Hughesy

Mancienne would be a great purchase if he wants to leave Chelsea.

Only if you use a narrow definition of target man.

I know, absolutely brilliant. I think he got a bit too much stick after that though. He wasn't too bad, the rest of the team were worse. Would've probably helped had he not given the crowd stick during the game n all like. Another in a long line of players who should've gone on to better things for us. In fairness, it was ridiculous the way the fans ever got on his back in the first place. So can't say I really blamed Parker at the time.

Has KP Boateng still not moved yet?

Isn't it all a bit of a pointless argument anyway? There aren't many players in the world who could be so limited and one dimensional as to be described as a 'target man' in the way some people are interpreting it and be playing for a team who would be winning things. The fact is that most successful clubs will have a player who can fulfil the role of a target man, whilst also bringing other attributes with them. Drogba is a good example - he does perform the role of a target man, but also brings far more than that to the Chelsea team.

Just watching some videos of Ben Arfa. I want him.

How much did we pay for Tozer?

Speed was criminally underrated.

How is that irony? We were brilliant that season. We were also brilliant the season before, most notably when Dyer was in the side. Away from home we relied primarily on Bellamy, Dyer and Robert. It's ironic because he was usually injured, but during that season played more than any of the other midfielders (yet still had a woeful statistical return despite his large number of appearances).

He does love to crack out any reference to his past career at any point he can. I also never understand why he is always presents his opinion in the first person plural.

I'll have you know he's worked at a multimillion dollar company before. That's real responsibility.

Dyer played the most games out of all of them ironically.

Happy to agree to disagree - but to be honest, dismissals of other people's opinions seems to be pretty much par for the course on this forum. But thanks for the life tip.

In 2001-02, he played 18 games. This was the season that we got more points than in 2002-03, but finished 4th. In 2002-03, Premier League stats are as follows: Goals Solano - 7 Jenas - 6 Robert - 5 Speed - 2 Dyer - 2 Assists Robert - 5 Solano - 5 Dyer - 4 Jenas - 3 Speed - 3 Dyer's passing and touch was poor. I just don't know how you can argue any differently? His technique was appalling and his awareness of what was going on around him and the 'bigger picture' was average at best. In terms of him unbalancing the team - I am not saying Dyer was a bad player. He was a good player, but nothing more. When on top of his game, he could be quite destructive (even if the stats show otherwise), but again, he was nothing more than a good player and he would never have amounted to anything more than that. As has been stated already, he often left Speed overexposed which meant that against top teams we were often overrun in midfield. Any central midfield containing Dyer would never have mounted a proper title challenge.

Or they just don't understand football would be my guess. So people don't understand football because they don't agree with the pair of you. Christ When people make ridiculous claims about the ability of Dyer - yes, they don't understand football. The guy's weaknesses were too numerous and too important to ever make him a top player. You'll notice that in our most successful seasons, his contributions were limited, both statistically and in the way he unbalanced our team.

Or they just don't understand football would be my guess.

Would be a bit strange if Everton hadn't given him the best medical treatment? Not really sure how or why that is an issue?

Speed was the key in that midfield. He held it together and had to do all Dyer's defensive work for him yet got a huge amount of stick from fans who clearly didn't have a clue what was going on.

He was a good dribbler - I'll give you that - but there is absolutely no way in a million years anyone could ever describe Kieron Dyer as having a better touch (ie an ability to bring the ball under control) than Joe Cole. Dyer's control of an incoming ball was pretty bad to be honest.

You genuintely think that Dyer had a better touch than Joe Cole? Surely you are joking...?

I obviously wasn't watching the same player to the rest of you - can't get my head round some of these opinions of Dyer. Amazing stuff.

Complete and utter s****. We can agree to disagree if you'd like...

He'd have been little better than a SWP or a Lennon. Seriously, the guy didn't have nearly enough basic footballing technique to be a top player - he couldn't pick a pass, he couldn't play a pass and his control was average at best. The occasions when NUFC played best when we had him was when he came off the bench as an impact player. Massively massively overrated player. Joe Cole is in a different league as a footballer.

Kieron Dyer would never have been close to a top player even if he had stayed fit. You need to have good technique and awareness to be a top player. Pace and dribbling would never have been enough.

Seriously - you don't need to do favours for South American agents to have an effective South American scouting network. Not aware of many people who suggest Nacho was awful - he's a Uruguayan international - so clearly had something about him. Although he hadn't been a roaring success in Europe beforehand or indeed after he left us. I've said before - we shouldn't really ever have been looking to buy foreign players for huge amounts of money. Whilst not suggesting we should not have ambition, we do have to be realistic about our position in world football. We aren't a historically successful club (not by European standards), we aren't a London club, we aren't a massive city and we have been 'struggling' for a while. If we buy a player for 8+ million, you have to wonder 1) why the player is coming to us 2) why a 'bigger' club hasn't already bought the player ie Luque, Boumsong et al. Much better off focussing on players in the 1-4 million bracket in my opinion, who are young and hungry.