Jack Flash

Klasnic is still free according to wiki. We should be in for him. And I take it Danny Gabbidon is awful? He's still free as well.

Man City are expected to get to the later stages of every cup competition they're in and win the league this year so he'll get plenty of games, especially if Toure goes to the ACON.

Might not bother going now. If Hatem dies, I die.

We do have other priorities but if Tiote was to be injured for a while (like last season) we'd be a bit knackered. If we can do this and 1 or 2 more transfers then why not?

Tickle him! Tickle Him! http://sharetv.org/images/guide/314336.jpg

Hardly like its been spammed with Sunderland stuff. They're idiots. We get it. Ok boss, I promise not to post anything unless it's an exact match to the thread title. I don't want to upset the forum police. Just put things in the right thread so I can ignore the boring stuff Anita will be incredible. He'll be our Edgar Davids.

Hardly like its been spammed with Sunderland stuff. They're idiots. We get it.

Can we not pollute this thread with sunderland stuff? It's tedious to read.

Great finish.

Neither have ever kicked a ball in the Premiership man, if they prove capable then great but I don't feel at all comfortable relying on them. Bigi has played a lot of games in the CC and seems to be a great talent. I wouldn´t have any problems at all to play him. Funny enough you have to make your debut sometime. That, and that I rather play him than Raylor, Gosling or perch in midfield. He's been getting talked up in worthless friendly games but we'll soon find out how good he actually is when Modric and Bale are running at him. I'd rather have Perch in for this one.

The game not being held at Wembley is only going to help.

Such an apt picture too

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03/jenasreactsR_450x300.jpg

The standard of refereeing last season was as bad as I can remember. If it continues this season then it should be them who are getting banned and sanctioned, not the players. That unquestioned level of trust a referee used to have is long gone and rightly so.

Tiote would have been playing in Russia next week before his injury too.

Colo and Tiote are definitely injured. Definitely.

Pardew inferring that the other squad members are unhappy that the "other 4" aren't doing as much work as they are maybe? On the Ashley subject, I've loved the club/team more in the last few years than I have in probably a decade. The few complaints I may have are hugely offset by the positives. Some people will just never be happy, it seems.

persy pls

Tbf, there's a high chance that the 4 playing today will be playing in the Europa League in a week and a half so it's just as important to have them match-fit and sharp. Those 2 games will be competitive friendlies. Knowing our first few league games, we should be completely focused on them.

Isn't the whole point of friendlies to work on fitness? Completely worthless if we're mainly playing squad players.

Competition for places could be their thinking. Guthrie was never going to force his way into the team when Cab-Cab and Tiote were fit, whereas this lad might be good enough or do well enough to get in the first 11 regularly on merit and not just because he needs to be.

We didn't lose in the league until the 19th November last year after starting the season in a far worse position than we are now.

S.Taylor was probably playing as well as any English defender from August till December and received no call up. Capello didn't go to SJP once in his time as boss apparently, though this may be a myth. I'd never heard of Caulker till today so I'm no expert on him, but I'd rather he (and the other 2) had more top level experience before getting to represent their country, especially at their age. These players must have played over 300 games on loan between them.

Being unproven in the top league means nothing these days I'm not against giving the youngsters a chance but they're simply not playing enough top level games for their clubs to be considered worthy. Bertrand is 23 and has started about 4 games for Chelsea. Livermore is almost 23 and, bar 1 sub appearance, just started playing for Tottenham last year. Caulker hasn't yet played for his club. Are these players the future of England when they can hardly get in their club teams?

Aye, the rest of the squad is just so full of talent. You need to be something really special to get a call up these days. If that Caulker lad plays he'll have played more for England than Tottenham btw.