derry

Gary Jones, the Rochdale captain, took us apart at SMS and scored a stunner and has scored about seven goals this season already. He's a proper box to box midfielder and leader something we sadly lack. Schneiderlin plays lots of nothing passes to players going nowhere and almost never passes and moves. He sits in front of the back four and strolls after passing leaving it to others to try and get movement. He is now a major cause of the static central midfield, especially with Lambert lacking mobility up front.

No he can't. He can drop the ball but it is up to the players. In a game that is so full of hypocrisy and cheating it is a rediculous situation to knock the ball out and expect to get it back. If the referee thinks one of the players needs immediate attention it is down to him to halt the game not the players. All dropped balls should be contested. Yesterday the ball was in Oldham's half when the whistle was blown, it was rediculous to give the drop ball level with the penalty area where the player went down. I got the feeling he was going to keep playing until Oldham equalised.

Put the chair leg inside the loop of the strap then sit on it. It makes it very difficult to grab the bag quickly and leg it.

4-1-2C-2W-1 with the full backs supporting wide men and both central midfielders attacking. But it won't happen.

Davis, Butterfield, Jaidi, Martin, Harding, Schneiderlin, Fonte, Chaplow, Guly, Barnard, Lallana.

I remember the story how he dribbled around the goalkeeper, every defender gave up as he only had to tap it into an empty goal, so he sat on the ball on the line before scoring. It brought the house down. Absolutely unique.

Duncan Edwards was awesome Andy, I only saw him on tv but once seen never forgotten, He was like a big Dave McKay with the passing ability of Hoddle with pace and power. There has never been another to compare with him. Sadly he died in the Munich air crash, only about 21 years of age and already a legend.

Not without Alf Tupper.

Team from Pat Jennings, George Cohen, Franz Beckenbaur, Bobby Moore, Terry Cooper, Danny Blanchflower (capt), Johnny Haynes, Stanley Matthews, Terry Paine, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Charlton, John White, George Best, Ron Davies, Kevin Keegan, etc. etc. Wouldn't need any tacklers as they would keep the ball for 90 minutes except for periodic kick offs after goals.

MTK v Portsmouth about 1957.

£30+ bn and 85000 MoD civil servants.

The tv replays are much more accurate than seeing the instantaneous event live. I see every home game, but I get a more accurate view from the tv replays on what I thought I saw from a distance. NA says they were sloppy, but your obviously expert opinion has to be accepted, two great goals!

What credibility? Are we talking about the vast amount of money thrown at administration, inflated salaries, targets and consultants? As for the education system, what a cluster**** that has turned out.

It's a sick joke and sits alongside the Typhoon, designed to have a cannon, designed out on RAF planes, then needed ballast but that didn't work, the cannons were replaced as ballast but can't be fired as there is now no fire control system. Alongside the six Special forces Chinooks that have sat for ten years because they can only fly in VFR because the systems weren't designed properly. It's no good trying to blame anybody but Gordon Brown who borrowed more than we could afford and wasted the lot. Now we have to cut everything and are still spending too much. £7bn foreign aid FFS, cancel the lot, we need to sort things out here and get rid of the department that administrates it.

Both goals were preventable. The first was off the post to Pilkington who could have been pressed but Hammond didn't see the danger so stayed where he was. The second goal was a free kick into the six yd area that both Fonte and Lambert went for but collided resulting in the ball dropping at the edge of the box allowing a clear shot. With better defending both goals could have been prevented. If all you are looking at is two incisive shots that is correct, but the sloppy play was what led to the shots which shouldn't have been allowed.

Both goals were sloppy, Hammond had a chance to close Pilkington down for the first but just stayed where he was and stuck a half hearted leg out from five yards away. For the second Fonte and Lambert collided going for the same cross, surely it's not rocket science for Lambert to let the defender go for it and cover. Similar to Fonte and Butterfield going for the same ball against Plymouth, it just needs a call which doesn't seem to be happening.

At the Tranmere match we were sitting next to somebody analysing the match. As the seats next to us are reserved club seats we assumed he was scouting the game for Huddersfield. The person sitting next to him had a look at what he was writing, all referenced to the Saints numbers. A particular note was all the passes from Davis out to Fonte. I thought then that we may well get pressed at Huddersfield. It sounds that Davis has to wake up to all round options and not pick up Fonte especially if he is being pressed, likewise the other players not pressed have to provide instantaneous options. Building from the back predominately through one or two players is easy to cut off, defenders going wide and midfielders dropping off could also open up passing options. It appears that now Lambert is no longer competitive, with balls played up front we are just giving the ball away. It is going to take time for the players to be able to vary their game depending on the challenges set by opposition. Adkins will take things from this game especially the shortcomings of some players.

Guly was in a class on his own on Saturday, for skill only Lallana is close to him but in a different way. Admittedly Lee Barnard gives loads of effort but is very orthodox and somewhat predictable, his movement and link up play is good but I would much rather have him playing against us than Guly. If Lambert continues his improvement, together with the Puncheon revival and a now match fit Lallana, a dynamic Guly is much more likely to open up Huddersfield and give us a start rather than have to play catch up later in the game. Our central midfield looks so much stronger now with an improved Hammond, box to Box Chaplow and Schneiderlin available. With the footballing style adopted by Nigel Adkins we still have a bit to go before we are using possession at pace, it is only a matter of time and familiarity. For that reason I think the unpredictability, pace and form of Guly is a bigger asset at the start.

Nigel Adkins left Barnard out last week as he didn't train until Thursday and wasn't involved in the Tranmere preparation. That makes me think that he could well opt for Hammond and Chaplow to start. Adkins seems to be a meticulous manager who uses all the technology and analytical tools available to prepare the players. This new approach here with the first team requires the attendance of the players, any that are missing this preparation will probably drop out, provided there are selection choices.

Friendly with David Lallana and Steve Surman.

To call them long balls is bending the facts somewhat. The first was a layoff in the corner by Guly to Puncheon who in trying to beat a defender had the ball knocked sideways, which went to the backing up butterfield about five yards away on the edge of the penalty area who put a nicely weighted cross to the edge of the six yd box for Lambert to score. The second was a nicely chipped ball from the halfway line into the space behind the left back for Guly's run into the space, from there the cross from the byeline for the goal. Neither could remotely be compared with the long ball from the edge of one penalty area to the other. Any time it happened yesterday we lost possession and were counter attacked.

Illogical as the sun goes down lower in the second half for the early autumn/spring months and in the winter (most of the season) it is mostly cloudy.

Bournemouth had the maximum away support but as we were attacking the Northam end it was quiet and drowned out by the Saints supporters. When it is the other way round the opponents are attacking their supporters end and they are making all the noise. Much better this way.

Interestingly, today I was talking to a Bournemouth fan who said that he wouldn't mind staying in league one with some success and his team playing good football. He carried on to say that it is all very well getting promoted but how are they going to strengthen their side and pay higher wages with no more money coming into the club. He also said on the other hand if you get promoted you will strengthen your side sufficiently to go for promotion again and get big crowds. He is obviously proud of how his team is performing but has no trouble in seeing the real world.

With due respect to you Steve, that statement on GOS is absolute ******** and the tactic is the fall back position of the safety first manager who can't see the wood from the trees. Sticking 10 defenders in the penalty area stops goalkeepers from getting to the ball, sheer numbers in the box leads to players not marking properly, thinking somebody else is, (it happened regularly with Saints), No clearance outlet and just invites further pressure, allows 7 at least in the penalty area and a couple more just outside, some of the forwards necessarily used as defenders couldn't mark to save their lives. Leaving two and even three forwards up really stretches the opposition. It means that at least two are defensive, two more must fill the gap in front of them and with one taking the kick a maximum of five attackers are in the penalty area, meaning that five are marked and there are three spare defenders plus a goalkeeper with the space to be able to claim balls in the six yd area with the goal line covered. We have never looked in any difficulty at corners under Adkins but looked in all sorts of trouble previously with 11 in the penalty area and the ball launched into the six yd box. Adkins is, as far as I am concerned the best manager we have had since the Ted Bates/LM/Chris Nicholl era, including WAG's success, and Hoddle's tactics. We are very much work in progress and there will be a lot more to come. I think our biggest test will to be hang on to him.