Lloydie

Here's a thought. We went into the game without Ameobi, Babayaro, Bernard, Bramble, Carr, Harper, Moore, N'Zogbia, Given and Owen. Which is to say our first and third choice strikers, two left backs, one right back, two centrebacks, two goal keepers and a left winger, plus we rested another left winger and a right winger (albeit one we've been using at right back). Had Bolton had the same issues and stuck with their usual 4-3-3 we'd have been playing against... GK : Chris Howarth Def : Blazej Augustin Def : A YTS Lad Def : A YTS Lad Def : A YTS Lad Mid : Ivan Campo Mid : Gary Speed Mid : Quinton Fortune Fwd : Kevin Davies Fwd : Hendrik Pedersen Fwd : Ricardo Vaz Te Although I guess they'd have dropped Campo to centre back and stuck someone else in midfield. Still, you get the idea. I got the squad details from Soccerbase, which lists them as having 27 pros, but only six defenders, although I think Campo and Gardner can play at the back. ps : Blazej Augustin! what a fantastic name. Almost as good as Linvoy Primus...

Given the back line, not too bad. Remember Bolton stuffed West Ham 4-0 earlier this season, and they've beaten Liverpool and Arsenal at the Reebok as well. They've just gone third - so it's not like they're a bad team. Oh, and Ashley Cole scored an own goal for Chelsea. Do you think they'll want to get shot of him now?

I like Roeder, and I'd happily see him stick around for another couple of seasons, and if they go well, maybe longer. I remember watching Match of the Day a few months back, we lost and Shearer said 'for them it's about still being in touch after Christmas and sorting it out in January' or something. The implication was we were down with the dead men and only money could save us. Well now we're 11th, not so much in touch as doing nicely thank you very much. So it's been nice to see a manager I've always liked and rated for a long time (I'm new here, you'll have to trust me) getting things right and proving the critics wrong. I'd rather see him in there than Shearer, because neither I, nor anyone else, has any idea if Shearer can cut it as a manager. Tony Adams couldn't cut it at Wycombe and is now learning his trade at Portsmouth from Redknapp - I'd want Shearer to do something similar before taking over at the toon. Anyway, back to Roeder. He's got a career long record of developing talent, which given our clubs miserable track record of signing 'promising' young players and seeing them stay that way has got to be a good thing. We're already seeing it with the defence, and the turn around in Butt etc. has got to be down to him. If he can keep Dyer motivated once the England talk starts again it'll be even better. I do think that maybe he's a little cautious in his tactics - but we don't make things easy for him. A few big defeats (3-1, 3-0) and the defence's confidence would take a pasting that they'd need months to get over, and we can't afford that. Not to mention the sudden difficulty of playing with a hostile crowd and calls for his head again. For me the model has got to be Allardyce at Bolton, he's got a ten year contract and the club have been patient with him while he's built the entire set up the way he wants it. I'd like to see Roeder given the same security and a chance to really develop a team and build it over a few seasons. As the original post said, a lot of this club is broken, and if we don't take the time to fix it we'll be back where we started. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and then for the rest of our lives...

Looking at our finances of late I can't imagine we've got 9 million, and I'm pretty sure we can't add the wages for another 9 million pound player in either. So barring the Belgravia group stumping up for the club in the next few weeks I don't see this going anywhere. Personally I'd say the priority remains the left back slot. If Bridge is still an option from Chelsea that'd be great, but mostly we just need a decent leftback. After that, probably a centreback and then maybe look at a forward signing. If we bring Bent in that means we'd go into next season with Owen, Ameobi, Martins, Bent, Dyer and Sibierski (if he stays on) all wanting to play up front. Doesn't look like good planning to me.

Cheers for all the 'nice first post' comments btw lads :-)

I think this is one of those moments where a manager earns his money. Roeder's got improvements out of some of our squad (Butt) and Bramble was starting to improve before he got crocked. On the other hand he's probably on a healthy wage and he was by no means the finished article... If Roeder keeps him he's got to get him playing better than he has been, if he can't then we'll have to sell the player and it's a mark against the manager. If Roeder can turn him round - probably by teaching him to concentrate for an entire game - then credit to Glenn and well done. 500k is fair money for someone at this stage of their contract, and I'd guess our finances are so tight that getting Bramble (or someone) off the wage bill might be a necessary prerequisite to making signings in January. Getting shot of Luque should free up the money for a squad player or two mind

Definately wanted to see the good Bernard playing again. The one who worked hard, ran through brick walls (and opposing wingers) for the team etc. Perhaps a pay as/if you play contract might keep him on for a bit post-op? But as a signing it's not worked out. Deadline day panic, the medical missed the injury problem and it left us out in the cold. Half a season later we still need a left back. The quality way Roeders brought the kids through is a whole different thread though. N'Zogbia, Taylor, Ramage and Huntington have all come on miles since he took over. Most premiership teams do well to get one squad player a season through their youth teams. A few more years of this and the finances will be looking great, and we might even be a bit closer to that 11 geordies on the pitch the Chairman wants so much. Shame Chops didn't cut it...

That's harsh. Besides you can't rely on N'Zogbia to keep turning in top performances for a whole season - he's just a lad - and now he's injured. If we're serious about Europe, etc. you need two quality players for every position. Sounds like Emre did OK yesterday, but we need him in the middle. I reckon Duff will pay off. Look at the change in Martins since he's been injury free.

(First post, therefore far too long and ambitious, be nice...) Since Roeder came in we've seen Viana, Shearer, Bowyer and Chopra depart, for less than 2 million (but a lot off the wage bill). In their place have come the following players. Half a season later and coming up to the January transfer window how are we doing? More importantly, would you trust Glenn with more of the clubs money? Damien Duff The first Roeder signing was certainly an encouraging one and the price looked right. 12 league starts, 1000 minutes and one league goal later we still haven't seen anything like the player we thought we were getting. Injuries have definately played a part in that, but what looked like a great piece of business at the time needs to start paying itself back in the second half of the season. We paid 5 million Now worth 4 million? Signing Rating - 6/10 Comments - Get fit, deliver the goods and this could still be a great signing Obafemi Martins He's young, he's quick, he's got spring heeled boots and a shot that could demolish small buildings. He took a few months to bed in, something that wasn't helped by an injury and a constantly shifting team behind him. Fast forward to now and 14 league starts and 7 league goals suggests he's the real deal. We paid - 10.5 million Now worth - 10 - 12 milion? Signing Rating - 8/10 Comments - 15-20 goals in a first premiership season looks realistic. We needed a striker and Martins delivered Olivier Bernard Looked like a good idea at the time (well I thought so), but promptly fell victim to the 2006 injury curse after a few unconvincing runouts for the reserves. Lets hope he's not getting paid much. We paid - peanuts Now worth - peanuts Signing Rating - 2/10 Comments - could have only been worse if he was expensive Antoine Sibierski Signed to widespread scepticism, especially following comments from the club about us being in for 'another big name striker' or whatever it was. Has since demonstrated that he's an adequate target man. Two goals in the league and some nice bullying performances in the UEFA cup make him a great use of whatever spare change we handed over to Man City for him. We paid - peanuts Now worth - 0.5 - 1.5 million Signing Rating - 8/10 Comments - fantastic value for money and a very smart short term signing. Giuseppe Rossi Maybe we needed someone to make up the numbers in training, maybe Roeder thought he was getting something other than he did. Looks like we'll never know. We paid - loan Now worth - ? Signing Rating - 3/10 Comments - waste of time Pavel Srnicek Panic signing as our keepers fell like nine pins. Hearing he played for five minutes yesterday put a smile on my face that made it worth every penny. We paid - peanuts Now worth - peanuts (sorry Pav) Signing Rating - 10/10 Comments - 150 appearances from a true Geordie. Lets hope he stays on as coach as rumoured. Looking at that list you'd have to say that the seasons injuries haven't helped. At least the failures (Bernard, Rossi) were cheap, and importantly the big money buys look to be working out. Seeing the transformation Roeder's got out of Butt and to a lesser extent Emre gives me confidence that the Duff deal will pay off, and I'm sure he wouldn't buy another Luque. But what do you reckon?