ohmelads

OH MY G0D LIKE OH MY GOD!!!

We could get him off the wage bill and get a small fee but seems like Allardyce will keep him. This suggests Ashley will provide a healthy enough budget that we can afford to give him another go. There's no point turning this into another Luque debate, everyone knows each others' opinions, but I for one am glad Sam is willing to give it a go as I feel he's got far more chance of getting him performing than Souness or Roeder ever did and Duff's long term injury might give him an opportunity.

They finished top 4 without him last season and my head says they'll do it again if Wenger stays. He never did replace Vieira though and Henry will be at least as hard to replace. As for us, it's impossible to say where we're headed until we know what's happening with Owen and Martins and what kind of budget we have. We need a whole new defence and I wouldn't get too excited until I've seen a few decent defenders through the door.

I'll be happy if we can get this one done, if nothing else because I like the sound of this guy and a breakthrough in defensive signings will prevent other clubs holding us to ransom so much.

Yeah sky sports seem to show Real and Barca almost exclusively every sunday, and occasionally Sevilla and Valencia. They almost never show other teams unless it's against those four. Your average sky viewer would probably see more of Henry with him playing for Barca than they have in the past.

On the Owen issue, £9m probably isn't that much below what he's worth, when you consider his contract situation and the fact he's barely played competitive football since December 2005. In 12 months he'll be in his last year of contract, in 2 years he'll be free, and everybody knows he'd rather be elsewhere which further drives down his value. I don't want us to lose him simply because I don't think we're capable of attracing a player that good and I feel that he's professional enough to do his best even if he doesn't want to be here.

They cost a bomb but they generally do deliver as you say. Arteta at Everton and Richards at Man City stand out for me. Woodgate came under that category.

Even if we sign Rozehnal I feel we need another two central defenders after that, as well as two full backs. That's not being greedy, but we should have a minimum of 7 defenders with any kind of experience. As far as I'm concerned we have two defenders, one a first teamer (Taylor) and one a back up (Solano). We have emergency cover in Ramage and young prospects who are nowhere near ready (Huntington, Edgar). I feel we need 5 defenders with hopefully Rozehnal the first. We've let 4 defenders go already and Carr and Baba could and should be on the way out, so it's totally reasonable to suggest 5 come in. If Ramage, Huntington or Edgar are getting regular games then we can prepare to drop serious points, as we did last season. Ramage just isn't good enough but might as well stay as emergency cover. One or both of the other two ideally need a loan to get experience elsewhere. They didn't come through because they were ready - they clearly weren't - they came through because we were desperate and we can't let that happen again. Solano and Taylor can cover right back, we need to sell Carr and get a new first team right back in. I'm a huge Solano fan and he had an excellent spell there mid last season but he faded badly and he doesn't have the legs to hold that position for another season.

Dunno anything about this guy but I just like the sound of him. Named in Ligue 1 team of the season despite playing for a club battling relegation, that's quite a complement. He's said to be quick and he's certainly experienced, two things Taylor could do with alongside him, and he's a regular in the Czech defence which is pretty solid. Big Sam's been scouting him since his Bolton days so this isn't a desperate signing to make the numbers up, and the price doesn't represent a major gamble. To top it all off he's hardly missed a game in two seasons. Sevilla, whose scouts found stars such as Sergio Ramos, Jose Reyes, Julio Baptista and Dani Alves, and spotted a bargain in Fredi Kanoute, are now looking at Rozehnal which gives me hope. Sevilla generally know what they're doing in the transfer market. Spanish paper Marca are quoting a Czech paper which says we've offered him 56,000 euros a week which is about £35k.

Thing is our squad was nowhere near good or big enough last season, we finished 5 points above relegation and threw kids who weren't ready into the first team against the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd. Since then we've lost loads of players and brought two in. If Butt gets injured we have noone to shore up midfield. There's a good chance we will lose either of Owen or Martins. Our squad could do with a player of his versatility and at that price, it allows us to go on improving the squad. We need at least another half a dozen players, we practically need a whole back four as it is, we've got Duff injured on the left til November at least and only three central midfielders worth the name. We need reinforcements all over and this would be a bloody good value signing. You know what you're getting with Smith and at that price I think our squad would look significantly healthier.

Assuming we are going to lose one of our strikers, he'd be an excellent addition at that price. His versatility would be invaluable when you consider our lack of cover in central midfield. He's a bit of an awkward striker, it could be said he neither creates nor scores a great deal. But his first touch and movement is good and his relentless pressing forces defenders into mistakes which is how a great deal of goals come about. For a squad like ours, short on numbers and definitely short on commitment, he'd be a snip at that price. We have had our fingers burnt in recent years buying cast-offs from bigger clubs, but if we were to land Smith at that price we could certainly spend the money where we really need to which is in defence. I wouldn't be surprised if we lose Owen or Martins but I'd be very surprised if we lose both. Smith to replace either with a load of money left over for other positions would balance our squad out a lot.

On the subject of the Spanish league, one player I'd like to see us go for would be Carlos Diogo of Real Zaragoza. A quality right back who never got the chance at Real Madrid but proved himself this season and being 24 next month is a ripe age. Being Uruguayan it'd be difficult to prise him from the Spanish league though and Zaragoza just had a good season finishing 6th. If we're going for full backs who have their best years ahead of them, can defend and get forward, and would potentially come to us, then I think he fits the bill. Definitely a better bet than Luke Young or someone like that.

Owen is playing us around and waiting for a move but you know he's a professional and if he does stay he'll score goals for us. I'm really torn on it to be honest. I really don't want us to lose our best player but looking at the bigger picture it might not be all that good to have a superstar constantly attracting interest from bigger clubs and not committing himself to the club. The hope would be to keep him and have a good season and convince him to stay on, but somehow that seems unlikely. If he does stay another season I think it'll be his last anyway, plus his value will drop significantly as his contract will be running out. Losing him now, as painful as it would be, could just be better for us in the long term. £9m is still quite a bit of money, throw a few mill more on the end of that and we could get ourselves a very good replacement for years to come, someone perhaps more committed to the club and someone better for the balance of the team. As great a player as Owen is, I've always felt he's a little bit awkward to play around and his injury record means he has never scored 20 league goals for anyone. For me a world class striker who seldom assists should be able to claim that. He's not the be all and end all and £9m is not pennies. We need an answer soon though because to lose him in August would leave us with a big problem.

Taylor wasn't brilliant last season, he was alright. To compare him to Bramble is extremely harsh, Taylor was the best of a bad bunch in defence last season. Get him in a good defence and he'll come on leaps and bounds. Can you imagine if you threw Agger into our defence in place of Taylor? I reckon he'd struggle. Put these players in an environment where they can develop and learn from the best and they're a lot more likely to do it.

Not so sure about that given Souness' latest comments on top of the accusations Bobby made. Seems like the managers really did just give Shepherd a list and then some players come through, they knew nothing about the terms.

He'd be a sideways step, a player brought in "to do a job". We need better.

He's got a big future ahead of him if we can get an experienced leader in beside him and improve the full back positions. How many different centre back partners did he have last season? And in how many different back four combinations? Dozens. It's not a recipe for success, in fact I've never seen a club who rotate most of their back four every week consistently keep clean sheets. Allardyce has the right idea going for experience in central defence as we only have Taylor and a couple of almost untried kids, but the hard part will be finding the right man. Woodgate would have been perfect.

If it's true then it's disgraceful. Have to say though that article contains a lot of unsubstantiated claims and blatant conjecture. Allardyce has already "dispensed with many experienced defenders including Bramble, Gooch and Moore"? Actually that's the lot, three. Very lazy journalist. I suspect his comments about Dyer and Emre are just calculated guesses.

Steven Taylor

Allardyce still hasn't signed anything. It's important we get it right because for once we're changing manager at the right time. Unlike the previous two managers (who weren't good enough anyway) we can bring in a manager with pedigree who will have the whole summer and pre-season to start building and knowing his squad. I'm totally undecided on Allardyce, partly because of my long-standing hatred towards him. I have some reservations over whether someone who bases his game on strength and power, set-pieces and high balls could get results with possibly the shortest squad of players in the league. Replacing them all simply isn't a possibility, so he will have to adapt a playing style around the likes of Owen, Martins, maybe Emre, Parker and Dyer too. Can he do that? He will bring qualities to the table we didn't have under Roeder. I'd expect an organised defence and clever set-pieces. But for me the big question is whether or not he can get us winning games without resorting to the ugly long-ball all the while.

Harper 4 - Dodgy given he didn't have a lot to do in the way of saves or deep crosses. Can't think of a lot he did right in all honesty. Solano 5 - Left two on one way too often. One of his poorer games. Carr 5 - Backed off way too much but saved us on a couple of occasions. Bramble 3 - All over the place for 90 minutes. Shat himself whenever the ball came near him. Taylor 6 - Our best defender, but that's not saying a lot. Didn't do a lot wrong. Milner 6 - Tried harder than anyone, though his delivery was off today. Dyer 2 - Spent a lot of the game playing very deep and was very uncomfortable there. Cost us the game when he hesitated on the ball and did it two or three times after which left us holding our breaths. He needs to be on the right wing, I've said it all along. Emre 5 - Had defensive duties before coming off and like Dyer looked uncomfortable there, though he wasn't caught in possession nearly as much. A couple of misplaced passes and an injury made it a frustrating game for him, but he showed more intent than most others. Ameobi 5 - Got in scoring positions ... but wasted a brilliant chance to equalise. Sibierski 4 - Fought hard but he just isn't good enough. N'Zogbia 4 - Lacklustre would be the word. Looks like he's seriously lacking in confidence and match-practise. Martins 4 - Great ball to Owen for the offside goal, but disappeared for most of the game and missed a couple of decent heading opportunities. Owen 6 - Started brightly, fought for every ball and showed his intelligent running and composure to slot home in the opening minutes. Caught offside too often and faded badly in the second half.

What exactly does Roeder bring to this football club that any run-of-the-mill manager couldn't? This performance, like several others this season, reminded me very much of the Souness era at its worst. There was just nothing there today, our desperation was summed up when Taylor blasted at goal wildly from something like 35 yards. Why people think this manager can take us forwards I have no idea. He is continuing the slide which was gradual under Bobby and serious under Souness. We need that slide to stop and it won't with this manager. Eleven players may have had a poor enough game but when that consistently happens with decent players you have to look at the bigger picture. Some players, espescially Dyer, deserve a bollocking but you have to look at the man who asked a controversial attacking player to captain the team in a defensive midfield position. What on earth was he thinking? Dyer's not made for that position at all and was found out several times. He cost us the first goal gifting possession and nearly cost us again and again, yet at no point did he change position. Did Roeder not realise or was he too stubborn to change his most eccentric tactical move of the game? Whatever, it cost us at the end of the day and the buck stops with him. What an utterly depressing performance. The only positive to take out of today's game is that two players made long-awaited comebacks but then we lost two players to what look like serious injuries.

Personally I hope we don't lose him.

Blatantly two screamers from Albert Luque.

I don't see the point in not playing them if they're fully fit and raring to go. I can see the whole argument about wrapping them in cotton wool but it could just make things worse, making someone who has been out so long wait and wait and wait. By the time August comes around it'll be 20 months since his last start for Newcastle and you just know England are going to use him over the summer. It'll only make the pressure on him and the media circus around us even greater at the start of next season if he doesn't play now. I'd rather we could just concentrate on team matters next season and get his 'big' return over with now. I also feel that just a few games with Martins and Owen together now will tell us a lot about how their partnership is/isn't going to work in the longer term. I'd like to think it'd give our coaching setup time to work on things over the summer in time for the new season.