Segun Oluwaniyi

Id doubt it as we would have to sell them at a cut price as they wont want to play in the championship Darren Bent

Which I don't get - are they really saying that an appreciable number of people would watch a 3pm KO on TV that they would otherwise have gone to? - if thats the case why are the crowds for televised games not that badly affected. Even worse is the notion that someone would stop in and watch a team other than their own rather than go to a game. Don't ask me. It's been in place for donkey's years. Will never understand. In America, every local team match is shown live on television. I know Television in both countries in very different (spent considerable amounts of time in both), but if the only reason people are going to matches is because they can't watch them on the box, then said club needs to improve its product and matchday experience. I agree that European leagues should sell legal streams online. Watching online is much more convenient for some people. I am a student studying in a foreign country. How else am I supposed to watch Newcastle and Marseille in my dormitory? I certainly wouldn't mind paying a bit of money for good quality and easy access. Probaly would prefer it to watching dodgy streams on sites from Iraq. (Although the free streams have become more numerous and better quality recently tbh)

I would expect us to get more than that for those players. Also, Xisco will happily be snapped up by a mid level Spanish club. The likes of Recreativo, Getafe, Betis, etc or even Zarazoga when they come up.

As a neutral I'd take Bullard over Barton every single time. He's a better player, his attitude is spot on, and Barton is a f***ing mentalist seemingly constantly verging on the edge of prison. Would you say Barton was better than Bullard if the former wasn't a Newcastle player? No manager with half a brain cell (that explains Tony Adams) would touch Barton right now. Bullard is a good player, he's just going to struggle to get clubs to pay him what he (seemingly) wants at the moment (as someone outlined above, the costs over 4 years are huge) I would say Barton at Man City was a better player than Bullard has ever been, the problem being since he's been here he's been played out of position while having a drink problem, towards the end of last season when he sorted himself out he was one of our best players IMO and it was his drive in midfield that made the 4-3-3 formation we played so successful, this season has been harder to judge because of bans and injury but if he can get his form back from his City days then I think he will show himself to be the better player. Whether he can find that form again is debatable. Basically what I was getting at. Obviously Bullard is worth more than Barton at the moment, but I thinkJoey is certainly a more talented player than Bullard. Don't disagree with the part about Barton being untouchable though.

I still think Barton is better than Bullard. I think Bullard is slightly overrated.

So am I granted amnesty if I confess in this thread?

He's better than what we have...but he's one of the poorer mids out of the first team at Spurs. He's slow, fat, and has a penchant for disappearing.

This whole transfer window has been boring all across the board in Europe. All that's happened is a few things we knew about in November for the most part. Clubs with lots of money have been spending it. Everypne else seems reluctant to buy or sell.

There's a Luka Modric difference imo, and that's it. Their squad is much deeper, and has alot more talent. I would kill for Thudd/JJ/Zokora/Palacios/Modric. The only area of the pitch we are better is goalkeeper, and tbh Gomes has been coming along nicely. You would kill for Huddlestone, JJ and Zokora? Average at best, the three of them. Palacios and Modric I'll give you, but we're stronger in other departments (strikeforce, GK and arguably fullbacks). Yes Average. I'd kill for average. I think with an average midfield we are a pretty good side. I'd kill for a midfield with a bit of skill/power/intelligence/or really any ability associated with football. Outside of Barton (who is injured/suspended/in his cell majority of the time) we don't have that.

Why are Middlesbrough so intent on exchanging Mido for an inferior striker?

I dont think the CC winners get in to the UEFA Cup or whatever it is called next season. Winner qualifies for 2009-10 Europa League. Loser does not qualify if winner is top 4 though.

There's a Luka Modric difference imo, and that's it. Their squad is much deeper, and has alot more talent. I would kill for Thudd/JJ/Zokora/Palacios/Modric. The only area of the pitch we are better is goalkeeper, and tbh Gomes has been coming along nicely.

mackems.gif Are Chelsea planning to sign another keeper? I can't see Hilario being considered good enough.

They're significantly better than us.

Honestly...we need Oba and Beye back now! I know Beye's gone for a good while, but it will enhance our play greatly just having Oba on the pitch.

OF course Aiyegbeni is 26, don't make assumptions just because he is a fat arse. Aghahowa on the other hand...well there have been suspicions since he turned up in the NPL as a "sixteen" year old with several children. Notice that at 26...Yak is absolutely a top class footballer (who needs to go on diet). Meanwhile, JAGS was dumped by Wigan and now plays in Turkey and is far from the Nigeria squad, despite being one of the best young players in our history when he first came out.

Yeah, Quklaani...I really felt that this should have been Chelsea's year, but they have really bottled it. Stunning what's happened to them. Especially the way they just capitulatd at OT. Was that the same side that fought from a goal down with ten men against Arsenal two years ago. The team has not changed that much personnel wise. Then, again, neither man U or Liverpoolhave been impressive this year, so the title is still up for grabs most likely.

Where do you get that though. I watch quite a bit of Ligue 1 myself and I'm sure many others do too. I guess maybe I am different from most on here since I am not from, and am not currently residing in a country with a major football league. But I mean surely some more people follow French football. The league is the most interesting its been in years. Lots of good talents and for once a very very competitive title race.

You only have to look at our CB's to see that you can get s**** (Colo) for huge £££'s & a good centre back for less than £2 million (Bassong). But the clubs that win stuff show you have to spend big to compete. thats it in a nutshell. So difficult to comprehend for some, but so basic. The only team in the top 5 who have 2 proven world class centre half parnterships before they were signed were Chelsea with Carvhallo and Terry, what does that say about spending big to compete? Liverpool Carragher Hyypia Man U Ferdinand Vidic Chelsea Terry Carvahllo/Alex Arsenal Gallas Toure Villa Laursen Davies Stop turning this winning lark into such a simple equation its not. Sure it helps, but the evidence suggests that it helps as much as being frugal with your money and finding your gems. The real key is finding the rght manager to put it all together, something we've failed to do now for 5 years. As for Colo "being s***" i beg to differ, he's had some very iffy moments ill give but he's definitely not allowed his value to slip. I'm not sure where you found that Spence quote, but he;s done it again, well done Spence, you've managed to write so much but so little in a post yet again, in fact you've even managed to contradict yourself in the same sentence. Thats no mean feat. Spending big = success, good players but in the very same sentence Spending big on Colo = s*** player. Make up your mind. Terry was a Chelsea academy boy.

Mbia would be a brilliant capture. He's not amazing or anything, but compared to Butt and Geremi....

Why would Manchester City want Bellamy or Owen though. It makes no sense. They want to emulate the big four, correct? So why are they looking to sign players on their secnd to last legs. When you look at Chelsea's transfer strategy in the early years under Abramovich, it was genius compared to what The Citizens are going after. Chelsea didn't sign a whole bunch of huge names, but they certainly did not go after players who were nearing 30 and had the last few seasons ravaged by injury. They'll need to replace them in two or three years, and that's assuming they haven't fallen of the football map due to injury. Certainly have no potential high resale value either.

It is important to note that Chelsea are basically falling apart while Man U are in perfect form. The fact that United played the formation they did just showed how they were not scared of of a Chelsea team that is really pretty poor at the moment.

No way Guthrie is better than: Oba, Jonas, Beye, Bassong, Coloccini, N'Zogbia, or even Viduka (fit one obviously) in my opinion. He's a decent player. Don't think he is ready to be a starter in a team that is going places (He will grow into that). I think the player I listed above are good enough for that.

Mr C. Ronaldo? Bigger accomplishment what he's done in the last couple of seasons in the EPL (undisputedly a much higher quality league) I'd say. Larsson at Celtic? NB - Messi is awesome but lets not go overboard? I'd have to disagree, the spanish league is not far off the premiership at all. Some would argue it's better, not me though. And for me Messi is special in a way that Ronaldo isn't. Fair enough Ronaldo produces more, is more consistant, has the better physique etc but Messi does things that only the special ones can and he has whatever it was that Maradona had. Not sure what you would call it but Ronaldo doesn't have that. Larsson was fantastic but he's in the next tier of great players for me. I was simply drawing what I thought was a fairly obvious parallel of players seeming better when playing against lower quality opposition and often with lower quality team mates - I wasn't meaning in any way that Larsson is in the league of greats, far from it. If a team is set up to work off one man then that man will be a legend - Shearer at Blackburn, Le Tiss at Southhampton, Sheva at Milan. All played beyond themselves and when put in a regular formation without the whole team geared up for them alone they were no where near as good as they were before. Don't get me wrong, I loathe United, but for me, Christiano is miles ahead, he's pretty much a perfect footballer. What makes you think the Premiership is superior to La Liga in terms of quality of the opposition? It isn't. I find it funny how quickly people have decided that the Premiership is the best league in the world. The league has undoubtedly gotten better due to new injections of cash and the ability to attract new great foreign players, but that does not mean that suddenly the rest of the top leagues are rubbish. I've noticed the British press getting this wierd superiority complex recently. In fact regardless of the league, Messi's performance this week was against Atletico Madrid, one of the more expensive and talented teams in Europe, who happen to be in the knockout stages of the CL.

It's a thin line between a midfielder that does everything and a midfielder that does nothing.