derry

This season and especially today we have been putting out teams with no balance and no idea. It's easy to see why there is no team there. What the hell were we trying to do surrendering and just backing off No pressing except for the front two. One of the biggest culprits is JWP, he only comes alive when the ball is dead. The original clockwork mouse, no pace no strength and worst of all no idea. His is the slow pace that infects the rest of the team. Stephens, good control on the ball but gets us into all sorts of trouble looking for possession based short passes so gets closed down or releases the ball for it to be lost. Play forwards, get the ball up front quickly, that is for all the players. We have plenty of runners if they are used properly. Romeu, JWP and Hojbjerg are going to relegate us playing so slowly with the back five and a failure to press from the middle. Sixty odd games at home and 15/16 wins that is woeful. Time to get the crowd going, press hard all over, high tempo and a percentage of route one from the back four when the opponents are goal side, put the ball behind the defenders early when there is room. Playing slowly just allows the opponents defenders to close down and leaves no space for runners or passes but exposing our defenders to counter attack because of the space behind and between our defenders as the midfield and wing backs have been sucked in. We have to play a proper team and forget shoehorning whoever into positions that are alien to them. Play a LB at LB, a RB at RB, 2 CBs, A proper holding midfielder sitting in front of the back four as a playmaker in possession playing quick balls through the opponents (Stephens could do it if he moved the ball straight away up to the forwards.), two midfielders and three quick attackers. Stop experimenting and play high tempo.

On the JWP subject, I've seen him miss tackles, not tackle, lose his mark, not pick anybody up, pass it five yards to marked colleague, ignore most forward passes, ignore runners and pass it to a defender, fail to track at all, waves his arms around like Stephen Davis. Too slow, too weak and wins nothing in the air. Nearly always at fault somewhere when we concede. I'm pretty sure he would be the opponents first pick in our team selection. Until we get rid of him we have no chance of quick breaks and utilising any pace we have up front. He is the real impediment in a pedestrian midfield.

Shades of the first team it really is slow.

I watched Aberdeen v Celtic today. Elyanoussi had a decent game, hand in two goals plus one for himself well taken. His movement in a free role from the left was excellent, he was always looking for space and played some very good forward passes and was always looking for space in the penalty area. His tight control and perception was good. He is a far better footballer than JWP. Celtic are obviously being sensible in playing him in a way that allows him to play to his strengths. He isn't the strongest but did cover when he had to, being used as a playmaker was ideal. We paid a lot of money for him but just shoehorned him into a poor side expecting him to cope with our system. He didn't so we got nothing out of him which was in retrospect to be expected. I thought like many others that he was lightweight rubbish, I can now say I was wrong. There is a clever footballer in there. He is a better footballer than anybody in our midfield especially the mythical clockwork mouse. We ignored his strengths and tried to make him something he isn't.

He has to take the bull by the horns and reset. Firstly his own philosophy, get rid of this safety first selection with two attackers all it does is invite teams to attack. Drop JWP and Vestergaard both too slow and in JWP's case a totally negative passer. Go to a back four. One central holding midfielder, two attacking midfielders and three forwards. Armstrong and Boufal, Djenepo, Ings, Redmond, Adams etc. Do it on Tuesday in the cup. I can see him selecting the back four that finished last night. Questions, could Stephens or Danso be tried as a disciplined holding midfielder, Romeu deoesn't hold he plays as a midfielder and often leaves gaps, Hojbjerg the same. Could Hojbjerg be one of the attacking midfielders.IMO Romeu needs to be more disciplined and hold in front of the CBs. Most of all the team needs balance and blend, No more JWP at CM, RM, LWB, RWB, he is ****ing hopeless. For me 4-1-2-3, High tempo, cut out the possession obsession and get the ball up to the forwards either one ball or a number but cut out the backwards and sideways. Backing off, not pressing, leaving the opponents free resulted in last nights fiasco. As it is I've had it with SMS. I have a season ticket but I decided after the trash produced against Bournemouth and Chelsea I decided I wasn't going last night. JWP sums up Saints for me at the moment, lots of bull****, mythical delivery, slow, weak and negative. I will say that historically, poor defences with goal scoring forwards do better than poor defences with few forwards.

With every game like this hammering, it needs to be a lot worse then there will have to be an investigation and a reaction.

Rediculous management. Bertrand off, JWP to left back FFS, then swopped with Valery. Only one decision to make if keeping three CBs JWP OFF, Danso to left back. JWP has no pace, vision, skill and football intelligence he has to be left out. PEH is physical, no football brain and gives the ball away. Those two are killing the midfield with their negative play.

I'm not even going to bother going. Watching JWP etc going sideways and backwards and him and Vestergaard looking like they are running in treacle has sucked the enjoyment out of it. It doesn't much resemble football. Forward players making runs and being ignored, defenders passing it around and getting caught out, even the very best teams put their foot through the ball if in danger. We desperately need a player in the middle that controls the game similar in style to Modric etc not a headless chicken or two like JWP and PEH.

I go with this. If I remember correctly going back over 60 years we were the only ones to sing the Saints go marching in. Days of rattles and 2-4-6-8 long gone.

I personally have a scepticism for all this analytics because it's not working. Throw ins are still awful, movement is almost non existent, shooting is terrible, defending set pieces is appalling. Hardly any of the players have shown any improvement over the years and we have bought some real crap for a lot of money. Bin the computers and employ people that know football and can recognise a footballer by their performances on the field or lack of.

The thing that ****es me off most about JWP is him going on the media to tell us what we have to do to become a better team. He has absolutely no self awareness hence despite endless opportunities has failed to improve since his debut.

Anybody that took a look at Vestergaard, Elyanoussi, Hoedt, Carillo (pressure from Pellegrino) etc. and didn't walk away needs sacking. That together with any player that lacks the pace and football brain to compete in the Premier League. We really are a team with too many slow players, we need to put that right.

A disturbing article in today's Echo. We are working on trying to improve our goals scored coached by set piece coach Dave Watson allied to Hasenhuttl's endorsement of the JWP expertise at dead ball situations. If that's their approach they are ****ing idiots, believing in a myth that has produced one penalty goal combined with pedestrian performances littered with mistakes and lacking any awareness. If JWP is the answer, God knows what the question is. We are in deeper mire than was first thought. More of the same is relegation form.

Alfie Jones our U23 Centre Back, converted into midfielder at Gillingham, scored and was in the Div one team of the week. CHDAJFU after Christmas.

I agree with most of this especially the inability of PEH and JWP to run with the ball, even beat an opponent, make runs beyond the strikers, and shoot hard on target, either side of the goal not straight at the goalkeeper, and certainly not into the back of the stand. Along with the back four the three midfielders have been brain washed into aimless short passing going nowhere as a first and only thought. Well they have been found out and opponents are closing down and pinching the ball regularly and it will get worse unless we change tack. Against Chelsea without really attempting any astute passes JWP had a 76% accuracy rate. that means he gave away one in four passes attempted. WTF is he doing in the team.

Firstly No. Secondly we are paying so much in salaries to players in and out of the club that any we wanted to keep would have to be disposed of. Without the Tv money we are going to go down the pan, it's bad enough now with it. Our buying has been appalling. That together with high wages and long contracts mean we have to stay in the Premier League to survive long enough to see all the dross gone and rebuild.

Yes and another thing is our obligatory throwins, wait for the full back to make his way up, the opponents know whats's next, a couple show and eventually the throw happens and is passed back to the thrower. Of course it all went wrong yesterday Valery burst through to the bye line, a first and put Ings in for the goal. First to the ball should take it quickly and other players should get close to take the ball. We then have movement and momentum, not three involved and seven others stood on their heels spectating.

Yesterday was a disgrace. JWP is a ****ing myth. there is no substance to the lad. What summed him up for me was defending in the left back position he got a knockdown and played a three yard sideways tap to the nearest red shirt already closed down by opponents. He is a ****ing idiot in football terms. Backwards, sideways, defends like Steven Davis, waves his arms, good at that, otherwise the only doubt yesterday was how high up the Chapel his mythical delivery was going to be. I havent even mentioned his lack of strength and pace. PEH seems to have lost his way. As somebody said previously he was standing around in space in the second half. Early in the first half we were attacking well down the left in the last third when he received the ball and played a forty yard ball back to a centre back. The midfield is dire. Romeu does his job well but the other two are a liability. If Hojbjerg played as a pair with Romeu it might work but in my opinion JWP is a waste of space. Time to give Armstrong a go as an alternative. Danso allegedly has pace, sooner or later we are going to have to give him a go. Maybe in place of PEH, (unlikely as he is the Captain) Ings is good at what he does but again is not the quickest so needs to be combined with a centre forward with pace. Boufal has looked lively but his end product is still lacking. Maybe 4-4-2 (we've tried everything and everybody else) With Armstrong/Boufal- Hojbjerg/Danso/ possibly give Slattery a go- Romeu -Redmond as a midfield and try Djenepo/Adams and Ings 10/9 We have to do something about the lack of pace from midfield together with the obsession within the defence and midfield playing multiple passes sideways and backwards eventually dropping the goalkeeper in it forcing a hurried clearance. Yoshida is one of the biggest culprits. We need to be much more proactive attack wise. Yesterday halftime 3-1 down we needed to take off JWP and put possibly Boufal on then on the hour if we weren't back in the game stck another attacker on or even two and go for it. We didn't made the safe like for like changes, took the wrong players off and lost 4-1 (that worked) I don't buy the JWP hype, or the PEH is a midfield playmaker. JWP gave the ball away in the Chelsea half for the first goal. Failed to get close, stood off, Mason Mount for the second and Stood off Mount again before the chip to Alonso for the third. PEH was nowhere for any of the goals except for deflecting the third past Gunn. Ralph needs to get a grip and do some radical thinking. More of the same isn't good enough or playing square pegs in round holes, Djenepo at left back. Bertrand is our best left back. I suspect his present problem is in front of him and isn't being sorted. Ralph needs to get it right and chuck his ego down the pan. Even if players faces don't fit if them playing gives us a proper blend then do it. We have no blend, that is obvious. The most important thing in any team game is that the sum of the parts provides a real team not a collection of individuals playing their own game.

This is a game that we should get something out of. Personally I think Gunn isn't showing the form he had last year, maybe time for McCarthy to have another go. Ralph this season is proving that he isn't the genius we were led to believe. The defence selection against Bournemouth, the omitting of a fit Bertrand for Djenepo, the persisting with cart horse Vestergaard, and in most games square pegs in round holes. We loaned Danso as a first team center back given his appearances for Austria. Yoshida and Bednarek are probably our best pairing, Valery and Bertrand making up a back four. Up front Ings is scoring, pair him with Adams who works hard. The midfield is a conundrum, far too much sideways and backwards and nowhere near enough positive attacking intent. I can't see beyond Romeu, Hojbjerg as a central pairing but personally I'd play Redmond and Boufal and leave the pedestrian, negative passer and alleged dead ball genius on the bench. In the absence of Djenepo this looks to me as the best we can do. Something we have failed to do for years is regularly take headed chances in the box. Yoshida especially. Until we head the ball down and give the keeper a lot less chance of saving or heading over we will continue to squander these chances.

I don't know if it was mentioned above but the single engine on Sala's aircraft was only separated from the cockpit/cabin by a bulkhead. the aircraft was over thirty years old and presumable the bulkhead wouldn't prevent any faulty exhaust fumes from entering the cabin. This may have incapacitated or caused the disorientation of the pilot. I haven't read any report but would expect a faulty exhaust on a single engine aircraft to put fumes into the cabin.

This was Payne Stewart. A friend of mine, who lives in Hedge End, a very experienced airline captain, working for the airline I worked for, was positioned with a First Officer from Orlando to Puerto Vallarta on the West coast of Mexico a couple of weeks before the aiircraft crashed. Just after the crash I was talking to him and was gobsmacked that not only had there been no emergency briefing he had no idea where the passenger emergency oxygen masks were kept. I won't enlarge on what I said to him but it wasn't pretty. Another accident waiting to happen. Some years ago a King Air was being tested at high altitude over the West of England, the pilots for whatever reason weren't on oxygen and became incapacitated. The aircraft was I believe in a gentle turn holding it's altitude on autopilot. The aircraft was depressurised, the crew possibly dead, the aircraft circled drifting South until as far as I can remember ran out of fuel and crashed in the Bay of Biscay. With both of these aircraft the Air Force formated on them with a view to shooting them down if their track threatened a populated area.

Good job you weren't there. The chances to pass forward to open players were numerous but the ball was always passed to the player almost level. JWP is bloody hopeless. He is too slow, too weak, always opts for the sideways or backwards and finds it impossible to beat a man just turns back. We need more pace in midfield and a willingness to make early runs into the box. JWP seems to find it impossible to direct a moving ball. We were conned by Eddie Howe and RH contributed to that with the rediculous team selection. Bournemouth were in damage limitation mode, win the ball and break quickly and try and get at our ponderous unbalanced defence. I'd like to meet the idiot that finally decided Vestergaard was the answer, We'd have loved playing against somebody so slow. Time to rethink. We've got a few forwards, Armstrong into midfield, get rid of the slow players such as Vestergaard and JWP, bring in Yoshida or try Danso alongside Bednarek and give Gunn a kick up the backside. Huddersfield's equaliser was a similar brainfart last season. Pick a balanced side and stop experimenting. Valery/Soares at right back and Bertrand on the left. Hojbjerg strikes me as a bit thick as his play looks like he has learnt nothing during his time at Munich.

A great man for Saints. What he did to keep us going was simply magnificent. At that time I was at a number of meetings, at one Mary Corbett told us that they were out of money. But Leon still kept us going. I believe he was so desperate to save us that he provided the half million to buy the due diligence time for the group that ML was supporting. Without realising it he delayed Marcus taking us over. I'm not sure he ever got that money back. There are countless stories where he helped people in desperate circumstances. One out there this week where he topped up an appeal for a young lad needing treatment giving £30,000 to make it up to £50,000. He will be long remembered for his kindness and charity. RIP Leon.

Tommy Traynor, Bill Ellerington, Alf Ramsey RB but played LB as Ellerington was playing RB so I'm told, Stuart Williams.

With due respect we haven't even been in the same league as Portsmouth for 81 years out of the last 92. In recent times since England won the world cup we have only been in the same league for 6 years. This so called rivalry has little to do with the teams playing each other more to do with the hype generated by some of the fans and the media. In the last hundred years we have only lost 9 matches out of 38. Again with due respect a great season is finishing high in the Premier League not beating a third rate middle table division one side in a meaningless cup that we use to give games to squad members. Since 1960 I've been to a fair few of the 27 games versus Portsmouth mostly when we were in the same league like winning 5-2 at Fratton in our promotion year,including most won by us including the 1984 cup win. I'll watch it on TV.