Chez

he didn't play up front at Brighton so your point it mute.

I thought Harding had Buckley pretty much in his pocket. D'Urso screwed him by booking him for an excellent tackle and then having words for what was a strong shoulder. When Fox came on we didn't tighten up. In the second half Buckley did as he pleased. That said he didn't get much cover. Bit that's my point. He doesn't seem capable of handling one on ones. Fox is classy on the ball. He's great at getting out of trouble. But he needs to stretch his legs a bit more when we go forward.

I thought Forte might have made a meal of it and IMO neither the linesman nor ref saw it. D'Urso guessed, so Greer may have been very unlucky.

hope they have some change from the £90m as it needs a lot of work

explains why we took you to pieces whilst the sides had equal numbers.

in the clip above. The flick was god, but when it came back to him it should have been tucked away. If it was offside then it wouldn't have mattered, but he still should have buried it. His link up play was good, but he wasn't striking the ball well before his injury. We need him scoring goals if he is to start games.

very good point. Connelly should have buried that chance.

did they have to pay for the railway station because I can't see where the £90m went. Still, a damn sight better than the Withdean.

didn't feel that way at all. We were playing well and it felt to me like it was just a matter of time before we scored in the second half. Sadly the red card ruined things.

the red card (looked like Lambert lashed out and he had to go although D'Urso totally ignored El-Abd dragging Lambert to the ground right in front of him that led to the wrestling and the eventual kick/push or whatever it was that git him sent off) changed the game completely, until that point we totally dominated, had complete control of the game and carved them open at will. Connelly should have taken his chance but he fluffed it. Was Lallanas effort over the line? How we weren't two up at half time I will never know. I thought the formation worked a treat and we looked back to our best. Shame. Once down to ten we lost the plot. Connelly found himself in no mans land in midfield and we lost our shape and they took control. Adkins failed completely to set us up appropriately to cope with being a man down, although Guly going off (if he was injured) did not help. If he took him for tactical reasons then Adkins ****ed us. I thought Connelly should have gone off and Reeves on. We needed more mobility in midfield when down to ten, but DC offered less. Davis 4 at complete fault for the first goal, spilling another long shot that he should have held. A man down, you can't make that kind of mistake. Gave us no chance. When down to ten he kicked long too often. He needs options, but I thought he had them but took too long. Richardson 5 decent first half but got run ragged in the second half by Lua Lua who outpaced him a lot. Tried his best, but hard to cope with raw pace Martin 7 solid and didn't give Smith an inch Jos 7 likewise, very good first half display, they didn't have a sniff, hard to say if he could do more to prevent the third goal Harding 6 very unlucky. The yellow was a great tackle in my book and the shoulder barge did not deserve a talking to at all. This forced Adkins' hand. He was playing well until then, pushing forward and decent distribution. Guly 7 thought he was having a good game in midfield, he was at the heart if a lot our good stuff, but then seemed to get injured (a hamstring pull perhaps). He carried on then was subbed, we went backwards quickly after that Cork 8 worked his socks off and did everything possible, but once down to ten there just wasn't enough options or threat. Missed an open goal that would have got us back into it Hammond 6 another that was having a good game until the red card, but dissappeared as the game got stretched Lallana 7 miles better. Was involved in everything and got between the lines well and caused lots of problems. Faded a little though after the red. Not sure I would have subbed him though Connelly 6 excellent link up play and we were running the game through him, but as soon as we went down to 10 he was of no use whatsoever and should have been subbed. Away from home you have to take your chances. He didn't take his. It cost us badly. Lambert 2 he was having a poor game anyway, but lost his head and that cost us the match Fox 4 defensively he just runs backwards until another Saint can help him. He never gets tight enough. Perhaps he doesn't have the pace so is worried about being done so he drops so deep. If we spent £1.7m on him then it was wasted as he doesnlt appear to have the defensive attributes you need (pace, pace and just enough pace to cope with any wideman). Going forward he never busts a gut to overlap. When you are down to ten you need to do more than normal. He didn't. Forte 7 ran the channels, worked hard, offered himself. Did well on his own Reeves not on long enough, should have replaced Connelly ages before. Missed trick by Adkins

34 games in our promotion season and I can't remember more than one bad game.

ANBs garbage might be the wrong word, but he has been poor since coming back from the injury.

if we finish 7th should Nigel be sacked for "****ing it up"? We are top because of him not despite.

I knew you'd ask that. Tough one as I have never rated Holmes. He has an excellent first touch and is OK in the final third, no trick or pace, but he can create a yard and get a cross in. My issue has always been his engine. He is fine as an out and out winger, but as part of a four man midfield he just does not get up and down enough leaving us open defensively. However, in recent weeks Lallana has been exactly the same. Very laboured when tracking back. Almost no pressure on the ball and at times ball watching and not helping Fox at all. Not always I might point out, but much more than normal. At the start of the season his work rate was immense, but the injury has really taken a toil on his fitness. Back to Holmes, I'm not sure he could do worse than Lallana, who quite clearly needs to sort his fitness or injury out. The last league game Holmes started was at Millwall under Pardew and he was actually very good. He didn't do anything much with the ball, but he was a great out (his first touch ensuring we kept the ball in tight areas) and he worked his socks off. If he can replicate that sort of display then I'd be more than happy to bring him in and allow Lallana a break or even to come on as an impact sub. It's a gamble, but we can't continue to carry Lallana. That said Lallana might just need more games to find his fitness. I guess only he and the physio etc. know that. If he needs games then obviously continue to play him as the sooner we have him back to his best the better.

how quickly you forget, we were there when it counted last May. How? Because we kept bloody winning. Funnily enough we are top of the table 6 months later because we keep bloody winning.

Reading could still win this league. They aren't going to sell anyone near their first team squad in the window. No chance.

not sure what point you are trying to make. Without question our outgoings exceed our income, so the sale of AOC will have helped to balance the books. Whether we really needed that money or not (ie. the Liebherr loans need to be repaid) has yet to be disclosed, but our accounts will look a damn sight better with the sale. I'm also inclined to believe the sale was agreed long before it was announced, providing ample confidence that funds would be available to make all those signings/contract improvements during the summer.

you weren't watching closely enough, he sliced a lot, he struggled to get any distance (he barely made the half way line) and he put his team under pressure a few times with bad clearances. He looked like he was carrying an injury to me. We should have put him under more pressure as every time we chased it down he struggled.

He has been largely poor since returning from injury and for me he doesn't look fit.

I have no idea, but we lost £7m in the first season, and maybe (someone will be able to tell us) a similar sum in the second year so we have relied on the owners to find that overspending. The AOC fee will have gone a long way to cover those two seasons of losses. I don't think there are huge huge sums available, certainly not £5m, but there will be some money.

absolutely spot on. Never seen the fans jump on a players back so quickly and his form went pretty quickly after that.

of course we had the ambition, but you might be right about the lack of financial muscle. Some seem to think we shoukd be spending £5m on a striker FFS. Still we did manage to find the coffers to buy Fox, Cork and Jos not to mention the muscle to offer new contracts to Lambert, Hammond, Fonte...

you are bored of hearing that we top of the league? And there's me thinking the "our play off hopes are hanging by a thread" post was your finest hour.

good point, I think though that the Forte signing undermines him a bit. It was such a weird signing. I guess it depends how much he cost. If it was £100,000, then no one will mind, but if it was £800,000 say, then it is a very poor signing. However all his other perm signings have been great so even with that relative dud his record has been good to date building well on Pardew's brilliant signings.

his kicking was woeful as well