Mic09

The King is back.

United have had it. Olimpiakos have a moustashe.

how good is the ref!

Lewandowski is next level. He will become THE best striker in the world in Bayern

going back up would not be much of an issue. I do struggle to see how we could cope back in Premier League though. We could become the next Wolves.

After the interesting discussion has been started in the 'what do we need next season' topic, I think it would be interesting to know what we WANT next season. Now, let's be reasonable. It's not going to be top 6. What do you think a good progress would be? If we finish 12th this season, would you take an extra 3-6 points and 10th place next season as an improvement?

20 million over 10 years, 2 million per year, is a drop in the ocean for a Premiership club. And 2 million gets you a Bennet each year. We will not rip up the league with that. And do not forget, players come and go, once our stadium name has gone, it will not be coming back. I don't think it's as simple as that. It's not 'the clubs' money. Its HIS money. And businessman can do wonders with just 2 million a year. It might be more. It might be 5 a year. Anyway, my point is he will not disregard this sum as a drop in the ocean

I think we all have a 'poor person complex'. We snub off 20-30 million because it's not worth it. I don't know if some of you realise, but even for people like Lerner this is a big sum of money. Just because owners are willing to pay that kind of money for a single player doesnt mean it's 'little money'. It is s*it loads of money. This money is used to pay wages, run clubs, improve academies, and lots of other things I, as well as you, have no idea about as the truth is we know next to nothing about how a football club is run. Lerner would not just walk away from this kind of money. And that's not because he is tight on money (which I admit and it may hit him in the long run) but because he is a businessman.

Karim was born in Netherlands but he is eligable to play for Marocco, his parents are both Maroccan. Maube it's him?

I'll quote you just as an example. It most definitely is not a moot point. You're right in that a player needs to be of some standard and the better the better. However, if you have a right footed and a left footed CB, it's better than if you have two right or two left footed ones. Neither of them plays in the center so that it wouldn't make any difference. If a player is far superior, he can play on the wrong side too, but it's not ideal, as someone has mentioned. I wouldn't want to play Vlaar on the wrong side if possible. But if Okore is clearly better than Clark, I would. I don't have evidence he is at the moment, so I'd play Clark on the left and Vlaar on right. Let them fight it out. No way is it clear that Okore walks back in and Clark gets dropped. I don't get it either. If a right footed cb needs to go on the left side of the pitch is he a lesser defender all of a sudden? Most players today are at least reasonable (if not good) with both feet, I wish somebody did a statistic on Vlaar's defending touches on either side the pitch to see exactly if this 'right/left footed' discussion has any relevance

I hate repeating myself, but if not a couple of unlucky draws or defeats (eg Liverpool 2-2, Chelsea 2-1, Yesterday's 0-0 where their asses were saved by Marshall) we would have been fighting for top 6. You simply CANNOT talk about 'lucky/unlucky' results. This is football.

here is a controversial one; holt for benteke?

What I am simply saying, maybe he could have done a better job then he did? Just as someone could do a better job with Man U?

Here is a brain twister; Moyes has never won anything with Everton for however many millions of years he has been there (apart from 4th spot one year). Martinez walks in - BANG - they are fighting for CL straightaway. Ferguson has a title winning team, Moyes comes in and BANG. They are poo. The question is this; maybe Moyes was simply holding Everton from reaching their full potential just as he does at Manure now?

To all the moaners about the wages we are paying now, would you rather have the current squad, or the Bents, Warnocks and Huttons of today on 50-60 k a week, most likely to play a similar standard of football? If in the summer we get three 5-8 million players i'd be over the moon. Let's build it slowly but surely.

I play it in FM and it works, so Mourinho must be onto something.

Sylla? I know Westwood is no pirlo, but Sylla?

I don't know how believable this is, but his claim we will be ending up in 'safe hands' because Lerner takes his time is BS. He takes his time because he wants to find a person that will suit HIS financial needs, not the AVFC.

But why wouldn't you take those 2 games into account? Perhaps I've not put that very well, I'm just saying that if you look at the improvement of 12 goals its a very dramatic change but when 13 of those goals came in 2 games the consistent improvement form game to game cant be much better? I guess a nerdy scientist may consider those games as an anomaly if it were a science experiment for example. I'm not saying we haven't improved, but in a football sense I don't think that the difference on the pitch is as great as that 12 goal swing could suggest. May be true in maths, but isn't the reason we conceded 13 goals in 2 games due to the fact that we were, in fact, bad defence?

He is concrete, and his great quality is shown by the way he also affects the whole game. Not just a cb, but an inspiration to the team. Our top player. I would rather loose Benteke then Vlaar.

Everton - Loss Cardiff- Win West Ham - Win Newcastle- Draw I'd be happy with 7.

This. I can't believe how pesimistic we have all become. Why? Because fulham signed some foreign players? I think Bertrand was a GREAT signing, Lambert has done well there. Holt played his part over baggies (he was the only one smart enough to hold the ball when we were winning). Lambert has done a good job, and if he gets 20-25 million in the summer to build on what we have I think we can really push for top 8. He will definatelly get an AM, try to get Bertrand on perm, get another midfielder, possibly a RB (lowton is still iffy), 7-8 strikers, okore and kozak will be back. We are looking up, not down! Let's give the guy a chance to build something! Look at the way Delph or Bacuna start to perform. By the way they are playing, along with Gabby, Vlaar, Guzan, Bertrand, Benteke, we are definately a good enough team to challange. Those thing's don't happen over night, you know?

But we should have won against chelsea, liverpool (twice). This is what we call BULL CRAP.

Guys, like I said in a different post a while ago, as much as I hope I am wrong, can you explain where all this Okore hype is from? Clark has played reasonably well (apart from mindless hoofing) and deserves his spot in front of Baker. I hope you take into consideration the fact that Okore might be a different player when he comes back (it is a MASSIVE injury) and that we haven't seen a lot of him. Clark and Vlaar will easily get us through the season, and Okore will have to prove he can perform better then Clark. 3 games in the start of the season are not the best evidence to judge a player, unless you are ready to say that Luna is a great left back.

was it even an injury? I just thought he had a really bad knock after he fell through the ads