benjii

My sources are telling me this one is virtually done. Will be signed imminently.

Well, he will have to like it or lump it, really. If the top clubs won't offer a price we can accept he will just have to wait it out until his contract runs down. If he was that set on joining a Champions League club he should have insisted on appropriate release clauses before he signed his last contract. I can't see him going on strike as that would send him out of the France squad pretty pronto, as would a bad drop in form.

At the start of last season, Koeman's preferred midfield set up, from back to front, was more like this: --------------------------*---------------------------- ---------------*------------------*------------------- ... than Poch's one of this: ------------*---------------------*-------------------- ----------------------*--------------------------------- Indeed, away to West Ham, people may recall that Morgan played at the base with Davis and JWP in front of him. Even when Morgan and Big Vic both played they seemed to have a lot more licence to get forwards. I don't think Big Vic would have scored that goal at Swansea if Poch was manager. There is no rule that we need two sitting midfielders in every game, particularly if we have the players on the pitch who are capable of dominating possession. I'm intrgued as to how we are going to set up next season, particularly with the Juanmi signing. He won't be too happy on the bench, I would've thought, so I wonder if we are looking at a system without a "big man" (ie. Pelle) for certain matches. Clearly, last season, Pelle was not all that effective in Premier League away matches. And where does a fit Tadic fit into this? I think next season could be a right laugh. Back to Chrissy Nichol 4-2-4 times.

At least Clyne hasn't been spouting his gob off and making himself look like an utter ****. He does, however, have an awful haircut. So there are similarities.

I can't really see the point of Liverpool, other than more money (which is fair enough) but there is a risk that by joining them and not holding out for a better team next summer he is foregoing any chance of football success for the next few years. I guess Clyne is young enough to sign a three or four year deal with Liverpool and still have another big move to a club with a realistic chance of winning more than a league cup every decade when he is 28 or so. I wouldn't be surprised if he runs his contract at Liverpool down and does exactly that - and fair play to him. In the meantime he probably doubles his wages. If I was his agent I'd be asking for Glenn Johnson's wages!

Hope not.

Matt Oakley was a very good Premier League player so if JWP turns into that, then fine. Neil Maddison was not, really.

I like it when they mince about in Lycra with a shiny glans on their head.

If we're lucky it will coincide with Almaty folk festival and we can take in Right Said Fred and Corky Bulzseck whilst we're there.

Interesting, cheers! If you think Kairat is a long way then at least we can't get Vladivostok!

I'm CB Fry's wife. He's a monster. My botty is a war zone.

I'm sure we are making substantial offers for him but Atletico will want to drag it out for as long as possible in the hope that a mega-club willing to offer loadsa money ends up in a bidding war with us.

He (Henderson) also comes across as a right bellend.

I thought a number of our guys look ready-made for the full team. Ponderous in possession, poor pass appreciation, hesitant first touch, devoid of ideas, slow to react and move... Should fit in perfectly.

Agreed. If Kevin Friend had reffed that match properly we would probably have won (in addition to at least one penalty they should have had at least one red card) and would quite possibly have finished 5th or 6th as we would have punctured Liverpool's momentum and regained some of our own. Djuricic would then be remembered as someone who contributed well to our season.

Exactly. Good opportunity to pick up points throughout the season. If we can get off to a good start again then no reason not to do as well as last year IMO. It will be important to manage the European matches sensibly though.

Much more even spread this year. Home on Boxing Day and last day, a few "winnable" looking games early on and a match against mid table to start. Can't complain with that at all. Fairly tricky run in but by no means a nightmare.

I have a feeling that he will not sign a new deal but we will not receive an acceptable bid either. I would like to think we would keep him for the final year rather than accept a low-ball bid from the likes of Liverpool. Even if Cedric is joining it would be good to have them both for a year.

I am in Newcastle right now. Literally NOW. It has been warm today but me *****, in Soton, said it was proper muggy there and hit and ting. Some locals told me it is never got enough as to constitute "muggy" oooop here.

We kept paying Adkins because we had no fair reason to dismiss him. He wasn't sacked for misconduct or for any other fair reason, he was just replaced. Had he brought a claim against the club he would have won. Therefore we made a settlement with him. Standard practice when dismissing anyone without fair grounds and even more so when they are on a large salary. It's also about market reputation - if we sack people and try to pay them the bare minimum legal entitlement we aren't going to be a very attractive employer in an industry like football. This is why players aren't sacked as well. There would rarely be a fair reason for doing so and even if there was it could get messy and make other people think twice about joining.

It's not complicated - we didn't sack Osvaldo because we didn't want to write-off £15million quid and we didn't want the publicity circus that would come with sacking an Italian international footballer. Clearly, if he was mincing round Staplewood like a dirty pirate and headbutting people, we could have sacked him but it would have been pointless.

I think the £9million - or whatever people keep quoting - figure was something erroneously reported on here and then repeated until becoming reasonably well accepted. Like you said, there is no way Benfica can reasonably expect a profit. They clearly don't want him and keep loaning him out. It would be like us expecting a profit on Gaston. We should be able to get him for more like £3 or £4million, if even that.

I think he's a decent player but he wants to play left wing. If Rodriguez and Tadic are fit next season then he is likely to be third choice. Although I think the price would be very reasonable for a player of his talents, I'm not sure we should be signing a third choice at the expense of giving Gallagher, Sims, McQueen etc a chance off the bench.

You lot are missing the point. Vardy "bullies" people. As anyone who watched the Champions League final last night or last summer's world cup will attest, the key to international success is to have a big bully up front. Two banks of four, nice and tight. Couple of speedy wingers who can sling it in. Two mean ****ers in the middle. Nippy little fox in the box and a bully up front. That's the England team we need to build if we're going to compete with the Spanish and the Germans. In the mixer! Don't fanny about with it!

Marco Almeida? Great!