etho

Really good point, I've played with and against people at youth level who I am sure had the ability to go all the way, and they were neither given the opportunity or the coaching to do this, and fell by the wayside. There's also a problem with the way kids are selected. Kids who have ability are discarded after a one hour trial which doesn't really get them the opportunity to showcase their talents.

Completely agree with this article. I read Carra's column in the Daily Fail, and was disappointed that he would hold that view. He also undermined his entire argument by refuting Dyke's claim that our academies are packed with foreign kids. They're predominantly English. Therefore why don't more get through and play in the Premier League? Because they're not quite good as good as the foreign imports (who play in National sides England aspire to beat?!). The best ones do get through anyway, take your Sturridge's and Wilshere's. I agree foreign players have been good for this game, they've raised the bar considerably to the standard that our youngsters in academies need to reach, or be better than. The reason more aren't of the standard to make it through? I think it's a grass roots problem. I'm sure St. Georges park is magnificent, but how many young players will ever play at it? The level of coaching at youth amateur level is poor. Players aren't learning the right things, and the emphasis isn't on technique enough. Also the pitches they play on are not of the right quality, and get waterlogged in Winter. The FA, or some body, needs to invest in better 3g facilities nationally for young players. People might talk about the cost, but this is the national game, the most popular pastime in this wealthy country, where we have the worlds richest league. The money needs to trickle down to this level. Or even lottery funding. Also with the quality of coaches, how many young people who love and are knowledgeable about football, would pursue coaching as a part time pastime, or as a career, if funding was made available to pay these people? That would be my vision - professional or semi professional coaches, coaching in centres or in leagues around the country, on proper pitches. And guess fucking what, I bet we'd find a lot more of these talented young kids making it to academies and ultimately taking the place of these foreign players. Will never happen of course, greed rules in our game and no one would ever commit the funding to do it properly, but still, it's a nice dream.

I know we're benefitting, but just had a look at this, Chelsea don't even have a first 11, they have a squad of players out on loan who could play in the Prem, many for top clubs. On Loan Players | Players and Staff | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club Can't be right surely.

1.Chelsea 2.Manchester City 3.Liverpool 4.Manchester United 5.Arsenal 6.Spurs 7.Everton 8.Swansea 9.Villa 10.West Ham 11.Southampton 12.Norwich 13.WBA 14.Fulham 15.Newcastle 16.Sunderland 17.Cardiff 18.Stoke 19. Crystal Palace 20.Hull City

Don't understand all the Moses indifference. I think his power and pace could really add something to us, front 4 of Suarez Sturridge Moses and Coutinho looks good to me.

Take that Andy Townsend!

I apologise. Missed the one player per club bit. 4-2-3-1 Begovic Santon Koscielny Luiz Baines Yaya Toure Gary Demel Suarez Michu Bale Van Persie

That. is fucking shit. I assume Jaaskalainen is a joke. Michael 'the crab' Carrick? Mignolet Johnson Kompany Luiz Baines Yaya Toure Gerrard Suarez Coutinho Bale Van Persie

Did we not just beat a team that beat Arsenal away and were unlucky to lose to most people's favourites for the title, Chelsea, away, whilst not playing our best? And kept another clean sheet. Good result for me.

Toure Gerrard Mignolet. Honourable mention for Sturridge.

We need to sign Fredy William Thompson, Freddy Guarin, Julio Baptista, Carlos Fierro, Cherno Samba, Tommy Svindal Larsen and Freddy Adu.

A work mate who goes to a lot of Derby games absolutely raves about Will Hughes, says he's got it all to be one of the best.

Dani Alves Simao Sergio Aguero Gareth Barry Stewart Downing Dirk Kuyt Ricardo Quaresma Jovetic

Don't know him or his actual capacity to perform or not perform any aspect of his job. On the surface it doesn't look great, although we've had Chief Exec's who've failed to sign players for years.

Who is left who we can buy in the positions we need for us to be able to compete now? Looks like all the talent has been hoovered up.

Looks pretty ominous for us if these go ahead.

In all seriousness Henry absolutely took the piss out of Carragher a few times. Carra managed to keep him quieter later on though. Others I recall are the Viduka 4-3 hat trick, Drogba in the 4-1.

After the opening weekend, and based on the quality of squad strengthening, I think you can split the final positions into these bandings. 1-3 Utd, Chelsea, City 4-6 Us, Spurs, Arsenal 7-11 Everton, Swansea, Villa, Southampton, West Ham 12-14 Norwich, Fulham, West Brom, 15-18 Sunderland, Stoke, Newcastle, Cardiff 19-20 Hull, Palace

Sturridge Mignolet Toure

Stewart Downing for Middlesboro in a 2-0 defeat, and for Aston Villa in 1-0 defeat last game of the season. In retrospect we should have signed him based on those performances, like the old days...

Mignolet, Johnson, Kolo, Agger, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Sturridge, Aspas. Should be the team. It'll be Allen instead of Henderson, the teachers pet. I would go as far as to say that Henderson became close to being a key player for us at the end of last season, so disappointing he's not been selected much in pre season.

Appears to have completely lost it, or been victim of a cruel practical joke by someone on Sky Sports News. Just watched a video clip where he appeared to be pretending he was still a manager at West Ham? He was even laying cones and writing imaginary team sheets?

Him underachieving might not be the worst thing for them. If he fails they can bring someone else in more qualified, who will look awesome compared to Moyes, and not have the shadow of Ferguson looming quite so large.

If this was a year or 2 years ago, we could have stomached it. But we are in a critical phase, if we don't get top four this year we can forget about it for the distant future. Gerrard and Rodgers have practically said it themselves. Selling him to Arsenal would basically seal our fate. So just don't fucking sell him to Arsenal.

We must not sell to Arsenal under any circumstances.