Lotus

The people who ruin the forum are those who automatically post negatively against the opinion of certain individuals (not just NE5) based on who is making the post rather than the content of the post. If people would get their head out of their arse and read what he's posting they will find it makes sense. EG If you seriously believe that under the previous board, major decisions were made by one individual acting alone, then you (and others) are frankly a bit dim. I appreciate there is a dilemma here for some. Admitting that big decisions were made by a group of people is obviously going to mean some people can't continue with their childish pastime of slating one individual for everything. Think about it, before you blurt something out.... Agree completely fwiw. However i'm intrigued by certain posters questioning Mort's ambition, as if he were the only to do with the club who made any kind of decisions whatsoever.

the path to glory is full of cheap youngsters and foreigners, I'm sure we are on the right path here, it isn't as if all the other successful clubs don't follow this path, and we haven't signed top quality youngsters before from Ipswich. You blame the manager?!? He's the one who decides whom we are signing. I thought you'd give SA a bit more time actually, i think he deserves more personally.

Probably only Green Tea now because of the higher anti-oxidant level. Or maybe the new Tea lady is in fact Green.

you expect wonders from a combined £2m? No, and that was my point.

I want to see signs that Allardyce knows the game and is on the right lines, and the chairman and owner are understanding what it takes to match those top teams that win the trophies. At the moment, I see neither. What would be more of a sign of an improvement, a higher league finish or almost £20 million spent on a Spanish winger and a defender from Rangers? how about answering me ? You're moving the goalposts. 20m spent on 2 such players who justified their fees - and that Rangers right back looks a canny player - would almost certainly justify a higher finish. [but that particular judgement is up to the manager]. What would you say if we lost out on, for instance, Dean Ashton or David Bentley to someone like Man City or Everton because they were prepared to pay more than us ? Are such players not "trophy players" anymore, and as such you would prefer the club to buy lesser players to keep the books perfectly balanced ? Under SBR we signed players like Gallacher, Andy O'Brien, Bassedas, Gavilan, Quinn, Elliot, etc. Then, because of his good management, we improved a bit and then he bought better players like Robert and Bellamy who made a huge difference. I think we have to improve a bit in terms of league finishes so that we have a bit more money and a better profile to attract the better players. Under SBR we didn't just go out and spend big and finish 4th. Incidentally, £6m -Smith, £6m Barton and £6m Enrique (i think?) is hardly bargain basement stuff!

Sanchez likes direct, long ball and that's the kind of football our central defenders seem particularly bad at dealing with. I'm startin to worry that we got nothing more than our money's worth for Cacapa and Roz. Enrique must be showing precious little in training as well.

Maybe he's a Grannyophile too...

wrong to compare allardyce to hitler.....keegan is a closer analogy, started amazingly well but it blew up right at the end. Well, i laughed!

Lotusland says.......neeeeel pwoi

I privately thought that we bought Cacapa because Edmilson wasn't going to pass a medical in the Summer. Would be surprised if we ended up with both.

Didn't Steve McClaren make his name as a coach with Derby? About his level i reckon...

Can I just point out a glaring mistake with this comment? In the Southern Hemisphere June and July are winter months. If it's hot in parts of Africa during these months, then it is even hotter in January! Ghana is in the northern hemisphere.

Menez Kompany Cavalho

Beye..Roz..Taylor..Enrique ..............Geremi.............. .......Barton......Emre........ Martins......................Zog ...............Viduka............. We'll probably need 3 against 2 in the middle as they're so superior there. Martins has pace and energy and can use his right peg or cut in on his left. Both him and Zog can dribble and Viduka might hold it up long enough for Emre and Barton (if not banned) to join the attack. Don't fancy Geremi much as a DM but we need some possession. I take it Faye and Cacapa have injuries (?) so Taylor in with Roz.

Not sure i'd play Viduka and Owen at the same time now i think about it. Both like to stay central, neither works the channels particularly effectively, both prefer being in the box and would rather someone else did the donkey work. Owen + Smith might work. Viduka + Martins might work. Don't think i fancy any other combination atm.

One thing i expected is that the team would go out on the pitch with a bit of fire in their bellies, especially in away games. I thought that SA got Bolton to dominate other teams physically because he didn't have the resources to but a team of skillful players. Looking at us so far though, apart from away to Bolton we haven't out muscled anybody and we haven't remotely utilised the talent in the squad either. I think his plans have been hurt by injuries to Emre, Barton, Owen and Viduka and also a lack of form from Milner and Geremi, that's a big hole to fill. However, whatever team we put out, we neither 'get stuck in' nor do we play some decent football. One thing i expected from Sam is that we wouldn't get turned over by tryers with limited talent but that's exactly what's happened. Watching West Ham with 10 players out injured run rampant against Derby seriously pissed me off. We've got some decent attacking players but they're not really threatening the opposition. I think of it like boxing, you can cover up and bob and weave all you like but if you can't show your opponent you can punch then the f**ker just won't respect you and will keep on coming forward. We don't punch our weight and i expected at least that tbh.

Didn't get the impression he cut it in a harder league tbh, gets a lot of time and space there. His freekicks will work anywhere in the world though!

Should have scored 9 though tbf....

oh dear. I remember you saying that this Kezman bloke would be an absolute sensation because he scored more goals than Craig Bellamy. You really do think its all about championship manager type statistics don't you ? I expect you would rather have Luque because he scored 3 or 4 I wanted Kezman back in 2005, it had feck all to do with Bellamy though. What's that got to with Smith's goalscoring record though? I don't play Football Manager either. Do you not find it slightly concerning that Smith simply doesn't provide a goal threat? At least with Bellamy he made chances for himself and then usually screwed it up in front of goal. His goalscoring record wouldn't be that problematic if he was some sort of creative genius, but he isn't. shows what crap criteria you use when making judgements, if you use a statistic and can't look at the footballer. As Smith has played up front for Manu, Leeds in the CL, and England, and you are "concerned" this is laughable. And your daft comments about Bellamy even more so. 5 years since we played in the Champions League and we still haven't finished as high in the league or replaced him adequately. "Screwed it up in front of goal" ......... screwed what up in front of goal ? what a load of bollocks, you like your myths don't you. What do you call a creative genius BTW, not someone who partnered Alan Shearer perfectly and prolonged his career by at least 2 years, obviously not. hoho. I was referring to Smith when I said he wasn't a creative genius. Bellamy offered far more, but as for his finishing, can you not remember how many times Bellamy missed simple chances? Just because Smith has played for some of the biggest teams doesn't mean anything when he hasn't been doing to business on the pitch for the past 3 years! no, I don't remember Craig Bellamy missing loads of simple chances. I've seen many people say this, but its complete bollocks. He actually scored about half his goals from close in and in one-on-one situations. Two goals against the mackems, a fair few in europe including Feyenoord and Valarenga, home to Everton, away to Palace, away to Leeds, home to West Brom.....and I've not even thought about it yet. BTW, most players miss simple chances, always have and always will. And as I said before, if you really are going to harp on about Smith for the last 3 years, you should start by looking at how many games he missed with a broken leg, and how many games he played in midfield for us as well as manure. Nobody is saying he is prolific, including me, he needs a prolific player next to him, he's a support striker, like Craig Bellamy, but you don't see this because you don't understand partnerships in football. Do you think very probable that an Owen-Smith partnership will very successful then?

Doubt he'll cost £1M because other teams will be willing to pay more.

You have said that he bought Smith to replace Dyer, if I'm not mistaken. I think - or hope - this isn't the case, as Smith is not a midfield player. I think he has been brought primarily to replace Ameobi in the long run. The worrying thing is that it would appear the club said that after buying Smith, there was no money to replace Solano and Dyer. We will never challenge the top 4 clubs with such a mentality. However, as i said, if this was Allardyces decision, then I would be worried by his poor judgement. Maybe none of the players he wanted were available. I can accept that. However, when we brought in those last minute players last year ie Sibierski and Rossi, I disagreed with people who labelled them "panic signings". I think the same thing was necessary, these things happen in football. A couple of short term signings and/or a loan signing should have been made while he waited, thats what football is about, building and improving. You can always get better players when they become available, and moving the replaced players on. Setting standards is one thing, but just one player with pace to play wide right, was an absolute necessity. Far better than nobody, or someone out of position, which is what he's been doing. Think he expected more from Milner and Geremi.

I hope he doesn't think this, if he does, he won't last long. Funnily enough i don't think the defence has been improved much either tbh. However, i hope we buy a RW in January if nothing else. to be quite honest, the whole sodding thing and recent performances have just pissed me off. Me too, right f**king moody after the optimism i had after SA'a appointment. But i look at Portsmouth and Blackburn who doing well and i realise Redknapp and Hughes have a had a couple of years to development a pretty decent team. Here's hoping.

You have said that he bought Smith to replace Dyer, if I'm not mistaken. I think - or hope - this isn't the case, as Smith is not a midfield player. I think he has been brought primarily to replace Ameobi in the long run. The worrying thing is that it would appear the club said that after buying Smith, there was no money to replace Solano and Dyer. We will never challenge the top 4 clubs with such a mentality. However, as i said, if this was Allardyces decision, then I would be worried by his poor judgement. Maybe none of the players he wanted were available.

I hope he doesn't think this, if he does, he won't last long. Funnily enough i don't think the defence has been improved much either tbh. However, i hope we buy a RW in January if nothing else.

Do you think that SA has decided he has the offensive players your talking of in Viduka, Smith, Emre and Barton? 3 out of 4 are his signings. I have an impression he thinks he has the players to hold the ball up and the midfielders to put in the quality passes while being able to get stuck in.