derry

From one of our best players and it's obvious.

Because one of them would have to change their game and play box to box. Cork looks as though he is happy to do this leaving Schneiderlin to continue playing his way. Hammond might wear the armband but he is no leader or driver.

It should be remembered that there aren't many good young centrebacks that stand out, there are however a lot of centrebacks who eventually matured into good players. It is time to remember this before dismissing young centrebacks. Martin needs a few years of playing and developing, Seabourne is further along that road but nowhere near as good as he will get in the fullness of time. In the meantime Fonte, Jaidi and Seabourne are the current centrebacks, Martin is developing, acquiring a good centreback is a necessity and looks imminent.

Richardson gave the ball away regularly which is inexcusable, his crossing is just a punt into the box making no effort to pick out an attacker, he is a better defender than Butterfield but Butterfield is a far better footballer. De Ridder was excellent and is a very intelligent footballer whose crosses and running caused WBA to try and double mark him, mostly unsuccessfully. His positioning was spot on as opposed to the very naive Chamberlain who didn't seem to know when to come inside or stay on the line. Chamberlain is direct and for his age brilliant but for me he shouldn't get a game if De Ridder is fit. I didn't think it would work but I thought the best midfield pairing was Cork and Schneiderlin who didn't give the ball away, whilst Fonte and Seabourne shut WBA out. Lallana could get a lot of goals if he plays to De Ridder and loiters on the left corner of the penalty area for the cross or cutback. Bart was pretty reasonable apart from the dropped cross and deserves more chances. Adkins seems to have settled on a passing game with wide players, playing from the back, therefore anybody who gives the ball away won't be a regular starter.

Last night Cork and Schneiderlin together, unlikely as it seemed, were by far our best midfield on the night. Hammond gave the ball away regularly as did Chaplow who also committed at least half a dozen late tackles turning the ball over to the opponents, which didn't happen with Cork and Schneiderlin. Ball retention is vital and I can't see Adkins playing a midfield that gives the ball away. I think he has made up his mind that we are going to play a ball retention passing game but is still giving all the players a chance.

It appeared to me that having put the quote in, you made no comment on it except to make a comment about Barnard at right back, which appeared to be a throwaway, as it was no response to an intelligent comment about Fonte being used in midfield..

I didn't comment on Barnard, I did comment on your dismissive reaction to a reasonable opinion put forward regarding Fonte. Barnard at full back who knows? would he be any good? maybe. Could he play there? of course he could. Will he ever be selected there? not a cat in hells chance. Jermaine Wright had a pretty decent run at right back but looked very lightweight in midfield. Burley was pretty poor for us and tinkered too much. Don Revie switched Johnny Giles from right wing to be the main playmaker, turned out rather well wouldn't you say? It's happened with lots of players, Bale, Henry for example.

What has Burley's stupidity got to do with anything? Fonte could play midfield in my opinion, do we need him there? not at present. We would have to sign 2 centrebacks first or have an injury crisis in midfield and all the centrebacks fit. Adapting and improvisation is sometimes essential given less than ideal circumstances. Football is full of players that were ordinary in an original position and became much more effective after enforced change. Suggesting alternative roles for players is an interesing topic and should be discussed as such rather than dismissal without thought.

Did either of the quotes suggest he should play there? the suggestion was that he could play there. Would I want Schneiderlin or Cork at centreback, no thanks, but if we had two good centre backs say Gorkss and Jemal would I want Fonte in midfield, of course I would want to see what he would do there.

I see your thoughtful remark attracted the usual thoughtless comment. Fonte is a good footballer, drives forward, scores goals, is a talented defender, of course he could play midfield.

It looks like he got it wrong. The best technique is to fly the approach crabbed into wind and maintain that until about 30-40 ft agl then in this case apply left rudder to align the aircraft with the centreline and simultaneously apply sufficient right aileron to stop the right wing rising and to keep the aircraft from drifting to the left at the same time carrying out a normal flare. It looks like too much right aileron was applied which induced a sideslip to the right, allowing the outboard pod to strike the ground. In the normal way the pod wouldn't contact the ground without the sideslip. I've carried out thousands of landings on aircraft up to 200 ft long without problems and in much stronger winds.

Ipswich led the way and offered a settlement to Aviva for paying off the mortgage on Portman Road, about £7m was accepted. At the time SLH Ltd went into administration the Administrator quoted me a maximum figure of £15m to buy the assets and settle with Aviva and Barclays, the solvent football club was paying it's own bills having sold Surman and McGoldrick. Aviva had already put forward a settlement figure as they had already received approx £24m in payments and didn't want the stadium on land that couldn't be developed.

Woodgate played for Stoke yesterday, he might be waiting for a long time.

Seems intelligent and speaks fluent English.

The Dutch are saying more than a million euros. At that price he's not here to sit on the bench.

He and his advisers know that nobody in the club talks to the media without permission. He stepped out of line and deserves the fine. Now we've signed Steve De Ridder he may well be second choice.

When I phoned I was told to send them back and when they received them they would post the correct book which in the light of the IDs required etc sounds more like it. I went down this afternoon to the TO and exchanged the book. I received one ticket ok but the other missing vouchers.

And the latest TO cock up - matches 1-8 missed out of some of the ST books by the printers and still sent out by TO. I received two STs one ok the other missing the first 8 matches. Changing the printers from Cedar to a Pompey company worked a treat as did David Luker leaving.

Probably only Guly and Fonte but possibly Bialkowski and Schneiderlin. Otherwise probably the rest of the squad qualify with the possible exception of Forte, a Barbados? international. Something like 3 years at club in UK by 21.

It appears to me that as a 17 year old Alex is very advanced and hence in demand, but if he becomes 19/20 and hasn't developed as fast as he needs to, then whilst he would still be a good player, he would be nowhere as valuable or unique to the Premier clubs as he is at the moment. His side may well be thinking this way and are desperate to move him on, just in case there is no golden goose in due course, whilst for Saints it is about keeping a valuable asset to use this season.

The lad is quicker than the average opponent, is confident, creates chances and scores his share of goals. He is still very young and has been extremely lucky to be in a club that has given him opportunities. Having said all that, he is not a brainy or subtle player and often disappears or gets himself into positions that completely negate his pace. He will be up against better players, teams and defensive organisation than he was last year. He may yet find that the team as a whole will find a level in comparison to last year that will entail struggling to make an impression on better sides and cause him to be needed to be more aware of defensive duties. I think he may struggle next year unless we find players that are able to give him the sort of incisive passes when we are under pressure that will allow him to run past defenders. I personally think in the light of his fathers influence and the obvious preference to move that it would be better to let him go and bring in a proven mature championship attacker, plus a couple more than we would otherwise have brought in. The club announced on BBC Solent this morning that nobody except Arsenal had been in touch since Liverpool's derisory bid last year and they didn't want to pay up front but wanted a staged incentivised fee and loan him back for a period. It appears that Premier clubs don't value him at the same price as Saints because he is for 2/3 years time for them, whilst he is currently in Saints first team and therefore is valued as a first teamer here. I'm not sure a deal can even be done and that he and his family are hoping to force a deal at Arsenal's terms rather than Saints. If we can get the deal we want or near, we should let him go, because this won't get any better in terms of him being settled or causing disruption. The boy may never get much better or he could be a star at the highest level but at the level he is at at the moment we can replace him. It may well be that nothing will happen because Cortese will hold out and Arsenal etc will either have to **** or get off the pot. In which case Alex will have to perform or be treated like Puncheon which will do him no good at all as he needs to play and impress or he will go nowhere.

Could it just be that the father wants him to cash in, while it's not that important to the player who probably wants to play first team football not be back in the reserves/U18s no matter where it is. A lot of previous quotes/articles show the father/agent? appears keen/desperate for the move but all the chance contacts with the boy show a different focus.

Mike, A mate of mine had his knee replaced 5 weeks ago. He had considerable discomfort for about a month, his knee is swollen and numb (can't feel bed clothes on it) but he was out last Saturday with me riding on my golf cart and carefully walking about without a stick. He is determined and follows the exercise regime and is now looking forward. I will check with him to see who did it at Southampton General and pm you.

I realised what he was saying, but he obviously didn't bother to find out the Saints Chairman's predictable attitude to the media. Unless Adkins is capable of persuading Cortese to overlook it, it's a dead deal.

Well, that'll work, now that it's in the press Cortese will be rushing to negotiate, thick idiot!