Segun Oluwaniyi

He isn't an unknown quantity With this injury he is. It would be a ludicrous risk to sign him right now, as Yorkie said. This is completely dependent on the fee that OM are asking for. If we can acquire with relatively little effect on our accounts, then I believe it would be a risk worth taking. You also have to consider the risk of us losing the player to other teams if he does recover well from the injury.

If you mean Ben Arfa, he's played in more than 30 games in the league last two seasons for Marseille and saw a lot of time for Lyon the year before. Definitely enough to analyse him.

I don't get this thing of him being an unknown quantity. Does the club not have access to video or the ability to send scouts to a country that is twenty miles away? I would more likely trust the ability of someone in a side winning Ligue 1 and competing in the Champions/Europa League than some carthorse from Wolves. I think the ideal situation for Ben Arfa is one like Van der Vaart, Arteta, etc. The talisman for a side that competes for honours, but is not a top, top team. He's not good enough for a team on this level to build around and as VI has said, he's far too volatile to be on the bench (as l'OM and OL both found out).

Comparing prices from the early nineties to prices from 2010, is a stupid and futile exercise imo. So much has changed.

Embarrassing from Shahktar. Just like Rubin Kazan, Spartak, etc. they are a very good size. No one in the world should be beating them in this manner. Nice that Eduardo has scored. Good goal as well.

The title seems to be assuming that Newcastle United Football Club employs two "proper forwards". I'm looking through the squad list right now, and I cannot seem to find them.

It's a shame what happened to Roy, btw. He's gone on far, far too long. It's genuinely sad to see at this point. Kevin Campbell looks a lot like Aiyegbeni in that photo, btw. I actually thought it was him at first. They even have the same figure, which would be alright if not for Yak still being a professional player.

I want Chris Brunt. I know it's probably not going to happen this season, but I want him at some point in his career. Very good player.

Bloody Hell, man. This club is genuinely mad.

Finally seen highlights of the match. The first goal is quite embarrassing for Williamson. I just can't see what prevented him from clearing it out. It's an egregious error, but I'll trust that he can recover after being pretty consistent for us. For the second goal, Barton did poorly to lose the ball after being put in a rather poor position by his teammates, but it's a great goal by Charles. There's little you can do. You'd question where the hell Perch was, but it likely he was providing support up the field, especially as we were already down a goal. I think Carroll could have been sent off for his handball in the box, btw. Very deliberate and blatant attempt to fool the referee. Stupid action from him.

sure bebe will be on very little per week, while vdv will have huge wages, but overall i'd agree. vdv could've been the new scholes for man utd for the next half decade. It's a fair point, when you consider how much they're paying for all that dead space in the same position. How much are Hargreaves, Carrick, and Anderson on?

Still can't believe they spent 8 million on Bebe without addressing their massive issues in the centre of the midfield. That money could have gotten them Rafael VDVaart.

If we are comparing Nigerian strikers with English passports, I would gladly take Carlton Cole over Shola bloody Ameobi. It is barely even a contest. Cole's physicality alone troubles most teams in this league. The ridiculous thing about Obinna is that they've got him on a loan for essentially nothing. No risk, and they'll probably buy him if they stay up. Why weren't we in there? Pretty much exactly what we needed.

West Ham are considered relegation fodder a lot of people here, but Victor Obinna, Piquionne, and Carlton Cole are far better than anything we have here. Carlton Cole can't even get a game at the moment.

Mourinho. He'd relish it. Tbh, I think Rooney might replace Benzema next season.

I remember there were a few games that season where Shola and Femi genuinely looked like being a decent partnership. Like everything else though, it quickly fell apart under the weight of abject failure. Carroll is still the best striker at the club by some distance, imo. He's the only consistently threatening player we have up there. As I've said from the beginning though, he's too inexperienced/not good enough to be leading the line by himself for us in the Premiership.

Yes, he was notorious for this throughout his entire career with FCGB. I doubt Wenger is the one to coach it out of him.

Finding good value in the market isn't luck. It is skill. I don't know why Chelsea are so scared to change formation when they are looking for a goal. Surely Ramires, Obi, and Essien aren't all entirely necessary when you are dominating the game in the opponent's half. Any two would do a fine job. Manchester United's midfield is atrocious at the moment and I don't see this changing in the short run. They just don't look like a team that will challenge for a title or the Champions League. No they got very lucky on this one, because the Bayern munich deal for him fell through, and Real Madrid needed to sell. 10M off his price tag in 24 hours is luck. They've done very well out of the deal though, as he was one of Real's best players last season. Even if this was to be true, an assumption which posts below this particular one have thrown into doubt, they were the only club that showed the alacrity and the aggression required to complete the deal in advance of the transfer deadline. A large part of being successful in the market is being alert to any opportunities that arise and quickly taking advantage before they are gone.

Finding good value in the market isn't luck. It is skill. I don't know why Chelsea are so scared to change formation when they are looking for a goal. Surely Ramires, Obi, and Essien aren't all entirely necessary when you are dominating the game in the opponent's half. Any two would do a fine job. Manchester United's midfield is atrocious at the moment and I don't see this changing in the short run. They just don't look like a team that will challenge for a title or the Champions League.

What's the fuss about this? I'm surprised by the intense negative reaction. It just seems like part of modern football to me. There's advertisements all around the outside of the pitch. There's company names on everyone's shirt. There' s company logos on everyone's boots. Bolton's stadium actually has it's seats form a massive Reebok symbol as well as a large emblem on the front of the stadium. I'm not at the stadium, so maybe I am misunderstanding the issue, here. Why is it considered such an affront to the club?

Real lack of pace in that team that Niall has posted, imo. Never a good sign when you are playing a right back and a central midfielder on your flanks. I think they'll draw Liverpool 1-1, btw. Aiyegbeni and Skrtel. Couldn't you just drop Cahill into CM, put Bilyaletidnov into the AM role and bring in an actual winger? Not as though Cahill is creative anyway.

It was Alex. I not even sure you can count it as a dive. It so terrible. He awkwardly fell to one knee in slow motion and the referee was so very ready to give the penalty. I refuse to believe that he was fooled by the dive. Awful form by Alex.

Besides Drogba, I can't really think of any embarrassing, blatant divers in Chelsea's team. They do have a lot of experienced players who know how to inform the referee of infringements against them, but I actually like that. I also think referees let some some of the lower table sides kick lumps out of Arsenal and Chelsea's midfielders when they play away from home. Seems like a common tactic, imo.

Its f***ing cheating, do you really want the game to end up where there is no contact ? People need to make up their minds. Half of people are crying about contact being taken away from the game and the other half are crying about all the bad tackles we have been seeing lately. Diving isn't different from any other foul. If the referee correctly identifies it, then your team is put at a disadvantage. If the referee fails to identify it, your team is put at an advantage. Nature of the game. Anyway, my major pet hate right now is the length of time between the Man City De Jong/Ben Arfa/Atkinson debacle and our next match. It just feels like all that negative energy has been festering around the club for a long time now. It was the worst time for us to have an international break. Instead of looking forward to the next match, it feels like the club has been staring into the abyss.

I just personally think the spine of your team has declined through injury/loss of form/age in some cases. Arteta and Jagielka don't seem like the players they once were. Fellaini contributes little at this point. I like Cahill, Saha, and Baines a lot, but I am not too high on many of your other players. The team really does not have much to spend and when they have made big money buys in the past few seasons they haven't really worked out. The youth setup is nice, but a club like Villa has good youth players as well, and I still think they are declining. The league position thing is a different story. There is now a distinct top five, imo if Liverpool stay in a mess. The rest of it is quite open, but I don't see your team putting a great run together. Just my opinion.