STM

It's easy enough suggesting the man has gone off the boil but is anyone forgetting who our manager is. Allardyce can get the bet back oout of him again. For free he would be a good signing but not a priority IMO.

Good news, Barton should follow within hours. Nice little comment from David Craig, "Ben Haim is on Sams wishlist and so far that wish list has gone well"

Ironic, i would have thought Man City were desperate to get the cash in for Barton. I would love to see a double press conference......... in fact get Tel Ben Haim in and make it a triple. I'm feeling lucky at the moment.

If spurs came in with 5m+ i'd snap their hands off TBH.

Koumas? Don't particularly rate the lad.

Well for a start off, we can not afford to have just two good centre halves. So on that score just signing Ben Haim would not be enough. On the other hand i wouldn't want to slow Taylors progress, as he is going to be a star. There's no reason why we can't sign Rozenthal and make them fight for the centre back spot. I would not mind moving Taylor to right back for the time being but didn't Ben Haim play at left or right back too?

Moving swiftley, i am very happy at Big Sams start. I will be over the moon if we can continue with signing some defenders of the same stature. Ben Haim and Baines for starters please.

Yes, Allardyce is still working with the same money we started the summer on remember? He can't go flashing the cash before the Ashley situation is finalised. I wasn't sure whether he had been allocated money by us or whether we were waiting for the takeover. Either way it can't harm us that we have a man CAPABLE of working with a small budget.

Don't need Nolan now we have an attacking midfielder in Barton. Why do i get the feeling that the Barton thing was only going through after Parker had gone. Does this indicate a lack of funds?

Alan Smith is a GOOD hard working striker, no more, no less. Right now we should be concentrating on defenders. However since it has been brought up i would suspect that Man Utd will be lucking somewhere in the region of 7m for smith. I believe we could get better for that, Nugent as an example.

Cannot say i agree about Viduka and Owen. I think they are almost text book. Big and talent back to the goal striker linking up with midfield and flicking balls on to the other striker. Quick off the mark predator in front of goal, who plays of the shoulder of the defender. Sounds pretty decent to me.

Aye, that's how the three-man midfield should work. Atleast i think that this is the forumula. Feel free to correct me if i've missed the mark. One man sitting back, protecting the defense without the ball, spreading the play without the ball. (Butt) One man roaming around, ball-winning and generally just getting stuck in. (Emre) One man as the penetrative driving force and supplying the central attacker. (Barton) Which is another reason for why i don't think N'Zogbia is someone who should be one of the central men, because he's far too lightweight for any of those things, and generally just s*** down the middle anyway. Definatley on the same wavelength. Hats off to Mourinhos chelsea side, we should mimic what they did. Makelele, Tiago and Lampard Makelele, Essien and Lampard

Yep. As it stand we have 4 strikers (as long as viduka comes in) 2 right wingers, 2 left (1 injured) 4 central mid, 3 keepers and one defender in Taylor. Carr & babyaaro do not count as footballers, Edgar & Hunty need to be loaned out and Ramage is purely backup. Exactly! The only difference i would add to that is that i would now count Nobby as a legitimate right back. Although we should be signing one. For me Nobby at RB was a joke, not on his part, just on the fact we had a fit player in Carr who was worse in his own position than a lightweight aging winger. Nobby will be made mincemeat out of next season in that position imo, extreme backup, i'd rather put Ramage in there than him. How on earth we got away with playing Nobby at RB i do not know, but this club is crazy not to sign a £5m+ RB along with a £5m LB in the coming months. Someone comfotable like Luke Young or Geremi would please me. Both players that would cost very little and would do a good job.

Just to reaffirm what your saying about Emre. This is one of the main reasons why i would choose 433, we could see a different player.

Yep. As it stand we have 4 strikers (as long as viduka comes in) 2 right wingers, 2 left (1 injured) 4 central mid, 3 keepers and one defender in Taylor. Carr & babyaaro do not count as footballers, Edgar & Hunty need to be loaned out and Ramage is purely backup. Exactly! The only difference i would add to that is that i would now count Nobby as a legitimate right back. Although we should be signing one.

I would be disappointed in the club if we went and signed another striker for big money without securing some much needed defenders first.

Haha, N'Zogbias more of a midfielder TBF.

Very true yorkie. When it ocmes to strike forces it is importnat to have options and we certainly have that now.

Its also worth mentioning that Nakamura is likely to end up there. Good player.

London evening standard reckons West Ham offered the 70k per week whereas we offered 50k per week ! Thats more likely. i could just about handle 60k like.

If someone came in with his 11m for his release clause i would not be gutted, looking at this thread. He is the only one that would fuck up an effective 433 for us. Because we all know of course that Micheal Owen HAS to play.

Yer, thinking twice i think your correct but the problem is i wouldn't want to play him on his own either. It would either be 442 or nothing with the lad. Which is handy considering his injury problems.

If just one of Martins or Owen can play behind the striker/widish - we'll be cumming in our pants. Out of Martins and Owen i'd be more inclined to suggest that Martins would be better out wide. As you said in the otehr thread Sam and us have a fantastic headache.

I agree in principal but i would have said the same about Anelka last year and Sam managed to draft him into that system and not always down the middle. He also converted Diouf into a wide man, although admittedly he played ther for Liverpool a couple of times.

My formation was meant as as the way Chelsea used to play and the way Bolton are playing now. Which despite what people say is not with a lone striker. It's with two support strikers with pace, which in this case would be Oba and Owen.