Kanji

Yeah he is, it's being discussed in the Colo thread.

Wish we'd shift Colo talk to the Colo thread.

Would love that 11. Anybody think Sissoko for Cabaye only to give Yo a break as he's been playing quite a bit coming off injury? Doesn't matter to me but love that 11.

Wish I lived near, I'd fucking play in this. Looks like it would be so much fun.

If you had to pick one of these matches, as I can't have both up in the background - what's the better match so far?

The guy looks like a fucking tank.

Always was under the impression that its a bit of a moving and organic process. Pardew (coaching staff) identifies needs, Carr (scouting staff) actively scout and recruit players actively. Both come together accordingly based on need of coaching staff (injuries, form, player sales) and urgency of find from the scouting staff (contract situation, buyout, release clauses etc). I think I recall Pards has mentioned there are certain players we just don't go after based on the cost of the player so obviously Llambias, and Charnley (board) are given a budget from Ashley. Pards himself has said we don't sign players that are not uniformly agreed upon. To round the process off - Llambias and Charnely do the business deal of it. So when Pards is asked how negotiations are going, he naturally won't give full answers b/c he'll just know what he's told as this has become much more "business-like" than ever before - the modern game. (My take): A player like Cisse was identified by the scouting team, who put it to Pards and he really liked the player himself and they were able to convince the board to request a special circumstance from Ashley to spend the high transfer fee to get him. What I've always said is I quite like our system, I think everyone has a clear-cut role and if you are a manager willing to work within the system its a great one. Some aren't, so fair enough. I'd like to see Ashley make some more "Cisse" exceptions to the normal rule.

A Liverpool supporting friend of mine recently said: 1) We need to sell Reina to Barca and get a BETTER keeper 2) Top 4 Next Season I'm sure its the same shit they still will say on RAWK. Wonder how he feels about those two statements after today.

*cue me doing math in my head of points we should have that were wins turned ties or ties turned losses*

Ron

Yep, something I've thought about a ton too. Is it daft for me to ask how/what you'd think he'd do to help Hatem achieve this?

Just feel like he'd love to work with Hatem, Sylvain, Moussa, Yohan, Cisse, etc. Esp Hatem. However, I do agree he wouldn't work with this system but I just cant fathom a man being so hands-on having the time to do that much of his own scouting. Is it even possible in today's day and age? I mean, every club has their own Carr, to a bigger or lesser degree - the only difference is they haven't gotten the press or success that Graham has had.

I do actually sit and think how we would be with KK in charge with Carr doing the scouting for him.... I always wondered if that Schweinsteiger thing had any ounce of truth in it as well.

Definitely agree with that, especially on the Sissoko break away which is unusual for him he usually is good at making space for himself and others. I was chucking my remote at the tv when that happened it really p*ssed me off, but i do feel the header was a difficult one. The thing with Cisse is he tries to find the corner almost all the time, its good when it comes off but when it doesn't he looks like a mug. Perhaps its true he should have focused on hitting the target but that isn't Cisse and i don't think it ever will be he tried to hit the corner of the net and failed. Oh well we move on, hopefully he can get himself a goal or two against Southampton. Cisse tried to hit the far corner, its exactly what you should be doing in that sort of angle. He just didn't execute it right and he missed the goal completely. I don't worry about him, I worry that in an entire 90 minute match he was given 1 driven angled cross in which he had to dive backwards and head the ball across the face of goal to try and score. We don't create enough chances for him, thats still the problem here. We were so lucky that last season the 1 or 2 chances he'd get in a single match he'd just absolutely finish it better than anyone could in the world. You think of those goals man - Villa home, West Brom away (the falling over, chip over the keeper first time), Chelsea away (the first) - trap/take a touch wack into the corner. I get frustrated with him a lot too as he sometimes shoots too early when he has a moment. But like many have said above - I can't wait for him to bang a few in so we can shut this up. I hope its against Mentalist and then carries forward into the PL.

I'm always afraid of the unpredictable nature of Mike Ashley. But he seems to be sanctioning a sensible build-up of our squad. I'd love for him to "bend" his rules a bit more like we did in January in every open transfer window as well as fix our damn commercial revenue stream which is appalling, if the figures are accurate. But we know those are things may never change for us while he still owns the club. I'd welcome a buyer of this club if they continued to build the squad as we do now in terms of our meticulous scouting with some added stress relievers in maybe having a higher ceiling on what we'd pay in transfers and wages, and perhaps would pay some of our top players a little more so they wouldn't leave but for a move abroad, and of course some more transparency when windows are closed on items that aren't sensitive that would hurt a future deal or something. Obviously the items involving more cash outlay I'd be OK with that as long we are bringing in more revenue etc. But what I've described above would be probably the perfect owner, - but all-in-all, I love the soul of this club and I'd not want to compromise it - its what made me fall for this club when I began supporting it and I've always respected those who build things the right way. SO I'm OK with what we have now....

Aye good post leffe. I'll agree - another CB (or two) and another top quality striker and I'd be very happy - of course with none of our top players leaving / but if they do, replaced with players of the quality we've been signing.

Yeah - I also hope we start nearly everyone who's first choice now bar YG and Debuchy for obvious reasons. Mapou in for on the CBs and the rest get it going. Put this tie to bed at home and if we need to rest them next week then fair play.

Yep. Spot on same for me. So you'd put Mapou in at RB then Rich? Edit: Just saw Ian beat me to it. Nevermind. I know the answer.

I agree with this. Our squad is there to compete for CL spots imo.

Shayno - Debuchy isn't registered for this.

Toon Army NYC goes to Legends Pub - Football Factory - http://www.footballfactoryny.com. I went there for our Spurs match to start the season and it was the best time I've ever had watching a match with fellow supporters at a pub. I'd imagine the turnout will be a little less massive as its Valentines Day/Thursday at 3PM. But If you have a Facebook, you should contact the Toon Army NYC group anyway. Where are you in Florida?

Would love for him to get the nod for both of our Europa games and destroy Mentalist.

We split the points this season with Spurs. Beat them the first match of the season and then lost to them at their ground with 2 mistakes punished by the in-form Bale. I'm not going to overreact about this. I think the mistakes we made were there to see and we'll be playing lesser opposition that we should hopefully dominate home and away and picking up points.

To be fair to Perch, Sissoko motioned at the other players in the wall not to jump. Surely by the time the ball is nearly at Perch's head, he knows it's not going underneath him. It's not like it was hit particularly hard. I don't think preparing not to jump is much of an excuse as far as this one goes. Good point Wullie. Regardless of the instructions, Jonas obviously realized the ball was being lifted and reacted accordingly.