Salopian

He has to stop mind-wandering lack of concentration in the defence, and he has to drill them until they take on board what is needed. Perhaps they need a good sports scientist, or psychologist. They have to be quick into the tackle and block, and not hang back. Surely they have realised that this is the way of the better teams, as well as their brilliant attacks. We can pass the ball well - second goal at Wembley, and we have pace. Add to this some confidence, from a win or two, or even the U18 win, and we could become potent.

I have to say that it''s looking less and less likely, especially with surrounding teams having bought well recently. Villa seem doomed, and unless AN can marshal the defence rather better I see us going down with Villa.

Given the defensive frailty and the tendency not to turn up, I can''t see us winning. It may be damage limitation, to 1-2 or 1-3

I''m not sure if you would call it part of leadership, but we seem to lack a defender who can concentrate on his own game but also look out for colleagues who are out of position. Someone must be ready to shout at the others to maintain shape and alertness. I hope that the experienced Klose will be able to do it, as I can''t see Bennett or Bassong, or any of the supposed fullbacks, doing it.

You could put the dreadful back pass down to a moment of thoughtlessness, and a lack of concentration. He has other deficiencies in the Premiership, however. He struggles against quick wingers, who glide past him and who go round him with ease because he lacks pace, so we have persevered with him at CB, where he is out jumped by strikers and he loses his position regularly. I am amazed that AN chose him rather than Bennett, if the latter was fit and available. Bennett is much better in the air and in blocking, and above all accepts that he is a centre back and nor a roving wing back. Martin has been a great servant to the club, and has scored some good goals, but he is better going forward than defending, as are Whittaker, Pinto and even Olsson. We do not have a good quick defensive fullback, except perhaps Brady, but we need him further forward to work his magic.

I agree with much that you say, ad I would add the point that Olsson at times has looked as likely to fail defensively as Pinto, with Martin and Whittaker the same, and all of them are more impressive going forward than defending. Only Brady looks adequate as a defensive full back. If this is the case, and we can make no further signing, then perhaps we should consider a back line of three - Bassong, Klose, Bennett, a five man midfield, with Olsson and Pinto as wing backs, and two forwards.

For the last few games we have conceded 4.5 goals per match, so we can''t blame Pinto, although he was very disappointing defensively. The back four had an off-day collectively, perhaps because there was no covering midfielder. But you can''t blame the lack of midfield cover for the back four being out of position, and making careless passes. We need four defenders who are in communication, and preferably with one of them pointing out dangers and encouraging concentration. I don''t know whether Klose is up to this, as a newcomer, but they need concentration and they need to play to instruction. If Bennett was not injured or otherwise unavailable, then I am appalled by the manager''s decision to leave him out, as the clean sheets have corresponded to his and Rudd''s inclusion. We know that we have a weakness in the back four, and that this would be revealed if Tettey didn''t play, but I can''t believe that the manager believes that Martin is better than Bennett. The manager clearly did not read what the Croatian journalist wrote of Pinto - essentially good going forward, but weak defensively - this is true of Martin and even Whittaker.

With just over ten days left, and having apparently secured our targets, I am wondering if McN''s words were addressed not to us, but to any agents or players who pick up the words. The other possibility is, as others have hinted, that the permanent signings may be over but one or two loan players could be useful. Bamford, anyone?

Early in the season we were scoring, if not for fun at least much more freely than we are now, and I have a suspicion that AN went Hughton-like with all the errors the defence was making. We are set up usually as a defensive unit hoping to score by counter attacks, but with Redmond having lost his confidence or courage, and replaced by Vadis or Howson, much of the threat has gone. We seem to have the lost the patient game we had - the second goal at Wembley showed what we could do, and the single striker we employ can''t work his socks off and also get behind opposing defences, as happens to us. It''s all very well coaching for skills and strategies, but if the set up is not so good and the defence so weak, it may be asking the impossible

Perhaps not doom and gloom, but after more self-destruction I am very concerned. Added to failures in positioning, there seems to have been a lack of effort and misplaced passes. In other words basic defending and passing were poor - by a team in the Premiership, and with one or two honourable exceptions insufficient effort. I am clinging to the hope that an infusion of new blood, at fullback, centre back and striker can make a difference, and perhaps we need a new captain to drive them on.

Is this why any deal for Haller will not occur, despite the clubs agreeing a "price"? I''ve lost count of the number who have shown some interest, even come to discuss things at CR, but ultimately decided to look elsewhere. Is it because we are small unknowns? Is it that our terms (pay) are not high enough? Is it because we are not good at negotiations? I suspect that it is a mixture of the first two above, although there may be other reasons. If we could pay the kind of wages that the "big boys" pay, I can''t believe that we would have the same problems. Prudence is good, but if you are going to lay out only a few million each year then you need some good luck or brilliance to survive until you have assembled a team.

Don''t want to be a wet blanket, but the best I can see is 1-1. Neither club is playing very well at the moment, and with our tendency to self-destruct...

Even playing Howson and Vadis out of position, we could have held Stoke. And then.. But even with only ten men we clawed our way back, only for slightly strange substitutions to upset ourselves - Jarvis first game for how many weeks, and the lacklustre Redmond. Finally Bennett, but I have not seen the match, so I don''t know how it happened. I had hoped that we had put the self-destruct goals conceded behind us, but they are here again.

He seemed to have a lot of potential, but the questions are: Why did Spurs let him go so easily? Why has he moved from club to club without attracting interest from the "big" clubs? If we are interested in him, why are we not facing great competition? I think that the answer to all the questions is that while he seemed when he started to have great potential, he has not developed very much. If we think that we alone are capable to developing his potential, I am not confident that we can. For my part, I would prefer to pay a lot more and find someone of great ability at present.

There have been reports of interest in several overseas CBs, and one at least has turned us down, possibly more. In one or two cases we had reached agreement on fees with the present club. Clearly hopes have been dashed in these, and new targets have been considered, presumably. One thing is clear, that although we have players who could play at CB "at a push", Martin and Wisdome and even Pinto perhaps. The fact remains that we have only three CBs on our books, and one of those is on loan to Sheffield and not currently playing often. So I am concerned, and I shall be relieved only when we sign another acceptable CB, or even two. If either Bennett or Bassong were injured or suspended......

We now have four right backs. We have Martin who seems to be regarded as the likely back-up for Pinto. What future is there for Whittaker and Wisdome? The former hasn''t played much this season, and is out of contract in the summer, I think. We have Wisdom for the season on an expensive loan contract. We may not learn much on Saturday, if AN chooses to go with one of his strongest teams, and assuming that Pinto may not be available anyhow because of "paperwork". I think that most of us would regard Wisdom, Martin and Whittaker as barely Premiership quality, and in the case of the last two lacking pace. It would be good to get one or more off the payroll or out of the 25 declared squad. In 25 players you can''t carry four for one position in eleven. I look forward with interest to see what happens.

Can''t see him coming to us, as he has greater expectations, and I am concerned about his attitude, when I remember how Bassong sulked.

Naismith - he is more versatile, - attacking midfielder or striker, and he is being kept out by some good strikers at the moment.

Why not? With our style of play he didn''t actually set the Championship alight for us, and he is clearly short of Premiership quality.

I think that there is still a weakness, perhaps now in the fullback positions, with a lack of pace which can be so cruelly exposed by quick wingers. In the centre, with advent of Bennett, we are tighter, although Bassong occasionally does something worrying. I have no idea which position(s) AN is trying to fill, but we certainly need a centre back, as we have no cover if either is injured, and unless Olsson can find himself we need a left back to allow Brady to play further up the pitch. At right back I am not too happy with either Martin or Wisdome.

There may be a surprise, but there may be disappointment, and there will certainly be for some who are expecting us to spend upwards of £20m on two or three players. In his statement today AN didn''t rule out any named deals, merely that he was not going to talk about players in other clubs until agreement is reached. They have made enquiries, and some have been followed up, and they have repeatedly said that they wish to do business early, to integrate them into the squad as soon as possible. This may not work out, as it apparently didn''t in one or two cases in the summer. For my part I suspect that one of the signings may be on loan, now Jarvis has signed for us permanently. There seems general agreement over where the squad needs strengthening, but actual signings cannot be predicted at the moment.

Very difficult to predict. I would only say what AN implied, that for the remaining half season we could collect more points. We have cut out many of the dreadful defensive errors and gifts, and if we can maintain this 1-1- draws could become 1-0 victories. We shall need luck, especially with injuries, and if we can sign one or two good defenders we should have cover in defence. Once the defence is more watertight perhaps we can return to our early season attacking flair which doesn''t show very often at the moment. We do not need any more ''didn''t show up'' games which may have come from a lack of confidence. I hope that some of this will be on show during January, and that a point at Bournemouth and a home win, at least, could maintain our ratio of a point per game.

We have Jarvis available soon, and Brady who seemed very good a week or two ago, plus Redmond, and we have the improving Murphy brothers gaining experience, so why would we need another right winger, In an ideal situation and say 4.4.2 we could need another wide player, but I suspect that fullbacks will be pressed into service as wing backs. I could get a little crowded down the wings. On attacking midfielders, Howson may not be as good as he was at the beginning of the season, nor is Dorrans, but they have the ability and skills, and Vidas seems to be coming good. If you are going to play either two strikers or one plus Wes, how many attacking midfielders do we need?

AN deserves all the praise that he is getting for his tactics at Old Trafford, including Brady at RB and Martin as a central CB. But one of the things which impressed me was the commitment shown by the players, partly by concentrating on a defence of two fours, which frustrated MU, but even more on the effort and commitment they showed. They missed one or two headers, and they didn''t always win a tackle, but they showed that they were not going to be pushovers, and they broke forward with pace which unsettled the MU defence. Tettey, not renowned for chasing forward perhaps, was in place for the Jerome pass All this was such a contrast with recent games, especially Watford, when they could not be bothered to show up. Redmond seemed back to his quickest and trickiest. The defenders jumped and headed as if their lives depended on it. The only regret was that the referee seemed oblivious to kick which floored Howson as he was about to shoot from close range. Well done to every player, now take the self-belief and determination into the remaining games!

The name of the game immediately is Premiership survival, later on is the time to sign central midfielders. At the moment the main need is convert more goal chances into goals. We can''t afford the poor efforts of recent weeks. The main priority must be a striker , or perhaps two, and well down a central defender. Bennett has shown what he can do, but he or Bassong could be injured or suspended and we need an adequate replacement. I can''t see us spending £27m, but I think that we have to splash the cash to find a good striker.