Shak

Happy to see Dyer go, ultimately. But it's another hole in the squad as, despite his faults, he's still one of our best midfielders at present.

Allardyce comes off well but it's looking a bit bleak in terms of getting in the players we need this summer. We need defenders or we're looking at a mid-table struggle this season, at best. I'm officially running out of patience in about a week, if we've not gotten at least one quality defender in the door I'll be getting angry.

Can't say you're excited that someone who knows what he's doing has been appointed? He knows what he's doing in a law farm, not a football club. Surely you recognise there is a subtle difference? As far as the chairman is concerned, the club is a business, just like everywhere else. Sam Allardyce is in charge of the footballing side. We dont know or sure that Mort is up to this job at all yet. Just because he's done well in other realms of business, doesn't mean he'll know how to run this particular business. I'm good at golf, doesn't mean I'm liquid at all sports though. (Worst example ever but you get the idea) I'm staying optimistic though, for now.

What were you people expecting to pay for Deco? 6m? Taking the piss tbh. If we could convince him to come here then he'd be the touch of world-class we need to link the front and the back. Never relied on pace in his game at all either so he's looking at at least 4 more years at the very top. Well worth 15m. Honestly never seen much of Appiah, but I have been advocating getting some sort of brick shithouse in to play CM so I'd be excited by him. Cassano would be a terrible idea, obviously.

Good stuff. You should seriously try and throw in 'We're gonna win the league" at some point, could easily become a cult character of some sort. The cheery, optimistic geordie who somehow keeps getting on TV proclaiming we're gonna win the league, reckon you could ultimately get on Soccer AM if you play it right.

Parky's legged it.

The main problem with Kluivert here was that he and Shearer weren't suited to playing together at all, and with Shearer undroppable there was only one winner. Think he lost interest once he realised how bad the setup was here. Not blaming Shearer personally, before the hystrionics begin.

That doesn't read right. Filthy mind you... Anyway, posted this in another thread regarding Emre and the 4-3-3. Emre has been very inconsistent in his time here, don't think anyone can argue that. His real problem is that he doesn't really fit into a regular 4-4-2 formation, or 2 man CM midfield combination of any kind. As a holding player, he's too prone to switching off at times, which you can't have from your DM. While he's willing to get himself about and is a fiery little fella by all accounts, he doesn't really win the ball a lot or protect the defense outstandingly. So he's not cut out for the holding roll. In his first season here, he played primarily alongside Parker, with Parker in the holding roll. While he is very technically sound on the ball, he didn't get into advanced positions on a regular enough basis to cause worry for the opposition defenses. You need one of your midfielders to get beyond the strikers on a regular enough basis and score goals from the middle of the park, and Emre doesn't and I don't think he ever will. So while he doesn't seem to fit in there, he's a great fit for a 3-man midfield. With an imposing DM to protect the back 4, and Barton a box-to-box to player who will get into dangerous positions and hopefully contribute goals from the middle, Emre will be the link man, or deep lying playmaker. His job will be to be the main distributor of play from the middle, constantly available to recieve the ball and find a team-mate, which is crucial in retaining possesion. Pirlo does it for Milan, Xavi for Barcelona, and Carrick will be likely be able to step into that role for Man U now that thye have a more natural ball-winner in Hargreaves. Think Emre has the qualities to do it, even though some will say (and rightfully) that he has been very wasteful with possesion at times for us. With a more suitable role in the team, combined with a center forward like Viduka who he can play the ball into feet to, full-backs who he's comfortable exchanging possesion with knowing they're not likely to panic at any moment and hoof the ball aimlessly forward, a solid holding midfielder behind him, and runners from deep like Barton, Milner, possibly N'Zogbia or whoever else we end up with in midfield with, I think we'll see Emre flourish next year.

Sums it up, though I think he was poor last year as much due to Roeder's awful tactics as much as Parker's awful football. If we're going to be playing 4-3-3 then selling Emre would be absolute madness, as he's a perfect 4-3-3 player. In a 2-man midfield he can't really play DM (not good enough defensively) or AM (doesn't get up to support the strikers well enough) but he's the type of player you need in a 4-3-3. Technically brilliant, great vision and covers a lot of ground. With a proper DM beside him to protect the back 4 and someone like Barton who will get forward and get goals, Emre can be our deep-lying playmaker. With someone like Viduka who we can play the ball into feet to, coupled with full-backs who won't hoof the ball aimlessly forward under even the slightest pressure, we'll see Emre's game improve immensely this season. I've gone into more depth on this a number of times, can't be arsed again.

He's giving you one last look at it for old time's sake. By that logic he should have won his last match in charge at Bolton, no?

Bit of an over-generalisation there. All people from Ireland are in the IRA, you know. Damn right, and I've already gained trust in this forum. Soon I will detonate. You English are so stupid, no wonder we kicked your ass in World War II.

You are, you cunt! Seriously though, I think having better training methods will help immensely. Some players are always gonna pick up strains (Owen) and there's nowt you can do about injuries like Barton's. Should be interetsing to see how many injuries we get this season, maybe we are just cursed? >

Mourinho on 5 live a couple of Fridays ago. Someone had best inform him he seemed to be playing 4-4-2 quite a lot last season then.

Chelsea might be going back to 4-4-2 this season. ITK?

Definitely. It was the problem with signing Shevchenko as, despite being class, he just didn't fit into the system/style they played, and they're still suffering from it.

Aye, only got Bolton Wanderers into Europe. Only won Chelsea the Premier League, twice. Man United used it predominantly last season as well.

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 in order to fit in the big name players. I'd expect Martins would be very well suited to being a wide-man in a 4-3-3 tbh, as he's anything but a penalty box predator/finisher type. The big issue is Owen. He's our best player and seems to be suited exclusively to a 4-4-2, while the rest of our team look to be very well suited to a 4-3-3. Tough call.

I'd take him playing there as cover for Bridge untill he is fit, if Baggio is right that is. Agreed, especially as Bridge shouldn't be out for too long. But it is absolutely imperative that N'Zogbia is only a back-up, putting our faith in him to somehow become the answer to our LB problems permanently would be shocking. Thankfully I don't see that happening. I want to believe you, but you've hurt me too many times.

Maybe Geremi is expected to provide the competition for Butt in that role? Agree with you though, would love to see us get a young DM to ultimately become the anchor of our midfield.

I'd take him playing there as cover for Bridge untill he is fit, if Baggio is right that is. Agreed, especially as Bridge shouldn't be out for too long. But it is absolutely imperative that N'Zogbia is only a back-up, putting our faith in him to somehow become the answer to our LB problems permanently would be shocking. Thankfully I don't see that happening.

He's not an improvment on what we've got though, in my opinion at least. Here he'd be expected to do a lot more than he is at Man U and I think he'd be found out as the average player that he is. Would you be happy with the signing? Not at £6m but i seem to have an impression in my mind of him playing well in the latter stages of the CL. Versatile player too. Aye, capable of average performances in a number of positions. Rather we kept Dyer than got Fletcher personally. Fletcher would expect to play regularly if he came here I'd imagine, and I wouldn't be at all comfortable with that. As a squad player he'd be fine, but for £6m I'd much rather we kept our money and spent it on some defenders. I have the feeling that its getting to the stage where we will try to bring in anyone who improves the squad. He can play in the defence and across the midfield. If he is good enough for Fergie, he is good enough for me btw. Don't know, wouldn't be too keen on the likes of John O'Shea here tbh. I'll trust Allardyce's judgement on this if it's true (which I doubt) but I'll be quite disappointed I must admit. Twas the Roma game where he shone but, as I said earlier, the whole team was on fire that day so I wouldn't use that game as much of an indicator.

It's Smith we're talking about. You say tomato...

No surprise that Nobby will play more centrally this season, he's not direct enough at all to play out wide in Allardyce's system in my opinion. Think he'll probably compete with Emre for this deep lying playmaker role, should be a decent battle. Much depends on what system we end up playing though.

He's not an improvment on what we've got though, in my opinion at least. Here he'd be expected to do a lot more than he is at Man U and I think he'd be found out as the average player that he is. Would you be happy with the signing? Not at £6m but i seem to have an impression in my mind of him playing well in the latter stages of the CL. Versatile player too. Aye, capable of average performances in a number of positions. Rather we kept Dyer than got Fletcher personally. Fletcher would expect to play regularly if he came here I'd imagine, and I wouldn't be at all comfortable with that. As a squad player he'd be fine, but for £6m I'd much rather we kept our money and spent it on some defenders.

He's not an improvment on what we've got though, in my opinion at least. Here he'd be expected to do a lot more than he is at Man U and I think he'd be found out as the average player that he is. Would you be happy with the signing?