derry

A goalkeeper chained to the goal line allows the ball to be put into the six yd area, If we had a keeper who dominated the area, the ball would have to be hit in further out.

One of the problems Puncheon has, he is naturally left sided and whilst last season he went for the byeline, this season he is checking back. AO-C is naturally right sided and is getting to the byeline and scoring goals. Puncheon has no chance of getting back at the moment and if as has been said there has been a fall out, (I heard there was a bust up after his last substitution and subsequent dropping) it would not be a surprise if he, along with a few others, is used to bring in other players to alter the make up and quality of the team.

Alternatively criticise it's content.

So Harding gets on the wrong side of Marshall when he was the last defender, Harding again last man, sticks out his right foot and completely miskicks, Schneiderlin loses his man in the six yd box, Three goals hardly Adkins fault. He then replaced both of them. I didn't like the 4-5-1/4-3-3 because the lone striker isn't performing or particularly mobile, The midfield three with the exception of Chaplow aren't mobile enough to help out Lambert, so I was surprised we didn't bring on another striker as soon as we went two goals down. If anything maybe Adkins is being unnecessarily loyal to a striker that isn't performing and more importantly isn't putting in the necessary effort. If Adkins is open to criticism, it is trying to play a lone striker who isn't up to the job at the present time. Eventually he will have a team of players capable of playing the way he wants, but at the moment he is having to adapt and live with a team that isn't capable of playing the way both he and Cortese want it to play. He still has to get results to keep us in the promotion hunt and up to Saturday we were the best performing team in the league over the last six games.

Chief scout for Nigel Pearson at Leicester. Wilkins hasn't been a scout for anyone and as for knowing the championship in the last two years I don't think so, not if he was doing his job properly at Chelsea. Adkins knows the bottom leagues well and the last thing we need is an overpaid underachiever.

I've just checked the calender/diary and this year Saturday 25th Dec is Christmas Day and Sunday 26th Dec is Boxing Day. The Monday and Tuesday following are just Bank Holidays in lieu of CD and BD being at the weekend.

We don't need a chief scout whose current experience is top of the Premier and dealing with £20m internationals, what we do need is the likes of Gordon Watson with a handle on every decent player in the lower leagues.

What we need is a chief scout who knows every decent player in the lower divisions not every £20m international player. Gordon Watson would be more like it.

Gordon Watson would be a good chief scout, not many players at this level he hasn't checked out.

leftback, aged 49/50 - about same age as Maradona, saw Pele at Fulham in March 1973 as kid, Mark Dennis born 1961 Streatham age 49.

leftback joined the forum in Oct 2007, Harding didn't join Saints until summer 2008. I think Weston is on the money, clubs he's been at, people he's known and seen, age, add up.

1949 to 1960

Was that the sister school of St Mary's College in Bitterne run by the Brothers of Christian Instruction. As far as I remember that was in Cheswardine. They used to come down and play football against us now and then.

I think if Davis is left out and Bialkowski plays, it is to see if he can fill the playing from the back role that Davis can't. It would be no surprise if we bring in a goalkeeper in January. Until we have a goalkeeper that is comfortable passing the ball from the back Adkins can't get the team playing the way he wants.

If Fonte and his wife are taking a break away for personal reasons, at a time which is less than a third into the season, when there would be no physical reason for a break, could it be that the rumours that were doing the rounds at the time of Pardew's sacking could possibly have some basis, and this is a reconciliation exercise?

Having said that, as Stocks is keen to join Saints and is out of contract in July 2011, we could either sign him for a fee around £200k in January, or get him for nothing in July hopefully ready for the Championship next season. Brian Howard only signed a 3 year contract last summer and would be expensive but he has said that he would like to finish his career at SMS. From our point of view Stocks is much more likely.

Brian Howard would be a much better bet. Lives at Bartley.

The football club despite the view that it belongs to the fans is a private business. It supplies a football team for the Saints fans to watch. Like any business you either buy the product or you don't. The Liebherrs have appointed Nicola Cortese to run the club and given him a free hand. He has employed a talented manager who is doing well with someone elses team and is going to be allowed to strengthen in due course. As long as one doesn't think the club owes them anything, living with the Cortese style is no problem. I personally think the club is doing Ok. Cortese isn't going to run the club like a democracy, he might ask for a few opinions but he does his own thing. Some of the things he has done might have been more acceptable to those concerned if they had been done more sensitively, however that's not the way he does things. I'm a football fan first and last. I go to SMS to watch the football and want to see the team do well. As long as they do and Cortese keeps supporting the manager I can live with the peripherals.

Lambert is definitely off the pace and lacks confidence. However I wouldn't leave him out at the moment for a number of reasons. Firstly he can pick out a killer pass as at Notts County for the second goal. Secondly he is deadly from the penalty spot and dangerous with free kicks.

Davis threw the ball out the odd time but in the main just hit it long. I think there are two reasons for this, firstly Davis is only comfortable doing this because he isn't confident enough to throw, because he is slow to pick out targets and allows them to be closed down because of his slowness. The goalkeepers that like playing from the back are like good midfielders who know where the next pass is going almost before receiving the ball, then release it quickly. Secondly IMO Adkins realises the problem and has adopted the safer tactic but is biding his time before getting in a goalkeeper that will allow him to play the passing football from the back. This I think is the reason he is sparing in his praise for Davis regarding the only thing he does well. shotstopping.

Maybe we need a proper chief scout more than most. The likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, S****horpe etc have no trouble building decent footballing sides with very little money and average wages on crowds about a third of ours. We on the other hand seem to deal in high cost average players. Maybe it is time to tap into the real hidden talent rather than the agent inspired high cost player attracted by the money available. I have a feeling under Adkins we may well be tapping into that market.

I'm told he's happy where he is.

I would like to see him given the opportunity to play right sided central midfield alongside one of Hammond/Chaplow/Schneiderlin. He is now experienced enough and strong enough and could give us something positive that we are missing, it could also then allow Puncheon to play on his natural side and Chamberlain to play wide right.

We played some brilliant passing football from the back against Tranmere with Davis passing out to the back four but mainly Fonte, against Huddersfield, who scouted the game, and pressed the back four, his distribution got players into trouble. Against Oldham we dropped the passing game and were almost Pardewesque except for more width. It appears to me that it is the fragility of Davis in the distibution department that possibly has forced Adkins to shelve the way he wants us to play. I don't think he is over impressed with the one exceptional quality of shotstopping without the other necessary qualities that are lacking especially the flakey judgement. IMO I think that he will look to satisfy his requirement in the short term and bring in another keeper that will allow him to play the way he wants as soon as he is able.

He outclassed us at SMS, and it's in the lower two divisions we are, and yes exactly what we need instead of a passer that does little else and a tackler that does little else. Central midfield is a major weakness as is central striker. If we are going to get promoted it is going to need more than the cosmetic play we are getting from Schneiderlin, Hammond and Lambert. It is time all of them upped their game as the end result from all of them at present is poor.