ohmelads

My mistake. I have no idea about his ability, but it still seems a high price for a young English defender who doesn't seem to be attracting that much real interest. Has anyone in the Premiership made a serious move for him yet this summer?

Got to remember that strikers generally cost a lot more than defenders. Bent, Chopra and Nugent are all strikers, and Bent has plenty of Premiership experience. £8m for a Championship defender with no Premiership experience is a lot of money.

Bit concerned at the way this transfer window is going. I'm not sure Allardyce had originally planned to lose Dyer, and now it looks like Emre won't make the Bolton game. Add that to the Barton injury and we need to find another midfielder. I don't think any of us, least of all Allardyce, expected us to be heading into August with a smaller squad than last season, finding ourselves needing a good midfielder when our hunt for several defenders is proving so difficult. We need 3 or 4 good players in and we need them fast. I wouldn't want to be in Allardyce's shoes at the moment.

I don't think there's anything wrong with concrete or a bowl, character can be subtle as well as overt. Bayern Munich's new stadium is a bowl but it's unique and looks amazing. The Bernabeu is a concrete bowl but has plenty of character and looks very intimidating when you're up close. Everything about it is 'Real Madrid', the location, the surroundings, it's very imposing. I wouldn't change anything about it, I certainly wouldn't replace the concrete with glass and what-not. The San Siro is another example, a very unique stadium instantly identifiable by any football fan as 'the home of Milan'. These are brilliant stadiums which have achieved international recognition, and many are all concrete with a fairly similar shape, yet each is very distinguishable from the other. If we ever moved into a new ground I'd much rather have something like the San Siro than a college library.

Aye, I could design you a 'unique' and 'different' stadium but it'd be sh*te.

Allardyce sounds far from chilled out, he's sounded very stressed and frustrated the last couple of weeks. He hasn't tried to put a brave face on and pretend everything's alright, he's admitted we're moving too slowly, we're getting left behind and that this is taking up all of his time. These are his words. These quotes are basically saying "I'm still trying", all we can do is hope he makes a breakthrough. We're cutting it pretty fine to be honest, Emre looks doubtful for the first game and Dyer could be on his way out, so while defence is a major problem we now need to look at midfield too. There's a lot to do in limited time.

And you think this thing has character? As a couple have already mentioned it looks like a college library.

Can't see Liverpool filling an 80,000 stadium, that's an extra 35,000 fans. I remember the year they won the Champions League they only got 30,000 in the group stage. 60,000 would be about right for them, unless they're winning the league year on year.

Fantastic news.

The NUFC curse 'spreads' to Man Utd! As only we have injuries, y'see. The difference is Man Utd are probably shocked by this news. I'd be surprised to hear anyone who has suffered more injuries than we did last season. Missing 15 players against Chelsea, having something like 7 players requiring surgery, losing three goalkeepers at once...

Chronicle don't think he'll be ready for the Bolton game, he's gone to Germany for treatment. We're starting to look thin already, if we let Dyer go we're down to the bare bones in central midfield and across the defence. Once again we just don't look ready for the new season. Two and a half weeks now until the season starts.

Even with Allardyce's fitness methods we've got to be favourites to top the table all season.

What a crap wind up. "pip-pipping and cheerio-ing"

Looks quite American, like others have said some glass thrown here and there to look 'modern'. I'm glad we weren't taken over by yanks.

Marca are saying that Newcastle recently made an offer which was rejected because it didn't meet Real's valuation. They're saying that Villarreal may now have to move quickly or abandon the chase as Newcastle and Milan show their interest. Apparently Villarreal made an offer last week of 10m euros and are now considering upping it to 15m euros. Villarreal need a replacement for Forlan who went to Atletico to replace Torres.

Burst into the Arsenal team in fantastic form, looked a top prospect then his form seemed to dip severely and injuries didn't help. A bit overhyped when he first came onto the scene. Decent defender at the end of the day, he'd be good for competition but not someone I'd build a defence around. Ultimately I think his injuries would put me off.

The proof will be in the pudding. We're all happy to see Shepherd gone but we've got a total unknown (in football terms) coming in as a replacement. I'll be excited when I see positive strides being made by the new order, until then it's a case of wait and see.

They both look quite a bit broader than Rozehnal to me. I can't think of many centre backs as weedy as Roz to be honest, he's skin and bone. He seems to have more the build of a distance runner than a tough centre back. It's very important that your centre backs don't get pushed about going for headers or challenging for a ball. There are plenty of strikers like Heskey, Drogba and our own Viduka who prey on defenders like that. Time will tell if it affects him I suppose. Boumsong was massive but didn't impose himself, so we'll have to wait and see.

Rarely have we let so many go either.

A good compromise would be to loan him until January. That's still allowed, isn't it?

Mentioned him a couple of weeks back in relation to the Sky Sports story, he could be someone Allardyce is looking at as I don't see which Premier League left backs he could be chasing now.

Yeah I think he'd be better served sticking at Wigan.

At £6m he may be a bit overpriced, but that price reflects his nationality, Premiership experience and age. I think he's got a good future ahead of him and £6m could eventually turn out to be a bargain. I'd rather the mackems didn't get him. I'm not that gutted on missing out so long as we have something else lined up. I can't think who though? Allardyce wants Premiership experience but by turning his nose up at Baines he effectively must look to Europe now.

That presents another problem, because Owen is totally wasted out wide. Martins may or may not work out there. Another option would be to drop Owen and Martins for wingers - but try telling those two that they're no longer first teamers.

Don't you think he could perform in a midfield three with Barton and Butt alongside then? Butt to sweep up behind, Barton the box-to-box and Emre pulling the strings? I thought he was excellent when we lined up 4-3-3 against Arsenal and Man Utd, really looked at home in that formation and at times looked the best player on the park.