tomlkier

It could be worse .. we might not buy anyone, or we could sign Emile Heskey, Marlon Harewood

I think we've left it too long regarding Kranjcar / Sturridge signings, we should have been in for both in January. We'll be paying way over the odds if we go for them in the summer, particularly now we have the AC cash, and Spurs's penny pinching. We'd be much better served looking abroad. Besides we have plenty of AMC's, we should only be looking to bring in players who are under priced / bargain buys, hence why I think we should be in for Ireland.

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His career injury record is pretty good if you don't consider the last 6 months, I think it's just a bad spell of luck. In terms of wages, I don't see us paying anymore than 35-40k a week. I think he'd take the pay cut to get out of Villa though.

Is he a sicknote though? What's his record been like before picking up the injury at Villa? I like him, get's the ball down and along with Ben Arfa is capable of playing the type of football I want to watch every week. 138 Games in 5 years for City according to Wiki so not terrible I suppose. All these little niggling injuries one after the other makes me a bit uneasy about him though and he seems to have a bit of a weird attitude what with the dead grandmas thing, his falling out with, well, everyone and his attitude to the national team. Maybe i'm wrong and judging him prematurely but it doesn't give me a good feeling about him. Ireland was 21 when the whole grandma thing occurred, he's almost 25 now, I don't think he should still be judged for that. His attitude seemed to be fine when he was here, and he seems to work hard in training.

Guthrie, Raylor, Perch, Loven & Rout would all do a job for newly promoted team.

It's a long shot, but we should be in there throwing the cash around and doing our best to sign him at the very least. We don't want to be stingy and miss out on another Rooney, as long as we're not stupid with wages, he should hold his resale value. We could also try to bring his younger brother Jordan here to try to tempt him further, he's a year younger, plays at LB and apparently has been linked with Arsenal and Tottenham, although he's still in Anderlecht's youth setup. Might make a decent backup for Enrique (or his replacement) though.

I think he would compliment Ben Arfa well, and I think he would work well in a fast, flowing attack which I hope is what we are going for (given the link with players like Gamiero, El Arabi and Gervinho among others). It's a gamble, but at the price stated it's a smaller gamble than selling Carroll and not replacing him, so I hope and think we'll go for him. EDIT: Although I did think we should have been in for J.Cole last season (but not at 100k a week) and that hasn't worked out too well for Liverpool.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11678_6901949,00.html Sounds like a nice young backup to Tiote, although we do already have Guthrie, Gosling, Smith, Vuckic.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-News-Nicolas-Anelka-and-Florent-Malouda-head-Chelsea-s-sumer-clearout-article728799.html I'd quite happily take Malouda and Anelka.

I agree on the whole, but when a bargain presents itself, we shouldn't turn it down. Ireland can be a world-beater on his day, the same can't be said for some of the fringe players / dead wood we have. Obviously, neither of us can predict how much or little is going to be spent in the summer, but I hope Ireland is given the chance to prove himself.

Ranger did well against this lot the last time out, reckon 12/1 for him to be the last goalscorer is worth a punt?

Gameiro (12m), Sow (13m), Gervinho (9m), El Arabi (4m) 4m spent on Ireland, we can still afford any two of them should we want them. Dream on. So why save 4m if you don't think we'll spend it. Ireland has the potential to be a very good player, and 4m is not a lot in the grand scheme of things.

Gameiro (12m), Sow (13m), Gervinho (9m), El Arabi (4m) 4m spent on Ireland, we can still afford any two of them should we want them.

4mil is a good price for him if we can cut down his wages. Pardew likes him and Ashley is a gambler, I reckon we'll get him.

Is he injury prone or is it just bad luck? He doesn't seem to have a recurring problem but a different injury every other month. I would take him on a 6 month / season long loan again, offer 50% of his wages with a view to buy for 5m. This injury puts us in the driving seat, so we'll be able to negotiate hard. He's still young and still has the potential to be a great player if he can get a good run of games, and he's exactly the sort of impact player we need coming off the bench next season.

I'd much rather we spent €5m on El Arabi than on Doyle.

When / Where did he say this? I know he was close to a move to Villareal in January, but they didn't meet the valuation.

Was about to make that point, I would much prefer Gameiro or El Arabi to Sow, based on the amount of goals they've got for weaker teams.

If he can hold down this form then I agree, but he seems to only turn up for the big matches and is thoroughly inconsistent. Although the same could be said for the whole team I guess.

Said it in the match thread and it's bloody true! He did exactly the same when Ben Arfa joined and was close to the first team. Ah, I only read the post match comments. Wish he was a little more consistent, he needs to be our 3rd choice winger / super sub next season, the competition will do him good. Seems a shame to say it after his blinder of a performance yesterday though.

You can tell Ben Arfa is close to full fitness, Jonas is playing well again.

Krul Simpson Williamson Coloccini Enrique Barton Tiote Jonas Nolan Ireland Ameobi

Can't see Pardew changing from that, presumably Ranger on for Loven and Ireland on for Guthrie for the last half hour.

From one game? One game, which I might add, he had Colo and Guthrie behind him in CM and Loven next to him. (and Barton playing supershite). Was pretty s*** when he played 80 minutes at Fulham away as well. Impact player and nothing more, tbh. Was there, the whole team was atrocious. Got no service whatsoever and Hangeland ate all the s*** that got hoofed up to him. We were Tiote-less that day too, btw! It'll knock his confidence if he starts and does nothing for 90 minutes, blooding youngsters against the best team in the league isn't a great idea. I look forward to seeing Ranger and Ireland come off the bench as impact subs, it'll be nice to actually have subs who can influence the game for once.