Lloydie

I think the thing for the goal is that you shouldn't concede goals from your own corners. You always know there's a risk, so you should be able to stamp it out. Two mistakes were made, Geremi, who was lurking outside the area presumably with a brief to break up this kind of thing was too close to his man so when the ball came out he couldn't get in a decent tackle. Then once the pass was made we ended up with Anelka vs Carr, which was about giving the job to the wrong person. Of the fullbacks we had out yesterday N'Zogbia might have been the better choice, although probably without the defensive experience for those situations. Allardyce is always going to have the centrebacks in the oppositions box for a corner though, so it's got to be one of the full backs doing the job. So if you were to change it - at 3-0 up maybe you want to leave both fullbacks back instead of one, and Geremi to sit a little deeper so he can attack balls dropping rather than being turned by them. Can't fault the keeper though.

I'm expecting to see a midfield three of Butt, Geremi and Smith, which might not have pace, but it'll certainly provide a decent cover for the back four. The interesting thing is Little Sam is apparently keen on switching Bolton to a 4-4-2, so we could see both sides playing with unfamiliar lineups...

Question has to be would they have been better off keeping whoever they had and sticking three 3 million pound defenders in front of him? I mean their midfield enforcer is Dwight Yorke?

Have to say I think the 'give the fans a choice' argument works for me. I'd also go for multiple areas, or at least an agreement that if the first one works out there'll be a second, and so on.

As far as the players I know about go Smith, Viduka and Geremi I'm happy with. I'm not happy with bringing in Barton who should have had his professional career ended when he attacked his team-mate. We were in too quickly for him, same as with Woodgate and Bowyer - 'damaged goods?', we'll take 'em. I assume Parker wanted to go, personally I don't think we're better or worse off on the pitch with that trade, but I'd sooner we weren't associated with that kind of mentality. Would rather have sold Parker and spent some of the money convincing Sidwell to come. Of the players I don't know about we'll have to wait and see. Rozenhaal sounds to have done well so far, but I wouldn't rule out half a season of adjusting to the premiership in his future. Same for Cacapa, who I hope can do well, but changing leagues at 31 after a season out is going to be hard work. Enrique sounds like a good buy, but I know barely anything about him, still given his age and reputation I expect him to work out well. All in all pretty happy, the squads a lot stronger, mostly I'm delighted at the players who have left. If the new lot have more professionalism and spirit I'll be delighted.

Might also be that West Ham backing out of the Dyer deal means Sam's budget is nearly up / overspent. I think that'd be a mistake, since it was Ashley who scuppered the deal you'd hope he'd increase the budget accordingly (or take responsibility)

Could be, then again, if you want a player to get match fit you need him to have matches whether they are for Sevilla or Newcastle...

It's supposed to be hard, he's been spending millions of other people's money. That's really not something that should be easy. If the new signings at the back (Enrqiue, Cacapa, Dragutinovic) come good it'll be a great achievement and for the same money as we'd have spent for Baines. If Mort / Ashley have been squeezing him to get results / control costs I think they can be pretty happy right now. On the other hand, scuppering the Dyer deal appears to have been a bit of big businessman prima-donna behaviour that's done nobody any favours. If I was Allardyce that's the thing that would be really pissing me off, especially now I've got to have a pissed off player hanging around in training every day.

We're feeling pretty optimistic then :-)

In the season Bolton came up I remember Allardyce telling people that he'd set the team targets for each set of games. This led to the MOTD pundits asking each other 'do you really think he's got a list, that many points from each match?'. I think it's more likely that Allardyce was setting points targets for sets of matches. Thinking about that led me to look at our fixtures, and prior to the two week break at the start of September it looks like this Bolton (A) Villa (H) 'Boro (A) Carling Cup 2nd Round Wigan (H) Last season those games brought us Bolton, 1-2 defeat Villa, 3-1 victory 'Boro, 0-1 defeat Wigan, 2-1 victory and for the cup we were in Europe instead... So last time out we took 6 from a possible 12 points. What makes a good target this time? I'm not sure that any of those sides have progressed, Villa's squad has actually shrunk by six players so far this season. On the other hand we'll be adapting to a new system and trying to bed in new players. I'd say getting 6 points again would be poor, 7-8 OK, 9 or more good. Personally I'm expecting decent home wins and some really dull away draws, courtesy of a big back line and a brutal midfield. I'd set a target of 8 points for the first four games. How about you guys?

He's been listed on several wiki's as having moved to a club in Saudi or Qattar (al Rayyan?). So maybe he'd agreed to do that till we came knocking. It is a bit of a concern that he's not had a pre-season and not had much of a last season either. Still, he's only 31 and given that he's been around for a week before we've signed him you'd have to assume he's had a thorough check out by the medics. After all, that Argentine midfielder only lasted one day on trial before he was sent packing for being out of shape.

From today's Guardian "The east London club originally offered £1m for Dyer with further appearance related payments to be made in instalments but Newcastle stood their ground and held out for six times the initial basic offer for the 28-year-old. It was originally thought that the Smith deal would be delayed until Dyer had signed but St James' Park sources last night insisted that this was not the case." and " West Ham are anxious to establish that he is worth the investment of £6m, plus at least £60,000 a week in wages." Despite others saying 80k / week the Guardian have always been describing his wages as 60k / week and they tend to be fairly accurate about money. Anyway, looks like Mort has done a good deal here.

I don't think we know what system we play at the moment, in particular if we go 4-3-3 we don't know what the two midfielders who aren't holding are supposed to do, and we don't know what the two forwards who aren't wide in the centre are supposed to do.

I remember when he was signed Shepherd said something about the contract making allowances for possible outcomes of Barton's case. I'd guess we're not paying him if he goes down.

So if it was 9m for Curtis Davies you'd be happier, because that would mean we were rich?

If guilty he should get time for what he did. The courts can't impose a fine that would make any sense for him, and community service is a joke. If someone walked up behind me, beat me senseless and left me in hospital I'd want them to do time.

One thought, when the ball goes into the mixer for free kicks and corners we're going to be a nightmare to defend against. Stacks of power, aggression and finishing skills all packed into the box.

Yup, and if Rozenhaal stays fit he pretty much makes up for Moore, Gooch and Bramble having gone. How many games last season did we manage to have two of those three on the pitch?

Sounds like he had at least one good game last season :-) http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,,2054231,00.html

Decent summary in the guardian, including this bit "There might be an interest in Alan Smith now," he said. "Has there been a bid made for Alan from Newcastle? There have been many bids made." Personally I suspect that the reason we're not getting bodies in is as he says, because the quality of player Allardyce wants wants European football; and perhaps Mort isn't prepared to buy that off by agreeing massive wages to compensate them. Good to know we've been making a lot of bids, and perhaps better to know that they haven't all been leaked to the press.

Have to say for me the 'deadwood being cleared out' bit of that makes me happiest. I'd settle for another 14th place finish if at the end of the season we had a squad that was 100% committed and working well as a team. That's the kind of thing you can build on. In the mean time I'm not too worried. I mean look at Wigan, they've signed seven players and they were Titus Bramble, Antoine Sibierski, Mario Melchiot, Andreas Granqvist, Carlo Nash and Jason Koumas. It's going to be a good season I reckon, and things will calm down a lot once we've got some points on the board.

Well that'll be well known left back Alan Smith, he can play all across the defence you know.

Incidentally I do rate Smith highly as a player, as long as he can keep his temper in check. I like his work rate, his effort and the fact that he's a tea totaller. Given what players are paid I think the fact that any of them still drink at all is shocking.

Where the hell are we going to play him? I reckon this could be signalling bigger surgery on the squad than anyone's been expecting.

It's a tricky one. To be honest though I reckon players really play for the team. It's nice if that team is your hometown club, and maybe you approach it differently if it is, but I reckon you play for the men on the pitch with you. You hear this all the time about soldiers, when it comes down to it, it's not king or country, or noble cause, it's the bloke on your left and the bloke on your right. I reckon it's like that with footballers, you play for your team-mates, your manager, and your pride. If the club shirt is part of your pride, then all well and good, if it's not, it's not. For Shearer the club was such a huge part of his identity there was no difference between playing for himself and playing for the club, but players like that are once in a generation types.