up and away

I too am at a loss when others say they don't understand what is going on, all the pieces are still there to look back and clearly see what happened. The original point that flared up was with the coaching staff because of how they wanted Puncheon to perform on the pitch. Puncheon had his own ideas but Adkins was resolute and an almighty row erupted resulting in Puncheon going out on loan. If you don't listen to Adkins instructions as to how he wants you to play, you'll soon be getting replaced even before the interval. When Puncheon returned from Millwall he showed a total lack of respect for the club and the staff. He had done very well at Millwall and felt on the back of those performances he could get a good move to a higher level and salary. Saints wanted to play him again but his attitude made that impossible. From that point on his time at Saints had come to an end and it was just a case of keeping him at a distance to stop his poison spreading else where. Cortese's stance on this is very clear. He wants to sell him or get him off our books but not at preferential terms to competing clubs within the Championship. He's not going to do Blackpool a favour by selling him cheap even if it eventually costs us.

Not factually wrong, just grammatically very poor so you have a point. Look at the following and it becomes a little clearer "This came as a huge blow to a club that had graced the top flight for 27 straight years, finishing as high as eighth and reaching the FA Cup Final just two years earlier in 2003." I was dealing with the same people in Reading at the time and Barclays were in real upheaval. This being at the time that the government were having to step in to stop the whole financial organisations from going to the wall. Major restructuring and movement away from Reading, just at that time and Barclays just wanted out of the worst kind of debt possible. After just making mass redundancies at Barclays, we failed to reduce that overdraft in the January window and that was that. I am sure Lowe was aware but little he could do. If he sold off the assets that cheaply in that January window he was doomed anyway at a later date. What really killed us off with Barclays was the fact they treated us like adults. After Wilde stepped down they had all the finances go through a set of accountants that reported to Barclays. But allowing us to take the finances right up to the bumper without consideration of the subsequent consequences, with Paul Allen as the parachute.

I bet that's Lowe. There were rumours that he was behind the scenes with this, and he did put the club into Admin with a smile. Perhaps he finally found the investment he promised... Pretty sure this will be Aviva as only Barclays and Aviva were listed as being owed any where near that amount. Aviva were the only ones who could be forced into those sorts of values and terms because of the massive drop in the stadium value under liquidation contions. Barclays would have lost but not a great deal in comparison as there was some form of security against the loans. We went bankrupt when the overdraft was reduced to £4M. We would not have gone bankrupt at that point if the overdraft was still £5M. The overdraft limit was tipped when we tried to pay Coles monthly salary, so no where near an extra £1M.

My underlying feeling as to why we have been playing so badly is exactly as you explained, I just cannot get my head round the fact that we just fell off the side of a cliff with some of those performance. Totally exacerbated by the fact we had the perfect line up and tactics against Middlesbrough, Saints nirvana. The midfield has always stuttered occasionally, either due to Adkins tactics or more often fatigue. You just cannot put in shift after shift of high tempo football in this league and why we arrived at giving Hammond, Cork or Schneiderlin 1-1/2 games each before changing them out. That worked and why I don't feel the same 3 who did so well against Forest will keep getting repeat performances, the system has to have fresh legs to function. Against Brighton we just gave the midfield up when Lambert got sent off, that I will put down to Adkins. We should have just left Forte up on his own to get what ever scrap he could find and just made sure a team even worse than Forest could not just walk through us. I don't know how good that performance against Forest was because of how bad I felt Forest played, but it certainly is not going to dent the confidence. The next few games will tell us how things are progressing with that added bonus of new signings, players returning from injury and suspension. Get through the Leicester game with a result and it's not difficult to imagine a good run coming up.

That's pretty much as I saw things, but I reckon Ricky could have filled his boots against Forest on reflection, not sure against some of the other teams. What I am having a hard time is pin pointing where things were going wrong previously, compared with the start of the season. Connolly is a big part in that, as he changed the team around when he came in late last season. He was instrumental for us going on that exceptional run that won us promotion, but he could not have done it without Lambert, Lallana and Guly. I just get the feeling we are looking like the period where Lallana was out of the side, basically because he is not producing the goods at the moment. Ricky is the only forward who has any form at the moment (although Guly keeps scoring) but it can hardly of done Lallana any harm with running at that 10 man Forest defence and the problems he was creating. It looks a simple case of having too many players off form at the same time combined with the other variable, the midfield. The best midfield I have seen was Lallana Hammond Cork and Chaplow, although the combination against Forest looked the business with Cork on the right. Against Brighton Adkins just gave away the midfield when we were down to 10 men and without control of the midfield, we are just a pale shade of everything good about us. Bristol City and Doncaster I thought were a different case where they stopped us passing through them without the ability to really punish us, until we tried forcing the issue and leaving the holes. The only way I could imagine us breaking down Bristol City would have been to use someone like Fonte up front as a battering ram and picking up the peices behind. There must be a simple answer to Bristol City when you look at their losses to other teams.

I often wondered how the blow job genie got so many takers!

I doubt Ricky will make the difference for the troubles we have been having, we need a different style of player. Whether you play Ricky or Guly leading the line up against their centre back is of little consequence, neither wants to be that far forward and both their games suffer when they have to play that far forward. Before his suspension Ricky has been the one forward who has kept any semblance of form, but that is just not enough to turn things around. If you have Connolly, Guly and Lallana on form to go with Ricky, then we are cooking by gas. The big problem is that all of these players have been off form with the exception of Ricky, but he alone is not sufficient to drag us out of the hole. The one really special player we did have was Lallana, he would make that difference and raise the team to another level. For what ever reason Lallana's form has dipped to such an extent the team performances are similar to when he was missing previously. Looking back at the Forest game, I thought we played better against Brighton in the first half and I did not see enough to change things against the likes of Bristol City. When we had the space against Forest we looked total class, but compare that with the first half where although totally in control, we created little. Replace Forest with Bristol City and I am struggling to see a significant difference to change the result around. We need to recreate our 2 points average returns for auto and we are just not near that at present. The best I have seen us play against quality opposition was the Middlesbrough game, a walk over without the 6 goals, total domination. The main reasons for that being strikers in shape, not neccessarily top form, Guly up front with Lambert, Chaplow providing the energy and solidarity to the midfield and Jos at the back. One excellent point about the Forest game was that we got the midfield working, mainly down to Cork on the right. That is definitely something to build upon but we were no real threat in their box early doors. Teams have worked us out now and I doubt we will be getting the easy ride we had previously and we need that extra special player again from some where to make a difference or we need a different type of frontman to give us other options. Listening to some of the other managers it has been noticeble that they could not work out what had just unraveled in front of their eyes, thinking particularly about Freedman and Mowbray. Well Bristol City has put that into perspective now but what other teams boast of Adomah and Maynard? The biggest problem we face is believing Ricky is the answer, we need a different style of forward then he can be the answer as part of a package.

Apart from the result, I saw very little difference to this performance as we have been playing during our bad run. I thought Forest were very poor and gifted us the first goal then just disappeared when down to 10 men. The one noticeable difference was Cork, excellent in driving us on. Martin took it all in his stride and Hooivelt was the rock. Impressive professional foul on their forward, but done in such a manner that it looked impossible to give a red. We just were not cutting them open and creating quality opportunities apart from the error which allowed Cork the freedom to create. We played a lot of very tight triangles but nothing in the danger zone. I just don't see this as a turn around but delighted to take 3 points, tempered by the fact we threw away 3 against Brighton by stupidity. Guly and Lallana were not much different, Connolly marginally but the midfield did the business this time, with Cork outstanding. Ricky was not missed and little difference between previous and what Connolly put in today. The big plus was that we got the midfield working today and that will always give us a chance but we are not through the woods yet until we start to open up sides again with quality opportunities.

I could not agree more. Many fans confuse Ricky as this taget man, but that is not the case. I don't know if Lukas J would be the player to make that difference, but he would be an option we have never used before. I have always wanted a couple of options in the window, a pacey skillful striker and a target man who can play against the centre half and win ball. The position the centre forward takes up to win the ball changes the strategy. Played fully up front their midfield can be bypassed and picked up by our midfield coming through. Play that striker further back and it's all in the mix of both midfields with their defence can easily retain shape.

I just don't get this, Ricky has never been able to lead the line in this manner. Ricky is very clever in that he will find space where he causes problems, but not going head to head with their centre half. When ever he does lead the line he keeps getting pushed off the ball and is virtually ineffective as to when he drops back or out to the sides. He is getting fouled all the time but the refs are just not blowing for the infringements that you have to expect by now it will never happen. If you look back at the Bristol City game we were crying out for a target man up front to bypass that midfield they had put in front of us, but we just cannot play that way. We have to rely upon passing the ball through teams or an end to getting it out wide, when you come across a Bristol City that is a real struggle and we come unstuck.

More than possible this view is optimistic, but until I start to see the tell tell signs that things are not all right, no reason why not to. I fully understand the possibility that things can change very quickly, but until I see some evidence of this will continue with the half full routine. This was never a purely financial investment, they just do not exist for the likes of sides such as Saints. If they were you would be able to point me towards all those people making vast amounts by selling clubs on. Football clubs are like large yachts, very expensive, both to run and buy and the only reason they are attractive is the pleasure obtained whilst haemorrhaging cash. If Leibherr wanted to make money, he had far better opportunities than Saints, including just let it sit in the bank. It only starts to make sense when you look at the non financial rewards football can deliver. Liebherr bought Saints under fire sale conditions, which based upon all the interest we had and offers, that was about the going market value. For anything to be a financial investment, you have to have a financial out, that means someone to buy it. Looking back at how long Saints and similar clubs have looked for buyers, it's pretty obvious we are edging towards hens teeth. There is no mystical pot of gold here with everyone queuing up to buy into. It's a financial black hole that only emotions attract you towards. It only really makes sense then to billionaire, because if you borrow the money, the loan repayments severely restrict your ability to compete.

The closure of Mali underlines our position. A project initiated by Markus Leibherr more from interest than generation of wealth, but with his expertise both points could be satisfied. It appears the Mali group can no longer function without it's wealthy entrepreneurial late leader. With no one of sufficient understanding of the technical aspects to say invest 10's 100's £M's in a particular project. Unless those now in control of the purse strings are confident of any decisions, it comes as no surprise for it to be shut down. When you look at Saints with the same objective eye, Cortese is the only peice that keeps us in place. If the Leibherr family cannot get to grips with Mali, just imagine the concept of a wealthy, Swiss / German family headed by a middle aged woman continuing to run a Championship club? It is my firm belief that if Cortese no longer wanted to be associated with Saints, we would be sold. So why is Cortese still here and what are his intentions? I don't believe it's an over riding financial issue, because I expect Liebherr left Cortese independently wealthy from his will. Both Cortese and Liebherr had a passion for Saints which gripped both of them firmly, such Markus made elaborate plans for the project to continue long after his death. So how much longer can we expect Cortese to be around? All the long term investment in the infrastructure gives the feel of a further 5-10 years, because most will only add a fraction of what's spent to any purchase price, worse in this market. The extension to the Academy being a good example. Nothing to be concerned about at present but would start getting worried if nothing started by spring and the writing would be on the wall if nothing was done by the summer. Cortese continues to live in Southampton with his family so that is very reassuring. I still believe Cortese is in it for the long term, more from love than money. Things may change if we are cut of funds but Cortese is the glue that keeps everything in place. Unless one of the Liebherr family is an avid player of FM, Cortese is the only reason I believe we still have the Liebherrs with us. We should see all the clues if Cortese were to decide to call it a day, but as yet I cannot see anything to worry ourselves.

What really irks me about all of this is that we had that game for the taking. That must be Brightons weakest team they have put out this season and we were in pole position to capitalise. The only chance Brighton had was to get one of our players sent off and we fell for it hook, line and sinker, followed by all losing the plot thereafter.

It's good to put a positive spin on things, but in the cold light of day, this was a ****fest. Lambert was totally stupid, throw your arm out and those things will happen, whether you contact or not. If Adkins goes to all the trouble of changing Harding, then he can surely see the folly in not only being let down for this game, but the next league game as well. Just dumb and something we expect of other teams. Brighton were there for the taking, I don't believe they could have faced us in any worse condition than today, all thrown out of the window. We continued with 10 men and a wafer thin midfield, tactically giving Brighton an easy win. Nope, you never did this one justice Nigel. We shall just have to wait and see how expensive this turns into, but we looked like getting 3 points until Lambert threw his arm out.

Rodriguez is hardly proven, very good potential yes, but he's gone flat this season and I can't believe we are still prepared to pay £5M for him? Tadanari Lee looks like taking the pacey forward in the Sharp, Maynard, Rodriquez role we have been looking for, so I really doubt we will be after another of similar ilk. Japanese / Korean players have not done too bad in the UK but the goals videos are worrying, Schneiderlin would be into double figures with that space. I expect only the international scout has seen the boy live, with the rest of the transfer committee working from DVD's. I can't really fault them so far, no matter what reservations any may have. If we get Lukas J as well, I would be relatively happy and wait for thgings to pan out.

You were there and I only watched Cardiff on their iplayer. But I never thought we created much at all. I know Cardiff also never created and just accepted the two gifts we gave them, but I never thought we looked like getting a goal?

I rate Lallana as our best player, but he is just not performing at the moment. Unlike Guly, who can give you two goals on a bad day, I have not seen that from Lallana. Against Bristol, I would have taken off Lallana, brought on Harding as you indicate, put Guly on the right and brought de Ridder up front to feed off of Ricky. Because we were just getting no control from midfield and Hammond I expect would have been needed for Morgan as well. If we could not get control of the midfield with that set up or control + passing working again, then Ricky goes onto the CB's shoulder. Ricky does not do so well when he's stuck up front like that but it would have been far better than what was playing out. De Ridder would have to go to the space that gave opportunity every time, even though the pickings would have been slim. We would have then been mainly reliant on the long ball then, but if nothing else was working you have to bypass Bristols midfield and live off the scraps that Ricky or an error can give you. We had no control of the midfield against Bristol and it was obvious just changing Hammond for Morgan was not going to be enough. Hammond was an improvement but never solved the problem and we were just in hope from there on, more than anything else.

Settle down, Ricky will not be leaving even if he wanted. It would take nigh on Oxo money to be even considered by Cortese. But I would like to see Lukas J come here, always an option when the midfield is not able to take control and at other times. I can understand if he thinks he wont get enough game time, that will always be an issue, but I expect we can make an attractive deal for Coventry to push him our way.

This has always been the case and you have to adapt because it's very rare the officials will flag it, unless they are 100% sure it's denied a scoring opportunity. Even then I am not sure they will give it. I have seen Fonte do this so many times it should come as no shock to you? As with shirt pulling, that was allowed to continue until the authorities thought it was becoming too blatant on TV, then the refs cracked down under instructions from above. I don't believe anything will be done about this as it's so hard for the officials when they are looking for other things at the time and when you get the forward backing in, the ref seems to just let them get on with it. Unlike shirt pulling, it is less visible to TV without the benefit of replays, but they may get round to it one day. This has always happened to Ricky and his only way of dealing with it is to drop further back or out on to the wing to avoid the battle, leaving us with no one leading the line. Crouch's international career ended because he could not deal with it without getting pinged, it's something you have to get around. Someone mentioned to putting one of the centre halves up front and let them battle it out, which would of bypassed what Bristol had set up. Bristol have been losing to sides relatively easily and it would not surprise me if that was their weakness, because they looked to have the more decisive attack over us. This is the sort of occasion where someone like Lukas J could be an asset with the long ball and everyone piling in behind to pick up the pieces. Looking at the sides that have beaten Bristol I would guess that to be the case, because our style of play did not seem a big issue for them. McInnes has got them playing and maybe that's not the case any more, but I still can't get over how they lost to Coventry then come and turn us over. I have seen James get really flustered when the penalty box is packed with plenty of argy bargy or the long shot that bounces in front of him, but we did neither.

Bristol had us sussed out, If you were not a Saints fan it was impressively clinical how they went about things. No more free headers at the back post for Lambert, they sent a guy with him to cut off that source. Referees just don't like giving free kicks when the CB and CF are jostling for the ball, even when it means a half push on Ricky about the point of contact. Either the refs are ball watching or they just accept it as part and parcel for the game. Live with it, because I have seen it so often it's not going to change now. The Schneiderlin must play league seems to have gone quiet and we can just return to having the two fittest CM's on the field, because they all go crook on you at some point. When Fox first came to the club I was very impressed with his crossing, where has that gone? His dead balls were predictable, that if the defnce never got to them you were playing the scerio out in your mind before it had finished. And as for Kelvin, a good save is only when you neutralise the danger. We are just in a slump at the presentand will have to wait to come out the other side. We have too many players off form and others who cannot impact the game at present. I expect us to struggle away from home for a further while until we find some form from some source. Forget Maynard, it's Adomah that makes Bristol so dangerous.

Don't worry, I get this every time I have the temerity to say that the Jut is not good enough. We need to be looking at better players. I tell you Jut reminds me of, Darius Henderson. Scores for **** teams, but a very, very average player. We need to going for players with talent, ie Rhodes or Maynard. You could well be correct and the type of players you are talking about would appear to fit into our system and add to the effectiveness. It's not difficult to imagine that Lukas J could easily cause our passing game to come to a sticky end and upset the whole balance of the forwards, but I do feel he will give us other options. What we showed against Crystal Palace was the ability to get the ball out wide and get quality crosses in. In that environment Lukas J will be a real handful. Many believe we already have that type of player in Ricky, but Ricky never has been that player and I believe would be even better along side Lukas in those conditions. Lukas J is relatively cheap, available and good enough with the meagre service given to him by Coventry. I don't envisage him being a regular unless he sets the heather alight, but he will give us options to turn games around that we don't have at the present. Just imagine throwing him on in the last 20 alongside Lambert and Guly, who I would be sure of being able to pick the pieces up from that battering ram. Then look back on our recent sticky patch of games and Lukas J could well supply something different in there. I believe you are correct in that our main target should be someone in the Maynard role, but i would go all out for Lukas J as well. Anyway I am fully confident that Saints know what they are doing and we will get what is required, whether that's Lukas J or whatever.

I heard 3rd hand via another agent that it was because we were not prepared to pay the agents fees and it never really got considered. His agent threw some carefully selected words our way and that apparently was it. I have no idea who we are after now but a combination of Lukas J + Jay Rodriguez would be close to ideal. I don't rate Rodriguez any where near £5M, but those behind the doors at Saints certainly do. It would not surprise me if we still got the speedster in from the continent, especially after Rodriguez form of late, Lukas J looks good value to ensure promotion. It would not surprise me to see a couple of our players go to Coventry to sort the deal, whether permanently or just on loan.

I really enjoy the Championship and would be happy to stay here for a few seasons if we could continue as we are. But it's down right stupid to believe we can keep all of our current players and manager the way things are going. Our top players will go and eventually Adkins will get prised away, because he is that good. We are on the verge of something very special at Saints and I would do everything to maximise that chance. Such is the nature of the Championship that we may never have such a great opportunity for years to come and you go and get a boner for the FA cup. It's not as if we have a reasonable chance of winning the thing, just total idiocy when you look at the rewards and the impact that will have on Saints. I am sure you get depressed a lot, that will always be your burden. So how will you react when Adkins fields a weakened team against Coventry? Further depressed, want the guy sacked? As Holloway so succinctly put it last season, "we have a top game every week in the Premier league, you just can't compare that for a one off".

It depresses me when you have one competition that will bring you in £90M and the other a fraction of that amount and you want to go **** or broke for the postage stamp? Just where was that winning mentality after winning the paint pot, that soon evaporated into exhaustion on the pitch as we ended the season. Try and find anyone at Birmingham who thinks concentrating on the League cup is now such a good idea, good luck with that. If putting out a weakened team means just one extra league point, one less booking or injury to a key player it will be worth it. That way if we miss out on promotion we know we left no stone unturned. So if we subsequently do miss out on promotion and other teams start tempting our players away, we know we have given it our best shot. You want Cortese to spend £MM's on the team in this window but not sacrifice the cup for the league, you need your bumps felt. Cortese would be well within his rights to stake any manager out and let his pooch chew off their tackle with it's back teeth. But this is Adkins and how ever much i know he would like to, would never jeopardise the ultimate prize. It's not even as if we have a realistic chance of winning the thing, whereas we are in pole position for the big one.

The point for me is some in the stadium go mental when Guly messes up, and yet when any other player does something similar you hear those people shout "unlucky Lambo" and applaud them. For me, Ricky represents the fan on the pitch more than any other player at Saints, including Lallana and why he gets treated differently. What I cannot understand is how much snow blindness comes with that position as you point out. At the present time Ricky is in a rich vein of form and I have no complaints, but that has not always been the case. Earlier parts of this season have been iffy and parts of last season were dreadful and deserving of not being started or subbed. With the position we are in at this moment with Lallana and Guly not hitting their boot straps, it all falls on Ricky. The further forward Ricky plays, the less we get out of him but do get more from others. The further forward Guly plays the same is true to an extent and Ricky looks better. It's what is best for the team but there is little doubt that it ends up with at least one player compromising their performance for the team to the betterment of others. The main problem being that Ricky is not a natural #9, but #10. That's why I would have no problem if we brought in someone like Jutkiewicz, with some saying he is too similar to Ricky. I can't see any way he would be getting in Ricky's way, just adding to what Ricky delivers. With that system Guly has a lot more to offer when he is on form, resulting in less play time for Ricky. But if you lok at our style of play, we have produced wonderful football without an out and out #9 and is the way to go forward IMHO. That would mean the addition of pace in someone like Maynard who wont allow their back four to press up without consequences and adding so much more to the attacking line up.