ohmelads

Bit shocked by tonight's result (didn't see the match), pleasantly surprised indeed. We have to bear in mind though that Allardyce is in his honeymoon period, Roeder and Souness both had promising starts too. Not trying to take anything away from tonight's win but we shouldn't get carried away. We need defenders as much as we did yesterday.

The G14 clubs tend to get their own way. I doubt they'd have had the trouble that we had getting N'Zogbia from Le Havre for example. Could you imagine if ourselves or a smaller club had tried to sign Mascherano, do you think FIFA would have intervened and sidestepped the rules for us?

You're not wrong, but I don't see what Ramage gives us on an individual or collective level. He wasn't brought into the first team squad on merit like Taylor, he was brought in because of a major injury crisis, because we had nowhere else to turn. He was on the brink of a move to Hibernian or somewhere before he was drafted in, he was considered one of the many unsuccessful academy products. He's only stayed in the first team squad since because we've been so short of defenders for a long time and suffered injuries left right and centre. When you're that low on numbers you consider him better than nothing. He's an honest lad on low wages who doesn't complain, so while we're threadbare in defence there's no point getting rid, but my guess is he'll be gone as soon as we've acquired decent defensive options (whenever that'll be).

Their bench is far more experienced than ours, in the second half I can see them bringing the likes of Pressley, Gravesen, Balde and Miller while we bring on Taylor, N'Zogbia, Troisi, Edgar.

Huge test for Rozehnal with Ramage, Carr and Huntington for company.

It's a poor team we've put out, shows our lack of squad depth. That is a shocking defence, Zurawski and Hesselink will probably get the better of them. Dyer isn't on the bench. NUFC: Shay Given, Stephen Carr, Paul Huntington, David Rozehnal, Peter Ramage, James Milner, Geremi, Nicky Butt, Nobby Solano, Oba Martins, Albert Luque Subs: Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Matty Pattison, Charles N'Zogbia, Andy Carroll, Steven Taylor, David Edgar, James Troisi CFC: Artur Boric, Lee Naylor, Maciej Zurawski, Scott Brown, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Massimo Donati, John Kennedy, Stephen McManus, Paul Caddis, Paul Hartley, Aiden McGeady Subs: Bobo Balde. Kenny Miller, Derek Riordan, Thomas Gravesen, Steven Pressley, Jiri Jarosik, Mark Brown, Chris Killen, Scott McDonald, Gary Irvine

Be interesting to see how he performs left wing. Some of his best performances have come from that side.

NUFC: Shay Given, Stephen Carr, Paul Huntington, David Rozehnal, Peter Ramage, James Milner, Geremi, Nicky Butt, Nobby Solano, Oba Martins, Albert Luque Subs: to follow .. CFC: to follow ... Subs: to follow ... .cock says it's 4-4-2: ------------------------Given--------------------------- Carr----------Roz-------------Ramage--------Hunty Solano---------Geremi------Butt------------Milner ------------------Martins-----Luque---------------

That sounds like Oliver's usual bollocks, but if West Ham are trying to play the cockney spivs then we should just sit and wait until they up their offer - if they don't do it he doesn't move. The closer they get to the deadline the more they'll sweat while we have the player and they don't. As Sam mentioned, we can always just keep the player. He might be a bit unhappy, but so is Heinze at Man Utd and their stance is if he stays he stays. Some players kick up a right stink and refuse to play but that's pretty rare and I don't think Dyer would dare do that here tbh, espescially when he's pretty much a first-team player.

I'd rather go for someone who can play central midfield if we go down that route.

Exactly. If they care about the football they'll want to see a more competitive league. If they care about brands they'll fawn all over Man Utd and Liverpool. Scudamore is basically talking out of his arse, saying they know their football and are as fanatical as us yet also saying they need the big brands to win all of the time.

Why? Mido and Chopra went for £6m and £5m respectively. It's in inflated transfer market and we're talking about a highly experienced England international. Even given the age difference I'd have thought Dyer would be worth more than Chopra. Mido has had plenty of fitness/attitude problems and was 5th choice striker yet they managed to get £6m for him. We should be looking for at least that much for Dyer.

The writing was on the wall when Sam came out into the media to plead for funds, his 'outburst' about how much clubs like Fulham are spending, how we're getting left behind, how the new board are too inexperienced and slow. For me those quotes were very revealing and that was when I became pretty concerned at the way things were going. Since then, Sam has become more and more vocal and all he has done is vent to the media. He says in the Chronicle today that he has pursued 10-15 players in the last two weeks and hasn't got any. I find it hard to believe all were out of our reach, so for the moment money definitely seems to be an issue. Sam alluded to this when he talked about 'spending money as soon as he gets it' for Dyer. Basically everything Allardyce has said makes sense, his honesty is refreshing and I for one believe him. I think the new board, for whatever reason, have not been forthcoming with the funds he needs and it's going to have an impact on our season.

Given Viduka's propensity to get injured we might be better off wrapping him up in cotton wool, but then we need to offset that against our need to get a good start to the season with an already weakened team. Someone said that Liverpool played Kewell yesterday though, and Viduka's getting a week more rest than him, so he should be OK.

I'm not sure who he's referring to? Ben Haim, Distin perhaps, but I agree we haven't missed out on a great deal. Makes his comments all the more concerning when he says "there are no longer other options with the same quality available".

There comes a time though when "better than what we've got" becomes "better than nothing". I remember Roeder went on about how he wouldn't sign average players on long contracts and that's fair enough, but in the end he had to turn to the reserves and we could have been relegated. We need bodies in and I'd rather get in some average players if we must than turn to the reserves again. I think Allardyce is suggesting that we may need one or two average players just to pad out the squad because we're getting to the "beggars can't be choosers" stage where our targets have fallen through and we have to reassess our situation. Basically things have not gone too well since the Geremi signing and we must salvage something from this window. It's refreshing if nothing else that Allardyce recognises this. Roeder spent the whole time complaining about the concept of a transfer window, and ended up running around on the last day getting anyone he could get his hands on like Sibierski and Bernard.

I'm glad we can finally laugh at Bramble in the same way the rest of the country has for years. I defended him so many times but in the end it was just once too much to bear. You just never knew which Bramble would turn up, it wouldn't be as funny if he messed up all the time, it's the way he just 'does a Bramble' now and again. I do think he's definitely better than Ramage but I think he's become too synonymous with our poor defences over the years and it was best for both parties that he move on. For once I look forward to seeing his moments.

You can have Steven Carr for £10m. We'll throw in Ramage as well.

Basically translates as Curbs saying "I'll give it a shot". Allardyce is talking big but he knows he needs the money soon if he's going to replace him and he knows he could be left with an unhappy player if a deal doesn't materialise. I think a compromise will be reached and he'll go for a 'decent' fee like say £6m which won't be much in the current market but isn't insulting either. We'll say we got an expensive injury-prone prat off the wagebill and they'll say they got an experience England international for a good price. The fact that Allardyce is talking about spending the money quickly if and when he receives it suggests he's been instructed to operate on a limited budget this summer.

Sounds like a comedy of errors

"Defensive mix up" collocates with "Bramble". To be fair though he is better than Ramage.

The rest of Allardyce's quotes from The Times: I admire his honesty but it's not really what any of us want to hear. I think it's fair to say that this transfer window hasn't gone as well as most of us had hoped, Allardyce included. He did however hint that he would want to replace Dyer if he sells him: "You have to spend the money you get when you get it as quick as you can on someone else, if someone gives us the sort of money we would accept."

Solano has always had the technique and passing range to dictate play but I think he's always preferred the added time you get on the ball out wide as opposed to being in the thick of it in central midfield. He's as good a shout as Milner or Geremi to fill that position alongside Butt, although ideally we need another CM in espescially if Dyer goes. We're taking our chances otherwise; Emre and Butt are prone to injury and Barton could be out for months. I'd feel more comfortable putting Nobby in a midfield three alonside two combative players but without Barton or Emre that doesn't look possible. In a flat 4 I think he might get found out, he was clearly struggling at the back end of last season - if anything we should be using him sparingly but we're already down to the bare bones. The fact we're talking about such patched up teams and if rather than when another CM comes in is what worries me. If we just need to put the finishing touches to the squad I'd be relaxed but we're lacking depth across half of the team and one or two injuries in key positions could leave us turning to the reserves already. We're looking fragile to say the least.

It would explain the recent hold-up. If Liverpool did get Heinze (looks unlikely) then they would have Heinze, Aurelio and Riise. Although Riise can also play left wing, it's likely he would not be a first team player so perhaps we have our eyes on him? Seems unlikely, but we've been a little too quiet recently.

You concluded all this from someone saying "we won't be throwing silly money around"?? It could be interpreted any which way to be honest, you could even interpret it as trying to lower fans' expectations over signings because a relatively small budget has been allocated this summer, thus explaining Sam's frustrations over how much his rival clubs are spending.