Saint Martini

Magnificant signing, just wondering how he will fit in in our team. Change of system? What happens with Lambert? Where does this leave Ramirez?

Rangers?

I posted this in the Osvaldo thread but it seems more relevant here. I saw Finnbogason (we were linked with him last week) play last weekend against NAC and although its was a poor match from both sides you could see he was a lot better then all the other players on the pitch. Not sure how much Heerenveen want for him but for about 5 million pounds he certainly worth a shot. Disclaimer: Any "Steve de Ridder" arguments will be ignored by me because de Ridder was never as dominant in the Dutch league as Finnbogason is. If you're claiming that Finnbogason is of a similar level to de Ridder because he comes from the same league and they both were important to their respective teams in the Dutch league then you've not seen both of them play.

Its understandable, I saw Finnbogason play last weekend against NAC and although its was a poor match from both sides you could see he was a lot better then all the other players on the pitch. Not sure how much Heerenveen want for him but for about 5 million pounds he certainly worth a shot. Disclaimer: Any "Steve de Ridder" arguments will be ignored by me because de Ridder was never as dominant in the Dutch league as Finnbogason is. If you're comparing Finnbogason and de Ridder you've not seen both of them play.

There's no Halfredsson at Heerenveen, there's a Finnbogasson at Heerenveen with whom we've been linked once on some obscure website and we've also been like with Halfredsson at some point but he's a midfieldr playing for Hellas Verona.

Just checked viaplay to see if they were showing Saints live and they're not! Only 1of the matches staring 16:00 will be shown live the others will be shown at 21:00. Really crap news if you ask me.

my god, comedy capers. Truly awful defending from both sides for pretty much all the goals.

I guess they looked for photo's tagged "Lambert" & "Surprised".

I'm going to NAC - Heerenveen this weekend so if Finnbogason hasn't been transfered by then I'll report back with a scouting report.

Really glad for Lambert even though I believe its only a one-time thing. I just hope that he gets a decent amount of playing time.

Bony is a good buy and would have been a good Lambert replacement & complement. Of the others I don't think Remy offers anything that we don't already have in the squad and the same more or less goes for Hooper. Altidore is a more complete player then when he played for Wolves but no better then we have in my opinion. Van Wolfswinkel is a great prospect but has stagnated in his development a bit last year. He's a great goalscorer but I have my doubts about his ability to handle the physicallity of the PL. When it comes to Finnbogason I think he's somewhere inbetween Bony and Altidore in potential and he is available without paying over the top (Heerenveen made a loss of 4 million euros lsat year, a lot for a Dutch club). In my opinion signing Finnbogason would be a step sideways but it helps us secure a rather vulnarable position in our team. It is not a panic buy, mainly because its way to early to panic.

Yeah, de Ridder never looked that good.... Altidore has become a more complete player in the Netherlands, I wouldn't be surprised if he does well in the PL. Its ridiculous to compare de Ridder with player that has Finnbogasons record, there's a reason de Ridder came to the Championship instead of directly to the PL.

Good player and a million times better then de Ridder when he was in the Dutch league. However, Finnbogasons strenghts are as a goal-poacher in the penalty area and not so much in the build-up play. Dutch defenders in general are awful so scoring a lot of goals is not that difficult compared to other leagues. On the positive side he's made the transition from the Swedish league to Heerenveen without any problems. My verdict: As good as van Wolfswinkel right now bit not as good as Bony. Low-risk in terms of outlay but you don't know if you end up with Yoshida or Mayuka (in terms of fullfilling potential).

He was under contract at a newly promoted side in the Premier League, you don't get much better chances then that. If he was good enough for the PL he should have proved himself in training, which he apparently did not. The fact that its teams from the lower end of the Championship are after him should be a(nother) telling sign that he is not Premier League material. He played a rol in us getting promoted and I'll have fond memories of him for that but if two coaches decide they don't want to use him in the PL then lets just cut ties and make sure he ends up at a club where he can be of value.

Giovinco and Matri please!

The Netherlands & Sweden. I know they're covered by it always useful with s second opinion.

Europe had the tournament in '90, '98 & '06 why should it come to Europe again? Its a World Cup, so it should be shared around the world. England got the history but in the end that means **** all and I'm sorry but "traditionally best, most original support the world over"? Give me a break.

Its almost like we signed with them too late and the only thing they could offer us was a training top with a logo & sponsor.

Concerning your first point, any team involved in a summer tournament in June/July should play friendlies in August. When it comes to Ramirez, I can agree with you up to some point. On the other hand, there's a difference between a vacation and having a bit less to do at work and Ramirez has been having problems with his fitness ever since he signed for us.

Where in my post did I say they shouldn't play for their national teams? I don't have a problem with the national football associations and them calling up Yoshida and Ramirez. I do have a problem with FIFA planning badly. The Confederations Cup should have been held at least a week earlier (it was a whole 3 weeks after the CL final, some teams had already started pre-season training) and since it was this late FIFA knew that the players involved would have difficulty in pre-season because of their late break after the season. Now does it sound unreasonalble for FIFA to tell the countries involved in the Confederations Cup that they wouldn't be allowed to use the august friendly option. I think its good MP is targeting those at fault (FIFA, not individual countries).

Its one thing having players travel long distances once a while. It's another having them play a one month after their normal season finishes and then having a useless friendly again before their regular season starts. The teams that played the Confederations Cup should not have been allowed to play a friendly in August as well. I think it's more about recovering from a while season.

He had a good start to the season last year and was deservedly called up to the England squad. He then got injured and he never really looked the same for the rest of the season. He became very ineffectual and made the wrong choices a lot. I also think he doesn't really have the personality to be captain. If he's on form it works, but if he's strugling he seems to be too pre-occupied with himself to also be an inspiration for others. From the beginning of last season I know he has the potential to be a good PL player so calling him crap and championship material is over the top. I can't understand why fans can't show a bit of loyalty to a player that has been very loyal to the club. Its one thing if the staff at the club decide he's not good enough for the PL but for the fans to get on his back because he's played below par for half a season is something I do not understand.

Is that with or without Suarez?

I'm sure this has more to do with the risk of getting injured then with them not being fit enough to be on the pitch. Because they've had such a short break the management has decided that they need a break now so that this doesn't lead to exhaustion later on or even worse injuries.

The most interesting part is that Tord Grip is a scout for us. Didn't know that. I must say I don't see what the hype about Igboanike is. His goalscoring record isn't that great compared to others in earlier seasons (Bangura, Gerdnt, Hysen, Wanderson, Ranegie) and none of them have succeeded abroad. He's not like he's only 20 has will become a lot better. As I said, I can't see it but Tord Grip knows more about football then me so perhaps I'm wrong.