Shak

That seems to be t'general consensus. But Dave is adamant on this it seems. He gets like this during the sheep dog trials. Parky misses a sitter!

Geremi it is then. Seems the safest bet, think Barton might well have challenged him for it if not for the legal issue over him and now also his injury. Not sure Taylor is ready yet, if he has a bad run of form it will become a huge anchor on him. Geremi comes from a Premiership winning club, is vastly experienced in football throughout Europe and is still in the prime of his career, still only aged 28. Good solid pro also, with the way he's played himself into a starting spot in CM this pre-season he's become the obvious choice. Allardyce said he wanted his captain to step forward and reveal himself, and Geremi has done that brilliantly. Best of luck to him if he gets it.

I thought the t' part generally means 'the', or can also mean 'to the'. But then I've never been to Yorkshire.

Never been really bothered by shit coverage as such, as long as I can see the football I'm happy. So what if the replays are shite or there's some bad camera work? Ideally it'd be better but it' still worth it at the end of the day for me, as long as losing the coverage doesn't become a regular thing.

I'm a little confused, what exactly did Curbishley start? Did Allardyce not just admit that it was us that bumped up the price?

"Ramage is to defenders what Chris Benoit is to babysitters"

Didn't look sharp at all, Viduka, but you could see in flashes the ability he's got when we feed the ball into his feet, his touch is quality. Smith looks a great signing, great squad member.

Sorry Dave, I'll stop now.

Looks a good partner for Taylor. Very cerebral, reads the game very well and play with a level head. Looking forward to seeing how he and Taylor deal with Bolton next week.

Watched our game with Sampdoria, no way I'd watch Man U v Chelsea in a friendly. Two very good goals though, tbf.

So was Smith. I know, was responding to the 'Bowyer was shit' posts. Smith'll do better for us than Bowyer did, I would assume. The longer it goes the more happy I am with this signing, after initially being whelmed by the whole thing.

Compare it to last season's options for CM Parker, Emre, Butt Pick 2 out of 3 Glenn...

Bowyer was fucking quality at Leeds for a time, let's not forget that.

Wasted there IMO. Agree with Baggio though, different trios for different oppositions. Nice range of options in the middle of the park now, looks good.

OMG Skirge you've ruined da entire season now!!!

Agree, we'd be hardy as fuck and would have terrific balance in the middle of the field to boot.

It was a slag-fest. And I don't mean there were loose women posting in it. Hadn't really read the whole thing, was mostly responding to the OP. Yeah, the thread started well with my opening post, but then people just took the opportunity to have a go at me for no reason. I'm pretty much a martyr for my cause. You do bring it on yourself somewhat to be fair. And, as I've outlined above, your opening post was flawed.

It was a slag-fest. And I don't mean there were loose women posting in it. Hadn't really read the whole thing, was mostly responding to the OP.

Not sure why Verlaine's thread was deleted tbh, raised a good point. Anyway, depends on how we plan to use Geremi. All the signs seem to be pointing towards us predominantly using a 4-3-3. With Geremi AND a DM in the middle we're going to be solid against pretty much anyone, we'll certainly be no pushovers. With a proper DM in there I think it allows Geremi to dictate the play when we have the ball, floating around and getting in possesion without having to worry about playing cautiously to protect the back 4. A deep lying playmaker basically. It's a role I previously expected we'd see Emre play if fit, but from what we've seen so far Geremi seems to be perfect for it. Also Geremi plus a good DM in there makes us very good defensively. So I'd still like to see us get a DM in tbh, though with Smith, N'Zogbia, Emre and Barton in there we're not exactly short of guys who can get stuck in, so it's not an urgent need by any means.

Comparing the relationship of a footballer with his employer to the relationship of your average worker with his isn't really feasible IMO. They're fundamentally different in the extreme. Anyway, glad we've called the little wanker's bluff.

You're serious? Yeah. I think the left-back and centre-back spots really needed sorting out and right-back less so. Still welcome a better replacement, obviously. Woops. Thought you were having a go at me for starting a new thread on something that had already been discussed. I had a sanctimonious rant planned out against you and everything just in case.

You're serious?

If, as expected, the signings of Enrique and Dragutinovic go through in the next few days then it could be argued that we're pretty much set for next season in terms of squad depth. At the LB position we'd generally be looking for Jose Enrique to be our regular starter and LB for years to come. We have Dragutinovic then who can play there when Enrique is out or we need a more physical presence there. With us being unlikely to be able to shift Babayaro this year, he'll suffice as 3rd choice and is worth keeping in my opinion, in case Enrique doesn't adjust to the PL straight away. Even if we do sell Baba, we can play N'Zogbia or ultimately even Duff there in case of emergency. At CB we have Taylor, Rozenhal and Cacapa who will most likely compete for the two spots. I'd expect Taylor and Rozenhal will be given the first chance to prove they're a good tandem, as Cacapa is not expected to be match fit for the season opener at Bolton. After that, we have Dragutinovic who can play at CB as well. So that's 4 solid options with Ramage/Huntington/Edgar being sufficient 5th choice. The RB spot is somewhat of a question mark though. In theory, we have 4 players who can play there. Carr, Geremi, Solano and Taylor. Personally I would be strongly against Taylor playing there. His future is as a CB for us, and I think he'll play there when fit to start the season anyway, with Rozenhal and Cacapa expected to fight to partner him. Carr is a big question mark for us this season. Seems the type of player who'll respond well to Allardyce's style, but on the other hand it's been years since he was a good Premiership RB. Solano will always be a risk defensively in that position, while judging by what we've seen from Geremi so far we're better off having him as an option in midfield. So, if we've got the money and Allardyce feels there is a quality right-back that he can attract to the club then I'd really love to see us go for him. We've then got this new RB to start, being backed up by Carr. There are then the aforementioned options to back them up even further. Not only does this give us a top quality RB, which we've not had for some time, but it also strengthens the squad in general quite significantly. Solano and Geremi become free to compete for spots in midfield, while Taylor can play exclusively as a CB (something that will become easier with proper quality full-backs) and we aren't relying on Carr to get his act together. Getting a bit greedy, perhaps, as it's not as much of a concern as LB was (assuming we get the players in we're expected to) but the more I think about it the more I think we'd benefit massively from getting in the best RB we can attract.

Yes. Really?

Assumed this whole thing would die off with us after Enrique. Strange, but I'm not complaining at all.