Cronky

Sorry like but that is total tosh. If he craved that so much he wouldn't of walked away from football and hidden himself from the limelight for so long. My point was that if he's not the one in charge, he doesn't want to know. The way he's walked away from top class football completely reinforces that.

Absolutely right.

Keegan just isn't the sort of person that can take a back seat. It has to be his show.

I thought the £40 million figure was made up, and I think the same about £10 million. I wouldn't say there's a lot of action anywhere in the transfer market at the moment. It's that stage when a number of players will be coming back, hoping to fight for a place in the first team. In a few weeks' time, it'll be apparent who's in the manager's favour, and who isn't. Either that, or they'll want to bide their time to see what clubs are interested in them. The likes of Smith, Fletcher, Silvestre might well want to consider a move then.

The crucial question, and it's got me stumped.

I think we have to face the fact that we're going to have to pay a bit over the odds at this stage for the kind of experienced central defender we want. £7 million is a bit steep, but I don't think we can afford to quibble at the price. He'd definitely be an improvement on what we have, even if he can't get into the Man U first eleven. There was a thread on Darren Fletcher which produced a similar reaction ie he's crap. He's not brilliant, but he's certainly not crap.

The sea horses look distinctly girly.

Silvestre good player. No like this.

Im not sure I agree with the lack of commitment thing, he won the ball back quite a few times (a few he himself lost) and did try and close down a lot of balls coming out of defence. He does go quiet a fair bit though. He seems to have very good instincts in the box though. He looks the sort of player who would get you a number of goals through the season but when he isn't scoring he isnt really doing anything. I must have missed that. My memory is that when he lost the ball, he showed no reaction at all.

I thought it was the same old Luque last night. The ability is there but he lacks commitment and he allowed himself to be bullied off the ball too often. Yes, he is capable of better, but he looks like he'd rather be elsewhere. I think that's why his team mates are so fed up with him.

The worry was how bad our defence was until Taylor came on. The simplest of through balls or balls over the top had us in trouble. Celtic didn't have to work for their chances in the first half, and a Premiership team would have buried us. We've got to get more quality in there, if only as back up. I'd agree that Troisi looked a good player. He kept good control of the ball when running at pace, and looked very promising.

First half, we couldn't defend. Second half, we couldn't attack. Some neat football at times, but I'm not quite sure how we won 4-1. Geremi looked very good. I think he and Barton could combine well in the middle. Despite the two goals, it was the same old Luque. He's just not interested in competing in the physical challenges. He looked a bit like Billy No Mates when he scored. Eventually Oba took pity on him and ran to congratulate.

I liked that statement about outlasting Blair. Blair has walked away at the time that he planned, whereas Shepherd has been booted out despite being determined to stay. Big difference. Good old Freddie. Unable to leave without one final , egotistical, asinine comment.

Brilliant. Not that far away from the truth either.

The entire issue should and could have been cleared up months and months ago if the FA actually had a spine and made a strong decision. The confusion is purely the fault of the lack of bollocks at Soho Sq. I agree. The Premiership let West Ham off with a lenient punishment and allowed them to continue to play Tevez just so they could avoid getting into a legal battle with the club. They're about to pay the consequences.

I think a DOF can work if he's working under the manager, taking away some of the admin or long-term infrastructure type tasks. If he's working for the Chairman, acting as the alternative mouthpiece on football-related matters, dee-sas-ter.

Couldn't have put it better. Not only did he not dip into his own pocket, but he paid himself a handsome salary and dividends. I've actually no objection to that, because he's a businessman with a big responsibility, but it's really irritating to hear him spoken about like he was some generous benefactor. Gonads.

Good player who will get better. Yes please.

Is there any indication yet that Fergie wants to sell? It sounds like some clubs are sniffing around, on the assumption that with the new players coming in, Fletcher is the most vulnerable. I think with Nani and Anderson, Fergie is looking at long-term replacements for Giggs and Scholes. In fact, I don't think Giggs will survive as a first-team regular this season. In the second half of last season, he was starting to flag. There seems to be an attitude of 'if he's not good enough for Man U, he's not good enough for us'. Given the gap between Man U and us, that's not realistic.

I seem to remember that he came as a left back. He may benefit from the extra time and space that he'll get in possession in that position. The big question mark is whether he has the temperament for a defender, but that's something maybe big Sam can work on. He may turn out a bit like Ashley Cole - not great in his positioning, but quick enough to recover. Either way, he's failed to progress with us as a wide player or CM player, and it's worth a look.

He looks good, but he's basically chasing one first team place with Viduka and Shola. A loan makes sense.

Dyer's been looking for a way out for a long time, remember the noises he made when Leeds came a knocking, so I don't think it's all down to him being hounded. There was a time in Sir Bob's days when a few clubs were sniffing around and being quoted £20 million, but I can't remember him agitating to leave. I may be wrong though. He can't have been happy about the way the club has been run over the last four years, but it sounded to me like, after his injuries, he was up for a fresh start with Allardyce and the new owner. Then he gets booed in the first two friendlies, for no good reason. That may not be the only issue, but it would be enough to tip someone away from a decision to stay to a decision to go.

I'd agree that Dyer's biggest assets have been his pace and work-rate. If he's not going to put in 100%, he's not worth playing, because he's not a technical kind of player who can coast through games. It just leaves a bad feeling that a useful player is being hounded out in this way.

You were right with Matty Appleby. One game in 1993-94.

I think this 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 issue is a crucial one. 4-3-3 is what Sam believes in, and we do have the attacking players to play it. Trouble is Owen and Martins aren't in that category. They aren't target men, they're not wide players and they're not good at dropping into the midfield. They are specialist finishers who need to play around another striker in a 4-4-2. In a 4-3-3, Viduka or Shola could operate in the centre, and Milner, Dyer, Zoggy, Duff or Emre could go wide. My fear is that we'll end up wasting a lot of time trying to play 4-3-3 with the big name players who aren't comfortable with that formation.