Alias75

The US economy is still in a mess whatever happened to the markets today. The seizure of Fanny and Freddie just means the US treasury has taken on between $5-6 trillion in mortgage loans on top of the $10 trillion in funded liabilities and over $70 trillion in future unfunded future liabilities. You can't continue to spend more than you produce, simply printing more FIAT paper money doesn't work it never has it never will. Unfortunately when the bubble does pop football will be the last thing on peoples minds as this could lead to the biggest financial depression we've ever witnessed.

I wonder if we should be loaning out players at a younger age, will they develop better playing in League 1 or the Championship or our reserves? Those playing in the reserves now we could loan 6 or 7 of those out and that would do 2 things.. 1. It would reduce the numbers so the players here get more games 2. It would help the development of those players out on loan. Maybe Rafa needs to re-evaluate at what age players go out on loan, at the moment he seems to wait until their 19-20 maybe we should lower that to the best 17 years olds we have and also 18 year olds. Somebody like Nemeth for example should be playing in the Championship this season not the reserves. I do think the general idea of getting the best of the best here and seeing which of those impress is a good way to do it, young players need that competition to help push them, but of course the downside is you're going to be left with a lot of players that don't make it and a lot of players that don't get the chance to progress due to lack of games. I think loaning out the best we have aged 18-20 is the way to help reduce the numbers and see which of those players handle playing a proper season in a proper league.

Missed a few good uns too.. Pacheco, Plessis, Darby, San Jose,

All those people urging DIC to pay whatever it takes to buy the club i understand your urgency because i want G+H gone as quickly as possible too, but why should they pay over the odds when they know G+H are doing such a poor job and don't have the money to take us where we need to be. These people are not stupid they know financially G+H are in trouble so why should they give them £100 million more than they should now when by simply waiting the price will come down and the desire to sell will increase. If things were different and G+H weren't in so much financial trouble you might have seen the type of bid intended to give them a fat profit to sell but they don't need to do that now, while that may be frustrating for us fans that just want this whole nightmare over it at least shows Dubai aren't just going to throw money away for the sake of it, which is a good sign if they do eventually own us.

These quotes would worry me if i were a City fan.. "The amount paid for the acquisition of the club cannot be disclosed. The acquisition will help the Abu Dhabi brand name and allow talented UAE players to play in the premier league and get access to all the world class opportunities that exist," said Al Fahim by telephone.

Think its very easy to be disillusioned with football when your team doesn't have a billionaire owner but if what was happening at City was happening here im sure most people wouldn't care about the game in general. History counts for a lot in football but if your not winning that history and heritage can soon be forgotten there are many examples of once big clubs now in the lower leagues. The sad but true state of affairs is a team like Man City that have always really been also rans can now become very real challengers for the CL in the next 2-3 seasons because they have been taken over by very rich men prepared to throw hundreds of millions of pounds on players. The bottom line is if we don't get owners with huge personal fortunes prepared to invest that into a new stadium and top players in 2-3 years time we'll be scrapping for UEFA Cup places. Thats just the reality of the PL at the moment, personally i think we're too big a club to go to the dogs it may get a lot worse before it gets better but things happen so fast in football it would only really take 1 poor season for G+H to feel the pinch. They were banking on building a new stadium to increase our match day revenue, they can't afford to build it, and im sure they were banking on the £20 million a season the CL brings in, without that money theres no way they can improve the team, no way they can significently improve the matchday revenue to a point where they can use that money to pay the interest on the loans they took out. They're running out of options really.

If they do buy us it could get pretty crazy in the PL with Dubai, Abu-Dhabi and Abramovich all trying to outdo each other, im not sure id like us to be treated as some sort of toy in a rich mans game although at the moment anything is better that what we have. I think you're right they're probably seething inside that Abu-Dhabi seem to have stolen a match on them but there really is no point in them being impulsive, they can afford to wait. The transfer window is over anyway so they could have no impact on the team until January. Hopefully though whats happened at City will mean they're more determined than ever to buy us, and that combined with the situation G+H find themselves in will make this happen before next season starts.

Im sure your right they can be patient, maybe inside their seething about whats happened at Man City but they also know G+H are in a bad situation so i doubt they'll give them anything they don't have to even if they could. Probably the best option for them is to wait for G+H to run out of options which could be sooner rather than later. Without a new stadium the reason for them staying goes, add to that the very real possibility that CL football is no longer a guarantee and what they can get out of the club vanishes (without investing in a new stadium and new players) They don't have the means to invest whats necessary to take the club to the next level and everyone knows it. Without going to that next level theres the very real possibility that they'll own a mid level PL team whose fans hate them.

Im hopeful whats happening at City will help move things along for a couple of reasons... 1. Dubai and Abu-Dhabi do like to compete, hopefully DIC will get their competitive juices flowing seeing whats happening at City and bite the bullet even if it means paying more than they should. The truth is while they'd not throw money at us because they are shrewd business men, money isn't really a factor for them, they could spend £1 billion on buying us if they wanted too. So while id hate to think of G+H getting more than they should by selling maybe whats happening at City will be enough for DIC to pay a little extra to get us. 2. The more PL clubs that get taken over by billionaires the less likely that CL place becomes. Without a new stadium the reasons for G+H buying is alreadt greatly diminished take away a further £20 million a season from the CL and there really is no motivation in them hanging on. The club is in a position where we need to speculate to accumulate G+H don't have the finances to be able to speculate by building a new stadium or investing in the team, without that investment what they can get out of the club vanishes. Hopefully they've realised this by now, obviously not being able to build the stadium is a big sign, hopefully whats happened at City will push DIC to go that extra mile.

The performances haven't been very good at all this season but apart from 1 or 2 occassions the same can be said for every team in the PL. All of the other top 4 teams have dropped points, and have had poor performances. I guess they only difference is while Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal have had at least 1 decent performance this season we really haven't. Im hoping getting some key players back will help, Mascherano is obviously very important not only in what he brings to the team but what he allows others to do. I think getting Riera in will further improve the balance of the team with a left sided player that won't cut inside all the time. I also think its important we get Agger fit and back into the team for what he offers on the ball especially in most home games when he can make that extra man in midfield. We still have a few players settling in, and a few still not fully match sharp but on the positive side we've not lost any ground in the PL and made the CL group stages without playing well yet. Defensively we look solid and in Torres, Keane, Gerrard, Babel, Riera? we do have enough attacking flair to set up solid and rely on one of those to produce the attacking flair. There are not many poor sides in the PL now, yes the overall quality isn't great but most teams are made up of internationals. They will setup defensively and if you don't get that early goal it can be difficult to break teams down. But since Rafa got here its usually taken some time to get going but we've always hit a good run, hopefully we're still in the mix when that happens this season.

Think Rafa will want to freshen things up a bit after the extra time yesterday.. ...............................Reina................................... Carragher...........Skrtel..........Agger..................Aurellio ......................Mascherano....Alonso....................... Kuyt.............................Keane.......................Babel ...................................Torres.............................

Stevie really does need to start putting the club first, if hes carrying these slight knocks he shouldnt play for England especially when its a friendly. With a big game in midweek in the CL he probably won't be risked tomorrow now (think he'll be on the bench) and if we drop points tomorrow and he doesn't start you really have to start asking questions about where his priority is. Of course he wants to play for England but if hes not fully fit its just tough luck, we pay his his wages and now he may have this niggling injury for weeks because he didn't rest it. If Gerrard doesn't start tomorrow you do have to wonder where the creativity will come from a midfield 2 of Plessis and Alonso, players like Torres, Keane and Babel will really need to step it up offensively and Alonso needs to start taking on more responsibility when Stevie doesn't play.

I dont think its any slight on Alonso, Rafa just thinks Barry would do a better job especially in the PL and since they play in the same position if we got Barry it'd mean Alonso would hardly play making it common sense to sell him. Personally i think having Barry instead of Alonso would give the side better balance, and if hes allowed to break forward as he is for Villa, Barry is certainly more of an offensive threat. One of the unknowns should we get Barry is would he be asked to play the same role as Alonso in which case he wouldn't contribute much going forward. As we see when Alonso plays for Spain he can be more of an influence going forward if hes given license to play there, for us he clearly isnt given the same license to get forward as he does for Spain.

.......................Reina....................... Arbeloa.......Carragher...Agger......Dosenna .................Alonso.......Gerrard............. Kuyt....................Keane................Benayoun .........................Torres............................

Think hes exactly the type of player Rafa would like especially in the current formation where he could play either of the wide positions or even the Gerrard position. If i remember correctly too he was one of the few Chelsea players that had some very nice things to say about us during the CL games. How somebody behaves in the highly competitive environment of a football match isn't a true reflection of what they're like as a person. Cole has always struck me as a decent person off the pitch, even though hes a bit of a cunt when he plays.

I think the statement was released because most of the stuff in the papers today is how G+H are practically telling Rafa who he can or can't buy, that may or may not be true but that statement is saying its not true and the reason we're not signing Barry isn't because theres no money for him, or that the owners have overruled Rafa, but because hes over priced. I doubt this statement would have been made without Rafa knowing about it, but its obviously an attempt at answering those reports that Rafa has been over ruled on this transfer.

I think the truth is Rafa wanted Barry and a wide left player, he thought he could swap Alonso for Barry and even make a little money from that swap. Now we can't sell Alonso or if we do it will be for a very low price, so we have to make the decision either Barry or the wide left player. Personally i doubt whether Rafa would choose Barry over a traditional wide left player if he could only have 1 of those options. We are well covered in central midfield and theres also the very valid point that if we do get Barry at his age there's no resale value. I think unless somebody comes in late with a good price for Alonso this will have to wait for another season at least. Judging from Rafa's comments after the Lazio game we do have 1 more player pretty much in the bag, after the official statement from Parry i don't think he could have been talking about Barry.

The problem here is this deal was obviously sold to the owners as we'll replace Alonso with Barry and make 4-5 million in the process, but the reality is we can't sell Alonso unless its for a very low fee and Barry is going to cost £18 million. When the initial deal was announced i think most fans would have accepted swapping Alonso for Barry if their fees were similar, but when we started talking about £18 million for Barry and £12 million for Alonso it just didnt make sense. I think we should get the left winger we need helped by selling Pennant and maybe Voronin and come back to Barry next season unless Villa drop their price.

I think the important part is we've had 6 or 7 under 20's figure in pre-season and really none of them have looked out of place. Its certainly looking like 3 or 4 of them could be part of the first team squad maybe in 2009, 1 or 2 might be ready now but only as fringe players. Certainly the most promising set of young players we've had at the club since ive been supporting. Yes we've had the odd Owen or Gerrard but at the moment there seems to be a group of very promising young players thats being added to all the time.

Interesting quotes and im not sure hes talking about Barry specifically. The truth is if Alonso is staying the need for Barry at least this season lessens significantly. But the need for a wide left player is still there, i think he could be talking about Downing here, yes Barry is more versatile but i think hes not the type of left winger we need, we already have a solid, hard working wide man in right, we need at least 1 traditional wide player Barry is not that player. Wouldn't be surprised to see any money we get spent on a traditional left winger, Xabi stays and maybe we try and get Barry again next season.

Looks like Gerrard could be a doubt for the first game with Liege, i think that means Alonso has to start unless it'll be Plessis and Spearing probably which won't happen. Also could mean the Barry transfer is rushed through although by all accounts he hasn't had much of a pre season so im not sure how fit he is.

Theres no way if we're struggling to get the money for Barry we'll spend anything like the fee being quoted for Riera. What might happen is we sell Pennant and Benayoun and get someone like Downing that would maybe cost £10-12 million but i think we have to accept if Barry signs that'll probably be it for the summer unless we can sell 2 or 3 players.

Would hate this to happen too, im starting to think Rafa wants to get rid of Alonso for reasons that aren't all based on his ability. You don't go from being the managers key player to not wanted in the space of a few seasons. I don't know if it was the episode when he chose his childs birth over playing, or maybe there are other reasons but there has to be more to it than pure football. I have no problem swapping Barry for Alonso personally i think its a slight improvement in PL terms but not for the money being talked about and not selling him to a rival where he'd be very good surrounded by all that great movement. Personally id be looking to fund the Barry deal by selling Pennant, Benayoun, Voronin and having them both.

He certainly has a very good CV! :whistle:

I think upgrading Crouch for Keane is worth the extra 5-10 million because in the current formation Crouch can play 1 of the positions while Keane could cover 4. I also think someone like Keane would handle the current formation much better than Crouch can because its quite a fluid attacking formation which suits a player with intelligence like Keane. Really hope this happens, i think Keane is the type of clever attacking player we've missed for many seasons, capable of leading the line and scoring his goals but also very good at linking up with other players and getting those assists.