Clifford Nelson

And who is suggesting that?

I can see where we differ. Winning mentality, some luck and decent refereeing are always helpful, but putting all your eggs in the basket containing commitment and hard work is taking awful chances. A bit like building a house without drawings. No team will ever be successful without hard work, but the days luck fails and the referee is hungover or worse, we still need to make sure we stamp our authority on some of the worst teams in the league.

He looks great on the pitch, but a wide midfielder who gives 5 assists and scores 14. Does something look lopsided here?

I'd like to see that we tried it, because it would place Puncheon firmly on the left, which is where I think he belongs. I don't think Connolly could play wide right to save his life, and Waigo pulls it off in varieties of 4-3-3, but is much less effective in time honoured 4-4-2. It is likely to open the door for Antonio again, and whilst I once or twice have enjoyed some of the entertainment value, I can't see it being the solution, especially as his crossing is so poor.

What I'm trying to say is that no football team can always come out fully pumped up and ready to roar. Like all of us, when inspiration fails, which it frequently does, you have to return to basics: The strategy, or game plan which is what the team has trained to adher to, because even without maximum inspiration the strategy should be good enough to deal with the teams who haven't got any of the skills we have. Look at Man U. They don't always play the kind of football you dream of, but they are always effective. That comes from eleven players knowing exactly what their roles are on the pitch, both individually and as part of a team. I am not sure that AP is thinking along those lines. I think he is a good motivator, full of positive thinking, commitment and hard work. And the days he can't fully succeed to spark all eleven of the players, then phutt....

I don't think you are entirely wrong. AL is somebody who looks awfully good on the pitch, but when you start asking what the end results are, then things are getting a bit trickier. He is more of a goal scorer than a provider, but whenever he is played in a more central role he disappears out of the game more or less completely. However, let's get real here. Beaten by Brighton at home; draws against Exeter and Wycombe; and this loss against Tranmere can't be laid entirely at AL's door. There is something more fundamental awry when we keep going from awesome to poor repeatedly without anything in the middle. These lost points were always on occasions when a win would have really established us in our quest upwards. If we were on a more even keel these would all have been wins and we would have suffered more acceptable losses against Norwich, Huddersfield, etc. I can't say that I know what the problem is, but it seems to be more mood oriented than technical. Maybe, if we are relying entirely on our capacity of playing highly motivated football, then every time motivation falters, which it will do over a season, we become vulnerable when instead we ought to rely on our strategy and techniqued. Hmmm.....

From total strugglers with no chance we have become a side who can produce extraordinary results fairly often, but struggles with a fair frequency away against lowly opposition. That is one variation of being inconsistent, and shows that we're not the final product yet. That's not really surprising news, is it?

Nope, they don't pay enough.

I can recall that some of Mike Osman's antics were rather cringeworthy as well, which we all agreed at the time. Maybe it's time to bring the old brass band back again...and maybe not. Rofey was good entertainment, what's he up to these days?

If the stand off is over, then I'm delighted. We all need each other down here, so however it happened, credit to all involved and let's hope we can now pull together.

No complaints here, I'll take us scoring five every week without problems. It was another organised performance, where Schneiderlin did the distribution from deep, wingers and fullbacks kept themselves wide and the striking partnership looked like it was going somewhere. I'm also pleased to see Papa Waigo getting at least a walk on part up front. It does pay off.

I think you're right, but I can't understand it. Who'd ever heard of of a manager being assisted by a director. There seem to be a belief around that a manager needs to be the dictator of the club before it's any good. I wonder where these people work. Nevertheless I was encouraged with the performance on Saturday. Schneiderlin did a grand job from a deep midfield role, and Lallana and Puncheon in the mains stayed wide, at least when Puncheon was on the left wing. He is very definitely left footed. It will be interesting to see if we maintain this tomorrow. As you know I'm not the greatest 4-4-2 fan, but it looked like there was some thought behind it this time.

For asking the same question which we have just spent 7 pages discussing? I struggle to understand what some people think newspapers are for.

That is exactly what the role shouldn't be and why it fails at british clubs.

I can tell you all one thing with absolute confidence: AP will NOT be consulted about the appointment of a Sporting Director for one very simple reason. It will be AP's boss! SPs takes charge of the strategic sporting vision of the club. The manager manages his playing staff to fit in with that vision and suggests players to be bought and sold, also to fit with that strategic vision. The strategy is the terms of reference which is used in such discussions. New managers are chosen depending on how well they fits in with that strategy, and not for the glint in their eyes, or their level of tough talking or chest thumping. Motivational qualities are great, but not outside the strategic box. The reason it usually doesn't work in Britain is that the basis for the Director isn't understood. We are after all a pragmatic nation. So therefore the Director is waiting for the manager to leave so that he can take over. That is under no circumstances what we want.

First time I've been confused with him. Nothing I like to be repeated.

Schneiderlin had a top game yesterday and filled the role in midfield nobody has has done since Jim Magilton. He was my MOTM, and I never thought I would be able to say that.

Before we are looking for more players I think we need to do a serious weeding exercise in the squad. That would show us just who may have a future here, and those who won't. I've said it before and I say it again, that the nettle have to be grasped and some 15 contracts paid up and those players to be wished well for the future. There are also a number of contracts running out in the summer and we need to make decisions on CM and CB back up. I wouldn't think that another marquee signing is on the cards.

In England, where football management is a matter of pragmatism, changing on pragmatic manager for another one is probably about charisma. I tend to think that judging managers on that is poor, and our recent few years shows it to be a lottery. If you are to change manager then you must look for other things which will change the fortunes of the team.

Has there been heavy criticism of AP? I haven't noticed it. There has been some discussion here on the forum about aspects of the game. I have asked questions myself on whether the strategies employed will be good enough for an onslaught on the PL. I can't imagine for one second that AP is affected by a discussion on the Forum. You have to be insane to suggest that this years performances aren't way ahead of what we have endured during a number of years. Let's not lose our sense of balance. Listen to the noise at SMS and ask yourself if the fans are turning against AP. Yesterday's game suggested to me that there are some strategic thoughts behind the 4-4-2. CM looked sorted with Schneiderlin dropping constantly deeper to act as the playmaker, and to me it looked like he relished that role. That was the difference to me and it set all the players to perform. Having wide midfielders staying wider than before is a help as well. You need thick hide to be a football manager, and unless things are going on which we don't know about I would suggest that we all calm down and look forward to tuesday night.

I'm delighted with the result, and also by the way we played. With Schneiderlin providing the anchor role in CM it finally looks like our 4-4-2 is having a bit of shape. It is the best playmaking performance of a CM since Jim Magilton all those years ago. I admit I kept doubting the boy, but I'm prepared to eat my words. Puncheon is solely left footed as far as I can see and belongs on the left. I didn't think he was outstanding, but it will be interesting to see how he beds in. Overall it was as good a performance as I have seen in this shape. Walsall had one good player in Richards, who demonstrated an excellent football brain and no mean amount of skills either. Pity that Strachan didn't manage to buy him.

If after a year of management you can't see in what kind of football is being produced you will be in the same position however long you wait. AP is, judging from his choices up till now, a pragmatist without any strong convictions, which he shares with most english managers. He appears to be quite a good motivator, he is personable, and at the point NC appointed him he could have done an awful lot worse. It has taken us to where we are now, but how far will it take us? If we can't see now what it is he is trying to produce which will give us the edge to advance, how long do we thing NC will wait. I all for giving lots of time to a manager who has got got a strategy. Pragmatists cost an awful lot of money if you have it to speng, but with no guarantee of any success. Inspiration and hard work did it against Norwich, but not Wycombe when we misfired again. Dodgy pitches and all that, but I don't buy it. No manager can guarantee inspiration every time, but with footballing quality we should perform better even on our off days.

Waigo did very well on the right of a 4-3-3/4-5-1, a system he is very used to from Italy, but he isn't a winger for a 4-4-2 system. Adam Lallana if a very good player, but he isn't a striker, nor a CM, nor is he the dominant type like Tiss in his pomp who could be given a free role in the middle of the park and use it as a magician. On the left, or right, would be a good idea, and then to keep him there, but then you have to have a proper winger on the other side to provide width at all times. If that width is not there, the CMs haven't got an outlet, they have to knock it forward (head of Lambo) or back to the CBs who will knock it forward (head of Lambo again) or play a careful ball to the fullback. Derry has pointed this out and in my opinion his analysis is right. To try to squeeze Lallana into the team with both Puncheon and Antonio as wide players makes us inconsequential in CM. With the players we have, and not least Lallana, we had the material for 4-5-1, which they proved, but that is now history. If the manager hasn't got the confidence for it, which patently he hasn't, the players won't have it either.

We needed pump priming to get on our way. Face it, we didn't have a competitive team for L1, and we still have some 15-20 players who's wages we're paying, but who never will play for the first team, and sadly nobody wants them, even on a free. But getting a competitive team and clearing out the garden is what we needed investment for. After that we need to look at the club funding itself to a great degree. Our future is not to spend ourself to the top, just look what is happening down the road. We need a completely different edge from clever strategies and tactics. I am looking for the seeds of that, not the complete article, but I'm not seeing any green shoots of the way we are looking for playing the game and win. Come on, help me out here, what are you seeing?

Sadly not, and that is what worries me. It seems that this is AP's strategy, i.e. to play the same game as those we are meeting in the leagues, but hopefully to win regardless, because we will have better (and by inference more expensive) players. And I'm saying that that is not sustainable: We will hardly be able to outspend everyone in CCC and with absolute certainty not those in PL. The history of every successful football team is not always the amount of money spent, but it is hard work and application, AND IT IS A PLAYING STRATEGY TO OVERCOME THE OPPOSITION. Not a single one of them has played like everybody else.