rodders0223

you know what i mean.  The London bit about him enhanced his reputation.

More the fact he was a hugely talented player.

To mention him in the same sentance as Hendrie is laughable imo.

So by my reckoning we still need

 

- A left back - Assuming Luna will be off and big ? still over Bennetts ability to cut it.

 

- A DM - been weak in this area for years.

 

- Another wide forward - competition and ideally 1st 11 displacement for one of Weimann or Gabby. We have N'Zog coming back but after losing Albrighton still think we need one more.

 

- A striker - possibly with Benteke injured but with Bent coming back I'd be inclined to risk it. 

 

 

 

If we have any money to spend where do you spend it and what do you patch with the freebies?

 

I'd say LB personally and then see what can be done to cover other positions.

I don't see the point in buying another fullback.

If it is a Lambert fullback signing, he will be rubbish regardless.

Better to pay a few hundred thousand on a Bowery and recoup 250k after two seasons than paying between 3 and 4 million for Marlon Harewood and get 0 back.

 

Good luck to him. He seemed a likeable carachter.

It is even better to sign players who aren't complete pants at all.

He will get 10-15 goals next season.

For their reserve side?

He will be loaned out IMO and will be let go on a free

Heskey cost £3.5m? Wow. That is the most MON transfer ever.

It wasn't the transfer fee that was the problem, it was the £50k over his 46 year contract.

Are there any good free DM's at the mo? That has to be looked at for next season + LB and if I'm being greedy another winger

 

I'd take Seb Larson as a free winger

I wouldn't. He is the epitome of average.

I can see Lambert now playing his beloved 4-4-2 narrow diamond formation with this signing which I don't think will necessarily be a bad thing. 

 

Bacuna - Vlaar - Okore - Bennett / ?

                 Westwood

         KEA                 Delph

                    Cole

           Weimann - Benteke

 

Should be okay providing he can stay fit.

I would be very surprised if he starts over 10 games tbh.

He is an option to bring on and nothing more, imo.

£500K for 45 minutes of football.

That is Balaban territory.

2 year deal, turned down the MLS, has a point to prove. Welcome Joe, hope you prove that point!

 

Edit:

 

Also worth noting that he has took a serious pay cut to join us, was offered more by other clubs as well.

He was unemployed, so he didn't take any pay cut.

Does anybody have the list of out of contract players?

 

Only thing worth speculating about now

Lambert and Faulkner, clearly

Just because we have the wages spare now doesn't mean we should waste it on shite.

I think that is the issue here.

I don't mind the fact Barton is a complete ****.

I wouldn't take him becuase his legs have gone, and he is a crap footballer.

Lots of people said that Holt was too old, wouldn't last 30 minutes and wasn't even wanted by Wigan, but he did a job. He lasted full matches, he popped up with a goal, he helped us see out a few results and he really gave his all for Villa. Joe Cole may be a very similar signing, so don't write him off just yet. If he makes 10-20 appearances, pops up with a few assists/goals and can be an experienced head on the pitch and the training ground, then great, he'll have done his job.

No he didn't. He was absolute dog shite, we were lucky no teams could get points on the board because playing with that **** up front for a few more weeks would have relegated us.

Yeah, 4 years too late with this signing. He is well past it now unfortunately. Reminds me of when we braught Pires in, great players in their day but we can only lure that sort of player when theyre in the very final moments of their career. But hey, beggars cant be choosers n all that..

If we signed him 4 years ago, we would have had to have matched his £100k Liverpool gave him so not sure why people keep saying this.

Another poor signing who again is the type of player that teams who go down sign. Over rated throughout his career and he has pretty much done nothing in the last 3/4 years. Also his injury record is a huge worry. It seems obvious that there's no money to spend and that the remit is: get some experienced players on bosman's or loans and hope to whichever God you want that it's enough to keep us up. 

He was a quality player, probably the most naturally gifted of his generation tbf.

I wouldn't want him now, but depending on his wages he could be a decent option to have around the squad.

I'd be happy if it's Hoolahan coming in along with Keane as assistant. 

I would rather Keane coming in along with Hoolahan as assistant tbfh;

 

 

Let's assume Benteke is out until the New Year and Kozak doesn't make the start of the season;

 

Who would be your preferred choice up top; Bent, Agbonlahor, Weimann, Bowery or Bendtner?

Missing the point a bit though. The fact is that we do have the aforementioned strikers on the wage-bill so unless Lambert is going to get rid of a couple of them, no new strikers should be added and he should be pragmatic enough to work with what he has. Obviously though, 'Lambert' and 'pragmatism' are words that you will seldom find in the same sentence.

Also, what about when Benteke and Kozak return to fitness? We'll basically have a third-choice striker on biggish (by our standards) wages* that could be better used elsewhere. Not to mention that Bendtner is the sort of player who will instantly kick up a fuss about it also.

*Anyone who thinks Bendtner will come here for less than something like £25k/w (if that) is deluded.

 

I don't think the future wage bill issue is much of a concern to Lerner anymore, as he's practically checked out.

 

It's almost like we have no owner at the moment, so any longer-term view is largely irrelevant. Whether we are interested in Bendtner or not is up for debate, but I fully expect a few more freebies coming in, should we add to the squad.

 

In lieu of any transfer fee, putting a free agent on a contract creates a new, sell-on value for them - effectively offsetting some of their wages if sold.

 

Benteke has shown that he doesn't come back from injury by hitting the ground running so, even if he returns in the new year, it may take a while to hit form again. Kozak may not be ready for the start of the campaign and in our position we need to get as many points as we can, as quickly as we can.

 

Who knows about Bent - was behind the kids in the pecking order at Fulham.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see another experienced striker come in, and possibly another midfielder in the same vein. 

 

Tell that to QPR and all the free transfers they signed from higher clubs, dropping down to 'do them a favour'

Zat Knight, Pascal Chimbonda or we have tempted Wayne Bridge out of retirement.

 

 

Decent player, not as good as he thinks he is,  crap attitude and high wages.

Meh.

 

We wouldn't be paying "high wages" - we all know this.

 

He's (only) 26 and has been playing at a decent level for a long time.  Much like with the Senderos situation, I struggle to see much wrong in bringing in this kind of player on a free transfer.

 

£29k per week according to his Wiki.

 

He was earning £52k a week at Arsenal, the same as his shirt number.

Says it all about his ambitions for me.

Wouldn't want him.

 

Decent player, not as good as he thinks he is,  crap attitude and high wages.

Meh.

 

We wouldn't be paying "high wages" - we all know this.

 

He's (only) 26 and has been playing at a decent level for a long time.  Much like with the Senderos situation, I struggle to see much wrong in bringing in this kind of player on a free transfer.

 

He won't be coming then.

He was proven time and time again when Arsenal have tried to shift him that he cared more about salary. He will end up in Turkey somewhere earning the millions.

Decent player, not as good as he thinks he is,  crap attitude and high wages.

Meh.

Good players from good sides have signed for smaller teams than expected, in the past. I'm not saying that we will sign a player like Diego, I'm just saying it shouldn't be dismissed just because of how far we've fallen. If Lerner changed his transfer policy, or we got rid of Bent/ Given/ Hutton, and were able to offer their wages to someone else, it's not unthinkable for a team like us to pick up a good player.

He is not going to change the policy and nobody is going to take those donkeys off our books though.

For me that's just laziness. Not doing training.

No wonder phelan said he was basically manager the last couple years.

Laziness? Hahahahaha

You don't know a manager manages and the coaches coach?

Do you work in a professional enviroment at all?

Anything to have a dig at Lambert I suppose.

Rodders what you think of mariga and eric maxim choupo-moting

I have never seen any of them play regular, but they both have pedigree and play in a decent league, so we will not afford them IMO.