Greenridge

Yet maybe Connolly's presence and the subsequent formation to 'accomodate' him is having a negative impacct on Lambert? He may well be still suffering the after-effects of 'flu and his presence drew the attention of the defenders leaving Connolly free but he looks a shadow of his formerself playing the deeper role behind DC.

Another struggle for James again both at RB and in the middle. The lack of pace from Trottman and Jaidi leaves us very exposed to any ball over the top or threaded through. Harding let his player have a lot of room today and despite what derry will tell us it had nothing to do with Lallana who worked very hard (again) today.

His dip in form seems to have coincided with Connelly coming in and playing upfront alone with Ricky sitting back off him. Lambert played much better when up front alone or as part of a pair. Being ill can't have helped earlier.

His presence wouldn't have gone amiss last week when an ill and very under par Lambert struggled through the game.

I beg to differ, I think you'll find he carried the ball to just over the half-way line and then hit a 30 yard diagonal ball into the box virtually every single time. That is pretty one-dimensional. He wasn't the only one who struggled, let's be fair. I just hope it was a one-off game for whatever reason.

His ratings were almost comical, as you say Morgan and Murray's being the most outrageous of the lot

It seems Lambert was under the weather yesterday so I doubt we could have played 4-5-1 with Connolly up front especially with the defence insisting on missing out the midfield.

Oops.

Well I think we'll have to agree to disagree. The positives that AL offers far outstrip the negatives IMHO. We could stick with a rigid orthodox 4-4-2 but have we got the personnel? Criticising AL's defensive skills is the same as criticising Kelvin's lack of goals - he's not in the team to be a defender. I entirely agree with regard to James but as I have said previously let's address items in some kind of priority and there were half a dozen or so ahead of the list before Lallana.

I agree with your views on James but to point the finger at Lallana is just so predictable. I would have thought you would have tempered your disdain for him after being proved so wrong week after week but it doesn't seem to have any effect. If Adam left Harding exposed at times then maybe that's something we have to live. I'm sure it was no different to Antonio / Papa and James on the other flank. The midfield got completely bypassed by the defence for the majority of the game and to watch Jaidi's body language was disturbing to say the least. I think you'll find there are plenty of places to point the finger before getting to Lallana. I'd like to think this was a one-off and that lessons will be learned and I'm glad we have someone like Pardew at the helm instead of internet managers.

Trottman struggled but Jaidi had a shocker and his body language was unreal, he didn't look like he could give a toss. Why play 4-4-2 when the defence insist on missing out the midfield altogether. Schneiderlin had a horror as well. Lambert couldn't seem to get into the game but that seemed down to lack of service. In saying that I think we were the better team over the whole 90 minutes but giving the others a 2-0 start is shooting yourself in the foot of the highest degree. Hopefully just a blip and not a time for suicide and inquests.

He's busy making sure people are fed and watered down by the river

He's a Lab Technician.....SFC were forerunners in Sports Science

Where should we be looking? In The Sun or The Beano?

In view of all that's going on down the road you really have to take your hat off to Paul Hart. Keeps his head down and gets on with the job. Can't be easy for him to say the least but I think he'll come out of the sorry mess with his head held high and probably walk into a decent job in due course unlike Storyteller et al.

You've not read too many SunnyD posts then I take it? Back to the thread and the subject of Mortimer is quite interesting to include in the debate as the sum of the parts certainly appear to contribute to the success of the whole during the LM period. In that case surely LM should be commended for putting together a back room staff as well as one more than capable on the pitch. Afterall this is all part of 'management'.

Lol I think it was £5M rather than a fiver but a fiver sounds better! You couldn't make it up..and you didn't. Nice work Pancake.

Seems some things don't change regardless of forum section. Besides that then there's some interesting stuff in the Lounge, the Takeover thread being a good example with loads of info and some decent input from those down the road.

Sad news indeed.

Different players so no real comparison. Can't see how Surman would get a game for us to be honest. I hope he manages to get a few games at Wolves and makes a go of it there.

It's his role on the forum. His glass is not even half empty, in fact I don't think he has a glass.

Or your old mate Rupert. He certainly knew how to run a club.

If he could sort out the catering and perhaps a radio station I'd be fully behind him, until then I'm not sure he's the right owner for us

It's quite amazing to think where we are now compared to 12, even 6 months ago. Whilst we're not there yet the whole feeling all around the Club is quite incredible from the depths we reached. Surprisingly we do have something to thank the previous regime for and that is creating a position where we have the current owners. Long may it continue.

Gaby Logan has just said it will be 'quite a shock' if Saints win being that they are second from bottom and MK Dons second from top. Mmmm has anyone told her #-o