Lallana's Left Peg

We were not bossed in central midfield tonight. There was a lack of understanding and structure, and that was not down to the ability of players. In fact I thought we dominated in the air in all areas of the pitch. In the second half when we went 4-4-2 for a period the passing was crisper and players seemed more comfortable with what was expected of them. Guly is a frustrating player, the players would visibly show this as well. He is trying too hard and attempting silly flicks and turns when he is a much more effective player when he moves the ball quickly. Plenty of areas for improvement but I am not moaning - the end is in sight and the second half performance means we should not have a hangover from this game going into Saturday. Lets start positively and decisively and put the game to bed early.

That first half was terrible. Second half was much, much better but by then the horse had bolted. Mistakes for both their goals (would have been nice for Kelvin to make an effort to save a looping header, and the second one O'Grady was embarrassed to celebrate) but both came from not hold the ball well enough in midfield. Losing isn't an issue, we've still got a game in hand and much better run-in than Huddersfield, but I don't like the idea of giving other teams encouragement as we'd just about broke the back of what we had to do in terms of making up ground. Would love for Forte to get a start at the weekend now - lad tries his heart out. Oh, and no more diamond ******** please. They just seem to get in each others way and it provides too much width for opposing teams fullbacks. A short-term blip, the bigger picture is still looking very good.

The thing I like most about Adkins is that his decisions seem quite logical. Not to say they aren't well thought out, but rarely does he do something that makes you scratch your head. That also must help in building confidence from his players (assuming they think like the rest of us!).

Will be delighted to see him go - didn't look like he responded well to the pressure of playing for one of the bigger clubs in the division, mentally fragile to say the least (can't respect any player who says they are not "mentally prepared" to play for the club), and clearly Adkins wants nothing to do with him. Talented guy, but lets pass him on for a profit and invest wisely.

They are trying to make the automatic promotion race as interesting as possible, despite the fact that results yesterday were very significantly weighted in Saints favour. It's just poor editorial work.

Adkins post-match: - excellent victory - defended well and comfortably, dealt with crosses very well - credit to all the players - magnificent support, a joy to have them at the game - their goals rightly ruled offside - we could have had 3 or 4 goals in the first half - feels good to be 2nd, we just need to keep going - we know the supporters are behind us and will drive us on - players talking in the dressing room about how good the support is - Dickson done very well again, runs himself into the ground for the team - Rochdale will be tough - Lallana was good to go for 15mins today, but not needed - we'll make a judgement call on Tuesday but we won't risk losing him for rest of season - Happy that even with injuries, other players can come in and contribute.

If money was an issue for this club I doubt we'd be paying £125k for 17 year olds from other Academies. Cortese clearly feels he has the backing from the owners and the medium-long term plan is still being executed. A loss like this is only an issue for the owner of the club, and they would know about the figures well in advance of them being published today.

Come on Alpine, I'm only on here occasionally and even I know that even though sometimes you are misinterpreted, you do rise to it as well. I appreciate you do care and that manifests itself into negativity and anxiousness at times, but trust me, it's much more fun supporting Saints when you are positive!

Some Managers just like everyone back because a crowded penalty area means less room for the attacking team to move - that is why you see some teams try and line up the players attacking the ball behind one another so it makes the run harder to track (a bit like a basketball screen). It's a bit like the question 'why doesn't someone always come for a short corner even if we don't play it short?' - it drags one or two players out and frees up space in the box. Even better if the player coming short is no threat in the air.

Absolutely delighted with that. I wasn't raging and writing off our promotion hopes after MK Dons went 2 up, but I certainly didn't expect us to come back and win the game. More than happy to be proved well and truly wrong. The manner of this comeback, although not desirable (you'd prefer to win games by dominating throughout), does give us a great deal of momentum which I think is very important and with the games coming thick and fast now, it really does give us a fantastic platform to get the job done.

Barry Fry has just been on Sky and said very firmly that Saints are favourites for second but he hopes (in a joking way) we get injuries and suspensions due to so many games to play in such a short time.

I don't know if the lack of news coming from the club is comforting or worrying! Although I do recall Adkins at several times throughout the season being coy on players coming back from injury so as not to give the opposition any advantage in preparing.

Small-time mentality: When a club doesn't focus on what it does and says and more on what other clubs do and say. What is so important about what Southampton say to Brighton? Man City fans were accused of small-club mentality recently because despite their prospects and money they didn't change their mentality as fans and instead of focussing on the future of their club they were still thinking like fans of a club who got angry over what others said about them etc. Brighton have prospects and are walking the league, yet are using comments that are 5 months old - small-time mentality, as I say. As for the comment itself, why on earth was it in the programme in the first place? The club clearly looked for the comment if not Poyet himself, yet if you are prepared to cut Poyet some slack because he was asked a question by an interviewer and responded, then why not Adkins who made the comment in the first place? Or doesn't that suit the agenda?

Good point. To get the players up for the next game dig out a 2007 episode of Location Location Location because I think Kirsty said something particularly hurtful about Brighton property prices not being worth it. It is unnecessary from Brighton - they should be better than this. It just reeks of small-time mentality, something they should be above considering their prospects in terms of promotion and the new stadium.

Does it not concern Brighton fans that on the verge of Championship football, and clearly the better team over the course of the season, that the club is having to dig out 5 month old comments in order to get the players motivated for a home game against Swindon?

A club like Brighton, 10pts clear at the top of the league and on the verge of Championship football, shouldn't be hunting for comments that are 5 months old in order to find motivation to go up. It's a small-time mentality and they should be better than that. Good luck to them, they are up, and I will be interested to see how their 'passing from the back' style goes down in a league that is even more physical, faster, and obviously better. A friend went to Stoke vs. Brighton in the FA Cup and said Brighton tried this and got humiliated, so it will be interesting to see if they try to mix it up a bit or stay with it.

Brighton will be champions and rightly so. As Turkish says, they are the most consistent side and the games they lose are to teams 'in and around' them, as opposed to Saints who generally do well against the better teams and are prone to slipping up against some 'bad' teams. It's frustrating when Saints do this, as we aren't beating teams in the manner we should at times, and clearly there is a lot more to come from the team but I seem to recall Leeds somewhat stumbling home to second last season and I can see Saints doing the same. As long as we get over the line it will be success. Not a resounding success, but job done.

I'm always trying to be positive about Saints, football is there for enjoyment and people who seem to revel in negativity and always act so pessimistic must find their enjoyment of the sport diluted. Doesn't make them any less or any more of a fan, but it must surely take away from the enjoyment. Supporting a football team doesn't have to be a burden, there are dozens and dozens of clubs in a much worse position than Saints with nothing to look forward to and yet with the way some fans on here act, you'd think Saints were like Stockport right now. We've signed a young lad on loan as cover who seems to be rated by the Oldham fans and other clubs in divisions higher than us. Better than Howard? No. A better fit for what we need right now? I would argue yes. I'm not interested in us bringing in short-term quick-fix loans of players who oust first teamers as I think it disrupts the essence of trying to build a team and a club. But that is just personal preference.

He isn't joining up with the squad until after the Bristol Rovers game anyway.

Satisfied with this signing. I always thought bringing in a player from a higher league as cover wasn't required and could upset things more than help. Dale Stephens is a young lad who will be keen to make an impression and help us over the line in order to help himself in the long term. It also means that the injuries to AOC and Lallana can't be particularly bad.

The premise behind this thread is a massive and unnecessary over-reaction. It is also very silly. It wouldn't surprise me to see Lallana and AOC both be ready to play against MK Dons, and having drawn away at Charlton just 24hrs after Posh lose a game there is no need to suggest 2nd is a far fetched idea. People who think so negatively, in particular about the football team they support, must struggle on a daily aspect with other aspects of their life.

We hardly score let alone win when Lallana isn't on the pitch. I hope the lads prove me wrong tonight!

Well that couldn't go much better. Peterborough by far the better team for the 60mins of the match I saw, yet they have somehow lost this game (a bit like us against Walsall a few weeks back...). So Posh drop 3pts, and MK Dons look very beatable. Perfect!

Saturday put that one to bed for me. Just hope we come out of the blocks quickly and don't give Charlton any encouragement and we'll be fine. And lets face it, this game was due to be played on Boxing Day when they were a very different proposition, so in a way it is a nice little bonus that they are dire at the moment.

Lallana has a great football brain when on the ball and his decision making to determine what he does when in possession is also great. One area he can improve is getting involved in games and dictating them more rather than having 'moments'. Some of that is down to playing on the left but also some of it is knowing when to drift inside and when to stay out wide. It would also be nicer if we played through him a bit more rather than relying on him picking up layoffs from the strikers after a long diagonal up the pitch.