If Saints are to genuinely challenge for promotion then it will be down to Nigel Adkins.

Some will say this is an obvious statement, but if you think about it carefully its perhaps not as obvious as you might think, a manager can be good at signing players but not so good at getting them to play to their full potential, likewise a good team will still win games under a bad manager but perhaps not quite as many as they should do.

In the summer before the transfer window got into full swing I felt then that in terms of quantity and quality Saints had as good a squad as most teams in the division and what would be key would be Nigel Adkins, key in two areas, firstly how he identified weknesses in the side and used the tranfer market to deal with them and secondly how he got the team playing.

Lying joint top in the table has to give the impression that its so far so good on oth accounts and i would not argue too much with that.

But if Saints are to really push on and challenge for promotion, then the real work begins now, I have always been in the camp that has said that selling AOC for a big fee would be more beneficial to a promotion push if the monies recieved are used well, than keeping the player, now we are bout to find out.

Nige Adkins now has to show that he can bring in the right players to plug the weak spots.

This squad is good enough to win more games than it loses in the Championship, of that there is no doubt, but if we want to challenge then we have to cut out the silly dropped points that were a feature of last season and indeed when we reached the Championship play offs five season ago, Adkins job is now to pinpoint where we might be vunerable and bring in better players.

An example that he is on the right track is the aquisition of Danny Fox, Harding has a few fans who think that he is a quality defender, its well documented that I am not one of those and i dont intend to open up this debate now, but clearly the manager had seen the same weaknesses that i had in Harding, he also felt that Dickson was not the answer and he has acted quickly to deal with the situation and brought in a player who he feels will be better than either of them.

Now he has some money to spend it will be interesting to see if he can continue to improve the team, by that I mean that any manager can spot a bad player and replace him, but the really good ones are able to spo those who on th face of it look adequate but in reality have flaws in their game that can cost a team dearly and this is now going to be the real key between us languishing in mid table or putting in a genuine promotion bid.

I feel that if we are to be genuine challengers then Adkins has to improve three key areas, Goalkeeper, Central Defence and up front.

Goalkeeper. I am loathe to speak ill of Davis at the moment as he has played well so far, but the last five minutes at Barnsley reminded me very much of our last spell in the Championship and thenumber of late goals conceded. At Barnsley it was more luck than judgement that we took all three points and all down to the last five minutes or so, all Barnsley did was sling the ball into the box and we failed to deal with it, we all know that dealng with crosses is Kelvin's achilles heel and if we are to keep winning games and not throwing points away then this has to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

Of course this will be harsh on Kelvin, but fact of the matter is we have the money to deal with a problem, this is football harsh decisions have to be made.

Central Defence. Im not quite sure that Seabourne or Martin are the answer, despite both turning in decent performances in the two league games, whilst we could soldier on with either of them it could backfire on us, again its harsh on them, but if we buy an oven ready centre half then the points it might save us could prove vital at the end of the season.

Up Front. My worry is that we seem to be looking at forwards similar to both Connolly and Barnard, Mackail Smith etc all are in the same mould, what we need is a true big man striker to back up Lambert and put some pressure on him for his place, Lambert gets a lot of goals thats for sure, but a big proportion are penalties or free kicks, of course thats not all he has, but sometimes games pass him by and we need to be able to make a change in this area when that happens. This perhaps emphasises the points i am making, the hardest job of a manager isnt to replace the lesser players, but to improve the positions where its less obvious.    

This is not a rant at the players mentioned or even to suggest they are playing badly, because they arent, but its pointing out that every team can be improved and its the good managers who can spot the problems and deal with them, even when it might not be what the supporters think.

We are well catered for in every position at the moment as was shown with the side we put out against Torquay, its very hard to see how we can improve most position, that is why Nigel Adkins will be the key, if he can spot the key weaknesses now wilst we cn still spend money, then it might just be the difference come the final points tally in May.  

Photo: Action Images

saintBob added 11:20 - Aug 15 I thought Saints dealt well with the Barnsley onslaught in the last few minutes considering Chaplow screwed everything up by getting sent off. That's when the game changed as up until then Barnsley did not do a thing. Why Chaplow got applauded off the pitch I don't know. He is one of the players that needs to be replaced due to his unreliability. If the strikers had bagged a second goal then Saints would have coasted through until the end. Saints have yet to concede a goal in open play this season, they've now won 4 consecutive away games and 8 consecutive league games. I think that says a lot about the players and Adkins, so yes Nick, your statement above is rather obvious.

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Jesus_02 added 11:39 - Aug 15 I’m not sure that Adkins bought Fox because he identified the same weakness in Dan Harding as you. And while I would like to see a CB and a Forward come in I don’t we will be targeting specific position to improve Saints have a capable squad all-round and that puts us in the driving seat when it comes to player purchases. We will continue to buy players based on their age, ability and value rather than the position that they play. That’s why we wont spend 6-7m on Jay Rodriguez

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bstokesaint added 12:17 - Aug 15 I think if anything Saturday highlighted how Saints didn't thow away stupid points and Kelvin did extremely well under pressure at the end. I personally couldn't identify any real weak position. I was a little worried by Guly's lack of strength in tackles and one example of this was when Barnsley almost scored when he went down cheaply in the middle of the pitch. Ironically I was relieved when Chaplow came on 'to tighten things up'. I think only he will know if he left his studs in on purpose, but if he did we don't need that kind of thing going on. I believe we are well enough equipped, perhaps with the exception of an additional proven CB, to get promoted from this division. You can tell the confidence is high in this team. That said if I was Adkins I would address the level of showboating. Although it looks good for the fans (and we do all love it) I've never seen Saints do that to that degree before and when you're only 1-0 up away from home you risk making yourselves look a little silly. I wouldn't want to pick too many holes in a good team spirit mind.

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SaintNick added 12:40 - Aug 15 So what weakness is it that adkins has identified in Harding Jesus 02, I have long bemoaned his defending, whatever it is he was prepared to spend £2million to correct it. On Saturday saints didnt throw away the points more by luck than judgement, we kicked two off the line in injury time when they could just have easily have gone in. Yes we are well equipped to get promotion and thats why it comes down to the manager, plenty of sides are well enough equipped, just look at cardiff last season, but still dont go up

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saintBob added 12:57 - Aug 15 I don't think Adkins has identified a weakness in Harding! He is always first choice left back. He is strengthening the squad because he has the foresight to know that, like last season, we will be riddled with injuries, and also have suspensions (as with Chaplow) as well as tiredness due to a long hard season. I didn't see anything cleared literally off the line either, a few blocks and clearances inside the 6-yard box. Don't forget Cardiff were and are still in a difficult financial situation.

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bstokesaint added 13:12 - Aug 15 Nick, to be fair any team with 11 men versus 10, at home and 1 down are going to literally launch everything into the box the closer it gets to the 90 minutes. I think the defence coped admirably under the circumstances. I'm not Harding's biggest fan, or Seabourne's for that matter, but I'd struggle to find fault with either of them on Saturday. Seabourne was actually excellent in the air and won just about everything. If he wants to partner Fonte going forward though he will need to turn in a run of such performances. Like Bob says it will be a long season and Adkins will be looking for players to compete in every position.

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SaintNick added 17:36 - Aug 15 So SaintBob you feel that Nigel Adkins has spent £2 million of the clubs money not because he feels that harding is not up to the job, but because he feels that if Harding, Dickson, Mills & Reeves the current four left backs we have at the club should all get injured at the same time, and Seaborne a player who has played there before is needed in the centre then we might be a bit short in that position What foresight Adkins must have to plug that gap

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1teeminants added 18:34 - Aug 15 Fox and Harding are in competition ffs!! Adkins doesnt rate Dickson so he bought someone else in to fight for the left back position. if he didnt bring fox in we would only have 1 left back because he clearly doesnt rate Dickson and stop bringing up players like reeves and Mills ffs theyre not included in his thoughts everyone knows that except you!!
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saintBob added 19:33 - Aug 15 SainNick - you're winding everyone up. You will probably be able to count the number of times Mills & Reeves play on one hand!
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COYRalex added 19:56 - Aug 15 I think that Nick, it will be a whole team effort if we are to achieve promotion. Adkins is without doubt a competent manager and like every manager he needs his transfers to come off, instill motivation and have a degree of luck. I for one think this will be one of the best passing teams in the championship this year and I wish sometimes, as saintBob and 1teaminhants have pointed out, you do say some rather embarassing things at times...like reeves and mills can be considered in contention for a first team place...Mills is often loaned out and is obviously trying to be moved on...and Reeves is young and rarely features on the bench. I am sure in the next 2 years he will be released or farmed out on loan as Mills has been. Adkins seems to opt to sign players who can play in various positions so that we have a wide range of cover and depth. Harding is by no means a first class full back...but get real...we are a championship club and will find it hard to get better than Dan Harding....oh hang on maybe Ashley Cole is available (and even he has his footballing weaknesses!) And PS...can we plug the 'score a goal David Connolly' chant to the tune of Mrs Robinson (last sung for Neil Shipperley) as he doesn't seem to like the back from the dead chant! Cheers Nick.

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SaintNick added 22:30 - Aug 15 sorry Dan Harding is a god and clearly Saints have £2 million to waste on a left back to provide competition for a free transfer from Ipswich. Im sorry for daring to suggest that Harding is anything other than the best left back for saints in the last 25 years. Did i dream Plymouths goal at St mary's on the opening day last year or the defeat at carlisle or Peterboroughs second or was that Ryan Dickson

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saintBob added 11:45 - Aug 16 Ok Nick. We all understand you don't like Dan Harding and you've identified games where he's been at fault. Well done.
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COYRalex added 12:50 - Aug 16 Nick....I agree with you in some respects. Harding has weakness when he faces pace and sometimes struggles to stop crosses...but you need to articulate these because for every 3 errors he had made I can name 6 positive things he has done and therefore get into a merry go round of opinion. I have no doubt that fox will become the left back and Harding a cabable back up. But please be more open when picking holes in the team. Every player in every team in every league has a weakness...unfortunately for harding he has obs made errors in your opinion that outweigh his plus points. Keep up the articles though as they stimulate lively debate which is great!

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