KaKa

If a club offers the £6.5 million for Barton I think he will be sold and maybe we would then bring in Meireles.

It's looking like Portsmouth will be pushing hard for Barton.

I love the fact he isn't scared of buying directly from South America.

Palacios and Figueroa have been brilliant and cost panuts pretty much. The little I have seen of the striker they're bringing in has been good too. Valencia is also class but was brought in by Jewell I think.

Nice little South American flava they have going there now.

It was funny watching Defoe dissapear into thin air now he's back at Tottenham.

No more Crouch to hold the ball up for you, no more brillinat midfield play from the likes of Diarrra, Krancjar, Bouba Diop, no more width from the likes of Glen Johnson and Belhadj.

Welcome home son back to chasing lost causes from a shocking midfield.

Go on shay/zoggy get yourselves to a club thats going places

Jenas is such a pansy it is untrue.

Player profile: Raul Meireles

Full name: Raul Jose Trindade Meireles

Position: Midfielder

Date of Birth: 17 March 1983

Birthplace: Porto, Portugal

Some players are filled with immense potential and never realize it throughout their entire careers. Some are late bloomers and do not get noticed or make a name for themselves until several years in the game. Then there are those who have certain, special qualities that enable them to win a mountain of silverware early in their careers.

Thus is the case with Raul Meireles. The young FC Porto midfielder plays for one of Portugal’s biggest clubs and can already boast an impressive trophy cabinet. His neat and intelligent play adorned with accurate passing, tough tackling and a powerful shot, has made him an undisputed starter at Portugal’s most successful club despite his young age.

The left-back turned defensive midfielder was a member of Portugal’s youth squad that won the under-16 European Championships with Portugal in 2000 and four years later helped his country finished third in the under-21 European Championships.

With a host of achievements as a youth, Meireles was playing regularly at the age of 18. A product of Boavista’s youth academy, he got his first taste of professional football at neighbouring club, Desportivo das Aves, where he spent two seasons on loan.

Cross-city move

Meireles played a total of 45 matches, scoring one goal for Aves before Boavista decided to take him back in 2003. The defensive midfielder played just one season with Boavista, making 29 appearances for the club, and impressed so much that he was snapped up by cross-town rivals, FC Porto.

Porto had recently lost Jose Mourinho to Chelsea and sold the likes of Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira. Much pressure was placed on his shoulders as he had very big shoes to fill in a team where winning is the only option.

Meireles was left in limbo in his first year as Porto went through three coaches. As the central midfield places were occupied by Portugal internationals, Maniche and Costinha, the player was used on the left side of defence for the majority of the season, which ended with the Dragons relinquishing the championship to bitter rivals Benfica.

The following year would see Meireles flourish as Porto completed the double. The 2006/07 season started with a Portuguese SuperCup triumph as Meireles continued to compile a healthy set of winners’ medals, all at the age of 24.

International breakthrough

Things got even better for the young Portuguese midfielder as he broke into the senior Portugal national team in November 2006, playing in the Euro 2008 qualifier against Kazakhstan in Coimbra. Meireles produced an assured performance in a 3-0 victory, and the player certainly has a solid foundation on which to build his international career with one of the world’s best footballing nations.

by Marco Pereira

Got raped off Can't Control. Worrying.

A bit harsh on Carlton Cole. He is very physical and strong striker and on his good days can cause problems for certain.

Coloccini at the moment tends to pick up the best strikers on the teams we face. I think its a big ask for him at the moment. Colo reminde me a bit of Carvalho, with a Terry type beside him i.e. bigger stronger experienced guy, he would be a lot better off. Colo will struggle against the Carlton Coles and Drogbas otherwise. I think it was an absolute tragedy we didn't keep Faye too partner Colo really.

To be fair, the team he has to put on the field can be compared to playing NHL 09 on a 133 mhz, 64 mb ram, and 5 gb hardisk computer.

Was a bit poxy today. I wish he was a little bit more consistent because when he's good, you couldn't drive a bus through him. His weaknesses remain the same, pace on the turn (we were playing too high up today anyway, that was evident from the second minute but nothing was changed) and his strength one on one. I've never had a problem with his aerial ability and i think his positional awareness is very good. I was about to say that he's good at 'getting in the way', but that sounds a bit simplistic - it's to do with his nouse and reading of the game, where to be and when to be. He's had some seriously good performances regarding this, Chelsea away springs to mind.

 

It'd be pretty hasty to shove him into midfield, really. He's a centre-back and a pretty decent one. I thought we were gash all day from a defensive point of view.

The thing is Coloccini actually has played in midfield regularly in his career, as well as at right back. These are positions he plays comfortably in, so it wouldn't be as though we were shoehorning him into midfield.

Was just thinking today how we have been linked with a number of centrebacks and not really many midfielders.

Perhaps Coloccini might be moved to DM where I really think he could be very good. I like him as centreback and I think he will continue to improve and get better, but he is so good on the ball he could really improve our midfield.

If we could partner someone like Samba with Bassong and slot Colo in midfield it could be a good way to go.

Newcastle To Rival Olympique Marseille For Werder Striker Sanogo

Newcastle are said to be planning to snatch unsettled Werder Bremen forward Boubacar Sanogo out from under the grasps of Olympique Marseille...

Newcastle have upped their interest in wantaway Werder Bremen striker Boubacar Sanogo, according to the latest reports from Germany.

The Ivory Coast international has found first team chances at the Weserstadion hard to come by since his €4.5million move from Hamburg two years ago, and has already gone on record as saying that he wants to prove himself in England. 

Werder have denied receiving any formal approach for the 25-year-old as of yet, but the indications are that they are open to offers.

The powerful forward has also been heavily linked with Olympique Marseille of late, and certainly did more than just bat his eyelashes in their direction when he told Foot01: “I am happy at Werder but I am African and it is always good to play close to the Mediterranean and Marseille are the most loved team in Africa."

Sanogo has managed just eight appearances for Werder this season as he has been shuffled behind Marcus Rosenberg and the prolific Claudio Pizzarro in the German outfit’s striking order.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/776/werder-bremen/2009/01/09/1051786/newcastle-to-rival-olympique-marseille-for-werder-striker-sanogo

Setanta - Manchester City and Newcastle United are interested in Haris Vuckic from Domzale, according to our contact in Slovenia. We will have more on this when we get it.

The system lives ... all hail the system for it shall not desert us in our time of need.

Heard it wasn't Barton but Butt going to Bolton.  Can only pray there's some truth in it.

Now that will really have me feeling optimistic about this window.

If we rid ourselves of Barton and Butt I would be really optimistic about us landing some quality midfielders as we surely wouldn't dump them otherwise.

I have a good feelign about this window. Please don't ask me why, but I just do somehow.

 

I think we will be surprised.

 

You know something the rest of us dont?

Are we signing KAKA?!!!

Behave yourself.

I just think we'll wheel and deal and end up with some very promising players at the end of the day.

The likes of PSG's Sakho and Toulousse's Sissoko who we were linked with at the beginning of the window.

I have a good feelign about this window. Please don't ask me why, but I just do somehow.

I think we will be surprised.

What in the name of hell is there to be fascinated about? Stop setting yourself up for a fall man. Nothing is going to happen this window. Nothing fascinating, anyway.

Not fascinated in the sense that I'm excited by anything. More like I just can't even begin to imagine what could be going on behind the scenes and I am really looking forward to seeing what state we will be in come the 2nd of Feb.

Finally we will know for sure what to make of Mr. Ashley and his pals.

A part of me can't help but want to see all these players sold just to see who is brought in then, as surely if the likes of Barton are sold then surely players will be coming in.

Maybe when Ashley re-committed to the club he meant he would go aboiut doing exactly what he intended to do over the summer and transform the team into one with up and coming youngsters.

I am currently fascinated with what is going on. Just hoping it doesn't end in tears.

At least if it ends up with Kinnear having to be replaced no one will be crying about it.

Poyet is also available for nowt now by the way 

Shocking behaviour from Megson, with his comments today.

 

Its no suprise football clubs can work transfers like that but why tell everyone thats what your doing?

 

Hope whomever he is after turns them down and Davenport sticks two fingers up.

 

Kinnear like behavior of the highest order!

What has he said ?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bolton_wanderers/7818181.stm

 

Just basically saying they have got Davenport on the verge of signing, but they are just going to see if a better deal can come off before they make him sign.

 

 

Wow ... it's one thing to actually do this but to openly talk about it like this is just disgusting behaviour.

It can't be for real. I think he's just trying to pressure Davenport into maybe accepting a lower wage than what he wants.

What's a REALISTIC price for him? £7M?

 

35p, a black and white stripey top and a couple of frog's legs and he's yours.

 

 

Honestly though, if like Baggio says, he's available for around the £7million mark then i think it's well worth the gamble. As for player exchange, i doubt Redknapp would allow any players to leave aprt from maybe Gunter (good player), ghaly (good player but it might be better if he leaves) , boateng (s****), and maybe Bentley if you lot add some cash to the N'zogbia deal. Come to think of it, you might be able to get Dos santos of us, as it seems Redknapp dosen't rate him much.

 

Can't believe what has become of Kevin Prince Boateng!

 

Man ... KD do you really think he was given enough of an opportunity to settle and even show his stuff? I hardly remember him playing a game?!

 

I remember seeing him play for Germany when he was younger, in a youth tourney, and he was an absolute dynamo. He was everywhere. Breaking up play and bombing forward to join attacks. Can't believe what has become of the guy.

 

 

 

 

He really needs to get his act together though. The plan was that he was supposed to become one the best mids in the world, but if you look at what some of his age mates in centre midfield have already accomplished, he is far behind. Even someone like Guthrie is holding down a spot in a Premier League club. Kevin will be 22 in a few months and has barely sniffed first team action. And its the like of Jenas, Huddlestone, and O'Hara that are keeping him out.

I feel like he hasn't really been given a fair crack though. He cannot be that much worse than the players you just mentioned. I mean I saw this boy at 18 and he looked like the world would be his. It's amazing to me.

I wouldn't mind nicking him off Tottenham tbh as he would bedead cheap due to how thngs have gone for him.

What's a REALISTIC price for him? £7M?

 

35p, a black and white stripey top and a couple of frog's legs and he's yours.

 

 

Honestly though, if like Baggio says, he's available for around the £7million mark then i think it's well worth the gamble. As for player exchange, i doubt Redknapp would allow any players to leave aprt from maybe Gunter (good player), ghaly (good player but it might be better if he leaves) , boateng (s****), and maybe Bentley if you lot add some cash to the N'zogbia deal. Come to think of it, you might be able to get Dos santos of us, as it seems Redknapp dosen't rate him much.

Can't believe what has become of Kevin Prince Boateng!

Man ... KD do you really think he was given enough of an opportunity to settle and even show his stuff? I hardly remember him playing a game?!

I remember seeing him play for Germany when he was younger, in a youth tourney, and he was an absolute dynamo. He was everywhere. Breaking up play and bombing forward to join attacks. Can't believe what has become of the guy.

Even when Mido is struggling with his weight he is still infinitely more mobile than Viduka and he still manages to cause a lot of problems. Very talented player.

If Kinnear could rev him up a bit he would be a huge asset. The thing about Mido though is he is at his best when he is a fixture in the first team and he knows he is playing week in week out, otherwise he won't be bothered.

So ... Owen out maybe?

It would be interesting if Villa were one of the buying clubs. That would mean they would have targeted two of our recent wide players, both who have come in for criticism while here. Pompey have also targeted Joey Barton so the only midfielders who have had no interest shown in them are Nicky Butt and Damien Duff.

 

Does this give an indication where our real midfield problems lie?

 

 

Ber interesting to see how O'Neill intends to incorporate Young, Zog and Milner. We should demand Reo-Coker in exchange from Villa.

This is just wrong from N'Zogbia. Just flat out wrong. It's downright insulting.

He doesn't have to keep on saying this sort of stuff as it really isn't necessary. Pretty shocking behaviour.

Mido is so talented. If only someone could light the fire underneath him. Still young too.

I've made my views about Martins plain in the past, as have most posters, so I'm not going over it all again.

 

Will simply point out his plus/minus points;-

 

Pluses - Pace, powerful shot, enthusiasm and good jumping ability for a small forward.

Minuses - Erratic distribution, plays without awareness, erratic shooting, lack of intelligent movement.

 

Will he score enough goals to be classed a really top Prem forward ? NO - 15 p.a. average, if that.

Will he improve on his weaknesses? No sign of that, and he is at least 24 now, maybe much older.

 

Would I swap him for Berbatov ? Only if Owen was staying, because I think Berbatov would be a great foil for Owen, but if Owen is going, we need Martins' pace - we have little enough is the whole side without losing any more - but Berbatov is by far the better player technically.

 

Martins is not by any means the worst forward in the Prem but he is far from the best, and we need better; unfortunately, NUFC are not likely to GET any better ones for the foreseeable future.

 

 

 

 

You say NUFC need better. In what context, i.e. realistic achievements and targets, do you mean?

 

You could do with better. But then you, Everton, and loads of clubs 'could do' with better players. He's your best forward.

I've talked to quite a few other fans about this and the player on our team they are most nervous about when we play them is always Martins.

Very interesting that.