derry

I knew Sam well. He is a golf partner of Ian White's at Stoneham. I haven't seen either of them for a while. It was John Harris who reminded me that you played for Swaythling. My son is mates with Barry Joslin's son. John is friendly with Ray Sheehan. I knew Roger Sherwood well, he was an big awkward bugger to play against. Kevin Kelly taught my sons.

Didn't you play for Swaythling after the Dell?

I see you are utilising the experienced players. Surman has to be on the left, BWP is a natural option on the right, they both have to be told to get to the byeline. I bet you scratched your head a bit over the back four. Schneiderlin needs the wide players absolutely wide to get the best out of his passing. I'm not sure about Euell with Saganowski, still what have we got to lose, I did think of him playing right back. The trouble is, there are still problems, would Skacel be better wide left with Surman Left back. I'm not sure how good Liptak is, he'd be a real gamble, it would be easier if I had seen him play. Apart from Saganowski, Saijs and Perry none of the outfield players has a bolted down position.

Two wide players on each side was fundamental for his system to work. It was impossible to get to the byeline and made the fullback as the only player on the right isolated and vulnerable, hence we scored few and leaked lots of goals.

And mostly 20yds inside the touchline which was the critical thing, has to be naturally footed players to get to the byeline effectively. Lallana was given a free role on the right, therefore never played there, all the players except Holmes came inside. At the moment Skacel/Surman LM wide the other at full back and BWP/McLaggon at Wide RM are the only options.

The problem really started when we lost Holmes at QPR. Up to then we had wide options, which meant the passing game worked. Once we stopped playing with width, the players would look for a wide option, not find one, and either have to run with the ball, or pass short inside to an already crowded midfield. Once the Dutch prat ignored his fundamental requirement of two wide players, that effectively finished the experiment. It also made us easy to predict and counterattack. Sadly we are still doing it, and unless they cop on quickly, it won't matter who we play or how we play, we will be relegated. It is fundamental to play the full width not two thirds of the pitch. Lallana is one of our big problems and needs to be left out, he has no idea how a football team works, and it seems neither do the coaches and most of the players.

There was an element of that, but the players themselves stopped the pass and move football, they stopped letting the ball do the work and started to run with the ball and nobody running without it. We became very static, narrow, no penetration and defensively naive. The rest is history.

The experiment failed in September, after some brilliant football early on. We then stopped the passing game and the players started playing like 18 year old British footballers. Not picking the available costly pros and mixing the team was the failure to realise the experiment had ended. Irrespective who was in the team we weren't playing pass and move anymore. Lowe is a bloody banker, and not a very bright one FFS. Look at the mess the world is in because of them and their inability to recognise they are wrong. SLH/SFC reflect that.

The road is open until 1650, only closed after the final whistle.

I believe the goals are on a link from a thread on here, get a load of Sydenhams crosses for I think three of the goals. I think it was U-Tube the video came from.

It's only a game mate. They are not worth it.

We should wait and see how this unravels. In any event I suspect the Saints players will now get the appropriate advice as these headlines are on the front page. I should think the club are cringeing with embarassment at the headlines, especially with the circumstances the club finds itself in.

Suggest you PM Duncan - Fitzhugh Fella.

Don't waste your time Bill, he isn't on the same wavelength. The importance of width is not realised by many, or that teams can improve drastically by playing the whole width rather than twenty yds inside the touchlines. As far as Saints are concerned the wings could be a ploughed field. Sadly they are paying the price for playing the way they are.

Ted took over a bankrupt club, the supporters bought his first player, he kept us in the third division when the old regional third division was split, won the third division championship, promoted to the first division and kept us there. Lawrie McMenemy took over from Ted and promptly got us relegated. He won the cup in 1976, promoted two years later and a couple of Wembley visits, did well in the league, then left for Sunderland. Ted joined us before the second world war and died 60 years later as club President. Nothing that Lawrie did could compare to the lifetime that Ted Bates put into Saints.

This has nothing to do with the ability of the players, it's a way of playing. It can be played from parks to internationals. Utd were an example to use, the argument is far from futile, unless we sort that element of our game, we are going to continue to concede goals and struggle to win matches. In short, we will be relegated unless they get some width into their play.

Yes they do, they are another side that always have wide options, together with keeping attackers wide to attack the far post, they do it in a slightly different way but have great width, using fullbacks and midfielders with central attackers also going wide, They look like they are missing Walcott who did play out on the line. All good sides use the width and get to the byeline, even when we have men wide they come inside, and we never have anybody attacking the far post. The defensive shortcomings with James exposed all the time is because we don't have players wide to block the full backs breaking as per Tate of Swansea.

Sure, because it's still the same problem at SMS, the football doesn't seem to mean much to many on here, they'd rather get into an argument about three tenths of F all, or talk about rumors. This is the biggest problem this club has, but can't see it. If they played with width they would get a lot more points IMO.

The guy who told me the story was one of the original Hamwih players, still is an administrator in the best local league and worked as an accountant for Saints for some years, now retired.

Bill, Colin, you both have played football at different times for the club, you both understand what I keep banging on about. I actually think it would be the difference between getting relegated or maybe staying up. Why we persevere with as you rightly describe it Bill, soulless crap, beggers belief. The players in themselves, on the whole aren't half bad, it's the bloody stupidity and application of the so called numbers game that is going to get us relegated.

We aren't talking about the quality of the players, we are talking about players in their relative leagues with relevant skills playing wide. It is a philosophy, and one that is proven from time immemorial. After the match last night Jamie Redknapp made the comment that the real secret of Man Utd's success is their "fantastic width" It is not rocket science, thinking that compacting the team is making things tight, whilst allowing the opponents to go down our flanks and score most of the goals we concede, is stupidity on the part of the management and to a lesser extent the players. Pressure doesn't win matches, mostly because it is the sort tactic that ends up brainlessly tossing balls into the penalty area for either the centre backs or the goalkeeper to easily deal with. Any decent central defender that is dominant in the air will tell you, that is how they like the opposition to play. What terrifies them is teams that get to the byeline and cut the ball back or drive it into the box hard and low. The reason we don't get to the byeline, don't score enough goals and concede too many is that we stupidly surrender the width and play narrow. I don't subscribe to the my big lump is bigger than your big lump style of football, it doesn't work against teams that keep the ball on the floor and attack down the flanks. It might get you out of the division but it won't keep you in the premier.

You're obviously along with Alex Ferguson and myself and one or two others a football dinosaur. 13 successive clean sheets obviously nothing to do with playing wide, probably the Dutch connection.

You got a mention. I went with JFH.

You got a mention, Harry and I went.

I'm sitting watching Man Utd v West Ham, we play narrow, MU always have two or three wide one side and always one or two holding the line on the other side at the same time. It gives them the maximum width and the most options. Why can't we play with width, what makes the Saints players who are picked wide think we don't need to have wide players playing wide. We are currently one of the least successful teams in the four divisions. Surely trying to imitate the tactics of the most successful club side in the world would be better than playing the narrow, unsuccessful systems that are going to get us relegated.