Ne Moe Imya

Yes, but pretty much everything is, these days. If we manage to trade Carroll for Dempsey + Borini, give or take a million or two, I think that's decent business, myself. I suppose in the end we'll see once they're on the pitch, but a front 3 of Borini, Suarez, and Dempsey certainly fits the pressing style Rodgers is reported to favour.

So if I understand you correctly, kids now have more balance in their lives than just football all the time and their families are too well-off for them to be great footballers, and you think this is a problem?

"Underpromise and overdeliver."

That actually makes sense, though it's a ridiculous way to handle it (surely it would be easier to just raise the wage limit?). I was wondering how they were convincing so many players to sign for less money than they made at their previous clubs. Adebayor in particular was reported to be on double the 70k reported limit.

Isn't Sigurdsson a huge United fan? I remember reading somewhere that he once wished (as a teenager) that Anfield burned to the ground or something. If it were me, and I had a chance to make a big move in English football as a 22 year old, and it were down to United and Spurs, if the offers were even close I'd choose Spurs. I know it should come down to footballing questions instead of sentiment, but there's a part of me that hates everything about that club and what it stands for so much that I would struggle to pull on the shirt. Not saying I wouldn't put that aside for 70k a week, obviously, but if another club came in and offered me 80k I'd jump at it. I think Sigurdsson is probably thrilled to stay away from us, even though he obviously has a connection to Rodgers, and I won't fault him if he makes an emotional decision instead of a rational one. I would have liked him here (I think the rumoured 9 million is a bargain, given reasonable wages) but wouldn't be too upset to see him at Spurs. It's not as if he's the next Messi.

I don't think it's that bad myself. Would be a pretty good kit if it didn't have the tribal rubbish on the sleeves, but even with them it's more of a "meh" than a "monstrosity," IMO. I personally don't really care about the third kit, since we'll only wear it a few times, but I think the reaction has been overblown.

There have been enough ITKs who have seen the shirt that confirm it that I'm convinced it's accurate. It's a mockup, so obviously the shade of the colours and such are probably slightly off, but it will definitely be close to that. I for one think that it falls into the category of "so shite it's more hilarious than embarrassing." Wouldn't trade it for the Manc pyjamas, for example.

He didn't say that Swansea were selling him now, he said that IF Swansea bought him they would have to include a sell-on clause so that Hoffenheim would get some of the money if/when they sold him on. Hence they were able to get the low 6.8 million price, and since we won't have such a clause in our agreement to buy, we will have to pay more.

The explanation is that a foul is marked as a statistical event separate from a tackle. In other words, you can tackle, or you can foul, but you can't do both in one action. He had 62 clean tackles, and then 58 fouls (whether attempted tackles, uses of the arm when jumping for aerial balls, etc.). That has to be the only possible explanation for that stat, no?

Surely Chelsea are not going to bring in Hulk, Marin, Hazard AND Jovetic. I've been banging the drum for Jovetic for a few months now. Quality player, but the struggling team and some injury problems just about drop him into the class of player we could afford/would want to come here. I don't think we could do much better for a wide forward in a tiki-taka pressing style.

That Lacina Traore video is like watching Ngoo 5 years from now. Same gangly motion, somehow dribbling through players when it looks impossible. I'm not sure either of them are good enough to play at the level we want to be in a few years, but it's certainly entertaining to watch them.

QPR - Liverpool Liverpool - Chelsea Aston Villa - Liverpool Liverpool - West Brom Tottenham - Liverpool

I'm sure given our new "throw all the money at the best 15-year olds" strategy, we'd be in for him if he weren't a left back. Seeing as we already have Robinson and a younger kid named O'Hanlon that we spent a couple of million on just a year ago, it seems we've decided to save our money. Until the next time our scouts hear a rumour that a 12 year old is playing for the U-16s at a League 1 club.

Don't ever bet on footie but that's a very good shout. You could easily see England doing something like 0-0, 1-1, and losing 1-3. That means only 2 goals in the tournament, and you have to think the odds that someone like Lescott scores one of them, while still low, have to be better than 66/1.

It's the other side we're more desperate for help with anyway. I'm happy to see Bellamy, Downing and Sterling split time on the left. Well, not "happy," exactly, but I can live with it. Even Suarez can play out there in this 4-3-3-esque setup of Brendan's. The bigger problem is on the right. We've had Kuyt, who's now gone. Henderson, who looked poor, and isn't even an option if it's 4-3-3 and we're talking about the right forward. Gerrard? I don't think he'd be suited there, either. That's where we need to spend the money, IMO. Sure, we could use someone to challenge Carroll for the #9, but we haven't had a really good wide player in ages. If we're going to be after a "marquee" player, that's where it has to be. If he can play on the left as well it's a bonus, but we need someone to come in and be a right-sided John Barnes. Or, as that's probably asking too much, at least a right-sided Riera.

Too right. At least when Hodgson was the one bringing in Konchesky you could laugh at him for being a buffoon. Last summer was just one bad decision after another. With every single transfer, I felt like I was going through the cycle of grief: denial (no, I'm sure we're not going to get Downing, he's far too overpriced), anger (it must be Comolli's fault! Grr!), bargaining (well, maybe we'll also get Mata, it won't be so bad), depression (I can't believe we paid 20 million. It makes my head hurt.) and finally acceptance (oh, well. Hopefully Kenny has some sort of plan I don't understand?). It was like that with almost every transfer, too.

I think Sahin would be interesting. Excellent player, not getting a lot of playing time ... could be a possibility. Higuain/Benzema are laughable, though, so that sort of spoils any semblance of credibility the source may have had.

Seriously doubt that. All this talk of "plus sales" is interesting. Who are we going to sell that could raise significant funds? We'll have to pay someone to take Cole, I doubt we'd get much for Maxi, and we only got 1 million for Kuyt. Aquilani will end up insisting that he won't play for anyone except Milan or something, and we'll sell him for 2-3 million (that has to go down as one of the worst deals in our history). So who are we going to sell that could significantly boost the kitty? Adam, maybe? Could probably get 5 million or so, I suppose. Now if we really get bold and put Downing on the block he could bring in some money from Sunderland or QPR or someone else with more money than sense. I suspect we could con someone out of 10 million for him. I doubt any of the others will really be considered. If we already had another striker or two, Carroll perhaps, but we're short in that department as it is, so I would be shocked if we sold him.

I think you're ignoring the fact that the real increase in revenue will come not from the increased numbers of seats, but from the increased corporate boxes, etc. Sure, an extra 5k seats would make us more money, but if we add 100 corporate boxes it will make us just as much. Not sure of the precise maths on that, but the redevelopment of the two stands will surely incorporate more corporate facilities, which is where a stadium makes a huge percentage of its matchday revenue.

Well said. If you're "expecting" top 4, then if we finish 6th it has to be seen as a failure. We have no right whatsoever to expect a top 4 finish next season. If Reading could take back the decision to sack Rodgers after a few months, I'm sure they would. He's going to be trying to totally turn around the way we play, on a limited budget, against teams that currently have better sides and will outspend us besides. I desperately hope that people don't get up in arms if we're 7th or 8th at Christmas.

Spot on. I can't believe I'm actually taking Rio Ferdinand's side on something, but he's obviously been left out to accommodate John Terry.

Did he? When did Dirk sign his last extension? I thought I read somewhere it was Purslow again who put that in. Regardless, I think it was obvious Dirk was going, I was just hoping we could get 3-4 million for him.

I'm a bit surprised to see people thinking we'll be in the top 4, to be honest. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but unless we spend serious money in the transfer market I think we'll end up somewhere around 6th - 8th. Rodgers may be a very good manager, but he's implementing a completely different style of play and I think it will take a year or two before it clicks. Look what happened when he went to Reading. I'm a bit concerned that if we did finish, say 7th, that the fans will start to turn against Rodgers - I didn't think high expectations would be a problem until I started reading this thread. Of course, if we go out and get Muniain, Soldado and Javi Martinez or something like that then I suppose my expectations will rise, but I don't see that as likely. As for the rest of the league, I think this will be the year when the money gap between United's spending and Chelsea/City finally starts to show; I think it will be between Chelsea and City for the league title, with United 8-10 points behind by March.

I was just watching highlights of Swansea - Norwich from last season and he was playing for Norwich. Looked decent, too. I'd forgotten about him completely, to be honest. Would be interesting to see him come back in; didn't he come through Barca's academy? Could be a player worth taking a look at under the new regime.

I especially like the idea that he's going to "finish his Wigan project." What project is that, exactly? Wigan have precisely one goal at the beginning of every season - not be relegated. What "project" could there be to work on? Getting them into the top half, three years in a row? I can't possibly imagine anyone associated with Wigan wanting more than that. Can't believe some of the tripe that gets printed in this country.