El-Reacho

If a player has failed a drug test than we have to really hope (and I'm being pretty selfish on behalf of the club here) that it's Bent, Ireland, Given or maybe N'Zogbia. That way we can sue like Chelsea did with Mutu - they got most of their transfer fee back after he was busted I think. Hope it's not Benteke. Edit: It says on wiki that Chelsea tried to claim Mutu's initial cost and the cost of replacing him with another player.

The deep lying tidy-upper who's not great at tackling is largely redundant in the PL, I agree. There's just a different mentality about the game here. Xabi Alonso was saying in a interview recently about the English style - that it's one of the only leagues where the crowd cheers for a great tackle or a classic reducer. In Spain tackling is frowned upon because it means you lost possession.

Marc Albrighton is definitely not explosive in my opinion. I don't think he offers anything close to what Weimann or Gabby can bring. But he has qualities in his own right - I've no doubt Lambert will change things around tactically next season and Albrighton will find a place. Perhaps he'll have to adjust to playing more centrally.

I thought he was one of our better players in the first few games of the season - not saying much I know but he looked neat and tidy. I think when we kept losing and the pressure was turned up his performances started to drop. I think he's worth another season. Delph, Westwood, and Sylla have played their way into the side and improved massively once they've got there - don't see why KEA couldn't do the same.

We seem to have a good history with Scandanavians - they do seem to settle into the club well.

Any word on Daniel Johnson? He was absolutely lethal in that Hong Kong 7's tournament a year or two back. Have we released him since then?

How good was that?? Particularly enjoyed the 'stats roar'.

Really? Bruce was pissed at Bent when he left Sunderland in the shit to take the pay bump with us. He did well under Bruce - perhaps he's willing to let bygones be bygones to get a top class striker? Brady is a great wide player so a prolific striker would be one of their most important positions to fill this summer. Well Brue will know what hes getting and wont cut his nose of to spite his face. Sure Moyes sued Rooney and looks like he wants to keep him. If a player gets a team like Hull goals, i think Brue would be mad to hold a grudge. Like what you've done there. ;-)

Really? Bruce was pissed at Bent when he left Sunderland in the shit to take the pay bump with us. He did well under Bruce - perhaps he's willing to let bygones be bygones to get a top class striker? Brady is a great wide player so a prolific striker would be one of their most important positions to fill this summer.

If you type Luke Murphy into Google the auto-complete brings up Aston Villa. He's as good as ours.

Utd achieved the same result as we did. Against a team in poorer form than our opponents. They also shipped 5 against them.

I wonder will his development follow that of Bale's? He could end up being a wide attacker. He's a really good passer and crosser of the ball. (Before someone says it - I'm well aware that he's nowhere near as good as Bale...... I'm only talking about his best position)

I think one of the big teams could take a punt on him but he'll would only get a bit part role. The fox in the box role is a luxury that very few teams can afford, especially when he seems to me to be unwilling/unable to do much else. Perhaps Stoke or Fulham who will play a traditional 442 with wingers and a strike partner for him could get the best out of him. Teams seem to be moving away from this way of playing though.

Good point. I would like it if the club engaged a bit more in this type of behavior. We've lacked shrewdness like this throughout the Lerner era. More realistically though I think after January/February Lambert found a formation and starting line up that pretty much worked so was reluctant to change it. Sylla was the only player that has forced his way into the side since then. Pre-season should be fun because I think the likes of Albrighton, Dawkins etc could feature if Lambert trys to change things around a bit.

Don't think we got what we paid for with N'Zogbia, Ireland, Hutton etc.... If Lerner throws another £20m into the kitty plus sales (as he has done most summers) we're in as good a position as any team outside of the top 6 - especially when you consider we've cleared a fair bit of salary space and will probably clear more. Don't think the likes of Fulham, Everton, Stoke, Newcastle etc can afford to increase their salary bills much more than they currently are. We on the other hand will likely be able to. We're miles miles better than Wigan.

2nd against Liverpool the best for me, closely followed by WBA goal.

He was here for the full day. That was it. And back again today. Love it! Can't wait for the summer to kick off now.... Keep in touch TheTrees.

Think it would be like Southampton bidding for Weimann or Grealish - they'd tell us where to go. They're in better financial shape than we are. They're wrapping him in cotton wool until they can cash in big time to City or Utd.

Surely the recent form of both Delph (after nearly four years in the doldrums), and Gabby shows that anyone that as shown some ability has the potential to turn things around - particulalrly under the current regime. There are no issues with his attitude so I reckon Lambert will give a chance next season if he can stay fit.

I think Lambert will identify a big vocal experienced centre half and captain in his early 20's as priority number 1 - he will spend a big chunk of the available cash on this. Similar to how he identified a need for the Benteke type forward last season and kept his cash for him until the last day. Also think this could allow Baker to compete with Bennett at LB where he gives us a lot more solidity.

I think you're exactly right with the values of players we're going to go for. A good centre back can be had for £5m. I like Kjaer (Wolfsburg), de Vrij (Feyenoord), Ecule (Lorient), Okore (Nordsjaelland) There's some left backs out there who could compete with Bennett for £2m. - We're absolutely not going to spend a lot of money in this position. N'Sakala from Troyes who just got relegated from Ligue 1 I think could be good. An attacking midfielder I think will be our biggest outlay and most important signing. Like I've said before I really really like Van Ginkel (Vitesse) if Ajax don't take him. Will Hughes (Derby) I personally think is a better prospect than the often talked about Zaha but he'll cost probably too much than we're willing to pay. Praet (Anderlecht) is a gifted, nimble passer. And one probably not on anyone's radar, has 6 goals and 12 assists in his first season in Austria and has been playing first team football for 3 years - he's only 20. A versatile winger/striker is what I feel is our last need. Someone to spell Gabby and Weimann if they're not in form and what not. Thievy Bifouma (Las Palmas), Nacer Chadli (Twente) and MArius Alexe (dinamo bucharest) are all guys I see moving this summer. Do you happen to have a 12ft satellite dish on your roof? How many sports channels do you have? Thanks for this - would imagine these are the types of names Lambert's looking at. (As in I've never heard of even one of them, except Kjaer)

Seems to be a confidence player - given the season we've just had I'm not surprised Lambert hasn't taken a chance on him. I reckon he'll get a chance next season though. You only have to take a read through the Fabian Delph thread to see how a few games in the side could completely turn things around for him. The ability's definitely there.

Lambert's performance since January has convinced me that he is a top top manager - and balanced out his performance in the first half of the season. I honestly think if Lerner had sacked him in January there's no one that could have kept that squad up. Hopefully Lerner's loyalty will pay of in the long run. Not changing managers this summer will be as good for this club as any signing. Especially when you consider Everton and possibly Stoke will be having to bed in a new managers - Sunderland are unlikely to be pulling up any trees with DiCanio in charge. WBA will not be able to achieve what they did this season again next season IMHO. Reckon Jol might be first to go. We're in a good position to start building the squad and moving up the table.

I'd say every two places would be equivalent to a Paul Lambert lower league signing.

Lambert only buys players on the way up, not the way down. Would be shocked if we bought anyone from QPR. Would deffo take McCarthy and McManaman.