derry

He needs to start playing head up. I know it is one of the most difficult things to pick up, but as long as he runs looking at the ball he won't see the runners. That was evident from the start with the crosses hit in to nobody and not passing in to the middle for a tap in having done the hard work getting to the byeline. He is very much early work in progress.

One of the problems is the bunching in the middle leading to an inablity to do anything else but belt it up front. Wotton is the worst because he does it without looking. We need to play two wide like Utd did last night and it doesnt matter if we play two or three in the middle as we can pass it out to them, then we can get break outs from midfield. I've got the history book by the way. The variations are interesting.

Out of contract at the end of June. He only signed until the end of the season.

The company that owns the electronic pitchside advertising have shut it down. There was no pitchside advertising at the West Ham game this week.

The company that leases them the electronic pitchside advertising has pulled the plug on it and shut it down. There was no pitchside advertising during the West Ham game.

He is the quick left sider we need.

Under FA rules MK Dons can't block him coming to us unless they exercise their option to purchase him permanently. Even then like all these things it will be down to what the player wants to do. If Plymouth have a buyer then MKD have to exercise the option. If there is any repayment of fee it would be between MKD and Plymouth. We would only deal with Plymouth.

Under FA third party rules a player on loan to another club is tied to the loan club, only in so much as they have under the agreement been given an option to purchase, should the home club want to sell the player. MK Dons therefore have to exercise that right and match the offer or the transfer will go through. I suspect that they would also have to match the players new contract offer. I know we can't talk to the player without permission but the agent would have this end tied up.

I would be very surprised with any loan agreement if there isn't a clause covering the situation of the players home club wanting to transfer the player permanently.

We played 4-4-2 last night were 1-0 up and created good chances. In the second half we changed to 4-5-1 to hold the lead and were overrun, conceded then brought on Waigo and went two up front to try and win. I personally think it is more to do with the players picked than a system. At the moment despite the number of players we have, we aren't anywhere nearly as good as some people think. Antonio is a raw young player that isn't an accomplished footballer and is erratic. He has pace but isn't as quick as Waigo or as good a footballer. He plays with his head down when in possession and his output isn't that good. Waigo isn't great defensively, but apart from the tendency to be offside gives us a better cutting edge. We don't have enough pace in the side, or the balance to go with it. We need a left sided quick midfielder and both attacking and all round central midfielders. The central midfield is nowhere near good enough. All the players have deficiencies, none of them are able to to an all round job. Until we resolve the pace, balance and sort out the midfield we won't dominate the best teams in this division, whatever the system.

They will only be allowed to sign loans or free transfers, so it looks like it is only a conditional lifting of the embargo.

Whilst I see where the ball is, I am watching the players on both sides to see how the move is developing and pick out runs or lack of, marking or lack of, with players off the ball. I continually check the blind side and watch ahead of the move to see if there is offside developing. I'm really interested in balance, width and shape and am continually aware of it in an overview. In effect this sounds complicated but it is purely scanning a wider area than following the ball and as I've always done it, it is no effort.

The problem Pompey have is that all football debts have to be settled. If they don't get a CVA and satisfy the football debts never mind the fact the HMRC don't do deals they are in big football trouble with points deductions, licences etc.

If we are going to rest Lambert I would have thought Saturday against Stockport would make more sense. We need to win at Brentford. We have a load of fresh players available, Lallana has a groin strain and James could be rested. I suspect James who has to play will be the right midfield although I hope not.

Saints didn't play between the 2nd and 16th Jan. They can hardly be fatigued.

I meant swop a block rather than give it away but I do know the difficulty, even worse with long haul.

Don't you lot do roster swops?

It always happens for big games.

What have they to do with anything?

How about the whole ground singing - Pay up Pompey, Pay up. every time they sing Play up Pompey.

Seaborne mis-headed the ball under pressure, back to the Millwall player.

I just have this feeling that he has to deliver the evidence this season that he can hit the ground running next season. I'm just unconvinced that continually playing below par and winning against the lesser sides is going to satisfy the expectations. The new players may gel and we could really bomb on for the rest of the season, in which case there would be no problem. Time will tell.

Season ticket holders will get at least a week to reserve their seats or an unbooked alternative before general sale.

Duncan, I have reservations about Pardew because the way he selects and sets up the team. It is good that we can win games but we haven't won much against the better teams in this league. I don't set out to see the negative side but I don't see the results in this transition season as all important, however I do see the playing of proper football and a balanced team as the most important thing and it hasn't happened yet. As for the results, we have only beaten one team in the top ten, MKD, in the cups Ipswich are the only team from a higher league that we have beaten. Cortese doesn't strike me as someone who is particularly forgiving if people who work for him don't match his expectations. Whilst I would like to see the stability we haven't had for years I am convinced that now Cortese has had six months in charge in English football and the fact that Pardew is now spending a lot of money bringing in players the expectations of the management are greater. It is my view that because of the investment in players, unless we match the top three sides over the rest of the season and make progress over the playoff teams, Pardew will be under pressure.

Holmes was stopped by James from taking corners and in the first half he took a free kick off Holmes and promptly hit it straight to the goalkeeper. Mills delivered some good balls in but James in the second half took them from both sides with Holmes stood a few yards away.