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I'm really surprised a Premier League club hasn't taken a gamble on Zoltan Gera yet. He's out of contract in the summer. He always reminded me a little of Nobby, slightly less talented but physically superior. Would be a good option for every team outside the top 4 for me.

I think he deserves a run up front. He's very average in my opinion but he holds the ball up just as well as Viduka at the moment, battles for every ball, is willing to run a channel and defends from the front. These are things we just aren't getting at the moment. The performance of Drew Talbot for Luton yesterday shows how a very limited player who works hard and runs channels can occupy and trouble defenders. As Smith is the only one of our strikers willing to be aggressive and let defenders know he is there, he should be given the chance up front. How you replace his creativity and dynamism in midfield is beyond me though!

Hutton rejects Rangers according to BBC sport now. Radio Clyde exclusive I guess. Comedy that like. First Berb says he wants to move to big club and then a player from the Scottish League rejects them. ''But.. But... But, we don't pay stupid wages'. Never going to leave Arsenals shadow.

I thought he looked a real threat last night. He's obviously lacking confidence and hauling him off at half time is not going to do that any good. He should have stayed on and Viduka should have been hauled really. I'm hoping he bangs in some goals at the ANC and then gets some games up front in a 4-4-2 when he's back.

I think BBC Scotland are reporting it. £8m+! Is he that good? Can't say I've ever been impressed with him as a defender altho he's a tidy footballer...exactly what they don't need. They would want more than that for Chimbonda tho. Didn't they allegedly knock back £10m from Chelsea in the summer. Hutton has looked good when I've seen him. Not sure about 8m though. Chimbonda, while a vile twat, is a pretty decent defender and versatile as well. Dropped by Ramos in favour of Zokora at right back apparently so doubt they would hold out for such a large fee again.

Hutton to Spurs apparently. Been mentioned a fair bit on SSN. Would probably take Chimbonda for 3m or so if that happens!

I really don't understand the Jol hatred. Decent man manager by all accounts, did a decent job at Spurs and is available. Above all, what I really admire about Jol is how simple he keeps. He plays 4-4-2 with genuine width, big man/ little man combo up top and a holder/ box to box midfield. Football really is a simple game. These managers who think they are tactical genuis' piss me off. Obviously I'm not too naive to believe that tactics are useless but with the position we're in and the players we have, playing a simple 4-4-2 game would do us plenty of good.

I agree. Looked good to me. Far more natural than N'Zogbia at left back.

Can I bump this thread? Jesus Christ. Butt was ridiculous tonight. I've rarely seen a worse performance in the middle of the park for us. To top it all off I had to put up with listening to some lads on the metro claim Butt was our best player tonight. This is when I can bring us back to my opening post. What is it that stops him getting widespread criticism? He's an absolute joke for me. Offers nothing. Nothing! If someone wants to make a case for the defence, I'd love t hear it!

No Barton anywhere? Injured or saved for Chelsea? Or saved from the Sib?

Cacapa and Beye were superb. Emre made a difference. N'Zogbia didn't get forward as much as I would have liked. Geremi and Butt were shocking. New midfielder required in January.

Okay, brb. can you pick up a right-winger while you're out? Can we replace Nicky Butt while we're at it. Fuckin hell, he's shite. Broke up nothing and his passing is embarrassing.

I see he's got a girlfriend who's just had his kid. Can he not just marry her like? Romantic as fuck like but you gotta do what you gotta do.

It's become apparent to me in the last couple of weeks that Allardyce is blinded by having a world class player in Michael Owen at his disposal. This has led him due to move away from the system that made him successful at Bolton. The problem is that Owen can only play in a front two while Allardyce wants to play 3 central midfield players as its been so successful for him in the past. So he's trying a strange hybrid formation that has a central midfield player playing wide- Geremi, Barton and Emre have all done this of late. The Portsmouth match did little to support the cause of playing two natural widemen. The same thing happened when Bolton first bought Anelka. He began by moving to 4-4-2 but in the end played Davies wide right to maintain the shape of the side. Fortunately, Allardyce learned his lesson that time. Unfortunately, I don't see Viduka or Owen playing wide anytime soon. What makes the situation a whole lot worse is that Michael Owen looks nowhere near the sort of world class player you compromise your formation for. For me, if Allardyce is to succeed he'll probably need to ditch Owen and bring in a centre forward who can hold the ball and battle with Viduka for a single central striker position. You could then play Martins/ Milner/ Duff/ N'Zogbia off this central striker. In the end, after spending years at Bolton probably longing to manage top class players, the biggest player Allardyce will ever manage must be sold or will end up costing him his job.

The reason he's useless away is because he's incapable of passing the ball. Its alright at home when teams will let us have plenty of ball, but away from home we need to keep the ball and be efficient with it. Geremi and Barton should be our midfield away from home imo.

I'd like to see us line up with N'Zogbia and Martins either side of Viduka, with Emre, Barton and Geremi in midfield. I would use Emre quite far forward as well. I remember the game against Everton when he played just off Shola and was superb. Think we need another target man to replace Shola, a creative midfield player and right winger. I'd let Butt and Shola go.

What has this guy done to be exempt from criticism? A handful of half decent games last season and a fight with Chimbonda and all of a sudden he's the saviour. To me, he's literally useless. As in, he has no use at all. He can't pass it, he rarely wins tackles and he barely breaks up play. People claim he picks up good positions and protects his defence. He didn;t do that at all today. A good defensive midfielder such as Makelele or Hargreaves would have shut down the area where Elano was destroying us. Butt was nowhere to be seen. Can't wait for Barton to be fit so we can ditch him from the 16 all together. Hopefully N'Zogbia will be released from left back and Smith can go as well. At the momentm we have two central midfielders out of 3 who can't pass a ball. Genius.

can i ask why we are sticking martins on the wing? Can I ask why there's 12 players in that team?

Gudjohnsen is the man for us. Played for Sam before, talk he could be available in summer. He's exactly what we need- could play with Owen or Martins or you could potentially play them as a three as he can drop in to midfield effectively. Possibly out of our league now but worth a go.

Macdonald as his number two, Speedo as coach, possibly keep Pearson on. Then he'll try for Forde as 'Development coach' as at Bolton. Probably.

Couldn't really say anything else though could he? I cant see Shearer saying it if he didnt mean it, If he didnt know he would of said something simple like "Maybe" or "We'll see". The way he said it suggested he knew what he was saying was correct. It was more a statement of fact than opinion.

Shearer was on some show on BBC 2 this morning with Gabby Logan. Said Owen will not come out and deny the speculation because he'd be doing that permanantly if he did. He also said Owen would be here next season. As good as 100% then.

If Wigan go down, Baines should be the man. Something like 4m would get him. Chuck 6m at them and get Ryan Taylor as well. Would be good business for me.

Your mate and me clearly see two different players. I was not comparing Simpson to Whitehead and Nosworth as right back. I mentioned Danny Simpson as comparison to Phil Bardsley. Lastly, Sunderland lost to Colchester, their only defeat this year, with Simpson absent and Whitehead as right back. Yeah mate, they lost to Colchester because Simpson was missing. It was nothing to do with the fact that Colchester are superb at home. With regards to my comments regarding Nosworthy and Whitehead, the fact that Nosworthy is shit and Whitehead is a midfielder tells me that Simpson can't be much good. It seems you have a habit of picking an obscure player and raving about them. Wenger seems to rate Hoyte higher than Gilbert, and Ferguson seems to think Bardsley is better than Simpson. I'll back their judgement over yours.

What's the answer that will satisfy you? That what you mean is that he's a better prospect on FM. On what basis do you think he's a better prospect, if not that? My mates been to every Sunderland game this season and says Simpson is shite. He thinks Whitehead is better at right back and that Nosworthy is twice the player. Says it all really. And my mate is a pretty good judge for a Mackem.