Sifu

Medical on Monday then?!

We're signing both of them man... Pieters for LB and CB cover, Cissokho as LB.

I'm liking the sound of that

Forest eh? Hope we do them.

Nobby = forever the legend

He apparently reads this board. So aslong as it's him being slated then fantastic.

That would go well.

Barton out, Cabaye in.

Fatigue from looking after a newly born premature baby perhaps? A plausible explanation.

Aye!

The man gets funnier by the day. Tried to sign Barton?

It's pretty much clear as day that he really doesn't want to be there. Could have stayed where he was adored for another year, proved to the top clubs that last year wasn't a one-off in terms of fitness, form, discipline, etc. and at least got a move to a mid-table club. Definitely. I'm disappointed in him in this aspect.

It's pretty much clear as day that he really doesn't want to be there.

Of course he was.

That should pave the way for Sammy to start then

I think the best system will be when we start passing the ball around and get crosses in from the byline or through balls from the centre. At the moment all he's had is an aerial bombardment from deep positions. Until I see him in a proper functional team it's hard to make any judgement for me. All that long ball last night is definitely not his kind of game.

He looks thrilled to be there.....

The type of players we're getting now, I don't think a leader of the Barton ilk is that major. We've still got influential players out there maybe not in the in-your-face style of Barton, but Coloccini, Tiote, and looking likely Cabaye are players who'll get the team going in a different way. And if the players do need a rollocking, I've no doubt whatsoever that Carver & Stone (wow, I've just got that some people carve stones...genius) will be at hand to dish that one where necessary. I guess this is so but I'll miss the "Barton in-your-face approach" tbh.

Like I've said before in this thread, I am absolutely disappointed he's gone. We have lost a leader on the pitch and seemingly in the dressing room too (I'm judging this from the Twitter interactions between one another and how it seems most of the players like him [even the new ones, ie. Cabaye]). This is a loss for the team and he'll definitely be missed, no doubt about that in my mind. I'm disappointed that he has chosen QPR but I guess he was pushed into a corner by the c***s from above that he would have went anywhere (who would offer him a secure future/ambition which the new QPR owner seems to have compared to the c*** we've got). But alas, it's time to move on and time for others to step up to the plate. I'd start Obertan now tbh.

?? how exactly has he conducted himself well? I presume you are joking? Not even a little bit. The timeline as I see it is this: Okay, very rough start what with the prison sentence and all. After that, he applied himself on the pitch and was one of our top performers. Whether the performances made up for the rough start and outweighs it is opinion etc. I think probably just about comes up on the positive side in that respect. He fought our tyrannical owners (that should be me being comedic, but it's not!) and questioned their policies. He communicated with fans, was honest about what was going on the club and didn't let it affect his performances. The team morale hasn't seem troubled by it either. Look at Arsenal. Look at Sunderland. He shows passion, he screams at players for s*** passes, but that's part of football. It's good for football. He always ends up joking with people - even the opposition who stamp on him ffs! His contract negotiations were an uphill struggle from the get go because of the owners. He is getting older, so obviously we shouldn't have offered him a 75k week contract for four years (or whatever it actually is), but if the owners weren't such complete antagonistic arseholes I'm sure we could have sweetened him for a 1 or 2 year deal at around £60k (probably even less, tbh). You have top class older pros like Hangeland who could walk into most top table teams, but a relatively small club like Fulham can hold onto him because they're not run by mongs. Similarly, how many of Everton's top class older players are leaving, or desperate to find a way out of the club (a la Carroll, Nolan, Enrique, Barton)? None is the answer. And you know they of all people could get much better salaries elsewhere. Barton, to his credit, fought to stay here - even when transfer listed, he dug his heels in and said he was proud to wear the colours. He also continued to put in important performances and helping us to four points already. Even though he was docked wages, trained alone and treated like crap in general. Then QPR come in and offer him a great deal, give him a future and show him some respect - what obligation does he have to Ashley to stay? None. He should do what's right for him, and he has. It's to his credit he didn't go sulk somewhere, not train, play (eg Modric, Maiga) during these troubled times. Man, my chronology is really bad... but still, hopefully you see my perspective. Joey doesn't owe anyone anything, except himself. It was up to the club to make sure he felt he could get that at Newcastle. They failed. Well, they would have failed if it was ever their intention to keep him at all - rather than their actual intention to just cut down the Administrative Expenses line on the end of year Financial Statements. f*** the league table, right.

Turbo c***.

3-1 to us. Best, Cabaye, Raylor over the wall.