bobzy

Out of interest, and not to derail too much, here's one guys' thought on the best 11/honourable mentions (Spurs fan for what it's worth): keylar navas phil lahm ron vlaar mat hummels can't decide between rojo/rodriguez/blind javier mascherano james rodriguez 2 from: arjen robben/alexis sanchez/neymar leo messi thomas mueller subs+honourable mentions to fill out the rest of the squad would be for me probably out of: gks - guillermo ochoa/tim howard/claudio bravo fbs - serge aurier/damarcus beasley cbs - rafa marquez/diego godin/gary medel mcs - jermaine jones/toni kroos wfs - mathieu valbuena/xherdan shaqiri/juan cuardado ams - miralem pjanic/sofiane feghouli (although both played wide cutting in too) sts - erm... rvp maybe? joel campbell? karim benzema? miroslav? for such an open world cup, no striker has really made a huge mark

No, otherwise I'd have listed him

Close for me. Have been discussing World Cup 11's on another forum and the consensus for "outstanding" CB's seems to be; Rafael Marquez Thiago Silva Mats Hummels Ron Vlaar Mario Yepes

Not too sure mate. I've got a feeling he would play him in a CAM role. Like last pre-seasons friendlys. IF this is the case and IF Joe Cole has been signed to play in a CAM role... could we have the perfect setup to blood Jack whilst utilising Cole's experience? Joe Cole plays for 65/70 minutes a game (assuming he stays fit, of course) and Jack gets a run out for the last 20 minutes or so. He starts cup games and learns from one of the better English creative midfielders of the past decade. Could be worse, no?

Whilst Richardson isn't the most exciting signing in the world... £8m for Bertrand is an absolute joke

I'd actually try Ciaran Clark as a DM. I know, I know...

Whilst I do see the sense in Joe Cole and Philippe Senderos... Kieran Richardson? What? :/

Paul Lambert makes terrible signings.

His goal record for Arsenal really isn't that bad - let alone his record for Denmark which is outstanding. I think he's the sort of player that wants to be a big fish in a small pond; something that was never going to happen at Arsenal. If we get him, he'd improve our strike force... you've just got to hope his attitude is good.

Nope medical at WBA today So it turns out all of that nonsense about how he was never allowed back to the Midlands was, in fact, the complete tripe everyone thought. Especially given that he's joining Wolves biggest(?) rivals. Unless this is his suicide bid!

I've seen him play one game - how about you?

4 assists. For Delph against Chelsea, for Holt against Fulham (corner), for Gabby against Swansea and for Westwood against Hull. For whatever it's worth, those 4 assists came in his last 8 games and he definitely didn't play 90 minutes in each game.

Albrighton never did much outside of cross a ball, but his crossing was so, so much better than anyone else we have. I'm ok with him being released if it's all about wages but, from a footballing point of view, it's silly to release good crossers of a football when you have Benteke and Kozak as striking option.

they still have to pay 50mill and a reduced squad size. The nonsense of FFP - Man City are in debt and get fined; but don't get excluded from the CL. It literally hasn't affected them.

It's still June. Let's not overreact just yet

Who cares if it was, he should've waited until it was guaranteed before coming out to say his goodbyes and effectively making his ownership untenable by admitting that he can't take us forward and hasn't the heart to do so. Instead of doing this anyway but saying nothing?

Got some information on Sylla then? Nothing more really than what is already out there, he wants to leave. So by "will be off shortly" you really mean "wants to leave" Do you think Sylla is the sort of player we'll be fighting to keep when he doesn't want to be here? No... but I also don't think he's the kind that would have many offers.

Got some information on Sylla then? Nothing more really than what is already out there, he wants to leave. So by "will be off shortly" you really mean "wants to leave"

Its the manager, he alludes to it in the article some won't want to hear it but it seems to be the case. Just as it was Lambert who talked Benteke into staying, I'm not saying he is faultless but he isn't the mumbling fool some would have people believe. Yes he is; he's shit and pointless and has no plan and blah blah

Are we absolutely definitely not spending any money this transfer window should Lerner stay? Seems a bit odd; that's all. Free transfers are the kind you get in before anyone else can, so it'd make sense to be doing that sort of business early on... I'd just hope we're going to buy someone as well.

Unlike failures from previous managers, though, one that hasn't crippled us financially and one we can actually sell on. Young players will either work out or they won't.

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. Let's assume Bendtner is actually an alright player and we get him on £40k/wk (not sure what he'd want, but I'd assume he wants first team football more than a wedge - others have stated otherwise though, so...). We're paying this extra £40k/wk for a season before Darren "60k+/wk" Bent leaves the club. Or, we're paying £2m for a player (again, assumed 40k/wk) then "saving" £2m over 2 further seasons compared to having Darren Bent around. He costs us "nothing" for 3 seasons. (As you say, though, no idea what he'd want - it'll be more than £25k/wk though).

This all over. I don't understand the need for ITK with regards to selling the club either - we just need to wait until something happens.

Isn't that the same argument being used for Senderos? Seriously though, I don't think that we need any more strikers. We already have about six. This is Paul Lambert we are talking about though, so no doubt he feels another one is needed. 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?

I'm pretty staggered he's scored at a rate of 1 in 2 for Denmark