Revolution

Ivan Ramis to join Wigan.

I agree with this. The appointment of Souness was absurd however; an awful kneejerk reaction to try to combat the 'attitude' of the likes of Dyer.

There's also a stat that we have won over 60% of our games with Williamson, it really doesn't mean anything. Also as i mentioned before Lescott got hype at Everton based off the season where he scored over 10 goals as a LB which is where most of his good and consistent performances came. I'm not denying Lescott is a good defender, he is but he isn't CL level as last season showed and Agger is as he's shown many times. I really get the feeling Agger is not rated on here because A. he plays for Liverpool B. He's constantly injured. Lescott is a lot like Vermealen IMO, two defenders who are technically good and score a decent amount of goals for a defender but both are in a positional sense wise very rash, it's funny Agger's supposed lack of positional sense is brought up because that's the exact thing Lescott struggles with. I don't think the last part of your post is quite correct to be honest- I'd say Lescott is almost the opposite in that he's not as good or confident on the ball but a good defender who forms a line well, reads the game well, uses his strength to good effect etc.

Yeah, Lescott's a very good player- not fair at all to say he's carried or buoyed by Kompany, they compliment each other well but both are very good defenders individually.

We'd probably have to pay up quite a hefty sum for Williams, unless he's in the last year of his contract or something. He's a good defender and footballer though.

Not sure this means much, it's good we have terms accepted and signed, but the real tricky part still remains in agreeing a fee with Lille (who are obviously making it tough for us) and them getting a replacement.

The opposition seemed much better at pressing and were much more comfortable on the ball for the most part. You can see the clash in styles and coaching.

I don't really rate Richards that highly but he should be at right back, you know, a position he's actually used to playing in. Ramsey has to play as well, I'd probably play him ahead of Giggs.

I expect Amalfitano to be quite heavily involved off the bench or from the start in Europe this year tbh, he is 23 years old now. Partizan was incredibly gutting. Think it's true to say the downfall can be traced back to that night at SJP

Haven't seen enough of Santon at right back but from early impressions it seems he likes to cut in on that side too, just a natural part of his game. I like him on the left personally

You wouldn't be bothered about losing a proven goal scorer, a player who is very strong athletically and a player who also has great technique with the ball? Ba is versatile, though. He has shown through his career that he can play as a front man, off the striker, on the left and the right. We would not need to 'work in' a fit and confident Demba Ba.

Stood out so far has been Bigirimana, because he is a lot more developed than I expected and is still very young. I'd like to see more of Abeid and perhaps in a more advanced area of the pitch. I think Ferguson or Bigirimana will go on to be the best player. Regarding Sammy, I'm not totally convinced by him, but he played well yesterday.

Enjoyed watching that tbh. Stand out performers were Tiote who absolutely bossed it and Tavernier. Tavernier looks to be maturing really well and was looking very assured on the ball as well as a good defender. Seems to have bulked up well too. Gosling was quite decent, seemed to have another yard of pace about him and got around well. Bigirimana and Abeid are stepping up to the plate well. Sadly I think Obertan is a lost cause now really.

Just been reading this and a few other forums I frequent, my view: I've seen some complaints that this will signal 'hoofball' or the end of 4-3-3. The first thing is that I really cannot see Ba leaving as there seem to be no suitors who are in a better position than us, so would Carroll even be first choice? As third choice we couldn't get much better tbh. I like the sentiment of a free flowing 4-3-3 but it was probably destined to be a predominantly 4-4-2 set up most of the time. I see no real reason why with better footballers in defence (Debuchy, hopefully) our style of play will be poor in a 4-4-2. Also, I'm not sure about the hoofball. When he played for us we complained there was too much long ball and said he is actually much more effective when we work it around. People sometimes forget how well he was developing as an overall footballer from Jan 2010 onwards. We may see a few punts now and then because he's so big, but I think with the quality of players in our side we'll mix it up and play mostly the passing football we all seem to crave. The 5-1 was his best display for us I think, and he was a menace on the ground as well as in the air. Sounds as though I'm really pro this deal, but I voted no actually. Burnt his bridges for me with the dive. But should we get him I could see it working well.

Pardew clearly knows what he is doing in regards to his Ben Arfa comments and it also clearly works based on the turnaround in his consistency from March onwards. Don't understand the final part of your comment tbh, there's no way that is true. Pardew knows what ability he has and that is the reason he tries to make him push himself that bit further. No chance he would 'let him go' for £10m, nor does it have anything to do with Pardew about transfers.

Harper Simpson Williamson Coloccini Santon Obertan R.Taylor Tiote Jonas Ameobi Ba Probably something like this, unless I am forgetting someone.

Some proper players coming on! Hate this ref like, seems to be blowing his whistle every 10 seconds. Let it flow ffs.

In terms of current ability yes there's a gap, but I think Clyne is going to go on to be really good. He's got talent in pretty much every area of his game. I would be happy with Clyne if we are unable to get Debuchy.

Seriously? In truth his last opportunity for us was after that Villa 6-0 game, might have got on the pitch the following few weeks after that but if I remember correctly he got a silly red card in a reserve game that cast him out of the picture for a while? He's probably pretty shit though like which explains why we want to get rid of him every summer

Definitely had a strong contribution and I think it's been underappreciated/acknowledged a bit. Did a lot of the pressing and hassling work for Ba and always worked his socks off while always maintaining a presence. Was always pushing for first team football with us and it's good to see him wanting to play regularly.

Sounds as if the Express has good links to our club so would be in a good position to get an exclusive but I'm not really 'convinced' for whatever reason

George McCartney (Mackems) has gone to West Ham permanently.

I think the main problem I had with us not bringing him is the fact he has far better technique and ability than Milner, he is much better placed than the Ox. He's more consistent than Walcott and evidently, he would have been a far better option than Young. I know there are a fair few people on this board that don't rate him as highly as I do but he was the one major omission for me that I really couldn't understand at all. It's rare to have a player who is a goal threat from nothing situations, can beat his man 8/10 times and can link up play well He's a decent player but he's incredibly inconsistent and often goes missing during games. His longevity on the pitch is also questionable. Perhaps he could have been useful as the wild card but I guess that is what we brought Ox for. Definitely not more consistent than Walcott btw.

West Ham were supposedly quite close.

I don't think Colo is slow personally. Or Taylor in that respect. And they weren't exposed by pace when they played together.