chicago_shearer

Duff/Zog - Barton - Guthrie - Jonas would be my first choice as things stand. And it looks shit tbh.

If so, I hope we give him the most comprehensive medical ever administered.

When you get relegated you should expect to lose your internationals.

Is 34 this campaign and well past his best. He wouldn't get a game at Man City, Villa, Pompey or Spurs. We need a defensive midfielder AND an attacking midfielder IMO. His last 10 games or so of last season in Keegan system would disagree with that. I thought Nicky Butt was arguably our best and most improved player in those matches with Keegan's system, his performance at White Hart Lane in particular I thought was one of the best of any in the season in my opinion. But he doesn't do it for a full season does he? It's all well and good pointing out the handful of times Butt has played really well (or Milner for that matter) but they have both contributed to a team that has achieved absolutely nothing for the last several seasons. Getting a 34 year old to pretend he's 27 and an average winger to pretend he's a Premiership standard central midfielder are another two miracles Keegan will have to perform without new signings. It's a ridiculous situation. Give the man some quality FFS. I'm tired of these wasters.

:clap: :clap: Butt Is 34 this campaign and well past his best. He wouldn't get a game at Man City, Villa, Pompey or Spurs. We need a defensive midfielder AND an attacking midfielder IMO.

I can't help but feel that this idea is the sort of optimistic fantasy that sounds good in the summer but turns out to be a flop when we suddenly remember in mid August that Milner is pretty poor whereas most of the players playing central midfield in other Premiership sides are real quality. The answer isn't to shuffle around average talent and hope they suddenly click. It isn't happening. This problem is only getting fixed in the transfer market.

No, we don't. We have no attacking midfielders in the squad.

Personally I'd be terrified if that was our first choice midfield next season. Every club aiming for the top 6 or 7 in the league can piss all over that in terms of both depth and quality.

Watching Rangers v. Schalke (on delay I think). A real shame we missed out on Engelaar. Also, Rangers striker Jean-Claude Darcheville is one of the fattest footballers I've ever seen.

I'd take Kaboul over Anton bloody Ferdinand.

The Sun: GEORDIE THUGS RANSACK OHIO! : TOON IN CRISIS AS HOOLIGANS RUN RIOT ON US TOUR "I want out" says Arsenal bound Obafemi Martins.

Why would you need the lies of TeamTalk and the tabloids leading you on? It's all made up. As our last two signings have demonstrated, their "rumours" are complete fiction.

Win win. Either they are right and the horrible cunts at Man U & Liverpool get a fine or they are wrong and the horrible cunts at Spurs get screwed.

Definitely take him provided the money is reasonable. Class player, improvement on what we have (Keegan's own criteria) and the perfect player for our new young players to learn from.

you talking about a hitman.... Hmm not a bad idea.

Excellent post, I agree with most of that but it's actually only 4 weeks to Old Trafford. 13..I have just counted more first teamers than that..or would that be 13 you think are worthy of a first team spot? Maybe 15 or 16 in total if everyone was fit/not in prison (not counting Edgar, Lua Lua, Tozer etc). Of which you'd only really be comfortable with 13 or so. Given that you need 18 just to fill the bench this season, I think my point still stands.

I'm reasonably optimistic about both signings tbh. Both could be a big success. My concern is that those two are nowhere near enough to get us on the level of Pompey & City (I don't think Villa and Blackburn are that far ahead of us at the moment, but time will tell). KK is capable of great things, but you have to give him a chance. He has a better chance of turning water into wine than he does of plonking Butt & Geremi in midfield, Duff on the wing, Smith up front and then expecting top 7 results. Give the man a chance.

We have a good manager, we have a handful of good players, and I don't believe any of this nonsense in the papers. But I'm still concerned, and I will be until we have a squad that is capable of being competitive at the level I expect (which is, for me, a 10-12 point improvement on last season). That isn't blaming the board or being negative....it is a legitimate, realistic assessment of our chances with the players we have. There are two issues: 1) We have 13 first team players at the moment. Putting aside for a moment the question of how much quality those 13 players possess, if we experience anything like the injury crises we've endured in recent seasons, we'll be in big, big trouble. This is not a squad you take into a Premiership season. 2) I haven't forgotten or forgiven how poor some of our squad were last season. That applies not just to the obviously terrible (Alan Smith, Damien Duff) but also to the regular underperformers (N'Zogbia, Viduka, Milner, Taylor, Butt, Geremi) who are going to form the basis of the team next season. There is room for improvement from many of those listed, but it is completely unfair to expect Keegan to reach the top 7 or 8 with a core of players that have made a habit of disappointing. His own performance will be judged on the performances of these players, and they have done nothing but let us down recently. I love Keegan, I want him to succeed again, and I'm afraid that some of the people on here that are the most optimistic today will be the first to place the blame at the manager's doorstep if the players I have just listed let us down again. I'm not losing sleep at nights just yet, but we aren't where we need with 6 weeks until we go to Old Trafford and that should be a real concern.

thats my point, the media should be writing about them. instead they turn to us. fantastic Everton have a good team in the first place.

How about the club continue to put up the money for the transfer fee/wages and the fans pay for some independent professionals to deal with the agents and contract negotiations? Given our record so far this summer that would seem like a better way to spend the fans money.

We should have signed him a couple of summers ago when he went for nothing and nobody thought he was "good enough".

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5216/010278371384800xc2.gif How did Alan Smith manage to get his hair more gay than last season? Incredible.

You're in Chicago, so you may understand this, but it's a hell of a thing that an odious c*** like Jay Mariotti would be the king of sports journalism over there. True, but nobody in Chi town reads the Sun Times do they? Besides, the worse Mariotti can do is call people names and mouth off on ESPN. If he spun half the shite that gets in the UK papers then he'd be sued.

Well done.

Football journalism in the UK makes me laugh, I really don't know why you all put up with it. This bloke gets it wrong and embarasses himself, and the next day he's back on claiming that two "mystery" midfielders are signing for Blackburn. And these morons on the Blackburn thread count down until all is revealed at 11. WTF?