derry

It needs players that understand the demands not just any old player stuck on the wrong side as we did with De Prado on Tuesday. It is wrong to compare skilled high class sides playing with wrong footed players in highly mobile top class teams, with third division players copying the system without either them or their colleagues having the organisation, intelligence or mobility to make it work. Top class sides find a way to maintain their width but mostly when our players are narrow, then we usually have no wide option, which is probably the reason we are unable to break down packed defences, as we rarely get round behind them but persist in trying to break the door down with frontal attack which doesn't work. When it comes down to breaking down defensive set ups at home it is the wrong footed wide midfield that contributes most to our inability to figure it out and outflank it and create an overload at the back post.

The problem was , it wasn't Arjen Robben it was De Prado who was totally lost at left midfield, and Puncheon was negated by two static midfielders and the injured Lambert. The only movement came from Connolly. It's alright with Johnson/Milner who go either way but only Puncheon can go both ways but rarely this season choosing to go across the field. In addition it can work well in 4-3-3 with a holding central midfielder and two runners through the channels. It needs the full backs to overlap as soon as the wide man comes inside to maintain the width and allow the ball to be fed wide if the run is blocked. Lallana scored most of his goals when he drifted in late to the edge of the box rarely when he stayed inside he nearly always checked back looking for support from behind rarely getting to the line. I will say that he is a unique talent that is getting better both from a physical point of view and skill, I personally think the time may have come to play him on the right side of central midfield with a strong partner.

On the other hand Bert, a really confident coach seeing how unbalanced and static the whole thing was would be radical on the grounds he had little to lose and if he made changes which moved things on, the management might just say 'hang on a minute this guy is good, let's give him time to see what he can do', It's what the good managers do, whatever the level.

Lambert is still struggling with the groin injury. He struggles to train and as a result isn't getting surplus weight off. Source-a first team player.

Leaving out Dickson, Barnard and Martin was dumb with Lambert suffering from a groin strain and immobile. Playing an unbalanced side was plain stupid. De Prado was brought in as a central/right attacking midfielder, he has no left foot and playing him at left midfield was naive. The continuation of the left footed Puncheon on the right compounded the error. Allowing the central midfield to stagnate and then not change it when 0-2 down meant the changes made were inneffective. Not up to the job, this is possibly another Dodd/Gorman results scenario. I hope the players can rise above the managerial selection stupidity.

If he's really annoyed Cortese he could be just paid his salary for two years. Probably a lot more expensive though.

I see the sun is advertising cruises from a south coast port.

He would be a fool to publicise his views if he wants to work as a manager again. Football is a small world.

This came through a first team player. I don't like it either, now Barnard has given us few options.

I'd like to see us doing something different. If Lambert is going to play and I don't think he should because his groin injury hasn't healed yet, I'd like to see us inject a bit of pace into central midfield. I personally would like to see Bialkowski in goal but obviously it will be Davis. The back four picks itself for me Butterfield, Fonte, Martin, Harding. The midfield has been a major problem making the buildup slow and lacking pace. Because of that I would do something radical. Chamberlain, De Prado, Puncheon, Dickson, with Connolly and Lambert up front. Everybody playing on their natural side with hard running players with pace from midfield helping out the at the moment immobile Lambert. I know about no defensive midfielder, but that really worked well against Swindon with two of them sitting even at 0-2 didn't it? Schneiderlin needs to rethink his roll and it isn't as a one dimensional strolling square passer and Hammond is way off the pace. In any event they would be on the bench if it didn't work, but somehow I think Rochdale would have their hands full with the pace and again if they are coming to park the bus why do we need two negative central midfield players?

He stll has the Groin injury and is limited in training and struggling to get weight down. Lallana was having pain killing injections (not cortisone) before the match and at half time. I don't know but it could be the same for Lambert. He needs to get it right before he plays again.

The more I think about it the better I feel about it, as long he is a team player and is prepared to be part of the re building without the ego bit. But then I can't see Cortese taking any more with egos

No, Compensation v NDA.

It's nice to see the inevitable change of perspective as information leaks out. The only person that is vital to the future of SFC is Nicola Cortese and by definition the Leibherr family. Alan Pardew or any manager is an irrelevance as far as the continued success of this club is concerned. Whilst the initial kneejerk emotions are understandable, a more hard headed assessment needs to be made. Just over a year ago we were headed for liquidation and saved at the eleventh hour by Markus Leibherr. Cortese was obviously astute and as a Swiss must have been very aware to even know about Saints, their predicament and their availability at a knockdown price. In addition being a close friend of a multi billionaire that would not only buy the club for £13m, but insist that his only condition for buying the club was that Cortese had to run it for him, marks him down as special. We are now in the best position this club has ever been in financially, with multi billionaire backers. Before Lowe we were a hand to mouth private club, with a broken down ground, but run by real gentlemen, hence only two excellent managers in 25 years. The Lowe years in retrospect, whatever the playing side, were a nightmare waiting to happen. Now we have the chance of a lifetime to be really something in the fullness of time and I for one don't want to see that squandered, by the stupidity of people that can't see the wood from the trees. The manager of the club has to be able to work with everybody, it is no good having an ego that gets in the way of co-operation and building the club from the bottom up. In this club the person building the club is Nicola Cortese not the manager. He sees an organisation from the bottom up with all working towards a common goal. Because of that, we don't need an old fashioned dinosaur, we need an intelligent Wenger like manager that sticks to the playing side and works as a member of a greater organisation for the overall benefit of the club. I felt that Pardew was very limited and am not sorry to see him gone. Now a year down the track Cortese with his advisors are in a much better position to chose, what could be the right manager to take us on for years. I am convinced that if Cortese, knowing what he knows now, was presented with the problem he had last year, Alan Pardew wouldn't have got the job. From my point of view, there are things that Cortese has done that could have been done better and differently, but he is also on a learning curve and whilst I didn't like what he did, I recognise that he is far and away the most important person in the club as things stand. The way this club is being built, precludes the one man band manager, it must be a team player who is a footballing manager prepared to build a proper football team backed by the vast support available. There will be no shortage of applicants but very few that will fill the bill. It may yet be that we will have to take a manager from another club who is attracted by the challenge and pay the necessary compensation but I hope that won't be needed. We don't need to throw this opportunity away making hysterical protests about something that is irrelevant.

With so much money going out of clubs to agents etc I personally think it better to exercise control over the budget. If the valuation of a player is objective, the manager wants the player then that should be it, however if the manager just wants the player and the valuation is in the view of the other two football men inflated, the Chairman has to make the decision whether to blow the money or look somewhere else. I think Pardew was banking on buying Antonio but Reading knew that and didn't lower the price. I wouldn't be surprised to see him out of Reading for not a lot of money before Christmas, loan then permanent.

He didn't. Cortese, Pardew, Reed and David Burke (recruitment/scouting manager) were the discussion group to decide on transfers. It requires the co operation of all concerned but the balance can be upset by a manager with a big ego and not a team player, who would IMO be the last person to give an open cheque book to.

With a committee the Chairman can get a balanced view regarding the valuation of a player and not pay over the odds on a managers say so. Antonio?

People should be careful what they wish for. I wouldn't think there are too many people around with the resources to run a debt free club. The day Cortese finds he doesn't want to do this any more is the day we will be put up for sale. Bearing in mind the purchase price there is a better than tidy profit to be had by our present owners. Then the real nightmare could begin, bought by chancers, mortgaged up to the hilt and on a downward spiral. I don't give a damn that a pretty average manager has been sacked, I do give a big damn that this club doesn't pour this marvelous opportunity down the pan by gross over-reaction. Pardew is going to be replaced, Wilkins is probably going to do a Dodd/Gorman for a week or two but from there on in with a proper footballing manager we could well be flying. I don't want to see Cortese decide he doesn't need this crap.

Pardew did it all the time. Why is it that caretaker managers in the main turn out to be useless tossers?

It seems like the latest tactical fad. We were pulled part last night by crosses from the byeline, good old fashioned play which we are unable to do. We are too narrow and don't have enough movement, interchange etc. I found out yesterday that we don't practice set plays either defensive or offensive. We need a proper footballing manager to pull this team together and refocus on movement, width, and slick set plays.

A ludicrous decision to sign a right footed central midfielder and play him left midfield. Especially so when Schneiderlin's only offering was strolling around and passing sideways and back even at 0-2. Neither central midfielder made much attempt to get up with the strikers especially as Lambert still has the groin injury aned really should be rested. The changes we made were bizarre, Puncheon should have been moved wide left, Chamberlain wide right, Barnard replace Lambert and Guly replace Scneiderlin to give it a go. Instead we stayed with two sitting midfielders and the immobile Lambert and went three at the back. I think Guly showed enough last night to be an attacking asset in central midfield.

It appears Bill, that all the appointments in the development structure have come through Reed. It could wll be that Ron is on to something here and that Reed is coming up with compatible recommendations so that the foundation structure is topped off seamlessly with appointments that can work together.

Coppell was the first choice and was on his way down to sign the contracts but had second thoughts and decided to go with his original plan and take time out of football.

IMO it's for the best Duncan. I've never hidden the fact that I felt that Pardew was over rated. I didn't like the way we played, despite the fact that this strong squad was always capable of getting results. I have always felt that he was inhibited, safety first, and didn't get the best out of the team. I think Cortese is on the right track and is focussed on where we are going. I think recent happenings hastened Pardew's departure. I think it was more to do with style and players plus compatibility than results.

I understand it was Pardew, Reed, Burke together with Cortese.