All the upheavals in the past week or so have overshadowed the fact that we have moved another week close to the closing of the transfer window with little activity.

All the talk around St mary's over the last few days has been about the sacking of Nigel Adkins and the arrival of Mo Po, however it has meant that Saints upporters have taken their eyes off the transfer window a little and forgotten about the concerns in certain areas within the squad, ok Vegard Forren arrived through the door and that was certainly a signing in an area we need strengthening, however there seems to be little evidence of signings in crucial areas.

The new manager has sparked a fresh wave of rumours and we are now likely to be linkied with a host of players from Spain as well as Argentinians, but the worrying though is that none of them seem to play in areas we need strengthening. all the players linked seem to be strikers or central midfielders and this really isnt the weak area at the current time.

Pochettino could well turn out to be a great manager for Saints and Im certainly not going to judge him after a few days, but as good as he may be he cant turn some of our weak links into truly Premier class players and the problem areas still remain.

Perhaps a goalkeeper isnt as urgent as ity was a month ago in that Artur Boruc has put in a string of decent performances and although his kicking is suspect at times, his handling and confident to dominate his area is a lot lot better than we have been used to of late, but although the arrival of Forren plugs a gap, the quality of the other three central defenders varies from lacking in the case of Hooivelt to at best average in the case of Fonte and Yoshida, all three have their issues though.

As it stands Saints are extremely weak on the left hand side of the pitch in the midfield, no one who has played there and I include Adam Lallana in this from a defensive perspective has yet to tick all the boxes wide left and this has to be addressed.

Yes a squad has to be freshened up and improved upon, but that task is for the summer not the January transfer window, our priorities now should be to plug the gaps in the problem areas rather than buying for the future.

Saints perhaps need to buy two more players in the transfer window, they are not forwards or central midfielders, unless we intend to persue what looked like our policy at the start of the season in outscoring up at one end what our leaky defence let in at the other.

Nicola Cortese showed that he has a ruthless streak and isnt content with second best, that being the case those that advise him on transfers now need to start doing the job that someone failed to do last summer.

Photo: Action Images

Zambucco added 13:29 - Jan 23 Nick, I have to disagree with you (WHAT!!) but this transfer window is as good an opportunity as the summer. New players come into a playing unit, plus they should be match fit, the exception being Norther n Europe where the season has ended. so in my opinion it's much easier to settle in. Especially considering the quality of the names rumoured, to be on the list. But being the massive hypocrite that I am (I'm a big advocate of limiting the number of foreign players), all these foreign players mentioned are exciting me.

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slynch added 13:33 - Jan 23 I reckon NC/MP will be working towards this over the next 2 years. First name 1st choice, second name cover. Vacant means to be purchased or brought thru from youth. Set out in a 4,3,1,2 set up boruc/gazza clyne/cork vacant/fonte forren/yosh shaw/vacant punch/vacant vacant/spida vacant/guly ram/lallana lambo/vacant vacant/jrod
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landsdownsaint added 13:37 - Jan 23 I can't see why you think Yoshida is a weakness? His only weakness he's been having to play alongside Fonte (who's improved incredibly) .I think we need a proven striker to play of RL!
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SaintNick added 14:09 - Jan 23 Landsdown, given that saints have a rigid formation that they want to play which essentially means a lone striker up front, why would we buy another striker when we already hve Rodriguez and Mayuka
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mattlegod added 14:14 - Jan 23 Boruc certainly has been outstanding in the last few matches, although I do agree that his kicking can be somewhat suspect at times. I think Guly has done a great job linking up with Shaw down the left. Not convinced as to Jay Rod yet; works hard I grant, but not sure what else we get for the hefty money we spent?
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davej added 16:03 - Jan 23 Trouble with the January window is it's always left to the last minute each party trying to get their best deal
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Whatsforpud added 16:34 - Jan 23 The manager is the one to assess strengths and weaknesses. Although, apparently, he has been watching our matches from afar, he needs to be on the touchline and on the training ground to make proper judgements. As he has only been here 5 minutes, and hasn't even had a look at all the squad, it seems pointless to rush someone in at this stage. Nick, the present centre backs, in my opinion have much improved of late, and with Forren to be integrated, I would leave the defence alone. Re the left wing, where would you put Lallana when he is fit? I think Shaw needs less protection that Fox did. Both Lallana and Ramirez could play in the hole, but surely the best option is still Lallana wide left, and Ramirez in the hole.

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stmichael added 16:42 - Jan 23 I dont think we need anybody unless we can get a quality winger. What we have if managed properly is mid table. I think we are very well covered at centre back now with 4 good players. The keeper situation is also ok now that Boruc is looking the part. Any other signings could well disrupt what is going very well and has been for several weeks now.
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brady100 added 16:49 - Jan 23 Please stop calling him Mo Po...
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sidsaint added 17:49 - Jan 23 Whilst I agree that a striker may not be a number 1 priority, it's interesting that Gary Hooper who we were after in the summer looks like he may leave Celtic with Norwich making a couple of offers. He scores for fun in the SPL and has played well for them in the Champions League. I reckon he would be a good back up for Rickie.
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ExiledSupporter added 18:43 - Jan 23 Agree with the general thrust of your article, Nick. Some of the assumptions you make are very reasonable, but I am not sure that they are necessarily correct. For instance, you seem to imply that MoPo will have a say in transfer targets; I am unconvinced that this will necessarily be the case given that I (and others) have expressed my scepticism about who has been deciding what in our transfer policy since around this time last year. Take Forren, for instance, it was clear that NA had had no part in his arrival and I cannot imagine that MoPo had ever heard of him (but may have seen him on YouTube subsequently). I sincerely hope he is good quality, but I am sure that he is a Cortese selection (advised by AN Other - is this Les Reed?) No doubt (perhaps that should be 'probably') NC will, at least at the outset, consult with MoPo especially with regard to potential Spanish recruits, but I am far from convinced that he will relinquish much control over this key process. This reasonable assumption may be misplaced too. Time will tell. I agree that the players suddenly in vogue (Biglia, Coutinho, Longo, Verdu and Riquelme) are hardly vital to our current urgent needs and wonder whether splurging money on expensive unnecessary players (at this stage of the season) makes much sense. Can we really afford this sort of expenditure without selling/exporting some of those who seem unlikely to ever become regulars (DeRidder, Mayuka, Lee etc.) I am concerned that the loss of MS (if injured) would represent a major setback because of his inestimable value to us and we have no obvious replacement of sufficient quality/experience. So I would go for a defensive midfielder and a utility defender.

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mewnor added 20:38 - Jan 24 There is much work to be done, An Attacking midfielder is a must. We have zero goal threat from Spider,Cork,Davis. Gaston needs to be dropped back to central midfield where he can create and we need a proven striker foil for RL. The Left is a massive gap, Getting someone like Scott Sinclair on loan would solve this. The club doesn't seem to like loans but this could benefit all parties. Cork can always drop to CB if we become short there.

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