When Kenwyne Jones went down with that knee injury in June, everyone who kept even half an eye on SAFC was immediately concerned about the short term future of the team.

While the summer signings of Diouf and Malbranque helped allay our fears as to where our goals this season would come from, that was only ever going to solve half the problem. For once we've got a midfield that can create plenty of goals - as we saw against Liverpool, thanks to the attacking balls made by Messrs Diouf, Malbranque and Reid. The only problem we had, was that we had one striker up front.... and it was Daryl Murphy.

I'll admit right now, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Daryl Murphy. At the back end of last season, when he was used on the wings and up front, he infuriated me by switching roles without telling anyone. As a winger, he looked bored... as a striker, he simply looked unwilling.

Still, a new season, give him a new chance I thought - only those same flaws to come back out again. Several times against Liverpool, crosses aimed for Murphy went untouched, usually because he'd suddenly decided to help out on the wings. A suspect idea at the best of times when you are the one striker up front, it really turns into a bad idea when there are other players actually trying to pass the ball to you!

The arguments about the use of the 4-5-1 formation (whether it's dressed up as 4-4-1-1 or bluntly called 4-5-1) will doubtless rumble on for forever and a day, it's unfair to say that only having one striker up front will lead to us struggling for goals. One quick look at Chelsea's result on Sunday, beating Portsmouth 4-0, will show that that's not the case - but while there is undoubtedly a huge gulf between ourselves and Chelsea, the way the two sides play the system is also different.

4-5-1 CAN work. If you your lone striker remains as a striker, with the wing men pushing forward as well. If that doesn't happen, and the striker goes walkabout, then you'll struggle to score goals. Just see what happened when we've tried this in the past in the reigns of Reid, McCarthy and Keane. Very few wins, a few draws, and plenty of losses.

The best way out of this is to go with two up front, but while this formation isn't exactly effective against the bigger teams, if we're going to stick with the "one up front" system... at least make sure the one man up front isn't prone to wandering around the place.

Thank God Kenwyne's back soon!