Professor

Its good news if the club are looking for a new striker,and if they don't sign Austin hopefully they do have an alternative in mind. Connolly does seem to be past it and is hardly being used. Barnard has had his hernia problems and has been playing with a self-inflicted hand injury for months, as well as having a court case hanging over him. Lambert's dip in form is well documented and although Do Prado has scored a few goals he still misses more than he scores. There is scope for someone such as Austin to come in and hold one of the front spots and boost the title chase.

So Mr Adkins says "me and Kenny have been having private conversations behind the scenes...." Thats not right, you know, Nigel. It should be "Kenny and I". Its as simple as that.

Puncheon took some stick over his mode of dress at the Memorial Service to Marcus and there was a suggestion that he could have showed more respect. True or not, that did seem to co-incide with fans turning against him on the pitch. Do we want him back. My opinion is No. Nothing personal, but with AOC and Lallana as first choices I can't see a place for Puncheon except as a squad player.

Big Clubs, Little Clubs, what a load of TOSH. Wigan used to be in Div 4, so are they 'Big' or 'Little'? I began supporting Saints 50 years ago, but despite all the years the team was in Div 1 / Prem I would never have claimed they were a 'Big' Club, mainly because of the limitations of The Dell. With the SMS the prospects improved and a return the the Prem is an achievable ambition, but I don't expect to see Saints become a regular top 6 side. As for Brighton, speaking as someone who went to school in Hove, they have always been a Div 3 / Div 2 level team, and a couple of seasons in Div 1 did not change that. Their prospects are better now with a capable manager and a new stadium, although the stadium seems to represent lesser ambition than regular Prem football. As for what's wrong with Brighton - in my opinion, nothing at all. A perfectly good club, fans as good and as bad as anyone else's, and better than some. That a few fans should have an inferiority complex about Saints is no refelection on their club but neither is those fans opinion of SFC worth anything at all.

A Premier Club appointing an English manager, what is the world coming to. I really hope he does well and shows the Man City's, Chelskis, etc., a thing or two.

It didn't just 'happen', it was a decision by Cortese/Adkins to let Puncheon go, despite lack of cover and not to bring in a striker, despite Connolly hardly featuring and the problems over Barnard (injury) and Lambert (form). It may be the strategy is a permanent signing or two in January rather than loans in November but a temporary loan, as with Chaplow, would have made more sense and would not have closed off January options. Injuries and bookings are absolutely predictable, and should have been factored into the decision making.

I have e-mailed customerservices@performgroup.com and asked what they are doing to put it right, and what compensation, such as extended expiry date, they will be offering.

Can't see Rickie being sold on unless a replacement is firmed up first. He has a definite role in the side for his heading ability and setting up chances for others. Apart from that, his dead ball skills and virtual guarantee to score from penalties all make him v hard to replace and worthy of a playing in the Championship. If NA did sub him as a disciplinary sanction it depends on what happens next. NA could decide he acted in the heat of the moment and apologise, or Rickie might accept the criticism, or they might just kiss and make up.

What is Dave Merrington talking about, questioning Lee Holmes 'mental strength' because he can't play on with an injured ankle? Come on Dave, lets break your leg and see if you've got the mental strength to run for a bus. Its Holmes' physical strength that is a worry bbecause of his frequent unjuries, not his mental strength Quite nice listening to the game on SaintsPlayer today when its bitterly cold and here in Sussex we've got snow on the ground. V glad I stayed at home....

If this group include people like MacGoldrick, Mills, Lancashire, Patterson or Blackstock, they will either be good enough for the first team or they will bring in transfer fees, and then of course there might be a Lallana, an AOC, or a Bale or a Walcott. Just because a few Academy hopefuls may not fulfil their promise is no reason to denigrate them because some of them definitely will make it. A 3-year contract is already a professional football career that many schoolkids can only dream about.

I hope NA plays the same starting 11 on Tuesday and the same formation. Seaborne may have been out injured for the last couple of weeks but Jaidi today did more than enough to keep his place even if Seaborne is fit. Richardson, great and Dickson. You can see why Guly wouldn't make it in Serie A due to inconsistency and loss of concentration but worthwhile as a sub. Midfield looked excellent. Very confident this side can beat Brighton.

Maybe the replacement is lined up, but Alex does create a problem in how you bring in someone to act as bit part. AOC will be first choice, but unlikley to play 90 mins, so there if there is no space for a real first choice wide MF. If that means just another squad player, thats unlikely to be any improvement on Punch. Have to wait and see, but risk is the side will be weaker not stronger.

Liked Adkins notes on the OS. Very realistic and no excuses. One way that he differs from Pardew is his honest assessment when things go wrong. Gives you confidence that he will act on things that need doing. If you ask what can be done about Lambert, droppping him and making him win his place back would be the best solution. With Barnard and Connolly there's no reason to think we'd do any worse, and more likely to do better. Couldn't understand selection of Jaidi over Seaborne. Side is much better balanced with Seaborne and he is so much more mobile across the back. As for LB, the substitution at Carlisle might indicate that Dickson could get a run in the side, and not before time.

Well Nick, by calling people 'moaners' who pointed out the need to strengthen, you seem to be throwing stones from your glass house. The squad did need strengthening and it has been, although you still say in a later post that it needs a better player as first choice in MF. Happy? Yes, we all are because of recent results, except at Huddersfield, but Adkins is saying the team are not playing well enough, so he's less than happy. Alex is doing really well, but is having to be overused at his age because he's too good not to have on the pitch for as long as his body will allow. Chaplow is looking good, but maybe you don't see him as good enough to be your MF general. The cover for Connolly is Bignall, but he's also the cover for the out-of-form Lambert. Bignall is very young to cover for two such experienced strikers and unless one or both of them come back fit and in form, there may be need to look elsewhere. We do have Goble, but he's less experienced than Bignall. And then there is Puncheon, still not having the impact of Antonio last year. So is the squad good enough? Honest answer is, I don't know. The team is as good as its last game and after we have played Peterborough and Brighton, lets see how we feel then. If we get the results against them that we got against Tranmere and the Daggers I think we'll all be very happy, but a forward for extra cover and a first choice CMF wouldn't do any harm. Need to let one or two go as well though.

Its going well under Adkins, who admits there is still room for improvement and is saying quite honestly that he's working to that end. Barnard recovering from his hand injury and Lambert recovering his form are potentials for things to get better as well as Chamberlain just getting older every week. But none of this has any bearing on Pardew as we can't possibly know how we would be doing if he had stayed in post. Where we would be in the league without the defeats under Wilkins in the aftermath to the sacking is a complete unknown so any comparison of Adkins and Pardew on team performance is pointless. People are entitled to feel they prefer the style or tactics of one or the other but can't call on current performance to make the case.

Brighton's backer is their Chairman Tony Bloom. I believe his father was was also an Albion director years ago. Bloom is a local multi-millionaire - his Dad made a fortune in business and TB is a property investor and a professional poker player. He put £80m into the club last year. The cash was said to be mainly to finish the stadium, but they attracted Poyet as manager and brought inquite a raft of signings in the close season. We do need to beat them on Nov 23 and remind them that we are the team on the south coast.

Misleading I'm afraid when there are 11 teams between us and 2nd place. If it was just one team that was 4 points above us it would be possible to overtake them by winning the next two games, as long as the other team did no more than draw their 2. But from 14th place, even if we get 9 points by winning the next three games we still won't even get to third because the teams above us can't all lose. If we do win the next three we will make good progress and could be in the playoff zone but we haven't won three consecutive games yet this season so we do still need to improve. Once we are winning regularly and sometimes by 3 or 4 goals, that will be the time to relax.

Agree that Morgan wasn't at his best but for me he is still our best MF option and there must be people who agree or he wouldn't be getting international call-ups. When Hammond is back from suspension, I think it will be Chaplow who gives way. I see him as having more problems than Morgan and a worrying temperament.

Good and sensible post. Despite some positives, including 3 points, performance is still not convincing. We need a better ratio of chances being taken and less reliance on Kelvin to save games. There is still a long climb ahead and we need to string wins together to make progress. People saying we are only 4 points off second place are getting excited too soon when you look at the number of clubs on similar points. Last week we were only 3 points above the relegation zone, so being 5 points above now is encouraging but the gap to the top is still big with Brighton having created a clear gap. As for our climb up the table, last week we were 15th and there were 7 teams within 3 points ahead of us, so you might expect a win to move us up significantly. In fact the win only moved us up one place to 14th. There are now 9 teams within 3 points ahead of us but if we do get an away win next week at Notts Co, not all of those 9 teams will lose and if Bournemouth win at home we'll still be 4 points off second. Realistically, another win could mean moving up as few as 2 places, well short of 9. But that is the way of it, a slow climb is entirely possible, but only if we keep getting the results. The big game next week is Peterborough v Brighton and I suppose the best result for us would be a draw, so they both drop 2 points but with top half teams playing each other every week, progress can only be gradual and to do that, our win ratio has got to be high.

Its based on the rumour that Poyet is looking at Healy for Brighton. With Brighton top of the table, it seems reasonable to think that Poyet knows what he's doing so if they are interested, so should we, but I only cite Healy as an example of former top quality players and that there might be one who could do a job for us where we need it, up front, or a CM. I am not saying Healy is the answer, he might be too far gone as you suggest, but are we looking beyond the untried youngsters? It is true that Guly is 28, but he hasn't played at the highest level and is not an automatic first choice for Saints. My suggestion is that we need another signing or two, like Lambert, Fonte, Richardson, a player or two who would go straight in as first choice. For speed, we do need younger players at WMF, and it is still the case that we haven't properly replaced Antonio or Waigo, unless you accept that Chamberlain, at 17, is the answer, although it seems that Adkins doesn't see Alex as the first name on the team sheet yet, possibly because he doesn't feel he can burn him out at his age.

It is easy to see why we had a thread about "Why This Forum has Gone Downhill" when instead of discussion you get aggressively worded responses to a question that merits discussion about (1) the current recruitment policy, which seems to be aimed at 'squad players'; and (2) whether there might be some former quality players, maybe over the hill for the top tier, but well able to shine in Div 1.

Contrary to what Wes Tender has said, Do Prado was not lined up to play in Serie A. His club was promoted from Serie B at which point they were looking to move him on. There were no firm offers for him from Serie A clubs and the suggestion that there was, proved to be unsubstantiated rumour. Neither is he an automatic first choice for Saints, and when given a start yesterday, he was subbed. I agree HCDAJFU but to make a real impact we need one or two new players to give us more quality. Maybe we will have to wait until the January window but by then automatic promotion might be unreachable, so if someone like David Healy is available on loan, I would hope we are looking.

I suppose you could say that failing to bring in a replacement for Antonio has shown a lack of ambition this year, that was not apparant last season, although thats not what I'm saying. My point is that we need some poven quality rather than the risk of a young player, who might suceed as Antonio did, but could equally just get a handful of games like Jacob Mellis last year.

And promotion without fail applied equally to Pardew, but he was only given 3 league games, not a season. When Pardew was sacked Saints had Played 3, won 1, drawn 1 and lost 1, with a GD of 3 (GF 5 : GA 2) Points 4. That is 1.3 points per game. Under Adkins we have Payed 6, won 3, drawn 2, lost 1 with a GD of 3 (GF 6 : GA 3) Points 11. That is 1.8 points per game. This points average would give us 76 points at the end of the season, 3 more than last year but not necessarily enough for the play-offs. Also, the playoffs are NOT promotion, they are the right to take part in a lottery with odds of 3-1 against. Conclusion, not that Cortese was a fool, but it will take more than a change of manager to improve results to achieve automatic promotion. The squad needs strengthening with quality, not more squad players.

The Nicholas Bignall loan hardly suggests that SFC are trying to add real quality to the side. No offence to Nicholas, but a reserve player from an nPC side, regardless of whether he has potential, is not a proven star striker. The signings of Lambert, Connolly and Barnard all made a statement that bringing in NB on loan does not. Maybe the view is that the current 3, plus Goble are adequate, but lets face it, they are struggling to find the net. There is a rumour in Sussex, denied by Gus Poyet, that Brighton are looking at taking David Healy on loan from Sunderland. Apparantly Healy hasn't played for the Black Cats yet this season. If that suggests he's available, Saints should be in there looking.