Professor

Not impressed with Forte and N'Guessen as signings in January should be to strengthen the team and I can't see that either of these has done that. Overall, if the team can't get a goal in 45 minutes against ten men, its hard to think they are good enough for automatic promotion.

It clear that Pulis will not make the standard required for a place in the Saints' team but the constant rubbishing of the player by some posters merely shows their own ignorance. He may not be good enough for L1 but football professionals who are better placed than your average fan, obviously think he can do a job for them in L2. Giving him experience so that a club may want to sign him permamently makes good sense, in the meantime, how about just laying off him, as some of the comments suggest we have a few former school bullies in the fan base, which is very sad (for them).

Brighton are showing all the attributes of a L1 championship winning side. With the points gap back to 8 points, realistically Saints can rule out catching them. So is the Saints team is good enough to make second place. It looks achievable on the points needed and on Lallana to come back, but that places a lot of reliance on one player making all the difference and other teams dropping points. The others around and above us are competing well or even better that Saints, so that 3 wins in the next three games for us now looks a minimum requirement. If we only get 5 or 6 points I'd write-off automatic promotion unless Bournemouth, Huddersfield and Charlton all hit a bad patch and at the moment that doesn't look likely.

Its 'Not very good anymore'. DS looks to have reached his level in L1, by which I kean a mid-table L1 side with no prospect of going any further. It wassn't just that he struggled and made mistakes against P'Boro that gave them 2 of their goals but he showed that his instincts are not good enough, his reactions not fast enough. Whether Adkins agrees will depend on what the coaches see on the training ground as well as how he performs when he gets a game but it will not surprise me if we see less of him in the next few weeks. The ambition of a promotion winning team that would go on to make an impact in the NpC is looking unrealistic as there are too many weak spots in the squad and Seaborne is one of them. If we do get promoition, which looks more than ever as if it will depend on the lottery, I expect Seaborne to go. If we stay down, then maybe another season at this level to see if he can improve.

Can't agree with Smirking Saint that Seaborne had a 'decent game'. Watched on Sky and not only was Seaborne at fault for two of their goals he just didn't adapt to the speed of their forwards. Jaidi would have done no better against fast strikers and Martin's inexperience makes him too much of a risk against a strong side but it does look as if a new CB is needed and its now too late with the wndow closed. I don't blame Adkins as Seaborne hasn't failed this badly before but it didn't look like one bad game, rather that he's just not the grade for a promotion winning team.

Ferguson Junior has a slack-jawed look about him that creates quite an unattractive appearance and seems to be reflected in his behaviour. Given what we know of his father, its not surprising if a poor role model might have left him with a few problems.

I've been a strong supporter of Dan Seaborne. We can all make mistakes, and maybe I've made one in thinking Seaborne is good enough to be Jaidi's replacement. Add the second Posh goal to his first mistake and I think its time to move Martin up the pecking order.

Interesting what you notice on the highlights. (1) Agree with Pancake that the Exeter goal should have been disallowed - Not offside because Nardiello (goalscorer) was not offside when the ball was kicked and the player who was in an offside position reels off to the right and does not interfere with play. BUT the obstruction by Nardiello on Fonte to prevent the CB from getting back to stop the ball before it got to the gaol is so clear that the ref should have seen it, disallowed the goal and given Saints a free kick for obstruction. (2) Exeter should have had a goal earlier in the first half - the miss by Nardiello when 1-on-1 with KD was surprising. (3) Dany N'Guessen's miss when he hit the bar was forgiveable as the keeper had the goal well covered and N'Geussen was only just into the area, and Barnard's follow-up shot onto the bar was also at a distance and more difficult than you would have thought from the press reports. (4) Lambert's winning goal was a great effort by him but very fortunate that the lofted cross came down where it did. Have to say we were very fortunate to get that second goal from such a speculative cross. Conclusion though, is that Exeter's goal was illegal and both of ours were not, so a correct result. IMHO, of course.

And have you been on here long enough, VK, to join in the anti-Lowe, Anti-Wilde, Anti-Burley, Anti-Poortvleit, Anti-......... Unless you have opinions in more than one direction you can't have a debate. Complaining that people with opposing views shouldn't be heard is the usual resort of those who simply can't make a logical argument.

The transfer window proved to be OK, but because of who stayed rather than who came. With respect to Forte and N'Guessen most fans see them as being subs, and despite coming from clubs in the NpC neither have been regular starters. The last two results L1 have left fans feeling nervous but the first choice side is good and although it could obviously be improved there may not be the 'marquee' players willing to gamble with a drop to L1. NC/NA have probably done the best they could on recruitment and have done very well to keep the wolves from the door. BTW, glad Puncheon has gone, despite his ability he's not a true saint. Hope he does alright at Blackpool for his sake, but also because that would mean he won't be back.

These mad deals could be stopped if clubs had to pay all in one go, up front. Instead the fee goes into the balance sheet and sometimes isn't paid until the player moves on again. The people running football should be given the Mubarak treatment.

Sky Sport now saying AOC not leaving but that there will be bids in the summer. If by then Saints are in the Championship, holding on to him might be easier.

N'Gussen looked to me like cover for Puncheon and/or Chamberlain to leave. On Chamberlain, considering the 'we will not sell' statements from some clubs about their targeted players, a stronger statement from Saints would have been nice instead of 'we aren't looking to sell' which sounds more like a bargaining position and could be seen by ArseNil and ManUre as an invitation. AOC hasn't put in a transfer request as far as we know, and since money is meaningless to the Leibherrs, why even consider selling unless the player formally asks to go, and even then he has a long-tern contract he can be held to. As for the idea that you can't hold on to a player who wants to leave - Oh Yes you can - for the length of his contract. And if he stopped performing, his chances of a move to a top club in 2 or 3 years time would be damaged anyway. I feel Chamberlain will still be here in the morning but if not, it would be because the club had put money first, which I don't think they should, or will.

Couldn't face going through 23 pages to see if my question has already been asked and/or answered. Is it not true that potential buying clubs must ask permission of a player's current club before speaking to him? AOC is on a 3-yr contract. Has SFC said that any club has been given permission to approach the player? If there has been no approach under FA rules, doesn't that mean that all the quotes in the press amount to illegal approaches? If this is true, what action could you expect the FA to take in response to our player having been 'tapped up'. I can answer that. Absolutely nothing.

Alpine expresses an opinion Nick G, just as your rose tinted views are opinion. The fact is that anything can happen. People can believe what they like, just as you can. My opinion is that on the current evidence it looks unlikely that Saints can overtake Brighton. Reasons for that are (1) Brighton have a better home record (unbeaten) against Saints' 3 home defeats, (2) Saints have played an extra home game compared to Brighton who have played an extra away game, (3) Brighton are still 8 points ahead of Saints, same gap as back in November, and (4) the draw and defeat in the last two games showed that the team was not as reliable as it had appeared over Christmas. Changes in the squad could change things but we have no guarantee as yet that the team will be stronger in Feb than it was in Jan, and there remains a possibility that it could be weaker. As for who might come second, it looks at the moment as if it could be any of 4 or 5 teams, so saints still have more work to do.

Always nice to see the boys enjoying themselves but only a few of the squad were shown whereas it felt like every other pic seemed to feature Alex Chamberlain! Is this a subtle way of telling us he's still here? Good to see Adam Lallana looking fit, but also interesting to note that training these days includes practicing how to commit a foul by grabbing opponents and shirt-pulling.

Reluctantly have to agree. Interesting that Pardew has eased back into the Prem quite easily but can't see Adkins doing the same. We have a large squad of largely squad players, of which Puncheon is just one more. If he goes we need a clear first choice player to replace him, not another 'impact sub'. As far as the project is concerned, this team might sneak into the Championship, but at the moment that doesn't look certain and if we do go up, this doesn't look like a team that will set the Championship alight.

Not too happy with Nigel's comments - three 'great' saves by the Tranmere goalie implying that if it wasn't for that we wouldn't have lost. But Tranmere won because they had the best of the play and were the better team, just as Notts Co were last week. Changing the shape and the tactics during the game would not be necessary if this team was really division league champions material, and it isn't. Missing Lallana does mean a weakened side but one player should not make that much difference. Hammond missing should have been adequately covered by having Morgan and Chaplow in midfield but it looks like the mf is not good enough. On Solent, the commentators were asking if there should be subs brought on at half time, but if the team should be good enough to beat a bottom quarter side without shuffling the personnel round. Nigel did make a change, to 4-3-3 but bit seems that didn't help as it removed any threat from the wings and nhe had to revert. Its not team shuffling thats needed - it is at least two genuine signings to strengthen the side, a striker and CM, plus a replacment for AOC/Puncheon if either or both are leaving. .

Emergency loans are different but loans in general should be disallowed because they can be used to create an unfair advantage for some wealthy clubs who can store players up until needed and can try out players in other people's teams instead of theuir own. A loan player not being able to play against his owner club is such an ovbvious cheat of the game and the fans.

Nick's rose tinted glasses might have prevented him seeing that virtually all the Prem giants are in for AOC. Now, that doesn't mean Alex will leave, but he might and it might be that Puncheon, who could be the replacement, might want away as well. Lallana's absence showed on Saturday and he might be out for a week or two, or could it be the month or two that some have speculated? The problem is that the club we can't wait to find out because by then the window could be closed. So, can the team still perform as well as it has, with two key players missing and how much of a gamble should the management take? Missing out on promotion is not a disaster, after all its only football, but how will fans feel if we have to start another season this autumn in this league, this time with Brighton having gone up!

Anyone think we should have had a penalty. When Lambert's first half shot from 4 yards finished up hitting the bar it was because a Blackpool player was on the goal line blocking the shot wiuth what looked like his arm or hand. Anyone else looked at it, not that it matters now?

Last time we played them in the cup in 2009 I had a poor view of the game. Sat behind the player's box and had Rooney in front of me. Those ears are absolutely MASSIVE close up.

Lets not forget that Holloway has achieved a lot with Blackpool. Promotion via the playoffs is like winning a lottery and often means going straight back down, but so far he has made Blackpool respectable on a minimal budget. Unfortunately the Prem is all about money, so the FA cup is no longer respected as it once was, but on that basis he did the right thing to rest a lot of first choice players. What he didn't seem to notice was that Pardew had done much the same, only our squad is deeper and Pardew does play rotation as a norm so team changes have much less impact on Saints. But the bottom line, as others have said, is that a manager should not allow himself to be provoked by opposing fans, he should be bigger than that.

Great tackle by Seaborne at the close. He was impressive in Fonte's absence and fully deserves his place back in the side.

Very true. Too many people just follow the fashion of slagging off Dan Seaborne but fortunately they don't pick the team and the guy who does clearly rates him as first choice alongside Fonte. If its true that Seaborne has caught the eye of Micky Adams at Sheff Utd it just goes to show that football professionals know a great deal more about spotting a good player than does your average fan.