gbandit

He is a disgusting, fat grinder who picks up undeserved points but I was one of the few/many (I can't remember what the consensus was at the time) that thought he would have taken us down had Keegan not taken over

West Ham, terrible squad. Their strikeforce is abysmal and I can see Vaz te being shite in the PL QPR, appalling squad. Just packed out with aged, past-it players and people who aren't up to the PL Swansea, people are kidding themselves if they thought Swansea were a good team last year. I know a lot of people on here didn't rate them and rightly so. They kept the ball a lot but over 30% of their possession was probably in their own half. I'd say they're currently a Joe Allen/Nathan Dyer transfer from being definite relegation fodder

He really is such a twat. I used to think 'it's a bit sad all the injuries he's had and how much of an effect it must have had on his career' but the way he handles himself, his arrogance and his delusion is painful. To think that since 2005 he's played only 100 professional matches is shocking. He's had injuries but it's the decision making that has ruined his career.

We do get great money for our players. The only team that sells better is Tottenham. I have absolutely no idea what Levy does but their transfer dealings are immense

We've had two exceptional transfer trollers in Hughton and Pardew. Different styles but both have excellent technique

You cant beat an Equipe title change. Allez Debuchy

Simpson's a poster boy for not signing up to twitter as a celeb/footballer.

Not sure Danny "where's my England squad number" Simpson would like the sound of backup

Perfect Yao usage

Blatter.... Fifa....

No, I agree with you Mole. I would have been really disappointed if we'd been in for him. He misses a lot of easy chances and only now and again does something impressive

Super average signing, nowhere near as good a striker as Pogreb

Must be feeling pretty sick if you're a die hard supporter of any other French team. Ugly stuff from PSG in this window

2 MF Samba Diakité 3 DF Clint Hill 4 MF Shaun Derry 7 MF Park Ji-Sung 9 FW DJ Campbell 10 MF Adel Taarabt 11 MF Alejandro Faurlín 12 FW Jamie Mackie 13 DF Armand Traoré 17 MF Joey Barton 18 DF Luke Young 20 FW Rob Hulse 21 MF Tommy Smith 22 FW Heiðar Helguson 23 FW Djibril Cissé 24 GK Radek Černý 25 MF Hogan Ephraim 26 GK Brian Murphy 32 MF Shaun Wright-Phillips 35 DF Anton Ferdinand 42 DF Nedum Onuoha 52 FW Bobby Zamora — FW Jay Bothroyd — DF Matthew Connolly — MF Kieron Dyer — DF Fábio (on loan from Manchester United) — GK Robert Green — FW Andrew Johnson — DF Ryan Nelsen I think their current goal has been to fill their squad out with as much dross as possible. That squad is shocking

If he does, it says all you need to know about him. Not the sort of player I'd want at the club if he goes ahead with that

Certainly, the Europa League + league with this squad would mean either knocked out in the groups straight away (provided we qualify) and finish in the league anywhere between 6-14th), or go a long way in the Europa League and finish in the league below 12th. Not ideal

Best is definitely the biggest loss. We're a little too light on the goals front in our squad. Haven't looked at the stats but if you took out Ba and Cisse from our team, we must have been pretty close to the bottom of the goalscoring table last season. Evidently, if you take out the top two scorers from most teams it will have a huge effect but on us perhaps more so than others

I hope we stamp on these. Need some life to this pre-season campaign which is sorely lacking

I'm a fan of technical football and while it's disappointing that Spain don't try and take the game to other teams more and pass through them rather than pass between themselves I still love to watch them play when they use wonderful touch and control. I don't find watching Spain boring but I'd prefer to see Germany win the title as I think they have been pro-active and wanted it more. Tournament after tournament, Germany turn up and score incredible long range goals, dictate play and take the game to the opposition. Always playing offensively. Making a reference to boxing here, no one prefers to watch a boxer hold their opponent in a match and pick them off. They want to see them beat the other guy up. That's what we want to see Spain do and they're capable of it. They should have played llorente from the first game and started him, that is by far my biggest hang up with them but I'll always love watching Xavi and Iniesta play.

I think the main problem I had with us not bringing him is the fact he has far better technique and ability than Milner, he is much better placed than the Ox. He's more consistent than Walcott and evidently, he would have been a far better option than Young. I know there are a fair few people on this board that don't rate him as highly as I do but he was the one major omission for me that I really couldn't understand at all. It's rare to have a player who is a goal threat from nothing situations, can beat his man 8/10 times and can link up play well

They have horseracing around there as well Plot thins No chance of him going there, in the words of Phil Brown, 'He's a homophobe'

I don't think he will ever come to fruition. The boy is a decent passer and an alright touch, but he is lacking in physicality and attacking drive. He reminds me of Guthrie, with the skill set of a deep-lying playmaker, but completely lacking in the engine and strength necessary to play there in Engand. Yep, Guthrie is a very good comparison. Though I've seen Mceachran less than Guthrie, I don't know about that as a comparison. Mceachran's left foot is superb and his overall game is surely far more impressive than Guthrie's was at that age. He is also an excellent dribbler (far better than Guthrie). I think he has all the attributes to make it at the top level and expect him to. He's also a lot more mobile/will be a lot more mobile than Guthrie. His main problem is that he's stuck at Chelsea and they are sure to make loads of changes this summer. Our midfield is starting to fill out a lot but I'd love to see him here

Excellent player, was really disappointed he didn't get more time at Swansea

Well, that's the thing. It's not only a lack of technique. It's a complete lack of footballing intelligence (something which Rooney certainly does have even if his touch is appalling.) Footballing intelligence is definitely something you can learn and improve on by playing fast-paced, improving your technique and trying loads of different drills and plays but essentially it's something which should be coached from a young age. They should be trying to express themselves on the ball, trying to link up play in creative fashion but either they're not confident enough, not good enough technically or are too scared/lacking in vision to try to be creative

Don't post much anymore but just wanted to weigh in on this 'too many foreign players in PL' argument. Absolute load of shit, the problem is all to do with the lack of technical ability of our players. The championship, league one and all the leagues below are full of English players. The only thing stopping English players from dominating numbers in the PL is the fact they're not good enough. Putting restrictions on the number of foreign players isn't going to change shit other than probably give people an even more inflated impression of how good England can be. It is fundamentally down to the way children are coached from 3+. People need to stop overcomplicating analysis of why we're shit. It's obvious, we can't pass a ball in simple situations under little pressure so how could we possibly do it under proper pressure. The only way to improve this is to work on training people up with far better ball control, passing in tight situations, dribbling and passing. I wish I could say 'I can't believe how shit we were last night' but I can't and no one else can