TRon

Smith must die. That is all. Everton will probably up the offer a bit and hopefully Smith will bite his lip and accept. Otherwise he should be playing for the reserves next season. On the bench.

Any 20 year old in the Championship who even remotely looks like a striker will probably come with a price tag of £6m with no guarantee he could score at a higher level. That's just the way the British market is. Could get Andy Keogh for £4m, no problem. Stick a £2m bid in for Sharp from Sheff United whilst we're at it. Perfect. Or £4m could get you Shola with a better scoring record. Maybe we should wait till he moves and then buy him back.

I don't agree that the strikers are sorted out. If either Owen or Martins are injured we are short on numbers. We need another one in before the window closes.

The Owen signing was a feelgood signing and underlined a lot wrong with the club at the time. It was daft money paid on one player because it looked spectacular. A sensible approach would have been to strengthen the squad by buying 2-3 players of decent quality if buying Owen meant we couldn't afford anyone else.

Any 20 year old in the Championship who even remotely looks like a striker will probably come with a price tag of £6m with no guarantee he could score at a higher level. That's just the way the British market is.

http://football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_3948840,00.html Zigic is obviously their 2nd choice striker after Shola knocked them back then...

I'd love it to be true, but I can't believe some journalist wouldn't have picked up on the story by now if it was the case. Although scratch that. Most of the piss-heads just copy stories from the web anyway.

If we are looking for quick gratification then there's reason to feel disappointed as we haven't splurged money like some may have been expecting. If you take a longer term view though, a lot of what is currently going on at the club is pretty good. We are weeding out over-paid non-performers, and the signings so far look pretty good in comparison. It might not be obvious, but the squad is slowly and surely being upgraded. We are setting up a decent base for future progress.

No one's going to pay it though, so they'll end up dropping the price IMO.

The squad is light in a couple of key positions for me to be optimistic at the moment, but I trust this will be put right before the window closes.

I see the Journal is now reporting a £3m fee which is more realistic. When we bought him for £6m I said at the time he was worth only half that, but thanks to us putting our faith in that fat gobshit Allardyce, we got stung. Still, £3m is better than a kick up the arse and it's another high paid waster off the books. Touch wood.

Based on what? We score more goals with no strikers.

Of course there's no way the current squad can get 4th on the face of it..... but its right to target it. We should be looking to compete for 5th place, we'll need a good run with injuries but the quality is there in the first 11 to challenge. Then you hope for Liverpool to implode, leaving one of the top 4 spots open. A club will break into the top 4 in the next season or 2, as history has shown though getting 4th is relatively easy - its repeating it and becoming established there that is difficult KK said after the last friendly that we were capable of finishing in the top 10. I think with the squad at it's current level that's probably realistic.

Healy would be a stop gap signing at best, like Sibierski, assuming these rumours are true. At least he' scored some important goals for his country which shows he's got bottle if nothing else. The bottom line for me is I have no objection to this as long as he's not the ONLY striker we sign in this window.

Signing another player on the way down with their best years behind them, just like the bad old days I don't think there is any doubt at all that if the old regime had signed a 26 year old central defender for 11m quid they would be labelling him as you say, along with the old "trophy player" bollocks Gerraway man. its been said enough mate. Nowt wrong with a quality signing [if he turns out to be a quality signing - in fact if he doesn't who will apply hindsight as in the case of Boumsong I wonder], but its who signs them that causes the problem would appear to be the case. I still haven't worked out whether your view is based on foresight based on hindsight, or hindsight based on foresight. Or maybe hindisght based on hindsight so you win either way

Can't say he was outstanding in the match I saw against Hertha Berlin, but he looked tidy, and busy enough. His goal yesterday was a bit of an eye-opener. Top class finish which makes you think there's more to this lad than you first think.

I keep hearing people say Milner would be ace down the middle, and technically he has the game, no doubt. But then technically Milner has a great shot - except when he's in front of goal in a match which matters. Personally I don't think he's got a winner mentality to make it at the top, but he can always go out this season and prove me wrong. But I doubt it.

Gomis has been on our radar a long time; his value didn't get over-inflated by the Euros... the signs are good....

Let's forget about Emre. He was unfit and un-motivated so it's best he's gone. Yes we need a play maker though, I would like to think the club recognises this is a priority, and in the failure to land Modric, will be looking for alternatives.

Molner doesn't score goals, it's not a natural instinct for him despite having tremendous shooting power. Given a decent opportunity on goal there is a 90% certainty he will fluff it. Agree with you on Larsson as well. I think this is a deal we should be able to force through if we seriously want him.

I think the main obstacle to getting Baptista is persuading him to come here. I believe he wasn't happy at Arsenal, and if Roma are in for him as well, that would probably be his frst choice move.

Duff looks "lively" but what does he actually produce at the end of it in serious competition?? Where does he go? What is his objective?

Or Alan S*it*?

Well I never like to be pedantic but I think you need to register a player on the Friday to play in the weekedn games so that's only 10 days left, well probably 9 days since the business day is almost over. Yeah stacks of time, all these people panicking really need a reality check This will be the team I believe will line up on Sunday. Given Beye Colocini Taylor Enrique Jonas Gerimi Butt Guthrie Duff Martins Subs: Harper Zog Bassong Faye Milner Smith Shola DUFF? reeeeeallly? aw, f*** hope your drunk afar 'cause i'm off on my holidays and i'm as depressed as f*** now...duff, jesus christ i mean how bad can zogs attitude be? what is he a pot head or summat? I think Duff's looked good in the preseason matches. Certainly better than most. He still looks shit to me.

Baptista would be a good signing if there's any cance he would be pepared to come here. A powerful front man is an urgent prioriy as Alan Smith's woeful attempts to look like a striker must have become clear to all at Newcastle by now.