hypochondriac

"I don't mind Steele being on the teamsheet especially in a game where build-up and accurate passing from our keeper is going to be crucial." "I dont think there's currently much between the 2 keepers, they both have strong and weak areas" "Steele's ability to hold onto the ball until the very last second and make the pass, to beat the press, is exactly what RDZ wants him to do." That's just the first few pages but there's a few positive posts about him and it sounds like a lot of the critical posts are in comparison to their other keeper who they prefer, not necessarily saying Steele is awful just not as good as their other keeper.

Plenty of posters on that link you posted deemed him to be a solid backup keeper, just not as good as their first choice. Like I said I've got no idea about him but the fact we are looking at a keeper is a positive for me. At the very least we will have some competition. Obviously I'd prefer some proven quality but we don't seem to be going down that route. Perhaps we don't have the available funds with everything else that needs strengthening or maybe Martin believes that passing ability is the most important attribute.

Seems quite interesting that hull fans seemingly love Delap. I think 20 million, is too much but I hope he doesn't become a bit of a gem and we've missed out.

I don't really know much about him. I was just taking it as a decent sign that we were looking to sign another keeper. For me that's a recognition that McCarthy is not good enough to be first choice.

I was saying they won't ask for anything ridiculous but they have no reason not to put a high valuation on him given that firstly we don't know if they want to keep him or not and secondly we are very keen to sign him and they know that. How is that difficult to understand?

OK you don't agree. Will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Like I said let's see in a couple of years. There won't be perpetual war for eternity. My bet is that my scenario will be a lot closer to what happens than what you've described.

No you said that there should be no bombing and we should try to get ISIS round the table to talk as if you could negotiate with a medieval death cult. There was no negotiation, they were largely just destroyed. By force. This situation is very different of course because ISIS is not a country.

I think you're missing my point. They know the fans are desperate for him, he was superb for us last year, we clearly have a strong preference to sign him this season. Yes there will be a limit and yes they can't just say we can have him for an insane amount but imo we will pay more for him than an alternative and they have more negotiating power in this scenario than if the situation had been different.

Does it look like that? Weren't we linked with steele this week?

Yes but it doesn't take columbo to figure out that we want him quite a lot.

That's the point though. We don't know. They know how much we want him.

Sugar do do do do do do Oh sugawara do do do do do do You are my nippon boy And you've got me watching you

My point was we are desperate to sign Downes. West ham don't need to sell. Obviously we will move on if they ask for something ridiculous, but they hold the power with this.

Not really. He'd be a good option for them I'm sure. Apparently Ipswich interested also.

Also he's not exactly a youngster and hasn't pulled up trees. I suppose you could say a similar record to Lambert but those types of players don't come around often.

Hammers have us over a barrel if they still want him because they know we are desperate for Downes. I'd probably take a swap if that was the only thing on offer given how vital he is to us.

It's a balancing act. The least worst scenario is that Russia has somethibg to be able to sell to their people that the special operation to denazify an area was worth something. That would probably be the area like Crimea which they've had for a while anyway. Following that you'd do everything that can be done to secure the remainder of Ukraine (maybe that would be a good time to station NATO troops at a fortified border) with one eye on Russia lest they contemplate trying anything further. That is far more likely imo then a neverending war of attrition or Russian defeat. The only way it could end with some dramatic Russian collapse is if someone managed to assassinate Putin.

Exactly. No one sane wants Russia to get anything, it's just the most likely scenario.

Miovski but failing that Adebayo.

Which looks like exactly what we've done if we are signing the jap.

Let's see what happens. I bet you that a negotiated settlement is way more likely than your perpetual war scenario.

Let's be honest we've probably already told him he can leave.

Not sure we will get anything like that. I reckon West ham will push for a straight swap. I'd probably take Downes and 5 million which means sugawara would be 10 million of our budget. Not bad going.

Would be a nice bonus if he does prove himself useful. Like you say we can't really rely on him at all but he'd be a good squad option with the thinking that he could play his way into the squad.