The Prophet

Common sense starting to hit the thread after the initial 'ZOMFG WE'LL HAVING NOTHING TO SPEND' outbreak.

Read the whole statement man.

I only have a basic knowledge of this so someone may well want to correct me, but as far as I know 'working capital investment' is your current assets (cash or items amounting to cash) minus your current liabilities (short term losses).

Because he has assurances we will be buying players despite the badly worded statement?

You have to read it carefully but: They're not saying they aren't going to invest, they're essentially saying there isn't going to be any massive changes to the squad i.e two or three new players.

All it essentially says is there won't be an overhaul of the squad, fits with Hughton's two or three players comment. There's nothing new there at all not sure why people are suddenly panicing.

Drogba.

Agree, Davies has said as much too.

Merson really, really grates on me. Uninsightful, unfunny, cockney wanker, fuck off.

Hope Leeds go up like. I wonder if it's the same people who don't want them promoted that cried when Villa laughed at our demise.

They're certainties to go straight back down if they're promoted. That's good for us. So are Forest in fairness.

Out of curiosity how come so many neutrals are backing Blackpool, underdogs?

Phil Down is such a hateable cunt.

Blackpool haven't got off the bus yet.

I suppose different people have their own interpretation of what is meant by 'direct'. You could even argue there are even different degrees of how direct different sides are. For example I'd say we are already quite a direct outfit in terms of we get the ball out wide and delivering the ball into the box whereas someone like Blackburn don't really make use of the wings and just play it into the forward line for long spells of the match. What worries me with the nucleus of the current sides is there isn't enough quality there to make the step up, therefore our success will depend heavily on our game plan. Currently there are serious questions whether our wingers and midfield area as a whole have enough ability to provide regular goal scoring chances for the forwards ala 08-09 therefore for me a team built to take advanatage of set pieces and keep things tight off the ball is the best way to go about things.

It'f from Football Rumours, it's a great sight if your after your daily does of laughs.

Agreed but then do we have the players in the middle who have the energy to get back and close down? Perhaps Smith but his limited ability means he contributes little else to the cause. Simpson has a habit of backing off and as good as Colo has been he sometimes goes walkabouts so it's certianly something that needs addressing.

Obviously it’s difficult to say when I don’t know how much clubs will be demanding for players as well as their wages and signing on fees but if I was to go with this approach I’d go for players such as: Gelson Fernandes and Lucas Barrios (probably out of our price range) or cheaper still Marvin Elliot and James Beattie (stolen from Canjun) from the bargain basement.

It's interesting how Wigan's approach to trying to play pass and move football has led to them from mid-table to relegation candidates. I think Bruce was aware of the limitations of the players he had on his books and opted for a more direct approach. Agree with the positions we need to strengthen like. Aye, if we were going to take the physical approach two big b****** midfielders on the cheap would be nice. I think Nolan has to played off the striker or he's pretty much useless. We need to address our weaknesses but the question is do the players making the step up have what it takes to carry on what they're doing at a higher level? How many teams have come up, tried to play football and gone straight back down? I think unless you have genuine quality it's hard to do. Birmingham have done it to an extent this season but they've struggled in the second half, I wonder if they can keep it up next season and avoid the dogfight?

With the season at an end Hughton will have to start preparing for next season. Before considering how he will strengthen the squad he will have to consider what approach we will take in terms of tactics and game plans and for me that should be a direct, with an emphasis on an uncompromising defence and set pieces. Reading, Birmingham, Derby, West Brom, Boro, and of course ourselves have all been relegated in recent years. Stoke, Wigan and the Mackems have been the only sides to establish themselves. The teams that have gone down are largely comprised of squads recently promoted that have tried to survive playing football while the teams that have stayed up have adopted a more direct style of play. While the Mackems and their reliance on Bent may be the exception Wigan under Bruce and Stoke both placed an emphasis on making life as uncomfortable for the opposition as possible. With limited funding available it is unlikely Hughton will be able to go out and buy the quality that will allow us to play great football so for me the first and most obvious approach to take is to make ourselves as difficult to beat as possible. Bolton, Blackburn and Stoke all currently use this approach and while it isn't pretty it works. It is also worth noting how Everton have adapted under Moyes. He began by making them difficult to break down when they didn't have the ball, they were also notably decent at set pieces. Since he has gradually added the quality need them to make them a side that regularly qualifies for Europe. Big Sam took a similar approach at Bolton, things weren't pretty to start with but he gradually got them competing for Europe. Of course it remains to be seen if Hughton has the know how in the transfer market and the tactical know-how to employ this kind of approach at the highest level but for me, with limited funding available it is the way forward. We need focus on making ourselves hard working, physical bastards who teams can't stand playing against, then we can focus on adding the quality to take us to then next level.

It really does depend who we buy in the summer, the current side would probably come straight back down as it is.

Maynard and Pederson would be crap signings in my opinion. We've got two many strikers like Maynard already who could get perhaps ten to twelve goals absolute tops in the Premiership. As for Pederson, he's still living off his first season in English football, doubt his wages would be cheap either.

Hamburg's home shirt: http://www.hsv.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Verein/Vermarktung/Trikot/m_shirt_teaser.jpg

For me there's currently four sections to the league: The big three - Anything we get is a bonus. Could well be a big four again next season with City throwing their weight around in the transfer market The chasing pack - The top eight is pretty much set in stone with the odd change here and there. We'll pick up odd points here and there, particualrly at home if they're having an off day. Mid-table - About three or four teams who aren't good enough to break the top eight but always comfortably survive. Should be beating them at home, could possibly pick the odd point away from home too. The rest - Consists of average-at-best sides who manage to scrape their way to safety every year, no reason why given the right investment we can't take six points off any of this lot.

Who's the internet hard man?