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Either way, mission accomplished - I have your attention.

In the immediate aftermath of the Fulham defeat, which I personally am still not over, all I have read is negativity and criticism aimed at our defence, from the press and fans alike.

Of course, Shay Given is absolutely correct; the defence was Sunday League standard in the last 10 minutes of the game on Saturday, and I don't think anyone can deny that. It was an absolute shambles, and threw away what was generally a decent team effort, where for 81 minutes we did more than enough to win what should be, with no disrespect to Fulham, an easy three points for us at home. Especially since Fulham were poor and did basically nothing for 81 minutes.

Without a shadow of a doubt, defending needs working on in training. Man marking needs working on, concentration needs working on, defending from set pieces needs working on. But I feel there is something much greater that needs working on.

As disappointed I was with our defensive effort at the end of the game, I felt more disappointed at the lack of chances we created. Things are not clicking up front. We never really tested Antti Niemi, and it was frustrating seeing us forced into long range and ultimately tame efforts in the first half.

This is a great concern for me, and it is not just the Fulham game, where we possessed either 58% or 61% of possession, whichever you choose to believe. It was the same story at Villa Park two weeks ago, where we had similar possession and yet failed to do much with it.

And against FK Ventspils we had literally 80% possession and scored a grand total of 0 goals despite having plenty of chances.

This is alarming considering we possess arguably a top four midfield in terms of depth, and if not, definitely fifth best. I don't think I am being biased or over optimistic in saying that. The set of midfielders we have is top class - Parker, Emre, Duff, N'Zogbia, Milner, Solano, and soon (we hope) Dyer. That is on top of young talents like Pattison and O'Brien, as well as Butt, a decent defensive midfield back up.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly where it is going wrong, but make no mistake this is an alarming problem which needs to be fixed by both Roeder and the players. This set of players should be creating plenty of chances for the strikers, but it doesn't seem to be working.

And please, lay off Obafemi Martins. Yet again it was confirmed we have some of the most fickle fans in the world when people came out of St. James' Park on Saturday whinging about Martins, claiming he is another overrated flop. The lad is quality, and he will prove it. He needs time to settle in, like any other player. He will be a hit in the Premiership, I have no doubt about that.

And I also believe that Shola will prove his worth this season. On top of that, Rossi is a decent addition and I think he will do well when he gets his chances. My point - we have a decent set of strikers. Yes, we should have added a better fourth choice striker than Sibierski (who I think can do a job with his height) to leave us better equipped, but we still possess a decent set of strikers.

Thus there is no reason for us to be lacking in creating genuine goalscoring opportunities with the midfield and strikers we have. Yet at present things aren't clicking. Possession, which is won and controlled by hard work and determination best demonstrated by Parker and Emre, is not being used properly.

The sooner this is addressed and sorted out, the better. Yes, the defending was alarming at the end against Fulham, but I feel our lack of genuine attacking is a slightly larger problem.

And if you are still wondering, there are no Cheryl Tweedy topless photos here.

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