Saints need to get the balance of the squad right before this transfer window closes if they are to enjoy a succesful Premier league Season.

Most Saints fans would have concurred during the summer recess that Saints needed to be more flexible in their team formation and tactics in the Premier league, the variey of teams faced and the increased quality of opponents means that its not always wise to be rigid in your line up and good managers adapt to different situations that might occur, part of that is being flexible enough to revert to 4-4-2 when neccessary and not always being rigidly 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, whichever way you describe it the line up is identical.

This being the case most supporters would accept that 4-5-1 is the best default starting line up, but to play this you need the right personel, at the moment we dont have that, in that we dont have the pace down the flanks and that using forwards as wing backs as in Rodriguez against Wigan and Lee at Stevenage is folly, you have to get the men in to do a man's job.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg, the balance of the squad is far from right, up front we have plenty of options, likewise in the centre of midfield, but in other areas we dont have the cover, especially out wide and in the centre of defence, last season was last season, its done and dusted, we need to progress.

I predict that if Saints dont bring in at least one central defender and a winger, preferably two in each position, then not on,ly will it be a season of struggle, but supporters will start to question the transfer policy and that can only lead to unrest.

Lets be blunt, the Premier league is a tight division, three results can be the difference between relegation and mid table its that tight in the bottom third, we have already lost ground to Wigan, we cant afford any more slip ups.

Some will point to our plethora of forwards and optimistically point out that we will outscore sides, the blunt truth is that unless those forwards get the service then they wont score goals, our new formation relies on one man up front and getting the ball to him and supporting him quickly on the break, we havent got the players to do that at the moment, unless we get in at least one of those wide players then there is a case for reverting back to what we know with a solid 4-4-2 formation.

With a little over a day left of the transfer window, its going to be crucial, of course there is the option of loan signings but by the time that window opens we might be a long way behind and the tone for the season set, as I said three months ago Saints have the bais of a good squad, the problem is that the signings made so far have all been in areas that it wasnt critical to strengthen in, we now need to make those signings        

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Zambucco added 10:43 - Aug 30 We definitely miss pace out wide, this has to be addressed with specialist players, not makeshift like Jay Rod or Chun, But it's early days yet, I'm sure Nigel will respond accordingly or get sacked!
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ExiledSupporter added 10:50 - Aug 30 Agree with this Nick, the overall thrust of the argument is spot on. But there are a few things in the last para that are perhaps not quite fair. I think the signings of Clyne (particularly). Davis, Gazzaniga (if he is to be our first alternative) and Rodrigues (if he is seen as an alternative to RL) make sense. But the latter is being misused and so there must be some grounds for querying his signing in the current circumstances, though I am sure in the medium term he will prove to be a good replacement. But arguably the short term is much more pressing. Too many strikers of arguably the same quality/style, for instance Lee and and Mayuka on the face of it, - granted a bit early to say definitively. At the time of writing the balance is wrong and with two days to go that suggests a failure of prioritisation (perhaps stemming from a confusion of formation/tactics) which may prove costly

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Santos added 10:59 - Aug 30 My concern at the moment is that if you look at the saint squad we a very top heavy in certain places. Playing 451/433 whatever way people wish to call it. The 1 central striking position has 4 people vying for it in SRL, Jrod, Sharp, Lee and that is excludes Guly who did well in that poision in the first game and Mayuka also can play there from what I have seen. The 2 wide position we have Mayuka assuming this is were he will come in, Punch, Guly, De Ridder although as your article suggests only Mayuka and De Ridder have real pace but De Ridd seems out of the picture at the moment and if we sign this Rameris I assume he will be used on the wing. Then the middle 3 we have great strength and options but maybe 1 or 2 too many in Spider, Davis, Lallana, JWP, Cork, Hammond, Chaplow. All in all alot of people to keep happy when you are going to play less games. I have ignored the defence issue for now.

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saintgus added 11:13 - Aug 30 lets simify we need 2 wide players with pace, and 2 cental defenders and lets go with it, I also think a number of players may well be out of the door come Friday
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SingaporeSaint added 11:26 - Aug 30 Agree - but ultimately you need the right quality of personnel to beat the opposition irrespective of shape. 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 - you still need more pace out wide with an end product and of course some nouse at the back. I am astonished Sinclair went for 6.2M (cheaper than J Rod) - I think he would have come to us, esp with the family connection.. He is exactly the sort of player we need in wide positions - quick, but with a bit of top level experience and with ability to play/pick out a man etc. If we sign Ramirez (which I think is a massive risk btw) I think we go 4-4-1-1 and Ramirez plays as the link man... Esp at home.

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derbydog added 11:32 - Aug 30 I am baffled. The famous team spirit which got us through two divisions is in danger of dissipating. Since last season it would appear that these players, some of whom I would have thought deserved a shot at the big time, are not going to kick another ball in the PL: Richardson, Butterfield, Seabourne, Hammond, Chaplow, de Ridder, Martin, and (if new signing rumours are true) we can add to that list Guly, Lee, Cork and maybe Fox and Fonte. Bart, Harding and Barnard are already gone. Why would Championship players bother to try and win promotion if there are going to be changes to this degree when a club goes up? QPR, Blackpool and Norwich have all turned over large numbers of players too. Take Dan Harding for instance. He was deemed surplus at St Marys, goes to Forest who have a reasonable chance of promotion. Won't the same thing happen to him again if Forest go up? Had you written in May that the Saints who won promotion would only feature Lallana, Davis (for a limited time presumably) and possibly Lambert would we have been happy with that scenario? The acquisition of players at the moment (taking rumours into account as well) smacks of a kiddie being let loose in a sweet shop. Just because we apparently have large sums of money doesn't mean we have to spend it it all in one session. Couldn't we fine tune the exisiting squad (perhaps having added another CB I would concede) in January? If we had signed Bittner, or sign the Ajax LB that is also going to hold back Shaw's progress. Ward Prouse is not going to feature so much either if we sign Ramirez. Too much too soon I say.

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slynch added 12:39 - Aug 30 You don't need to be fast to play down the wings. It's quite easy to pass your way down there as Puncheon and Clyne have been doing. It's a matter of tactics as to whether you do that or continually come inside like Arsenal and Saints on the right, or go outside and cross from the goal line. Saints should do more more of the latter IMO and they already have the personel to do it but Adkins prefers the former; if Saints got the fast players you want they would still be told to play the way the current players are.

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bstokesaint added 13:15 - Aug 30 Debrydog makes a valid point. These players and the manager have earned their right to play in the Premiership. Although this is different to saying they are good enough there are a number that will inevitably raise their game against better players, although this only comes through experience. Norwich got through last season largely with the same back-to-back promotion team. It would be a shame to make wholesale changes and lose that team spirit from a group of players that been togther a while now. Yes, we have money to spend and at least a right winger and central defender are needed, but let's not bulldoze the team. I'd hate us to do what QPR or West Ham are doing and just buy anyone and everyone. That's not building a team for the future and failure will inevitably ensue.

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Whatsforpud added 14:55 - Aug 30 I agree with Derbydog and bstokesaint. A team needs evolution, not revolution. However well a team has done, and this one has done well, the clamour is always - 'lets get a few in'. Managers are pressurised in to spending because the money is there. When we have bought players, they are always going to be the real deal. They often turn out to be no better than what we already had. But we had to spend that money! Current talk of Lambert going really worries me. He is capable to getting 12+ goals in the Premiership, and a system should be adopted to get the best out of him. If that means playing 4-4-2, with full backs overlapping, lets do it, especially at home.

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SingaporeSaint added 04:46 - Aug 31 Some of the comments above are very valid - I agree with the sentiment. My spin on this is that I'm pro signing players as long as they improve the side and maintain the credibility of the club. I am not of the view that last year's squad 'deserves' a shot at the prem. These are professionals who all would have taken a big salary out of the club and had a bumper pay year with promotion bonuses. The only players who I'd like to keep for 'loyalty' are Lallana and K Davis. That doesnt mean I'd start Davis if we had a better keeper but would like him at the club for his loyalty in the bad times. We need new players to best ensure 'success' in the top flight. What we also need to maintain with such signings is credibility - this is what keeps real fans coming back - if we wanted solely success we'd all support Man City. Saints had credibility last season - we had players who appeared they wanted to be at the club not just to boost their bank balances. We risk losing that if we bring in a scattergun of signings who appear only here for the paycheck - Ramirez' comments to this effect are a major concern to me. QPR have lost credibility in this way. There is the further concern of what happens is we go down.... Look at Pompey.. Finally I'd like us to actually bring some homegrown youth into the team. I think NA's comments on this topic are a little hollow - we have had the top 1 or 2 U18's team in the country for the past 10 years.. The amount of our own ex youth players in our first team is not proportional bearing in mind we've been down as low as the third tier - last season we only had Lallana. I know we have sold Bale, Ox, Walcott but we dont seem to be blooding enough of our own in my view. To this end I'd like to see the likes of Shaw and JWP in the starting line up with more experienced talent around them.

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