derry

Firstly Davis WAS a top Championship goalkeeper at Ipswich and went to the Premier with Sunderland on the back of that. He had a nightmare season at Sunderland and it could only be the Ipswich connection that made Burley/Saints pay £2m for him. When he first came he made all sorts of errors, the worst v QPR early in the season. He then settled down to be purely a shotstopper and a good one at that who had a good long kick but nothing else. The relegation season saw him as the star, as the poor side exposed him to a lot of shotstopping opportunities. Since relegation he has been playing behind a decent defence and again in the main his shotstopping has been good but that is not enough. Match after match I see goalkeepers that can shotstop but have other talents, communication, decision making, good early distribution, appropriate intervention on crosses, even Exeter's reserve Jones looked a decent keeper, but for him we would have reached double figures. Davis is now making multiple errors, Tranmere, Exeter, Peterborough and if it had been an outfield player they would have be dropped as happened to the back four/midfield players. Bart has performed well in the last two seasons, any time he has been called on and deserves the opportunity to prove himself one way or the other. Either way we need a replacement for Davis in due course. I don't blame Davis for the second goal because Harding was ball watching, didn't go for the ball and allowed Whelpdale to get in front of him and not only block him but head the ball in. I don't blame Davis for the goal as the ball was six yds out, therefore as he stays on his line virtually always, he was never going to go for the cross, so a defender had to deal with it but didn't. Having said that, it is a prime reason I want him out because a keeper that does deal with crosses would have intervened. As for the save before the first goal, it was nothing out of the ordinary and was a fifty fifty block with the legs most goalkeepers would have achieved as Lewis demonstrated in the second half. If he hadn't made the save is hypothetical, however added to the first goal where he should have done better, it would have dented his reputation as a shot stopper, without which he would be unsupportable.

I understand your reservations but in the here and now we have a problem with stoppable goals and Bialkowski may not be the answer, but he is an answer and has kept two clean sheets out of three and let two goal in against MU neither he could be blamed for, whilst last season he had a cracking six games and a loan period at Barnsley where he was outstanding. We certainly can't afford to let Davis have much more time the way we are leaking giveaway goals. A lot of goalkeepers at our level catch/punch our corners and free kicks that are floated into the goal area which immediately ends the threat. Opponents put our defenders under enormous pressure because the ball is delivered between the six yd box and under the crossbar and only rarely does Davis react, which isn't good enough in my book. There is a massive difference between appropriate catching/punching and hardly at all. The very top keepers, Cech, Van de Sar, Reina totally dominate their goal area. I'm looking for where appropriate like Bialkowski, not almost never, like Davis. If our goalkeeper showed a competency and willingness to deal with problems in the goal area the delivery would have to be further out.

Bill, I have seen most of the games that Bialkowski has played in the last two seasons and I think unless we bring in a better keeper than either of them, Bialkowski is the better all round keeper. John and I are in agreement and we both know what a dominating header of the ball he was, he absolutely hates the way Davis is anchored to his line, none of the Saints defenders are even remotely as good in the air as he was and as a goalkeeper who played behind him, you will understand that dominant as he was, you still had to back that up. Davis is making too many fatal mistakes and four of the last seven goals are down to him. We both think the defence looks much more comfortable with Bialkowski than Davis. Every time the ball comes into our box his indecision and lack of judgement is causing us problems. He is also short for a goalkeeper which makes it difficult to deal with crosses.

Bialkowski hasn't let the side down in the last two seasons when he has been called on plus an outstanding loan period at Barnsley. Davis has been at fault with four goals in the last three matches how many more before we make a change. Seaborne has been slaughtered today on here but his inability to catch a very quick and combative striker is insignificant compared with the incompetence displayed by Davis recently.

It's not rocket science to defend against a quicker player, the marker needs the nearest defender to drop in behind and cut off the ball, but Harding sitting square and ball watching just left Seaborne exposed. As soon as the ball was in the air Harding should have been ignoring it as it was going towards Seaborne and concentrated on getting into a covering position where he would probably have prevented the goal by nicking the ball or at the worst driving CMS wide. Because he was the last defender Seaborne would have been sent off if he had impeded CMS but not if Harding had got round on the cover.

Harding was booked for moaning at the referee which was stupidity which meant we wasted a substitution. Harding's positioning was at fault for the first and second goals. For the first he was square of Seabourne and stayed there. He was marking nobody and being aware of CMS's pace he should have tried to get across in front of CSM but didn't, that might have driven him wider but it would have allowed Seabourne to pull back CSM without being sent off. He made no attempt to head the cross for the second goal and allowed the Peterborough player to get across in front of him and head in. Davis blocked a few shots but really didn't do enough for the first goal.

I just hope he isn't affected by it. After Surman and Lallana played for the under 21s they both came back and played poorly for quite a while.

If Nardiello had been in playing distance of the ball he would have knocked it in rather than bother with Fonte. He saw Fonte late and realised he might clear the ball so blocked him. It was a definite foul.

Bill, my problem with Davis is that he consistently gives goals away by bad decisions or even no decision at all. Goalkeepers will always fail to stop goals going in but he is regularly gifting goals at critical times such as his last two games where all three goals conceded can be attributed to his decisions. I have seen many goalkeepers at SMS in the last four years that except for shotstopping are much better keepers than Davis. Shotstopping is something that most keepers do well, but most do all the other things that goalkeepers should be doing. When appropriate catching crosses, communicating unequivocably, short distribution, by positioning not allowing ball after ball to be delivered into the six yd box often under the crossbar because they take charge and catch or punch not leaving the defence to try and clear facing their own goal. As club captain I know he has great influence in the dressing room, but we need a proper goalkeeper on the pitch, the odd blinding save isn't enough if vital goals are being gifted to the opposition.

yes, and just gifted another one.

Not in the same class as the lad you signed from Wycombe, Matt Phillips?

I suspect that putting inflated transfer fees on youngsters but actually not paying much up front and a lot of the real money dependent on achievements long into the future was trumped by a demand for cash on the nail, put up or shut up. If all transfer fees were required up front it would drastically reduce prices.

He has signed three players and sent one out on loan. How on earth can it be his squad when the majority of the players were signed before he came. However I believe the players like him as a manager.

The first goal was preventable, as Harding was working his socks off to block off Obertan Chamberlain stood five yards away and didn't bother to get goalside of Harding which would have blocked off Obertan.

After his display last week Kelvin Davis should have been dropped, which would have happened to any outfield player displaying the same level of incompetence. As far as I am concerned if he never played for Saints again it would be too soon for me.The three wise monkeys Kelvin Davis fan club is on here in force. The man is a walking disaster of a goalkeeper as demonstrated last week. The defence looked much more comfortable with Bialkowski and apart from a dodgy short pass in the second half was solid. As for Davis saving the second goal, not on the evidence of last week he wouldn't. If he comes back he could yet cost us promotion with his idiosyncratic interpretation of goalkeeping.

Quite! He was an awful passer and gave the ball to the opposition continuously. A good servant, courageous, but a legend ? If the club had signed a decent premier quality leftl back he wouldn't have got a game.

I suspect the goalposts could be moved as they would be if a higher bid now came in.

Probably our biggest asset is the ability to pay fees up front.

If it was made the rule, the silly prices currently paid wouldn't happen.

John will tell you how it works. Mind you I can't see phsychologist Nigel Adkins going down that route although Clough , Ferguson etc would.

If McQuoid is worth £550k to Millwall and I think hasn't managed to score yet so is Puncheon. I wouldn't give him away because if he is playing up I'd enjoy kicking his ass until he realises it's easier to toe the line and the pain stops.

Nicola Cortese isn't going to let him go on the cheap. I suspect the Premier giants eyes are currently watering, as their usual hire purchase route isn't working, because we want cash on the nail.

He did bite the bullet Colin and played at Staplewood. I would have thought that if there was real financial interest that we would accept, he wouldn't have been risked. I think most teams interested have him sussed and would only be prepared to gamble if the price is right. The loan concept sounds right after the loan window opens.

No Bill.

Barcelona are also just about the best in your face closing down team around, enables them to win the ball back if not in possession.