Armchair

The lack of movement and composure in the midfield was alarming and resulted in too many long aimless balls knocked up to Lambert. Never seen a team pass it so bad in my life. Milner and Walcot sat deep so Lambert was being asked to then cover the entire last third of the pitch closing down each of their defenders. No wonder he faded 2nd half. The team was set up to play for a draw sadly at the expense of any half decent attacking play.

Perfect example of how insanely inflated transfer fees are for mediocre English players. For that kind of money you will get far more value abroad.

Perfect example of how insanely inflated transfer fees are for mediocre English players. For that kind of money you will get far more value abroad.

Sky Bet have posted these odds on game: Schalke Win 4/6 Draw 13/5 Saints Win 7/2 Decent odds on a Saints win. Anyone know how far Schalke are into their pre season training?

Here you go.... http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/10461969._/

They obviously didn't do their homework!

Terrible performance, reminded me of the Sunderland game albeit West Brom better than Sunderland. Lambert and Lallana gave us nothing and deserve to be dropped for next game based on their performances. As for Jos and Fox they are simply not good enough for this level. Do your homework on us and we are so easy to work out. Other teams just need to do play 4 3 3, have pace upfront and restrict our fullbacks getting forward. Bale, Lennon and Defoe will have a field day next week.

It is a good job considering Fox likes to hold hands with Hooiveld for the entire 90 minutes No Guly, no Shaw, no hope now

The end product has to improve so I am sure this will be a focus in training and we will soon see a difference. Adkins got the players "scanning" but perhaps forgot to mention that they then have to do something with ball!

Interesting PL article giving some insight into the correlation between teams average posession %, goals scored/created and league placing. http://www.eplindex.com/24619/possession-football-spanish-success-changed-premier-league-11-12.html No team with over 51% average possession has ever been relegated from PL. We currently boast a 50.3% average possession whilst Wigan's is 53.9%. Reading, Villa and QPR have much poorer overall possession stats. The following article gives breakdown of possession stats for PL each team http://www.eplindex.com/24264/possession-creating-chances-goals-epl-stats-analysis.html The articles draws the following conclusion For all the time Reading, West Ham, Stoke and Southampton spend in the opposition’s third, their chance creation and goal output is very poor. The better teams manoeuvre the ball into those areas with speed and don’t give opposition teams time to get their shape and ‘mark’ efficiently.

We need to starting winning asap and this game despite being away from home has to be seen as one of our most winnable games remaining.

I do understand your reasoning but for me we need to get at their fullbacks from the off and get plenty of crosses into box which requires 2 out and out strikers for it to be effective. In my opinion whichever team scores first will go onto win so we need to be more direct and start on front foot.

We should start with same attacking line up as in Stoke Game. Jay Rod and Guly deserve to start imo. Ramirez on bench. Cork back in CM and Clyne RB. Unfortunatley Jos will play which is the biggest worry for me. Hopefully Ireland won't start as he was causing us quite a few problems in reverse fixture, before going off injured.

Lallana not getting many votes I see. No-one been outstanding but cork has been consistent and team better with him in it.

Adkins ****ing around with keepers and our best cm playing rb. Big calls made by Adkins

this, except Davis in for morgan.

Utter garbage. We really struggle against well organised teams, lacking guile in final third. I predicted 2 points from next 5 games including today's game but after that performance think zero points more realistic. Relegation on the cards I'm afraid.

Sunderland 1 Fulham 0 Stoke 0 Arsenal 1 Villa 0 Sad thing is that we should be looking to get something from each of those games but because our away form/performances have been dire and ingrained this will not happen.

Because the manager and players have resigned themselves to not picking up any points in away games the pressure on winning the home games is just going to increase as we progress through the season. Home form is pretty mediorce at the moment so at some point this will need to improve if we are to avoid relegation. Reading and Sunderland has to be 6 points imo.

Comparing the spine of each team there isn't that much between them imo: Reina just as liable to make mistake as any of our keepers. Both defences are weak. Gerrad no longer the great player he once was so Cork and Morgan will be match for him and Allen. Lambert will give their defenders a hard time and Ramirez has class to make difference. Yes Suarez is top quality but if we can isolate him then we will stand a great chance in getting something from game.

The 2 sat next to me didn't return for the 2nd half. Didn't think the game was that bad!

Agree, apart from scoring Morgan was poor.

We were a shower of ****. West Brom were average but still won easily. The spine of the team is so physically weak with Schneiderlin and Davis offering nothing. Mulumbu, who was very good for WBA, is the type of player we need in midfield - Strong presence, can put foot on ball and run with it. Only Clyne came out of the game with an ounce of credibility. The players may not be good enough for this level but Adkins is clearly out of his depth. To wait 15 minutes after the 2nd goal to make subs was a complete joke.

If we are going to make the change then better sooner rather than later. If results continue as they are and we wait until Dec/Jan then we will not be able to attract a decent manager capable of making a difference.