tajjuk

lol, great post.

I agree, MLG got too fixated on that, that's why I posted up some more recent details. He's had a good season but in a weak league, and his record against better teams would worry me. However from what I've seen he's got pace and physical presence, has obviously improved and at 23 has scope to improve further. For me though he's too similar to where Jay Rod is, if we are going to buy a striker for £15 million +, we need someone who is either a fantastic potential talent (say a Rodrigo or a Munian) or the more finished product (Osvaldo or a Negredo)

This statement shows your ignorance, whilst he;s had mixed performances he's always worked hard, in fact in some games he ran himself into the ground.

Van Nistelrooy yes but that was over ten years ago, Van Persie never scored regularly in Holland and didn't in Englandf for quite a while. Altidore is only 4th top scorer in Holland - http://espnfc.com/stats/scorers/_/league/ned.1/dutch-eredivisie?cc=5739# So he could score more goals for a start, also more against better teams. His record in England has merit because his record against tougher opponents (Premier Legaue, Internationally, Turkish League, La Liga, Europa Legaue) doesn't match his goalscoring record in the Eredivisie, so that would lead me to question whether he could do it at a higher level. Would you question the signing of Hooper? He has a much better scoring record than Altidore and has scored a few goals at Champions League level, but his credentials still get questioned because of the poorness of the SPL, the same should apply to Altidore. I'm not writing him off, I'm just saying he would be a gamble

5/10 maybe 5.5 due to the start stop nature of his season. Good in some games, tried to hard in some others and missing in some others. 5 goals and 3 assists in 20 starts is not that bad. BTW Coutinho gets a 7, he's not been as good as some people make out.

He played well for the USA last night but there is always a risk with players form the Dutch League who score heavily. Top scorers in the Eredivisie include Bas Dost, Björn Vleminckx, El Hamdaoui, Afonso Alves, Dirk Kuyt. Mataja Kezman all of whom have struggled to score regularly in better leagues. Only really Suarez & Huntelaar have turned out to be top class forwards. Altidore may well have improved a lot since his hull days but he has just 4 goals from his last 25 international appearances, and 4 goals in 16 European games for AZ so would be a gamble.

England are not a top 10 international side. Is Lambert good enough for top 10? Easily for WBA, Swansea and West Ham. For those above, he could certainly do a role for the likes of Arsenal and Spurs who are looking for a striker exactly like him, imagine him dropping deep playing in the likes of Bale. This is a guy who was in the top 7 or 8 players in the league for most chances created, up there with the likes of Mata and Silva. He then scored 15 goals, can take set pieces, can score headers, hold up the ball, can shoot from distance. It entirely depends how you use him, England have a limited pool of players and need to use the best available, not follow some pre-ordained 'style', there are not enough good players to do that. The World Cup is a year away, take your best players, Lambert this season has been one of the best English strikers so deserves a chance. Wellbeck and Carroll do not. Mobility isn't the bee and end all and that shows with England, lots of pace, no thought. Lambert's game has never relied on his legs, it's about his brain and he has an excellent footballing brain coupled with good technique. One of the best players at the Euros was Pirlo, no pace, no 'legs' as you put it but ran the game against England despite us having a much more mobile midfield. A lot of people for a long time criticised the inclusion of Heskey in the England team but as was pointed out by Sven at the time he brought balance to the England team, held up the ball, brought others into play etc. To an extent he was correct, however when the chances inevitably came Heskey's way to score goals or to create something, he fluffed it time and time again. Lambert could play that Heskey role but better, with the confidence that when the ball was at his feet he could find a pass or a cross or get his shots on target and score goals. Wellbeck is in the team as striker, plenty of players work hard and are quick, our own Jay Rodriguez does both of those things and has managed to score more goals in a worst team, I don't see clamour to get him into the England team. Quite simply on current form and ability Wellbeck should be no where near the England team. he's technically poor, the mental side of his game is poor and he doesn't score goals. As I said in the previous post in a few years time he'll be struggling at a mid table team.

If he improves on his technique then he will be a very good player indeed. His finishing, first touch etc. aren't quite there imo and that let him down in situations where he could have and should have scored more goals. Agree with others he is a bit of scuffer at times, whether that is a composure issue or technique issue I'm not sure. Physically he has it all to be a very good striker, disagree that he has just 'good' pace. He's very quick and was causing defenders all sorts of problems, he's also very quick with the ball which at times can better than off the ball. Next season we will see whether the Jay Rod of the Chelsea, Liverpool games etc. is closer to his ability, cos if he can play more like that consistently he'll have a great season.

I've not seena good argument from you that Wellbeck is better than Lambert, Caroll neither. Two years from now is irrelevant considering the England team flounders from one average performance to another and needs improvement now. Quite simply based on this season which is a decent amount to judge a player Lambert has been vastly superior to both Wellbeck and Caroll, I reckon he will be next year as well. Lambert is goalscorer, both Wellbeck and Carroll have consistently proven they are not. Give it two years and Wellbeck will be struggling at some mid table premier league team.

Rodrigo please, very quick, trickly, left footed and more of a winger than a striker.

LOL, Man Utd went out to Bilbao who during that season were excellent under Bielsa and were troubling Barcelona, playing a game against them which was described as one of the best contests of football ever. Not at all comparable to Chelseas tour of European footballs backwater spots. Its also funny that you mention eyes, I didn't say that Chelsea hadn't been successful, I said spending doesn't necessarily mean success, but then you have illustrated my point with Man City and again with the Chelsea example, as they were more successful 4 years ago than they have been recently despite spending far less because they had built a team. As I will re-iterate it is not just about spending its about who you spend it on, a lot of Man City;s biggest transfers in value - Robinho, Balotell, Kolarov, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Jo, Milner etc. have not been key to their success but some of the players that have come for much smaller fees are now key players for them like Kompany, Clichy, Hart, Barry and Zabaletta.

Take out Lukaku, who is a loan player and the West Brom squad is not that much better than the Sunderland one, there are also several exceptions to that rule in the league this year, one you just mentioned - WBA, virtually no spending finished 8th, Spurs and Everton have both been regularly outspent by Liverpool over recent years, Chelsea have probably spent tow or three times the amount Spurs have spent yet finished just 3 points better off. It's how you spend it and how you build a team not how much you spend. The Champions League yes, Europa no, even Borough got the UEFA cup final, the only decent team Chelsea played was Benfica, they overcame the greats of Sparta Prague, Steau Bucharest, Rubin Kazan and Basel. They also only managed to win the first 3 legs by one goal. Also last year they won the Champions League, then they only managed to finish 6th that season. In just the last 3 seasons Chelsea have spent £278 million on transfers. It's not really surprising that Ambramovich has been sacking so many managers considering they have been no where near the title in the last two seasons and spent that much.

Red Bull Salzburg is probably the main example, NY Red Bull was a franchise set up anyway and they are used to that sort of thing in the USA. Salzburg were completely re-branded and the soul of the club was changed. Also Cardiff anyone? The name is still the same but the complete change of colours etc. is a worry. For me I would totally against it, there are some levels of commercialism I could grudgingly accept like a stadium name change, but changing the clubs name, colours, trying to wipe out it's history etc is far too far. I would seriously have to think about supporting another club.

Umm, Liverpool were 7th. As QPR have shown and to extent Chelsea and Liverpool, Spending doesn't equal success. Essentially this year 8th -> 17th was a much of muchness and that effected the top 6 IMO as the teams in the middle weren't that great. Pretty sure Spur's 72 points would have got them a Champions League spot in most years and that Man Utd squad is not as good as their canter to the title suggested. Lot of upheaval in the Prem for next season, new managers at Utd, City, Chelsea, Everton. Some massive players could be on the way out like Bale and Suarez, will Spurs and Liverpool be able to replace those players? We need 20 points or so to do top 6. Take the awful start away, with Shaw, Cork and Boruc in the team I reckon we would have made about 8 - 10 points more. Off your starting list I think you've been harsh on Cork. Boruc and Lambert. Get 3 more players of their ability in and I think we could be there or there about, but you need some luck with injuries and a decent run of form, or we need a Bale or a Suarez, who knows maybe Gaston will kick into life. According to whoscored he hasn't played up front at all this season. I know he has done previously but he's a definitely a midfielder. He's a good example of how we could use Lambert going forward in the 'hole' with pacey players playing in front of him. One thing we need to do is get some better dead ball takers in, Norwich managed 17 goals from set pieces compared to our 8. Add 9 more goals on and I reckon we would have had a fair few more points this year.

^ He's struggled to find form since he was injured, but at the start of the season when he got his call up he was playing very well.

Even with my Saints hat off thinking as objectively as I can about this I can't honestly how you can come to this conclusion. Carroll has just TWO better qualities than Lambert IMO, he's slightly more mobile and he's 6 years younger. That's it. Carroll is essentially a one trick pony, he's tall and big, he's the player that lots of people think Crouch is/was but isn't. Lambert is a much more complete player, he's a better finisher on either foot, he has a far superior footballing brain, he can see and find a pass, he has much better technique and first touch and he can take set pieces as well. I even think Lambert is better at heading. He's also better at bringing people into the game. Simply Carroll has had a season in a team playing to his strengths and he has managed just 7 goals. Take away his one fairly decent season where he scored 17 goals in the championship, he has a measly 28 goals in 119 games. The guy is not a goal scorer, he's a lump that teams put up front to bounce balls off. He's more likely to get booked than score a goal, and that's if you can get him on the pitch in the first place considering he's always injured. Swap Lambert for Carroll in our team and we would have been relegated. It's also why it's clear that Roy doesn't watch or know much about Lambert because he lumps into the same category as Carroll, and Holt. He has a far superior all round game compared to those two and is not a traditional target man, if he plays in a similar position to anyone in the England team it's Rooney, he drops into the same spaces, holds the ball up looks to play people in. Lambert has scored as many goals in the last two years as Carroll has in his whole career.

I can't see using Hunt, his pace and energy has gone and that was what made him decent in the premier league. You'd essentially have a slow winger with an ok left foot.

Totally this, as usual he's just looking for rise from people. I imagine he's been waiting for comment like this so he can plaster it all over here and shout down at people. I'd say most of the people on here reckon top 6 is a slim chance and recognise we need investment to do it, but also like the fact the club is at least trying. The way some people go on you get the impression they don't want us to try at all.

No replacements

Sounds like he's covering his arse on two fronts, one Swansea not progressing next season and two he can then leave for a bigger club. We all know it will take investment but £200 million for the top 6? lol, maybe title challenge, have Man City even spent that on players?

I know Benfica missed out on a treble, but they were almost unbeaten in the league and reached the finals of two cups where they were unlucky to loose both. Can't see how they would sack their current manager?

RIP. Sad news.

and two collars lol I would like our new kit to have this proportion of stripes - I will also put this here just in case our kit is bad, it could always get worse......

Hence the bottom of my post, champs league experience, euro experience etc.. Suarez had played over 30 times in Europe and notched up 16 goals. He's also had just a very successful world cup before pool signed him. The Dutch league in general is not a good standard, an element of 'flat track bullying' has to be taken into account when looking at players and it makes it a bit more of a gamble, players from the bigger Dutch clubs though will generally have been exposed to European and International football and if they have come through those academies have had an excellent footballing education so it;s easier to tell their quality. The poorness of the league and the lack of finances (top players at Ajax will probably be on around £30k a week) means they are open to moves to prem.

That Montreal Kit in red and white would be cool. Where are Ajax's and Milan's home kits seeing as both usually have stripe variations? Also who is the old man next to Deco? He surely can't be a player can he?