up and away

I will happily take this game and the first half happily. Not completely at our best in the first half, but we were professional and had cut out the individual errors. Wednesday set their stall out and did a pretty good job at the back, considering all the problems they have had. Saints did exactly what was needed in the second half and with the amount of games we have left to play, this is the only practical way of doing it. Adkins is doing so many things now that were just not happening before, the classy Fonte goal being the prime example. I did not realise how good Ricky's goal was until seeing the replays, real quality that few in this division would pull off. Really impressed with the back line, especially in getting forward which was partly due to Wednesday's generosity. We have a steady 2 games a week coming up and it will cost us the way we play, we just cannot expect to win every game with our set up. Having two very attacking wingers in Lallana and Oxo leaves 2 in midfield trying to hold the fort and against other teams that will expose the full backs more. Anyone who really gets at our midfield will have a good chance unless the wingers are exerting enough pressure to pin them back. This was the type of professional performance we have been crying out for in this position and bodes well for the future.

No hope! As Kingsland Codger pointed out, I was more worried about the opposition scoring from our corners it got so bad under Redknapp. I still cannot understand that to this day, we had the biggest team in the league and only Dennis Wise was worth a **** at heading the ball. Regularly our corners ended up an attacking opportunity on our goal, used to give me nightmares.

That makes a lot of sense to me. I am not completely sure it would work, but I really would like to see it given a go for a few games. In his early games Guly demonstrated the ability to open up defences and the loss at Walsall could have been a different matter if he was playing alongside the right player.

I would not definitely say so, there is very little to thrash out for a loan. If Saints agree, it could happen very quickly. I expect we are looking elsewhere, but there's nothing to stop a last day deal for Howard.

We had two enquiries out at the same time For Ward and Seaborne. Both players I doubt were to be signed, just the manic nature of the January transfer window. You can say Cortese was ruthless but nothing to do with the leak, the main damage was because Coventry were openly discussing the move. I expect we would have been prepared to pay Wards salary, but not completely happy and when the preferred offer came along, end of story. It's just the fact we went and signed Seaborne that promoted all the issues, pulling out even at late a stage is far from unknown.

It's not the games in hand we have to worry about in itself. It's the fact we will have to play 9 games in a month and the others only 7 or 6. That volume of games in such a short space of time will cost us points. We just have to hope others have problems rather than this continual winning.

I think there's a need to roll them out and do a comparison. It's only this second half of the season he has been of any real value, about 6 games before he got injured. Previously his defensive displays were petulant and not putting in the effort. Prior to his injury he was doing the defensive midfield role extremely well and at last some value to the team. I hope when he comes back he continues in that manner but it's not been that great a length yet. When he started putting in those performances I said exactly as you, he does not need to do anything else when he is that solid.

I have come to the conclusion that Ricky is just too slow to be effective and blunts our attacks with our style of play. He does a lot of good things but we have been desperate for someone to lead the line, scoring goals against the run of play. Ricky has been so much better since February, but he should have been dropped a long time before that, especially away from home. Ricky and Lee have to do the business for us otherwise we don't have that great a chance. What was extraordinary about Saturday, that was Rick's first decent free kick all season. Ricky has to find space without wandering out to the wings or back to midfield. Sheringham showed how it could be done without pace, Ricky has to learn that or just be a supporting player. We need a goal scorer more than we need a provider and why would you want to go out on the wings taking work from Lallana or Oxo? Just does not make sense to me. I don't argue that he does some very good things, but his primary role has to be in the position to score goals. If we ever get a penalty, I m very happy Ricky is on that pitch, but in reality you would only put about a 2 goal adavantage on Ricky taking them for the number we have had this season. I am not suggesting we get rid of Ricky because I completely agree he does some very useful things, but I definitely would want another main goal scorer to lead the line should we make the Championship.

Have to be? No they don't. In fact, they aren't, factually, are they? Every bookies I check puts us as favourites for 2nd. So we HAVE to be favourites for second don't we? I'd rather be in our position as I think we'll win the games in hand. Plus I think we're a better side. Many twists and turns to come, but I think we'll focus more for the business end of the season. Focus has been our problem, as if we need a walsall defeat to start a winning run again. 3 wins in a row is nice, but we need more. 2 tough games coming up, but hopefully we can get 6 points and not look back. Peterborough are capable of losing any game, especially away, just like we've been, so it's pointless predicting their results. If it's pointless predicting anything, why are any of us on this forum? Both ourselves and Peterborough have been getting the results of late, but Peterborough have looked far more convincing and I firmly believe we will need more than a two point advantage over them if they keep up their current form. I don't think they will keep up their form, but I am even more concerned with ourselves than them. You look at all the teams for the +/- in their play and form, Brighton are built around a solid defence and I don't think they are touchable at present, being able to drag out results when sometimes they don't deserve to all through the season. Peterborough have suddenly found a defence to go alongside that awesome attack and that is a major threat. The way we set up the team we are dependent to a large extent upon our two star talents, Lallana and Oxo and I feel we are risking them and our chances too much by the amount of games we are asking them to start. If these players are not doing the business, pressure immediately comes on the full backs and midfield. Lose Lallana and we all know what happens to our results, lose Oxo and the pressure and volume of games on Lallana become excessive. If you play them when jaded it's just as bad because it allows the opposition free run at our full backs. How we finish this season will be dependent upon how we use Lallana and Oxo in getting the most quality out of them. The way we are going at present I feel is very risky to get the best results with the volume of games we have for the rest of the season.

I can't really complain as I have said previously that in these type of games if the midfield put up some form of fight and the strikers did their business, we would win games like this. When we have been on top form, I don't care who in this league we are against home or away, I would back us to win. But we have not been on that form for a while but we are getting results apart from that Walsall game. This is the first run of form Lee has had and that was the first decent goal Ricky has scored from a free kick all season. Previously we had the goal chalked up before he even got near to take the kick, that's not been the case this season. The forwards must keep doing the business otherwise we will be back where we started.

Previously if we had started games like this, we would not have come out with a win. I can't really say we are on form but for flashs, but we have enough about us now to get results out of games like this. When we played them at home we totally dominated, this was not the case today and they had a very well worked plan of how to get at us down the wings. We did enough in midfield to gain some control, but most importantly our strikers did the business. I still can't believe that is Ricky's first decent goal from a free kick, I just took it for granted last season, that tells a story alone. Bournemouth have done brilliantly to be where they are, but I fully expect a slide from them, hopefully they will make the play offs. I always thought our goal difference was worth a point, but the way Peterborough are going I would not put money on it. We need to buck up our form or Peterborough need to lose theirs, otherwise it's the play offs.

Unless Peterborough suffer a drop off in form, they have to be favourites for the second spot over us. Although our form has not been the greatest, we have managed results that in previous times we never would of, that bodes very well. The last team I would want to meet in the play offs at present would be Peterborough, they are ripping teams apart for fun. We have not gone on a run yet and if we did, we will have our chance.

This is just a continuation of the Dean Richards tribute as he already went off on that one. I really do not understand the language being aimed at Saints, especially by Solent in midweek. Maybe the club should have done more, but there was no lack of respect or acknowledgement of his sad passing. When you get these thwats like Merrington calling it atrocious. underlining that by making £8.5M from his transfer, quickly forgetting it was a transfer saints never wanted. I love this bit "For if Southampton Football Club does fail, for a second season, to get back to ‘its level’, the St Mary’s powers that be might need a few of those friends from years gone by. If they can fight their way through the enemies made during this campaign first. " Does this thwat really believe things will be any better either way? Our recent experiences have shown those friends being of no practical use what soever, we would have been better off without their help. Meldrum you are a thwat and need resetting with a good kick in the ******. Something you have a very good chance of collecting on Saturday.

I really don't think there is much in it. Richardson IMHO is the better defender, but Butterfield is the far better passer. I would say attacker but got nailed to the cross for that last time, but in my book being able to pass to team mates makes you far better going forward. There have been instances where one has been playing and given the situation, I would have preferred the other, it's that close in my book. From this POV it looks a pretty easy choice, but not so simple in practice. If you pick Richardson who carries out his defensive duties far better, then gives the ball away and the pressure comes straight back on, are you really at an advantage defensively? I'll leave this one to Adkins, glad we have 2 such decent players for this position.

You could get endangered species status from the WWF for that alone

Taking your original point, if we had started with Adkins we would have theoretically been so many points better off and right up there with Brighton. Just as I accept this could well have been the case with Pardew. In this particular case I can lay no blame with Cortese. You say he should have been sacked in June, the problem is that he had one section of the staff saying one thing and Pardew saying another. Pardew would have obviously said things will sort themselves out come the start of the season and who is Cortese to believe? He stuck with the manager until it was as clear as day he had buggered up and the rest was history. Cortese never insisted we made the play off's, just that it was given the top priority. Now when Pardew went into print in the Pompey programme, stating he had prioritised the cups it all came out from Cortese in the planned Solent interview the Pompey weekend. Cortese made it very clear that all the players bought in January were to maximise our efforts in getting into those play offs, nothing else. You can go into the rights or wrongs of what Pardew did, but to state it in print like that was particularly dumb. In a way I am grateful Markus got to see something special before passing, otherwise I was of the same mind as Cortese over the cups. You are correct in that there does not seem much between Adkins and Pardew, but Pardew had a 30 goal striker in his team, not some buggered up crock that he left for Adkins.

I completely agree with all of that, but I still believed he deserved the sack. Why, because you can only make so many fook ups that it becomes very difficult to factor in how many more you have left in your locker. Cortese and Pardew had a head on clash over the priority for the team that first season. When Cortese says the league is the top, top priority only to find Pardew comes out in the programme notes to say the cup is the top priority, that is major. In any other business your job is immediately on the line. Cortese without doubt was upset about this, but weighed up all the good and the bad of Pardew to believe he was the best man to take us forward. When the issue of pre-season training raised it's head, Cortese allowed Pardew to manage as he wanted, even though senior figures within the club structure said the training methods were doing more harm than good. Come the strart of the season we could all see something was not right, with many of those who watched the Bristol Rovers win saying don't be fooled by this performance, we still have a lot of issues. From Cortese's point of view he will have weighed all of this up and come to his own conclusions, can I trust Pardew to do the best for the club? With two monumentals such as this, it would be a major surprise for anyone to stick with him. Throw in the small detail of Pardew stating after the Bolton league cup game, "this was not a priority, but we treated it as such anyway". If Cortese had any doubts, that would certainly of made his decision very clear. Cortese knew full well the impact that sacking Pardew would have on the short term and commented on that at the time of making the decision. The trust between Cortese and Pardew had now gone completely, with Cortese wondering what next. Pardew made two major fook ups that either could result in the sack. All trust between the manager and CEO had now broken down and Pardew has no one to blame but himself.

That was Pardew's internal thoughts coming out in the post match interview. "We played two big central defenders because of the threat of their big target men." But they went and played a couple of diddy forwards who just had too much mobility, still too late to change then Alan, hey!

I still can't believe they are keeping up this run. Fair play to them with such meagre resources and restrictions on bringing in players. I still believe Bournemouth will collapse at some stage, but I would not put money on it. Only having the radio to go on, the performance against Walsall sounded exactly what was required (apart from goals), the performance against Colchester sounded exactly the opposite until they had a man sent off. The major concern for me is that the two main strikers are not doing their job and there will always be those games like Walsall that if Ricky or Lee can't do the business, we will suffer eventually. I feel our chances and their ability to score are directly linked to automatic promotion. These results are so important, because when our strikers decide to join the party, there should be little stopping us.

I don't think there is much between Adkins and Pardew. Tactically I thought Pardew was left groping in fresh air too many times but he had other qualities. With no previous history and we were considering the two for manager, I would not mind either. Pardew was rightly sacked because he fooked up pre season, that cost us a load of points whether Pardew stayed or Adkins came in. That was a sheite fest that took a long time to clean up and IMO why we are not above Brighton at this moment. I doubt Pardew will make that mistake again, it's done and we have to live with it.

It's relatively easy at this stage to see what is going wrong, it's another to do anything about it. There are several contributing factors in individual errors, the midfield and the inability of the strikers to put the ball in the net. For individual errors Davis prompts immediately, Fonte wanting to do everyone else's job and one off's from every other member that cost a goal and blight an otherwise good performance. You can go on about who you prefer at full back, but of the 4 available all have done a job for us at some time that there is not much in it. Some better defensively, some a better passer. The midfield has always been a problem, with either Schneiderlin, Hammond or Chaplow doing, or not doing a job for us. This has not been helped by Adkins playing with two wingers against a 4 or 5 man opposition midfield. We just lose control and the pressure becomes too great to handle. If both those wingers are pulling the opposition apart there is no issue as they have too much on their plate, the problem arises when they are not exerting this pressure. Then the forwards Lambert and Barnard, who's primary aim is to score goals, both have been a big let down this season. When is the last time Lee went on any sort of a run? I have seen performances where everyone is saying he must start the next game, only to fail to take that into a two game run even. The biggest disappointment has been Ricky, you are there to score goals primarily and just not delivered this season. I have come to the conclusion with Ricky that his lack of pace blunts our attacks and most of the time he is too far away from goal to threaten. We all remember his brilliant goal where he cut in from the right and blasted it into the net, but what a rarity. You can keep talking about Ricky the provider as long as you want, but it's a goal scorer we want. Adkins has let too many things drag on far too long to be exempt of criticism, with Ricky in the first half of the season being the biggest issue. Overall I don't believe there is a lot in it between Pardew and Adkins, but Pardew made two monumental errors that either deserved the sack. Adkins has an overall plus in my book and absolutely no need to consider his position even though he has not been perfect. I have to give Ricky the benefit of the doubt because unless he turns into that 30 goal striker we are all done. I thought Ricky had turned the corner (and still hope) with some of his goals in February and we will need that or the play offs may start to be beyond us. We have to stick with Ricky now, our success and his looks inseperable. This team needs over hauling should we go up, with only a few really pulling their weight. We are no where near the levels of Norwich or Leeds last season. On individual games we can make them look like no hopers, but we have never gone on a run of any parallel to either of them and why we cannot expect the same results should we make it into the Championship.

I do agree with much of this and Lambert created plenty last night but it comes back to having a consistently good enough partner for him. Guly and Barnard have done it in patches but Barnard misses far too many chances when he starts and last night was a prime example. Walker was brilliant and Lancashire played with real courage but Barnard really should have buried at least two of those chances and taken luck out of the equation. The issue is composure and belief - only Lambert or Lallana actually look confident in their ability to put the ball away in those situations although I admit even being a fan of Lallana's that his conversion rate could be better. Just what Is Ricky on that pitch for? I am not interested in those nice little flicks from the wing or midfield, I want some selfish, myopic barstard who will drag his knob through broken glass to get that ball in the net. Our main requirement is a striker and as you can't be in two places at the same time and that has to be Ricky. Just when was the last time Barnard went on a good run and he has had far more opportunities this season than deserved. I am not interested in Lambert the provider, unless we have someone who can take advantage.

What was exactly wrong last night? It did not sound like the midfield, plenty of possession and creating plenty of chances. I was left wondering where are the strikers to put these chances away? I kept hearing Lee must start (and his previous performance was good), but I am still struggling to remember a two match run, let alone stretch things further. The one person I do know who can open up these defences is Guly and he was out. If Ricky cannot eek out goals in games like this, we will not go up automatically, simples.

This team looks about right from what i saw on Saturday, with Oxo available if the need arises. I would imagine a 4411, with Lallana operating in a free role. That 4 in midfield maybe a bit more shapely, but I think this is what is needed. We can't expect Oxo to keep putting shifts in and this does address some of the problems we have had. Just hope we have enough form amonst these players to make things work.

You're right - 75% for automatic is about my shout. The markets have us at 4/11 for promotion by any means (i.e. about 75% - but that includes maybe a 7-10% of promotion via the playoffs?). And therefore 11/4 for us not going up at all. I can get slightly better odds from the markets than I can from you, I'm afraid. That's why I said if anyone wildly disagrees with my percentages, I'd take a wager. If you don't disagree with them wildly, I may get better odds from betfair. When I first looked at these odds, I thought you were being generous. Then after careful consideration of the table, they don't look so great. Take Bournemouth out of the equation and we are 1 point behind second place with 2 games in hand. I know that's an if to take Bournemouth out, but no matter how brilliant they have been, I cannot see them getting an automatic place with their squad. It's going to implode sometime and I just hope they stick around for the play offs. They may do it, but I just cannot see that now.