madras

i'm not sure, i think we'll have the same starting XI as last week. for me it's not just the defensive side but the way perch kept it simple and kept the ball moving quick, which has been tiote's biggest failing recently. as someone said earlier i have no doubt tiote is the better player for that role but perch has been the one in form. Anita is better than both of them put together for that imho. better at keeping the ball moving without doubt, not so sure on the defensive side as i see it with nouse needed to sit in so the centre halves can spread or drop wide to directly cover the full backs.

i'm not sure, i think we'll have the same starting XI as last week. for me it's not just the defensive side but the way perch kept it simple and kept the ball moving quick, which has been tiote's biggest failing recently. as someone said earlier i have no doubt tiote is the better player for that role but perch has been the one in form.

nobody is looking at it negativly, its all positive at the minute but it's more than just carr finding players, which i've no doubt other clubs were looking at aswell, i peronally don't think sissoko and m'biwa came here as we were the best deal financially, i think they were persuaded by more than that, maybe as the best show case for a further move but given the wage prudency we appear to be showing i'd doubt we beat everyone else off with wages. Please don't tell me that this drawn out discussion is because you have took idle speculation (that there was genuine better offers for Mbiwa and Sissoko) and turned it outright fact? Come on really?? How many players turn down bigger contracts in this day and age. no no, it's came from me watching the players, having an idea how good they are and finding it difficulit to understand that I appear to have better scouting skills than liverpool, spurs, arsenal et al. i am genuinely surprised that these players have came here, they tend to go to clubs offering better wages than we do and in the champs league plus it's not like they are the 'hidden gems' of carr style folklore.

nobody is looking at it negativly, its all positive at the minute but it's more than just carr finding players, which i've no doubt other clubs were looking at aswell, i peronally don't think sissoko and m'biwa came here as we were the best deal financially, i think they were persuaded by more than that, maybe as the best show case for a further move but given the wage prudency we appear to be showing i'd doubt we beat everyone else off with wages.

i've no need to sell my house, if someone offers me double what it's worth i'll start packing tonight.

Carr watched Cabaye from 18 years of age, does your guy deserve more plaudits for that one, because we actually signed him and he didn't f*** it up? he's watched a lot of players, i wonder if we try to buy everyone he reccomends ? and like i've said, whoever persuaded him to sign deserves as much plaudits as anyone else.

he was a decent keeper but never worth that much at that time.

i was just taking things to conclusions like dcmk is doing. carr is doiung a good job, the clubs hit rate is very good and he plays a major part in that but was no-one else surprised that we got sissoko and m'biwa (even cabaye). the former two had been linked for a while, came in very cheap and we aren't the highest payers, not raise an eyebrow at all ?

i'd guess it's easier to identify good players than to actually persuade them to come to your club when you quite possibly aren't the best option. you never know carr may even have a hand in this, who knows ? 'Best option'.. based on what mere speculation? We offer them a bigger wage then they were on at France. That's basically accounts for 95%+ of whether we sign them or not. It's Carr who actually shortlists these players who fit the clubs current needs and whether or not they are within our reach with the budget constraints, etc. Like before, Carr seems to be the main cog in recruitment. This magical mysterious man that you mention didn't just get Sissoko to agree a 40k-odd a week deal and turn a blind eye of an offer of 80k a week that he could have got at x, y or z. crikey man if you want to be like that i'd guess that other scouts report to carr, carr reports to the management so he just a standard cog and yes i do personally think both he and m'biwa could've got better deals elsewhere.........or are you saying it was carr that got it wrong last summer ?

i'd guess it's easier to identify good players than to actually persuade them to come to your club when you quite possibly aren't the best option. you never know carr may even have a hand in this, who knows ?

graham carr may be good at identifying ther talent, it's whoever persuades them to come and it seems like it may be a long process as our interest in the likes of sissoko. m'biwa, cisse was know well in advance, you have to assume the work to get them was being put in then....whoever is doing that is the true hero of the story. No, disagree. There has to be a 'find' for anything to subsequently happen. i'll disagree in turn, anyone could see the talent in sissoko, m'biwa, ben arfa, cabaye,debuchy... many on here did. making them want to come here, now that IS a talent. There are scouts that spot good talent ie Carr with the Tiote, Bassong, Santon and Sissoko recommendations, who seemingly always gets his picks right, and there our scouts / managers out there who dont, and have bought utter dross unsuited for the Premier League, in Bebe, Veron, Boumsong, Arshavin, Reyes, Cheyrou (next Zidane), etc. Every one of Carr's picks have turned out pretty mint imo you seem to want to give the majority of the credit to the players agent and Pardew in the recruiting department. tbf we don't really know who really spots them. has he found them all his self ? has he been reccomended them by others ? there is a thing on here for thinking if a players good he's carrs, if he's crap he's not carr's without any proof at all. what i was saying was that although players like ben arfa, m'biwa, sissoko could all realistically have gone to clubs in better positions, probably for bigger wages someone from our club persuaded them to come here and it seems like a long term plan we have with each player. that person, wheteher it's charnley,lambias, pardew or carr is the top man of the piece for me. Recently the club has lost many transfers by the sounds of it because of better clubs and bigger wages putting a spanner in the works, what's your point there? At the end of the day he is the chief scout and he is the one who shortlists the targets and has a 50% say on who to persue IIRC i believe Llambias has confirmed this. You just seem a bit put out that Carr get's all this credit and believe there is someone else more deserving of praise. Without the initial find or shortlisting by Carr, this 'unsung hero', may well be bringing in the likes of Carlton Cole. many ?remy and de jong. pales compared to the strike rate and the ones we got are even more surprising as they are the ones you'd think would have had the cash thrown at them and the ones we'd been linmkied with for a while, almost as if others knew they'd agreed to come here already. don't get me wrong i like the work he's doing but it's not as if he's finding unknowns who come straight into the first team. aren't you intrigued as to what happens to make sissoko come here and not spurs ?

graham carr may be good at identifying ther talent, it's whoever persuades them to come and it seems like it may be a long process as our interest in the likes of sissoko. m'biwa, cisse was know well in advance, you have to assume the work to get them was being put in then....whoever is doing that is the true hero of the story. No, disagree. There has to be a 'find' for anything to subsequently happen. i'll disagree in turn, anyone could see the talent in sissoko, m'biwa, ben arfa, cabaye,debuchy... many on here did. making them want to come here, now that IS a talent. There are scouts that spot good talent ie Carr with the Tiote, Bassong, Santon and Sissoko recommendations, who seemingly always gets his picks right, and there our scouts / managers out there who dont, and have bought utter dross unsuited for the Premier League, in Bebe, Veron, Boumsong, Arshavin, Reyes, Cheyrou (next Zidane), etc. Every one of Carr's picks have turned out pretty mint imo you seem to want to give the majority of the credit to the players agent and Pardew in the recruiting department. tbf we don't really know who really spots them. has he found them all his self ? has he been reccomended them by others ? there is a thing on here for thinking if a players good he's carrs, if he's crap he's not carr's without any proof at all. what i was saying was that although players like ben arfa, m'biwa, sissoko could all realistically have gone to clubs in better positions, probably for bigger wages someone from our club persuaded them to come here and it seems like a long term plan we have with each player. that person, wheteher it's charnley,lambias, pardew or carr is the top man of the piece for me.

graham carr may be good at identifying ther talent, it's whoever persuades them to come and it seems like it may be a long process as our interest in the likes of sissoko. m'biwa, cisse was know well in advance, you have to assume the work to get them was being put in then....whoever is doing that is the true hero of the story. No, disagree. There has to be a 'find' for anything to subsequently happen. i'll disagree in turn, anyone could see the talent in sissoko, m'biwa, ben arfa, cabaye,debuchy... many on here did. making them want to come here, now that IS a talent.

graham carr may be good at identifying ther talent, it's whoever persuades them to come and it seems like it may be a long process as our interest in the likes of sissoko. m'biwa, cisse was know well in advance, you have to assume the work to get them was being put in then....whoever is doing that is the true hero of the story.

as good as, ring up a fax machine, it's eerily similar to marco.

injuries aside, thats the only question pardew will be thinking.

come on togo.

it's not just that they are accurate but they make theorist choices. Guthrie was able to ping a long ball to feet but often to a player who'd be under pressure by the time it got there and often in a worse position than ha he kept it.

2 assists yesterday mainly brought about by changes in what was going on round him than anything he's changed. The ability has always been there but yesterday he had much more and better options to play to.

Mata found space in the hole way too often. He never tracked Lampard either. Think he did a poor job. in the second half he was having to come out a lot more than he wanted to due to cabayes lack of legs.

probably a giggs but if we get through to the quarter finals, the second leg will be on 11th april.....change to the mackem game ?

Can't wait for that or one or two of the other little duels that will take place. Wish it was next week. a little to early for ben arfa.

regardless of whether it was or wasn't by the rules, they are normally given.

we'll get a chance to see how sissoko puts up with getting kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked.

why didn't the interviewer ask about the ramires tackle which was deemd too X rated for BBC1 ?