The Kraken

As I recall there weren't many signings made around the £5M+ mark for CBs, so there are few benchmarks really. Bassong was a good signing, though.

A very reasonable post. As is being proved at the moment, the gap between 18th and 11th is barely recognisable. From 8th to 12th its not enormous either. From 4th to 8th its an absolute chasm, and as you say would require years of enormous investment to breach.

Davies was a name that was mentioned in summer and at the time I'd have been pleased with. Not sure now whether he'd have been a decent addition or not; Brum have had a dreadful season.

I think our CB strategy itself was jumbled in the summer. Nixon from the Mirror (who was very accurate throughout the window) stated with about a week to go that we didn't really know who our targets were, or something to that effect. Yoshi was very much a late gamble, alebit one that's worked out quite well. As I say, I hope CB is prioritised this summer with the same determination we went for JRod and Ramirez last summer. Edit: and yes, I've just seen that Hangeland signed a contract extension 3 days ago, so I guess that blows that one!! Not that we were ever (or were ever likely to be) interested in him. I just really, really rate him.

I think my point was that Astori would have been a decent type of signing. He would have cost us the £12M we spent on Ramirez, but that's how I would have prioritised it, spend big on that area even if it means other areas are compromised. In fact, I still would for this summer. If we stay up I hope we spend a good deal of the budget (£10-£15M) on a CB of decent pedigree; I'd love to get Hangeland, but I don't think the price for what will be a 32 year old will offer too much value.

Again, I think this is revisionist, and a bit of an airbrushing of what was actually being said. I think this because I was one saying a lot of it, and I stand by much of it. We were always going to be signing SOME players with no PL experience. Clyne was a great signing as was perceived as such before he even played; how many people complained that he had no PL experience? Similarly Davis was perceived as a good cheap signing who would be an older head providing some balance to a young team. Gazza seemed a cheap gamble for the future, but when it became clear he was seen as a genuine first teamer it was quickly highlighted as an error in judgement, and why we went out and bought an experienced (albeit completely out of shape) other GK. I was one who compared JRod to Pogrebnyak; not so much as a "look what we missed out on" idea, but highlighting the type of signing I deemed very important for this season, and at a lower cost (wages are high but transfer was free). As it is JRod and Pog has scored the same number of goals this season, Pog having played a few less games, JRod probably having not played CF as much. JRod is likely to give the best value over a 3 or 4 year period; but that wasn't my main priority at the start of the season. Then I thought we needed some genuine cover/competion for RL, and that waithing for JRod to improve was a gamble we needn't have taken THIS YEAR. Next season; fine, I absolutely hope we adopt a strategy of going for a balance of youth backed up by a little experience of top level football. Last season, I didn't think we got the balance right. I also remember commenting on Guthrie; once again not so much as look what we should have got, merely that he was a similar type signing to Davis. I don't actually recall anyone saying we should have got Guthrie instead of Davis. As for Collins; I'd still have had him here, lots of others don't agree with this but as limited as he is I think he would have been a really good signing for this year. You see; that's what all these comments were about (or at least as I remember them being, and certainly what I intended from my side of them). Not that we should only sign experienced PL players. That we should sign some young players from the lower/foreigh leagues, but also prioritise one or two key areas (CB and GK) and fill those positions with the more expensive signing, someone with a bit of previous. And that was only a policy for this year, when it was especially important to stay up and consolidate. If we stay up this year then in future its much less important to get that experience in; we will already have a squad with one year's experience, much less raw than when we started this season. Anyway, that's my take on it, from my side of things. I can't speak for others but I simply cannot recall anyone saying we should have only signed experienced players, simply that we didn;t get the balance right, and that's an assertion I still stand by. If we stay up, then perhaps the "risk" was worth it; I'm just personally not sure the risk was worth it in the first place.

Not really how I remember it, to be honest. My view, and it was seemingly a common one with other like minded posters, was that we could/should have gone for experienced players as priorities in key positions (ie GK and CB). Not that every single signing should have extensive PL experience, that would be unreasonable and massively expensive. I doubt there was anyone who questioned the logic of the Clyne signing, for instance, despite him having zero top level experience.

They have Man United and Chelsea to play, but their 5 other games are all against sides in the bottom 8. They really should have got something out of today's game. Even if I were having a free bet for who will go down in 18th, I wouldn't have a clue who to pick. Originally didn't think Wigan would make it, but I thought that a couple of weeks ago and they just keep on winning.

If you're going to make a managerial change this late then you have to bring in someone capable of totally changing things and turning things around. Di Canio is a massive wild card, but he's certainly a character and won't stand for any sh*t. Potentially a good appointment, they were nose diving with O'Neill and something needed to change.

:lol: Classic Miltonroader, bless him.

Good work Liverpool.

The only boneheads are those insisting that this happened in the first place.

Villa living dangerously now. Come on Liverpool FFS.

I really hope so; it would be thoroughly deserved.

Get in there Henderson you overpriced piece of tat. Coutinho; 5 games since he signed and he's been involved in 5 goals. That's the sort of impact you want from a new signing.

I don't think there's much in the two fixture lists; they have Chelsea away next, which I don't think they'll get anything from. But the Newcastle derby game can always go one way or the other whatever the form of the two sides, they'll view home games against us and Stoke as must wins, and an away trip to Villa provides a potential for an away win. Tottenham away on final day could also depend on what Spurs need from that game; if they've qualified for the CL spots already then anything could happen. I'd much prefer to be in our situation than their's, of course. And with our side. Losing Fletcher for the rest of the season could be the real blow for them. In any case, I think anyone from us down is right in the mix so I wouldn't want to solely pick out Sunderland as out threat, it could be any of them at this rate.

Villa winning today does us few favours. Looking pretty good too; apparently if they win this that would 3 on the spin for them. Sunderland seem to have acted to prevent their freefall, and looking at their run in they have a number of very winnable games. I can still see the battle for 17th and above going right down to the wire, anyone from us down is still very much in it.

I'd say he has to do a bit more than that before he's a complete player. The improvement in him since the start of the season has been impressive but he still has a long way to develop yet. He needs to find composure; he is able to make opportunities for himself but is prone to either making the wrong decision or making a mistake and losing the opportunity he has just created. For example yesterday; he showed a brilliant bit of skill to lift it over John Terry and make him look a complete mug, but took a really heavy touch after that and lost it to Cech.

Sure. There's obviously no other variables to consider I suppose. 12th. Or 7th. Maybe 18th though.

I'll re-word it for the hard of thinking, shall I? Perhaps we should see if we can stay up this season, and where we actually finish in the league before giving any credence to finishing in 6th place next season.

More balanced? Are suggesting he is biassed in his opinions?

Let's concentrate on staying up this season, shall we? 4 points off the relegation zone, we have yet to play some of the relegation threatened teams and some of those teams have a game in hand on us. And our uberfans are predicting we'll finish 6th next season. :lol:

Swap Swansea and QPR and its not too bad, to be fair to the camp slug balancer.

Likewise. I thought taking off Puncheon and Davis replacing Boruc meant that we lost our ability to play through midfield and hold the ball up without going long. We had 60% posession in the first half and the stats finished almost even, so it tells a tale of how we declined in the second half. One thing that struck me with 5 or 10 minutes to go was the lack of urgency in the Chelsea team; they weren't rushing to take free kicks and goal kicks, they just seemed a bit deflated. Lampard in particular looked very much a beaten man.

Hope he's back for our next game. Great shot stopping from Kelvin but his distribution was Conference League level, and his over-willingness to whack it upfield every single time rather than look to throw it out turned us from a great footballing first half to long ball lack of posession in the second.