Clifford Nelson

I've ever only heard his name before. With these qualities he could be very important for this team. It looks like another very astute signing.

Apart from all the wonderful wittyness it seems rather odd to me that a team which has gotten into Administration is turning down £700K?!

What was actually so surprising was that JT showed that he didn't have any pace. He was outrun by the U's leftback who started three yards behind but made it look easy. He must have something which I haven't managed to spot yet, but speed it isn't.

If I re-phrase that then: When he has been used as a target man he has looked remarkable good for his age and experience, and when he has been used instead of Saga to play off Lambert he has looked bad. OK?

What is sad is because of the lack of strikers Paterson is asked to play a role he isn't any good as. He is another target man, just like Lambert, and on the occasions when he has been able to do the job, against Millwall for instance, he showed that he has got talent in that department. But he is not of Lambert's quality yet, and a target man needs a runner, not another target man. A bit of analysis would help rather than slagging off a young and talented player.

Good analysis as always. I didn't like swapping Lallana to the right. He is doing alright there after having found an understanding with Harding. Problem is that we haven't got a right footed wide man. Both Fish and Holmes are lefties. Lallana does everything difficult very well and struggles with the simple stuff, but here speaks an old winger with very little talent who survived only because of pace and crossing ability. It would be nice to see him play a few killer balls, but since he rarely does he doesn't belong in the middle. Lambert desperately needs Saga, or somebody like him, up front. It can never work with Paterson who is another target man. Both of them are holding the ball up for each other and nothing is ever going anywhere. Lambert looks bewildered, probably for not quite knowing what to do with the ball: Nobody who runs along side of him, no winger who looks in a threatening position and no offensive CM who runs through. I makes him looks bad, whilst he is just badly served. He leads the line better than any predecessor since Beattie. James didn't have an especially good game and should have been swapped with Schneiderlin rather than to jumble the defense. All managers have players they like and others they don't. James and Gillett are AP's. I thought Fish coming on looked promising because it seemed to give others an outlet. Sadly he was too rusty to do much with it. Nevertheless I would like to see some perseverence now. Keep him playing and sub him if necessary with Holmes. Whoever is the biggest threat will start. Get Lallana to play on the right until it gels there and reserve Lambert's partner to Saga and Papa Waigo and see what is the most dangerous. Then Hammond should play the offensive role and be paired with whoever suits an attacking or defensive tactic the best. It all sounds very simple, doesn't it.

Which was unrealistic, and most people haven't realised even now in what terrible state the club had been brought to. Excuses will eventually have to cease, but I doubt the purging has ended yet.

I don't know about Charlton, but I know that for years the most terribly attitudes have been prevalent at SMS which have undermined the players confidence. Dubai Phil suggested a Truth and Reconciliation process to try to get to grips with what has been going on. It sounds a bit extreme, but it has clearly infected everything about the club. You don't turn that around in a few weeks. I think AP will turn it around, but it is still worrying that some of the old stagers who were part of the old regime and part responsible for what has been going on are still there, especially around the Academy. We supporters have been infected as well with very little resiliance to poor results. If we can't change suddenly, and face it, we're only turning up once a week, think about the difficulties the players will have. There certainly has been something rotten in the club of Southampton and all the rot has not yet been cured. But it will be.

I think we know some of the problems: Paterson is not a foil for Lambert, he'd be a sub for him, because they are playing the same game. We need pace and aggression to pick up the balls around Lambert. Mellis underperformed again. I don't think he's got it in him. Thompson had another below par performance and also showed that he's got no pace and was out run by their left back even though JT had three yards head start. Oh dear. Fish wasn't ready today. He's played much better than this for us in the past. On the plus side the defense did very well and gave away little. Thomas did well both as RB and CB. Perry and Trotman handled enormus Colin Platt and difficult Kevin Lisbie as well as can be expected. There was lots of hard work but little edge to the performance and players are moving around the pitch for every sub. Lallana from left to right to centre. James from CM to RB. Thomas from RB to CB. Difficult to get consistency like that. AP will improve this squad and will find the right formulas. I can wait, because we were miles better than U's. Big plus: We saw Papa Waigo's dance. Hey, hey, hey, hey......but can he score?

I think that is what he has done and why it has taken time. He definitely doesn't qualify for a permit on footballing grounds since he doesn't represent his country anymore.

Losing or winning mentalities don't come from the tactics employed on the pitch. They come from the demands made on players from an early age and their ability to respond to them. Some people can't respond, and footballers aren't no different. But the mentality comes from the top. Coaches and managers who don't find losing acceptable, and who don't line up a rake of excuses for a poor performance. Our coaching staff should take a large part of the responsibility for this, but were they equally affected by the regime which ruled this club for a long time? We know what the regime did to the fans, why should we thing that coaches and players were isolated from it. When MLT, Danny Wallace and Alan Shearer came out of the youth team they were hungry for action. The youngsters who've come through off late have looked mainly terrified. New players we've bought have quite quickly learnt that winning isn't absolutely necessary... Not in Southampton anyway. If we want to know what is happening to our young players we must look at the Academy, where I believe yesterday's coaches are still employed. Will they be able to change their ways? I am full of confidence that the new regime and AP will overcome this frailty in the long run. Their is no sense of losing about them. As far as us supporters are concerned, we will start changing when the team starts winning. They have already started fighting, so there is plenty of hope.

Holmes and Fish are both left footers, so one will cut in rather than cross, and we will have sacrificed width again. Let both of them play on the left, one to start the other to finish.

I was there, and he flitted in and out of the game, mostly out, to such an extent that I forgot about him. When he turned up he showed why he has been considered to have potential, but his ability to assert himself on the pitch is non-existent. Maybe he'll develop it, who knows, but I don't think we can afford for him to do it here and in the first team. Apart from that he doesn't look like a natural wide player either.

Let's be fair here Derry. Lallana has actually improved every game so far and stays much wider than he has before. I have been a critic, but on current form he deserves to be in the team, although he needs to improve a bit further. Wotton won't play unless there are several injuries, and there is finally somebody with pace around who could do the business down the right if he gets the work permit in time. AP is well aware of the shortcomings in attack and will have worked on that another week. I reckon it will have improved because he has improved everything else he has worked on. On balance I can see a win. Not convincing, maybe, but 1-0 or 2-1. The real performances will be another month or so away.

I still reckon he has been loaned as a winger. Pace on the right and crosses. Where does that leave Mellis? Back to Chelsea I hope since what I've seen has not impressed. He will never play for the Chelsea first team and must have been offloaded. Unless he responds with the Waigo signing with fire and brimstone I hope it is goodbye in January.

You mean Finnish, Danish just the same as English, German? I don't think you would like to be taken for a kraut, so show some respect for others.

Most peculiar this. He scores about 1:6, which makes me question that. AP lauds him for his creativity, but here it's his weakest mental attribute? I have a feeling that he has been loaned not as a striker, but as a right winger who can score occasionally. I'd love to see his pace.

Let's not forget another player held very high in AP's esteem: Morgan Schneiderlin. A lot of competition for midfield places, but sadly nothing wide and pacy, at least not until Fish and Sicknote recover to fight out the LM berth.

Are we sometimes the victims of our own unbridled optimism? It will take time to make this team play, and I think they will eventually do that rather well. What I saw against Birmingham was very convincing. Nevertheless there is still a lot to learn, but we have the right manager to teach it. Let's not be so outrageously optimistic whether it is about the depth of MLs pockets, or to "walk this league". ML is not a drunken sailor, and this league will never be walked. It's not that much different to CCC. With hard work we will do well, however, probably next season.

I take everything back of what I've said about James as a CM. He was terrific. Just think of it: Our centre midfield of Wotton and James bossed a premier side! Lallana was a revelation. Thomas stepped up to the plate and Wotton actually had a good game. It was the best team performance I have seen for a very long time, I can't really remember when. AP very clearly knows what he is doing, and at this level of performance I have no worries about the future. The only disappointment to me was Mellis. He showed that he could play, but drifted in an out of the game, increasingly out. Maybe he is very low on confidence, or he doesn't want to be at the club. I don't know, but there is room in my mind for finding at least one pacy, rightsided player. One who can keep it simple and wide. But don't believe for a second that I'm complaining about yesterday. I went home with a smile on my face.

I suppose this kind of comment is part of what FF is talking about. It speaks for itself.

Most threads, I'm afraid, are quickly deteriorating into childish arguments, but that is par for the course on an open forum. Worthwhile discussion deteriorate into pre-pubescent arguments. Keep posting, and ignore those who can't produce anything but angry rants. There are a few posters here who are worthwhile reading and discussing things with, and others, like yourself, who have got genuine information. I'm trying to bypass those who have nothing to say.

Hear, hear! It's funny though that the concerns that we share about what has been going on in the depths of the club don't seem to create much interest. They are all there, as far as I know, and maybe still doing the same things?

Agree, and then we come back to the deep unabiding question: How come we haven't managed to teach a 22 year old who has been here for many years that he isn't "blinding natural talent" who everybody need to fit around. The Academy and reserves set-up are unchanged and populated with the same leadership which must take the responsibility for why the young players are ill prepared both mentally and technically. I don't want people sacked, but can they be trusted to do things differently from now on? I couldn't agree more with the comments about Gillet. If his size is AP's problem, play him RM, at least until a natural RM can be found. For sheer energy and determination there is nobody to match him. If I was LB for the opposition he would worry me to death. Can somebody slip AP a tip on a note under the door or something?