Lotus

I suspect that around 55% of the fans - at least - share your views. Ashley is in for a shock when the 3 year ST period runs out unless he pulls off something spectacular before the season starts because I can see another wasted season if this squad is what the club intend to rely on until Christmas......MINUS Cabaye, of course.... We have a good set of players, the threat of relegation's off our back for now, a new season is starting. I'm surprised everyone isn't looking forward to the kick off. Aye, the Kinnear thing has been an embarrassment, but once the football starts we can forget about that. I don't see any reason to expect another season like last. Nothing has changed for the better so far though Ian. A couple of fringe players have left and a raving lunatic has been brought in. We still have the exact same personnel as last season who underperformed so spectacularly. There has been no one brought in so far in boost the squad, give them a bit of confidence for the coming season. So far there is just nothing there to say the coming season is going to be any better. Things have changed for the better though, mainly a break to refresh, the chance to regroup, and the spiral of decline broken. We have the same personnel as last season, but the new signings only played since Jan. Also, they are the same personnel who finished 5th as well. I'm not predicting an amazing season, but I don't believe we'll be as bad as last either. The level of negativity is staggering at times. Teams to tend to get judged on what they did the season before, not on what they did a couple or a few years ago. There does tend to be a good reason for that too.

Basically this. The Sissoko quotes are more worrying to me. "he needs more goals if he's to play number 10". He's not a number 10, anywhere near one, did he not even read his scouting report? It's just scarily incompetent Aye, that one is pretty bad. I just find it incredible he wouldn't have a defined idea of where he needs to play. He's pretty much saying, I don't really know, he'll have to figure it out. Thats not great to hear What he could be saying is that it's upto the player to force himself into this plans. By either playing better than either Tiote/Cabaye, scoring (the No. 10 reole) or making sure he gets assists (RW). Maybe he's challenging Sissoko to prove himself.

His biggest problem is going to be sorting out the left side. We need attacking threat but was also need someone who offer enough protection to Santon because he hasn't looked that clever as a defender tbh. That's the problem with having Marveaux there. He's better inside for a start so he'll probably drift in, and he won't be forever shadowing the FB when we haven't got the ball. One option might be to put MYM at LB as he's solid there and just leave Marveaux to drift in and out of the game as he does, popping up and doing his stuff now and again. Lacks a bit of structure though so i can see why that wouldn't be popular with the coaching staff!

Yes, that was odd! Everytime i saw him play in France, and i mean everytime, he was on the right. Must have only seen him 10-15 times though so i suppose it's possible he played on the left or in the middle all the other times. Doubt it though. I'm sure Mole can tell us

Wonder what the plans are for Anita and Marveaux. Bit part roles? P45?

Reading the Sissoko quote it does seem to suggest the formation won't be a 4-3-3. My guess would be a 4-2-3-1 again. Depends on who we sign or sell though i guess.

Jealous of them for a couple of reasons but signing Bony for £12m isn't one of them.

Was what i thought. He was told to resign or just face being sacked.

We should have had Moses when Hughton had the deal lined up during the Championship season. That was one of those deadly Dekka pulled the plug on due to being a short-sighted gimp. Thank f*** he's left the club. Didnt Moses say he turned us down as he would get more games at Wigan? Not according to Dave who (i think) actually spoke to his agent. Think he said that Moses really wanted to come but that DL was an obnoxious arsehole who f**cked about. Dave, gloss over my inaccuracies in an effort to make Llambiarse look even worse please... Ah now you mention it i do remember Dave saying that We just need to pad it out to make it look even worse. Like he tried to touch round the 'front' or something....

We should have had Moses when Hughton had the deal lined up during the Championship season. That was one of those deadly Dekka pulled the plug on due to being a short-sighted gimp. Thank f*** he's left the club. Didnt Moses say he turned us down as he would get more games at Wigan? Not according to Dave who (i think) actually spoke to his agent. Think he said that Moses really wanted to come but that DL was an obnoxious arsehole who f**cked about. Dave, gloss over my inaccuracies in an effort to make Llambiarse look even worse please...

I think Sammy might be a late developer physically. Might take him a while to gain some strength and stamina. As for reading the game, he needs to be playing. He also needs good coaching. If he gets those then i guess it will be upto him what level he attains.

Who's the better player out of Scott Sinclair and Tom Ince?

Not defending S. Ameobi here but Carroll was also p*ss poor in the Championship with Preston. And he's a player that you absolutely adore so, i guess players can turn out better than expected in some cases.

How is Gouffran not a senior striker? Just because we play him somewhere else. Where was he playing when we played Bordeaux? On the wing?

Pardew is so interested in how he's perceived rather what he actually does. He's such a disingenuous tosser.

I thought the other fella had taken over Derek's role. Forget his name now.... Lee Charnley, that's what we were talking about. Am i dreaming this? I thought the club announced that someone internal was promoted to fulfill Llambias's financial role and i'm sure it wasn't Charnley.... You are right, the other fella does the internal finances, sponsorship stuff i think i read but Charnley does the transfers. Oh. Was the delineation as clear as that?

I thought the other fella had taken over Derek's role. Forget his name now.... Lee Charnley, that's what we were talking about. Am i dreaming this? I thought the club announced that someone internal was promoted to fulfill Llambias's financial role and i'm sure it wasn't Charnley....

I thought the other fella had taken over Derek's role. Forget his name now....

That very much depends on what the club's intentions are.

Christ, how porous would that be...

This. The fact that he is going for a quite affordable fee suggests we were just hoping a bargain would emerge rather than actively trying to sign up a player we have wasted 18 months scouting and watching regularly. Had on. What suggests that, exactly? The fact we didn't get involved when he was about to join a club that can offer Champions Legaue football? If they're getting him for 13m euro, that's not too far off the £10m we bid for him in January. i think the fact we didn't make a bid suggests that we didn't make a bid tbh. We had time to make a bid before Dortmund emerged that was a fairly recent development, but we didn't. but Mike Ashley appears keen to recruit within a budget again. Now, now. You know that's not what I meant, nor was it what Roger said. Since Ashley got his fingers burned, we've operated on a budget, hence our miniscule nett spend on players. I see no reason why that was to change. Perhaps you know better? The interest from Dortmund has been reported for a fair while now. I'd say we probably knew quite a bit more about it than is public, due to our ongoing dialogue with his club and the player's agent. I dare say that, had we made an decent bid (like in January), Dortmund may have been prompted into making a bid of their own. I appreciate that this is quite a leap, but I hope you can understand where I'm coming from. So, what's the alternative? Don't try at all? You haven't got the first idea that BVB would have bid in January. The Lewandowski situation wasn't as clear then as it is now. Your just speculating too. Read it again. 'I dare say that, had we made an decent bid (like in January), Dortmund may have been prompted into making a bid of their own.' Unless you mean something other than the words you've written, i got it the first time. Hence my post.

I'm just speculating here, because I find it hard to believe Pardew would consistently overlook Marveaux despite the player proving to be invaluable on the pitch when space is tight, but maybe Marveaux' fitness wasn't as good as we think? Throughout his career he's been plagued with injuries, mostly muscular if memory serves, so what's to say the medical staff hasn't indicated to Pardew that he should be used very sparingly to avoid long layoffs due to muscle injury, i.e. not to push him too hard and consider him a luxury player from the bench only? I know it's fashionable to mock Pardew and our medical staff, so this will no doubt be laughed down, but it's possible, isn't it? It ties in with the fact he was a pacy winger early in his career, and now most often deployed centrally if at all, where bursts of pace and the likes are less often required. We've been crying out for somebody with a bit of pace and creativity on the left wing all season, and not once has Pardew tried Marveaux there. Argh, who am I kidding? Pardew is an idiot who can't see what we all can. It's possible. Defo. As for being good in tight spaces. Just don't think that's our game. Our game is quick ball that turns the defence around, not playing it about looking for openings. And another thing, Pardew gives a very high priority to what a player does without the ball. Where midfield is concerned i think he sees it as more important than what a players can do with it. And given we don't control the ball through the midfield it's a fair worry for him to have.

This. The fact that he is going for a quite affordable fee suggests we were just hoping a bargain would emerge rather than actively trying to sign up a player we have wasted 18 months scouting and watching regularly. Had on. What suggests that, exactly? The fact we didn't get involved when he was about to join a club that can offer Champions Legaue football? If they're getting him for 13m euro, that's not too far off the £10m we bid for him in January. i think the fact we didn't make a bid suggests that we didn't make a bid tbh. We had time to make a bid before Dortmund emerged that was a fairly recent development, but we didn't. but Mike Ashley appears keen to recruit within a budget again. Now, now. You know that's not what I meant, nor was it what Roger said. Since Ashley got his fingers burned, we've operated on a budget, hence our miniscule nett spend on players. I see no reason why that was to change. Perhaps you know better? The interest from Dortmund has been reported for a fair while now. I'd say we probably knew quite a bit more about it than is public, due to our ongoing dialogue with his club and the player's agent. I dare say that, had we made an decent bid (like in January), Dortmund may have been prompted into making a bid of their own. I appreciate that this is quite a leap, but I hope you can understand where I'm coming from. So, what's the alternative? Don't try at all? You haven't got the first idea that BVB would have bid in January. The Lewandowski situation wasn't as clear then as it is now. Your just speculating too.

A player who could fit into 'the ball over the top' ethic Pardew prefers. He's a good CF. Wasted as a wide forward if that's some people's idea.