derry

We pull all the players back to defend a lead in the last 15 minutes, which is why the crowd goes quiet because they know what is coming next. I was talking to an old first division pro about this problem, his view was that we weren't brave enough to grab the game and attack in this period. The solution is, bearing in mind the opponents have nothing to lose but attack, leave three forwards up to attack on the counter and hold up the ball, this keeps 3/4 defenders out of our half, defend higher up the pitch, keep the ball in the opponents half, throwins down the touchline into the corners. We don't do any of this but the teams that do usually don't concede as they are not under the sustained pressure our rearguard action results in.

Because of our lack of width and pace we don't get decent crosses in to the strikers who are feeding off scraps. He works hard, puts himself about but our lack of quality wide makes life very difficult for strikers.

Mike Williamson and Gary Monk

When he came on v WBA he was wide right and scored coming in from the right across the goalkeeper inside the far post.

We go to SMS game after game and we hope each game is going to be the one we really get it together. It doesn't happen, we give away goals and the slumping shoulders appear. We score first and appear bright and breezy and the clock reaches the last quarter of an hour, the team looks bothered defends deep, pulls everybody back is battered and gives away in the end. There is a lack of mental toughness, a positive attempt to wrest the game from the opposition is lacking, instead, a rearguard action with only defence in mind invites the opposition to attack us and more often than not we concede. The only time I have seen this team attacking at the end is when the opposition is hanging on to a lead or a point. Mental toughness will come from the character of the new players coming in, but it has to be developed in the young players as they are very brittle.

Tony Husband, South today sport, half an hour ago said we hadn't signed anybody.

If we play narrow we allow the full backs and midfielders to tuck in and compact. The central midfielders have no wide targets and either pass back or sideways or hit the strikers who are isolated and outnumbered. Until we play the touchlines and pull the defenders out and create gaps for runners from the middle, we will just be picking up scraps from play and relying on set pieces to score a few goals. Our players aren't good enough to rotate the wide players and until we play a simple wide two banks of four the strikers will have a lean time.

It need not necessarily be wingers or the same players down the touchline, but all the best teams play with width, all the game one or two players occupy the touchlines at all times and in total five or six players can play there during the game. Arsenal, Utd, Barcelona do it, we just leave the space for the opponents to play in. Some teams play two banks of four touchline to touchline. Newcastle have Taylor, Barton, Guthrie, Geremie and Nolan in midfield nobody playing wide but Leicester are playing two banks of four with Howard and Fryatt up front and looked much better.

We are not brave enough towards the end of the game, the fear factor causes us to bring everybody back so the ball is launched into our box time after time with no relief. If we were brave we would leave two wide and one up the middle which would keep 3/4 opponents tied up. We should see this period as an opportunity to catch the opposition on the break and pinch another goal. At the very least an opportunity to win the ball and keep it in the opponents half. If we continue to back off and surrender the midfield we will continue to concede late goals.

It is not panicking looking to play better and improve results. One goal in the league from general play by a midfielder/forward is pretty low. Until we start getting crosses into the box and pulling the defenders around we will be scratching around for goals. We can play better but it seems we still need two more forwards to move us forward. I was talking to an ex first division professional today and his comment about everybody defending at the end and conceding late goals was interesting. He said it appeared the team wasn't being brave enough to leave the forwards up, to hold up the clearances and stop the automatic return of the ball into the mixer. He felt that the negative approach of everybody back was creating it's own fear factor and conceding was a consequence of giving the ball back to the opposition.

Play with more width and try and get players down the touchlines to put in crosses from the bye-line. We in 5 games have only managed 1 goal in the league from open play by forwards. We have paid £1m+ for a striker and expect him to battle for scraps.

We may scrape some wins but we need proper width to create enough chances to score 3/4/5s. If we don't get wingers in, either Mills or Holmes down the left and now that Lallana seems to be perking up, wide right, but they have to play the touchlines or the defence just compacts.

Because we don't play with width, allow opponents to compact in defence and crowd our two strikers, who don't get any decent crosses from the byeline. We need quick wide players on their natural side who can get to the byeline.

It's worrying, we have two decent strikers but feeding off scraps. We need to grasp the nettle and play two men out on the touchlines and start getting decent crosses into the penalty area for the two strikers and supporting midfielders. I don't like the way we bring all 11 back in and around our box, when defending set pieces and at the end of the game, as it allows the opposition to saturate us with unrelenting pressure as we have no outlet. Two or three left up would take three or four out of the equation and give us an outlet to relieve pressure.

Schneiderlin has vision and is a good passer of the ball, his problem has been the narrow system we employed. If we play two quick wide players hugging the touchlines his passing will tear teams apart.

Salisbury?

If Lallana plays well I'll give him the credit. If he doesn't, I have no problem criticising him. If he reverts to his previous form I think there will be a lot criticising him. The Echo site posters today were making the point, maybe he viewed a good performance against Premier opposition as a chance to put himself in the shop window. I must admit that thought struck me on Tuesday, but I thought it unfair because I felt the management had instructed him to play wider which helped him and the team. My attitude to the team management, system employed and individual players is objective.

There is no point in trying to hold a sensible discussion with you. If you can't find suitable words to be insulting why bother. I have no dislike for Lallana, just the way he has been under-performing unnecessarily, together with his poor positioning causing us problems with a lack of width. He was much better on Tuesday and I was delighted.

I'd be surprised if they hadn't as Pardew emphasised the lack of width on Saturday, besides he was 10-15 yds wider and wasn't loitering around the centre circle. It gave him more room to play and he did well, however one swallow doesn't make a summer, he has to build on that now. I am not alone in my criticism of his poor displays, let's hope he is going to move on from here and make himself indispensable. There have been loads of players with potential that was never realised, Lallana could easily be one of those. After last night he may have turned the corner, playing for the team rather than himself.

This tallies with the rumour of suspect knee. Which I suspect is the real hold up not the work permit.

They are now saying it doesn't look as bad as first thought and the ligament isn't torn. Apparently they are now using today to let it settle down and decide tomorrow on the treatment required. This is better than I thought, as it looked really bad therefore long term.

It looked like somebody has spelt it out to Lallana. He was pretty good last night when it came to providing width. By drifting out to the touchline he gave himself more room to play and was more effective defensively. It was by far his best all round display for Saints, it has been a long time in coming and up to now he hasn't deserved a place in the team. Because of his discipline in maintaining our width down the left, and the consequent cutting edge I give him man of the match. He now has to bring this to every match. Mellis was not bad but was a bit narrow, Pardew was gesturing to him to get wide but he wasn't taking notice, I suspect if he plays there again he will be wider. With the extra width we looked a much better side.

It wasn't you particularly but it amazes me the number of teams on the build up threads that include players that have had long term injuries such as McLaggon included last week who probably won't play until November and Mills who is still not match fit. It just appears that not a lot of thought is going into those favoured teams especially when the information is available here, on the OS and on the media sites.

Ignore them and do your own thing.

By next June we will know which party is wanted and which is rejected and in a lot of areas it won't have anything to do with politics. I've had enough of Labour for the last 12 years and like a lot of others will vote for the only way of kicking them out.