Professor

But there is a wages cost and Pardew has not been able to loan out many people, probably less than he hoped. The wages bill must be quite substantial now and that alone shows the depth of commitment by Marcus Leibherr. This signing has increased my confidence level massively, because even if it is a fitness gamble it shows that Pards and the owners are willing to do whatever they can to continue strengthening. The Torquay game showed that the second string are weak but Connolly is real quality and removes the need to use people like Patterson, who may be prospects but really are not ready yet. Could be it mean farewell to Saga?

It seems to have become standard for some Saints fans to slag-off Anmtony Pulis, possibly without even engaging brain. Maybe OK if you've seen him play, but not otherwise. Every negative post about Pulis should start with an honest statement, "I have/have not" seen him play.

St Marco has made the important point. 4-5-1 is far too negative and Pardew needs to learn the lesson. Going through on a penalty competition is not a win. I'm becoming convinced that we need a DoF to hold Pards to acount. Not a change of manager but a change in the way the manager does his job.

Sat behind Wayne Rooney at the cup game against Man U last season. Couldn't see much of the match because of Rooney's ears in the way. Preen's pic on the OS suggests the boy has more normal ears.

I'd really like to see Garyn Preen coming on at 65 minutes. He's been at the club since he was 12 and you can't help hoping that he might be the next Walcott or Bale. Pardew must rate him to have had him on the bench on Saturday, even if it was just to get used to the atmosphere. Whether he gets on is likely to depend on how the game is going, but fingers crossed for him.

All interesting stuff, but Pards sees Wotton play in training and in matches. The manager and the coaches also know to what extent Wotton follows team orders. So if he's picked to play, we should assume that Pardew knows what he's doing better than the fans on the terrace.

It could be that Pards was acclimatising Preen to the first team squad by having him on the bench on Saturday and that the next step could be to give him some time on the pitch during tonight's match with Torquay. Occasionally, young players do OK.

Pardew's coment on the OS says it all - that Antonio is a player they are watching and could be interested in signing at some point in the future. The difference is that taking him on loan for a few weeks is better way of assessing a prospect and ultimately involves less risk. It is more expensive but it looks like Pards has a scouting budget that can cover things like this.

Just because a view is unrealistic doesn't mean a person is not entitled to stick with it, but its wrong to say there is no reason to change as there patently is. Evidence since first ball was kicked:- P W D L Pts Team in 6th place (Swindon) 11 4 6 1 18 Saints 11 2 6 3 12 - 10 = 2 Current form Swindon 5 points from last 9 Saints 4 points from last 9 But fortunately, as football fans hope is usually better than reality!

I have been critical of Pardew because in my opinion he made some early mistakes. He understated the need to refresh the squad, which may also have mis-led the owners, and did not strengthen quickly enough to take full advantage of the transfer window. The signings he did make look good, but the loans may be less convincing. Overall he was still one or two short and he failed to off-load weaker members of the squad. Having said that, there are plenty of managers who could do worse and although 4 points from the last 9 is still not good enough, my feeling is that Pardew is moving in the right direction. It is a pity that any criticism is sometimes assumed to be a call for the manager to be sacked. On the contrary, criticism is often well-meant and is linked to a hope for improvement.

Couldn't disagree more. The loss of our local rivals would leave a huge whole in the fabric of local football and in Hampshire generally. As for the comments about behaviour, exactly the same could be said of a few Saints fans, or a few fans of any club. Its completely wrong to damn a whole group of decent people because of the behaviour of a few.

Pardew has been saying for some weeks that he needs to reduce the playing staff by loanimng out players who have no prospects of a place in the first team. He is quoted again this week that 28 professionals is too many and you can't have players at the club who are not contrbuting. I'm sure he's right, but how easy is it to loan people out? We are a Div1 team and if someone isn't worth a place here, what is the chance of other clubs taking him? Its not the same as loaning out CCC reserves, or up-and-coming youngsters. How many should AP be trying loan out, which players, and what are the prospects?

Unfortunately the knee-jerk reaction of many football fans when their team is performing badly is to call for the manager to be sacked. Saints fans are far from alone in this but it was the same 'blame' approach that kindled all the old anti-Lowe stuff when changing managers didn't change the fortunes. Pardew's team is performing badly, but he is an experienced manager and with the time and resources there's no reason to think he could not hold his own with most in the Prem. But its right to criticise him. Fand and the club owners should expect him to find out what is wrong, if he doesn't already know, and put in hand whatever is needed to turn it round. The manager is limited by the wages budget, the absence of a current transfer window, and the availability of loan players, so he probably has to try to get the current team to play better, which is easier said than done. But hopefully, Cortese will keep the pressure on him to get better results.

Is it true Pardew has a great squad and just needs to get them to perform? Some of the squad are excellent players, but isn't the problem that the rest are much the same as each other. Davis, Jaidi, Harding, Hammond, Lambert pick themselves but the other six places get filled by players who are not that good and as a result the manager tries different combinations almost every game. Give him better players and Pardew would do OK but with too many average players he seems to be struggling. Personally, I don't think changing the manager would make much difference, but if the wins don't come I think he will go as that is the way of football.

Call Collymore on TalkSport focused recently on formations, with heavy criticism of 4-5-1 being used by some managers, especially away from home. This line-up can be negative, lacking ambition to win the game and some teams that have played it have had a thrashing. The counter argument is that 4-5-1 gives you more control of the midfield and you still have two wide men to support the loan striker as well as a player in the hole to pick up the flicks off. Maybe some managers prefer it, but maybe others use it if they don't have a second reliable striker. Is there a place for 4-5-1 in some Saints' games, if only for part of the game, starting with 4-5-1 and reverting to 4-4-2 in the second half?

Goes almost without saying that no one can be satisfied with an average of one point a game, but that would include Pardew himself, and Cortese. This doesn't imply that AP is an ineffective manager. I feel confident that AP and the Chairman will take steps to change things around if that record doesn't improve, and it is actually improving now. The win last week means the last four or five game average is higher than the season to date average. If that trend continues with wins in the next two home games, the average will be significantly improved.

Having looked through the responses, I usually agree with a lot that SOG says, but this time I think he may have misjudged Alpine. The point Alpine made about there being almost a standard 'manager mentality' looks close to the truth to me. Can't blame AP for that but it does make the after match responses very predictable

Am I alone in having a sense of Deja Vue over the comments posted on the OS under Pardew's Reaction? Maybe the common factor is that the piece could be written for him by the same author who has done these items in the past for Wotte, JP, Pearson and Burley. "We should have won" is probably the view of every manager in the league except when their team gets a sound thrashing, but drawn games, or one goal defeats can always be looked at with an "If only" attitude. If only our keeper had saved their goal and if only their keeper had failed to keep out one of our chances. I genuinely think the current squad will start to perform better soon as we do have some good players in there, but even without the -10, we would be in the bottom 5, so I don't think luck can be the only factor at the moment. Maybe Pardew can't say more in public, but it would be nice to have a more in-depth assessment of why the team, or certain players, are not yet playing well enough.

The strike force is as good as you can get. Lambert, Saga and Papa all know where the net is, and have the right touches. For me the problem is in the service. Midfield needs another strong prescence alongside Hammond, which might be enough for the wide players to perform better. Holmes may be the key to the lack of service. The positive is that we do have a strong coaching set up now, and I think we can be sure they must be discussing the same problems in greater depth than we are on here.

Very lucky result today, but luck is part of the game, and Pardew's determination to get Jaidi into the team has definitely paid off. Relief at the late equaliser shoudn't mask the fact that the team is still not performing well, and regardless of what Pardew says for public consumption, he will know that as well as anyone. People have said its not the squad, but that AP can't get them to play for him. Given that we now have a strong coaching team, the way the side plays is not just down to the manager, and its a certainty that the coaching staff will be working to find out what the weaknesses are. AP has also indicated that there could be more loans in, if he can arrange any more loans out. Seems enough this week to stay positive.

Papa brought real threat to the attack against Yeovil. He did tend to be offside a lot, and Rickie Lambert mentioned the need for him to sort that out but he is definitely a handful for defenders which will result in scoring chances for other players as well as for himself. As for the report of an injury - so what if it is true, injuries come and go in football.

Not really interested in what happens between the two teams playing in Manchester but just wondered what Hughes would be saying to the press if it had been his team that had scored in stoppage time. Actually not wondering at all, he'd be saying that the extra minute or so was correct due to stoppages during the added time.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but opinion is not fact. I had a clear view of the events for the second penalty and it was handball, with the ball hitting Nathan Jones' hand which he was holding across his body. To be a penalty the handball must be judged deliberate. It was certainly ball to hand, but the Lino must have decided that Jones could have moved his arm away and that by not doing so, the handball was deliberate. That was also a matter of opinion and a fine judgement, but it is not right to say that it was not 'remotely' near being a penalty. The Lino saw what he saw and as an officiating assistant ref, his opinion does matter!

Bookmakers must love you! If you said 6 to 8 are CCC standard, I'd agree, but thats probably true of most of Div1. As for where we will finish, if we get to 15th to 17th I'd say the team had done well. Above 15th looks very difficult. Last season there were 10 points between the 12th team and the 14th so to get into the top half is very hard given the -10 handicap.

Pardew said in the programme that he wants to bring in more players on loan if he can make spaces by off-loading some of the squad. After the game he said that the team didn't play well. That looks positive to me. Hammond was the bright spot in a midfield that was otherwise quite anonymous. I'd be happier if Schneiderlin, Lallana and James were still squad players getting an occasional run out, like Mills and Mellis, rather than first choice starters. Maybe we have a potential first choice left midfield in Holmes, but otherwise midfield seems to be where the weakness is now. Even just one strong midfielder to play alongside Hammond might be enough to make the difference and take more of the burden off the young players.