STM

If we want to keep up with the these clubs we must at least compete with them (in the long term of course), if we don't we will not ever get back into Europe, which even now must be the long term goal. If we sign Kilgallon's we won't stay in the premiership very long.

why would hangeland come to us? if he was going to leave fulham it would be for one of the sky 4 or city. As for upson, not ever been his biggest fan and this season he's looked appalling. Why would Darren Bent join Sunderland? Because they showed the ambition and money to go and get him. You'd think that Hangeland would have bigger suiters than us but that isn't always the case. The point i was trying to make is that we used to show ambition by going for big players even when we were shit. We finished 14th the summer we signed Owen. If we don't find ambition again we will never find ourselves where we want to be and in the meantime we will see clubs like Sunderland, Spurs, Everton, Villa etc race away from us. By the way this is hypothetical talk as i realise we must get out of this league first. yes and the owen deal worked out so well didn't it. the signings we should be looking at are younger more promising players like what everton have done in recent times by signing the likes of lescott and jagielka etc get them cheap and make them into good players not just sign someone with a big reputation, we tried that before it didn't work Owen didn't work out for a variety of reasons but the principle remains the same. You pay good money for good players. All the big clubs in the world do it Man Utd, Chelsea etc, now i'm not saying we have the resources of these clubs but why should n't be trying to match what Spurs and Villa are doing (when we are in the premiership)? Villa; Young 9m, Cuellar 7m, Milner 12m etc Spurs; Modric 14m, Bassong 9m, Bent 16m, Bentley 14m Sure it has mixed results but if we don't match these teams spending and general ambition, we will not get anywhere near them in the long term. As for Everton, it's taken them years to get where they are with Moyes and a couple of near misses of relegation along the way.

why would hangeland come to us? if he was going to leave fulham it would be for one of the sky 4 or city. As for upson, not ever been his biggest fan and this season he's looked appalling. Why would Darren Bent join Sunderland? Because they showed the ambition and money to go and get him. You'd think that Hangeland would have bigger suiters than us but that isn't always the case. The point i was trying to make is that we used to show ambition by going for big players even when we were shit. We finished 14th the summer we signed Owen. If we don't find ambition again we will never find ourselves where we want to be and in the meantime we will see clubs like Sunderland, Spurs, Everton, Villa etc race away from us. By the way this is hypothetical talk as i realise we must get out of this league first.

Completely agree, that's why i was delighted to see Guthrie was going to start in centre midfield against PNE. However, the problem will only really be sorted out by new players if/when we get promoted.

Exactly, it won't happen. Gone are the days that we can take the good players of clubs like West Ham and Fulham. We've lost all ambition.

If we are talking tradition, half of the modern day numbers were totally different years ago, back in the day of christmas tree formations and nobbley knees.

When managers and players are interviewed and put the words "football club" at the end everytime they say their clubs name, absolutely pointless, we know what they are talking about for fucks sake. Paul Merson - Tried giving him a chance but he really is as thick as mince. Ian Payne and Jim White on SSN. Oh and Steve Curry i think he's called, the Man Utd fan/journalist/fat cuntface.

I find it astonishing how Defoe is overlooked so often. Surely the lad has proven he is of very high quality.

If we are talking about what we need for this league then Colo with Kadar as back up is good enough, however if we are looking at potential premier league players we SHOULD be looking at better than Kilgallon. Players like Upson and Hangeland should be on our radar in the summer, even Sunderland could manage that sort of ambition.

I think Taylor is key to alot of the chances we create but i wouldn't have him at right back over Simpson, unless Simpson is unfit.

I'd like to think he will try and start with the team that he intended to put out against PNE, however i think he might drop Guthrie for Taylor and Harewood will probably start up front. Either way i fancy us to beat Swansea.

Brilliant selection, almost full strength. Think we might stuff these lot.

Anyone remember the inflatable Zebra in the gallowgate a couple of years ago?

How was our performance? Were we by far the better side or was 3-1 flattering?

His arrival blatantly has nowt to do with any possible takeover and he's just there to confirm hughton as boss. Drama for SSN again.

Positives- Great game for entertainment, Harewood has been found out. Negatives- Our performance didn't improve. Harper- 7 Made a couple of smart stops Raylor- 7 Looked threatning from dead balls. Kish- 5 Never really took command. Kadar- 5 Looked naive but showed composure at times. Enrique- 6 Didn't link up well with Jonas but did make a few decent runs on his own. Guthrie- 7 Our best player when on the ball, his best performance for us this season despite being out of position. Nolan- 7 Great winner but still lacks alot in our build up play and general balance. Butt- 5 Apart from some good interceptions he gave the ball away far too much. Jonas- 5 Frustrating until we equalised and then showed some improvement. Carroll- 7 Great take for the goal, should have scored sooner, a work in progress. Harewood- 5 Looked surprisingly slugish, barely did anything positive IMO. Ranger- 7 Made an impact with his pace and brightness.

Nolan can't play in centre midfield 442, he has no pace, no passing ability, no vision, no creativity and i rate the guy.

Noone suggested playing him up front though i suggested playing him behind a lone striker ala Bolton. His goals have only come when two strikers have been on the pitch this season I believe. I think he will be most effective behind a lone striker. If we sacrifice a striker for extra creativity i.e Jonas and Taylor with Guthrie in the middle i think we will benefit. He didn't look effective in that role in the slightest against Cardiff, Leicester or Plymouth until a second striker came on. Remind me of the system we played? Ummm...he played behind a lone striker? If i remember correctly there was noone playing wide in those positions i.e we were playing narrow.

Noone suggested playing him up front though i suggested playing him behind a lone striker ala Bolton. His goals have only come when two strikers have been on the pitch this season I believe. I think he will be most effective behind a lone striker. If we sacrifice a striker for extra creativity i.e Jonas and Taylor with Guthrie in the middle i think we will benefit. He didn't look effective in that role in the slightest against Cardiff, Leicester or Plymouth until a second striker came on. Remind me of the system we played?

Noone suggested playing him up front though i suggested playing him behind a lone striker ala Bolton. His goals have only come when two strikers have been on the pitch this season I believe. I think he will be most effective behind a lone striker. If we sacrifice a striker for extra creativity i.e Jonas and Taylor with Guthrie in the middle i think we will benefit.

Noone suggested playing him up front though i suggested playing him behind a lone striker ala Bolton.

Well first off anyone who suggests Nolan playing alongside Smith in a 442 wants their heads examined, i won't even go into what Nolan lacks as a centre midfield player. As for the strikers Carroll and Ranger, so far, can only be described as a "handfull" because they lack real threat infront of goal. From my point of view we should line up like this; Harper Simpson Taylor Coloccini Enrique Smith Guthrie Taylor Jonas Nolan Harewood Reluctantly leaving out Zurab.

He changed the game for us yesterday, before he came on we couldn't create a chance, after he came on we were wasting chances. That's an improvement IMO.

This. He should play wide in a 442 and nowhere else. IMO we are walking a tightrope playing 3 narrow like yesterday. We already have limited creativity without removing wingers.

Is Hughton more likely to put Simpson or Zurab at centre half? Sounds like an obvious choice to you and me but it wouldn't suprise me if Zurab remained at right back.