Rich

Without looking at it, is this the Keane thing that's also on BBC? Fair play to the bloke from what I've read, he's completely correct.

2006 probably had the same thing in, so ner. Cannot tell them apart at the best of times, should have just said "FM" in the original post, it did cross my mind that adding the year would cause me some problems - and so it has been proven. Sigh. Anyway, this "slight worry" is nonsense brought upon the author because of an over-active psyche.

Some people aren't happy unless they're worrying. Ironic.

Rozehnal is older than Smith btw, at 27 I'd class him as entering his peak years. Defenders generally peak at an older age though. You should know this, Greg I do know this, my point was that I wouldn't class Rozehnal in the same bracket as Enrique. Rozehnal is just coming into his peak years now imo. Was a joke regarding the fact that Shak potentially got this opinion from Football Manager 2007. Something you're very well-versed in!

Rozehnal is older than Smith btw, at 27 I'd class him as entering his peak years. Defenders generally peak at an older age though. You should know this, Greg

He's down as 179cm on Barca's "official" English site, that sounds more like it to me.

He's never 5'9", surely? Looks a lot bigger than that whenever I've seen him. Would not turn my nose up at him at all, not sure if this link is correct, but we're definitely in the market for a specialist right-back if a decent one is available. It's another left-footed defender that I'm more concerned about though, being the greedy bastard that I am.

Serious case of deja vu there! £2M is a cracking deal and would take our net spending to around £16.5M - not including the massive sign-on fees for Viduka, Geremi and potentially Cacapa, Ashley and Mort don't back the manager, you know? This "squad depth" thing is quite tasty, eh?

Also, should add that I think Spurs have missed the boat on Champions' League football with all the "new money" in the league, a lot of teams are catching up to them quickly, while the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool are pulling away. It's not just us who are being galvanised at the minute. They had to do it in the last two seasons under their current stewardship if you ask me, and they just fell short. If Levy finds them a billionaire and/or if they get the ground extended, I'll start worrying again. I know both might be in the pipeline.

Made a £20 bet with my Spurs-supporting Uncle who was up for the Sunderland game at the weekend that we'd finish above them this season, simply because of how arrogant he seemed about their chances after a few beers inside of him. He seemed horrified at the thought and extremely confident that Spurs would still come top four, despite their performance at the Stadium of Light and the fact that Berbatov threw a sulk at being substituted/Jol is going to find it very hard to keep the strikers happy/fit them in, not to mention their lack of a left-midfielder of any description, King's horrific injury problems, Robinson's extra stone of weight (had an okay game at the SOL, mind), Jol's lack of ideas formation-wise, the powder-puff nature of their entire team (reminds me a great deal of us under Robson when we were missing Shearer's guile and Speed's presence in the middle) etc. He typifies the reasons why I dislike them (and the South, to an extent) so much - and he's family as well.

Wouldn't be surprised. They are resorting to playing Kilbane at left back now Sunderland? They had Ross Wallace at left-back on Saturday, Irish connection, etc. Actually said to my cousin that I could see them going for him a few weeks ago.

Not better at right midfield, then? Thought so.

Is it not just all the Chuck Norris stuff with the name changed to Mario Yepes? EDIT: Thought so.

You're going to need more piss than that to put out this bonfire, man

Cech AND Cudicini, which led to Hilarious getting a few games in, was it not?

I think if another defender comes in we can let at least one of them go, if not both. One more defender would leave us with 8 "senior" specialist defenders and Geremi and N'Zogbia who can cover either full-back position on top of that. If that happens, aye, let both go out. And if another defender comes in on top, send Ramage off somewhere as well.

Get in there. My "other team" in the English league because I have family down there/have been to see them a few times. All the more reason to keep in touch with how they do this season. Good move for him, because he should be at the right end of the table. This is the sort of thing a "big club" can do as well, loan out their promising youngsters to decent teams, hopefully we'll still see one or two more head out on similar deals.

Ah his second, the deflection that came off Faye. Aye, should've been down as an own goal it was that bad... The Bolton fans are dismayed at the thought of losing him, especially for £2m, that's good enough for me.

Think they got him mixed up with Samuel, did they not? I thought it was Faye myself until the replay, he was off marking Viduka IIRC.

Can we not just wait until he actually goes, in that case?

Those quotes have been posted about a dozen times, probably just in this thread.

Bench at best, because Sam surely cannot drop Milner or Martins after their recent performance/s?

They'll undeservedly stay up IMO. It's going to be very interesting in all aspects of the league this year, haven't thought that for seasons now. I know what you're getting at, though, they'll be utter dross all year and still manage to come 15th or something. They're going to have to be fucking awful to be worse than the three new teams and Wigan, mind.

I'll be mighty surprised if 'Boro stay up this season.

Can't say I've really noticed him either, though I rarely see Bolton play. He's versatile, but what's his best/preferred position? Mainly played centre-half last season, but was originally a defensive midfielder. Can also play right-back. I think this "best position" thing is something that Big Sam doesn't seem to buy into too much, which is fantastic to see when it's working. Obviously players can't play anywhere, but when you look at the bigger clubs they tend to rotate positions far more effectively than we ever have. It's been 4-4-2 or bust here for as long as I can remember and it's nice to see that changing, as much as anything else. He was excellent in the main against us on Saturday.