tmonkey

Would rather keep Martins in this instance because Gudjohnsen is too different a type of forward to warrant letting someone of Martins' potential go. Assume Martins does leave and Gudjohnsen comes in - wed be completely reliant on Owen staying fit for some penetration/movement/pace up front, because the rest would be pretty much in the slow category (Ameobi, Viduka are considerably slow by Premiership standards). Owen has pretty much proven how (un)wise it is to rely on Owen's fitness. Im hesitating to say this, but I cant help but feel that Gudjohnsen is overrated somewhat. He hit good form for Chelsea a few years ago, but hasnt looked the same player since. Theres no denying that he is a good player, but I think that comes more from being technically competent and sound in all areas rather than excelling at any of them - I dont agree with Ohmelads' assessment of his vision and passing abilities, which imo are just about "above average", whilst I also think hes an average midfielder and is alot better up front. Maybe this opinion is based on a judging a player's form when he hasnt been playing many games, so theres good reason to believe that Gudjohnsen is still a top player and would show this were he used more often, hence I would be pretty happy if we signed him, but not at the cost of seeing someone like Martins turn into a lethal jack-in-the-box, jack-of-all-trades type forward for a team above us, something which even his biggest detractors would surely acknowledge is an actual possibility.

Anelka surely? In the short term wed be better off too, although itll be painful watching Martins turn into a lethal forward.

Certainly miss them. Imagine if Roeder was still our manager, and he was passing up on good free transfers like Geremi or Viduka - HTL would no doubt still be arguing that just because we think the club should have signed them... Must be devestating to be a toon supporter right now according to what they argued. Evil dictator buying the club, angel and saviour Shepherd seemingly on his way out, (more) complete lies about Shepherd revealed by Souness' recent blast, value for money non-trophy-signing transfers coming in early and in abundance, Milner having proved himself a good winger down the left despite not being able to play there... Ended up softening to an extent and becoming valuable members of this board overnight, with everyone suddenly liking them, and no doubt theyre decent folk in real life and but f*** it, why sugar coat things, for a long while they were patronising cocks who assumed they knew best and that only their opinion counted, whilst generally passing themselves off as the equivalent of ignorant, see-no-evil hear-no-evil Shepherd Missionaries, "top 5, Our Lord can do no Wrong" in every single post where the opportunity arose to defend the chosen one. And yes, ive copied this straight off of Talksport. And I acknowledge any bans for flaming.

"Eto'o is crap, 15 mill? Youre having a laugh. The most overrated player ive seen. A poor man's Lua Lua. Wed be daft to replace Shearer with him, absolutely daft. You must be a Mackem." How opinions have changed. And yes, im still bitter.

The game already has plenty of stoppages for silly reasons. Players diving and having to have treatment or be stretchered off, referees running over and discussing something hes missed with the linesman whilst everyone is waiting around, players grouping around the ref and arguing about a decision. Adding one more that as Dragon says would only be used extremely rarely would make little difference.

Reckon 4-4-2 with Gudjohnsen playing behind Martins would be a great setup away from home, particularly if Martins' positioning and movement improves, as with that kind of pace teams would shit a brick at pushing up on us whilst theyd struggle to pick Gudjohnsen up in that hole. A different version of the Beardo Cole partnership almost. But we wont sign Gudjohnsen it seems, and Allardyce will most likely always stick with his 4-3-3, so its just a pipedream.

Keane, Defoe and Bent are average, or at best above average, forwards. Theyre proven in the Premiership, theyre upper mid table level when on form, but theyll never attract a top 4 or CL club imo as they simply dont have the ability - they arent that good. Berbatov is good, and when hes allowed to be, very good, but even with him I can see the hype dying down once he starts to get heavily man marked and defenders are aware of his link up play, which has only really developed in recent months. Not too excited by Spurs' attack. Its more strength in depth than it is real quality, and the quality that it does have is entirely that of Berbatov's.

didn't people say that when chelsea signed shevchenko and ballack ? They did, but then again this isnt a 30 year old foreigner joining a league hes never played in, in a team that is static and workmanlike, ie boring and far from fluid, that is also built around other players who play in the same positions (Drogba, Lampard). This is a creative goalscoring forward who is built for playing with his back to goal or against man markers, joining a team with great attacking players that move around like theyre playing on hot coals or are trying to emulate a swarm of bees. Easy to see why its going to be such a big signing for them.

Lets not be too harsh on Roeder. At the end of the day, hes no different to lets say 30% of people in this country who are working in a competitive environment, people youll get in practically every office. They suck at their jobs, are incompetent and make bad decision after bad decision, but instead of taking steps to improve or better themselves, they go down the other route of denying even the merest hint of their inadequacy, and doing anything that exonerates themselves of any blame whilst covering their tracks if possible. If they admit their faults, thats the end of it for them, and hence, their only choice is to attempt to twist anything and everything in their favour so they can continue living in profitable denial. To others, it seems like theyre living on another planet, or are just bitter, but they know what theyre doing and its a part of their makeup. Shepherd and Souness are pretty much the same in this respect.

Great at the World Cup? was he really? Thought he looked lightweight and Luque-esque at times.

Why would the team become Riquelme dependant if he were to fail in the first place?

Hes looked immense every week in the highlight shows for Argentinian football. Hes deceptively strong, a great free kick taker, and will always have that killer pass in him (isnt this what were crying out for?). Certainly worth a gamble for a Premiership team that will play a 3 man central midfield. Which we may be doing. Id be all for him because we badly need that creativity and we also have a manager who has made his career from what would be this type of signing. More so if we signed a good friend of his to help him settle, namely Sorin, who coincidentally Big Sam also wanted last summer. Will be a top signing for Athletico.

I think a La Liga all star team would dominate the possession, in the same way we see more technically adept foreign international teams dominate England. Especially with the midfields being proposed here for the Premiership all star side.

come on, Solano has done well for us there but you can't possibly think he's as effective as Geremi They're both right wingers who can do a job further back. Just because Geremi's played there for Chelsea doesn't make him any better. i know, but Geremi has the attributes to play back there. Solano has the intelligence and very little else I agree Geremi is infinitely faster, stronger and more athletic. Also a better tackler. We'll see. I'd rather not have a right winger who Boro fans thought shirked his defensive duties at right back. Nah, I'd rather have a player whom Jose Mourinho considered good enough to play there for the double champions. Oh right, we'll sign Hilario too then, yeah? f****** hell. Not needed. We have Duff.

Will be great if he takes set pieces too. Emre was diabolical at them last season.

Still quite weak imo. Geremi isn't really in position, Rozy is an unknown quantity and it depends on who the LB is. Isnt Geremi naturally a right back? Certainly remember him playing there for Real Madrid on a regular basis when he did break into the Madrid side.

Reasons for Bent being valued the same as Henry: 1) Bent should have a reasonable sell on value in a few years time (eg 10mill+) if he maintains his form to a certain degree. Henry will command a relatively small fee in 4/5 years time as hell be nearing retirement. 2) Bent's career is on the up. Henry's seems to be waning somewhat, hence his need to seek a fresh challenge. 3) Bent has scored heavily in the Premiership for a shit team with no good players. Charlton will naturally argue that hes worth more because in a good team he should be performing to an even higher standard. Hes also very athletic and rarely injured, on top of being relatively youngish, hence the exaggerated fee. Ultimately, hes one third the player Henry is, but the world hasnt gone completely mad as there is some logic in the price tag. Im just delighted its not us who have forked out that amount on someone who isnt as naturally talented as youd expect them to be for that amount.

Time for Ashley to get his chequebook out. Gudjohnsen and Tevez up front would be some sight. Martins/Owen can sod off if need be.

£20mill deal for Iniesta, along with a £15mill deal for Marquez. No harm in dreaming for a day or two until the squad reject we're actually after gets revealed.

In recent years, the match ive enjoyed the most was probably ManU vs Real Madrid in 2000 or there abouts. Redondo came and absolutely dominated ManU in what was an extremely attacking and entertaining game. There was that backheel/nutmeg that is probably the best piece of individual genius at such a high level ill ever see - it wasnt a case of merely dribbling past 2, 3 or 5 players, or producing a shot/volley from range, something which the opposition or situation often forces you to do, it was merely phenomenal ability/skill/intelligence to use one piece of extraordinary skill to baffle an entire defence. Some player that guy was, probably the most underrated and underappreciated player of the 90s.

Class act and a very underrated defender in my eyes. Lanky, agile, good reading of the game, good positionally, comfortable with the ball at feet. Had an awesome WC2002 for Brazil in central defence, better than Rio Ferdinand's for England, showed that hes strong in the air in that tournament, but what the heck, hes Brazilian and a defender so he cant be good, and if he is good, it should be ignored (the opposite is the case if he he makes mistakes). Has been a consistently decent player for Barcelona in an anchorman role, although I think hes better as a centreback which is why hes relatively poor at passing (Barca standards). Would be a quality signing for us, but if his knee is knackered for the third time, then we should forget it.

Aye. Its easy to see him reaching that level. The guy can turn anyone and blast the ball into the net like few others can in the game. Teach him the basics, play him in a passing team that will give him the ball to feet, and he could easily be a frightening player. Its no suprise at all that Wenger wants him. Martins was brilliant in both games against Arsenal iirc, he turned up for those because he wanted to impress - probably knows that Wenger has him in his thoughts (sexual or not, who knows). It goes to show that one of the problems with him last season, and in fact the entire squad, was motivation - the only really impressive performances the team put in were in the big games when the squad motviated itself. Which also isnt a suprise considering the shiteness of the previous managers.

This is the frustrating thing about Martins. On the one hand hes currently an extremely raw player who when hes on an off day, is woeful, and hence its easy to see him go down the same route as the likes of Dyer and Ameobi, ie never improving in these departments. Yet on the other, its easy to see him turning into a top, top forward under the right coaching, because hes got everything going for him. Both footed, powerful shooting, strong, pace, extremely quick footwork - he just needs to learn some of the basics and do them on a consistent basis. Considering Wenger is probably the best coach and developer of talent in the game, it would be sickening to see him go there and do well.

Sagnol is probably the best right back in the game if were talking purely about the defensive side. He turned down a host of CL elite teams a year and a half ago to stay with Bayern, including the likes of Real and Juve iirc, when he could have left on a Bosman that summer (ie wasnt interested in the money on offer). Should be safe to say that we would have no chance.