Punk77

Agreed. His backing off is his main problem. What I really like about him is he acts like a pro, has god stamina and delivers some cracking crossers. He doesn't need to be a good dribbler if we manage to set him up in crossing positions, eg Barton use him more often when he overlaps, and Simpson himself must not be afraid of taking the opportunity if the room opens up. Becks was this type of winger: limited dribbling-technique, but solid work ethic and fantastic crossing. Combined with Manure's type of play: few touches, diversion of play from side to side, and fast passing in the longitudinal direction he was in good crossing positions all the time.

:lol:

Fucking De Jong. With a decent season from Ben Arfa, we could have been securely placed around an Europa spot. But the wonder kid is back now. I think we'll have a seriously good end on the season.

Yeah..maaybe.. He got an advantage, because he's able to finish with the foot the ball falls on. Doesn't need to switch. At all goals against WH the ball fell on his left foot, and consequently he finished with it. Those of you that's still in doubt: When players run with the ball, they usually usher it with their preferred foot. Best uses his right in such situations.

No thanks. He's thirty this year. If he doesn't deliver, we will never regain the money we paid for him. Perotti on the other hand would be great. We probably have an advantage too because he's from Argentina.

Nope, he's right footed. Correct.. Neh. These days I'm in love with Tiote! And I'm a monogamous creature

disagree with this myself - spurs are an example of the way to play it: you're right to say that every player can't be a success, of course they can't, but if you buy 5 people well scouted from different leagues for 3m each you're more likely to end up in a better position than blowing 15m on a single player imo This! Spreading money on multiple players minimizes the risk and increases the squad depth. A single player will never perform better than four others, unless he's HBA-good. If we buy four players for around £2-3 each, all of those money will be earned back if just one of them performs above normal. The rest could then be given time to develop further, or function as better reserves than Perch.. That is what Liverpool did not do with Joe Cole: They pay him £80 000 a week, he probably was handed almost £10 mill in sign on fee, and he now rots the bench. Cole's wages could alone have "fed" three top notch talents, and his sign on fee could have been used to buy them. Gary Hooper for example only cost Celtic £2.4 mill. Second, it's a myth that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys. It's all about doing proper research. Unlike before, Castle is investigating properly before a player is bought. Does he fits into the group? How's his mentality etc. Maybe the player come cheap because of his contract situation? Maybe his style of play is perfect for the physical PL, bot doesn't fit his current league (Tiote). Maybe he got a mental problem, that his club cannot deal with, but we can (HBA and Ireland). Maybe he isn't playing his best football because his team uses a 4-3-3 formation, but he's much better in a 4-4-2 system? That we know because we got a video from his breakthrough season, where they had a different coach, who preferred 4-4-2. All this information is important, because it may tell us why he's underachieving. That enables us to buy him on the cheap, and fix the problem when he's with us. Eg. he will fit perfectly with us, because we play 4-2-2 and not 4-3-3. Castle never did this before. It was all about getting in a big name, hoping that would signal to the surroundings that the club had "ambitions." Never mind that the person didn't care less about the club (c*** Owen), that he fitted into the football the club played and so on. Barton's motto should accordingly be turn on its head: Through proper research, good players could be bought for peanuts. Good research hinders us paying money for players that only is worth a fraction of what we used to pay (Luqe, Boumsong, Smith, Owen). Consequently, paying too much can be a sign of utter lack of ambition, because you have no clear strategy regarding which players you're going to bring in. That leads to a total lack of vital information, and you end up paying way too much, because the agents sit with all the intel. The conclusion is that sometimes price and quality can be closely related. But just as often, it doesn't mean s***. Do proper groundwork, and gold can be found for almost nothing.

Agreed. He won every duel against Zigic. I do not think Tayls would have pulled off the same feat.

"I said to Mike: 'Look, this money has to be reinvested in the team. All of it,'" Still don't know why people don't get it - we won't spend £35M on players in the next transfer window. 'The Carroll money' will be spent on transfer fees, sign on fees and wage... Exactly. And it's important that some of the money is used to tie Tiote , Barton and Enrique down.

I think it is personally. Nick Shorey for £25K is a bargain. HBA for loan fee + transfer fee is no a bargain it may turn out a good deal but for me it will never be a bargain. Everything is relative. But it is a bargain, especially when you consider that Scum paid a similar fee for Bebe. Take a look on youtube man, and see what skills the lad possesses. He's a magician.

Perfect results for us..Can't stand Wolfes after what they did to Barton..Brutes!

He was massive in the one Norwich game I saw..Saved all three points, literally..

I like Hooper but I'd be worried if he was our main striker next season. Will be expensive too and it will be much uncertainty around him making it.There's a big difference between the two leagues. Boyd is for example on the bench for Boro..And he's the all time goal scorer in Scotland if I'm not mistaken.

Great interception by Forster, which by the way is one of Krul's weak spots.

Good point. Harper has been great lately, but he's getting old. I'm not sure that he will be that consistent next season. I think we should loan out Krul. Keep Forster and see how Harper plays. If he slips or gets injured (which is not that unlikely) we play Forster instead. Very good goal by Celtic.

Nice touch by Hooper though

Agreed. Forster has had two consecutive seasons on loan now, which probably has made him a better keeper than Krul.

Yeah, he is 6 ft 7 Correct. He's taller than Peter Cech who's "only" 6 ft 5. I think Forster will be our main goal keeper next season. Due to his hight he will give us an incredible advantage on defensive set pieces.

Watching the celtic game now..Jesus how big Fraser Forster is..A head higher than the rest..

If he realizes his potential, he will be one of the most expensive players ever sold.. Good news for us then. If he's sold then I imagine him as the new Shearer with the captains armband, refusing to be sold despite interest from Barca and Real

If he realizes his potential, he will be one of the most expensive players ever sold..

He cost us around £6 and that's a bargain when you compare with potential value and talent. There's plenty of movies of him on the tube, and if you bother to watch them, you can see that some of the things he does, is reserved for the very gifted. All he needs is some honing of his skills (when to pass and when to dribble) and he's a world class player.

That's precisely spending the money wisely. Tiote and HBA both represent that category: well negotiated buys that was done after proper research. Spending big is often an unwise strategy, which we all know: Smith, Viduka, Butt, Duff, Martins, Owen (c***), Boumsong etc. Bargain basement doesn't necessarily mean that the player is crap. He may come cheap because he's troubled (HBA), that his style of play make him ideal for PL and not the Dutch league (Tiote), because he doesn't fit the system the team is playing or he refuses to sign a new contract.....All those factors and more, can be discovered if the club does proper research. Which we know do through the likes of Carr.

The manager who signed those players is gone though. That's true when it comes to HBA I guess. CH is liked by everyone and is a true gentlemen (he's actually my favorite behind Sir Bobby), and that could be the main reason for HBA wanting to sign for us. But when it comes to Tiote, is much more about having the proper scouting network in place. If Carr and Co have done their job properly, which they obviously did with Tiote, Chris' approval is only a formality.

Couldn't have said it better my self. And the fact that we only paid £3.5 for his Holiness, makes it much more fun too watch him play.