Hanshithispantz

Fucking love Colo like

Genuinely thought I'd made this post, looked at the date and was completely freaked out for few seconds until I saw the name

Seriously as a referee why wouldn't you give that? If he doesn't go down he slides the ball into an empty net, it was obvious even without the replays that it was a penalty. I'm glad like but fucking hell, such a poor decision.

Because you're ankle is being held by a massive glove?

Clearly a penalty like, why would you dive?

Erm no, all strikers in the league don't have a patch where everything they hit goes in

And we attempt to combat this by... doing nothing? Well we don't have the £110m it'd take to catch Chelsea. We go with the team who served us so well last year plus some upgrades on the departures...bar Best (who barely played) Yeah, just the 21 appearances last year for Leon Best. How many after Cissé signed? His role became less and less in the second half of the season. He was technically replaced in January It's highly likely that either Ba or Cisse will be injured at one point during the season. As it stands their deputy is Shola and him alone. Best had a reasonable goal return and played well with Ba. As a player he was limited but better than nothing, incredulous that he's not been replaced because I've seen little in Sameobi or Vuckic to suggest they're ready to step up. Pardew, who watches him in training most days, violently disagrees with this.

that's fantastic

What's the point of that quote from Rodgers? It was clear as day anyway but I cannot see what advantage you can gain by admitting that you want rid of a player, and even admitting that his wages are a hindrance (he probably shouldn't have mentioned any figures at all regarding Andy's contract tbh).

Samaras is capable of being very good on the wing tbh, at least I've seen it happen before anyway He's like the Greek Shola of old.

http://i.imgur.com/8fXkn.png :lol: someone add that smilie. you got to. Fuck that, I'm nicking it.

I love this new ermahggerd word

In spite of everything over the past year or so I hope he sorts himself out, and most importantly, sorts his craic out.

"A reserve team that's not significantly worse than the first 11" :lol:

Our reserve team would probably struggle Championship tbh It's pretty good, and there's a few young players in there with a lot of promise, but I don't want to see many of them starting games in the league this year, and I don't expect them to get very far in Europe if playing them in there is the route we take.

Smug Dog Carroll

Cisse/Ba Affelay Cabaye Hatem I would weep tears of unbridled joy.

Enrique first restored and then shattered Geordie & Iberian relations, VI is doing the same.

Kagiso Kevin Lerutla @Kev_Ler "Ibrahim Afellay to sign for either Arsenal,Liverpool or Newcastle in the next few days" - report.

Is he leaving Barca on just a loan or with an option to buy too?

Fletcher apparently looked shite and was hauled off in the 65 minute.

We put good bids in for most (if not all) of those players so the point is pretty much void. They either didn't want to come (Gerv, Modric, Gameiro) or their clubs were after obscene money (De Jong, N'Zogbia).

They may have? Lille are a good club though at the end of the day and there's probably only a couple of dozen outfits out there that are a more attractive prospect to the player, and even less that have the money spare AND need a right back. That's why I've never understood the "why has nobody else put in a bid?" line, it suggests that there's hundreds of choices out there which there isn't. Also Lille clearly view him as being worth the price, otherwise they wouldn't be keeping him.

No, my point is that if we cave in once it increases the likelihood that in the future selling clubs will make further unrealistic demands, which could be much more detrimental to us over the long term than not getting Debuchy right now I just think that we can't have it all ways; if we finish as high as fifth in the world's highest profile league, selling clubs simply aren't going to believe that we can't afford more money. If we do it by buying players cheaply who increase in value dramatically, selling clubs simply aren't going to believe that it was an accident. If there's a new TV deal imminent that gives ludicrous sums of additional income, selling clubs simply aren't going to believe that it's not there to tap into. Once you step beyond signing only players that have contract clauses, club disputes or are unattached, you have to compromise at some stage. As with any endeavour, there is obviously a need to be flexible at times. But I believe that compromise has to come from a position of strength if it is to benefit us. Take the Debuchy case for example. We've apparently made three separate bids, each larger than the previous. Lille have not moved an inch from their original asking price. (If anything, they've moved the goalposts on us.) Are we the ones who are being unreasonable and inflexible? And what sort of message does it send when we just throw our hands up and pay them whatever they want? Tbf to Lille, they haven't moved from a very reasonable asking price, some would even say cheap in this day and age.

Pretty much my feelings Oldtype, and admittedly I've changed massively in regards to how I view the board over the past year and half. I don't think the next 6 months, or even the next year come into Ashley's mind when he sanctions the signing of a player, which is why we've seen us go into a season with players not replaced before and with a seemingly weak squad, long term stability and indeed resale value come first so he'll never cough up the cash for a quick fix (which is what we sort of need now). Ultimately I think it's a bit of a calculated gamble that should see us continue to steadily improve across the next couple of years. It's still a shame when we miss out on players like Debuchy though because of this model, they will know more than us but he seems to be a player in the Cabaye mould where Pardew and the board will/should be surprised that the player actually wants to come here, he could improve us tenfold going into this season, but at £6-7m they'll be thinking cheaper and/or younger if and when the opportunity arises.