ShearMagic

Best had a nice stretch of games but in reality, is he any more than a 4th striker?  He seems to be injured a lot, too.  I'm concerned about squad depth as well but 4M for Best looks like good business.

 

At the moment he's our best striker, isn't he?

And 12 months ago everybody wanted him gone, didn't they?

I voted 'not bothered', because whilst there's obvious negatives to the sale, there's also positives

1) He is great for team spirit, and I worry about how the team will go now. There is also no obvious captaincy candidate, which leads me to believe that possibly Pardew will be looking to bring a big profile player in and make him captain.

2) Team spirit only got us to 12th (yes, should have been 9th), but even so, we need some actual proper talented players and quality.

3) Kevin Nolan, if he stayed, would have stayed as captain. Whilst that is no issue, next season he should not be in our best 11, however if he was captain of course he would have played.

4) Kevin wanted a 5 year contract as a 29 year old, and we were in no position to offer that. I hold nothing against him, and wish him all of the best for the future, however the West Ham deal really suits both parties.

5) After Andy Carroll left, Nolan's output severely decreased. He was still very good to have around the club, and the respect shown to him by all of the players was fantastic, however as I've said in point 3, he should not be in our best 11 next season.

                          Krul

Simpson  Coloccini  Williamson  Enrique/new LB (more than likely the last one )

                Tiote      Cabaye

Jonas                  HBA                  N'Zogbia

                        Erding/Ba

Would be how I'd line up (assuming we buy Erdinc and Zog)

Wish people would stop using Wikipedia for their stats like.

It's just so easy

Soccernet has 8 in 33 (28 starts, 5 sub appearances). Makes more sense, and a fair bit different to what wikipedia said. Also 15 in 30 the year before, not 15 in 33.

He has started 59 games and scored 23 goals in two seasons for PSG in Ligue 1. Can't see how that could be called a disapointment tbh.

 

If you had seen how "open goals" he missed during the season, you would certainly understand why it could be called a disappointement and why PSG fans want to get rid of him.

Strikers are huge confidence players.

Fernando Torres missed plenty of open goals last season, but he's a world class striker that was down on confidence.

I'd also much rather bring in 5/6 good quality players for that £35m, rather than 1 or 2 'stars'. We need depth.

I'd want him to quit the national team if we signed him, in fact it would be written in to his contract if it were me bringing him in.

 

I'm worried about his knee, but it's due to his knee we are in a position to sign him for free, if he could pass a medical Stoke would have had him for £7.5m and we'd all be thinking we've missed out on a good player.

 

We have a thing for signing injured players and tbh. HBA transfer has a lot more risk to it, and still does IMO, and could easily blow up in our faces just as much as Ba's knee.

 

I'm also more worried about spending £6m on a player who only managed 8 goals in an average league, considering dodgy knee bloke nearly scored as many in half a season in a relegated team in a tougher league I think some are worried about the wrong signing.

Strikers are prone to bad seasons though - and he scored 15 in 31 the season before last.

He also only played 22 games, so 8 in 22 is not a terrible record. He was on track for 16 goals if he played 38 games.

For example - Drogba only scored 11 in 36 this season, is he a bad striker? Of course not.

"Some idiots on here thought he was better than Suarez"

 

He's certainly had a better season (well half season) than Suarez, like.

Suarez had 7 in 13 for Ajax.

Well,  60-80 grand should be stomachable? Nothing more mind... How much does the lad want, 100?

He's on 60 at Chelsea.

My guess is he'd want a pay increase from that.

Agreed.

Sturridge for 12-15 mill would also be a steal ( provided he doesnt go off the rack with his wage demands).

Which he will.

There's a reason he moved from City to Chelsea...

We've offered a player who will be 29 years old at the start of the season, and who has had 1 good season for us since 2007, £50k p/w for 2 years (which is effectively 3 - he'll be 32 when his contract expires).

Add to this the fact that he was in jail whilst he played for us, where we still had to pay him his £65k p/w. We stuck by him, we helped him turn his life around and he repays us by telling us to fuck off?

That's fine Joey, it's up to you. But you aren't that great buddy, and we can replace you.

No player is bigger than the club, and cuntish footballers have been getting their way for far too long. About time they didn't get what they want, boohoo, they're only going to give me, a jail bird, £2.5m a year.

And people will obviously ignore the fact that we got relegated, so there was plenty of sales in that season...

Harper - 6.5: Was content with his season although moving forward he must only be back-up.

Simpson - 7.5: Really surprised me this season, I came into the season expecting him to be a weak-link, but he's proven to be a very adequate premier-league player.

Coloccini - 8.5: In my opinion, only behind Cheik as our player of the season.

Williamson - 7: I'd love him as back-up next season, but likke Harper, if we want to move forward he can't start for us.

Enrique - 8: Would have him on par with Coloccini, but his last 6 or 7 games were pretty pathetic and he let himself and the team down.

Barton - 8: Much improved, and who would have thought someone with his past could be idolised by the fans now? Integral part of the team

Nolan - 8: Crucial goals, and he actually contributed everywhere else in the latter half of the season too. Good club captain too, we really missed his leadership today against West Brom.

Tiote - 9: What more needs to be said <3

Jonas - 8: Is my most improved player of the season, just wish he'd have more confidence and take players on more often.

Ameobi - 6: He tries hard, but he's really a very limited footballer.

Lovenkrands - 5: See above

Best - 7.5: Would have probably got more if he played more, but what a transformation. He was influential in the middle part of the season after Carroll left.

Carroll - 8.5: Have to give him that for the crucial goals he scored.

Krul - 7: Still not entirely sold on him, but he's a great shot-stopper and I'd be content enough with him between the sticks next season

S. Taylor - 7: Pretty small sample size but 3 goals in 3 games for a centre half is a pretty good return.

Perch - 3: Hopeless. I'm being kind with a 3.

Campbell - 3: See above

Guthrie - 6: He did his job most of the time tbh. He's a back-up central midfielder and despite being limited he had a few good games and a few bad ones.

Smith - 1: Even worse than Perch and Campbell.

Ryan Taylor - 6: Actually played alright in his limited game-time, probably a handy enough squad player to have next season because of his versatility.

Ferguson - 7: Was a very bright spark, looking forward to seeing more of him next year.

Ranger - 4: Might be harsh on the kid but with the amount of minutes he had and to only score 1 goal (And that was in the league cup) is not a good enough return from a striker. Needs to spend a season on loan in the Championship.

Kuqi - N/A

Pardew - 7.5: Has won all of us around, which he deserves lots of credit for. Unfair to judge him on this season really, he'll be earning his quid in this transfer window and next season.

Overall I'm very satisfied with our season, today was a very disappointing result but 'this group of lads' deserve a lot of credit for the way they've played this season and I'm left optimistic as to what next season can bring.

Relax, people.

His heart is elsewhere, so it's pointless keeping him.

Might as well cash in while we can.

What a horrible idea for Fox Sports to do that.  None of the relegation matches will be on then.  Everyone will want to watch Liverpool or Man U.

Yep, it's a joke really.

I'm not even bothered if we're not on really (but I'd prefer us to be), as long as the important games are on.

I don't know why they can't just set it up on one of their other channels and show all 10 games...

Greetings everyone,

Fox Sports in Australia have decided to have a public vote as to which 5 of the 10 games they are going to show this weekend (with all games being played simultaneously).

http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/premier-league/foxsportscomau-gives-users-the-chance-to-vote-on-which-barclays-premier-league-matches-to-broadcast/story-e6frf4a3-1226056393366

If you wouldn't mind clicking on that link and voting for our game, it would be muchly appreciated as I want to watch us thrash these cunts into oblivion.

Thanks.

Needs to be sent out on loan to the Championship next season.

Like most, I'm also very optimistic about next season.

He's shown that he has it tactically, he's very media savvy and says all of the right things, like today:

'We go out trying to win every game, it might mean that we let the opposition have more possession than us, but we definitely have a plan to win the game'.

Also it's promising that he wants to sign fast players in the summer, as our team lacks a fair bit of pace.

Unfortunately the club is a business and it makes very little business sense to keep an asset that doesn't have a long useful life when you could get £10m for it 12 months earlier.

That's about where I see it at the moment.

We've been caught offside the most times out of every premier league team this season.

If he wants to go, let him.

Players move all of the time in football, it's the normal thing.

I'd love it if he stayed, but if he doesn't want to it's pointless keeping him here.

fulham lead.

lee_ryder Lee Ryder

#nufc Talk that Ireland doubtful for trip #lfc details tbc

I don't think I have ever seen a player so eager to fall over than Jonas, I mean seriously you watch him, he never actually gets a cross in he either runs down a blind alley and somehow lucks into a corner or loses the ball or falls to the floor and 9 times out of 10 gets a freekick for it.

 

 

He obviously forgot that Nani plays for them....

 

He's right though.

 

Jonas goes down easily, but are you honestly suggesting that he goes down easier than Nani?...

 

They're as bad as each other.

The only reason I'd disagree is because Jonas seldom dives.

He goes down easily - yes, but rarely goes down when there's no contact.