Chris_R

Can they afford not to though? MON seems to have learned nothing, and these are his transfer targets. They either back him and get these guys in, or they get nobody in and risk him walking because he feels he's not been supported. I can envisage either scenario happening tbh, but they're still broadly in the honeymoon period now and possibly their heirarchy is blinded by the bullshit he'll be peddling to them as we all know he's a good motivator and speaker. There's a fair chance he'll talk them into doing something financially stupid on the back of undeliverable promises. Then if (Or perhaps when) that doesn't work out, they get into the situation of either cut their losses and get rid of him or back him further. It's the situation Lerner found himself in, and eventually had to draw the line when things got desperate financially. Villa nearly went down as a consequence. The Sunderland board could draw the line at any point, including now, but equally they could back him and throw money at his targets. Depends on how much faith they have in him.

Anyway, you'd think they'd have learnt from our days of spunking countless millions on fees and wages for over-the-hill stars. Barnes, Rush, Pearce, Kluivert, Butt, Smith, Duff, Babayaro etc etc, worked out f***ing splendidly for us, didn't it? A policy that ultimately led us from title chasers to mid table to relegated. They don't have the luxury of having so far to fall, or the luxury of having the income to support such a policy for as long as we did. MON seems determined to recruit a team of 30+ hasbeens though, on silly wages, which Bruce had already started doing with O'Shea and Brown. Long may it continue IMO. Berbatov for Sunderland!

It's one thing putting a bid in for Berbatov, it's hardly a difficult thing to do to phone up Man United and say "We'll give you £10m". Frankly that's about the easiest thing in the world to do. However it's another thing getting the money together for his wages as well, which will be extortionate. And it's yet another thing altogether to get him to agree to move to that fucking backwards, inbred cesspit of a village. I'd suggest this one's a non-starter. And even if by some miracle they do manage to throw enough of the Queen's pounds at him that he's willing to forego all logic, common sense and footballing ambition for one last massive payday, then he'll quickly realise what a hole of a place he's in and just sit and rot there on ridiculous money for the next 5 years, which will be a massive millstone round the neck of the club until 2017. Win-Win really for us, whatever happens.

Thought that spoiler might be a picture of Shearer....!

And you had the fucking gall to pull me up on putting Adam Campbell 5th choice striker? Gutierrez is about as much a fullback as he is a striker. Might as well put him in that list as well. When old Diego's put enough coke up his nose to rival Tony Montana before selecting his teams you can't then use that to back up your arguments that we've got enough fullbacks. If Jonas is playing there, we're screwed. Steven Taylor will be playing DC, so he can't play DR. He's our second best centre back. Likewise, Anita will be in midfield. Last time I checked it's against the rules to clone footballers, so they'll just have to play one position each. Raylor has no pace, and both he and Perch played above themselves last season and can't be relied upon to do the same again this campaign. Maybe they will, but 6 months of good form in otherwise utterly mediocre careers suggests that they just hit a purple patch, not that they suddenly became tremendous assets to the club. Fullback before striker. Though like I say, we do need both.

Not that mental like, he could play a part in Europe. It does cry out desperation however. A) I put him as fifth choice. B) We are fairly desperate for a striker. I'm not even remotely disputing that in anything I'm saying. C) However we're even more desperate for a fullback. Who the merry hell is fifth choice there? Steve Harper?

By saying he 'might' be able to play a 'small part'? Hardly suggesting we're reliant on him. I reckon he'll get a game or 2 this season in the cups, even if coming on from the bench. We'll see.

Strikers: Ba and Cisse - Excellent Shola - Competent for short spells / excellent V mackems HBA - Can play just behind a striker, arguably his best position Adam Campbell - Looks like he might be able to play a small part this season Fullbacks: Santon - Settling in well, could have an excellent season Simpson - Terrified of the ball We need cover in both, lets not kid ourselves, but we're fucking desperate for a decent fullback to complement Santon. If we get a striker, we're adding to our depth. If we get a fullback, we're adding to our first XI. Surely that's got to be more important? I know there's the ACON etc, but that's a few games for a month or so. A fullback would be for 38 games, plus FA and League cups + Europe.

The thing is, if O'Neill had a scouting network behind him like ours, he'd do a great job. Someone else could recruit good players at a decent price and he could just stick to motivating and getting the best out of him. The problem is that he's such an egomaniac that he is incapable of seeing his own shortcomings and would never in a million years countenance someone else recruiting players for him. And thank fuck for that.

Well he got to train with Messi for a few days, not that bad for preparation . No, Messi got to train with Coloccini.

Oh my, you've just reminded me: HE'S GONE!! :celb1: :celb:

More to the point, hope he's playing against Ben Arfa. That's going to be one messy, well-witnessed arse raping.

Reckon this one will go full circle - We all start off saying how great he is then by page 1000 we're screaming for his head.

Then have him do it again in the second half.

But that still doesn't mean he's fit enough for the start of the season.

Mackem pub talk (and why I was asking) Reckons he's been sold a lie, also isn't impressed with sunderland's ability to attract players, can't get them to the negotiation table and when they do some woman they have doing the deals messes it up by being tight and stubborn. http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showpost.php?p=13155766&postcount=190 Aye but tbf to the Mackem transfer lady, someone has to keep a tight hold as marty is a transfer gusher. To be even more fair to Mackem transfer lady, she has to try to convince sane people with options in life to come to Sunderland, which must be about as rewarding as trying to kick water uphill.

"Jawdees gannin to somewhere where everyone's pewer..... ... ancient ruined buildings... ...." We'll be doing that on 21st October. [/obvious]

I should clarify my much-quoted comment slightly - I don't want Obertan in the first team. He's not a particularly good player, but I don't mind him coming on with 20/30 to go if we're trying to change the game a bit or are comfortably ahead. Let's not forget he's still young. Maybe he'll get better, maybe he won't. But he's a useful squad player as is, and next season we'll certainly need a squad. What's strange is that some people laud Sammy Ameobi as a potential player for the future but to me he's a far worse player than Obertan. Sure, Sammy's younger, but Obertan is a much better player at this point in time. Not that this is saying much, as I must stress I don't rate Obertan that highly. He's OK, that's about it. But we'll need OK players next year when we're playing 50+ games (If things go OK).

If that's 668, then Derby's stadium must hold about 85,000.

Yeah, Obertan's not exactly brilliant, but I've seen far worse. Has pace, can finish, has set up goals. He really isn't THAT dreadful, I think opinions on him have been overly polarised by his competition in the early part of last season with Ben Arfa for the wide right spot. With Obertan keeping out the crowd favourite, he was always going to be the antichrist if he didn't get a hattrick every game.

No, he isn't. He's going to register with Fleetwood town whilst they play 12 games, then come straight back. He'll not play 1 single second for them.

It wasn't club's coming in that worried me though, that can happen with any player. It was the fact we had no power over it, he could have left for 7m ( supposedly) and we could have done nothing about it. Now the clause has expired we actually have a degree of a control over any Ba transfer and that makes me feel a lot more comfortable. Aye, assuming the reports are correct... Wonder if we'll now move to renegotiate his contract btw? No reason for us to. Renegotiating before today could have gotten rid of that clause. Now it's gone anyway, there's no point in us upping his wages for no gain to us.

I can't see Carroll playing well in a 4-3-3 unless he was in the middle, but surely Cisse will get that spot? I know we need cover but Cisse, Ba and Carroll all wanting the same one position isn't going to work. So if we DO get him I imagine we're back to 4-4-2. Carroll and Cisse/Ba in a 4-4-2 could be fucking lethal, but then you're looking at who will play on the wings. Jonas on the left and Ben Arfa on the right doesn't feel like it would work for me. Carroll needs good balls in, which Jonas has consistently proven he can't deliver, at least not from the left. Likewise with Ben Arfa on the right, he'd have to jink back inside onto his stronger foot all the time. Maybe switch them? But then is Ben Arfa really a winger at all? He couldn't play just behind the front 2 as we'd have Tiote and Cabaye in the middle, and we need width for Carroll. Not sure where I stand on this one at all.

That Shola stat always makes me smile. I'm hoping he bags a few more in Europe next year to further extend his lead.

If he's got to run with it he'll probably break down injured and drop the torch in a puddle.