switters

Surely we have more important positions to sort out than CB?

With Clark being in "indifferent" form and dunne being injured, you can see that given cannot handle too much pressured I think we need two players for defence, centre and left back. Get him signed

Agreed. Having seen first two matches, I think a CB is actually quite high priority - Dunne won't be back for at least a month and I'd expect it'll be another month after that before he's up to speed (in relative terms!) as he's been injured for most of 2012. I don't really want to be relying on him staying fit.

Dawson sounds like he could be expensive for his age, Spurs are good at milking every penny out of people, but our defence is desperately inexperienced. with the current status of Hutton/Warnock/Dunne, Vlaar is our only available defender over 23 and he's got to adjust to this league.

QPR, Stoke & Sunderland all linked to Dawson too, so who knows if there's any substance..

But if we dont sign anyone, surely that brings up the question of why would Lambert join us if he wasn't going to be backed. A question you have posed to others when they have been flapping. Perhaps the answer is that he still will be but things havent worked out this window.

Quite simply he thought he could get more out Nzog, Ireland, Clark etc. His faith in those 3 - has spectacularly back fired - Ireland didn't even get a kick yesterday, Clark was dire and got a red - and Nzog was totally anonymous.

That doesn't make a lick of sense. How can Lambert's faith in Ireland 'spectacularly backfire' if he didn't even play him yesterday?! And it's way too soon to say how much faith Lambert has in likes of N'Zogbia and Clark. He has only managed 2 matches. We know next-to-nothing about Lambert's thoughts on the team. The only real shows of faith are in the people he has signed.

I'd take anyone at the moment if they improved the shit we are having to field week-in-week-out.

We have so many players not good enough for this level. Given, Herd, Bannan, Delph, Delfouneso, Warnock, Hutton... I'm sure there are a few more.

What we need is Premiership experienced players. Yes, we can have 1 or 2 youngsters in the side - Clark, Baker, Lowton, Weimann - but we can't keep playing these kids who have come through the system, cos' the majority of them are shit.

I'd even sell Darren Bent if we could get £20mill. He's done ****-all in 2 games except waltz around with the Captain's arm band on.

I'll give you a few players we could get in that would drastically improve this team - Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, Adam Llallana, Ricky Lambert, Sebastian Larsson, Nicholas Bendtner. Out of these, I reckon at least 3 would be able to be purchased while Huddlestone would come on-loan (and to avoid the Kyle Walker charade, get an option to buy put in). I believe £20 mill would buy us Dawson, Larsson and Bendtner.

Bendtner's a good call. Don't particularly like him as person, but he offers something we lack up front, and he's surplus to requirements at Arsenal so perhaps could be got relatively cheap.

Depends on wages & whether any of the rumoured interest from Italian clubs is true.

Malouda, Benayoun and Kakuta told they can leave Chelsea (according to Tw@tter)

Kakuta wouldn't be a bad shout, cheap on wages and fee too i'd imagine.

Benayoun and Malouda??? A few years ago definately but now, no for me.

Malouda or Benayoun on loan for the season would be a good move. Don't know much about Kakuta

Jelavic definitely played for Everton before so shouldn't be 0.

These stats are somewhat telling, but a bit misleading. Experience outside the PL should count for more than minimal experience in PL (i.e. El Ahmadi's 200 games in Holland make him a much more experienced player than our homegrown kids & even though Vlaar is new to this league he still comfortably looks our most experienced defender in the current backline). We don't need to over-emphasise the importance of having played in this league specifically, when you just need to look at people like Hazard who have played 2 Premier League games but are clearly quality.

A tally of career games total would probably give a fairer comparison (and ignore the subs 'cause Heitinga's 300 games don't really mean a lot when he only plays 5 mins!)

But however it's done it can't be denied the difference in the experience of the two defences in particular was immense. Everton have 3 defenders in their 30s, we have 3 aged 21, 22, 23. I have no problem with shipping out Collins, Warnock, Hutton, Cuellar but we have to add more than just Vlaar & Lowton to replace them.

How on earth did the Boggies snap up Lukaku? We are in dire need of someone like him. On top of the fact we have no good footballers, the team is completely bereft of size, strength and power.

Yep definitely missed a trick there. Time and again we're told how difficult it is to sign players, but we see teams around us/theoretically below us making good signings who would've improved our squad.

the answer to the question there, though, is Steve Clarke. Strong Chelsea link. Let's hope Lambert has some links which can help us.

I don't think most of them would look massively out of place if they were put individually into another PL side at our level. The problem is we're playing 5 of them at once in a team which has been dysfunctional for the past 2 years.

Take Baker, for example. He's a CB being put at LB in a defence with a brand new central pairing and an inexperienced RB, with a player in front of him who provides no cover. What chance does he really have of looking good in that situation?

Or Clark finally gets put at CB but again, he's got an inexperienced non-LB one side of him and someone brand new to the league alongside him. He has not impressed, but this is hardly ideal circumstances. You don't see anyone else in the league ever putting out a defence as lacking in experience as ours was today.

Compare someone like Spurs. They have some good young players, but if you simultaneously put Walker, Caulker, Naughton in their back 4 and Livermore, Townsend, Rose elsewhere in their XI I think they'd also struggle with the lack of experience around them.

We go from one extreme to the other. O'Neill kept the same XI as much as possible and rarely played youth, now we're at a point where we play 4-5 homegrown players every match. Neither is ideal.

We did the worst thing you can do vs Everton and went behind very early. They are one of the best in the league at holding a lead. It clearly rocked our already unsteady confidence, and we then really struggled to get any hold in the game. That's where the massive lack of experience in the team showed.

N'Zogbia and Bannan were the biggest disappointments. Both wasteful, both showing very poor decision making. Bannan needs to learn when to play simple and keep the ball on the ground, rather than trying to overcomplicate things. N'Zogbia needs to learn when it's best to run and when it's best to release it, but I fear he never will.

Gotta try and eke out something positive, so I will say once we scored, even though Everton had clearly just settled for the score at 1-3, we did look a bit more confident & that is something to take forward. Holman and Weimann both offered a bit more brightness in attack in their cameos.

Got a nice home cup fixture now to try and build some confidence. I'd like to see something like:

Given

Lowton-Vlaar-Baker-Lichaj

Herd-ElAhmadi-Ireland-Holman

Bent-Weimann

I think the players we are missing are in the left back position and the area between Bent and the midfield.

I think we're lacking in the area between Given and the opposition goalkeeper. And Given's been crap too!

Good lord. There is really no positive from this half. Completely lacking in attack, woeful in defence. Lambert has A LOT of work to do to make a team out of this lot.

Oh jesus, Given. Woeful.

Glad to see Bannan start. Bit surprised by Fonz. I think Herd will be in there to track Fellaini.

I think we'll get at least a draw. Everton are experienced & good at stifling teams, which is how they beat United, but they are nothing to be scared of.

I saw Jay Spearing linked with a £3m move to Bolton. He likes a tackle and his work-rate is great, is young and hungry. At first I thought he was a bit of a joke basically because he's a Scouser but he grew on me a bit the more I saw him play and he could be a good partner for El Ahmadi.

Spearing is no better than Herd, so I wouldn't see the point.

Merse and co reckon sturridge is surplus to requirements, with avb ruling out a striker, everton and sunderland done in the strkiker buusiness, just leaves liverpool, not sure about newcastle but if we could somehow pull this off the optimism would be back, come on lerner get your wallet out! Yes one can dream....

I'd be very surprised if Sturridge is surplus to requirements unless Chelsea have another striker coming in. If Torres got injured they've only got him or Moses to lead the line.

A. Johnson to Sunderland is a done deal apparently.. I know a few people on here wanted him well he has gone there now.

Que mass VT suicide. He's a good player, but VT seems to have an unhealthy obsession with getting him here.

I agree with the number of people saying he is a good player. But he is a MOTD player. Will do a few good crosses but then lose the ball to easily other times.

Much like SWP in that way. Can turn a game on its head but not every single game. Maybe 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 games. I would rather have someone less flashy that can do something in every game he plays.

SWP is a good comparison, and in fact their careers have followed very similar trajectories - make their name at middling PL club (Man City, as they were/Middlesbrough), step up to new money club at about 22/23 (Chelsea/Man City) get into England setup but never establish themselves as first choice with their club, after 3 yrs of being in/out of team move back home age 25/26 (SWP directly back to Man City/Johnson back to the NE, maybe would've been Boro if they were still around).

Now the point here is: what did SWP do after Chelsea? Hung around at City bench for a few years, now he's doing very little at QPR. Obviously this does not mean Johnson will follow same path - he is a bit younger & maybe less reliant on pace as SWP is - but we certainly wouldn't regret missing out on post-Chelsea SWP, and I think it might well end up similar here.

Talented player but inconsistent & frustrating with it. Not really what we need when we already have N'Zogbia & Ireland for that particular role :winkold:

If we shift Dunne and Warnock we effectively won't have a single outfield player in their 30s left in the squad (only Petrov, but no-one knows if he'll play again).

And if we shift Dunne, Warnock and Hutton, Vlaar will be our only defender over the age of 23! Which would sound pretty damn risky to me..

haha as if sigurdsson would have come to play for that idiot

he is delusional and still peddling the "decent manager, decent bloke, not given a fair crack of the whip" nonsense

I know right i mean after all he ONLY got Alexander Hleb ( Arsenal and barcelona midfielder ) and Obafemi Martins ( inter milan and Newcastle striker ) on loan for SHA ...Surely that was one of the worst points ive ever heard on VT :?

Heh, and let us not forget how Hleb described the experience afterwards

"The day before a game he would come onto the pitch and show us what to do: 'You stand here, the goalkeeper will give you the ball here, kick it as far as you can and don't pass to anyone nearby. And we all run.'"

I am no McLeish fan but Hleb's career since leaving Arsenal has hardly been a blaze of glory. Maybe he should look at himself a lot closer.

Read the whole interview. He was self-critical, but also McLeish-critical, I just picked the funniest quote:

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20120419/172911969.html

haha as if sigurdsson would have come to play for that idiot

he is delusional and still peddling the "decent manager, decent bloke, not given a fair crack of the whip" nonsense

I know right i mean after all he ONLY got Alexander Hleb ( Arsenal and barcelona midfielder ) and Obafemi Martins ( inter milan and Newcastle striker ) on loan for SHA ...Surely that was one of the worst points ive ever heard on VT :?

Heh, and let us not forget how Hleb described the experience afterwards

"The day before a game he would come onto the pitch and show us what to do: 'You stand here, the goalkeeper will give you the ball here, kick it as far as you can and don't pass to anyone nearby. And we all run.'"

a mate of mine recently became a football agent and he is at VP on thurs. he represents a famous striker - his words - wont say who he is at this stage but said villa arent interested. he also thinks we'll struggle this year as we arent in the hunt for many of the players doing the rounds. eithe r we have a masterplan and noone knows it or the lack of movement is worrying

I'd take it as a good sign if we're not after the players 'doing the rounds', i.e. the players agents are trying to tout. A lot of these will be players like Hutton and Warnock who clubs are most desperately trying to offload..

Great stuff. Sounds likes a very positive, long-term move.

two things. Bannan looked incredibly good in deep lying midfield role in Portland. I would not have expected that, but very impressed.

Intersting story: At the chicago signing, a guy right behind me kept going on about the cross from bannan to albrighton at craven cottage. The guy was a fulham fan, so he wasn't happy at the goal, or the cross. Anyway, when he stepped to the table, he said to BB "I'm a Fulham fan, do you remember the cross you hit at craven cottage a while back?" BB immediately stated (not asked) "you mean the one to Marc."

So, a previous poster remembers that cross as a moment of brilliance. Clearly BB does too. I thought it was amazing the BB knew exactly what the fulham fan was referencing. I don't remember where I left my keys.

It was probably the best thing he did all season so no surprise he remembers it!

Bannan's got a chance for a fresh start after last season, and he's perhaps one who needs it most, as he faded badly after the driving thing and then hardly getting in the (underperforming) team.

He is definitely good with the ball, but it's a question of applying it at the top level - can he make the right passes at the right time, etc. And that's also partly down to whether manager plays a system in which he fits. Certainly would be an attribute in the team for dead ball situations and a deep-lying playmaker role might be where he fits, if alongside the right players

He ain't worth that kind of money. Burnley got him from Hibs for £3m, which was an astute buy - our strategy this summer is to get these type of signings at that stage rather than when they've been over-inflated by a couple of decent seasons in the Premier League so I would not expect us to be considering him.

maybe plan is Lowton, Cresswell, Lichaj and Herd competing for 2 full back spots? There'd be a lack of experience, but it sounds more promising that just being stuck with Hutton and Warnock week-in week-out, who are very experienced at being crap. These youngsters are players who should be driven to put in performances, retain their place in the team & prove themselves, and there are certainly precedents in the premier league that these players can look to follow - e.g. Kyle Walker, Leighton Baines.

You'd worry if we were in a relegation battle & those were the options at full-back, but hopefully we will stay out of that kind of trouble this season and this kind of strategy seems sensible - even if only 1 of those players became established long-term, it'd be a successful strategy.

That doesn't really mean a lot. UK youth academies are generally very poor and the Next Gen series are an invitational tournament. Feyenoord rejected participation so that our youngsters wouldn't be in the picture as much of UK teams.

We have lost so many players because they cannot sign a contract until they are 16, it's quite ridiculous. In the last 2/3 years we've lost Bruma and Ake to Chelsea, Rekik to Man City, Ebecilio to Arsenal and Van la Parra to Caen. English academies pinch these youngsters so that they are counted as home grown because they cannot teach young kids how to play. They give their parents a cleaning job for 60k a year, pay the kid a few 100.000 a year and only have to compensate us 50/100k.

But still we have 16 of our 27 first team squad from the academy. That is not really boasting...but facts (Rafa Benitez style)

And I wansn't even mentioning recent departures like Castaignos (Inter Milan), Wijnaldum (PSV) and Fer (FC Twente) who left the club a year ago after coming through the ranks.

It's quite the contrast if you come up with Albrighton, Clark and Agbonlahor.

Not to get in a heated argument or to baost one academy is indeed bigger than the other but allow me this question: how many Feyenoord academy graduates are currently playing in arguably one of the best leagues in the world?

Barry, Cahill, Sturridge, Agbonlahor, Clark, Albrighton, Weimann, Bannan, Herd, Craig and Gary Gardner to name just a few.

Here is a small list from players in the top leagues in the world (I may have forgotten a few). If you would ask me to make a new list in 5 years...it would be so much longer.

Robin van Persie (Arsenal)

Salomon Kalou (Just joined Lille from Chelsea)

Royston Drenthe (On loan at Everton last season from Real Madrid)

Luc Castaignos (Inter Milan)

Jeffrey Bruma (On loan to HSV from Chelsea)

Glenn Loovens (Real Zaragoza)

Jonathan de Guzman (Just moved on loan to Swansea from Villarreal)

Gerson Magrao (Santos)

Karim Rekik (Manchester City)

Nathan Ake (Chelsea)

Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan)

Kyle Ebecilio (Arsenal)

Moestafa el Kabir (Cagliari)

Ronnie Stam (Wigan)

Michel Bastos (Olympique Lyon)

Gianni Zuiverloon (Real Mallorca)

Before you were complaining about clubs poaching talents aged 16, now you want to claim people like Kalou and Bastos as Feyenoord products when you signed them from their home countries at 18?

Feyenoord does have a great academy & seems to be producing a lot the last few years, but really we have to wait and see how youth players progress. People like Drenthe & De Guzman had a lot of hype but have not lived up to it yet.

Of your list only Van Persie, Kalou & Bastos are really proven top level players and the latter two are not really Feyenoord products.

the rest are either too early in their career to judge (Castaignos, Ebecilio, Rekik, Ake, Adiyiah, Bruma) or pretty average players on about the same level as Villa products like Craig Gardner or Liam Ridgewell (Zuiverloon, Loovens, Stam).