Geordie Ahmed

Liam Ridgwell? I think he is shit BUT things are so bad I would be happy enough with the signing #signofthetimes

When he decides Fulham, then what do we do?

This is a joke  :rant:

Guy on TS now saying we bid £12m yesterday, but Frieberg wanted a deal going up to about £17m including add-ons, and stuff - which is when we pulled out.

Which was the right thing to do, that is too much

Damn, we needed a backup CB

Reckon he might go the David Edgar way

I hope they do pay £10mill for Crouch, that would be awesome

Howay Brucey, make it happen 

Would be over the moon with this, would forgive all the fannying about that has been done the last couple of months

If that is a wind up, you should be set on fire

taking the piss?

its not great timing with it happening at the very start of the season, that's for sure.

It moves back about 10 days every year so will still be an issue next year (though I think Ba will have settled and be playing well for us by then so won't really be an issue)

It's a bit weird the whole fasting thing. Eid is moving a day further back in my town because you won't be able to see the moon tomorrow.

 

Aye, sadly too many different opinions on this issue

 

Anyhow on the Demba Ba topic, the fasting issue is getting way too much attention. He has had a poor start to his time here and people are latching onto Ramadan as it is easy to blame, there are plenty of footballers it does not affect (including Ba in previous seasons) so I think it is fair to accept he is just struggling due to other reasons

 

 

 

It is only fair to blame Ramadan. Football is a very result driven industry. You get managers, fans and footballers who moan at every single disadvantage they perceive. If you want to be a devout practising Muslim and you fast steadfastly, it is your right and your right should be respected. But one should accept that Ramadan will be finger pointed at.

I don't think it is, I think there are other more important factors for his poor start at the club (let's not forget Ramadan started on August 1st, whilst our first friendly was much earlier)

We have had Muslims before, who have fasted whilst playing, it just happens to be their performances were not bad that we did not latch onto the Ramadan aspect. There are plenty of other Muslim footballers who seem to be playing well enough (including Ba himself in previous seasons) which is why I think there are more important reasons for why he has struggled

professional sportsmen fasting during the season ffs, idiots

 

Why are they idiots? Some people actually follow there religion properly and don't just follow it when it suits them.

 

there's no way i'm getting into a discussion on the merits of religion. but they're professional footballers, if you want to do something that massively affects your ability to concentrate and perform physically (by letting your blood sugar drop due to not eating) then you shouldnt be a professional sportsman. either that or do what everyone else has done for thousands of years, interpret religious ideas to your own advantage and just believe it doesnt apply to you since you are at a big disadvantage not eating.

 

eat your pasta, drink your lucozade, then go out there and score a hat-trick for your NEW club that's paying you a fortune. stop bowing to peer pressure and face your responsibilities.

 

 

So 23% of the world should not aim to become professional sportsmen because they don´t eat during daylight hours one month each year?

 

that was merely a pre-amble to the most important point and the post is clearly not all serious. however i do think if you are lucky enough to be a professional athlete you should find a workaround, imo. not eating has massive negative impact on concentration and performance, and it's dis-respectful to employers, fans, colleagues. at the very least declare yourself unable to play and deal with the consequences, you shouldnt have it both ways.

 

out of interest who are the confirmed muslims in our squad? are there any others apart from Ba and Tiote? because they've both been s*** during Ramadan, which means i just might have a point.

Well, we don't know what if any discussions he had with the club regarding Ramadan prior to signing

I hope he did explain to the club prior to joining that he had religious commitments, as that would have been the right thing to do. I don't think it is fair to criticise him for something that he may well have done

It's great we might actually be signing someone, but if this is the left back, I'm a bit concerned he is right footed.

The main thing is that he is good, not bothered what foot he uses

As a few of them have said, they've just spent about £10m on two of their own youth strikers, if he then went and loaned one of Man Utd's it would be madness

It is stupid that he has to resort to loaning a youngster from another side despite having had a few quid to spend BUT that is classic Bruce for you

I think Macheda would be a good move for them, he is a good finisher and clearly they are desperate for that

It must be galling for players like Cabaye and Tiote to have Smith in the team.  He's close to becoming the physical embodiment of Homer Simpson, he comes on to the field, screws up in unimaginable ways and yet not only does he not get sacked but he gets paid a massive wage, close to double what Cabaye and Tiote are on.

 

I couldn't imagine how I'd react if one of my coworkers came in, tripped over a chair and smashed a computer.  Never knowing exactly what they did at work other than causing utter chaos and still earning double what I was getting, even when the guy is apparently sabotaging everything that I'm doing.

If you did not know he was Alan Smith, when he came on and ran around, you would have thought he had won some sort of prize to be allowed to play with professional footballers

Very impressed with Cabaye and to think he will get better as he gets to grips with the league and the team

Also his corners are excellent, very consistent, don't recall a bad one from him yesterday

It's a bit weird the whole fasting thing. Eid is moving a day further back in my town because you won't be able to see the moon tomorrow.

Aye, sadly too many different opinions on this issue

Anyhow on the Demba Ba topic, the fasting issue is getting way too much attention. He has had a poor start to his time here and people are latching onto Ramadan as it is easy to blame, there are plenty of footballers it does not affect (including Ba in previous seasons) so I think it is fair to accept he is just struggling due to other reasons

We've been so lucky with keepers over the past fifteen years. It would be safer if he was a local lad but at least he's not Spanish or Italian because they eventually end up at Barca/Real/Inter/Milan if they're any good. The good Dutch teams can't compete with us financially.

 

don't count on it, the arabs are buying every teams atm

 

 

Except us  :angry:

Shame he didnt get on the pitch today. If the Scunthorpe game is anything to go by he would have added alot. His willingness to spread the ball and pick out passes would have helped us out.

 

Have high hopes for him, although I am not sure where he will slot in. Maybe replacing Obertan, although he is improving and Jonas needs to start imo.

 

 

Well for starters should have put him on instead of Smith

Was a lot better today than against the Mackems, mainly impressed with him helping out defensively

thought he was better going forward than defensively tbh.

I recall 1 cross he put in (canny cross as well) in the 2nd half, aside from that don't think he took a single player on, with or without the ball

It is made worse because it is not much better on the left side, at least before we had Enrique who used to get forward and could beat people BUT now both our full backs offer next to nothing

baby or not, his football has always been limited. He offers nothing going forward and defensively he is decent, never really outstanding

If defensively he was brilliant you could quietly ignore his failings going forward BUT he is not brilliant defensively

It is not an urgent area to sort out BUT we could easily improve

Surely someone like Abeid or even Inman would be a better option

I guess it just highlights the need for some signings

Was convinced he was going to help Fulham grab a point BUT fortunately it was not to be

He needs to be far, far away from the first team as possible. We know he is shit so no idea why he is in the squad, would much rather give a youngster a try