ohmelads

If Spurs don't finish top 6 they could be in trouble financially.

Good post. People who call fellow fans fickle are just idiots trying to force their opionions on others. The fans have supported the last two managers until there was absolutely no option to get rid. Both managers seriously looked like taking us down, and neither had a past record you could point to and say "stick with this guy, look what he did at...". Allardyce arrives with pedigree which will afford him more patience because we know he's a decent manager. Blackburn fans didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for us taking Souness off them while Roeder's Newcastle side didn't score a single goal at home after mid-February, and his only track record was to get a good West Ham side relegated. I think some people don't even know the meaning of fickle. Allardyce has only been in the job 2 months, a ball hasn't even been kicked competitively and people are using the word fickle already. It's a bit embarrassing tbh.

I don't think we're big enough to go buying players like Queudreu at the age of 28 as backup.

From today's Chronicle:

Good news.

If we're getting the Queudreu of two or three seasons ago then he could be a good signing. But the feeling is that he's gone downhill quite a bit and doesn't strike me as the most ambitious of players - moving to Fulham from Boro after a good season was a bit random. I'd see him as an improvement on Baba but we could do better.

We all sussed out Sam's philosophy years ago. Finding a way to beat it is another matter. I remember Souness tried to fight fire with fire and put a team out to go and beat Bolton at their own game. It didn't work because we had a team of midgets and we got bullied off the park, their players were also far more used to that style of game. We just played right into their hands. Arsenal have tried to let their quality do the talking but they tend to struggle against Bolton too because they don't get the time on the ball that they would like. Bolton have given Chelsea some very tough games (and beaten them) too but that's because the two formations tend to cancel each other out and make for an even, scrappy game. My main worry about Allardyce is how he can take that style of football to another level. It is possible, Chelsea and Liverpool are utterly boring teams who are not too dissimilar to Bolton, they just have better players all over the park. It'll be interesting to see which of our players flourish under the new system and which flop. Some won't like it at all, some will get a new lease of life. If we can bring the best out of players like Emre and Duff we'll be laughing, but equally if we see Owen and Martins struggling out wide we might have problems. Gonna be an interesting season either way...

Does anyone have a link to Allardyce saying he wants 2 LB's? This week he basically made a strong suggestion that Babayaro is staying.

Is it "having a go at Sam" to say that any of the four signings we've made could flop because all have doubts over them? Viduka-fat and lazy, Barton-trouble, Rozenhal-unproven, Geremi-no regular football in years. I think some people need a bit of perspective, the way some people are going on you'd think we've just signed Ronaldinho, Kaka, Alves and Nesta. Those are the people getting "carried away". I think we've done bloody well in terms of net spending, we've got excellent VALUE for our money so far. You might think we've got 4 excellent players, that's your opinion. You can call people sh*t fans for not agreeing with you but that says more about you than it does them.

That's what I was thinking. We could get a cheap old keeper in as 3rd choice on a one-year deal and then loan Krul out. It's worth it because the signs are Krul could save us a lot of money and hassle in the future.

Leaves us in a dilemma because we saw with ourselves and Chelsea last season how easy it is to lose two keepers at once. He really needs a few years experience if he intends on taking over Given when he retires but it's going to be difficult to give it to him without a recall option. I'd send Carroll out on loan though regardless. We have 4 strikers plus Dyer, Luque and Duff who can play there if need be.

True, and that makes him one of the Premiership's decent strikers. A top 6 striker. I actually think he 's a pretty good forward who does chip in with a lot of assists, but he's overrated because he's considered one of the top strikers in the league. This is the same league where Benni McCarthy (another 'decent' striker) notched up 18 league goals. McCarthy and Berbatov are decent strikers who I rate but there are many I consider equal or better in this league alone. To talk about him as one of the top strikers in the league is wrong, he hasn't earned that status yet. Berbatov and Bent will form a 'decent' partnership and get quite a lot of goals because Spurs are a 'decent' team. But if you believed half the media hype you'd think he was a one of the league's top strikers on the verge of signing for Man Utd (McCarthy, Martins etc have been linked with the top 4 too, it doesn't mean they're going).

Berbatov is overrated by the media. Good striker, but not a great striker. He went through a purple patch in the second half of the season and scored some excellent goals and the media hype around him was huge. But the same happened with Martins. A barren spell and suddenly everyone looks at it differently. That's to be expected with players in their first season in England. Berbatov didn't perform wonders last season, he was just decent and showed potential to be better than decent. Kevin Doyle outscored him playing for Reading, yet the way some people talk about Berbatov you'd think he was the next big thing. And to think Spurs fans say they have a better strike force than Arsenal! Van Persie - 11 goals and 7 assists in 21 games. Berbatov - 12 goals and 9 assists in 32 games. And I predict he'll outscore Berbatov next season.

When did he say he wanted two LB's? That came from someone on the forum didn't it? Sam's come out this week and basically said that Baba is staying so it seems highly unlikely we will sign two left backs. Babayaro will be backup.

Shearer at his best was better than Berbatov in all departments. It was only later in his career after injuries and ageing took their toll that Shearer became more reliant on his strength. In the mid-90s he was very mobile and his link up play was superb. He was far more than just a finisher, he was a brilliant footballer. He didn't have the quick feet or the stepovers but he didn't really need them, his touch, passing, even his crossing was excellent. You don't score 121 goals in 148 games (his peak) by having a poorer touch, poorer control, poorer creativity, poorer passing and poorer link-up play than Berbatov! You're crazy if you believe that. Many of the goals Shearer scored were moves started by him, one-twos or balls fed out wide before getting himself into the box. You seem to be basing your opinion of Shearer on his last few seasons as a player. Ask any neutral and they'll tell you you're talking bollocks. There are great Premiership forwards like Cantona, Bergkamp, Henry. Shearer can be placed in that category. Mention Berbatov's name anywhere near that category and people will snigger.

It's becoming increasingly clear that the cheap signings/freebies were not a coincidence. Either we're saving up for a big signing or the money simply isn't there and we're doing our best on a fairly limited budget. Sam made it sound like he intends to keep Baba this week which suggests he will only buy one left back who will walk into the first 11. I don't want that left back to be Queudreu

Fair point, forgot about his contract situation. I really do hope we forget all about him until January, it would be very desperate to agree terms now.

The only way I see it working is if we aren't actually signing him to play as a striker. 5 strikers, 4 of them big names, is too much unless we plan to play 3 up front. But then what about the wingers? The only way around it is to make Gudjohnsen a dedicated AM in a 3-man central midfield, who can cover up front if needed. I actually think this could be his best position, because he's not a natural scorer but his creative skills are very underrated. Mourinho noticed this and brought him into that position on a regular basis. He's still like by Chelsea fans and I don't think the decision to sell him was a popular one. He had some brilliant games in the AM role under Mourinho, ran the show sometimes with his deft touches and clever balls. He's very composed on the ball and likes to drop deep. That's the only way it would make sense for me and in that position I think he'd be a brilliant signing.

Chelsea if they can get Shevchenko firing. He's the best striker on that list in terms of natural goalscoring ability.

Not really. Chelsea had injuries last season which they'll be more prepared for this time around. The loss of Terry and Cech put them out of the title race really, and losing Robben and Joe Cole affected them. Chelsea will win the vast majority of their games and will be right up there with them all the way. It's important to remember that Man Utd can only field 11 players and they can't do anything about Chelsea picking up points for 36 games of the season.

All fair points, although with Taylor I think many of us knew he was going to make it from the off. There was that Arsenal game where he had Pires in his pocket playing at right back, which I think was one of his first starts for us. His form made him difficult to drop. It might be that these lads are slower developers, or that they might still develop into useful squad players, who knows.

Bridge would be my first choice but I also think he's very unrealistic. He knows that another good season could see him oust Ashley Cole for both Chelsea and England, he knows he's becoming a lot more popular with the Chelsea fans than Cole. Thinking about it, we haven't got a chance. Heinze's injuries would be a worry, but so would Bridge or Campbell. Heinze is 29 and because of the type of full back he is, I think he could play until 34 or beyond, espescially under Allardyce. I think he's a similar style of left back to the great Maldini. And even if he does start to lose his pace/stamina, we can move him into central defence where he has played many times for Argentina. I'd be prepared to take a gamble on Heinze at £5M and big wages because I think he vcould easily have 5 years left in the game. There's no shame in being dropped from the Man Utd team and it's true he's made a few high profile mistakes and lacked a bit of sharpness coming back from injury, but just 12 months ago he was one of the most popular players at Old Trafford.

I'll believe this when I see it. I'm not convinced Mourinho would go for him and I'm not convinced Spurs would turn down that much money. He doesn't strike me as Mourinho's type of full back. Small and not great defensively. I know Mourinho signed A.Cole, but that was because of his sheer quality at the time (considered one of the best in the world) and the fact he's English. Mourinho's generally regarded to like more defensively capable full backs, preferably with a bit of height. I don't think Chimbonda would suit such a disciplined defensive unit such as Chelsea's for much the same reasons that A.Cole hasn't - he's an attacking full back.

If we wait and he comes back in superb condition then they will double or treble the asking price. That's the problem. A gentleman's agreement with the player won't be worth anything, because if he comes back fine and they want to keep him, he's hardly going to beg for a move to Newcastle. Big Sam obviously has faith he'll come back OK, or seems prepared to take that gamble, in the hope that we secure a good fit player for a bargain fee. But to do that we have to stump up the money now. If we wait until January we could turn our noses up at a crocked player or we could see his price shoot out of our reach. It's now or never IMO.

Heinze would be a typical Big Sam signing, just the type he needed a bigger club to go for. A versatile experienced world class player who becomes available because his career has gone slightly off the rails. We'd have a real job on our hands getting him here, but one by one the big clubs in Europe are going for other targets. For me he could be our big summer signing, someone who walks straight into our team and potentially takes the whole defence to another level as well as improving the whole left hand side too, because at his best he's a hell of a player.