Parky

I can't believe Chelsea let him go to direct competition for that little Mourinho is a very astute judge of players mind. Probably didn't rate him so highly. Strange I know. But then so is Wenger, funny transfer that. Not since about 2004 Really? Blimey. That shows how much attention I pay. Does he play on the wing then? Which one? Right and left. Probably more often on the left, though him and Osman often swap during matches. Yep. Rosenior is a promising young fullback, very good going forward. Not that solid defensively but that might well come with experience. Seol Ki-Hyeon is really awful. Perfect example of a player living off a few eye-catching goals. Around this time last year Seol was an amazing player and someone we should have got instead of Martins There has to be summat not right with Diarra or Mourinho would never have let him go to Arsenal.

YOu see how we rate them much higher than their own.

I can't believe Chelsea let him go to direct competition for that little Mourinho is a very astute judge of players mind. Probably didn't rate him so highly. Strange I know.

Certainly will have reservations about playing us and perhaps even a small amount of fear.

You know - everyone knows - that you aren't ITK, and that you are only saying he'll be here becayse he "has a contract". As if thats ever stopped a manager being sacked. Not that at all. I just don't reckon he'll get sacked. Or resign. FS has seen through Roeder. He's gone man. This is the best bit. How do you figure? Well it's clearly me sticking to my Roeder is history guns.

It is pretty funny though. Suppose. It's a pretend ban tho isn't it?

You know - everyone knows - that you aren't ITK, and that you are only saying he'll be here becayse he "has a contract". As if thats ever stopped a manager being sacked. Not that at all. I just don't reckon he'll get sacked. Or resign. FS has seen through Roeder. He's gone man. This is the best bit.

11 Caps for Senegal Was captain at Marseilles Big strong right back who can cover CB. Better than Carr. Will become one of the best RB's in the PL tbh. Very crucial buy.

That's the spirit.

Seriously guys get a grip. We should be looking forward to big games now. No need to fear anyone. The team will grow in confidence if we play well against the bigger sides.

Should be a good game.

Agree with all of that. But I take it for granted that a business will address priorities, what makes a project a cut above is vision and we are currently seriously lacking it. As someone said earlier we are missing the player that will connect the mf to the attack or even a floating striker with license to wander and create chances.

Something I have been wittering on about in the old 'Have we got the wrong strikers' thread'. There is decent passing available to us and Emre can very ocassionally not overhit a pass ...Let's see how many chances we create today against surely one of the poorest sides in the PL. Overall things are a lot better, but imya an opportunity missed.

It's almost as if he's just done the most obvious things first. They needed doing mind.

This is what I can't figure out and am still a bit bewildered that we didn't sign at least one flair player, there will be home games where we won't be able to break sides down and now we haven't even got Nobby to do the odd unpredictable thing. Emre needs to step up.

You happy with your buys this summer Ash?

I think Sven has made the most imaginative purchases this window.

It's a very valid concern, but I'd rather we gone down this route for the time being. Building from the back and shorter term experienced signings. I just hope Allardyce does have plans to bring in younger and more creative players further down the line, because although we can name a few flair players he's bought, relatively speaking he hasn't bought many in his time. I do think the Smith money should have gone on a genuine winger, we knew for ages Dyer and Solano wanted to leave. That's taken the shine off the window for me, our squad lacks options to change a game but I think a lot of us accepted a while ago that we're gearing up to play Bolton football, it's not pretty but it gets results, I guess. The jury is still very much out on whether Allardyce can adapt to a bigger budget or just turn us into a rich man's Bolton. My money is on the latter and I think he will only take us so far playing that way, but he'll lay solid foundations here and might prove a few of us wrong after a few transfer windows. Overall though positive strides forwards, let's just keep our fingers crossed Zog and Milner stay fit because without them we are a bit screwed. We will play 'narrower' football and press the midfield as seems to be his way. A lot more is hinging on Zoggy than it should really. The foundations are looking very good now and SA has said before iirc during the world cup that he doesn't understand the way he has been labelled and the fact that he has purchased creative players. Football for me isn't the same if it comes down to percentages all the time. But I'm happy and it is clear we've made strides.

Creativity is an issue and although we are getting more organised and will concede less, goals win games as they say. Still think Smith will come good.

Do you want Carr? I think I'll stick with the whitespace if that's OK

Still think we're lacking genuine creativity.

Bit lite on the full backs matey..

Goodish window I could have done with a least one flair player or a bit more creativity in midfield, but perhaps in Jan. SA is building from the bottom up and we have to respect that for now.

Such low expectations its chilling...

WH upped Shorey bid to £6m apparently.