saintant

Oh dear, Cork, Hammond and Schneiderlin - will we never learn!

Nige has to learn that Hammond, Cork and Morgan do not make for an offensive midfield. This hands the initiative to the opposition. Surprised after what happened at Brizzle and in 1st half v Hull he persisted with a line-up that clearly does not work for us. Very disappointing to lose to a team at the bottom but as others have said - nobody expected us to be top.

No surprise - big mistake to start with Hammond, Cork and Morgan I'm afraid.

Have to agree 100% with Derry - I believe it was a fundamental mistake to begin the game with Hammond, Cork and Morgan all in midfield. They are far too similar and just do not have the ability to raise the tempo of a game and generate the momentum needed to play crisp, pasing football. We discussed our concerns about this prior to the match and those fears were realised. Still rate Adkins and the coaches as a superb team in terms of tactics but, for me, they got the starting line-up wrong last night and it was fairly obvious that they'd have to make a change at half-time by introducing De Ridder. Thankfully they were astute and bold enough to make the change and it brought immediate dividends. Still a good win against a decent Hull side so onwards and upwards but hope our midfield on Saturday does not contain all three of Hammond, Cork and Morgan.

Hoofing from the back is for the dinosaurs. England do it an awful lot hence they'll never win anything or compete with the likes of Spain. Our style of football is the way forward and whilst it may cost a few goals Nigel Adkins and the coaches will rightly stick to their principals. I think the majority would rather see pass and move than the continual hoof down the middle - have seen enough of that and it's boring.

Was discussing this a few weeks back. No complaints about our style of football but I do feel the players should be encouraged to have a few more shots from distance. With our passing game it seems nobody is willing to try their luck but surely it's worth mixing it up a bit and not to always take the option of trying to get the ball into the box on every attack. We have some decent ball strikers so let's see more shots from outside the box.

Thought England were very poor to be honest. I think Saints play techinically better football. If you studied the game closely none of our players were making angles to receive passes, or playing between the lines and there was hardly any clever movement off the ball which is why we looked so ponderous. To be fair we could not string two passes together and only won because it was a meaningless friendly and Spain played several gears below there normal standard. Even then they played all the flowing football that was on display. Don't know how we can rely on the likes of Milner and Barry who are just workhorses. We looked better when the likes of Wellbeck, Rodwell and Adam Johnson came on but we're kidding ouselves if we think that prehistoric style of football will ever win a major tournament.

Have to mention Connolly's movement for the third goal. After a superb series of passes the ball reached Lambert who did brilliantly but without Connolly's movement I doubt there'd have been an opening. If you watch a replay of the goal he shows what an intelligent player he is by getting himself in position to receive the pass rather than standing still which is what many strikers do. Once he'd taken up that clever position he left himself with a relatively simple finish. Shame he isn't ten years younger but still a very useful guy to have around and others can certainly learn from him.

We have been poor but that was a blatant handball in the penalty area. If you have your arms stretched out and the ball hits them you have spread them to deliberately stop the ball so should have been a pen.

Both recently back from injury but how sharp did they look today! Morgan bossed the game and was rightly named Man of the Match for a cultured display. He oozed class and stroked the ball around effortlessly while also breaking up many Walsall moves. Chambo was electric and could have added to the stunning goal he scored. The fact that we put together such a fantasic run of games without these two to clinch promotion bodes well for next season. Add to that Connolly getting back to fitness late in the season and proving what a class act he is with his clever link-up play, great darting runs and cool finishing!

What a fantastic run-in we put together to stave off a very strong challenge from Huddersfield. Last 15 games we took an incredible 40 points from 45 and in the process scored 32 and let in just 9! Just think, had we beaten Brighton at home when their spoiling tactics gained them a point we'd have been champions on goal difference. Well done Saints, absolutely brilliant period of results when the pressure was right on us. Hats off to Nigel Adkins and the coaching staff for masterminding this key run of results.

To put last night into perspective - we lost two key players through injury and some on here are claiming it's the end of the world while at the same time they are bemoaning the fact that we didn't win! Appears we had a perfectly good goal disallowed and everyone knows D'urso never gives us much - it's almost as though he blames us for the fact that he dished out three yellows to the same player at St Marys without appreciating that he should have sent him off. Last night was a point gained because had this game gone ahead on Boxing Day when Charlton were in far better form I think we'd have struggled to come away with anything.

Anyone who thinks we will need to win all our remaining games to secure a top two spot is living in cloud cuckoo land. Peterboro and Huddersfield play each other and also both will have other set backs along the way. For either of these two teams to win all their remaining fixtures would be a miracle - it's not going to happen. We need to keep our heads and take one game at a time. I'm sure Adkins is sensible enough to realise this and that he'll be impressing this on the players. Start to heap unnecessary pressure on ourselves and it will go pear-shaped so a bit of perspective is what's required.

Great game to watch and a good advert for League 1 football. A point at Peterboro is no disaster even though we led by two goals twice - they are reknowned for comebacks this season and have some very good players. Disappointed with Seaborne - either he is very slow or CSM is lightening quick because he looked to be treading water for their first goal. That is a worry because you can't expect to keep things tight if one of your centre backs is dead slow. Thought Fonte was brilliant and needs a decent partner alongside him - not sure why Martin hasn't been given another go as he played well early in the season. My other concern is that we got caught once again when a player in an offside position left the ball to allow a runner to come from deep. We did this at Exeter and it cost us a goal - the same happened yesterday but this time Kelvin saved us. Perhaps we should try that tactic - let Lambert or Barnard take up an offside position with Chamberlain lurking just a bit deeper then play the through ball, offside player leaves it and Chamberlain uses his pace to come from an onside position. It's a difficult one to defend against because you anticipate getting the offside but with today's rule if the ball is left someone can come from deep quite legitimately.

Schneiderlin will often be slagged off after League 1 matches. Yesterday epitomised the fact that he is far too good for this division and his brilliance is often lost in the hurly burly style of football. Put him in a match like yesterday against gifted opponents who want to play football and he will shine every time. No surprise that he was our best player against United and it is likely that others representing clubs in the Premier League would not have missed the class he showed and a few might come knocking.

Can't believe there is a fair amount of criticism aimed at Guly on this thread. His touch and awareness was sublime and he was involved in most of the good things we did. Ok, he gave the ball away a few times but overall the guy was superb. Speaks volumes that someone spoke to a bunch of their fans who thought he was our biggest threat. He wasn't our man of the match because that honour can only go to Morgan but he oozed class.

I reckon Craig Westcarr of Notts County is worth a look. Check out the goal he scored yesterday - great skill and awareness plus a cool finish. Seems to have pace to burn, strength, skill and an eye for a goal.

Too good for this team. Would look superb in a pass and move side like Arsenal. Must be frustrating for him.

We are weak and disorganised when facing set pieces - a prime example being Carlisle's third goal when we had eleven defending but still managed to allow a player a completely free header right in front of goal. Until this weakness is rectified we will continue to let in soft goals. The answer IMO is to sign Jay DeMerit who I think is still a free agent. He may demand a biggish wage but would be worth it as he would dominate the penalty area and organise those around him to do their jobs. He would make a brilliant captain and also probably weigh in with a few goals. If he is indeed still a free agent we could sign him now. This team needs a leader with a big personality who is not shy of handing out a few rollickings on the pitch when things go wrong - right now we have nobody to fill that role and Hammond is a waste of time as skipper as he shirks the responsibilty of providing leadership.

It's time for a reality check. Despite what some would say we do not have a squad that is head and shoulders above anyone else in this division or the envy of them. We have some quality players and one of genuine class in Lallana. However, we are littered with mistakes and poor individual performances so are never going to roll over every side we play. If we accept this it will be much easier to overcome the disappointment associated with defeats. Fortunately, nobody is likely to run away with this divison so we need to dig in and stay in touch which is pretty much what we are doing. There will be defeats, especially in away games but provided we do not go into a prolonged slump we have a chance of making the top two spots and a more realistic shot at the play-offs. We are not a class above the rest and need to realise that. It's a fairly even race with many teams in with a shout so, unless we spend big in the next transfer window, we're in a dogfight with the rest.

To be fair I think we should look at it after the Daggers game when Adkins will have been in charge for 5home and 5 away games. If we win on Tuesday his record will be 20 points from ten games which is 2 per game. Over a season that would be 92 points.

Think he is just what we need - a dominant centre half to play alongside Fonte and he'd make a great captain. Accept that he is probably holding out for more money than we'd be prepared to offer but would certainly bolster our defence and be a strong leader on the pitch.

Well, I thought Lambert was one of our better players today and I'd be surprised if Adkins took him off for any other reason than he wasn't fit after last week's head injury. Oxo must start on tuesday - Chaplow looked very poor today. Andy Durso as usual tried to do all he could to get Oldham back in the game - 5 minutes stoppage time when there was nowhere near that and also giving them free kicks but denying blatant fouls on Barnard. Lallana was superb and needs to be given the ball more. Still think we need a couple of signings as too many give less than average performance. Not convinced by Seabourne I'm afraid and would prefer Martin. Great save by Kelvin to make sure we got the three points.

He has only just arrived but I fear Nigel Adkins isn't going to get the luxury of a honeymoon period. He needs to sit the players down and read the riot act to them. This just isn't good enough - they are professional, paid a lot of money and they are currently cheating the fans who's hard earned pays those huge salaries. If that upsets a few eggshell egos then tough - you take the big money and with that goes responsibility. Too many of them are in some sort of comfort zone and need a harsh wake-up call. ML came in and saved this proud club from near extinction but this group of players can't even be bothered to put in a shift once they cross the white let alone in training. They are lazy, unfit and don't appear to give a toss. NA must sort out those who do want to play for the club and replace the rest. He can't afford to be Mr Nice Guy I'm afraid because this lot will just take advantage. Show us you've got a pair Nige and wade into this bunch of under-achievers. Oh and can we get someone on loan with some leadership qualities quick so that Hammond can be relieved of the captaincy cos this guy doesn't lead by example and shouldn't even be in the team on current form. Better still, if Jay DeMerit is still a free agent try getting him to sign, make him skipper and we just might see some passion on the pitch.

He has only just arrived but I fear Nigel Adkins needs to sit the players down and read the riot act to them. This just isn't good enough - they are professional paid a lot of money and they are currently cheating the fans who's hard earned pays those huge salaries. Too many of them are in some sort of comfort zone and need a harsh wake-up call. ML came in and saved this proud club from near extinction but this group of players can't even be bothered to put in a shift once they cross the white let alone in training. They are lazy, unfit and don't appear to give a toss. NA must sort out those who do want to play for the club and replace the rest. He can't afford to be Mr Nice Guy I'm afraid because this lot will just take advantage. Show us you've got a pair Nige and wade into this bunch of under-achievers. Oh and can we get someone on loan with some leadership qualities quick so that Hammond can be relieved of the captaincy cos this guy doesn't lead by example and shouldn't even be in the team on current form.