ohmelads

Is nobody a bit concerned that if we only buy one more CB we're going to be left short in defence - once again? I don't fancy seeing Ramage as our fourth choice again because when you put players of his 'calibre' in the heart of your defence you're liable to drop points. He's simply nowhere near the level we're aiming for and to think that one injury would put him on the brink of the first team would be worrying. If we really are building from the back then we need two more central defenders, plus a left back. Until we've got them in then I wouldn't call this a successful transfer window.

Agree with this, think it'll be 5-10M unless we can pull something out of the bag in which case the money will be made available.

.com are saying he struggled with the fitness tests. Fits in with what the Depor fans have been saying as well.

In only 15 years the US will be a better team than England? No chance. That implies that there are a load of American kids out there right now who are better than their English counterparts. I think it's debatable the England team is getting/will get worse. We'll always be one of the top countries at producing talent because of the number of people who follow and play the sport so passionately, because our league is one of the best in the world, meaning there is a football infrastructure in place with the best kids found and trained from a young age. I don't follow this doomsday scenario that foreigners are stunting our kids' development, those who are good enough will get their chances at their local clubs, Gerrard at Liverpool, Terry at Chelsea and even Taylor with us. Those who show the ability/potential at the lower level make the move up, like Carrick, Andy Johnsen, Walcott. What it does mean is that our league gets stronger and our players are consistently training and playing against the best in the world.

Aldo Duscher

The Depor fans on their forum were saying he has a tendancy to put on weight. He's had injury problems too. I don't see the point in bringing in dead wood even if there's no fee. Let Racing Santander have him, they're the type of club that have to take a chance on this sort of player. I hope we keep up the search for another DM mind, Butt won't get us through the season and Emre/Barton would struggle to fill that position.

Rozehnal looks like The Machinist, he badly needs to put on some muscle.

I think Beckham can give the game a lot of publicity over there but he won't be around long enough to make a difference. He's 32 and nearing retirement, he's got three seasons maximum and that's nothing when you think about it. If football is going to take off in the US, it needs a large number of high profile players moving over at a younger age and that's not going to happen. Besides, American Football, Basketball and Baseball will all do their best to make sure "soccer" doesn't take off. I'm not all that sure I want football to take off in the States because I don't want them ruining the beautiful game. The vast majority of Americans know very little about "soccer" and have even less appreciation of how deeply ingrained it is in many cultures around the world.

Chelsea don't need the money. Given Cole's injuries/form they won't want to sell, so even if we offered double figures I don't think we'll get anywhere. Always worth a try, but it's high time we start looking at other targets with the season starting in a few weeks. There don't seem to be many names that spring to mind, hopefully our scouts have been out and about looking for one

I agree on that, but I don't think either Shorey or Baines fit the bill. All full backs are going to have their weaknesses, I think Baines will get better and better whereas Shorey is an at an age where he probably won't.

I don't get why everyone thinks you must have perfect symmetry between your full backs. Neville and Evra are totally different, look at Cole and Ferreira, Finnan and Riise etc. Besides, the only full back Big Sam has signed has been a small attacking player called Geremi. Mourinho once said he wanted tall full backs and then signed Ashley Cole a few weeks later and gave tiny players like Geremi and Diarra games at right back. At the end of the day, having height in that position is a bonus, not a pre-requisite. It means they can help out defending the box from crosses. Neither Shorey or Baines are really that good at that anyway so they share that weakness.

I don't think he is. Bridge and Cole are miles ahead of him, he'll never be picked ahead of those two and there'll be others such as Baines competing for third place. Baines was actually Wigan's only decent player last season and given his age he'll be more worthy of the price we'll have to pay than Shorey. In Baines' case your paying for his age, the fact he's English, in Shorey's case your paying mostly for his England cap.

Is Shorey a "seasoned pro"? One season in the Premiership at a club with low expectations. Baines already has more Prem experience.

This is true. The fines are never consistent, but they don't achieve much anyway. I can see they're designed to get the Serbian FA to get their own house in order, but they'll laugh at 16K. You need to hit them where it hurts, make them play in empty stadiums or ban them altogether, people really pay attention to that.

But 5'7" is too short? Those two inches make all the difference??? I'd rather have Baines. Shorey has all the hallmarks of a one-season wonder whereas Baines looks like a genuine young prospect.

This is all true but after Butt's first season here and his season at Birmingham, how many people ever thought he'd be a regular in the side? Not everything in football follows its logical course, and sometimes most people are wrong. Chances are perhaps against Luque making an amazing recovery, but I think a lot of people assumed Roeder knew what he was doing and was justified in everything he did. While one side made excuses for Luque, the other side made excuses for Roeder. In truth, the pair of them should have bucked their ideas up.

Well Inter already had Adriano, Ibrahimovic, Crespo and Cruz so Martins handed in a transfer request. There's no shame in a 21 year old failing to oust Adriano, Ibrahimovic or Crespo. They weren't going to put up a fight to keep him with those 4 other strikers available, and they still made us pay a pretty big sum for him. It's not just a case of improving the weaker areas of Oba's game, it's also about playing to his strengths as well, something we couldn't afford to do last season. Because he had to play all season alongside midfielders he wasn't allowed to play to his own strengths, he had to be the target man, the creator and the goalscorer and it was too much to ask. I thought he often cut a frustrated figure last season. At times we needed him to be our Shearer and our Bellamy. With Viduka and Ameobi back, we have people who can occupy centre-halves, challenge for high balls and play Martins in. Martins can concentrate on the stronger areas of his game, instead of playing with his back to goal. I'd be very keen to see Martins alongside Viduka, I think it could be very difficult for many defences to contain those two.

Seems pointless arguing about this one any more but I've actually got a feeling he might turn out alright. I think Sam'll be a lot more patient and understanding than Roeder ever was, and will look to bring him into the team under the right circumstances. It's probably Sam's biggest asset, his handling of difficult foreigners who have lost their way. Look at what happened to Butt, I was one of his biggest critics after his first season here. He was absolutely rubbish and looked very disinterested. He then went on loan to Birmingham and helped them get relegated with a string of crap performances. Me and many others thought we'd been vindicated and saw no way back for him, he had to go. But he stayed and went on to become one of the players of the season, people have even suggested he be given the captain's armband. And I personally believe it was kickstarted by those two goals against Villarreal. It was only a friendly but we were 3-1 down and everybody had the glass half empty view of our squad, until up popped Butt with two headers in 2 mins and we drew. Not only was that a huge confidence boost for him, but it cut him quite a bit of slack with the fans. That's all it takes for Luque to get his confidence back and a bit of slack from the fans, a couple of goals. Sam's right when he says it may be a lost cause, but he's paid handsomely to try and get every last drop of effort and quality out of Luque, something Roeder never did.

I think the Gallowgate end would be the best place for it. The Leazes fans will always compete with the away fans anyway, if we could get some singing going at both ends it might wake some of the fans up while the team is putting everyone to sleep.

I thought Onyewu looked out of his depth at Premiership level. His reading of the game was poor, he ballwatched, his reactions weren't too quick and he was very awkward on the ball. We made the right decision to get shot of him.

I figure this is the best place to put this... One player I'd like to see here is young Real Madrid full back Miguel Torres. This isn't an FM suggestion (no idea what he's like on there), he was a Real Madrid reserve player who broke into the first team this season after the injuries of R.Carlos, Salgado and Helguera. He can play comfortably at left back or right back. Even though he favours his right, he's very two-footed and played some crucial games on the left including at the Nou Camp against Barcelona. Despite his performances and the sale of R.Carlos, Real as always are after high profile left backs. Torres' performances last season not only kept him in the team (nobody had heard of him at the start of the season) but also saw him gain his first 2 caps for Spain U-21s. Even though he's only 21, he really caught my eye as a player who was solid defensively and looked very composed and wise beyond his years, as well as someone who could get forward and put in some very dangerous crosses. A very bright prospect. Bizarrely enough, he didn't get the credit he deserved in the Spanish press, though he has earned a new 5-year contract. Within a very short space of time he went from being an overlooked player in Real Madrid C, to playing in the biggest game of Real's calendar and in the Champions league. He may be difficult to prise away from the Bernabeu, but given Real's impatience at given decent young homegrown players a chance, they may very well send him on loan, as they did with Soldado, Diogo, Portillo and many others, or even send him back to Real Madrid B. He's someone I'd consider taking on loan, he's definitely one to look out for.

I'm not against signing this guy, because I have no idea what our budget is. If it does turn out we're skint, then this could be a brilliant piece of business. And even if we're not, he might rediscover his form of a few years back. I'm more concerned that this signing suggests the kitty is a lot smaller than I thought. On the one hand I'm happy to see us targeting a DM. Butt was never going to be enough to get us through the season, he can have his injury problems and I wouldn't be comfortable pushing Emre or Barton to play as a DM. I can handle seeing Duscher and Butt as our DMs if we bring in a good LB and CB. We'll know more about how astute this signing is when we see his performances and find out how much money was indeed available.

Well if you want I can point you to the thread, the vast majority are saying the same things. It's in Spanish mind.

Just browsing the Depor forum out of boredom, they have a thread for each player so Duscher's thread goes all the way back to last summer. Even then they were saying they preferred De Guzman as backup than Duscher as backup and felt the best thing was to cash in on him while they could. Coloccini was also playing in defensive midfield and keeping him out the team, and he's first and foremost a centre back by trade. Apparently Duscher had a tendancy to put on weight during spells on the sidelines/bench too. Perhaps Sam feels he needs to judge his condition and commitment more than anything else.

Haven't seen him play in ages so I can't say I remember. He's not a player I ever really noticed, but I don't watch nearly as much Spanish football as I used to. I'm going more off what the Depor fans are saying, which is that he was once a good player whose career has gone off the rails a bit because he let all the praise get to his head. He was always in the shadow of the excellent Mauro Silva, he was essentially a backup player who didn't complain and so many wish him well at his next club. But he didn't exactly move mountains there. He seems like a typical Big Sam signing, someone who clearly can play a bit but has lost his way and his stock has fallen significantly. Sam's obviously hoping that a change of scenery and perhaps regular football might bring the best out of him.