up and away

We should not really have too much of a problem against this Derby side, but it seems we are not doing ourselves any favours. With all the games we must keep the players fresh enough to do a job. For our central midfield the only thing that has really worked consistently is to use two from Hammond, Schneiderlin and Cork. Over cook one of those too much and it starts coming down around your ears. It has always worked best when they do about 1½ games each before being subbed. Put Cork in at RB and you have a problem freshening that up. Chaplow is way off and it would not surprise me if we arranged a mid-week friendly to get him back up to speed. Even back up to speed I am not sure I would want him in the centre, which I believe is his weakest position. Guly or Puncheon and I can see the argument either way until Puncheon scores, then it's a different story. It would not surprise me that we have over done things already with our 3 central midfielders, would definitely be worried if all 3 started on Saturaday, even out of position. Lallana should have too much for Derby on current form with others picking up on his openings.

When someone posted the same question last season, NO way because Ricky just never created the space or quality. A league higher and his game has improved so much that I no longer have those doubts, an impeccable #10. Subtlety pointed out to me a while back, all we really need is Ricky to get on the end of his own pass or cross. This is no reflection upon Ricky but the manner in which we set up to play the game and how much more effective I believe Ricky would be if playing with someone with effective pace or more natural #9. Sharp looks a very good addition to the team, but I don't see him elevating Ricky much beyond what we see at present. That does not mean that Sharp will not bag hatfulls or Ricky does not end the season as top scorer. I think we have missed a trick by having a different option alongside of Ricky, maybe why we are trying hard to fit Chung into that role. But to me that would give us the different option I feel we have been crying out for at times. Sharp is an excellent buy and Adkins has the brilliance to produce some of the best football seen at Saints, so maybe not such a bad step.

I don't see it as a totally positive step, but one made to allow for changes in more than one direction. You have certain players being selected to just replace a like for like and over come fatigue / injury. The two players that would have allowed something different were Puncheon and Chung. When you look back at Adkins post Millwall interview that performance shook him to the effect he was not completely sure how things would turn out. First off I believe if the midfield had not done the business against Burnley, Adkins would have made changes very quickly with Puncheon being brought on and then Hammond if no improvement could be found with tinkering. After all the forwards we have brought in there is an improvement, but none with the exception of Chung offers us anything different to what we had prior. I think Chung is quite a few games off being that player but the only one who could provide that Lallana spark. I floated the possibility of not having Bart on the bench in the Burnley build up because I just did not know what midfield would turn up, but never thought Adkins would take the risk. But was it that much of a risk with Burnleys style of play and the nature of their forwards, so hats off to Adkins. What will be interesting is against West Ham, where after putting in a full shift that midfield may come under that expected pressure again without a full tank to reply. The problem is that West Ham have some big forwards and a style of play that could easily see Kelvin getting a knock. I feel there is more need to do this against West Ham but far greater chance of something happening to Kelvin, interesting dilemma for Adkins.

Very true, but if you play Chaplow (a way off) or Puncheon out wide, that does give you alternatives for playing along side of Cork.

Burnley are a good team but for once our level of performance was nearly back there to our best. Their dangerous forwards were just not a concern with that type of control. We had a lot of good players on that pitch and on form. But for all our purchases of strikers we still don't have a #9, but we do have a superb #10. Sharp as yet offers little I have not seen from an in form Connolly, but out of the two of them we have 1 excellent striker available for the remaining games. We still have no variation from the front two unless Chung eventually finds his feet. Jos just took over from where he left off and freed up Fonte to do a lot of work further up the pitch, exactly what was required. All the forwards were good but we need at least one to do something special to make life easy for us, thankfully we now have someone capable with others not far off. Surprised Guly was playing in front of Puncheon but it worked well, but Adkins went back to something that had worked well previously. And no Chaplow for several games, I can't believe anyone would go there until back to full fitness. The fact Adkins had no Bart on the bench told me he was no where near sure how the midfield was going to work out, but prepared to change things very quickly if required, along with the attack. Now to West Ham and the question is how much will we have left in the tank. Sometimes those extra days off and you end up leaving the performance on the training ground as we found out when we went on our bad run. As long as we keep things fresh we should have enough form to dent West Ham.

This game generally just passed me by, heard 5-10 minutes in the car and Adkins post match and that was about it. Looking at Chez's match report that was the general impression I got for those few minutes, with the exception that Hammond had really put in a shift. What I find incredible is Adkins reactions on iplayer? We have seen this so many times I am absolutely shocked he is surprised or feel more to do with the reality of how some players like Chaplow are off the pace. It's going to take Chaplow several games to get into the swing and the centre was not where he previously found such good form. So we only had one virtually effective midfielder in Hammond and we were expected to roll over Millwall when they put up a similar performance they did last time at St Mary's, totally unbelieveable. I don't feel this game has any standing for the coming Burnley game and feel we have other options which make things far brighter given the whole equation. Unless Adkins reactions were borne of frustration and the moment, I really have to wonder what he has seen play out previously.

Surely they cannot all be ****e, as that would question more the impossibility of the job or the unyielding nature of us football fans. For me, I accept that refs will get decisions wrong, not see things and be inconsistent (they are human beings not robots after all). What drives me nuts though is seeing them influenced by players or the crowd. What I would call a Championship referee and he's been to St Marys several times now. Overall I seem to remember doing well out of him so no complaints in that department.

That would be my starting 11, but would not be surprised to see Connolly start, subs look all wrong. Martin has been excellent in defence but Fox has shown he can play at centre half, so it would make more sense to have Harding on the bench giving you cover for 2/3 positions. Chaplow is way off the mark at present and when has he done a consistent job in the middle? Hammond needs to be there to give Cork and Morgan a breather in the second half or we suffer come the next game. Difficult one for Lee, but can't see us being able to afford the time for him to get to grips with the Championship. De Ridder has earned it for his effort but no way would I leave out Guly with his record, or secondly Connolly.

We were lucky to beat Millwall, no more than that, but I do take the point you are making. The reason we were playing so well at the beginning of the season was because we had players in form. Cork was a revelation, Hammond, Guly and Connolly were on their game and Lallana was just exceptional. Ricky I feel was bit behind the others for just a couple of games but is now in the best form I have ever seen him. Apart from he now has no idea what to do with free kicks. If you remember the defence was a real worry, both in the middle and flanks. What was winning us those early games so easily was a control of the midfield, combined with a pass and move style that was executed to perfection. Later we managed to get the full backs in on the act and chances were ever increasing. First off we found that if we don't have control of the midfield, we find it far more difficult to dictate the result. Schneiderlin or Hammond can have exceptional games in midfield, but very rarely twice in a week with even Cork succumbing to this as well. We have to have two fit from that 3 in the centre and start changing them out every 1½ games. Add to that form, injuries and team selection and you have everything we have seen go wrong in midfield. Just look at the back to back games against Forest and Leicester. We were good against a poor Forest, We were not that bad against Leicester, but their midfield ripped it away from us. The midfield is the area where I feel Adkins has made his biggest errors, either by having the wrong personnel from the start or going for all 3 points by weakening that midfield / defence for more of an attacking option. Bristol and Doncaster come to mind here. We can do it without the midfield, but generally when things go wrong it is because of the midfield. Reading took the midfield away from us but left themselves toothless in attack until we started to force things and made life easy for them. We were lucky to get a point there. Equally we don't have the balance from the full backs that we developed during our golden spell. Many are complaining about Fox's delivery from crosses and corners, quite rightly so. But in his first few games his delivery was exceptionally good, where that has gone, no one knows. Equally all over the pitch we are no longer seeing the inventiveness from the training ground and I just cannot see it as justified that Ricky should be taking free kicks any more, just no direct threat to make a goalie nervous. IMHO our best controlled performance was against Middlesbrough, where Jos allowed Fonte to develop from the back, Chaplows energy flipped things to total domination of attack or defence and Guly and Lambert worked well together. Since that point things have just drifted away from us due to form, injury or suspension. We don't have a natural #9 but Ricky has to take on that role even if his game suffers. So why shouldn't we find that form again? There is no real reason with all the players coming back to fitness and form I just feel it's a matter of time. Chaplow may be a few weeks off, but Puncheon has added so much it does not seem that much of a worry. Sharp has to learn the ropes but I can't see any reason why he cannot easily rise to the challenge, Just keep that midfield rotating and fresh and we have more than enough strength form the bench for a heavy schedule. If Lallana hits top form again even the likes of West Ham will wonder what hit them. He just needs some common sense about leaving the next games performance on a match already won.

I went through this depression ages ago when I realised Lallana was not influencing games enough. We can do it without Lallana but it takes most of the players to be on form, Burnley will be a very good indicator and if we can take control of that midfield, I believe we have every reason to be hopeful. Davis Richardson Fonte Martin Fox Puncheon Schneiderlin Cork Lallana Sharp Lambert Bart, Connolly, De Ridder, Guly, Harding Puncheon has been excellent, adding defensively and attack wise, just need a goal for the icing on the cake. Lallana is not there yet, but not far off. Ricky is about in the best condition he has ever been and Sharp just needs to deliver and it's going to be a different game that he has been used to with Doncaster, he has the talent. Schneiderlin and Cork have been good in the middle but if you play them both without a break for more than two games, one will go crook on you. They must rotate. If Fonte can step up more to aid the midfield I feel we would almost be there. Get Jos back for West ham and I would feel confident of winning that game even. We are a very good side who have been through a bad run. We have options now but not as many as fans think. Hammond needs a rest but Guly can provide an important role when called upon, leaving Connoly and De Ridder to change the attack.

Why bizarre unless you had your eyes and ears closed over the last 6 weeks. The whole point of this window was to get the attack and midfield performing to automatic standard. Puncheon was never signed in this window, he could have been used at any time once they kissed and made up. Martin has been performing so well that Jos's loss is a mere inconvenience, soon to be fixed. What needed to be fixed in this window were our attacking options. It's early days yet and everything rests with Billy and those players returning from injury. You can see from the sort of money we were offering around how difficult things have been and I feel what we ended up with in terms of our attacking options look second best and chancy to say the least.Thank goodness we got Puncheon to see sense. I am not blaming Cortese or Adkins for this, it just shows what a difficult job they had in attracting the players at this time of year. I find it difficult to see how we can give Lee sufficient games to come to terms with Championship football and be effective in this league. Even greater vision is required just to see Falque getting on the pitch but luckily no such issues with Puncheon. Lee has all the attributes to come good, I just feel we don't have the playing time to afford him. Until injuries and suspensions start to come into effect, our attacking options on the bench will be De Ridder, Connoly and Guly, with Lallana or Chaplow having to now and again find a seat? One of our three central midfielders and Harding on the bench leaves Martin with no seat along with all the youth players. That's completely forgetting about Barnard. Then we come to Billy, a good player who scores goals. But if you look at how he does things, I don't feel he offers us that different dimension. That required pace or someone who could be effective on the front line to change the way we play and the end result. Billy is going to be an asset, but not too a change of style that has been required. Lee has the pace, but can you weaken the side to allow him his chance? I would be happy to be proved wrong on this not being a good transfer window for Saints because it can only mean one thing, but that does not detract from what I feel we have needed to do to come out of this slump. Now it's going to come down to getting all those missing players back in form and see if they and Billy can turn things round. I don't view this as a total failure by Cortese and Adkins, just doing the best in a very difficult current market. I applaud what they have tried even if it does not all come off and grateful for their efforts.

No matter what happens for the remainder of this season, Adkins has won my respect and admiration for the way he transformed our style of play this season. I am not going to say he does not make mistakes, but feel he is an over whelming force for good for Saints. I don't feel this transfer window looks to have done us any massive favours, but considering other clubs activities, I feel we have tried our best. If Lee requires positional instruction from De Ridder about his forward movement, I feel it's going to be a while, especially without match games to sort that one out. I was surprised Spurs allowed Falque to be shipped out to us for the rest of the season, not so any more. Not sure how Billy will pan out, I wanted someone who could change our style of play either by pace or a frontman who could operate with all the knocks and shoving going. I see Billy as a younger version of Connolly, including injuries but a goal poacher more in line with Lambert. The biggest surprise during this transfer window has been Puncheon, superb given that his fitness must be way off. We need Hammond, Lallana, Guly and Chaplow back in arse kicking mode. Lallana is gradually getting there but I saw enough indifferent games from Chaplow before he found form not to rely upon that one just yet. I don't blame Cortese or Adkins for the way things have panned out so far, even if things continue, just glad of what they have done. We could easily start turning things round from now on and all will be happy. But if we don't, I won't be surprised and won't be demanding heads.

Fully agree, it was a non event in the last quarter of their half. I don't fully agree that it's the same as just passing the ball between the two centre backs. We played a lot of very good football in those conditions with very little end product, Brum played no where near the same football with just a smidgen of end product. They can put a brave face on it but Brum were out played for long periods of that game, albeit to little effect. Initially I thought the referee had a good game, but will retract that after watching the replays and further thought. When the referee forces the game to continue in those conditions, he has to make allowances for those same conditions when applying the regulations, something he did very poorly. Fox made a good one legged tackle and got the ball. His momentum carried him through in those slippery conditions, but he had the presence of mind to tuck his other leg under such the consequences of any impact were reduced. He should have been given the benefit of the doubt because of the conditions as the referee forced a game which should not have been played. I have no complaints about the second booking because under that same premise, Fox illegally denied Brum a cross which could have proved dangerous. Especially as he could have used his shoulder and never got pinged all day for that type of challenge. Normally that hand off would never gave received a booking, but given the conditions I believe it to be correct. Taking this on to the challenge on Guly, because of his pace and the conditions, Guly would have been through on goal and was denied a scoring opportunity because of that tackle. The other Brum players would not have got near him in those conditions and for that reason I believe the foul to be worthy of a sending off. Under normal playing conditions Fox should have got pinged for his first tackle, a non event for the second yellow and a yellow for Brum for an obvious professional foul. But we were not playing under normal conditions and being the deciding factor as to why Fox got a second yellow for an inocuous push with his hand. If you are going to vary decisions because of allowance for the conditions, you have to do so fairly and equally, something that was not done.

When we get Chaplow back, there looks like a a lot of crunches all over the front half of our formation. Puncheon has performed so well since he returned to the fold that he opens up all sorts of possibilities. If Chaplow returns to do his magic on the right, Lallanas going to need to be on top form to keep Puncheon out. I have always thought of the midfield always consisting of two from Cork, Schneiderlin and Hammond. But with Puncheon, Guly and Chaplow in midfield it would only need one for certain games. It's all going to come down to who is on form and doing the business, the way it should be. Up front I am struggling to see what Sharp does over a fit Connolly, but it cannot be bad for us. I like the look and approach of Chung, he offers something different to the rest of our forwards, pace. So I hope he gets a couple of shouts. I can't see Falque getting another game unless he starts doing magic tricks in training, with Barnard and De Ridder wondering when they will get on the pitch again. We have a lot of fixtures coming up with a squad that really should be able to compete twice a week. It's going to be very important we keep all the players fresh by changing the line ups for two a week fixtures. It's going to be very interesting how we stack the bench, even to the temptation(just a temptation) of dropping Bart to maximise our options. Things have looked bleak recently, but we are definitely on the up with what looks like the strongest line up for the race to the line.

Exactly, was impressed with that performance but not 100% sure how good it would have been under normal conditions. Southampton were playing the football, Birmingham never really got to grips. Fox deserved his second yellow for pushing the player away with his hand, use your shoulder and he could have done that all day without getting pinged. Thought the ref was good in making allowances for the conditions. Guly had the right idea when he came on, charging at the defence in those conditions.

I feel one of the main reasons we ended up with second spot last season was because of that extended weather break breaking up that heavy schedule and allowing players to rest / get back. I would be delighted if we could get this game put back, allowing us to get all the injured back and in form. Bit tough on those travelling, but I doubt any would begrudge it if it resulted in a win?

I find it hard to argue with that as well, given their form. We are improving but I still feel that Cardiff didn't have the midfield presence Leicester had, but Brum are very close. Once again for us, I feel it will come down to the simple fact of which team controls midfield. If we had Chaplow back and in form on the right(or Guly on a lucky day), I would fancy our chances. But without someone to do the defensive work and provide threat, Brum look favourites to me. Puncheon put in a very good performance against Cardiff, but I feel more is required against Brum and it's difficult to see Puncheon having a full tank. We are definitely on the up though, where I feel our midfield were finally dominant against Cardiff because of the pressure from the forwards, have not seen that for a while. The direct running of Puncheon, Lee and later Lallana had it's effect against Cardiff in the second half and that was a definite improvement from Lallana. If we have continued to improve from that Cardiff game, I can see us getting something. Without an in form Chaplow though I feel Brum will have too much for us in midfield but it's going to be a very interesting marker to see how far we have come. We are on the up and I would expect/hope us to demonstrate that to West Ham, Birmingham may be that game too soon though.

I don't believe there is a loop hole. When we agreed a fee with Celtic for the purchase of Jos at a future date, that did not cancel the "return his registration to us" contract. What it did was to allow Saints to register Jos as a Saints player for a further period from the termination point of the loan. Because the FL have the power to block teams from signing players even within the window, I can't see any way the move was deemed permanent until the window opened.

Without midfield control we just cannot play our game, so I would not weaken the midfield to get more attacking players in the line up, not from the start. Even when we had an in form Lallana and Oxo on the wings they would not get the supply if the midfield could not do their business. The best line up I have seen would be Davis Richardson Fonte Hooiveld Fox Chaplow Cork Hammond Lallana Lambert Guly With Ricky leading the line and Guly in attack or midfield. The trouble is that form and injuries will not allow this at present, but the closer we get to this the better we will be IMHO. I am not keen on dropping Guly back to RM and have someone like Connolly or Lee alongside of Ricky, but it's a lot better than some of the options and worth considering. Davis Richardson Fonte Martin Fox Guly Cork Schneiderlin Lallana Lambert Connolly Looks a good compromise, but I would far prefer to see Chaplow in there (then Guly goes alongside Lambert), even Puncheon from the reports at Millwall, but will they have enough in the tank? If Lallana is not at 100% I would not start him until we get the proper one back and even prefer to see Harding start in that positioin. I just don't know what players can put in a shift and what sort of a performance we can get out of them, something Adkins will have to juggle as best as possible. Cardiff are a good team but not the same strength as Leicester and as long as we don't give them the midfield, we should get something out of this game. As good as the Leicester midfield were, if Harding was not playing out of position on the right and those chances came to Lambert instead of Connolly, it's not impossible to get the draw.

That has to go down as the most plausible reason Markus bought Saints.

I believe by now we have more than enough feed back and information to see how things are going to pan out. We have money to buy players, even to the extent of Leicester but we are not prepared to pay Premier wages until we reach the Premier. What ever players we buy will have to fit within a wage structure that can be maintained without doing any damage to the club financially in the short, medium or long term. I don't have any issues with this even to the extent of being in the NPC more than predicted. I enjoy the NPC, with my only fear being we get picked apart by the Premier. With the set up we have I feel we should still be forward moving without having to take the risks that got us into our current position. Very few clubs are debt free in the NPC , meaning we can spend far more of our budget on the playing side, although shy of those with a good parachute or the likes of Leicester. We have had such a great extended start to the season I feel we have actually got ahead of ourselves. By that I mean we are that close to achieving promotion it looks logical to go out and buy a couple of players for £10-15M and the wages to boot. But that is exactly the kind of actions that can return us from whence we came, either up or down if things don't work out. Everything here indicates that Cortese is in it for the long haul and not prepared to risk the future with what looks to many as a golden opportunity. The adherence to a wages structure, the money and development of the Academy, the introduction of the youth into the first team set up all indicate the long term. Many fans would look at the signing of Falque and Lee more as a gamble than a total positive and that looks about right. Spurs unloaded Falque on a hit or miss basis and it's difficult seeing that one bear fruit, with the added problem he is taking up valuable space. Either he or Lee could do the business, but it's definitely not the gold plated option of moving forward. Again I have no problem with this and I can see Lee working out well. It's just working within our set limits that both Adkins and Cortese understand and fully accept. No one is fobbing us off, we still have excellent opportunities and finances to back that plan. No one has ever indicated it would be otherwise, we just got a liking to that early success and the Leicester game painted a different picture.

Ricky has been our in form striker prior to his sending off and he will have an impact, especially after a good rest. But I really doubt he would have had a significant impact against Leicester, he adds to our passing game and outlets but would have done little to wrest back control of the midfield against Leicester. Put Ricky up front against Leicester as Guly was playing and I would expect an improvement, but not enough. As we saw at Brighton when Ricky has to go head to head with the centre back on their terms, he is no great shakes, mainly because the ref's don't give him the free kicks he deserves. What he does exceptionally well is come out of that position and drop back to the midfield or wing to find the space he needs. Against Leicester that would have been some where in the Itchen stand. Fonte and especially Chaplow can make that difference to the midfield and could of turned things around against Leicester. When Saints have been playing well, it's because we pass and move exceptionally well, leaving the opposition chasing shadows. We don't have talented individuals who can take the game by the scruff of the neck and determine the outcome, with the exception of Lallana when he has been on form. If we don't have control of that midfield we find it very difficult to get the passing game effective and our performances drop off the side of a cliff, midfield control is paramount for Saints to produce their best. Nearly all the time we have failed to deliver it is because the opposition has stopped us passing through the middle and we have tried to force the issue and come unstuck or the opposition just took control of the midfield. You can look back at those performances and see that Ricky has not been the determining factor, but midfield control. Cardiff will give us a good idea how far away but I can't see them putting in that Leicester performance and I do expect us to get some result. We were good against a poor Forest side but that type of performance was not going to be good enough against that Leicester side.

Are you taking the ****? We were ******* crap tonight. If we played like that against any team, even Forest we would get beat. Just take the emotions out of the viewing and we have always been the same. Our performances will drop off the side of a cliff if you get on top of our midfield as Leicester did. This is nothing new, something that has happened before. Forest never manned up against us last time out, Leicester did and did it very well, the best performance from a visiting team. I didn't see much difference from Saints against Forest, but I saw one hell of a difference from what Leicester did compared to Forest. I said so at the time against Forest and I really doubt there will be another midfield that will take us apart like Leicester did. Bearing in mind we were missing a lot of key players, you just have to suck it up and give credit to the opposition.

Nothing to be too disappointed about, we were not that bad but Leicester were very good. They took the midfield away from us and their forwards linked very well. We weren't 10/10 in midfield but as good as the the Forest game. Leicester gave us zero time on the ball that we trying to get rid of it rather than pass it on. Hooiveld was immense, must have been his best game to date, Harding was poor, compounded by playing on the wrong side. You could see the writing on the wall with Nugents goal, something I doubt would have happened if he had been on his natural side. Falque just underlined to me how desperate we need an in form Lallana back. Guly was iffy and Connolly easily marshalled, but I would not have expected much more from Lambert given that service. I thougt Fonte was a big loss tonight to add to the midfield but that's the way things go. If we had Fonte, Chaplow and Lallana back and on form we could have done something about Leicester, but we did not and will just have to suck this one up. I think we may have been able to get away with that performance against Cardiff, but that was a very good, disciplined performance from Leicester.

If we don't get control of the midfield, then I just don't see us doing the business. Either go with Schneiderlin as we did at Forest, or add in Harding to get control.