up and away

Good analysis from Corteses POV . but I am sure there is not a lot more Cortese can do to get the signature above the line. Tony Fernandez has equally deep pockets but in Redknapp an equally deep resource in getting a player to sign. Just so glad we never went down the Redknapp, route may have been close

That's all about right and his ability to remember players names is in dopey Daves league. He really had a cheek pulling up another manager for needing an interpreter. Paine et al needed to be moved on to let the club grow again but the nature in which he did it left him very few friends. Lawrie was not a nice person and would bully others just because he could. That said he was the best manager I feel we have had and those unpleasant traits made him very effective. In fact I would go as far to say that he would not have been such an effective manager without the bile he brought to the job. The big ploblem was whan Lawrie was no longer manager, all those attributes just showed him up to be a nasty peice of work.

A good display but not a lot you can firmly judge as yet. This sort of performance would not have surprised me from Adkins, just too early doors. That said no real bloopers from MP and the result was about justified. From everything I have seen from the team I don't feel this is the solution when we bankrupted our stamina in the battle to get on top. I feel a Everton side slightly off their best never made us pay for not scoring when we ran out of steam. To our credit we never let it go on for too long and seized the initiative back at the end. Ramirez struggling with his fitness levels and looks short of a pre-season but absolute class when he was able. One area where I thought Adkins was making headway was not to exhaust ourselves in a first half of 30 minutes flurry and pay for it in the remainder of the game. This problem looks like it will come back to hit MP unless he changes things as per Adkins. Guly made some great penetrating runs but he has to be backed up with numbers to turn those opportunities into goals. But like others, once the stamina went down, so did the performance. Ricky I thought looked dangerous and the whipped ball he put in against the Everton defence will result in a goal most of the time, even if the Everton defence get there first. When the team and Ricky start lacking stamina then you get the idea of the problems this creates. Without the pace this is always going to happen and it will be interesting to see how MP deals with this. As long as we have control of the midfield I don't feel we will go far wrong but I have seen Adkins go from feast to famine here so would not take that as a nailed on. It's always far easier when we have control over the midfield but we can still do an effective job if we don't give it all away and have to play the ball on the back foot. There were times when Everton pushed their back four up and started to cause us all sorts of problems and it was difficult without that pacey forward to keep them honest with any ease. Would be nice to see a really good victory followed by the tributes to Nigel so we can happily draw that blue line that's required.

Gutted expresses the feeling I believe we all felt to varying degrees when we heard Adkins was sacked. I won't know until the end of this season whether that action was right or wrong, even then a high degree of uncertainty will exist. The one thing I am far more certain about now is that all the logic starts to bear out the decision. Looking back at my personal views before the season started, the over whelming fear was that we had no one who realised how difficulty the Premier was going to be. After a handful of games It was obvious to all that we just did not expect what the Premier threw at us, with the players and staff admitting as such. Before the season started Cortese told the players and staff we were not ready having to deal with the Premier, with Adkins wanting to put keep faith with those that had got us where we were. Just having the right goalie at the start could be the difference now to staying up or going down. Bearing in mind all these factors it comes as no surprise that Cortese looked at the market and viewed his alternatives? Then when he found what he was looking for, was he wrong in making that change? My only fear is that we now have a manager that speaks little English and no history of the Premier, yet la Liga is hardly a slight. With Adkins gaining momentum and starting to play football again it must of been a difficult decision. I thought we played our best game of the season against Arsenal and extremely lucky against Villa where we seemed to be looking to drop points. On those grounds alone I can't see the fault in Cortese and considering all the bottom clubs improving feel, that what we have now will not be good enough. I certainly sympathise with Adkins in wanting to take everyone through together but it was soon apparent you were condemning the good in having to carry the bad. Difficult one, don't know if Cortese has made the right choice but sure that Adkins created the route we are now on.

This article just put out by the news agency tells us what, why, and how all this cam about in passing and I am finding little required to further explain matters. The writing was on the wall for Nigel Adkins even before the season started. In a remarkable club meeting, Southampton executive chairman Nicola Cortese addressed Adkins, the first-team squad and club staff in what they thought was going to be a rallying cry ahead of their return to the top flight. Instead, the Italian banking tycoon told them: “Most of you are not good enough for the Premier League.”And no one doubted that he included his manager in that damning assessment.Cortese clearly had major doubts about Adkins, even after he led the club to two successive promotions.The new man at the helm, Mauricio Pochettino, was nicknamed the “sheriff” at Espanyol because of his reputation as a disciplinarian. Now he has run the old gunslinger out of town.Cortese was apparently fuming even after his side won at Aston Villa last week and despite Saints climbing out of the drop zone and into 15th place after their draw at Chelsea, the chairman claimed performances were not good enough. He said the defence was not strong enough and wanted a big-name to lead the team. That name was long expected to be Roberto di Matteo as Cortese is friendly with the ex-Chelsea boss, while Southampton also flirted with former Tottenham manager Christian Gross earlier in the season. Former Bangor City and S****horpe boss Adkins knew he was only ever one result from the sack – but never expected it to be after a heroic 2-2 draw at the home of the European champions who led 2-0 at half-time. Cortese rules Southampton with an iron fist and has no respect for reputations, having fallen out with club legend Matt Le Tissier and former manager Lawrie McMenemy. No wonder both offered strong support for Adkins on Friday, but their damning verdicts on the fall-out echoed what the rest of the world was thinking. Le Tissier claimed it made Southampton a “laughing stock” . The players were not laughing, though, with many left distraught. They were on a day off ahead of making final preparations for the game against Everton on Monday. But Cortese called in captain Adam Lallana on Friday morning after telling Adkins his fate, and the news spread like wildfire among the players. Though many realised the boss was on thin ice, none of them saw the sacking coming. And even though there were rumours amongst the players on Thursday they did not believe it purely because of the timing. But few can see into the mind of Cortese. Cortese's summer speech shocked newly-promoted Saints Getty One of his most trusted *confidants is former FA technical director Les Reed, 60, who is now head of football at the club. And while Cortese had a good professional relationship with Adkins, he doubted his ability to keep the club in the Premier League. Adkins had lifted the team from League One to the Premier League in the two years since taking over at St Mary’s from Alan Pardew, who was sacked after a thumping 4-0 win over Bristol Rovers. Cortese cast his net far and wide, and it is believed the link to Pochettino may have come about through a network of agents when Southampton signed Uruguay international Gaston Ramirez in August. When former Argentina World Cup star Pochettino left two months ago after a disastrous run of nine points from 13 games that left Espanyol bottom of La Liga, the seed was planted by agents. Pochettino, who fouled Michael Owen to concede the penalty which David Beckham converted as England beat Argentina in the 2002 World Cup, is well regarded in Spain despite the turbulent finish to his three-year reign at Espanyol. A potential hindrance to the 40-year-old hitting the ground running at Saints is that the former centre-half speaks very little English. Although he managed a few words at his first public appearance on Friday, his command of the language is nowhere near good enough to take a coaching session. Cortese will back his man in the transfer window. Cagliari’s Italy international defender Davide Astori, 26, has been their main target , the deal is still on and is likely to go through before the winter window closes. But Cortese and his new man will need some quick results to win the fans over after the shock treatment of Adkins. Want to know more about Pochettino? Click here to get the lowdown from our Spanish football expert David Cartlidge. Many of our fans readily identified that Saints were just out of their league in adapting to the Premier in those first handful of games. Something admitted by the management and the players at the time, This was not a case of plucky little Saints putting on a good show and getting beat. This was a case of a Saints side that could be opened up at any time for the opposition to take it all. Many commented at the time so it comes as no shock. Well this automatically triggered Cortese to go out and consider his options. Culminating in finding Pochettino and improved results from Adkins, that really leaves you in a decision to stick or twist. Cortese must have been balancing this decision for a while before making his mind up but I can't say it's wrong on moral grounds when I consider the position Adkins risked. There is still risk involved in this move because of the lack of English and no Premier experience but equally you can say Adkins is no where out of the woods with all the improvements of the bottom 6. A bold decision by Cortese based more on fact than emotion.

tCompletely different. Davis had proven himself incompetent in the Premiership. Adkins was making a lot of progress. But if the only reason you go into the season unprepared is because of the goal keeping position is because it's the managers decision. The fault lies with the manager not the player. You only have to cast your mind back to Ramos at Spurs to look at what appears at first sight a carbon copy. Ramos could not even wash a tea cup at spurs and the nightmare kept on growing. One thing the new guy should have is a line to pull in new talent that sort our problems in the short term, but its more that possible it could make things worse. The other thing we must not stop is the style of football the Cork etc enthuse, equally critical.

I expect I would have found some way to keep way of keeping Adkin's in the job because he really is that nice a guy. But that gives me or you no rights to look at this sacking as short sighted. From the moment we gained promotion at the end of last season Adkin's wanted these players to get their chance in the Premier. All very nice sentiments but changing the goal keeper alone could have been enough now to have ensured our safety for this season. We had so little Premier experience in both management and playing, it's not surprising these things cost us so much. We have turned things around such we now have a chance, but others are turning things round.We have been playing some good football and against Arsenal I thought we were exemplary. That does not forgive capitulation against Liverpool where I thought we were going for a job interview rather that a game, hearing the same mantra from players and staff alike. Cortese must have been keeping his eyes open from the new year and before and has decided to go for an Argentinian with no Premier experience. little English but a good knowledge of La Liga. I don't like the sound of this one bit and would be reassured to be back on the bus but I don't know near enough what will be required to get us through to the end of this season. The trouble is that the players and management equally admitted to being in the same boat. I am not going to criticise Cortese as the panto villain just because he is making decisions to keep us up. It won't make it any easier for Reading fans to feel that much better at the end of the season if they get relegated with McDermott. Should we go down as well after taking the alternative route then I feel this should be fully opened up but unsure of any cast iron result.

why the need for a BVI loan then? The BVI loan is one off, designed to bridge a gap at a specific point for a relatively small amount of capital (£5M). The reason because they (third Party) don't wish any footballing control over the adjudication or route of payment. I think Bearsy is right and that ML has set aside a large fund, possibly over may years not at once. As with any club, we can only hope the people are doing things for the right reasons and huge debts can lie anywhere in the future. It's a simple question of trust, how have they behaved in the past and how could that change? Even if you know for sure that bad things are on the move, you have very little you can do to stop matters. Things are great at the present time but if anyone else were to buy the club I really doubt it would still be debt free as the purchase price will have been loaned.

Wow, surely yes. Italy has severe financial problems at the present and has to be looked at the first stop for quality Premier players. A couple of years back and I would agree with you but even the Italians see just having a rumour attached to us as being of value. Our priorities are a striker and a defender, but this guy would certainly improve the team. When you get up near that critical mass for class players, even the mediocre can enjoy the opportunities left in their wake. Ramirez has enough of a work ethic in his play that we will not get unbalanced.

Good OP, one of the best discussion points in ages. I would go further than what you are proposing in that Rodriquez, Guly, Lallana, Ricky and Puncheon are all droppable, even at the present for the greater requirement, midfield control. Having that midfield control against Arsenal gave us a good attacking base but far more importantly, far greater defensive cover. To gain that midfield control you will often need to go with 5 in midfield to compliment the base of -----------Ramirez------------ ------Schneiderlin---Cork------ Shaw---Fonte--Yoshida---Clyne giving -----------Lambert------------ ----Guly---Ramirez--Puncheon- ------Schneiderlin---Cork------ Shaw---Fonte--Yoshida---Clyne Ramirez just has too much skill to be left out but he is my only exception of the front 4. If we only need 4 to gain midfield control then Ricky looks a more automatic choice with another attacker to play alongside of him. That said Ricky is too slow to play alongside of Ramirez up front as seen by Ricky's attempts to get onto a Ramirez through ball. You only have to look back at Liverpool where Brendan Rogers packed his midfield to an an extent they severely minimised their own threat while cancelling ours. The first PRIORITY is to get the right players and number into midfield to get the control, then make do with the best attacking options we have with what's left.

Indeed. No way can we be outnumbered in the midfield with Wilshire, Corzola and Arteta they will destroy us and pick us off at will. We need to match them up and press them for the whole game (very hard I know esp after so many games over xmas). However Newcastle exploited there main weakness being fullback area and dealing with crosses. Unfortunately for Newcastle this allowed Arsenal midfield to have a lot of the ball in the Midfield which was to there detriment obviously. So difficult balance to find without being torn apart. Adkins has some tough calls to make. JRod deserves a chance but likewise Rickie is our main man so do we play 2 up front still or use JRod out left where is wasted imo? Then there is the case for choosing Guly based on his performance on saturday (missing an open goal aside). We need to give their midfield 3 something to think about, play between the lines as Nige would say. I am struggling how to guess what Adkins will go with for this one so based on my own preferences I think it will be: ---------------davis------------------- clyne fonte yoshida shaw puncheon morgan cork guly ------------ramirez--------------- ------------lambert--------------- All looks pretty good for this game. The one thing I would add is who is going to turn up for the party? With the amount of tough games we have had recently I don't expect Ricky to be on top form and Guly has been known to struggle in the past, plus it would come as no big surprise if Morgan or Cork tailed off. On that basis Adkins may rest Guly for Rodriquez. I am tempted with your layout + and Adkins change due to fitness levels for one of them.

When George Prost came to the club he was influential in the type of player we accepted. The scouts had to look beyond size for the natural talent the lads had. This puts a natural bias against any big lad who wins more than his share of headers and hoof it from stand to stand but it did mean we were left with a youth team that could pass the ball from any position and football ourselves out of any trouble. Prost installed a code of conduct on how the players behave and any interaction within football. This left an Academy where bullying was eradicated by type and in some ways represented more of a finishing school for young gentlemen who's objective was to learn, learn, learn from an exceptional set up and mentor. Everything was perfect for this breeding ground to be successful and when you ploughed in such targeted finance for the right player it came as no surprise. I don't believe there is that great a change in the philosophy today even though Prost has long gone. In Best we had the most skilful player, In Dyer the quickest over 5 yards and in Theo, speed you could never fully grasp. A lot developed the same running style which was obvious to anyone who first saw Surman and Theo in the same first team, it was if they ran over the top of water rather than through it. Bale stands clearly out ahead of all of them with an unbelievable upper and lower body strength and a running style where he just gradually increases his length of pace the defender is just unaware how he just skated by him. A balance so good he can pick his shot off when he wants and the ability to get / make space around a goalie as he wishes, all done at top speed. He is a monster physically when you tote up all his physical attributes.

I would have been happy with a point at the beginning of this game, happy with a point after it was all over and some in between moments where I was not really sure what was going on. Stoke made that game very easy for us for extended periods, gave Ricky space and the midfield. Throw in a couple of very soft goals and it looked like we were ruling the roost. Stoke started to claw their way back and when they put a substitute into midfield, I could see this going all wrong when and so it looked, followed bt a great chance when they had a man sent off. That extra man normally means curtains for the opposition but it hardly caused a ripple, such was our lack of control. At that point if we had of dropped Ricky and brought on Davis we had a good chance of getting some control. We were poor in that first half but Stoke made us look good until it got through to them, then it was just a question if we could hang on. Our opta stats were pretty good in comparison to Stoke but way way down from what our midfield was doing at the start of the season.

It was not a perfect performance but more than enough there to be pleased with. A decent performance there would have marked us towards a top half side, something very difficult to do after all we have come through. Fulham are a decent side who had their moments of the play as well, we just can't be expected to dominate these sides completely. But we did manage to fight back enough to stem the tide and even went on to dominate large periods of play ourselves. Our attack was pretty toothless but we have seen that before when you use the extra man in midfield rather than along side of Ricky. I don't believe the extra man along side of Ricky would have paid for itself after what we had already seen it would do to the midfield, so happy to carry along as it was and see if we could get lucky. Bit of extra pressure towards the end and they broke giving us that bit of luck. I want to see a lone striker with sufficient pace / skill about him such he can get sufficient along side of him to form a potent threat at pace. Ricky does not do that and I would like that to be given a full go before we give up on it with days like yesterday being a good place to start. There are many times Ricky should start a game, just not always in my book. Any team that gives Ricky space is asking for trouble and that includes ManU and ManC, deny him that space by closer or an extra marker and your return drops off alarmingly.

Quite. In many ways The perfect candidate, a club legend so will get the some fans applauding it as a great move, yet far enough out of the way not to have any influence whatsoever or even have to bother attending games. Quelle suprise! Two equally deserving candidates, one that has few good words privately or publicly and that would not fail to make an impact upon the selection? Neither would be attending full time because of work commitments but it would not take much for Paine to increase his visits for parity. Please take at least one step into the real world.

We could have lost that game but we did not because we managed to keep a grip on midfield. It looked pretty bleak as we were trying to break them down for the equaliser because we don't have players good enough. But we hung on in there and eventually got our bit of luck and one point, an excellent performance. I have no problem with this as it maximises our possible returns. Goalie excluded, we look capable against the likes of Fulham to take three points at home and 1 away, that's not bad for a newly promoted side. Ramirez I feel is suffering with the weather, he does not seem to appreciate these wet, wintry days. That said he never had a bad game, more sidelined by the lack of decent runs from the other forwards. Lallana would have made a bit of difference but not enough to solve the problem. We are going to need that £12M striker like Fletcher to do that for us. If we can solve the goal keeping problem this window that may be good enough (just look at all the points without the errors). I don't see us solving our striking options this window unless we are very lucky and someone stands up to be counted. But I do expect us to use what forwards we do have more wisely, combining that with a decent goalie and midfield control should be enough.

I agree a lot with what you are saying, but my interpretation is slightly different in that certain players are better suited to different formations. For Saints to be effective we need midfield control and then do the best with what is remaining as an attacking threat. Don't use Ricky as part of that midfield control unless you can manage the job most of the time without him. He just goes walk about into so many areas of the pitch to gain possession that the balance disappears for the midfield. I don't blame Kelvin for going long to Lambert all the time because there was no one free in midfield to pick out. Even though it made things predictable and easy to handle, compounded by the lack in midfield to pick up the pieces. Kelvin did nothing wrong but it's Gazzanigas extra options of delivery from hand and foot that gives him an edge, especially if you are looking to hit pace up front from the goalie. -------------Ricky------------ Guly/Davis--Ramirez--Puncheon -----Schneiderlin--Cork-------- That formation can still work for us but relies heavily upon the full backs getting forward to create the openings. No major issues as you still have some control of the midfield, can still nick a goal but the defence can push you up because you have little pace to keep them honest. The biggest problem we have seen with this in the past is that Ricky gets isolated and we are left in no mans land as to what to do next. We can still give an account of ourselves with this formation as long as the defence don't push us too far back and our sights are slightly lowered towards the draw. MON did his homework and all the negatives came home to roost. We could have picked out the same formation and team as against Newcastle and I still believe MON would have unpicked it easily. Now consider the alternative ------------Mayuka----------- Guly/Davis--Ramirez--Puncheon -----Schneiderlin--Cork-------- All you will need is a couple of decent balls to Mayuka and a midfield with the mobility to back him up and the defence is suddenly very reluctant to push you up to the half way line. That still does not stop you from bringing on Ricky in the second half where he can be effective against tired legs and MON not having the half time talk to organize them properly. This was the type of line up Adkins was trying with JRod at the start of the season, failing because we lacked too many missing / form players and JRod not up to it. It would not surprise me if this is tried with JRod again in the not too distant future. This is just an opinion and I have seen many other valid posts around the same theme. One thing my belief is unshakeable on is that we have to have midfield parity / control otherwise it all goes to ratsheite and just do the best possible with what's left over. And as far as I am concerned we play a 451 when defending and something else when attacking, mainly dictated by the hole the opposition leaves that Ricky can operate from.

Grant Holt's and Rickie Lambert's PL stats this season are identical; 15 starts, 2 sub appearances. During Holt's first season in the Premier, Paul Lambert used Holt as a frequent substitute. Often bringing him on later to score winning goals. You really are pish if you can't remember something that significant! Holt would continue as substitute even though he would come on and score, all for the better of the player and the team.

I would not sell Lambert for the simple reason I don't believe we would get enough to bring anyone more effective in. I agree with a lot of the negative aspects about Lambert but he has pluses as well. What we need is to be far more selective when Lambert starts, Holt does not get that freedom at Norwich. Using Lambert as a second half substitute can help his game considerably, something we just don't do.

We were not so bad in the first half when energy levels were up but that just about sums things up. This was just a compromise too far today in fitting Lambert into the system and team against that opposition. This compromise has seen us score and win points previously, today was the other side of that coin. Our most skilled and gifted player is Ramirez, so to not have him pulling the strings and providing the bullets is always going to detract. Ramirez did not have his best of days but neither would I expect him to have in that position, though it was one of those wintry days for a SA to go missing. Kelvin was having to go long because they had us covered in midfield and for that same reason we were not picking up enough from what never stuck to Lambert. Drop Lambert and put Guly or Davis on the left and we could have competed again. Even though Fletcher was not fully fit, he showed what could be delivered when your striker does not need a batman, even though not fully fit. MON just identified where our goals came from and nullified the threat, we exasperated that by giving up control of the middle and fell to a good Sunderland goal. A bit unlucky maybe, but there are only so many Pardews in this league that even saggy chops could work this one out.

I think you have hold of the wrong end of the stick here. I do agree that Adkins will give a nod to anyone that alludes to this as being tactical, but it's just his way of dealing with things in the most efficient manner. I don't believe Lallana will come back into his horizon until he has been told he may be available for selection. His mind is just going to be focused over matters he can influence and the stream of questions relating to any players fitness just gets minimal, allowing him to get on with his job. It's been clearly shown over time that the questions relating to injuries become less and less with this approach whereas the poor sod who tries to be helpful gets drawn into a vortex of questions that is never ending. Usually transcending into another form after the player has been out for so long, all for what?

I expect MON to load the midfield and rely upon Fletcher to nick a goal. MON sides are usually set up soundly and fight for every inch of turf. I just hope they have some injury hang overs. Sunderland could easily pull this one off, it will be down to Adkins tactics in making sure they don't. As long as we match them up in midfield we have a decent chance being the home side and Ramirez to pull the strings.

That sounds about right to me, I don't believe any of them have a good link to Adkins. Blackmore will freely tell you that he gets no more out of Adkins then what is intended, very little. Bearing in mind that Blackmore is one of the few decent people you bump into in that sort of position, I would be doubtful if others are coming away with bucket loads. Blackmore is very astute in reading Adkins body language but without a well aimed quip or gripe to accompany, it is unknown about the cause. A surprise source is Les Reid, though very occasionally things just get blurted out by accident, but not any in depth expose.

It wasn't bizarre at all at the time he was playing poorly! And I wasn't the only one (not that it matters to me) - there was a very long thread on it - don't have the time to look through it, or have endless arguments for the sake of it as some seem to on here. However this is a formum for opinions, and I have mine - just live with it - I am not asking you or anyone else to agree with it. I can respect views I don't agree with - and guess what, I am human and so prone to being wrong at times. As to who my replacement for AL would be, I suggest you re-read my original post - there might just be a subtle clue for you there! There was a time where I would have dropped / subbed RL, AL, JP or JR just to get to see what Mayuka had to offer. But we are in a far better place now. So far along, I can't believe all the coaching staff to have missed something so obvious.

An interesting article from the Sabotage Times, always worth a read in my opinion. The article goes on to argue the case for Jack Cork being the most decisive cog in our transformation, something I just about agree with but far closer a run than the article paints. I believed at the start of this season that our success would come down to Adkins being able to replicate the free flowing football that we started with against Leeds last season. I always thought Cork was instrumental in that pass and move game but never underlined as much as when he came back into the side this time. Coupled by the fact we always looked to be getting onto the front foot, receiving the ball, turning to face the opposition and taking the ball forward. It was not always like this even when Cork was playing last year and just a reminder of what an exceptional job Adkins performed with such mediocrity. We can all praise Cork but the out come would be different with our defence still floundering. Though missing Schneiderlin could easily have a similar effect as missing Cork, he has been massive for us this season. No one could expect to operate with the hole Fox was leaving behind on the left and all the other individual errors. The only position that has not been resolved is the goal keeper. Boruc is out of it now otherwise he would have played in front of Kelvin. Even looking at Gazzaniga's worst game it's still better than some of Kelvins and the Reading game giving us little to advance anyone's case, would still expect another keeper to come in. Otherwise I would expect to stick with Gazzaniga as some of his skills are first class, sadly not all at the moment. The forward play has just about sorted out itself, mainly because of the attacking threat offered by our fullbacks, Clyne and Shaw. The balance of the side is far better now with Ricky viable in more options than he was previously. All the forwards with the exception of Ramirez are droppable to gain that vital midfield control. Though far less for Ricky now with our added threat down the wings. Liverpool would have been a game I feel it needed doing but too late once we found out. Still cannot believe we have not seen more from Mayuka, a threat forcing defenders to back pedal, that I only saw bettered when Clyne originally switched to LB. Our tactics are simple, get control of the midfield, equally as a defensive measure as attacking, engineer the odd goal or two, then play to our best to improve or keep what we have. This is not to undermine all the rest of the players who are doing their bit equally, with the exception of the gk. Some can argue eloquently and decisively over the merits of Puncheon but it was the return of Cork which was synonymous with the free flowing football we have seen. Resolve the goal keeping issue and I feel we have a fair shot, injuries allowing. The Sunderland game will be a very good indicator of how right or wrong Adkins gets the midfield.