Mole_Toonfan

Me too, but i do feel in some games Marveaux offers more going forward and in a creative sense. Not to detract from the point though, because Jonas offers so much but not just in a work rate sense, he is very good at intercepting passes and starting attacks with quick, incisive passers. In short he's perfect for the role next to Tiote in a 4-3-3. I'm happy with both of them and it's nice to have 2 fantastic options competing for a spot, but both offering different things to the team. As for back up options to Debuchy i'm not concerned about that, we have Perch and Tavernier who is ready to step up to the plate IMO and if it gets really bad we could always put Santon at RB and play Raylor, Ferguson at LB etc etc. Apart from back up CB and CF options i'm happy with the squad across the board.

Not if it's the 4-3-3. He's a vital cog in that midfield triumvirate and he's absolutely vital to the flair player(/s) ahead of him. If it's in a 4-4-2, i'd agree - but there's decent competition for places at LW. Even for 4-3-3 it could work, just put Cabaye in Jonas role and Marveaux in Cabaye's role. It's so nice to have so many options

That first eleven only some depth would be required.

To be clear i don't expect top 6 i just think it's well within our capabilities.

Really? I'd say top 8, but i think people on here have distorted views after last season. Liverpool and Tottenham are still stronger, as horrible as it is to admit. We had a season when everyhing clicked, Liverpool had a season when everything went wrong. I think on paper we're more around 7/8- in the same bracket as Everton. Of course, here's hoping we have another superb season and exceed expectations again, but top 8 would be about right IMO Tottenham finished above us last year so how that has any relation to us finishing top 6 i don't know and we are better than Liverpool and Everton. Liverpool are definitely not stronger. They have been poor since Benitez left because they have an average side, until they make improvements we are better.

Baines wasn't a consistent starter at that time, as shown by his 20 appearances for Everton during that season. The usual line up was Hibbert-Jagielka-Yobo-Lescott.

Damn you lol and in any case he mainly played LB at Everton and impressed more for his goalscoring exploits than his defensive performances.

The only thing i'm concerned about is that we wont don't pay the money Lille want, the rest of it i feel is already done. Just a question of Mike stumping up the cash personally, but of course that's easier said than done.

I was just using that as an example, of course clean sheets is a team thing. Agger is obviously better, Agger is someone who makes other players around him defend better like Coloccini does for us and Kompany does for City and Vidic for Man Yoo etc etc. Lescott is a good defender who needs defenders like Agger to make him perform above his usual standard. Last thing i'm going to say on the subject.

He is though, Agger is genuine quality and could start for most clubs because he plays for Liverpool doesn't change that. Along with Lucas and Suarez the only genuine quality player they have. Lescott is a good player but he is made to look better than he is by Kompany and not even close to Agger. He's better than Skrtel though.

Exactly, not to mention Ba is a better player anyway. As mentioned above they just need to talk about Ba before his clause disappears.

I swear if you play for Liverpool then your automatically crap on here. There's a reason Barcelona want Agger, he is class and Liverpool's defence went to the shitter when he got injured. 13m is a bargain for a player of his quality, considering most people on here have no problems with us paying 12m for Carroll. Key difference with or without Lescott Man City can keep clean sheets, with out Agger Liverpool are incapable.

What? There's a reason Liverpool had one of the best defensive records, Agger is a class player and would walk into City's team he's miles better than Lescott. There's a lot of shit players at Liverpool but Agger certainly isn't one of them.

Not following the Olympics, all i know is he has struggled to play more than once a week during the season.

Aye because he didn't spend 18.5m on Curtis Davies and Nigel Reo-Coker f*** off, that can't be true. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/6260924.stm There's also this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1301712/Buy-buy-Martin-How-ONeill-spent-120million-years-Aston-Villa.html

Aye because he didn't spend 18.5m on Curtis Davies and Nigel Reo-Coker

Don't even joke about that man.

Bellamy still is quality, unfortunately due to his knees he cant play twice a week anymore.

Speaking of the Japanese. Has anyone seen this? http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/16/55/20/10/japan_10.jpg " Away the Lads "

Japan have been improving immensely over the last few years on a technical, physical and mental level. I expect the next generation to be the best yet. Tbh Asian football fullstop has improved so much over the last decade.

All i know is that Cabaye is a legend.

Sturridge

Sinclair scores !

And a clueless twat.

I thought we would finish around 8th or 9th. It was a depressing time but i cant fathom why anyone would think we would get relegated, we wasn't great but there was more than enough teams in this league that was a lot worse than us.