Taylor Swift

So it's 11m then?

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You know what? There must be a reason that Parker was wanted by so many teams and was eventually signed by Chelsea for 10m (an inflated fee no doubt because of Abramovich factor, but he was wanted by many teams), but right now, I'm struggling to see the qualities that made him so desirable and for such a hefty fee as well.

He's not great in any position, but he's not exactly shit in any of them as well. We've seen worse (Faye for example) and will see worse in the future. That's why I said he's decent. Not great, not actually good but decent, and for our current team and squad depth, he's decent enough atm.

We've won 14 league games that he's taken part in since he's been here, 8 of then under Roeder. How many lost or drawn? How many has he actually played? He's played 41 league games, we've won 14 - Drew 9 - Lost 18. 05/06 With Parker Home - Won 7 - Drew 4 - Lost 2 Away - Won 3 - Drew 1 - Lost 9 Without Parker Home - Won 4 - Drew 1 - Lost 1 Away - Won 3 - Drew 1 - Lost 2 06/07 With Parker Home - Won 3 - Drew 2 - Lost 3 Away - Won 1 - Drew 2 - Lost 4 Without Parker Home - Won 2 - Drew 0 - Lost 0 Away - Won 1 - Drew 0 - Lost 0 What would be interesting for those who can't remember would be reading match reports from those games. Some of the games we won with Parker in the team last season were terrible performances. The biggest factor imo for those terrible, dour performances was down to the Parker/Emre pairing. I think I even made a thread about it and I don't start many threads. They simply do not complement one another so one of them should go. Emre is a much better footballer so it shouldn't be a tough decision. Should I feel bad because I'm starting to nod along to your posts about Parker?

Poll shows how difficult it is to fit Parker into a team. So many positions that he can play in, and do decently in as well.

Thought he was decent. Looked comfortable on the ball. Was calm and composed as well. Him and Hunty seem to know how to head the ball away from our goal, something which Carr/Baba don't. He's definitely one for the future. Seems to be most comfortable on the ball out of Taylor, Ramage, Huntington and himself. Good signs I must say.

We're 9 points behind 6th place, 10 behind 4th place atm. This gap needs to be cut down to 4-6 points by the end of January. By my reckoning, that gives him approximately 7 league games to do this. Considering the fact that the next 3 are extremely difficult, we'll need him to get on another run right after the match against Spurs if we're to mount another charge. If he can't do this, then obviously he's not right for the club. If he can, consider me a believer.

Toure was my captain. Glad that worked out well got an assist. Drogba is ace

totally agree there :lol: I bet some people are starting to prefer the times when you weren't so active on the forum.

:lol: When will you people actually understand that AS9 is on a wind-up? (even if he's not admitting it)

I fucking hate Bolton btw. Cheating scum. Allardyce can fuck off and eat another doughnut, the fat fuck. I hope they get relegated as soon as possible and fuck right off.

Wasn't 4-5-1 mate. It was a 4-3-3. Very similar to how Chelsea played last year. And it worked like a charm until they scored.

blueyes.gif They really do bully us out of the park. Disappointing after the bright start but I would have taken a draw before the game so it's alright. Must pick up some points at Goodison though, massive game for our confidence/morale.

A draw would be mint. We need to lower our expectations a bit. I can already feel the hype now and the inevitable disappointment/frustration when we don't get a win out of this. This is a team that is challenging for a top 4 place. They've been brilliant at home, losing only to Chelsea and Manyoo but beating Liverpool. They'll play their normal aggressive football and will come at us from the first minute. Need to keep calm early on. Again, draw would be mint. We'll have a better chance of beating Everton at the weekend.

I got whooped 91-37... by a Manyoo fan... who's also a girl

Forget about the 9m. I'm talking about in the summer and I'm talking about when Charlton get relegated. That is why I'd be tempted. Other than that, obviously the defence comes first.

Mate, I realize this. However, seeing as we should have addressed the defence in this next Jan window, we should look to strengthen the attack in the summer window. We'll have Owen (hopefully back to his best), Martins, Ameobi and maybe Sibierski (if he continues to play well and gets offered a new contract). That is only a possibility. We could have a crocked Ameobi while Sibs is released because his contract ran out. That's why I would see 5m for a young and quick striker to be a snip and could prove to be a deal that Duff's should have been.

After seeing another abject performance from Charlton the other day, the thought came that Bent should be available for a reasonable price if/when they get relegated. Seeing as they spent basically twice their normal transfer budget in the last window, it'll be hard for them to strengthen in the Jan window and thus makes it more likely for them to get relegated. Although Pardew will give them a lift, it probably won't be enough and thus, when they get relegated, we could theoretically swoop in with a bid of say 5m because they will need the money. Thoughts?

Pretty much agreed. I think it's very unlikely we'd have seen Solano at RB had Carr been fit, and I see no way in the world that Roeder would have dropped Parker and used Butt and Emre in the middle. It will be interesting to see what happens as certain players get back to fitness because I see potential here for a similar situation to the one when Souness didn't have the balls to select just 2 from Kluivert, Bellamy and Shearer. Parker should not be an automatic choice under any circumstances imo and I'm concerned Roeder doesn't have the balls to make these type of decisions. blueyes.gif Injuries have so far forced his hand but can he drop Parker like Mourinho dropped Shevchenko, like Ferguson dropped Van Nistelrooy etc. etc.?

Maybe the thought they were in the bag, but something came up? Still shouldn't have said anything because obviously it wasn't as 'in the bag' as they thought it was. Wenger, Benitez, Fergie and Mourinho rarely comment on players they are interested in signing, and it's worked fine for them. Sir Bob was another astute manager who rarely commented on players about to be signed. I remember the Viana signing totally coming out of left-field. This is the kind of approach I would prefer Roeder to adopt. Not commenting = not creating expectations. Look what expectations lead to in the last window. Lastly, Roeder's substitutions and formations for certain games are still extremely baffling ie. leaving Shola up front alone against Manyoo away, making substitutions in the last 5 mins of the game when we're down etc. etc. He needs to react quicker and definitely be more decisive. We'll lose points if he continues to stick with the same team/formation that isn't working for 80 minutes. This applies to his formation for games as well. Certainly this is related to my earlier point that he doesn't make changes to the team for some reason and he's gotten lucky because the injuries we've suffered has basically forced him to make certain changes and they've worked.

A couple more things.. Even though we all know actions are more important than words, some of the things that Roeder says can be extremely contradictory. He should just talk less. If he didn't talk so much during the transfer window, I'm sure most of the fans would understand how we ended with Sibierski in the end (not that I'm complaining ) but because he kept on yapping about '3 signings this week' etc. etc. it created immense frustration when we ended up with a washed-up defender and a Man City reserve. Furthermore, when he says things like he won't play anyone who isn't 100% fit then after every game that Shola plays, he says 'he's playing with an injury, he's a brave lad who cares about the club' etc. That is seriously annoying. Some of the things he says are in fact things that I'd like to hear a manager say, such as 'injuries aren't an excuse', but there are so many other things that he says, which he shouldn't at all.

Alright, here's my opinion on Roeder after reading the whole thread.. He's decent, but the fact is that he got us into this position (11th). After the spectacular finish to last season, he failed to significantly strengthen the team (in the right positions) and thus, was the main reason we struggled early on. Tbh, injuries have actually helped him because it has forced him to try something different and thus, now we're seeing Nobby at RB etc. etc. Would he have tried this if Carr wasn't injured? I really don't know and that bothers me somewhat. Would he have played Sibierski, who gives us better movement and decent link-up play, instead of Ameobi? Would he have eventually tried putting Ramage and Taylor in the center together? Would he have the nerve to drop Parker and put Butt and Emre in the center? Again, I don't know. I'm fucking delighted at the recent upturn of fortune but will reserve my judgment until after the next 4 crucial games. He's done well recently, but that was preceded by some awfully poor performances and an extremely disjointed team. We had no passion, couldn't create any chances. We were just shit. That start to the season bothers me because he (and/or Fred) fucked up the transfer window, which lead to the shit start to the season. That's why these next 4 games are extremely crucial. Three tough away games, which will absolutely shape the way our the season goes from here. If we do well and pick up a few points, we'll push on and get a European place no doubt but I feel if we get in a rut, we'll just end up floating around the table in the position we are now. PS. Remember Roeder's initial goal for this season is to get more points than we did last season. If we get another 25 points from the next 19 games, he'll be 7 short. That fact in itself is important for all of us to consider when judging Roeder and what he has done/not-done for the team.

Let's just hope he can keep this up. Seems whenever he scores, we win

Exactly a goal every other game for us in the league. 14 starts, 7 goals. I know. I realize that. I realize he's good as well and has been spectacular over the past 7 or so games. Still doesn't mean that he's world class and what-not. He still needs a decent partner (unless Dyer can continue to score) and can't be fully depended on yet (although we're sort of doing that since we have no one else to depend on).