injuries have ravaged the squad so far this season has contributed much to this slow start, but when we got key players back things would change.

This is now proving the case and the win against Swansea not only pushed us up to 9th in the Premier League but puts us within 4 points of West Ham & Arsenal in 3rd & 4th place and 3 of Spurs in 5th.

That's a nice position to be in after our troubles in the opening six weeks of the season and some have not realised what a solid start we have made given the circunstances indeed in the 7 Premier League games we have played we have now won 2 drawn 3 and lost only twice, that is a start that two years ago we would have given our right arm for and that shows how far we have come in those two years, there fore there is no reason for the so called bedwetters to panic every time we have a crisis.

If we can repeat this points per game ratio throughout the rest of the season then we should be in or around the top 10, but this is where we will not be resting on our laurels, Ronald Koeman although pleased that we have more than kept our heads above water in the difficult opening period, he will want more from his squad in the coming months.

Last seasons success has lead to some getting unrealistic expectation and it is expectation that will be the biggest problem amongst the supporters, repeating last seasons start was always going to be hard, but the fans have to be patient and they have to be realistic abut what success would actually be.

Personally I think a good season would be 10th, some would say that would be going backwards after 7th last year and 8th the season before that, but I would not be one of them, we are building something long term, yes 10th would in some ways be a little disappointing, but the reality would be that Saints have achieved three consecutive top ten finishes and that should be our first goal as that would cement us in the same group as the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and Everton, we then will have a great foundation to build on and take the next step.

So make no bones this is a good solid start, not great like last year, but we have come though some tough games and we are in the top 10, when really start firing on all cylinders I think this season will be better than the last.

Photo: Action Images

saintsnutcase added 12:39 - Sep 27 Nick, finishing 10th would not put us in the same bracket as Liverpool and Spurs, who are always in the top 6.
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exitclub added 14:22 - Sep 27 I see us finishing 6th. You heard it here first
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ChristchurchSaint added 15:40 - Sep 27 Bearing in mind that we are without our first choice goalkeeper, have been without our first choice left back, our new midfielder and have a new central defender (who seems to be settling in well!) we can't realistically hope to be at last season's level at this stage. I think that 7/8th is not beyond us if we carry on from our last 2 results.
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SanMarco added 16:36 - Sep 27 One small and maybe pedantic point about us being hit by injuries: Clasie happened in pre-season but other than that the others weren't surprises so I am not sure the slow start (and it is a slow start given the teams we have played) can be blamed on injuries. I think it is the disruption caused by a second summer in a row of too many ins and outs. That said, nothing wrong with a slow start if we can quietly build up speed - a good second half of the season gets you as many points as a good first half...

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IWOZTHERE added 11:36 - Sep 28 We were never going to 'get away with it' again. Too many 'ins and outs', quantity rather tha n quality (in some cases) to cover the Euronuisance, injuries, and getting VVD late. Add that to the boil on my arse and it's been an uncomfortable few weeks! Looks promising now though, should come to a head this weekend !!! As 'bedwetters' were mentioned again.... Together with 'neggies' these people are often misidentified. They will usually come up with balanced views whether positive or negative. There are a few who moan about everything , but it seems to me that there are just as many so-called 'happy clappers' who go from one extreme to the other, a minority who often take out their frustrations on individual players by being abusive.

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BoondockSaint added 14:12 - Sep 28 We are not up amongst the likes of Spuds, Scousehampton and Eversecondbest if we can't beat them when we play them. (Or, should I say, find some way to lose). But, with that goal in mind, I'm happy with Spuds and Scouse winning this weekend, because it saved their manager's jobs-if we have any chance of catching them, we need those two in charge!
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