Memphis

It is really so simple and has been discussed at length.

Our purchasing policy consists of:

1. Buying theoretically promising players under the age of 21 for <2m with the hope they kick on and become assets down the line.

2. Buying quality, younger first team players around 25 or younger, but only in specific circumstances (last year of contract, dispute with current team, reduced price, clearance sale, etc)

3. In cases where 1 and 2 don't apply, loans are a useful way to avoid risk and transfer outlay while acquiring talent.

In the first 2/3 of the pitch, our policy works well enough and has generated bargains on a relatively frequent basis. But you cannot count on our policy to be able to consistently get excellent strikers. We have been amazingly fortunate with Remy and Ba. We bought Cisse and he's ultimately been disappointing in spite of his incredible start. That confluence of events has led us to a policy that will never lead to a top class forward's arrival.

It's like golf. Going from shooting 90 to 80 is simple enough, but 80 to 75 is tough, and 75 to 72 is incredibly hard. At the top end, you have to work hard and spend a lot to get the difference between a 7/10 and an 8/10 striker. We don't have the balls to try.

"Monitoring" people that aren't interested in you. Isn't that stalking?

http://s1.hubimg.com/u/4462148_f520.jpg

"...it might mean we do need to get two or three goals so that's what our focus must be."

What a Mickey Mouse mentality on this prick.

If you're a parent, clearly your top priority is taking care of your kids. That is the thing you need to absolutely do.

That doesn't mean that you let your dog die. You can also feed him, too.

If you had to pick one, you'd pick the kids. But it really isn't that hard to take care of both.

Says Aarons will be "on, in, and around the squad" this season.

What a weird turn of phrase.

Milquetoast bullshit performance and a fucking wretched match to watch.

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/espn-fc-united-blog/68/post/1996459/everton-manager-roberto-martinez-on-the-premier-leagueeuropa-league-and-the-secrets-to-his-success

Brilliant interview with Roberto Martinez in which he says:

"We want to be challenged. We want to be pushed to the maximum. We don't want people happy just to see the team drawing away from home. If you don't get positive results, you're going to get that sort of reaction, but we welcome that, we want to strive for the best, we know we're in the best league in world football, so we welcome that expectation."

 

"We gave 10 months of hard work, it would be stupid for us not to embrace Europe. Of course there will be months where we are going to be coping with seven or eight games in periods of three to four weeks, but that's what we want as a club. We need to be able to cope with that. We can't say that we don't want the Europa League. Europe is where we should be, that's where we should be representing our football club. We're going to really enjoy that."

 

"I always had to fight that old motto, that you could not be successful in the lower leagues playing good football. It wasn't straight-forward. The fans even booed the team off a couple of times when everything was pedestrian and we were still learning to play a different way. But I always thought that major changes needed major transitional periods, and I always said that I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

Meanwhile, our manager says:

“When you look at the teams now and the money that’s being spent, you have to be honest and say it’s going to be difficult replicating that fifth-place finish. But our ambition must be to try to do that."

 

"But I think the task of finishing in the top five is more difficult for us because of the growth of some of the other clubs who were just below us. In particular, Liverpool and Spurs have spent a lot of money, and other clubs such as Swansea and Southampton have coordinated their financial strength really well. You look at a club like Southampton, and they’re in a much stronger financial position than us in terms of purchasing players. Even though my team might be slightly stronger on paper once we replace Demba – team and squad – it’ll be even more difficult to get fifth.”

If we sold Tiote, we'd better get someone like Stambouli in or else we'd be completely toothless in midfield. We've got no one in the current squad with anything like the required physicality and destructive potential of Tiote at his best - or even when he's merely average. I still remember the 3-0 against Man United when Tiote just bossed everything in the centre of the park, totally nullified Rooney and frustrated the hell out of him. He gets a lot of stick sometimes but Tiote can be a hell of a player on his day.

Stambouli has a lot of similar characteristics, is friends with Cabella, younger, sell-on potential, ticks a lot of boxes. But it's incredibly risky to try to cash in on Tiote now even if Stambouli comes in.

Centimetre of height, fine, but what is a centimetre of muscle mass? Are we measuring bicep size? 24-inch pythons like Hulk Hogan?

Stambouli's big mates with Cabella, too, so that's something, I guess.

"I'm kind of pleased even though we've lost."

Another beauty of a quote.

POSITIVES:

- Surprised by how much I liked Colback's overall contribution. Typically hard working, but showed some quality as well especially in a midfield three.

- Cabella looks like he's going to be the business. Few bad touches but overall excellent workrate, smart movement, promising link with midfield.

- Sissoko's better in the center even if he had some very strange and wayward passing decisions.

- Riviere looks quicker than expected, showed great strength at times, promising.

- Ayoze and Aarons were lively and fearless (though Aarons dawdled on a pass which led to Aguero's 2nd); Ayoze unlucky not to score after that beautiful footwork

NEGATIVES:

- Coloccino (as David Pleat brilliantly called him) really is a worry especially as it seems like the manager doesn't see his vulnerabilities the way the rest of us do -- and opposing managers will. At fault for both goals and looking as if he's lost more pace than he'd already lost last season. A big, big concern if he's slotted in as an automatic starter.

- Pace of play was far too slow for the vast majority of the game until the young lads came on and injected some pace. Looked a bit leggy and ponderous in the buildup which will never work against a side as good as City.

- No shots on target tells its own story.

- Dummett is awful. LB is a disgrace right now.

- Goufftierrez

INEVITABLES:

- Though the other subs were decent, the first and most influential Pardew sub was idiotic and messed up the entire shape/flow. As per.

- Obertan showed that sparkling regular season form that had his bony ass nailed to the bench.

- Floated set piece to Williamson over and over.

- Lost at home without scoring.

Why is it such a sin to want to see attractive football and results at what is, still, one of the biggest clubs in the country?

I've read so many journalists and fans alike referencing the more attractive football we've played this preseason -- how fucking low are the standards for attractive football now? We still look scared shitless to try and control a game, even against teams against whom we should be asserting possessional superiority. We once again have to rely on a talisman to provide moments of magic; otherwise, we are as functional as it comes. Utterly bland.

It isn't wrong to want to watch something entertaining. Football is supposed to be fun. Watching it certainly shouldn't be a chore. Self-defeating and self-limiting bullshit has turned a lot of our fans into sad mouthpieces for an even sadder regime.

Just watched the Skysports video again - the answer in full is:

"Well, the average for this club over the last 10 years in the Premiership is 48 points and if we get that - or anything above that - will be a good season for us. But, you know, at this stage of the season, like all clubs, our dreams are higher than that. We'll have to see where we go. We've got another window to get through in the winter, which caused us damage last time and, um, we conduct our business well in that window, and strengthen again and if we can, we can have a great season."

Only this genius would bring up just trying to get through the January window as part of an answer about the season expectations in August.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

He has one philosophy of management - fear. Fearing the opposition to the detriment of developing an actual attacking philosophy, fear of his own players getting too far forward to avoid losing shape. Fear of setting the bar too high in case he can't reach it. Fear of being found out -- again -- that he's out of his depth. Fear of any player he can't fully control. Fear of pulling a Portsmouth. Fear of spending big on the wrong player.

No one respects a fearful leader. No one -- players or supporters alike -- can be inspired by a manager (and a Club) scared to try.

Clean Sheet 

Against Blackpool though, not sure they have 11 actual professionals out there...

http://i.snag.gy/o5CbD.jpg

From today's L'Equipe on Lyon.

My French is terrible; I think the last few sentences say something to the effect of Lyon wanting to reduce losses so may well be forced to accept our offer on Lacazette. Could be totally wrong there.

But they feature a prominent photo of him in their season preview pages and feature him in Lyon's projected starting XI, so...

Some more Stuart Pearce quotes from his interview on BBC Nottingham radio - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0240klv (starts at about 5 minutes in):

"As I sit here now, I can't defend the decision to sell them because it wasn't my decision.  I'm very disappointed that they've done that and the only upside I've got is I think the nature of the two boys is that they're outstanding kids and they'll want to do everything they possibly can to push us into the Premier League."

"For me, it's not a great business decision. I've seen players like the Chambers of the world going to Arsenal for 16 million and we sell two of our better lads, in my opinion, at cut-price."

"To be fair to both individuals, they're pretty loyal to Nottingham. I think they'll give their lot -- if they don't they won't be in the team. I get the impression that I've got two good kids on our hands and hopefully for our sake and for Newcastle's sake we can improve them as footballers."

"Players were sold without my sanction. I'm pretty disappointed in that."

Stuart Pearce says it will take a 'sensational' offer for Nottingham Forest to sell Jamaal Lascelles

 

John Percy

 

04 Jul 2014

 

Stuart Pearce, the Nottingham Forest manager, has told Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers that it will take a “sensational” offer to buy England under-20 international Jamaal Lascelles.

Pearce is determined to keep Lascelles this summer and has already rejected a £4 million bid from QPR in his first official week in charge. Spurs are among a number of Premier League clubs interested in the centre-half, who only signed a new long-term contract with Forest at the end of last season.

 

Lascelles is rated at around £8 million by Forest and Pearce said he would agree to the sale only if a club were to meet that valuation. “Obviously QPR have let it out and they put money on the table for him but I’ve come here to build the club, not dismantle it,” Pearce said.

 

“The only way I would accept an offer for our best young players is if it’s sensational and enables me to strengthen the team, so I know at the end of any negotiations I’m stronger than when I started at the offset.

“But the bottom line is we don’t take money for our best young players. The chairman has got enough financial clout to trust my judgment on that. There is no pressure to sell the players.

 

“Did they [QPR] get near the valuation? No. Young players are a real commodity in this day and age and I think my staff and myself can make him a better footballer by staying at this club.”

Lascelles has also been scouted frequently by Arsenal and Liverpool since his emergence in Forest’s first team.

Judging by the shambles in his absence, very much the new Cabaye.

Seems like a waste of a good opportunity yet again.

We have rarely, if ever, done anything productive in preseasons past under Pardew. Even prior to the 11-12 campaign, the preseason tour in America was a complete disgrace travel-wise and preparation-wise (and I was in Kansas City to see it). So today we set out a side with MYM yet again out of position despite having tons of evidence that he's never a fullback; we used a central defensive partnership that we've seen a lot and know is suspect, instead of using that chance to either see a younger player like Satka or MYM with one of Colo/Taylor/Williamson, which would be a useful thing to see given the unlikelihood of us signing another proper CB.

Could have used Sissoko in the middle to see how that might work. Didn't. Played Abeid for some reason even though he's got no chance of featuring this season. Same with Armstrong. Put Perez and Armstrong up front and put a midfield behind them incapable of playing it on the ground, thus negating whatever they might provide. Obertan comes on to do whatever he does - good or bad - which doesn't matter as he isn't going to feature, either.

Just a colossal waste.

"Facker" is nailed on

From Ryder's Twitter:

"Facundo is a good presence on the pitch, a big guy at 6ft 2in, a player who has gone to the Ukraine and has been OK." Alan Pardew

Boy, that's a hell of a compliment.

Due to differences in insurance policies, one club's medical may be far more stringent -- or may look for more specific conditions -- than another's. Certain providers have very particular things that must be seen before they'll sign off on a player; it may well be that a medical with us would be perfectly fine.

Although there was this back in January 2013 after initially going to QPR...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/loic-remy-warns-qpr-he-can-1546337

“My profile as a player is that when I’ve got a small problem, things become difficult. It might sound pretentious but the physios say to me that I’m like an F1 car. Whenever I’ve got a small problem, it’s straight into the pits.

 

“When I’m 100 per cent I can do very good things but when there’s something not right in my head, something bothering me, then it becomes a bit difficult.”