Matthew Le God

News of Jaidi's injury was confirm on Weds by Pardew. The Echo ran a story of defensive choice between the new centre backs and Jaidi/Perry on Friday. The Echo had plenty of time, they were just lazy.

...and he won't give away much.

Saga has been along way from a starting spot as a striker for some time. Lambert Connolly Papa Waigo Lallana Paterson Were all ahead of him in the pecking order. Doesn't mean Pardew won't buy another striker though, with all of Connolly's injury problems he probably has to.

Who did the Millwall preview and put Jaidi in the team? It has been known for a few days now that he was injured. Pardew said so in an interview and was also on the website. I think that counts as lazy journalism. The ban didn't stop this from being known at the Echo as it has been known for days on the Saints OS and Saints player.

Yes....................303............72.84% No.....................28..............6.73% Still undecided.....85..............20.43% Quite conclusive so far. Hope Mr Pardew and Mr Cortese take note! I voted yes, and he should be playing instead of Antonio on the right and perhaps even given more match time as Lambert's strike partner.

Watch the manager interview on Saints player and video clips of training and you will see that all three new signing and Harding have been working together as the defensive unit.

Did I at any point say they did? All I said was they won't ignore Davis.

Just because 3 of the defenders are new you think they will ignore Davis?

Because as I said above... There are some big clues as to how Saints will line up against Millwall in the manager interview on Saints player. They show long clips of training and the back four being coached by Wally Downes (defense coach) is... Harding Seaborne Fonte Otsemobor

There are some big clues as to how Saints will line up against Millwall in the manager interview on Saints player. They show long clips of training and the back four being coached by Wally Downes (defense coach) is... Harding Seaborne Fonte Otsemobor

There are some big clues as to how Saints will line up against Millwall in the manager interview on Saints player. They show long clips of training and the back four being coached by Wally Downes (defense coach) is... Harding Seaborne Fonte Otsemobor

It was Thursday when he posted that.

You are missing the point about them being too similar. If Holt came to Saints he'd expect to start, a team with Holt and Lambert in wouldn't work. They both need someone to do the running for them. They are both target men and would get in each others way. Also why would Holt leave a team that is 2nd and has an excellent chance of promotion, to move to Saints who "may" make the playoffs? Also why would Norwich sell him to a rival? Yes they have money problems, but they aren't urgent and certainly would be helped by selling their top scorer.

Barnard vs Jackson would have been a better question. Not in a million years will Grant Holt be a Saints player by February. He is too similar to Lambert, Norwich will likely go up to the Championship and Norwich will not sell him. What made you choose Holt for this?

I don't even think it is speculation. Pardew clearly has doubts or it would have been longer than 6 months. But then maybe Pardew has done his research on the character of the player and believes this will be the kick up the backside Jon needs to earn that contract. If he was tied down to a 3 year deal he may be the type to become complacent. We'll now have Jon and Graeme(if fit) fighting it out for the right back slot and take Saints to the playoffs!

Reduces the risk on tying a player down on his luck to a long contract and then being unable to shift him if he turns out to be not upto it. He also has a big incentive to perform and resurrect his career to earn a contract.

Paul Hart being sacked tonight may have helped, as apparently he wanted to bring him to QPR which can't happen now.

It is more likely Jaidi and Fonte will be the first choice pairing. With Seaborne being groomed to takeover for next season and playing the occasional game to save Jaidi's legs. Pardew will just play 451 and 442. It has been working and the players know how to make it work. It complicates things if you introduce a 3rd system to the players. I outlined the problems with 352/532. It just doesn't work, hence why no-one uses it anymore. The original question was "anyone feel Pardew is about to do this?" - To which the answer is no, as nothing in his past would suggest he would.

Fergie it won't happen. It is a terrible system. One of the centre backs(possibly two) would have very little to do, especially as alot of teams play defensively against Saints. The wing backs also leave the wide areas vulnerable with a ball over the top into the channels. Very few, if any football team plays 532/352 in the modern game. Pardew has two systems that have served him well and he'll continue with them.

In Thursday's Gillingham paper... http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/sport/2010/january/14/simeon_jackson.aspx

With Barnard's contract up in the summer and him refusing to sign a new one, the longer he doesn't move his value decreases.

Nothing in that article suggests that is the case. Will be interesting to see the full video interview on Saints Player at some point, I guess later this evening.

That wouldn't be ironic.

Only £3m left they owe to football creditors now that £7m was paid today. Parachute money over 2 years is about £12m I think.

There are so many guidelines and checks it keeps the database in line pretty much. For example I could never get away with rating a current Saints player good enough for the Premiership. Basically for Saints at the beginning of the season I have to rate them given the boundaries that they were a bottom 3 Championship side the season before. This means given the guidelines that they can have a rough number of star players in a given bracket of ability from 1-200 dependent on the finishing position from the season before. This then applies to the rest of the squad. There can be exceptions to the guidelines but these would be looked at more closely by the head researcher. Each country has an independent head of research to do checks on data and there is a forum and mailing list to discuss with the other researchers. It is far more complicated than most people would imagine and involves a lot of maths and hidden formulas.