Clifford Nelson

He is entertainment of sorts, and got a heart as big as SMS, and as a next door neighbour he couldn't be beaten. But when it comes to analysis of the game the only wisdom is "4-4-2" and "put on another striker". Saints are looking into the future, with new owners who aren't stuck in the internationally unsuccessful "english game". DM is cemented into the past with sweat, manliness and the smell of liniment, on top of an unshakeable view of how the game should be played "correctly". For punditry on our local station I would rather have somebody without all those prejudices, who were better able to analyse the game.

After everything I've written about Antonio, and none of it appreciative, I finally got to see something of why AP rates him. Talent it isn't, of that I'm certain, but I saw pace and a singular focus on getting towards the oppositions goal. What he has got, probably because he's not sure himself of what he is about to do next, is total and uncompromising unpredictability. He scared the proverbial bejeezus out of Ipswich and attracted the attention of three defenders at times. I'm still sad that Waigo, who is a real talent, obviously hasn't got a future here, but for as long as we're winning games of football it's difficult not to be cheerful.

How nice with a thread which is appreciative of the hard work, application and professionalism of Wotton and Perry. The McMenism of "roadsweepers and violinists" is a very good expression of what a team needs to be. But there is also a matter of tactics, although maybe a little bit more subtle than just 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. A shrewd manager can do things with either system which could give us an edge. We will need it since we will never be up there with the Chelseas for signing world leaders. We look so much more balanced and unpredictable when we play 4-5-1. I am very clear what formation I would like us to play if I was the opposition. On of the things I noticed yesterday is how little time anybody had on the ball in midfield playing against a CCC team on a run of results, and we coped rather well without both Schneiderlin and Hammond. Strength in depth is coming slowly but surely, and maybe a bit of credit ought to go the way of James as well.

You know exactly what you get from Wotton. Artistry it isn't, but for anybody who admires hard work and application he must be a bit of an icon. He is also a first class example to the younger players of what it is to be a professional footballer. He and Perry I believe have been immensely useful for the club.

There must be something in the fact that Gillet played as a sub today and hasn't signed for Donny yet. If he staid here he would be would be at best 5th choice CM and he is very clearly not fancied by AP. So is it unreasonable to assume that we will not release Gillet until we have got a deal made for Stock?

The eastern european sport press reported Saga to have left already before xmas as far as I can remember. I don't think they made it up, and I can't understand why Saints hasn't confirmed it.

Lallana doesn't look effective in the middle. He doesn't get any areas to operate in and I would have Connolly instead of Lallana anyday. I don't think that's his position. I liked him operating from LM where he was developing a nice understanding with Harding. Coming in from wide he was much more slippery for defenders to read and opened up empty space behind him for Harding or a CM to make use of.

If AP is to carry on playing Lallana in the middle of the park behind or sideways of Lambert (where I don't think he is very effective) there is only room for two CMs, which have been Scneiderlin and Hammond so far. Would playing Stock instead of either of them make a great difference? Or would Stock be interesting as the third CM, moving Lallana back to LM in a 4-5-1? I can't really see that replacing S or H would be a massive step forward in itself.

But you will start with a clean slate and won't have a number of players who know that they haven't got a future, but still turning up for training every day. That isn't enhancing a "winning attitude". Either way it is going to cost money, but I prefer a surgical strike at the problem when it is clear that it won't go away quickly, than to have it hanging aroung for a couple of years. Forecast, for example, has 3 1/2 years left on his contract! Any suggestion for a cheaper solution?

What it did for the team in the first two attempts of 4-5-1, and I can still see it infront of me, was to allow Hammond, Schneiderlin and Mellis (the only time he looked good to me) to run at the opposition from deep. It spread fear and disorientation and allowed the wingers to attack virtually unopposed. I admit that defensively we could improved from there, and to an extent we did. Returning to 4-4-2 doesn't give the midfield the same superiority and we are often overrun ourselves instead, with head tennis and clearances instead of trying to control the game. To me it seems like 4-4-2 has been given some kind of status as 'holy cow' like 2-3-5, WM and 4-2-4 once were in english football one after the other. Holy cows stunt development and gives away any element of surprise or edge. 4-5-1 wouldn't last forever either and other teams eventually will catch up with development, but less so in L1 and CCC. Wherever we're playing we need an edge, and our current tactics are edge-free and I can't see what it is that AP is trying to build.

What with the articles in the eastern european press which declared that he had already left? Where they made up? I Saga still physically at SMS?

The test is what we do after this transfer window shuts and nobody has shown any interest. Will the club grab the problem by the throat and pay off the contracts to those we don't want and can't give away? I think it is the only solution.

I wonder if 4-4-2 is successful for some teams and not very successful for others because it is the overwhelmingly predominant system. To try to get an edge in any league we're playing in we must try something different, and not the same as everybody else. I was enthused and hopeful after our venture into 4-5-1 because when we attacked we managed to get no more than 6 players, and 3 of them from deep, running against a four man defensive who didn't know who to mark and what was to happen next. We seemed to deal with some of the early defensive frailties as well. We could also tinker with 4-4-2 or do something else entirely, but to retain the exact predictable system as everybody else doesn't fill me with confidence. I'd like to see the seed which progress will grow out of, apart from the wallet of the owner, and at the moment I can't see it. Better CBs and an alternative RB is a good thing, but it's only progress with regards to hopefully better players, nothing else. We will keep on huffing and puffing but having little thought to much else.

I'm not entirely convinced that AP is very clear in his own mind, or he wouldn't have been so quick to return to the tried and trusted 4-4-2. I think we need to be more tactically aware and clever. Nevertheless I didn't expect us to be doing better than we are. Resultwise I'm fairly content, but as far as direction goes I'm feeling quite clueless.

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.

Thanks for your comments. That is my concern in the long run as well. Reading played very much like us against Man U, and won. But that isn't a sign that it is working. It was a one-off, and Reading doesn't belong in the PL. Being at the bottom of CCC is the sign that it isn't working for them, and I don't think it would work any better for us. Looking forward to the CCC and the PL I am very aware that we can never expect to sign the best players in the world and compete in the transfer market with Man U and Chelsea. So we need to do something else to give us an edge, and I just don't think that huffing and puffing does it.

I love that we are mainly winning, and I appreciate a winning attitude, but I fail to see what it is AP is trying to tactically create. At the time of the home games against Bristol Rovers and Gillingham there were real signs of exciting football, but whilst Gillingham was the start of our winning streak, we have since huffed and puffed, mainly in a 4-4-2, matching the opposition man for man, easy to read and quite easy to defend against. Only the fact that we have better players have tipped the balance. To see us continuously heading the ball forward, from man to man three or four times without an attempt to control it couldn't be part of a thought out plan, could it? Or KD kicking for PL's head all the time without variation in the hope that somebody will pick up the nod or bounce? What looked earlier like a thought out strategy looks more like....well, what does it look like really. Surely there must be a plan to create something more solid and determined than that. Or isn't there?

Good observation, I've often thought the same. I can't help but feeling that the lack of intelligent punditry from an otherwise very nice man has something to do with it. It doesn't feel like I have anything to learn from somebody who thinks that 4-4-2 is the only "correct" (sic!) way to play and who thinks that the solution to all ills is to "send another striker on". I just think there is more to the game, even if I haven't figured it out yet. Superficial comments brings on superficial folks to the phone-in, maybe. There hasn't been anybody on Radio Solent with any incisive views about anything since Harry Gration, and he wasn't providing punditry. Who was our best pundit?

At least there is an acknowledgement that we have an interest in Stock, why would we otherwise know anything about Doncaster's valuation? Little doubt in my mind, and I have said so before, that the lack of announcement of Gillett's departure hangs together with negotiations about Stock. Jaidi was once mentioned as a "longshot", and he arrived, so I think there is mileage in this yet.

I think the writing is on the wall for Waigo. AP doesn't fancy him, prefers Antonio, and Waigo will be back in Italy in the summer. I think AP is dreadfully wrong in his view. Waigo is a real talent who could do a lot for us, compare to the terribly overrated Antonio. But there you go, AP is the manager and I'm not.

I don't think it used to be irony. It was what happened all the time for Saints. SMS has been the place to go if you were badly down on your luck. Here the wins could be produced that couldn't be produced anywhere else. But that had something to do with the attitude which permeated the place for years. It has started to lift and the expectations are no longer about these old predictable things, but on winning. If we win 3-1 again and Pericard gets the one? What, me worried?

A signing which fails to excite, maybe. The guy has been at Crew, Rotherham, etc. before arriving at Norwich and hasn't it seems impressed anywhere. Nevertheless he got as far as a couple of games for Liverpool, so at one time there must have been something there. A six months contract will put pressure on Murty to get fit, and Otsemebor to try to get a new contract. If it doesn't work out and relative failure is inherent somewhere in his make-up he'll be gone in the summer. So if in the end of the day we've still got LJ playing at RB we will be looking for something better in the summer. If not we might have uncovered a gem.

It is one thing agreeing with an embargo if you can publish as soon as it is lifted. It is another one althogether to agree no to print what is already in the public domain. No newspaper could possibly agree to that.

Seaborne has not been signed as cover. He has got the expectations to play regularly acc to OS. Replacing who? Is Jaidi badly injured and unlikely to return?

Seaborn is expecting to play regularly at Saints, so he couldn't have been bought as cover. I can't see Fonte or Harding on the bench, so are we relegating Jaidi, or is he badly injured?