tmonkey

It may well appear to be a "piss easy" league to us right now, but let's see if folks still feel that way when the threadbare nature of our squad combines with fixture congestion, injuries, fatigue and the onslaught of a potential Cup run as well. All of that will take its toil, and if you add in the possibility that we could also be facing all of that without the services of Taylor, Coloccini, Ameobi...whoever else that may be sold... Don't let's go counting chickens just yet, eh? Don't get me wrong, I'd wholeheatedly agree that it's far too early to think we'll dominate the league. I'm thinking more along the lines of the league itself as a whole (i.e. the standard of the teams within it) being pretty piss poor compared to what we've been told beforehand, particularly comments about not underestimating the quality that is present within the league.

How many more games before we can declare this league to be piss easy? Threadbare squad with our best players gone, a coach way out of his depth filling the manager void, and yet we're joint top with Boro who seem to be in the same boat as us in terms of having players who are either too good for this level or well suited to it. Judging by last year's table, Cardiff, Sheffield Utd and Preston NE might be the only other decent teams we haven't faced.

"On all fours, zebra scum, it is time for the mighty Eagle of the jungle to royally impregnate you with the first seeds of defeat."

£4m would be a bargain for such a limited player who does a very average job that is glossed over by "spectacular" lunging and supposed work rate/effort/passion. none of which prevents him from going missing in a vital area of the pitch. He's good enough to play in a Championship dominating midfield, but that midfield will struggle when there are similarly limited players around him. Nolan, Butt, Guthrie, Geremi, even Barton, there's a shocking lack of legs in there, very little creativity (in fact only Barton provides an ounce of it), and very, very few goals. Someone needs to go, and out of those six, I'd want at least two from Nolan, Butt, Geremi and Smith to be moved on and replaced with younger, more mobile central midfielders who won't be gasping for air after 60 minutes. That way, we won't have a squad with four/five central midfielders all with the same limitations. £4m could easily be well spent. I'd be willing to bet that there are at least a dozen obtainable youngsters playing in the reserves of Premiership sides who'd provide the same things as Smith at this level - those things being an average touch, simple passing, and the ability to lunge. It's really not much if you look beyond reputation. And even if they money were to go straight to Ashley's back pocket, we'd still be better off by getting rid of his wages and letting the other central midfielders earn theirs. No brainer for me, although in an ideal world it'd be Nolan and Butt first out of the door.

Great name. We'd have another 'Killer' on our books.

Llambias' "quote" on SSN is pretty much bog standard nothingness. "We haven't had a bid" - how often do we hear that as a response to a player supposedly about to leave, just before an actual bid is made. And no offers being received right now is hardly suprising given that Everton haven't sold Lescott yet. It doesn't mean that other clubs aren't enquiring about Taylor, or aren't in some sort of discussion about the possibility of a sale, nor does it mean we won't sell once an offer does come in.

Really hope he stays. He'd be vital in any promotion hopes, but even beyond that, it'd simply be nice to have at least one player playing in the 2010 World Cup. I'm sure his value would rocket if they did well too.

f*** off Hughton. His shitness is only acceptable because he's not a manager, not close to one. Now that he thinks he is one, he needs to be told sooner rather than later to f*** off. We can't afford to waste time with yet more s***, bottling cowards in charge of the first team.

If he's already stable financially, has a mortgage paid off etc and a good amount of money in the bank, why wait around, especially if he hates playing the sport every single day? He's still young enough to do whatever he wants right now, whereas by the time he's 35, possibly married with kids, he might not be able to pursue whatever he wants to do.

Steady & unspectacular. Looks potentially quite quick. Sounds similar to Glen Jonhson.

Some nice defending there from the Hull centrebacks.

Would rather keep Colo than bring Campbell in.

They can have him for £30m and Messi in return. people would just moan about messi being a s*** crosser If Messi had a monumental flaw in his game, he wouldn't be as good as he is. I can't see why people complaining about a winger being unable to score or cross is seen as moaning? It's critical...! Messi's crossing is actually pretty poor for a player of his calibre.

Good sale, providing we get a replacement in. I hope we're looking at some of the youngsters in the CL sides, as there's bound to be another Bentley there somewhere. Don't think Duff would have been as good for us as many are thinking. He was totally anonymous against West Brom in terms of his role in the side, with absolutely nothing coming from his flank. No runs down the flank, no getting in behind the defence, no taking fullbacks on, no crosses, no bringing the ball out from deep, nothing, zilch. The goal that he popped up with only masked how shit that performance was.

That's in the Premiership though, and most of that is down to getting done for pace. Given that the Championship is a step down with less pacey/skillful/intelligent players in it, Campbell's size, strength, heading ability and experience make him a pretty worthy gamble. In fact, I'd be suprised if Campbell's ability or even physique were a problem for us. I'd be more worried about injuries, because iirc he's had spells with Arsenal (prior to leaving) and Portsmouth where he's sturggled to get fit over somewhat long periods of time. If the management have half a brain on them, they'll make sure that any contract offered takes this into account, otherwise he could easily be no different to the dozens of leeches we've attracted in the past decade, players who've seen us as an easy and well paid final payday.

http://www.owlstalk.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=110903&st=30 Nice to see oppositions teams are starting to fear us for once. Hopefully we'll justify those concerns by giving Wednesday a similar pasting to the one they received the last time we played them at St James' (iirc).

Class act in the middle of the pitch, woeful in the final third. But what he does in the middle of the pitch is vital for us, and without having seen much football at this level, I'd guess that he's probably the best in this league in that middle area of the pitch.

Would be furious with the sale (if true) if it weren't for the apathy that has set in.

My ITK's tell me they are siblings of the real Martin Jol.

3/08/2009 CLUB Last Hour Ready Shola Ameobi to sign Sport Lisboa and Benfica is about to sign contract with Shola Ameobi. Fontes close of the process affirms that the agreement is for abbreviation and the presentation can already be made in the next game to accomplish at the Stadium of the Light. The followers are in euphoria and anxious for they see Shola Ameobi to the service of the Largest Club of the World.

Not a fan of splitting the forum like that. What would this serve other than splitting the discussion into different sections of the forum as opposed to different threads?

His flapping cost us the first goal. Lucky for him Coloccini was on the pitch to take all the blame, but it was poor judgement that led to the keeper being off his line and the ball bouncing behind him in front of an empty net.

His bullshit and excuses would be hard to take.

Agree with it fully, and if he were to be our manager, it's nice to have someone who sees that these players like something vital and fundamental in their armoury. But come to think of it, if he is about to become our manager, then why say it? He'd need to work with these players. He's not going to get the best out of them by openly implying that they're shit (no creativity, can't pass, won't score goals). Just seems a bit of a Souness thing to do, as opposed to someone like Keegan/Sir Bobby/Wenger/Fergie/etc who'd not give anything away due to their over-proctective nature.