With the two week break hopefully Saints will have worked on their defensive frailties.

Although there can be no argument  that Saints have done extremely well to sit top of the League at this stage of the season, Nigel Adkins will know that those that rest on their laurels wont stay the course for long, good managers dont accept excuses they work on the training field to make sure that they dont happen again.

Thats what happened last season where Adkins first half of last season was blighted by mistakes away from home which saw valuable points slip though our hands and at one stage it looked like Huddersfield would keep the upper hand and pip us to automatic promotion, the late run that saw us invincible did not happen by chance, it came about because of some hard work on the training ground.

Whilst some supporters are happy merely with the fact we are still top, Adkins and his training staff know there are problems with the goalkeeper and areas of our defending.

In relationsion to Kelvin Davis its mainly about his kicking and distribution, the keeper is clearly under instructions to distribute the ball quicklly and to feet and to go long only in exceptional circumstances, recently thats seen us put ourselves under unnecessary pressure, work will have been done on the training ground, but ultimately it will be hard for a keeper of Kelvin's experience to change his game so drastically so the manager will need to perhaps adjust the game a little, at least in the short term.

In the full back positions its a different problem, going forward both Richardson and Fox have been superb in recent weeks, both of them creating chances and more importantly chances that are being converted into goals, however it cannot be overlooked that they are part of a defence that are collectively gifting goals to the opposition and there are some aspects that both will need to work on to play their part in tighting up at the back.

But the main worry is in the centre of defence, so far the two central defenders havent gelled as a unit and given that they have played four games together now that is a worry.

Jose Fonte is badly out of form, some sceptics have said that this is due to him stepping up a level and struggling, but they forget he played in the Championship for Crystal Palace and was well used to it, indeed prompting us to pay big money to sign him, it is not a question of skill its something else, in a nutshell its positioning, he doesnt seem comfortable with Hooiveld from the point of view of knowing who is going for what ball and this is where the opposition are finding the gaps.

With Hooiveld its a little more complicated, on the face of it he has had the best of the form since pairing with Fonte, however if he cant play with him there are some hard decisions to be made and how quickly they are made will determine whether this is just a blip or something more tangible, Hooiveld is not a bad player, infact in many respects he is just what we need, but he is not entirely comfortable with the way Saints play as was shown by the second goal at Cardiff City.

On Saturday at Derby Saints face a big big test, after three away games yielding only one point, they really now do need to produce a result on the road and by that I mean a win to take the pressure off of the midweek visit of West Ham.

If Saints had been a little tighter at the back then they could now site a fair distance above the rest of the pack, but with three very tough games in a week starting with the Derby game, a repeat of the error strewn away fixtures could see us not only knocked off the top spot but on the verge of dropping out of the top six, the Championship is a tough league we know that from last time and this time its tight at the top, if we want promotion then we have to set high standards and keep to them, if we do then all well and good, but if we dont then promotion may be a pipe dream.

Photo: Action Images

felly1 added 20:41 - Oct 10 Agree with what you say, we do look a bit frail at the back and we've masked a few problems by outscoring teams. It's not just the defenders who defend though,we sometimes lack support from our midfield players and having players like Lallana and Guly in the side means we have to sacrifice some solidity.Maybe away from home we could play lallana behind Ricardo and bring in either morgan or Chaplow to tighten the midfield and maybe even Holmes who adds more workrate and consistency over Guly's flair.

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Scummer added 20:47 - Oct 10 Nick, I thought they looked a decent back four against Watford and the game was largely comfortable. There is always work to be done on the training ground (when isn't there?), but the personnel all look good. Hopefully there will be a bit of focus on the central pairing so that they continue to gain understanding, but most central partnerships are built up over a period longer than four games. Also, Kelvin made some strong saves (his shot stopping bears comparison to the best in this league) and it seemed obvious to me that persisting with distribution from the back was starting to look a bit more natural. I swear I saw him come out for a ball and confidently punch it away as well!!! Not saying that there is not room for improvement and areas for the coaches to work on, but it seems to me that they are more than able to get there. Always enjoy going to this site - keep up the good work.

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Kiwifiedpom added 00:13 - Oct 11 From what I've seen on SaintsPlayer. Our game an offensive one and its neccessary for the two CB's to play high up the field and exposes them to the long ball through the middle. I guess the answer is more anticipation by Fonte and Hooiveld or speed on the turn.
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bstokesaint added 12:51 - Oct 11 Maybe the international break came at the right time, and will give the centre backs chance to build up a better understanding. We're not at the top by fluking it, but we need to work out how to play certain teams. The best opposition will see that our offensive side leaves us vulnerable. We can't constantly attack and need to get the balance right.
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