Chez

out of interest, how many games did he miss through injury last season?

the thread hits 6 years today. Anyone got a gift?

no chance. Some nice whipped in corners ****ed over by scouse/manc pundits don't make him a world beater. After a terrific opening game against Arsenal I have been less impressed by Targett too. He has a way to go yet. Reed is great off the ball, but can he do anything with it? Not sure any of the others that have been on the fringe look close to me.

Portsdown Hill+waterslide+Penny Chew =

there was some bad luck, but there was also hitting the cross bar from inside the six yard box too. He also lost his confidence completely at one point and stopped shooting completely. RK showed tremendous patience with him, which in the end paid off as he eventually found the net and started `playing' again. I think if he had had another genuine option he would have lost his place.

I think you might need to rephrase the question. If you break the top four you would automatically be `deemed' successful. If your question is: is is possible to break into the top four with a side including a majority of English players, then yes. Will it happen? No. English players are too expensive for the mid table sides and the big five of six don't care where they are from, they just want the best. But all the top sides will have English players. I think there is a lack of knowledge and faith about lower league players (where a lot of British players reside). If you come through the leagues as we did you get a really good understanding of who is any good and can make the step up. Wenger has done a good job in identifying top young talent from the lower leagues and maybe we should follow that lead?

good question. How does a side make that step up without a billionaire making money no object? It's certainly frustrating bringing a good side together and then seeing the best players cherry picked. Steady progress is I guess all you can try, but the window of opportunity is so small, perhaps the only option is to wait for a year with a very good backbone (like last year/summer) and then gamble. But even that might not work. I don't have an answer, all I know is when you have a very good side you have to maximise the potential from it and make sure cup competitions are taken seriously, because it could be the best chance in many seasons of winning something. Not sure we have done that.

Do any of these player transfer tug of wears turn out to be worthwhile in the end? I am mindful of Chelsea paying United an absolute fortune in compensation to get Obi Mikel and he turned out to be utter ****e IMO.

either it depnds on the data inputter or where our European scout fancies taking his holiday

No Kittel? How come?

there might not have been any loan fees (we were desperate to get him out the door and the `buying' clubs new it) and we may even have been paying a significant proportion of his wages too (who knows?). Whatever the final amount it won't look good on a profit and loss sheet.

nothing more enjoyable than seeing Brenda squirm last season, and if results don't go his way quite quickly we will get to it all over again. Having said that I think they will be better next season. After a laughable start Lovren eventually started to find his feet, once Lallana got over his latest injury he offered them something. Ibe looks a good player, Coutinho had a great season, Emre Can looks a very good player to me (if played in the right position) in Clyne they have upgraded big style. Hope they fail, but not so sure they will.

Blimey. That's certainly decisive.

maybe Ibe, Flanagan, Coutinho and Henderson could be described as young players that have progressed

out of interest, how much more income do Liverpool make than us and where does it come from - sponsorship and more TV appearances I assume? Or do shirt sales outside the UK stack up as well?

****, I forgot the toilet thief was out of contract. We had better not compound my misery of losing a top class full back by replacing him with that useless show pony.

from his point of view the move makes sense and I can't blame him, but as with all good players that leave Saints (and he was certainly was a good player), he is the enemy now and `dead' to me. Soares my good man, I hope you turnout to be an even better player. The king is dead, long live the king.

Martinez was bought for 35m euros and Madzukic sold for about 18m euros. Mind you they must have made a bob or two with their recent success on the field.

I don't buy to much into this agreement thing. He has a contract. We didn't change the contract last summer. He therefore is our player until we get a bid we like. Simple as. I suspect they said to him last summer that we are not selling you because too many players have left. Next summer (ie this) the pressure will be off us, so we can consider offers. Whether they mentioned a set fee at that point who knows.

I'm all for low price ticketing, but final game of season is popular and so will bompey game, hence cat A. Cat A is based on popularity after all.

we don't have to agree to a transfer you know. If the fee comes too late to replace him we could turn it down. We could also be saying to united we want £30m and we need a decision by X date. Take it or leave it. Who knows. I doubt we are desperate at this point and from what I read the united bid is miles off what we want.

agreed. Can't see him signing though. No need from his point of view.

wonder what Clyne would do?

You think its Manyoo playing hardball rather than Saints? Why would we be desperate?

and how long did Pardew get at Newcastle