gbandit

Why use such hyperbole?of course there are better players out there for cheaper. I've made the point about cisse,Ba,Hernandez,jelavic.All these players were cheaper and yet more versatile. The reason why we don't know the players are because we don't spend our lives scouting, finding out player valuations and all the rest. This debate has become fucking ridiculous but if you honestly believe that £15m couldn't be better spent, I think you're way off

Smashed one on the way to as well. Disgusting that, they should put massive restrictions on Sunderland away allocations if that continues

I'd say we moved for Carroll in a very opportunistic fashion, we probably knew he was unhappy there and interested in coming back. I don't know what we can read into it regarding other targets as we'd only offered a loan + potential buy deal which is very rare for us. It doesn't suggest we're desperate for the player, more that we're just trying to nail a good deal. I was really disappointed we didn't get De Jong to be honest. The eventual price that was talked about seemed like it was in our range. I can't speak for our scouting team and no one else can but there have to be other targets out there that they're looking at and I'm sure before the window closes, they'll be making some moves with the view to returning to the Carroll deal as long as it's loan + potential buy. If they go for a straight buy (and I really don't think they would unless it was sub £13m) then I'll be disappointed

I'm sorry, but that's not our job. You can't discount the opinion of anyone that disagrees with you because we are incapable of coming up with a viable alternative. I am just confident we could do better. The club seemingly is not, seeing as they are bidding for the player. What do you make of that? The only bid we've lodged so far is loan + view to buy right? That's just playing the market carefully. A loan option can't possibly harm us but if the only option is us buying him, I think we'll have different plans

Nailed it in one

I'm sorry, but that's not our job. You can't discount the opinion of anyone that disagrees with you because we are incapable of coming up with a viable alternative. I am just confident we could do better. Well, the evidence that we can do better is out there in the form of Cisse for half the fee, Ba for nothing. You can make any number of arguments about cheaper forwards than Carroll because there is absolutely no doubt that out there, there are better players available for cheaper money. Like a number of people have mentioned, it's not our job to know who they are and most of us don't watch enough football to know but £17m goes a hell of a long way. I'd sooner not buy someone in this window and wait until January if it meant spending that much on him. Like I've said at other times, I wouldn't buy him back for anything over 12m. I loved the guy when he was here but the team's changed massively since then. If we're talking about spending over £15/16m for him then we're talking about a record signing for us. Should we be spending that amount of money on a player who relies so heavily on a certain system around him?

If this signing goes through and we don't lose any of our first teamers from last year (barring Simpson) then.... http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqmQ_PCn84najV1ii_0jHuHj3tlvJXQCUvx19Ihht_esfiuyAm Yup

What an absolute fool

Same, didn't see more than 8 swansea games but I definitely didn't see enough to think he'd a good signing

Is Deschamps really that petty? He's French

Not done much, doing alright, both teams cancelling each other out but the pitch isn't helping. Evangelista has stood out for them, just been knacked though. Thanks mate, also, I'd like to add my praise for your avatar - Garth Cooked

Who's watching this? How's Campbell doing, are we moving the ball round well?

Couldn't give a shit about the GB stuff in football.absolute waste of time, my only hope is that Pearce comes out of it without a job

Pearce sounds like a thick as shit politician. "Will we do well? I don't know but we'll grow together."

Can't even describe how bad this women's game is between NZ and GB. I think we could pick any 11 from this board and give them a game

Said the same thing about him being out of line a few pages back, not his normal style and lacks his usual class as regards Pards. The Wee line there is far too much like Dalglish

I'd go somewhere in between. Swansea fooled a lot of people last season, they showed how possession football could be massively ineffectual and made the argument for it not being as important as I'd always deemed it Swansea were brilliant though for a newly promoted side with a tiny budget and relatively unknown players. Of course they were going to be ineffective most of the time, they don't have players capable of cutting teams open at will and creating chances like many of the "bigger" clubs do (and like we have). The basics of what they were doing, and how they played, was spot on, and it's how we should play given the players we have as it'd make best use of our best players. Disagree to be honest on the final point. Every team should be aiming to have as much possession as possible, but they should be aiming to be as incisive as possible with it, not making a few hundred passes per game in their own half/along the halfway line. We should be looking to retain possession as much as possible and playing it on the ground but not at the expense of actually cutting other teams open. I personally think if Swansea had kept Rodgers this season and the set of players they had last season, they'd have been in my relegation top three

I'd go somewhere in between. Swansea fooled a lot of people last season, they showed how possession football could be massively ineffectual and made the argument for it not being as important as I'd always deemed it

Maybe in a business sense it's fine. But, I never really like it when managers talk about other players. We hate Redknapp for it and Rodgers for now chatting about it. Would seem pretty hypocritical if we liked it when Pards did it

Hmm, he's telling the truth like but it strikes me as saying too much really

Far better vision, close control and passin than Henderson. I actualy don't know what qualities Henderson has, apart from a drooping jaw and shit for brains

In fairness, Joe Allen is a step above the midfielders they bought last summer but that money is fucking stupid

Nice reference, Porteous and those two is the most mismatched group you could make

Peter Ramage as well, take that