toptoon

lol completely the opposite of what he said when he arrived. He either bullshitted when he arrived or more likely is bullshitting now, either way he's a bullshitter. Overated, poor, injury prone and lucky escape for us all come to mind. Thank god he's burn't his bridge with us.

My thoughts exactly. Routledge simply put is a very poor Premiership player. Swap for Neil Taylor sounds good to me. As we are a little light at the back and need back up for Enrique/Enrique's replacement. As bottled dog rightly points out i would probably try all of those players he mentions and maybe the youngsters before Routledge. He's not going to even make our bench. Unfortunately although the clubs may agree a deal Routledge he will also have a big say in where he goes.

I thought this was a prime example of when we should loan a player out. OK the kid seemingly coulden't hit a barn door whenever in the first team and was rough round the edges so needed some polishing. But that can change quickly as the kid clearly has alot of talent (quick, skillfull, tall and will be more powerful in a few years). Ok he's needs to sort his head out, that could come with a little time and patience with him in the right hands. He has the natural talent and just needed improving. This is definately one that could come back to haunt us. Reminds me a little of when Gullit turned his nose up at Louis Saha when he was so clearly talented then a few years later Man u signed him for £12.8 m (which was alot of money in 2004 ). There are probably better examples.

Losing Tiote at this stage would fuck everyone one off. The fans , players and manager. Its ripping the heart out of the team. He's the player we are building the team round and can least afford to lose (assuming we sign another striker before the window closes). Matuidi had a £15m price tag slapped on him hopefully Chelski would go for him if needed.

Hoping we will sign Papiss Cisse we have been linked with him (skysports), he was scoring for fun last year in Germany in a poor team. He's just what we need quick, creative and can score shed loads of goals. Fulham are sniffing around and Blackburn have offered £12m he seems to be holding out for someone better though (please let that be us). He's close to international team mate Demba Ba which has to help our cause plus he has stated he is open to a move to the Premiership. Get Zoggy as well and our team goes from a tophalf team to a team really challenging for Europe then: Harper Simpson Taylor Colo Enrique Zoggy Tiote Cabaye Ben Arfa Cisse Ba We have a good Bench then too to cover us for injuries/suspensions etc: Krul, Willi, Kadar/Guthrie/Gosling, Marveux, Barton, Jonas,Shola This is about as good as we realistically are going to get optimistically speaking. With some real strength and more depth to our squad. At the moment the player i would most hate to lose would be Ba as we haven't got another quality striker, but bring in Cisse and we could put Ben arfa behing him. Our options just open up. If we get a quality striker plus Zoggy Ok we are a little light at the back but Tiote would be impossible to replace. Ben Arfa is the one alot of us can't wait to see again. Ok it means Ashley forking our around £12m which is a tad hopefull but hopefully not beyond us + £6m to £9m ish for Zoggy. I think i'd completely forgive him if he managed this. As at least on paper our team/squad would not have looked so good for quite some time.

Shane Long. We need a good striker as we have alot of creativity in our team but without an out and out goal scorer we may be in for a frustrating season. Ba's looks good but if he's injured we are screwed. Its the one area above all others we need to splash the cash. Of all the strikers we have been linked with that are realistic and are now left i'd love it if we signed Papiss Cisse. He's been scoring for fun in a bad team in the Budesliga. Blackburn are sniffing around him and have offerd £13m. We could land him in my opinion, he's stated he's open to a move to the PL, Demba is good mates with him and they play together at international level. We have a decent mid table/top 10 side at the moment with no strength in depth so when injuries/suspensions etc occur we will probably struggle but add Cisse and possibly Zoggy and we could really push for europe with a team the same/similar to this: Ba Cisse Ben Arfa Cabaye Tiote Zoggy Enrique Colo Taylor Simpson Harper Subs: Krul, Willi, Kadar/Guthrie/Gosling, Jonas, Marveaux, Barton, Shola We are just two players away from having a really good side IMO All would be forgiven Ash if you can land those two and keep all of the above. I'm trying to remain optimistic and hope for the above however i'd be pleasantly shocked if Ash bought one player at around £12m never mind one at £12m and another at £9m

For once I agree with Ronaldo. If ba's knee goes again we could really struggle without a top quality goalscorer and that could make a massive difference to how well we do. Although Simpson surprisingly seemed much better last year than in the championship he's still the weakest of our back four IMO. Obviously we may also need a top quality right back as well if Enrique goes. I'd also love to re sign the zog as well. So if we can get a top quality cb to improve our first IX or (more likely our squad) then great i am all for genuine improvements. But it is not a priority position at the moment. Ideally we manage to sign another really good striker and right back + i'd love to jave the zog back. If there is any chance of keeping Enrique we do, otherwise if we get a big offer our he may need replacing as well. We need Taylor and Williamson to up there game next year. At times they can be pretty good and are not as poor as some make out. Should be a big season for them this year, make or break.

Tavernier and kadar look promising.

If we were to just sign one of the players we have realistically been linked with it would have to be a striker. There were many games last season we desperately needed an out an out top quality striker/finisher. I think Ba was a very good signing, if we can keep him fit. However if Ba's knee goes shortly after the start of the season then we are back to having Shola and/or Best up top. The best realistic strikers we have been linked with are Urdinc and Cisse. Cisse is a very exciting player. Good friends with international team mate Ba too so a switch to us may appeal. He can play up top on his own or just behind the main striker. He not only scores alot of goals but is a real livewire and creates alot too. Would be interesting if we did sign another top quality defensive midfielder though, as we would almost certainly be going 4 3 3 then with Ba Arfa and Marveux/or possibly Zoggy up top. But again at the moment if Ba gets injured again we could struggle. In an (realistic) ideal world imo we'd get: 1. A striker - Cisse or Urdinc or less realistically Sturridge 2. Zoggy 3. Someone like Matuidi as well. However i cannot see us being fortunate enough to get three players of this calibre. Possibly, hopefully two. Just please let one of them be a quality striker as thats the position we need quality cover for the most.

Agree with this. Every time i have seen him he's been good. Need to see more of him to be sure. But so far so good, he looks like one of those who we can bring through and seems to have the right attitude too

Would be great/unbelievable to get all of those players. First Zoggy and then Erding the priorities though now IMO. As well as keeping other players. We have still taken a huge gamble letting Nolan go. We can't afford to lose the likes of Colo Barton and Enrique too. Although the latter almost certainly will.

We need Zoggy back. At the moment If Jonas was crocked we'd be in real trouble as he was our only real creative outlet last season. Jonas, Zoggy and Barton to fight for the RW and LW positions. Ben Arfa behind our new striker. Nolan and Cabaye to fight it out to line up alongside Tiote in the center. Gives us a bit more strength in depth. We will more than likely have an injury to one or more of these players.

We clearly need one really good goalscorer first and foremost. Someone in the Darren Bent type mould (ok a cheaper import without the pricetag is more likely). Plus a good up coming goal scorer. If we can improve on any of the others too then great. Getting Zoggy back would be a good start. But as long as we get two really good quality strikers i'll be fairly happy. ?? Ben Arfa Jonas/Zoggy? Tiote Nolan Barton Enrique Colo Taylor/Willi Simpson Harper Forster/Krul/Solderburg Taylor/Willi/Kadar Ferguson/Lua Lua Guthrie/Gosling Jonas/Zoggy Shola/Ranger/S Ameobi New Striker Perch, Smith and Campbell need to be moved on and it would be great to rid of Xisco too. All these need replacing with better players. We will do amazingly well to keep hold of Enrique and Tiote who have undoubtably turned a few heads. But we need to as we can't just keep selling our best players. Caroll sale must have helped balance the books Would be fine with the likes of Ranger and Vuckik etc going out on loan IF we get numbers in.

Our midfield in particular was superb and controlled the game. Defence pretty good too. Strikers did OK and got their goals, certainly better than Brums. Bentley looked dangerous at times and Zigic should have burried that header but our midfield Tiote and Jonas in particular were superb just hardly let them play. Harper 7 - Solid Simpson 7 - Good most of the time Coloccini 7 - Classy and composed Williamson 7 - solid Enrique 7.5 - Combined with Jonas very effectively and a real constant thorn in Birmingham's side. Barely gave them a chance defensively. Barton 7.5 - steely and great passer of the ball. Nolan 7 - gritty display led the side well. Tiote 8.5 - Awesome. Dictated/bossed the midfield and general play. The standout best quality player on the pitch. We'll do very well to hang on to him. Please do not sell him we always have a chance/foothold in the game with him centraly Gutierrez 8.5 - Excellent display, two top class assists for our goals (were you watching Ronaldo & co) and worked his arse off defensively too. Lovenkrands 7 - Worked hard and got his goal which he took very well. Didn't really do anything else of note. Best 7 - Also worked hard ish and got his goal. If he hadn't of scored he'd only deserve a 5 as his positioning and his making runs is woefull at times. What could we do with a fit livewire Ben Arfa and a new top quality striker up top?

me too. Me too, nothing to be ashamed of lads! Me too. Possibly our most underated player (in my opinion) it seems. We look worse as a team when he's out. Currently there is no other real alternative anyway. If we did sign someone better then fine play him. We need at least one very good striker first and foremost though. Jonas is predominantly a right footed player playing on the left. His crossing could be better its true and is the weakest part of his game although not as bad as some on here make out. It would no doubt be better if he played on the right (but why move Barton who has been a revelation there and can cross without needing to beat several players to get to the byline and leave us open to counter attack). If we play Jonas on the left he can go wide on the left and cuts infield too (which is the whole point of playing him on the left) making him unpredictable and awkward for the opposition. He carrys the ball out of defence better than anyone else in the team (instead of just hoofing it) which takes off alot of pressure of the rest of the team and puts the opposition on the back foot making it dificult for them to defend high up the pitch. He is very defensively solid as well for a pacey winger. Links up with Enrique very well and generally grafts his arse off. I don't understand why he gets so much stick. Its similar to the Milner situation i thought he was a good player for us and he got panned on here too. What are people expecting? Ronaldinho at his best or something? Hopefully Ben arfa will take the Beardsley type role behind the main striker and i suspect will link up with Jonas well as neither are the hoof it type and i can see them hitting it off on the field. Having at least two skillfull players on the field wanting to take opponents on should take alot of the pressure off Jonas.

lol we all don't have to conform to your way of thinking Ronaldo

Between Barton and Tiote imo. I've gone for Barton who's really won me over with some amazing displays. But Tiote has been equally impressive. The poll has it about right. Colo, Nolan, Enrique and Jonas (yes really) also have been great at times. They leave huge holes when they are out of our team. Simpson i didn't think was all that good last year in the championship. One of our weak links i had him down as. So he'd be worse this year against premiership opposition surely, right?.... Wrong! Strangely he has been alot better. Still not 100% convinced with him at times, but at other times he shows glimpses he could be actually really good. Interesting to see if he continues to improve. My vote for most improved player. Saying that if a better right back became availiable after we have bought a top striker we should buy him. Worst player this season has to be Perch for me. Although not an all round poor player like say Car was for us. He is another calamity prone player who's errors usually seem avoidable and nearly always seem to cost us dearly. Everytime the ball goes near him my stress levels rise.

Agree with this, bar i'd want to try Ben arfa up top just behind Carroll (in the beardsley type role) before we look break up the very good Jonas/Enrique partnership. Its one of the best parts of the team. Jonas works hard links up with Enrique very well, defends, tracks back well (better than Ben Arfa i suspect, in all fairnesss that remains to be seen), carrys the ball out of defence better than anyone else in our team, makes runs, makes himself availiable. Ok he's not a great crosser being predominantly right footed its harder to cross on his left (perhaps try him on the right if the right injuries occur to barton etc). However because he cuts in on his right often and sometimes goes past people on the left too he's unpredictable, forces teams on the back foot and they struggle to keep a high line of defence against us. Barton has been a revelation on the right, his crossing is beckham esque and he doesn't need to beat a man (and leave us more vunerable to counter attacks) to put his crosses in. Jonas is a very different type of winger and we need both. Jonas has though struggled in the past with being our only decent creative outlet and opposition teams have tried to nullify him. Hopefully we'll have better options soon i.e. Ben arfa has good movement and will offer a good option pass along the floor as well as the Carroll option in the air. Routledge has offered the team next to nothing in the premiership, struggles to cross on his best foot, doesn't cut inside, doesn't take people on enough and even when he does beat his man can't cross or if there is no one in the box hasn't the intelligence to have a crack himself. If we can keep Barton and I believe that de Jong tackle has knackered our season and we'd be at least above the mackems/bolton now had we had Ben Arfa fit. I can see Jonas carrying the ball out of defence, beating several players, cutting inside and playing the ball along the floor to livewire ben arfal more than i can see him going outside on left and finding carrolls head with a pin point high cross. The latter will rarely happen he's not really cut out for it. I'd try Harper Simpson Willi/taylor Colo Enrique Barton Tiote Nolan Jonas Ben Arfa Carroll A good 1st team. But we desperately need strength in depth as is several of these players are out and we replace them with Smith and routledge we are going to struggle. If we can sign better replacements for any of these then great.

Really hope we sign Larsson too now. That team is the best we can hope for now with our injuries and suspensions. Although urks me a bit to move Barton from his right berth its the lesser of two evils. Playing Smith would be really

We are totally screwed for the next three games without Tiote in midfield. So if Saylor is also ot we are looking at: Simpson Willi Colo Enrique Smith/ Barton Guthrie Nolan Jonas Please do not play Smith. Although Guthrie has been poor this season thus far, he has been good centrally at times in the past and although far from ideal is by far the better option out of the two of them. The only other option is to play a defender there. Colo or Enrique could do a temorary job possibly but we need them in defence..... But if Pardew does the unthinkable and plays Smith AND Nolan together again in midfield we are so in the s*** come Sunday. Could we sign anyone that can play there? .... Larsson is a right winger i know... could he fill in alongside Nolan though?

We are totally screwed for the next three games without Tiote in midfield. So if Saylor is also ot we are looking at: Simpson Willi Colo Enrique Smith/ Barton Guthrie Nolan Jonas Please do not play Smith. Although Guthrie has been poor this season thus far, he has been good centrally at times in the past and although far from ideal is by far the better option. The only other option is to play a defender there. Colo or Enrique could do a temorary job possibly but we need them in defence..... But if Pardew does the unthinkable and plays Smith AND Nolan together again in midfield we are so in the s*** come Sunday. Could we sign anyone that can play there? .... Larsson is a right winger i know... could he fill in alongside Nolan?

If we have Tiote and Carroll for this i'm very confident of a good result. With Smith coming in for Tiote and partnering Nolan in our slowest midfield ever then anyone could over run us (i.e. stevenage), plus the prospect of Routledge on the wing just fills me with....something not good.

Raylor, Campbell and Best are all injured/doubtfull.

What if the rumours about Routledge are true and he goes? Sounds ridiculous to me but if someone was stupid enough to offer £8 million ish anyone with half a brain would snap their hand off once they had sourced a replacement. If they didn't sort a replacement out if Barton then gets injured we are a bit screwed. Even if Routledge doesn't go, Routledge is not all that. An OK ish sub. Larsson would be an upgrade here. We need squad players we don't have strength in depth. Larsson seems a bargain at £1.5 million. You need two decent players for each position ideally. No arguments about how good Barton is at the moment. Barton is 100% number one choice on the right, he's in some of the best form of his life, very much a big part of the reason we are doing well at the moment and i personally would be trying to extend his contract asap. 60k a week may not fit well into their wage structure. But we can't afford to be without him on the pitch and replacing him with someone better for less would be near impossible.

On Five Live mate. cheers anyway i'd start ............krul tav..........williamson......kadar........perch routiledge.........smith.......guthrie.......ferguson .....................ranger........best......... 2-0 win and no f***ing award for them pulling a giant killing Great team. def the team that should play. or I would like to see Vuckic (of fit) instead of Guthire och Smith ( ) Looks about right to me I'd like to see Vuckik too at some point. Loven should also be in there really at some point. Sounds like Pardew wants to go for the cup. Good on him. However we don't want injuries to the likes of Tiote, Jonas, Enrique, Barton and Simpson. We can't afford to risk them untill we have a few more points on the board. Would also be a blow to lose any of Colo, Willi and Nolan. Can't wrap them in cotton wool forever i know but surely we can beat Stevenage without those five you would think anyhow.