Cronky

I think Gosling will make a late run into the side, in place of Barton.

I saw the last 35 minutes. He looked okay, but nowt special. At times, he looked a bit clumsy, in fact. Besides, if a transfer was imminent, surely PSG wouldn't have put the deal at risk by playing him at all, let alone for a full 90 minutes.

It's not a giant stretch of the imagination to think that however we do, we could be doing better with more/better players that we could easily have afforded to sign. It's what every club does to climb the league. Hardly an epiphany, like... Think you might have missed my point a bit. I wasn't saying that we couldn't do better with better players or more spending. Of course we could. I'm saying that if we end up having a decent season I'm not going to be constantly thinking about what ifs and how much better we could be doing. Agreed. It almost feels like we don't want to let an inconvenient fact like progress or success get in the way of disliking Ashley.

I honestly don't think that Zoggy and Bendtner are better than the players we've already got for their roles / positions. If we'd signed them, they'd be having to compete for their places. There's plenty of talk about how we should be spending the money, but realistically the players that could significantly improve us aren't available to us, generally speaking. They're either being chased by the CL clubs, or already playing for them. I'd agree that there's still a situation vacant in the striker position. We've got a few centre-forward types, but only Lovenkrands for the more secondary position. (Arguably Ben Arfa, but I'd see him as operating more in a free role) However, it looks like we're working to sort that out.

He looks like Billy-no-mates there.

Assuming Tiote and Cabaye are nailed on to start, we could do with someone who's really going to make forward runs into the box. I get the impression that Cabaye is more of a playmaker. Tiote-Cabaye-Gosling could be a very good threesome in a 4-3-3.

I wonder if there's substance to the talk of the agent causing the hold-up. PSG seem to have made it absolutely clear to the player for weeks now that he's not wanted. He can't be under any delusions there. I can remember that with Ben Arfa, there were complications because his agent didn't favour a move to us.

It's interesting that we rate him so highly, and yet he's a player that doesn't seem that much in demand elsewhere - unlike Gameiro and Gervinho. We clearly see some potential in him that others don't.

at the minute i think it would work perfectly, as it would have for most of last season too. I'd say it was a risk not worth taking.

Absolutely nothing wrong with Guthrie's attitude or his heart. He's always given his all. Unfortunately, he's not the greatest athlete and that will prevent him from reaching the heights that other players will achieve. No-one said that life was fair.

I don't care about the rest of the transfer window, we need to sign the "Hebrew Hammer" Or at least get some random Israeli bloke and name him that. We could have "the mighty Muslim" That would be Demba Ba I'm sure we can find a Powerful Protestant and a Catholic Cyclone while we're at it. Is Buddhism incompatible with competitive sport? Discuss.

According to reports, Spurs are having to sell before they can buy. And that's a club that's been far better than most at keeping their wage bill under control. There was a good article in the Times today, saying that the transfer market was quite stuck all round at the moment. Most clubs are feeling the pinch and need to offload before they can buy, but a lot of the surplus players are on high wages which deter other clubs. Bassong hasn't done quite as well at Spurs as I'd expected. At £4m it's tempting, and he may be better than our current CBs, but is he significantly better? We could easily end up in the position Spurs are in now - keen to upgrade but stuck with him.

I think the club would see it as taking a short-term hit in order to pursue a long-term goal of reducing the wage bill to a manageable level. They probably feel that if they make exceptions, that's going to set a precedent for other deals and other negotiations. If there's wide variation between players' wages then that can lead to resentment, unless you have a Messi or a Rooney whose ability makes them stand out. Jose doesn't fall into that category. There's also a problem that if you pay a player more than they're worth, you get issues when you want to progress later on and bring in replacements. It's difficult to shift the player on if you're paying them more than other clubs think they're worth (eg Smith) The story of Shepherd's reign was of a club paying more and more to attract players in the hope of emerging at the end of the tunnel, but that end never came and we ended in a deeper mess.

I don't think Jose is committed 100% to the idea of leaving. He's hoping he's going to get an offer from a club with better prospects, and he wants to keep his options open for as long as possible. That might mean him waiting till the end of the season, like Barton. It's hard to know what he hoped to gain by his twitter statements. It won't encourage other clubs to get involved, and it'll make life awkward between himself and his team-mates. He might have thought that the club will now be keen to get rid of him, and will then drop the asking price, but I doubt that we're asking for a huge fee in the first place. So many footballers seem to act like a twitter exchange is a private conversation, when of course it's a public statement. Perhaps he'd had one too many cervezas and wasn't thinking straight. If the Sun story is correct, Ashley was right to fine him and Pardew wrong to act with kid gloves. You can't publicly call your employer, or anyone else at the club, a liar and not pay a consequence. I've had the impression before that Pardew is trying to play a 'good cop' role and that can be a bit dangerous.

Enrique talked about players wanting to go, but apart from himself, who is he talking about? Carroll wasn't agitating for a move, and would have stayed if we hadn't had that £35m bid. Nolan left because he was going to lose his place and was offered a better contract - if you're worried about your club's ambition, you don't drop down to the Championship. Barton seems happy to stay, and it was the club who pulled out of negotiations, not him. We've also managed to sign a few players who had other, decent options as well. It must be a bit embarrassing for Jose, because he's given his team-mates the message that he may have bigger fish to fry, and now it looks like none of his chosen clubs are that keen on him.

I've got no problem with players wanting to leave for more money, or to join a richer or more successful club. But so many try to seize the moral high ground as they're doing it, and it's really annoying.

I do believe that the club is still trying to add to the squad, and this statement won't help. Nor will it help the morale of the players who want to stay. As such, it's a bit selfish. If he wants to go, he can go. No need to try and attract sympathy / support like this.

Yeah pretty much this Yeah, there's never been much doubt about his ability. It's the other parts of the package that have hindered him.

This was my concern over the Tevez - Corinthians transfer, only in that case the agreement broke down, though possibly not permanently. UEFA have got to start getting involved right away, because once precedents have been set, it'll be very difficult.

At £9m? I don't think so.

It sounds a bit convenient. I'm wondering whether he just doesn't fancy getting injured in some friendly by some over-enthusiastic Yank or lower-league player who's out to make a name for himself.

Part of the trouble is that there have been a number of over-the-odds transfers in the last few months - Carroll, Henderson, Bent, Downing - and owners like Whelan are saying that if he goes for £20m, my player is just as good and I expect a similar fee. I don't think these fees are realistic for that standard of player, particularly with FFP coming up. £9m for Zoggy in the last year of his contract is a good bid.

If we start protecting him, he's going to lose confidence. Every defender is going to be telling him that they're going to break his leg anyway. He needs to show courage or he's lost.

7 different nationalities in that picture. Sign of the times.

Was wondering that too, could help in the long run if he gets over this quickly. From .com, it seems that Pardew's initial reaction was that Ben Arfa could continue on the tour. It sounds like it's the player who wanted to play safe and go home. It must be hard for a young player who's been out for a long time, but in these situations it's best to get back on your bike asap. Otherwise you'll develop a mental block. Being a professional footballer - particularly one like him who's a threat to the opposition - means you're going to get hurt. There's no avoiding it.