Rebel

The Saints are Coming - the version that played before the JPT final - who was that by? I can never remember? I have to say watching the League Cup semi final the Palarse fans have some great songs -as they did at St Marys on Boxing Day. We could learn a bit from them.

Nope - Zaha runs down a lot of blind alleys - and Clyne was far too small to be a top class fullback - both overhyped.

I'm not sure we ever took a serious look at Maynard. Maybe we enquired with club and agent about tranfer fees and wages and probably thought he was overpriced - but Bristol City didn't really want to sell him and Maynard wants to go to the Premiership. He'll either join someone like Norwich or WBA now or wait for the summer and move on a free transfer. I can't really see him joining Wigan - although Bristol City may well accept a bid from them now that they know he won't sign a new contract. With Sharp I think we agreed a fee and wages - but with his wife being pregnant and with what happened later I think he wanted to stay at Doncaster for family reasons. Now I think Sharp probably wants a bit of stability and will probably stay at Doncaster until the summer - or move to a Premier League team in easy travelling distance of home. I'd bet on him joining someone like Everton in the summer. Celtic wont sell Hooper - or want way too much money for him - and I think at the back of hid mind he want to stay until the summer for the treble winners medals this season - but I think he'll leave them for the Premiership in the summer. Maybe us if we get promoted. Burnley wont sell Jay Rodriguez - and I don't think he'll leave them this season whilst they have a chance of the play-offs. Its his home town club and with the parachute payment they can still afford to pay him well. But I think it might be a different matter come the summer. Burnley do have a lot of strikers - and have brought a couple more in recently - and Charlie Austin is supposedly a bit unhappy up north and wanting to return south. Maybe we should look at signing him if this is the case. Strikers are in short supply - particularly good ones - and it seems we're not going to splash the cash around in stupid numbers to get one.

I agree that with Yago Falque it was just one game - and he may drastically improve over the next couple of games - but you have to admit the signs weren't good. Whatever you think about his long term future with Saints it certainly wasn't the game to give him his debut. De Ridder should have started over Falque and Richardson over Harding - it's as simple as that. And there is no obsession with Vokes - he's just an example - its a centre forward we need - a 6ft2 striker to lead the line - but we need to be pragmatic about it and go after someone that might actually be available. We don't need a world beater - just someone who can do a job for us. Lambert, Lallana and Do Prado playing behind a centre forward with Cork and Schneiderlin in midfield would cause any team problems. I'm hoping Tandanari can be that striker - but I'm not convinced he will be. Against Leicester we really missed someone upfront to lead the line, hold the ball, link play and pressurise the centrebacks and give us an option to go long with the ball from the back - particularly when we are under pressure.

Here's a list of targets we should be after - and maybe could actually sign - Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Adam Hammill, Sam Vokes, Matt Kilgallon, and maybe Charlie Austin.

Well Yago Falque was a waste of time based on last nights evidence. He may be technically brilliant but if he's not us to the speed and physicality of the Championship there is not much point. Can we send him back to Spurs I wonder?!

Only problem is St Ledger, Danns and Nugent all joined Leicester for more money then we were willing to pay I expect - plus I don't think many people thought we'd be in with a chance of promotion at the start of the season (maybe they were right though) whereas people seemed to think Leicester would be contenders (maybe they were right there too)

Yago Falque was terrible - too small for Championship football - and a bit out of his depth with the pace and physicality of it all. I imagine he would look like a much better player in the Spanish Leagues with a bit more time for tippy tappy football. And it certainly wasn't the game to give him his debut - maybe the last 15 minutes when we are 3-0 up would have been more appropriate. He lived up to my expectations though - I really hope Tandanari Lee doesn't!

it take a strong squad to last the distance - a full season - and get promoted. That's a good if not great first 11 and another 11 good players to take their place if and when they are injured, banned or out of form. We don't have that. We're short a centre back, a centre forward not to mention 2 wide players and a right back - oh and a goalkeeper! we have used most of our luck up already this season and so far failed to seize the opportunity we've been given by strengthening in the transfer window we are now looking at the play-offs. West Ham and Cardiff aren't going to lose too many games from here on in.

we're bidding for players like Hooper who are never going to sign for us until we're in the Premier League. We needed to aim a little lower for players like Juktiewitz and Vokes who are obtainable and would do the job for us we need

we don't have a centre forward - Lambert is a second striker who plays in the hole, Do Prado an attacking midfielder better when running at players from deep, Connolly is too small and probably too old to lead the line, and Barnard is not that different in style - both drop deep and go wide for the ball I hope that Tandanari can give us what we need upfront - power and pace to lead the line - but I have my doubts over a player from the JLeague. I fear he will be more like a replacement for Barnard.

I going to have to agree with you that one. We needed to add 2 or 3 players minimum in this window Outside of central midfield we have no strength in depth. With Barnard out we needed a first choice centre forward to lead the line and play in front of Barnard. Do Prado is an attacking midfielder before you ask! And with Seabourne out we needed another centreback. To some extent we have ridden our luck to get to the the top of the table - until December that is - since December we have run out of luck. Our first 11 is great but we don't have the strength in depth you need to win a a championship. We have also thrown away our momentum and that hurts. I believe that if we'd bought in Juktiewitz in the loan window before December we'd have been sitting at the top of the table with a clear gap between us and the chasing pack right now. Granted he's no world beater but playing in front of Lambert he'd have been great for us. We certainly could have done with him tonight - we had no out ball to take the pressure off and no pace or power upfront.

Norwich brought in Sam Vokes and Dani Pacheco on loan in January or not long after that - and Swansea did the same with Fabio Borini

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and/or Adam Hammill on loan? Wolves supposedly want to move them on or out of the club. Although I think Tandanari and Yago have probably covered the same bases as those two would. other than a defender - Kilgallon on loan? - I think that's probably it for us this window.

yes but he's been on Desperate Scousewives so that rules him out completely - he asked one of the wannabe WAGS out so obviously has no judgement!

So that's our winger/creative midfielder then. I was hoping for Matt Phillips from Blackpool on a permanent, Jonjo Shelvey on loan from Liverpool or Soriano from Barca B on loan when someone said Spanish! . They say he can play in lots of positions so I hope he not our 'other striker' as well. I can't say that I'm wowed by this signing as he's moved around an awful lot for a 21 year old. Suggests he wasn't good enough for Barca and Juve or has an attitude problem of some sort and they both got rid of him because of it. I also thought we were supposed to be building a team for the Premiership - a 21 year old Spanish player on loan doesn't quite fit that bill. An 'Arry Redknapp hand-me-down doesn't feel right either. By the time he's adjusted to English football he will be back at Spurs. Where does this leave us with Puncheon as it doesn't look like he going anywhere is part exchange - or get a place in the team. I think we'll end up selling him to Blackpool for something far short of what we'd hoped for. It also looks like we don't actually have a lot of money to spend - or wont spend it if we do. It will be loans for us I think. Matthew Kilgallon, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Adam Hammill on loan anyone?

Blimey - someone just told me its a double whammy - Rory Delap and Danny Higgingbotham!

We're not going to have all that ITK sh*te again are we!? Besides I don't believe we have the money to throw around that some people seem to think we do. If we had I don't think we would have signed Tandanari Lee.

Lets see if he's any good first - or even makes it on to the pitch!

We don't need a deep lying striker - we need a centre forward to lead the line and to play in front of Lambert just like Barnard did last season. Barnard is the closest we have got and I'm not sure we will see him in a Saints shirt again this season until its all but done if at all. Even then he like to go wide and drop deep for the ball. As does Connolly who is too short to lead the line anyway. Both like to play-off a big man as well. Do Prado has the height but is really an attacking midfielder (not a winger either) who is best attacking the box when a centre forward has made the space for him to run in to. And if we're honest Lamberts best position is as a second striker dropping deep to pick up the ball and set up the play or attacking the space behind another striker to score the goals. At the moment we have become very predictable - and a bit one dimensional - with the cross too Lambert at the far post our main route to goal. We're not creating the space in the box for the attacking midfielders/forwards to run in to. I'm just not convinced Tandanari Lee - coming from the J-League - will be the physical presence we need to lead the line. I'm hope I'm wrong. I hope we don't end up regretting Lucas Juktiewitz signing for Middlebrough - and not us come the end of the season. At £2 million he would have made a real difference to us. £2 million for a return of £50 million is good business as well. Players like Sharp and Maynard are probably going to end up in the Premier League at clubs like Norwich or West Brom. Burnley aren't going to sell Jay Rodriguez or Charlie Austin as they don't need the money and are aiming for the play-offs and Gary Hooper won't leave Celtic until the Summer after a treble and that will be for the Premier League (possibly us if we can get there) Juktiewitz was probably the best of the rest - and one of the few that was in our reach.

Celtic and Rangers are massive clubs in Scottish Football terms -and they do get to play in Europe every season - I'll give them that - but normally only for a couple of games. And they do both have big support bases - I'll give them that as well. But 50,000 or 60,000 crowds do look really big when the average club in your league only gets crowds of 15,000. They also have that same 'big club' arrogance as Man Utd and Liverpool supporters - and loads of supporters in Ireland! But I'm not sure they'd thrive in the EPL where there are 6 or so clubs that can regularly pull in crowds of 40,000, 60,000 and even 80,000. Not to mentions the rest - most of whom can easily pull in 30,000 or so each week. In Football terms the SPL is probably on a par with League 1 in England in terms of standard and competition. Lallana, Cork, Lambert, Schneiderlin, Chaplow, Fox and Fonte would all make it into the current Celtic team by quite some way - all have a better pedigree than Hooper and Commons for a start. And right now if we played them over several games we'd win more than we'd lose. The last time we played them it was more or less our youth team - but don't tell them that it will spoil their illusion. It doesn't make us a bigger club in terms of support - but we are one that could be playing in the EPL next season (and that would probably makes us as wealthy if not more so than Celtic) - and if Hooper wants a place in the England squad it may be a bus he wants to catch. I can't see a premier league club outside of the relegation battle taking a gamble on him. By the way I'd welcome Celtic and Rangers into a two tier British Premier League - as long as they left all that sectarian stuff at home.

I thought Ishmael Miller was a shadow of the player he used to be a couple of years ago - and apart from throwing his weight around a bit in the first 10 minutes or so didn't trouble our centrebacks at all as they out fought and out thought him

He's probably injured again. He always seems to be injured. But I would guess he is on his way as well. He's good on the ball but he has no pace or hight and seems to lack the physical robustness a player needs at this level.

9 times at the age of 26 isn't great to be fair - and his league scoring record is no better than players like Rodriguez and Juktiewitz - and nowhere near as good as Maynard and Sharp. I'm not sure the J League is a great standard either - a lot of players still go there for a last pay day. I can't imagine its as high a standard as the Championship to be honest. Also FIFA rankings aren't necessarily a great guide - Japan probably are the best team in Asia - but that's probably carried them up the rankings a bit. I'm not sure they would be so high if they played teams from Europe, South America or Africa more regularly. Don't forget England are highly ranked by FIFA at the moment and I think most of us would agree that's probably more than a bit misleading!

I was sceptical about the Jos Hoovied signing I'll give you that - but then I'm a natural cynic - it seemed a bit last resort at the time from the outside where we all look in from - and our track record with players from Scotland hasn't been great. But I tried to keep and open mind and see what he could do on the pitch. I wasn't totally convinced after his first game where he seemed to head the ball up in the air a lot rather than out of the danger area - but he showed good touches on the ground and an ability to read the game. Second game he seemd to come to terms with the pace and physicality and has been great ever since. But he has turned out to be a great signing. His track record prior to Celtic was great so all in all we seem to have grabbed a bargain with Hoovied. I'll try and keep an open mind with Tandanari but his J League background and scoring record do make it a bit of a gamble - but I'd be happier with more of a proven goal scorer at Championship level. We have a real chance of getting promoted this season - now is the time to do everything we can to make it happen. We may not get another chance as good as this for a while. I'm not sure we're talking about a Messi here to be fair - besides we have our own in Lallana.! And I am sure most fans would agree what we need is a centre forward to lead the line right now! One question - why on this forum when someone expresses an opinion do people always respons with personal attacks, abuse or negative responses? Here's a challnge for you - try coming back with reasoned argument of a constructive response. I truly am hoping Tandanari will prove to be a great success on and off the pitch - and I do think its a great move by the club to tap in to the Japanese market - I'm just worried by our current run of form and lack of cover for Lambert given the way we play at the moment.