Chez

we `work to rule' so to speak (9-5.30) which is great as it prevents lots of long days for no extra money but crap if you want to sneak out early. Whoever moved the day is a tit.

you've hit the nail on the head. What I don't understand is why this hostility all of a sudden. Block 4 supporters haven't done anything of note to deserve this negativity.

sounds like you want 4-4-2, which we tried and it enabled us to keep it tight but stifled us attacking wise. Pardew gambled on a more attacking formation and we have prospered. Lallana works best in a 4-3-3 formation (as you say starting out wide but with liscence to roam) and he and us have played our best stuff over the last two games. We are playing the Chelsea formation and that works for them and has done for years. Wotton is our Makele (blimey) and Lallana is our Joe Cole - capable out wide but perhaps not his best position. I think it is worth sticking with this formation. I don't see anyone at the club that can play left midfield in a 4-4-2.

agree with that. My concern though would be if AL says he wants to leave. We can't hold him against his will. I suppose we can at least hold out for the right price though. How long has he left on his contract? Why not offer him a new 5 year deal right here and now adn show we mean serious business. We need to follow Peterborough's lead as I think they did the same with McClean and Boyd.

I finish work at 5.30pm in Soton on Friday. Whats the chances of me getting there on time? Sounds like none.

Says who? Ever thought that it might have been a thousand supporters that were annoyed (to varying degrees) by the closure of blocks 1-3? A thousand people chose to sit there week in week out for 7 or 8 seasons so why would they be happy to move elsewhere for absolutely no reason whatsoever. On Saturday there were 6 or 7 old bill (and SFC stewards) patrolling the edge of Block 4, so even WITH the cost cutting measures we had security costs which I would guess were absolutely no different to when blocks 1-3 were open.

a man of my own heart.

I don't think it was. As I have said all along it was his first full season last year and he's still a young player finding his feet, so inconsistency is to be expected. Those old enough to remember MLT when he first started will know that even he put in some pretty torrid displays at times. Lallana is a cut above the rest at this level. He will still play poorly at times but enjoy him while you can because he is going to be a very good player indeed and unless we push for promotion he might not be here next season.

yep, just backing you up as some seem to disagree. Weird.

I am amazed at the number of people that went to the game but couldn't see that we played three in the middle, Wotton holding and Hammond/Mellis pushing on. Lambert played up front and Waigo right wing and Lallana left wing. Lallana certainly had freedom to roam a little but he played left wing.

what's that you say?Unpredictability? I think the term you are looking for is fantastic ball skills. Why on earth would we bring Holmes in when Lallana is already playing left wing?

no he didn't. He played as a supporting striker against Carlise and left wing against Rovers. Mellis played down the middle in both games (Rovers and Gillingham) it was a 4-3-3 in both games.

but he's played left wing the last two games?

it seems so, but there has been two threads on this, emails from David Luker, a news item on the OS website and yet I still don't have a clue why the club are not selling tickets for this section. Was this discussed at all at the recent Fans meeting? If not why not?

No you didn't ONLY ask was he dropped or injured, you questioned his desire and comittment to the cause and did so IMO without any justification whatsoever. You don't know your arse from your elbow like so many on here. Save your name calling for the play ground you child.

I think you underestimate the energy and pace Mellis has offerd us over the last two games. He has made forward runs, many unseen that have pushed the oposiiton back, but just as important has been the speed in which he has close oponents down. I'm extremely uncouraged by those two showings and if he can keep that level of energy and performance up I don't see how he can be dropped. James is cover ad is Gillett. Regarding Gillett AP seems to want to play him at the head of the diamond, perhaps he is concerned about his close control, which can be hit and miss.

agreed, but Wotton is bloody awful though.

can you move from block 4 to 5 for free though? Block 5 is a centre ticket and more expensive isn't it? Or do you mean they are free to move over to the Kingsland? If thats the case let me say that being miles from the away fans is ****. No banter.

which has been all but eradicated. Madness.

its bloody rediculous and ****ed me off no end. This move all seems to have stemmed from the Leeds United bottle throwing game if you ask me. With all the `love' around the new regime taking over I just don't understand why they didn't open the Itchen block 1,2 and 3 and get rid of the last **** Lowe policy and give the fans their club back once and for all. All very strange.

why restrict choice though? Stupid Lowesque style move this.

I thought Mellis was OK against Rovers myself doing a shed load of running, especially to close down the opposition - when he tired that was when we went under the cosh. but either way Pardew has finally picked him in the position he plays. If, as I did, you looked at the youtube material of him, he played all the time in the Lampard bombing on role down the middle whilst at Chelsea and why we then stuck him out wide where he looked lost I will never know. He looks at home there and his athletism will be a great asset and will work opposing defences hard at the very least. My one concern is that we have found a great formation to accomodate Lallana, Waigo and Mellis, but this will leave us exposed down the wings where we have two slow fullbacks. Gillingham were terrible out wide so it was easy, but we saw on Tuesday what a decent pacet wideman could do - we had to change the formation to try and stop it.

you put it much better than I did.

He had a brilliant game, 10 out of 10 for me, and showed what a class act he is. But I thought the difference in Lambert was that he played ten yards further forward and didn't drop into the hole as much meaning we actually had someone at the front of the xmas tree.

Morgan's tackling has improved though and he has put himself about a lot more. The other thing is that he covers the ground a lot quicker than Wotton. The thing for me is that Morgan has it in him to get forward but if we are going to play this two wingers and two midfielders pushing on we need someone playing the Makalele-won't-cross-the-half-way-line-role and that is a tough ask for a player of Morgans class. Maybe Morgan is the direct replacement for Hammond? Nice problem.