up and away

I thought he was on a 3 year contract? I also thought that next season was going to be the time when he's going to be properly judged. Whilst we've spent a lot of money, I think we're making real progress this season. Certainly a lot more than I was expecting at the start of the season. Yes, pretty sure he is already on a long term contract. If he goes it will be because Cortese wants it that way, I would have no problem with that but get the feeling Cortese will give him at least the start of next season. Pardew has given full range this season of all his previous experience, good and bad.

Fonte is class, no arguments about the rest, that will be worked out in time. I never really knew much about Bernard previously but I distinctly remember one post on here describing him as back up for Lambert. Will get goals, slow but works hard, that seems a perfect description of the player and what he should be used for. Playing Lambert and Barnard together has to be the worst forward combination tried so far. It just does not work, play one or the other but not both. We have seen this so many times, that if we do not have pace in combination with Lambert it all gets too predictable and easily managed by the opposition defence. How many times Pardew has to witness this before it sinks in I am uncertain. Barnard is good back up to Lambert or may even deserve a start ahead of Ricky at times, but for kucks sake don't keep bringing both out of the box together.

What are you talking about? That's basically a thank **** that was the bottom team, we could have really struggled against the 2nd from bottom team.

You have to question what is the point, if the manager cannot pick a decent team from all of that?

What about actually getting a player in for the positions we have real problems with? I really cannot understand what Pardew is up to, he freely admits midfield is the problem area, then ignores it to add another coat of gloss to every other position on the field. Just surprised we never got an improved goalie to sort things out. This is very simple, we have one pronounced weakness, midfield control. Solve that problem and we will create more chances than most other teams and have a defence more capable. Without that midfield control we cannot get the ball sufficiently to the forwards and our defence gets dragged down to conference level. If we fail to get to the play off's, Pardew deserves to get kicked down the road for failing to act on the bleedin obvious for so so long.

Please refer to my earlier post but on the original topic "I can confirm there was an approach from a top Italian team, not just now, that happened a few months back," NC said. So why mention it now on Solent? http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/28012010/63/cortese-sticking-saints.html I really cannot understand your position here? Solent broached the question with Cortese about an approach from an Italian team, not the other way round. Now if you have any regard for your position or the fans and these rumours are in the public domain, you don't think it would be best to reassure fans? I certainly think that was by far the best action to take because this was not speculative rumour but actual fact. As for Liebherr not saving Saints, you have to be off your trolley to adopt that line. As one of your stand in saviours is none other than Cherrypip, the equivalent to a turd floating in Langstone harbour as an aid to a drowning man. Then look at the other monkeys purporting to save Saints, just realigning the debt until another day and a delayed the frying pan to fire scenario. Not only did Liebherr save us, he took that to such a level it would be the equivalent to taking drowning man and transforming him into Michael Phelps. Just as any Pompey supporter can say X saved their club. in reality it just looks a postponement now.

What statement from Cortese? I am struggling to remember any statement from Cortese on this issue with the Echo. This does not require the key to the Divinci code to gain access to all the information, it's very simple. Cortese asked Murray to hold off printing an article for a short time, Murray said it was in the public domain already and could not be bothered. Cortese expected more after giving the Echo unfettered access up to this point, Murray then get's on his high horse over Cortese's reation and you have what you see before us now. The previous undertaking to hold back the story until the official launch, does not really come into it because both parties have a point. This is just a storm in a teacup and has no bearing whether it continues or they kiss and make up tommorrow. The Echo still report on matters Saints so there is no difference than before, except the Echo no longer has first access to Saints news as it did previously. I am not even trying to say who is right or wrong in this situation because it really does not matter. Cortese got the hump and banned the Echo, Murray reacted accordingly. I do take a position on Murray trying to escalate this issue to another level. Cortese has remained silent upon this issue and just got on with his job. Murray see's mileage in this and wants to crank this up to another level for his own personal reasons. Murray knows full well the Echo is banned and the reason why, but requires further reaction from Cortese to gain any mileage. It just is not going to happen and all Murray will do is alienate Saints fans away from the Echo. If Murray had 1/10 of the common sense he has ego, he would just apolgise and keep quiet, even if he actually feels the opposite. If circulation of the Echo does suffer over this issue, Murray will be out the door and trying to tie this into a freedom of the press issue has no chance of saving his arse.

Without Cortese, we probably wouldn't even have a club!! ML only came on board due to cortese's insistence, without Cortese on board, ML would have no interest!! He is pretty much a saviour in my opinion So true, without Cortese I doubt Liebherr would have even known about us. He seems to have favoured son status with Liebherr, long may it continue.

I would go further than that, this is totally Pardews fault and he has repeated the same error so many times he requires a serious tap to set him straight. This is all about one thing, midfield control. Whether the system is 451, 442 on it's own is not so important. What is important, is that what ever system you use with the players available, gives you that midfield control. We have found that 451 gives us that control and we have no issues creating chances, in fact the opposite most of the time. You have to be a total idiot to keep trying 442 when it is obvious that you are exposing your defence because of the formation employed. Pardew has been desperate to use 442 so he can get both his quality strikers on at the same time. The problem is that we do not have the midfield or manager to make it work for what ever reason and we have done nothing about it by bringing in new players for that position. The players we have brought in are in areas where their improvement to the squad is marginal compared to the blindingly obvious, the midfield. One very important point I have noticed from 451 is that it gives us a strangle hold over the opposition, although we have conceded goals against the run of play. When we subsequently have switched to 442 we have for some reason maintained that control. Why, I cannot explain but it has happened enough times to stand out like a donkeys **** on a budgie. This has cost us so many points already it's criminal. If you take all the good points and bad points from Pardews previous, you have them all on display this season. Now we seem to be going through the bedding in of the new players or more like, too much choice is confusing Pardew. When you consider that Paul Lambert had to turn round the worst form team in the league to the best nigh on immediately, just shows the relative merits of each. It's criminal that all the money and resources we have,just to get a lucky 1-1 draw, against a squad that cost about one left foots worth of one of our players.

I really doubt Palace will be able to ride it out. The administrators will be looking to get cash in for anything that is not nailed down and very little time in the transfer window to do it. It's bargain bucket time at the moment and could work out well for Saints. Just as we had with Walcott and Bale, can easily see a reduced early settlement on the Fonte deal and maybe a player or two! They have no ground and by going into administration it would not surprise me if any rental agreement can get reviewed if not void. Who would not, if you are sitting there with 5 aces. All the conditions are right for Palace to go out of existence, no ground, small crowds and nothing of to mention of in assets or facilities. As we saw with Saints, that was winning the lottery and you don't get too many of those about!

The main point here will be whether the police insist upon an early kick off. If that is confirmed it will be odds on to be televised, as most other earlies have in the past. As there are no other ties likely to require an early kick off (with the possible exception of Wolves Villa), I would say there is a very high chance of the game being televised.

Cortese has said nothing on the matter. How do you know what has happened? All we have seen is the Echo's comment and side of things. You can't make a judgement on that. The Echo would have known the club wouldn't let them in so I'm sure it wasn't a surprise and they are used using this in a pathetic attempt to get sympathy which will just sour relations further. Are the Echo actually trying to say they could not have covered this event without being there? Well they have had little problem with so many other features, even Saints games. Suchet has made a point here and got extra publicity so both him and the Echo have got what they want. The Echo has been banned and this is just an extension of that. This is nothing new, just being used for additional publicity.

Some very good points. I really don't think there is much doubt about 433/451 being more effective than 442 is there? The main problem we have being the loss of midfield control when playing 442, with so many games now highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of both systems. The big problem we have is that Pardew does not favour 433/451 and only uses it when forced or desperate. Trying to play 442 has cost us several points so far, which for some strange reason just does not suit our players. Connolly is without doubt the class act of the forwards when fit and it's a real issue fitting him in and maintaining that balance. We certainly got it correct before when only playing Connolly in the second half after starting 451. Personaly I would stick with 433/451 and change it when conditions require. It's not as if 433/451 does not create enough and our midfield has never looked better, overshadowed by sometimes not taking the chances in that system. Pardew is bringing in a midfielder shortly and he may well be able to get 442 to work. My main fear is that Pardew has too many toys to play with now and 442 will be the holy grail that he searches, I just hope he can do so without dropping further points and eliminating the play off's.

I would agree with that, but it could easily be a mullahing.

I don't completely understand this one, so will have to wait and see how it all pans out. If Connolly is fit, I would have thought he would be the automatic choice to go up front when playing two forwards? Barnard is obviously a good player, but how much he will add to the squad? And with Barnards lack of pace would you really want to pair him with Ricky? As we have seen already, we have never really found a midfield to cater for this. We seem to be strengthening areas which will bring the least return to the squad. I don't argue these players will make improvements, but nothing like a couple of decent midfielders.

It would not surprise me for Southend fans to come back on here, quoting they had robbed us. Paterson will be a really good player, but our needs are immediate. Given the opportunity it would not surprise me for him to hit the ground running. We have what we want from this and Southend have a very good deal, best of luck to all.

Not completely sure about that, as Doncaster had said it was just down to personal terms with Gillett? But I must admit that the fact they now have Oster for the rest of the season and have suddenly started talking to Gillett again, certainly gives that impression?

There is no additional interview but for the one on radio Solent after the MK Dons game. But my interpretation of Pardews interview was unequivocal, Doncaster wanted too much for Stock and were not prepared to budge. Pardew did not say this specifically, but the additional comments he had no reason to make, would make no sense otherwise.

Some teams above us have spent 200k only. Does that make there manager good too or would you say they are miracle workers compared to the millions we have spent. I have been the most positive saints fan all season but in the last month I see the signs of a struggling team which is getting worse. You have to take both aspects into account, the -10 points and the humongous budget that has been made available to him. At the present he just about scrapes into the top 25% in this league but at the end of the day, it's all about the play off's. Make that target and all can be forgiven, fail and it's up to Cortese. Pardew has done several good things and made several errors this season, so I can see the points either way.

The question is, what does Cortese think is realistic? If I was nigh on out spending all the other clubs combined on players, I would feel that getting into the play off's has to be a minimum requirement. Failure to go up would prove expensive and if we throw more money into this transfer window it's not for consolidation. I am happy to leave this one to Cortese and fully accept what he decides.

In one word: Connolly. You don't seem to be able to play 4-5-1 with him in the team. It also seemed, not only on the fans, but also on AP that 4-5-1 was something that he did reluctantly until he could get back to the old 4-4-2 which seems to give everyone some sense of security, I can't figure out why. This is one area where I feel Pardew has a lot to answer for. The reason he was forced into trying 451 was because nothing was working and we were a shambles. We found that 451 worked extremely well and got us into a position to actually start thinking about the play off's (specifically with Wooton playing in front of the back four). Connollys cameo's off the bench made people ask why can't we play like this all the time, makes obvious sense from everything we have seen so far from those second half performances? Well there was definite logic, but in practice it never worked out like that, but for the odd occasion. I am sure 442 could work better for us with the attacking players we have, the only problem being is that we just do not have the midfield players to make it work. Pardew has attempted so many midfield combinations to make this work that even he by now must realise it is a no go. We have got in three new players recently but none of them address this major issue, I would go as far to say that the positions that have been strengthened will have a minor improvement in comparison to midfield. You can say what was so brilliant about 451 previously, because we would also go behind with that formation and only rescue things when we changed it. But that completely over looks the fact we looked so solid defensively and created enough to have won the game in the first 45. When we did change things the opposition were ripe for the picking after hammering against a closed door for the first 45 minutes. You can't explain it fully, but without a doubt it worked astonishingly well and in contrast the alternatives just don't look anywhere near as good, result wise. This reminds me when Burley reverted to 451 for two games away to Leeds and Sunderland and we came away unexpectedly with 4 points, for the system to be never seen again. If Pardew had been more cautious in changing a winning set up, such we minimised the damage until we got in the players he needed, that to me would have been smart. Again look at all the changes Pardew made yesterday (midfield not defence). This again was just another throw of the dice which did not work, why not use something that has a chance of success? We have now lost Hammond and will find it difficult now to find anything to work without new personnel, that's accepting Hammonds recent drop in form. After so long, I don't think Pardew could return to that successful 451 line up, because it would have made him look an absolute **** if it worked again!

I have no complaints over the players we signed, but the real improvement will only come when we do something about the midfield. I am still not completely sure what that line up was intended to do? Too many changes and it seemed to be reflected in the manner we played (via merry). We have clearly shown that without pace up front, defences are not really bothered by us, unless we are in full control. Very disappointed in this and Pardew. If Cortese is anything to go by, he will be expecting more for his money and rightly so.

WSG thought Drogba was too similar to Beattie, wanting someone to compliment him rather than being the same type, that I heard WSG state. Adebeyor we had signed subject to work permit but we could not get it through in this country, whereas he had no problem when he went to Belguim / France? You don't normally give players medicals then change you mind for other reasons, so it seems a bit out of the norm. Coleman may have a point but no good will come from moaning about it. I just feel this is beacuse of the pressure of trying to get so many players in a short space of time. So we have upset Coleman, just privately say sorry and move on. It's really not that big a deal, unless you had that salary earmarked to bring in another player who you now cannot.

I really doubt he failed a medical. What could be possible is there were signs that he had a weakness which could have been a problem in the future. What seems more likely is that we put in offers for several players and once you reel in your first choice, your views on the back up to that position may well change. I did not expect us to get in a player of Fonte's calibre, but once we did the options on the back up may benefit from someone more versatile or suited to our needs. If you are trying to bring in players in a very short space of time you are always going to have problems such as this. The alternative is to approach each target separately, wait for that target to accept / decline then move on to the next. I am pretty sure if everything with Ward was agreed quickly and no issue, then we would have signed him. Maybe what was done here was not the accepted norm and Coleman has got the hump because he could have used that salary elsewhere. Looks like just one of the problems we have in trying to do so much, so quickly. Getting these players in fast could make or break this season.

At the start of this, I would have been more than happy with just Stocks and Danns, that is the one area we can really take this team forward. Get control of the midfield and we have a lot of decent players we can use as forwards, Lallana, Waigo, Connoley, Lambert. Even though James has problems at RB, it's a completely different issue when you have control of the midfield. We have also seen the other side of this coin, fail to gain control of the midfield and those excellent forwards we already have become neutered.