Donatello

Why bother if his departure is imminent? I certainly don't think Les Reed would be thrusting Koeman around if he *knew* he was off. For me (rightly or wrongly), it adds credence to the idea that this story is all very preliminary (which is probably the general consensus anyway, although the ubiquity of the press coverage/this thread has lent itself to something of an unstoppable avalanche sensation )

Incidentally, is it significant that Koeman is posing in one of the player contract renewal photos? Would he be bothering with such PR if this story was as advanced as some feel? Devil's advocate.

How long did it take you to come up with that?

That's a *great* 'signing'!

You keep peddling this (nonsense), and yet in 'spite' of our new signings having played 30.1% of the total available minutes, we're on course for another record breaker. It's a discussion for another thread, but what about Romeu, Martina, and Stekelenburg hasn't come off(?) And to for the sake of argument, if they haven't come off, then he's responsible too/anyway (he wanted Clasie, and he would have had to sign off on Juanmi and Cedric - both of whom were emerging internationally recognised talents at the time).

Also, how much power do we (as a club/or any club really) hold over managers and their contracts? I've always been under the impression that it's *much* easier for a manager to leave, because the 'buying' club simply needs to buy out the remaining contract (I may be *way* off) of said manager (assuming the manager wants to leave, etc). Or are we able to rebuff advances in some way? (short of offering a fresh improved deal)

Told by whom? Another journo? I'm not in the business of dismissing things willy nilly, but there's a reason sports journalists are the vaguest sons of b*itches going. Incidentally, today I read in the Guardian that Liverpool were favourite to sign Ousmane Dembele because Klopp had spoken to him on the phone, a few hours later he'd signed for Dortmund (although he'd probably decided/signed days ago), and that information was specific. Same can be said of Renato Sanches and Manchester United. Point being, until something actually happens, let's try not to get into too much of a frenzy F*cking timing of the leak is atrocious though. Given the coverage (multiple newspapers, similar quotes, language, etc), one might suspect people have been fed information by Everton, but would a club really be so stupid as to leak their transfer budget for the coming transfer window? I can't see it. Perhaps the journos have just shared the information...but it still feels as though there is a central source to me - I just can't explain the uniform nature of the information combined with the timing of the release (but then it is 2am). Maybe someone's preemptively trying to shut the home crowd up before Saturday (quell the booing).

Echo this sentiment. P.S That isn't discounting either player of course, merely that unless cheap(ish), I'd hope we went elsewhere. And personally, I'd be looking at Sissoko (could bring some real athleticism back to our central midfield) above either of them. I'd also like to see a bit more of Lascelles, who has popped up in a few games i've watched. That being said, I haven't watched nearly enough of him to form a considered opinion (I.e. could be poor in reality).

:lol:

Why do you keep saying this? :S

Yeah, I can't see it either (unless Palace lose the final) :S

Yesterday was about finishing 6th to be fair. As for today's game, cannot see this ending 0-0, very open, so let's hope Chelsea have their finishing boots on.

Fair play to West Ham (the players, at least), their play merited a win. It's said with the benefit of hindsight of course, but you have to wonder why LVG thought playing Blind and Rooney (for all his decent passing), at CB and CM respectively, was a good idea against one of the more tall, strong, and athletic sides in the league. Phil Jones ain't no prize pig (appearances aside), but he's still a physical CB, better suited to that game than Blind (who was terrible last night, imo).

Have it!

West Ham co-Chairman David Sullivan speaking to 5 live: "It is depressing really, it will be a late night for our fans and some of them won't be able to stay. I don't understand why United couldn't get here at 4pm. They could have got here early. They knew it would be busy. It's crazy. "There was congestion in the street and they couldn't get the coach in. There were people around the coach, but there was no attack on the coach. "If you check the coach there won't be any damage to it. If we arrived late at Old Trafford they wouldn't put the kick-off back." What a twunt.

Tepid first season. Fantastic second season. Average third season (albeit a very good final third). On his day, one of the best enforcers in the league. Will be missed. (I'd be more than happy if he stayed for his final season if I didn't think there was a good possibility of a strop/sulk).

You support Negativity

Duplicate.

This. Awful lot of supposin' going on here. Every team in the league can pretty much apply this retrospective analysis. Some games you play well and win, some games you play well and lose. Some games you play poorly and win, some games you play poorly and lose. That's football. Every team can employ this hypothetical argument. And personally, I have no issue with people wanting to imagine what could have been, but it's pretty apparent that there are certain posters (and it's obvious who they are) in the 'It's Never Good Enough/Never Satisfied' camp, in spite of another potential record breaking season. P.S Having said that, analysing why we've fudged up for the past two Christmas periods is an interesting enough topic.

F*cking Lamela claiming to fouled by Clasie after holding Clasie's leg.

Poor defensively, but played in Tadic for the goal (in similar fashion to last week).

And I was just about to criticize him for not getting forward enough for Mane's ball I'm not one for moaning about bias, but that stank of desperation to find something wrong with Bertrand's challenge.

Awesome. What do people think this means in practical terms? Another 2-3 seasons of VVD without too much fear of him leaving? (save for some nutters offer) (I realise Lallana went after one )