KaKa

This is what the summer is all about, beautifully frustrating nights like this ... We will all either be going crazy and celebrating Big Mikes first major signing (and his firm and well placed kick in maetihs' groin) or we'll bitch and moan together. How can anyone not love this Chill out and enjoy the wild and crazy ride that is NUFC.

You wear really tight undies don't you? Let them breathe man! I believe we are in a stronger position if we both bid. The premier league is really popular right now, there are a lot of top Argentinians here all doing really well and we just signed an Argentinian ourselves! Enjoy the speculation we are in with a very good chance afterall. Modric didn't come and we're all still alive right? Chill.

Do we at least find out what position this supposed player plays in?

Not denying it. Just saying there are different ways of going about things. Cahill is great at arriving in the box to score but he is by no means a midfielder that makes things happen with his passing or anything, and Carsley is basically a poor man's Nicky Butt.

Get in there big Mike! Do your thing you beast! Kick the doommongers in the nuts man!

You do still have Aurelio though and Arbeloa played at left back at times also, but I do agree in general, it would be surprising if he was allowed to leave. Liverpool Fan here: I agree with Rafa. I dont think Insua was ever offered to Newcastle in exchange for Milner. He is that highly rated in the academy. Most insiders in liverpool forums were calling that previous article by Oliver, bollocks. I would be surprised even if he went out on loan though. Rafa is looking to sell Finnan and Degen is unproven. So Arbeloa maybe our first choice right back. On the left we have Dossena and Aurelio ( who gets crocked after playing 3 games). He has already talked about fullbacks being more attacking next season with the width coming from them. He has mentioned Dossena, Aurelio and Insua as the three left back options for next season. In case he ends up joining you on loan this is an overview of himm. According to reserve coach Ablett, the only reason Insua has not got more games is that he still needs to work on his positioning. He still does not have a balance between attack and defense. Either he is too defensive or too attacking. But when he is on the top of his game the lad is an absolute quality player. He is extremely comfortable on the ball, has a rocket of a shot, good crossing ability and has some decent collection of dribbling tricks. He can cover in central defense also. That was his position in Boca juniors. Interesting. Midfield diamond perhaps? Mascherano deep, Barry narrow left, Gerrard narrow right and Keane just behind the strikers. Torres and Kuyt upfront. I could so do a better job than Rafa Not if you think that playing Dirk Kuyt as a central striker is a good idea, especially if you're including Robbie Keane as being a Liverpool player available for selection up front too... It will be Kuyts job to harry and harrass the oppositions defenders, defending from the front. Do not underestimate his committment and the desire he plays with, as it lifts the team. In this setup he wouldn't be under pressure to score as much either and his defensive help would be invaluable to the narrower midfield. Your such an amateur ...

Colin G, who works for the Chronicle, and posts over on their board says they were sworn to secrecy about the Jonas signing. You see! I didn't even know that. I genuinely thought it was really weird that Oliver had nothing to say about the Aimar link today as he will usually comment on any link he can get his grubby mitts on.

Everton have played Carsley and Cahill centrally with Arteta and Pienaar out wide and looked good. We could definitely get away with playing Butt and Barton centrally with Jonas and Aimar (hypothetically) wide and look good too. Cahill and Carsely are not really creative at all and all of their creativity comes from their wings for the most part. Could be an idea we go with. Owen I believe would be okay up front with a striker with pace, power and a physical presence. An Adebayor or Drogba type essentially. Unfortunately these are the most expensive types of strikers to get so buying a striker like this might mean selling Martins.

Think about it ... with all the speculation in the past few days Oliver didn't even comment on it today. Aimar is nailed on to sign very soon. Oliver has either been warned after the Modric incident or given false information and so he went with the Insua "smokescreen". Is it a coincidence that Insua is Argentinian? I think not. You can just see it now ... Oliver: "Come on Kev who are we signing next?" Keegan: "The Argentinian who Rafa is familiar with" Oliver: "Can't be Mascherano ... must be Insua!" Keegan: "Yup. You go with that." Oliver: "Cheers Messiah"

You do still have Aurelio though and Arbeloa played at left back at times also, but I do agree in general, it would be surprising if he was allowed to leave. Liverpool Fan here: I agree with Rafa. I dont think Insua was ever offered to Newcastle in exchange for Milner. He is that highly rated in the academy. Most insiders in liverpool forums were calling that previous article by Oliver, bollocks. I would be surprised even if he went out on loan though. Rafa is looking to sell Finnan and Degen is unproven. So Arbeloa maybe our first choice right back. On the left we have Dossena and Aurelio ( who gets crocked after playing 3 games). He has already talked about fullbacks being more attacking next season with the width coming from them. He has mentioned Dossena, Aurelio and Insua as the three left back options for next season. In case he ends up joining you on loan this is an overview of himm. According to reserve coach Ablett, the only reason Insua has not got more games is that he still needs to work on his positioning. He still does not have a balance between attack and defense. Either he is too defensive or too attacking. But when he is on the top of his game the lad is an absolute quality player. He is extremely comfortable on the ball, has a rocket of a shot, good crossing ability and has some decent collection of dribbling tricks. He can cover in central defense also. That was his position in Boca juniors. Interesting. Midfield diamond perhaps? Mascherano deep, Barry narrow left, Gerrard narrow right and Keane just behind the strikers. Torres and Kuyt upfront. I could so do a better job than Rafa

Maybe ... or maybe we have stepped up our interest after the agent used Benfica to get us to firm up our offer. I hope so Believe the hype man! Aimar is coming. "We need players to set the team alight"

Maybe ... or maybe we have stepped up our interest after the agent used Benfica to get us to firm up our offer.

Good move. An act of faith which shall surely be rewarded.

Aimar will sign shortly. He will be our Arteta on the right side of midfield. Be excited. Express your joy.

http://blog.gaffr.com/2008/03/20/the-4-3-3-formation/ Got to discussing our formation today with some pals and it was interesting. Basically, with Jonas coming aboard it is difficult to see how he would fit in to the version of the 4-3-3 we played last season; and in that case, what is the plan for the upcoming season? Surely Jonas' acquisition points to a 4-4-2? Regarding our midfield, I think the likely scenario is that Jonas is played wide left, Butt and Barton (or Guthrie if Barton's in the can ) are played in the centre, and someone like Larsson or perhaps Aimar is played wide right. We would then have Owen upfront with another striker who I don't think would be Martins as he wouldn't quite offer the ability to hold the ball up, which we would need. Viduka is unlikely to be the guy either, because he cannot be relied upon fitness wise. Therefore we will likely need a big striker with pace and power to complement Owen. I'm beginning to think Martins might be allowed to leave in exchange for an athletic, pacy target man type.

Smith was considered that before he signed, now we all hate the c***! Smith has always been average, and an angry gobshite, there's a difference. The guy blatantly can't play football and is just a wannabe tough guy. He just runs around the pitch with that stupid scowl on his face but in reality is just a skinny guy who can't hold the ball up and easily gets shoved off the ball. It's just all an act, and after he has been shoved of the ball a good number of times which exposes how pathetically weak he is, he resorts to ugly mistimed tackles to prove his manhood. In his mind his pride is restored. In our minds he only exagerates his gross ineptitude.

The weekend refers to the end of the working week rather than the end of the week in general. Sunday is the first day of the week.

Danny Guthrie ... 30 pages. Already a legend in my eyes.

You do still have Aurelio though and Arbeloa played at left back at times also, but I do agree in general, it would be surprising if he was allowed to leave.

Insua did look really good and I would be surprised if he was allowed to leave and join us, so you are probably right.

Aimar will sign. Cuellar will sign. Baptista will sign. Don't worry be happy.

Hopefully with a view to a permanent deal. I'm hoping we are taking him on loan initially because we can't agree on a price at the moment. I imagine Liverpool would want a fair bit for him due to his potential. Wouldn't like to be in a situation where we loan him just to help develop the player for Liverpool or put him in the shop window for other teams to steal in. He might be a very promising prospect but Liverpool seem to need money and at the moment and Insua doesn't appear to be anywhere near the first team as they have a few experienced players capable of playing at left back. anal is back from his summer hols, and guess what the chonicle r reporting their first rumour for weeks, don't believe any of it whatsoever Yeah I know ... just something to talk about. Not taking it too seriously at all.

Come on ... Liverpool have been the ones guilty of making the whole thing such a saga. It was Gerrard and Rafa that brought it out into the open in the first place so you can't really start having a go at O'Neill. They stated how much they wanted and Liverpool either don't have the money or aren't willing to pay it so tried to force Villa's hand by unsettling the player by making the bid public. Dirty tactics. Plain and simple. No, it was the Liverpool Echo who brought it in to the open, apparently fed from Birminham so the rest of your statement has no foundation. Yeah but at that point it was simply speculation like all the other stuff out there ... until Gerrard started yapping about it and Rafa also. This made the "rumour" fact and the papers ran with it, creating the media circus etc. Sorry, but it really was down to your club.

Hopefully with a view to a permanent deal. I'm hoping we are taking him on loan initially because we can't agree on a price at the moment. I imagine Liverpool would want a fair bit for him due to his potential. Wouldn't like to be in a situation where we loan him just to help develop the player for Liverpool or put him in the shop window for other teams to steal in. He might be a very promising prospect but Liverpool seem to need money and at the moment and Insua doesn't appear to be anywhere near the first team as they have a few experienced players capable of playing at left back.

Come on ... Liverpool have been the ones guilty of making the whole thing such a saga. It was Gerrard and Rafa that brought it out into the open in the first place so you can't really start having a go at O'Neill. They stated how much they wanted and Liverpool either don't have the money or aren't willing to pay it so tried to force Villa's hand by unsettling the player by making the bid public. Dirty tactics. Plain and simple.