bus24

Hence being dubbed 'Mr. July'. Not sure someone has ever performed so well in pre-season games with the obvious handicap of a lack of any ability whatsoever.

Think the move made sense for all parties, really. Nolan wanted to secure his future with a more secure deal, which he will at West Ham - who get a player who will tear the championship apart. While Newcastle get a decent enough sum for someone who is getting on a bit, and wasn't going to start. Tiote and Cabaye will be their midfield duo and Ben Arfa will most likely play off the striker from what I'm told.

Coady could definitely start IMO. Not a lot of natural CMs in that squad, and both Lucas and Meireles have played a lot of football recently.

Other than trying to justify paying his ludicrous wages, I don't see the point of continually playing Al Bundy. Given that the probability of us rising above the Europa League spots is now very, very low - chances like yesterday are much more suited to giving some of the young guys a run out and a reward for the hard work they've put in IMHO.

Think this was from last night. Wonderful technique - would have loved to see it go in. [YOUTUBE]BlIf52gKTO0[/YOUTUBE]

Theoretically, we could easily persist with this system next season. It's a good one because it's flexible and the shape can easily be altered within a game depending on whether you have the ball or not. Wouldn't mind Kelly being moved across to the RCB within the back 3, and shifting Johnson across to a RWB position if we can snare Coentrao in the summer.

That's a fair enough comment, for mine. He's a lethal finisher, but his touch has always been average at best. It's something I'd always hoped he'd have improved on by this stage, but it's never really developed to a level that matches his qualities in some other areas of his game.

Maybe that's been the one positive of the whole sorry Hodgson debacle. He didn't have the bottle for a fight, and that ill-fated 6 month Hodgson horror show has shown it. The rebuild of LFC under the King requires players who want to fight, and want to be a part of getting this club back to where it belongs. No shameless blow-ins who don't give a fuck about anything other than personal glory. Every cloud, silver lining and all that.

This whole sorry charade is a complete disaster. Sounds like we're selling our world class, contracted, striker for comparative peanuts, just because he's cracked the sads and replacing him for almost the same fee with a complete headcase that's scored a few goals in the last 6 months. The way we're going round to every club in Europe putting in stupid offers like 30 fucking million pounds for Andy Carroll is desperate and pathetic. Call all this rubbish off, tell the mopey gobshite to get over himself for a few months and piss him off in the summer. This is just utter lunacy.

Think he may have just signed for Wolfsburg.

Maybe Llorente, but I'd imagine he's been lined up by the big clubs in Spain. Personally I'd try for a double raid on Bilbao for Llorente and Martinez in the summer. Both class.

Someone probably called him a backstabbing cunt. Which he is.

I thought Utopia was getting a draw at Goodison. [/roy]

The guy has handed in a transfer request with 3 days left in a transfer window in the middle of the season. It's not media nonsense, and he has tried to fuck us over. It's unquestionable.

I'm staggered, really. Not surprised he wants out, but to pull this shit with only a few days left in the January Transfer window in order to try and force a move through to Chelsea of all clubs, is utterly disgusting. After all he's said about loyalty and whatever, what a massive hypocrite. It's disrespectful to our club, to the supporters that have always been behind him, and it's massively disrespectful to the King. I'm appalled.

I don't think he's worth 40m either, but to be fair he's an excellent player and he's generally played on the left of midfield this year, so it's a bit harsh to criticise him for his defending. The more attacking role has suited him down to the ground, as he's not fantastic in a defensive sense and his best attributes are attacking ones. It's a problem that the signing of Pienaar seems to have created. Before he got injured at the weekend he turned out at left-back, so they could fit Pienaar on the left of midfield, which seems totally counter-productive. Obvious solution is leaving Pienaar on the pine, but when you're paying someone 70k p/w (way more than what he's worth) I'm sure there's a hesitancy to do that. The wheeler and dealer has wheeled and dealt himself a problem IMO. Bale's a great left midfielder, but a pretty poor defender, I can't possibly imagine why you'd move your best player out of position.

But we should want to feel like that. I felt horrible not being angry about a bad Liverpool result under Hodgson.

Birmingham I think. Think his mrs was complaining about it taking too long or something on twitter apparently.

Agreed. Ashley Young is a terrific player IMO - and you're right in that he has stagnated there, which is probably the time to test the waters. He has pace, dribbling ability, can score goals, and a very rare attribute for a modern day English winger - the ability to deliver a cross right on a teammates head. Also excellent over the dead ball. Would love him here.

Outstanding appointment, especially in relation to some of the defensive debacles we've seen this season. Another piece in the puzzle. Very pleased with this.

Absolutely! Yesterday didn't go our way thanks to a bent ref and a bit of misfortune, but it was the first time I've looked forward to watching us for 18 months, and the effort was outstanding. With getting rid of the cancers, and now getting rid of Roy the soul destroyer, it finally feels as though we've got our club back and it's just fantastic. As someone of a younger generation, I never got to see Kenny ever play for us, or manage us, so to see him walking out onto the touchline yesterday was just so exciting, and a little bit emotional. I'm just so delighted that we now have a leader of such dignity and integrity to be proud of and unite behind. It feels like the clouds have been lifted. Onwards and upwards! :thumbsup:

Elia is a fantastic player, would be absolutely stoked. Pretty much an anti-Babel, in that he can actually play football. Apart from the fact he's of Surinamese descent and fast, they're pretty much nothing alike. Good feet, direct, can beat a man with skill and not just punting it 30m up the touchline and can score goals. Reckon he'll be a real hit in the Premier League. Really hoping this is true.

Yup, 26 and already more than 80 appearances from Germany. A lot of people don't realise how awesome this guy is because he plays in an underappreciated domestic league. He was the best player at the world cup by far IMHO. He'd be perfect for the Premier League as well. Would absolutely love to have him, but can't see it happening.

I've got a mate from Belgium, and he raves about Hazard like crazy. Normally you have to take people raving about their compatriots with a pinch of salt, but this guy is normally on the ball with his assesment of players. Personally I haven't seen as much of him as I'd like, but from what I've seen he's very intelligent, positive and creative - and god knows we could use those attributes in the attacking third.

A very difficult place to win, and we got 3 points out of it. There's been a definite improvement in the approach to the game in the last 2 fixtures. Sure, it isn't pretty at the moment, but at least during the last two game there's been an intent to actually go and win the game. It's been a dramatic shift in terms of that approach, and I can't help feel it's come from above Hodgsons head.