Coxaux

Gerrard is way too overrated in England IMO. Nice to watch, but that's that. John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are both world class what comes to English players. I'dont know if Rooney is as good as Tevez, maybe not, but you cant say he wont never break the world class barrier. He is much better than any other English player besides Terry and Rio and he is like 20 or something like that?. I disagree but fair point. I've always thought when he is played in his correct position he provides the drive and quality need for us to be a more direct, effective side. I can see why you stake claim for Terry due to his performances in blue but he tends to be consistently average for England. Ferdinand on the other hand shouldn't be getting any where near the starting eleven. He lacks concentration and makes numerous careless mistakes, but no one seems to pick up on them as he's usually bailed out by another member of the Man United or England back four. That's why I've always felt he'd be an effective defensive midfielder. He can pick a pass and his job would require less concentration.

Says a lot about the state of our national side doesn't it? Probably explains why we haven't won a wrapper for forty odd years. You can whinge about the bad luck we've had through out the years but at the end of the day we've never been good enough. Big Sam's recent comments sums it all up, there's no talent here in England. So when we do churn out the odd player that is half decent he's snaffled for a ridiculously over inflated price in the hope he will be our next player to set the world a light, someone who can carry us and we can pin out hopes on. Now the influx of foreign player could be used as an excuse but that doesn't sit well in my opinion. Domestic leagues all over Europe are filled with foreign players. Just look at Italy, they won the world cup yet their top side barely managed to field an Italian last year. The good old academy and scouting networks are letting us down big time. Being payed to play for your country doesn't help. It's always annoyed me, it should be an honour to play for your country and you should have to earn your place not walk into the side every game because of the name on the back of your shirt. Anyway back to the point... Wayne Rooney is a very good player, but he will never be world class. In fact for the most part he is a very average player who can muster up the odd flash of brilliance that keeps us thinking the best is yet to come. If we do eventually see that brilliance on a regular basis you can bump this thread and give me the good old "I told you so" speech, but some how I don't think you'll ever get that chance... I've always said with Rooney, his versatility has always been a problem for him at Manchester United in my eyes, because he does have that siege mentality, he will run himself into the ground for the cause, for this reason he gets shunted out with for Man United which only hampers his progress in my eyes. He's being played out of position at the moment as well, he should be give a free role behind an out and out striker, week in week out, but I suppose Taggart is only doing what's best for his club. Agreed, of course it would help if Man United had a fit out and out striker to play him off. However even if he had been playing in his most effective position I still feel he will never gain world class status. I know he's only young and has time on his side but he doesn't have that extra dimension that the Messi's and Kaka's of his generation posses.

Bodes well for Everton. Last year Fernades gave Everton another dimension for one simple reason, he took the pressure off the shoulders of Arteta. Don't get me wrong Arteta is a great player without Fernandes in the side, but he is the main source of his side's attacking play, you stick a man or two on him and you probably holt the attacking side of the team. However if you put Fernandes in that team you've got more than one player creating chances for the forwards. That alone lifts a massive burden off the shoulders of the only other play maker in the Everton team.

Says a lot about the state of our national side doesn't it? Probably explains why we haven't won a wrapper for forty odd years. You can whinge about the bad luck we've had through out the years but at the end of the day we've never been good enough. Big Sam's recent comments sums it all up, there's no talent here in England. So when we do churn out the odd player that is half decent he's snaffled for a ridiculously over inflated price in the hope he will be our next player to set the world a light, someone who can carry us and we can pin out hopes on. Now the influx of foreign player could be used as an excuse but that doesn't sit well in my opinion. Domestic leagues all over Europe are filled with foreign players. Just look at Italy, they won the world cup yet their top side barely managed to field an Italian last year. The good old academy and scouting networks are letting us down big time. Being payed to play for your country doesn't help. It's always annoyed me, it should be an honour to play for your country and you should have to earn your place not walk into the side every game because of the name on the back of your shirt. Anyway back to the point... Wayne Rooney is a very good player, but he will never be world class. In fact for the most part he is a very average player who can muster up the odd flash of brilliance that keeps us thinking the best is yet to come. If we do eventually see that brilliance on a regular basis you can bump this thread and give me the good old "I told you so" speech, but some how I don't think you'll ever get that chance...

Can't see him being too much of a miss for Man United or England to be honest, Man United have Tevez as a like for like replacement and he's proved to be pretty ineffective for England thus far. Neither Rooney or Tevez are out and out strikers and out of the two Tevez is by far and away the better player. If anything Man United are benefiting from the loss. I'm not so sure England will miss him either. If England are looking for a someone to play in the "hole" Gerrard could do a job. We have to go for the jugular so two centre forwards with Gerrard playing in behind would do nicely. Speaking of which, the hype over the lad Rooney is really beginning to irritate me right now. He's just another over hyped talent who will always be good but will never break the world class barrier. In fact the only player who is currently close to being world class is Gerrard.

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You don't need to visit an internet forum to get fantastic football crack. Go down the boozer, bookies, round a mates and you'll get all the brutal honesty you want. The problem is you never hear of it it because it's dressed up by the media. It's always been there but sports channels such as sky sports are two afraid to express it in case a player decides they don't like what they hear and decide to punish them with a nice shiny law suit and that's wrong. If a player isn't pulling his weight he deserves everything he gets. The fans a paying his wages and they have every right to give them a piece of their mind.

I've never been a huge fan of the whole "trophy signing idea". Once a squad has been built I have no problem with bringing in the odd luxury player to add some real quality and creativity, but I've always associated a trophy signing with being a player living off past glories who fancies a big wage and a free ride. I feel the key to establishing a quality squad is to have a core of really solid reliable players, the "spine" of the team if you like. Once you have these players you have to push on from mid table to establish yourself in the top half of the table. This is where you need quality. Now I know quality can come in the form of a big name player but doesn't it make sense to have a quality squad rather than one quality player. For a massive price you'd probably be able to land yourself a fairly big foreign name, say Deco just as an example. Now with Deco we'd get huge marketing potential and possibly the attention of other big name player but the negatives outweigh the positives. After paying a monumental fee we'd also be expected to be massively inflated wages. So speculation suggested Deco would command a fee of around sixteen million pounds and eighty grand a week wages. With the fee alone we'd be able to bring in a quality play maker and two very good defensive signings. Their combined wage demands would be greater than Deco's but only marginally. You could argue his wages will be balanced out by marketing prospects but there is also other factors to consider. If the so called "trophy signing" is in fact foreign There is a major risk they will even adapt to the league. On top of that what about the weather? Lifestyle? Language? How long would a full adaptation take? What about the squad will his impact have be negative or positive? Do they want to play for the team? Or are they here to big up their megabucks at the end of the week? All too often we've pissed our money down the drain because we haven't considered all the options. Now I know there's impatience in the camp but a trophy signing will solve little but restless minds. At the end of the day you've got to think of the long term. Are we going to progress with a squad or a one man army? To me there's no alternative and I for one would rather wait for the right player rather than get our fingers scolded ONCE AGAIN simply because of a restless fan base.

Not so sure what the issue is with 4-3-3 to be honest, like any formation if it's played with the right personnel it's effective. A lot of complaints about the particular formation regard being light in midfield, having one up front, etc. Like 4-4-2 you have your flat back four, two first choice center backs and two full backs. 4-3-3 requires more attacking full backs to venture forward and assist the midfield as much as possible. If these are not present the two wingers must drop back occasionally to create a 4-5-1 formation. The midfield is the usually comprised of one tough tackling defensive midfielder and two more creative players who will support the lone striker. The lone striker must have the ability to poach anything created by his wingers but must have the ability to bring his wingers into play. It's pretty much essential the advanced wingers chip in with goals. If you have the above requirements I don't see why 4-3-3 can't be as effective if not more effective than 4-4-2. Just look at two teams who use/used to use this particular formation: Bolton and Chelsea. Big Sam was famous for his 4-3-3 at Bolton, in fact he got a lot of unfair stick. They were so often labeled as "bullies" or "long ball merchants", but if money isn't available I don't see the problem with playing to your strengths. Although Bolton somewhat lacked the attacking fullbacks the wingers would often drop back forming a 4-5-1. They had a physically strong defense which were more than handy in any set piece situation. Faye would often protect this back four while Speed, Nolan, etc would support the loan striker Davies. The two winger Diouf and Stelios would frequently create and score goals. The key to Bolton's early success was set pieces, it was as simple as keeping the ball alive in the box. However in the later days they played some quality football. Either way they were a very effective, direct outfit. Chelsea played the same formation but were a different side altogether. Their financial strength gave them the ability to buy the correct players for the 4-3-3 formation and during Mourinho's first season I feel Chelsea played their best football to date. Ferreira and Bridge would support a midfield of Makelele, Essien and Lampard. Gudjohnsen was perfect for the formation, he would not only score the odd goal but he would also drop deep and bring the two wingers, Duff and Robben into play enabling them to bag a few gaols for themselves.

Another one to add to my previous list is Real Madrid's Raul. Shot to fame at such a young age but is now struggling to keep his place in the side. If we're talking about general underachieving rather than failing to be an all time great, what about the recent trio of Kieron Dyer, Jermaine Jenas and Craig Bellamy. They all promised so much at a young age but all have failed to achieve success. Bellamy and Dyer blatantly due to injury troubles and disciplinary problems and Jermaine Jenas just lacked the quality needed to cut it at the highest level.

Agree on both counts. Woodgate had the potential to go all the way, he was even compared to Tony Adams by many but as we know injuries essentially ruined his career. Saviola on the other hand was a goal machine at River Plate, he made his debut at the age of 16 and never turned back. Unfortunately he never really recovered from the Van Gaal era at Barcelona.

A few players off the top of my head who have underachieved in the modern game: Sylvain Wiltord - After much success in France and a dramatic goal in the European cup final Arsenal brought Wiltord to England in 2000 for thirteen million pounds. Although he had a great habit of scoring when it really mattered we only caught the occasional glimpse of the class that was so prominent in his early career. Pablo Aimar - Like so many players in Argentina Aimar had to cope with the burden of expectation as he became latest in a long line of players to be dubbed "the next Maradona". After clinching a twenty five million euro move to Valencia his intelligence on the ball and awareness in midfield helped them to claim La Liga title and a UEFA cup but he still failed to live up to the label slapped on him at such an early age. Ruben Baraja - After shining in an Athletico Madrid side that failed to beat the drop Baraja moved on to Valencia. Hailed as "the most complete midfield player in the world" he quickly pushed his way into the Spanish national side. Despite still being more than capable in attack and defense Baraja peaked far too early in his career. Hugo Viana - After winning European young player of the year Hugo Viana made a big money move to Newcastle United. However a lack of first team chances lead to a stunting in his development. Michael Ballack - Made his name at Bayer Leverkusen as a box to box midfielder. After a move to Bayern Ottmar Hitzfeld deployed him in a much deeper role. Although he still had the battling attributes to be a world class player he never hit his true potential.

If you can mange to take the personal side of Dyer aside you seem to have two players roled into one. The Dyer who can sides ragged with pace, intelligent passing and movement but more prominently we see the Dyer who runs round like a swarm of bees who sees little of the ball and does little in the way of creativity when it's at his feet. We've got to remember this isn't the twenty three year old any more. Dyer is supposed to be entering the prime of his career and he certainly shows glimpses of it. At times last season he played with a great maturity. Notably the timing and intelligence of his runs had improved and his finishing was a damn sight better. This Dyer is the player we paid six million pounds for all those years ago. Unfortunately we only see shades of this player. We tend to see more of a player who struggles to get in the game and in the end makes little or no impact. His runs seem mindless at time and produce little end product. He lacks fight and frequently gets lost in the midfield battle or marked out the game. They say a midfield player with class always looks like he always has time on the ball but Dyer rarely does and often wastes possession when he's managed to earn it. At the beginning of my post I asked to set aside the personal side of Dyer but you can't help but feel the lazy, spoiled lad we see off the field is all too often the same person we see on the field. For once if he was to get his head down, dig in, and show a bit of determination we might see the Dyer we've missed out on for so many years.

Overall Sunderland stand a greater chance of staying up this season than they did the last they were promoted but the fact of the matter is they are still going to struggle. They don't appear to have learned from old mistakes by continuing to to purchase championship standard player and like Sheffield United last season unless some serious work is done in the remainder of the market I seriously doubt that the single factor of a strong manager will be good enough to keep them up. There is no doubt Sunderland are in a much improved position to what they were this time two years ago. They have a new board willing to spend money a new manager and improved playing staff. Although Keane is untested in the premier league his strength of character and general managing skills would appear to be greater than that of the hopeless Mick, who seems to have found his level in the championship. The squad is also a lot stronger with improvements across the board. However I still feel this won't be enough to keep them up. A while ago I felt serious investment had to be made in the club for them to even have a chance of staying up and to an extent they have invested, however they look no better for it. They've basically signed a combination of unknown quantities and and players who you'd expect to be playing their trade in the championship. You'd have thought a new board and a new manager would have learned from the past mistakes of the previous regime but it would appear they haven't. It's most likely down to a lack of their own pulling power and the greater pulling power of others, but these players alone lack genuine quality and I feel will struggle to keep Sunderland afloat. The gap between the championship and premiership is bigger than ever before, only few and far between are promoted and establish themselves in a difficult league. There can be no room for passengers, unfortunately for the mackems they have a squad full of them.

The success of supercasinos and building plots is strictly dependent on how well a football teams performs on the pitch is it? You're right that my cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded. The whole point of the message however is that it is just as foolish to be overly optimistic purely based on speculation, rendering it just as unfounded as my cynicism. This in turn is the exact reason why I want Ashley to come out and make statements regarding the many unanswered questions about his intentions and plans.. Fair enough it isn't strictly dependent but it is certainly a factor that must be seriuosly considered. We have fans all over the country who travel miles to watch the side. So presuming this casino is built into the stadium fans living in more southern regions going to come up north just to gamble in the casino when they are plentiful elsewhere or are they more likely to have a quick flutter after the game. Hence if we are languishing in the relegation zone it is worth taking into consideration. Anyway that's beside the point. Over optimism and over pessimism are equally unfounded at this time which is why I suggested taking the wait and see approach which you also dismissed. You can't have it both ways, it just seemed your eagerness for Ashley to come forward with a plan was based on the speculation that you agreed was unfounded, so how about a little patience on the matter.

Looking at your statement in bold, if there is a way to make more money out of his new acquisition or to be more certain about making money (less risk) by doing anything else than investing big on the pitch and trying to get us back in the higher regions of the Premieship table and into Europe (which is what most people assume the long term ambition and/or plan to be), do not you think he will consider it? Was there not talk of plans for a supercasino in Newcastle? Did Shepherd not recently launch a plan to build a stadium expansion and top class hotels etc at the tune of 300M? Have there also not been talks in the past of moving the stadium to outside the city centre? Is it therefor unreasonable to think that the 130M paid to take over the club could have been about more than the club alone? I mean, we're talking hundreds of millions worth of development plans here. This in combination with the fact that 130M is not altogether that much for a football club of this size and potential in this day and age (yes it is a lot of money even for a billionaire, but it's only a fifth of Man U and Liverpool's worth, and reportedly not even half of what Spurs is valued at and value is not absolute (130M is a lot of money), but it is relative (what can 130M buy me in today's marketplace)) means nobody can claim to know for sure what is on the agenda. I'm not saying I think this is the case as you suggest, it's just I'm aware that there are possibilities beyond the "everything's going to be better than before by definition" view that most people on here seem to hold. When there was talk of a takeover by a hedge fund six months ago people's first concern was that they tend to strip and sell in parts at a profit. Now we've been taken over by an individual businessman we know next to nothing about and nobody even wants to ask questions!? I don't reject the notion that I may be verging on cynical, but in my book people who are not concerned at all by wanting to know what the new owners have in stock for us are verging on naive. The point was we can build all the super casinos/ stadium extensions we like but if we don't perform on the pitch we aren't going to attract the people who pay for these facilities in the first place. If you have a stadium full of empty seats your going to end up with nothing in the long run, but yes you are correct nobody knows what's on the agenda. That's why your cynicism is based on pure speculation and is therefore unfounded. Yes many people including myself weren't overly impressed by the idea of being taken over by a hedge fund but this is a completely different kettle of fish. Yes I'm intrigued about the new era we are entering, but your cries for a plan to be unveiled to the public are utterly pointless, at the end of day we will only here what Ashley and his board want to tell us.

Yes they do, some of us just reply to posts regarding the transfer window due to other poster bleating on about it. I've looked over your questions and really you summed it up at the beginning of your post, your far too skeptical. At the end of the day the new board will carry out their actions whether we like it or not, why worry about it? Your concerns seem pretty unfounded. Why would a businessman buy a company to let it slump and rot, it makes no sense. I'm not an expert in this particular field but at the end of the day a businessman the be all and end all of a businessman actions are to make money. How the hell will he make money if he is planning to abandon us after paying a pretty big price to purchase us in the first place. A plan would probably be sensible but like Nyt pointed out any kind of plan presented to the plans is only going to read what they want us to read. Even if we desperately wanted to know the truth it would be naive to think it would be published in a neat little statement, so what exactly would it achieve? I think it's safe to assume whether your a billionaire or a pauper a 130 million pound isn't a snip, but just to clarify you seem to think this bloke is going to pay a massive fee for us, then run away and leave us in the gutter? There's skeptical and then there's damn right cynical... Even if he left his people to do the wheeling and dealing I don't think most fans would care less if it brought us success on and off the field. Football became a business a long time ago, efficiency is everything. Not being totally up to scratch on his football I would no doubt think he will leave it up to his manager. Why the hell would we be chasing the next Mr. Nobody and if we were it would surely be down to the management.

I think people are misunderstanding what I'm trying to get across. I don't want world shattering signings, I don't expect to win the league - I don't expect us to win anything. I don't want MA to come out and say what money is available & I don't want us to pay over inflated prices for players that don't improve the current squad. I would like to know a bit more about the plans the new owner has for the club I love. More so now, given that the new manager seems a little agitated about his efforts to strenghten the team. Time ticks on, the season start does draw closer. Stephen Carr played RB last night & Baba is our 1st choice LB. Christ on a bike, people really need to calm down over the whole takeover issue. Tsunami the premiership has endured takeover after takeover in recent years and I'm not entirely sure even one of the owners involved has come out to clarify the plans he has put into place yet. Why? Probably because it makes no sense. We know Ashley is the quiet type who turns his businesses into money making machines and that's what I fully expect from him. At the end of the day any fool knows that the only way to be financially successful in football is to be successful on the pitch and in turn the only way to do that is to have quality playing staff. Do you really think the likes of Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City and any other Tom, Dick and Harry would have been taken over for such massive prices if their owners didn't intend to gain profit in the long run. Surely the price payed for the club alone shows Ashley's ambition? There's still over a month of the transfer window remaining and I'm positive the management team isn't going to be sat with their thumb up their arses because it is blatantly obvious we need to strengthening at the back and Sam has stated this time after time. So why with every passing day do we seem to get more disgruntled posters? At the end of the day we have no idea what is going on behind the scenes we are simply speculating. I have faith in our management team and our owner, we just need to be patient.

Don't know about anyone else but to me West Ham's transfer dealings reek of desperation. It comes across that there is no thought or structure in their transfer plans, they just seem to be throwing money at whoever is available. Faubert is an example of this desperation. Fairly soon after the move his agent confirmed all other interested parties had been forced to withdraw from the race to sign him because of the ridiculous price slapped on him by his club, but no West Ham appear to have no limits, not only do they pay this fee, but they offer him a lucrative contract surrendering to the player's over the top wage demands. The strange thing is West Ham's midfield is probably one of their stronger areas. I can fully understand signing up Scott Parker as a replacement for Reo-Coker but the January purchase of Boa Morte and the recent purchase of Faubert seem unnecessary when they are in need of more determined players like the young Noble rather than luxury players you'd expect a top six side to be adding to their squad simply because they are available.

Load of s****, tbh. Ronaldinho went way down hill? Yeah, only managed 23 goals last season, what a joke! And remember Eto'o and Messi were out for some time, he was basically carrying the attack on his own during that time. You've got to remember people are still judging the lad from his dismal world cup performance. Ronaldinho was outstanding last season but because the media are over the initial hype of the lad and don't continue their extensive coverage of him people assume he's gone down hill. Great player carry teams in the world cup but the best of player couldn't have carried the piss poor Brazil during the world cup. Many of their players looked fatigued, no doubt due to being grueling domestic campaigns and the high expectation back home. People saw a tired, under-cooked Ronaldinho during the world cup and decided rightly or wrongly he could never be one of the all time greats because he couldn't perform on the international stage . Fast forward to the beginning of the new domestic campaign and the hype regarding the new golden boy of football had died down. Barcelona had suffered crippling injuries and weren't performing as fluently as usual. Despite grabbing twenty three goals and carrying Barcelona for lengthy spells of the season people assumed because Ronaldinho wasn't in the media spot light as much and was playing in a under performing Barcelona side that he had carried on his form from the world cup and began to talk about the stars of tomorrow such as Kaka and Messi.

Have to say what a brilliant tournament this was, Venezuela deserve lots of credit for the show they put on. Most of the new stadia looked stunning and those that didn't were still filled to capacity capturing the magic we expect from the tournament. Although I'm not particularly in the know there seemed to be little trouble and opposing fans were often seen sitting together. The football matched the high standards set by the host. Each game produced an average of over three gaols and plenty of pass and move football. The standard of free kicks in particular was exceptional. The Europeans could certainly learn a thing or two form the South Americans. So often our tournaments produce low attendances and disappoint with generally dross football. Like I said Venezuela deserve all the credit they get from hosting such an enthralling tournament.

Or not. The asking price for Heinze is supposed to be £5M. The way things are going you'd be better off buying rejects from Man Utd and Chelsea than Championship prospects. They buy good players at prices above their worth and turn around and sell them at cut rates. Man United seem pretty reluctant to let Heinze go, so I'd be surprised if he departs for such a low price. He's far superior to the likes of Baines who are being touted in the five million pounds bracket. Regarding your second point not necessarily, it depends on the player. For example if Chelsea were to ever let go of Bridge he'd no doubt be cheaper than the prospect Bale, but you've also got to remember Ashton was bought by Norwich for six million pounds. Ashton has far superior ability to say someone like Crouch who would go for well over ten million pounds, so I'd say it depends on the individual circumstances of each player.

Unbelievable how people are dismissing the guy before they've seen him play, as it happens I have. Barzagli shares all the attributes of your competent Italian defender. Very calm and collected, decent in the air and very comfortable on the ball. In terms of price he'd have to be rated in the seven to nine million pounds bracket, but with the current inflation in the market there's no suprise to see Palermo slapping such a price tag on him. This is probably your run in the mill rumor manufactured by a desperate column filler and it seems we can't wait to pour over the latest bits of information we find. It confuses me though to see people judging the price tag of players before they've seen them play. If we are in fact chasing this particular player doesn't it make sense to put a bit of faith in our manager and judge Barzagli when or more likely if he pulls on the black and white shirt for several games. It's not just this guy either people complaining with being linked with players such as Fanni when we seem to know little about them. Personally I can't see us making the move for Barzagli. Although he has the attributes to succeed in the premier league I can't see the Sam moving for him. So far he's been very shrewd in the transfer market and splashing such a significant amount of money on a foreign player who will need time to adjust to the fast pace of the league seems pretty unlikely. Regarding the price people have got to remember how TV rights, sponsorships, etc has encouraged inflation in the current market. Notably Nugent worth maybe three to four million pounds sold for seven million pounds, Chopra sold for five million pounds when he's probably worth two to three million pounds and Reo-Coker worth about five million pounds moving for eight and a half million pounds. Although these players are young and English prices are on the up everywhere. These days if you want real quality you have to be willing to pay an extra two to three million pounds or so.

Brazil won the game by referring back to simple tactics. The tam was filled with lots of tall powerful players to out muscle the small tricky lads from Argentina. They played with plenty of width which was always going to be effective against a narrow Argentina formation. They also appeared at times to ditch the classic Brazilian style and adopt a long ball game which is how the first goal came about. As soon as the second was scored they reverted to their famous counter attacking football picking off the opposition as they search for a way back into the game. They weren't the best to watch but still managed to be very effective and efficient. Dunga deserves lots of credit Just shows you can be as fancy and technical as you want but if you do the basics well your always likely to come out winners.