Lallana's Left Peg

Blackpool will play an open game and it will suit us. They will also miss Shelvey who was the catalyst for their recent upsurge of form. They are dangerous but I feel confident as long as Lambert is back and we don't get anxious if things aren't going our way.

QPR won the Championship last season. Take a look at their form around this time of year: I am not for one minute excusing the performances against Bristol City and Doncaster which were underwhelming and disappointing in terms of what we have managed thus far this season, but if people think we are wobbling and it is the end of our promotion hopes then they should consider that we can wobble a lot more and still be in half decent shape for promotion. The world does not end with two defeats in three - look at the indifference of form from QPR there. 8pts from 21 available.

We moved the ball well enough into the final third. We lacked proper invention or cutting edge once up there. Not all of our possession was messing about in defence. We threaded it nicely through the team but everything broke down in the final third, for me down to over-engineering things. De Ridder trying to do things at 100mph, Guly a bit unsure of his role, while Schneiderlin and Lallana are guilty of trying to overcomplicate things at times. It wasn't a good mix today and we wasted opportunities. Even Barnard's hustle and bustle looked a little misplaced. We just weren't controlled in the final third - whether it was down to anxiousness due to the lack of Lambert, or a lack of understanding of what everyone expected each other to do without him in the team I don't know. But on another day had Schneiderlin not blasted his shot straight at the keeper, or a calm ball squared for a tap in a few times we wouldn't be talking about a lucky 3pts, it would have been a professional performance away from home. No need to worry on the back of just that game in my opinion. There are more concerning traits that have occurred over a period of several games - like looking really susceptible on the counter-attack, a lack of movement at times (it is creeping in), and some players far too up and down with their performances (Hammond, Cork, Guly, Fox for starters). But bigger picture, it has been an outstanding season thus far.

The overreactions in here are silly. It hurts to lose that game as we had the lions share of possession, did decent work with the ball but lacked a cutting edge and a real goal threat. Guly operates on his own wavelength but the criticism he gets is unfair - as long as he tries there should be no complaints, and he always tries. De Ridder is used to playing with the ball into space and not to feet and it will continue to take time for him to bed in with how we play. Barnard is coming back from injury and deserves a chance. We missed Lambert today who has been outstanding this season and the focal point of our attack. Had we been played off the park, lacked ideas or purpose then we can be unhappy. But today was one of those days. We're still top of the league, have some clear things to work on (away form being one of them in addition to being hit on the counter), but don't lose sight of the bigger picture. The Manager has acknowledged things, isn't pretending the problems don't exist, and will continue to get the most out of what we have got. Does my head in when the crowd groan when moves break down like we should be tearing teams apart all the time. It is approaching arrogance from some fans who are forgetting how far we've come in such a short time. This is a hard league and there will be ups and downs. But to see people lose perspective because we've had an outstanding 4 months is pathetic.

Disappointed but not despondent after today. We played ok, but definitely need a buy a striker in January. Just lacked a little cutting edge in the final third, and maybe some direction with Lambert severely missed. Doncaster weren't great, it is a weird squad dynamic they have. The only decent loan player on show for them was Beye, who was outstanding as a central defender. If we would have taken our chances it was a comfortable victory, but we didn't and paid the price so no complaints - it happens. Lets hope Lambert is back fit for next weekend.

Was the Lambert sub tactical or because of injury? Received a text suggesting injury, but no idea if that is true or not.

Fantastic win this evening, always been worried about how we react to defeats when momentum has played such a big factor to our season. After three defeats this season, we've come back and won the next league game. Sounded like we fully deserved it tonight too. 8pts clear of third, absolutely delighted and hope we can keep it up.

Crystal Palace vs. Millwall is the main game on the Football League Show therefore you are unlikely to find a stream for our game.

Celtic have just signed a new defender: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15844449.stm Mikael Lustig (also linked with Saints) will be joining them in January and has been described as someone who can also play in central defence. So maybe this massages the exit of Hooiveld from the club?

Fair point, I just wonder where he fits in long-term. £3m is a lot to commit! That said, lets worry about Jutkiewicz and the Premier League if we do sign him and if we do get there

If he does sign, he does so as a backup which is a sign of confidence for our current strikers and also gives us some further depth. The fee, if ever disclosed, will be interesting to learn. What I am concerned about is the approach to transfers that said we wanted players who could step up to the Premier League but had the mentality to be productive in the Championship. I'm not sure Jutkiewicz has Premier League quality in that respect.

Bit uninspiring, but I suppose if he is a fan he won't mind sitting on the bench. He went to great lengths to shakes hands with every Saints player and Adkins at the end of the game a few weeks ago. He is a real handful in the air, so I suppose he can be insurance for a Lambert injury.

Adkins: - credit to Brighton for controlling the ball as good as any team at St Marys this season - we changed shape to go narrow and it worked well so credit to the players - we wanted width to get crosses in and that worked in the second half - we controlled game in second half and kept discipline - we took too many touches in the first half and passing wasn't quick or crisp - Lambert keeps getting better - he works hard and the coaching staff allows players to get better if they apply themselves - Connolly has a knock on his groin and should be available in a few weeks - Harding has tweaked his knee - We have a good squad who work hard

Absolutely hilarious watching that online. Very even first half although had had much more intent than Brighton. Second half it went crazy. We had legitimate penalties completely ignored by the Ref, two penalties given that were not penalties, and the best bit was seeing Brighton completely lose their discipline picking up 5 yellow cards and a red card mainly for dissent! That was quite humiliating for Brighton and quite an apt serving of humble pie for Poyet after his comments on both Saints and racism this week. His team are poor. Will be great viewing as the main game on the Football League show tonight!

The transfer window presents a nice problem for Adkins, but it isn't straight forward. The best time to strengthen is when you are going well, I've no doubt about that but when you look at what appears to be Adkins approach to getting results it is based on a close group where everyone contributes. If the squad size swells then some people will be unhappy, so I can't see the squad going without some departures. Forte and Dickson certainly seem surplus to requirements, and I'm not 100% convinced we'll see much of Barnard this season, especially if we get another striker in. Adkins has mentioned a few times that the goal this season was to be Top 10 by January and then strengthen accordingly. Right now we're at the top of the pile and in a great position to attract some good players, but how that opportunity is weighed up against disrupting what we've got is a bit of a challenge (albeit a good one).

You can't bring someone in loan, them be a part of a team that takes you to the top of the league, and then not try to sign them. I get the feeling the chances of a deal occurring would be no more than 50/50 due to the negotiation process and our stance on walking away from transfers in the recent past.

I think it will be someone with pace. We saw today that Saints are trying to mix it up - Adkins alluded to it in his post-match interview. The opposition know our strikers like it to feet and try to press high up the pitch to suffocate the space knowing Lambert / Guly / Connolly aren't the quickest. Today we saw Lambert come short then peel away looking for the ball over the top. Now if we had a striker who had genuine pace (and quality) to do that not only does it become a more viable ball the player also creates space for others as teams won't press us so high up the pitch.

Based on what I saw today I wouldn't be keen and think we can do better. Whilst he only had scraps to feed on when he had the ball to his feet he didn't really show much quality. He is a real handful in the air due but that is due to his size. I've no doubt he'd look better in our team than for one struggling at the bottom of the league, but are we going to spend money on him to be third or fourth choice striker? We want someone to provide real competition for places.

Schneiderlin MOTM for me. Game was far more interesting than it needed to be. Which we would deal with the long ball in a more assured manner - but that was only negative. Passed the ball well and used our quality when it mattered and crowd stayed behind the team. Delighted to see Adkins make the right decisions with the subs as well. Nice two week break now to recharge the batteries and push on.

When I looked at the fixtures at the start of the season I thought the first 3 months of the season were tough then November and December looked kind to us.

This is where things may get interesting. Firstly I am delighted to come away from the game with a point - it is a real plus point and the mentality of being used to winning and drawing games helps here - the players will be thinking all the time they can get back into it. However, Adkins has mentioned it may not be time to rotate. But we don't have many options to do this. So players who may not be hitting the peaks of the first few months may have to play - and how many 'passengers' in terms of productivity can we carry? How many should we carry? This is a real challenge and it will be interesting to see how Adkins approaches it.

What a brilliant result and performance. All done without Lallana, the belief in the squad must be off the chart.

A little late to the party with this news but I play football with an old colleague of Chell at Man City and he has nothing but positive things to say about him. Chell left Man City as they were making decisions at Board level which he didn't agree with regarding the pricing structure of hospitality at the club. Prices effectively increased 50% and Chell was opposed to it. During the upheaval Chell was one of the fall guys. Chell was proved right as the season they implemented the change hospitality revenues were down £1.5m. The economic downturn had an impact but the increased costs undoubtedly did as well. Chell was well liked at Man City by his team but with his run-ins with the Board I hope Cortese gives him the autonomy to make decisions and does not undermine him. If this is the case, it sounds like we have a good man for the role.

Confirmed - Hammond dropped for Schneiderlin. Unchanged from team that started at Burnley otherwise.