pete165

Just a brilliant footballer. No wonder RVP told Wenger to sign him up.

I just LOVE Holman

GUZAN is commanding his box really well.

We are SO much improved under Lambert.

Holman is going to grow on fans - he's often a bit shoddy technically, but he has a hell of an engine and his energy is priceless.

Great improvement on last season. More one touch passing, less hoofing, more ball-pressing. all Lambert's signings look better than what we had.

I've heard categorically (don't ask who - it only ends in tears and accusation) that we'll have a new left back in pronto and chances are it'll be the Ipswich boy. Don't discount another from abroad either.

Lambert needs a new team - our youth players are basically SHIT

It's almost as if we're playing our reserves...... .......hang on, just looked at the team sheet....... Herd, Baker, Bannan, Clark, Delfouneso ........ those WERE the reserves when we had Milner, Barry, Downing and Young...

yeah, the wage bill has been exceptional this afternoon - long may it continue

because we sold our best players and haven't got a pot to piss in now Lerner's stopped backing his managers. Simple as that. 7 out of the 11 are Championship quality.

Man United have a bench including Rooney, Giggs, Welbeck, Scholes and Hernandez. Our first team contains Lowton, Baker, Delfouneso and Bannan. We really have fallen a long way since MON.

Nice to see Bannan - could be great under Lambert's style. For me, Herd is more lively than Delph too. Only issue I have is I'd still have Ireland instead of Delfouneso. Because he's our most talented player by a country mile.

Shame for the lad after the same injury on the other knee last time. We're getting more and more stretched in CM all the time...

Fun as this thread is, there's a sobering undertone to the whole thing: while the likes of West Ham, QPR and Sunderland are spending big money on players and wages, we're treading water, bringing in bargain bucket signings and expecting to be able to compete. If Lerner continues down this 'wage cutting' road with one in and one out while all the other teams improve, we'll be in the Championship before long. It's a serious situation and although it's fun to speculate on an unknown black hand, the truth is that we're sinking like a stone in the 'money talks' world of modern football. Sorry to be such as pessimist - I know that Moyes is making it work at Everton doing the same, but I'm not sure our squad is as good as his!