Tomaszk

Awesome signing for the Blues, so exciting. Imagine if he came here!

Well I'm glad we haven't appointed a crap manager and let him spend millions on shit players. He's just left... I joke, I joke. MON wasn't a crap manager, but he wasn't a brilliant one. He wasted a horrendous amount of money and left us in a shocking position just because Randy wouldn't continue to fund his gathering of crap players. We've been competing with the likes of Spurs and Everton spending similar to spurs and about 3 times as much as Everton and still have gaping holes etc etc... Manager is more important than getting anyone and getting some players in who will be no good come next season. Of course, if we now appoint Southgate, everything is irrelevant. Randy has inadvertently put himself under a LOT of pressure to get a top manager now. If the manager isn't a big success in his first few games, he will be under fan pressure from the off.

He was a fantastic player, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen him once since he left Arsenal. The season on loan last year in Germany will have helped him regain his form nicely. Well at least we can be safe in the knowledge that even if MON was still here we wouldn't have been interested anyway

Just a suggestion who I can't believe is still available after the season he had last year. It would be another really late one as I was only reminded of him this morning reading about him having a medical at Hoffenheim. Gylfi Sigurdsson. He's that Reading winger who took Liverpool apart and did really well against us. He scored something silly like 23 goals from the left wing and could probably be got for £4/5m. Really impressive tricky winger I think. Not exactly what we need, but if you look at Young as a central in-the-hole player we've only got Albrighton and Downing for the wings atm. He'd be a millions times better than Stew.

Sidwell will do well somewhere else I just know it. It just hasn't worked for him here.

I'm rather terrified Curbs is lurking.

Betting suspended on Brown

Despite all the press (and fan) pressure on the board to get a new man in ASAP, I still think we need to be very careful and not rush. We all want the best, and Everton is only one game, only 3 points. If we rush and get the wrong man (like bloomin' Brown) it'll hurt is much more in the long run and come Jan Young will be off and the Gabby to City/Spurs/Liverpool bandwagon will begin to roll ready for our annual 'Best Player Leaves Every Summer' parade. Stating the obvious, it's a massive decision. I'm not quite sure someone like Hitzfeld would be the right man. He's got a good CV and loads of experience but imagine what it's like to be a player. You've had 5 years of Robertson and Walford making training really fun and improving players individually with a bit of 1-on-1 stuff, then got serious on matchdays with a psycho Ulsterman. I think Hitzfeld's brand of (what I imagine is) ultra-serious style may not fit our youngish squad, I think it would stamp out our yoof's exuberance. Not a clue who would work, but I know I'd rather have Hitzfeld than Big Bob or Southgate or Brown. Typing as I think now, and I don't really think a lower league man/lesser known manager would work either to be honest. The state we're in with the press hounding at us, waiting for us to crumble and our team be dismantled, we need a name. I hate that phrase - 'A Name'. But I think if a bit of a unknown came into the job, unless they had an incredible start, the morale would be at an all time low and certain players would be handing in transfer requests or counting down the days to Jan 1 so they can jog off to White Hart Lane.

Great player. I enjoy watching him, bit quicker than I thought. Needs a bit of help in the middle, not sure who from, I'm still gutted that Delph blew his knee out, I think he'd be perfect in there with Petrov and Ireland. Ash and The Concorde out on the wings, lovely. It'll come, when we stop getting hammered, it'll come

I hate referee's and their weird idea that the rules of football change once the ball is in the area. How many pointless free kicks are given a game in the middle of the pitch for literally nothing more than a player getting themselves into trouble, before throwing themselves to the floor knowing the ref will give them a free kick. Ref's need to man up and either play 'Penalty box rules' everywhere, leading to about 5 fouls a game and making the game flow much better; OR start dishing out 6 penalties a game to both sides playing 'Shitty running next to someone is a foul' rules. ---- I think Everton may give us a bit of a kicking at VP actually. If Gabby isn't fit, can't see us having a sniff.

Martin is a good manager. It will be hard to replace him. However I very much doubt that the next man in will be given the funds Martin was. He will have to be a lot more balanced with his expenditure, in the end I think Martin threw a wobbly when he was told to control his spending. He wasted millions and millions of pounds because of his obsession with buying players he knew inside out, which led to this. The next man in is so important, but I think whoever it is is fighting a losing battle, he needs to do a great job to finish high up the league.

I thought a coconut was a seed?

Interesting comments lads, and there is sound thinking behind the decision to drop him. However I think the confidence that he'll have at the moment will so important to us. Even if he KNOWS there is a reason behind it and is told he isn't being dropped but just a victim of the system or something, it might just stunt the momentum he's had building up. If we're under pressure (as I think we will be) for a lot of the game, his pace will also be very handy indeed on the break. He was good last night again and now has 3 assists (and one very good assist to an assist with that clever ball into Young) in 2 games. I say take him out when he starts struggling not when he's flying. You make good points though, let's hope KevMac does the right thing whatever that may be.

Cookie monster takes no prisoners! Dunne has the physique of a tractor.

Reo-Coker is a disaster of a footballer. That is my sweeping statement for the evening. Good night.

More £

Is there anywhere we can get full games from, does anyone know? Cheers

They beat Benfica 1-0 tonight.

That will be an excellent move for all parties involved. Blackbrun have made a offer for a un-name striker who is a proven frontman Sky Sports Not Heskey then. He's a proven defensive striker! He seems to have been on strike for the last two seasons.Glad some jokes have been made so I don't have to think of one. First thing that came into my head when I read "proven frontman"

Is he that good really? Only seemed part of a good side at the WC to me, wasn't too much of a star for them. He looks frighteningly like Baros when you are watching a game.

Luke young to Liverpool is a joke. One of the best RB's in the league, disgusting he could not get a game last year. He'll prob go and get more games there tbh, MON has made his mind up on him. If I was him I'd be out the door like a shot.

As if he'd come Be our best player if he did, just like he was when he left.

Will do. A stern letter will do the trick, see you all in the Champions League soon. It's not just the last 2 years where our side has got tired, O'Neill's first year had us not winning for a run of something like 10 weeks because the players had not been rotated. If it was fresh problems that seemed to be doing us in I wouldn't mind. I'd think this is our year to give it a go again. But bearing in mind for the last 2 seasons it has been exactly the same problem that has been our downfall it's very frustrating. O'Neill does things his way, fine, have your approach and stick to it. But it seems to me that for 16th-6th, it works, and it doesn't beyond that. I think Trent posted something in another thread about the football being a lot worse and I have to agree, from being a really exciting side, we're now a chore to watch and still can't take a quick throw in and pass it around. We're seeing the same thing that happened with Barry happen with Milner so to be honest it's not a case of "Oh if we keep finishing 6th we're doing well so it's all fine" (not that you've said that) because our better players are going to be harder and harder to keep. If we don't make some progress in terms of league position its not just hanging onto players like Milner and Young that we're going to have to worry about it's going to be getting anyone who is actually capable of helping us take that leap to join us at all. Look how many players City have in their squad! I know they are a weird joke project but still, they have players in their elite squad (ha!) who would seriously challenge our first XI. Does it not frustrate you that the same things are very very likely to happen this year because O'Neill is taking the same steps as he has done previously?

Indeed. If 6th is long term target lovely. But it isn't for me. We've done well despite the millions and millions O'Neill has wasted on crap and paid through the nose for it. It's just sad that I can see exactly the same thing as the last 2 years happening again. It doesn't really matter what happens up to Feb because we'll collapse because the same players will have been played in every competition for 90 mins plus and will be shattered. So no, I don't find it amusing that people moan about O'Neill's transfers. I find it depressing that we're happy to just take another season of the same mistakes.

Stan is good for 60 mins. Though towards the end of last season I thought he really dipped and looked painfully slow throughout games. Def need a replacement. NRC can run around and shout at people and point. Waste of time. If he could play for united and just tackle people then pass it 3 yards, he might be ok. We need more.