kayarcee

Not really; NRC started out on the wing under MON (actually, so did Petrov)

Think he's being rested for a "minor niggle" along with Dunney.

Reminds me of the lineup MON used to play when he only had Ash as a senior winger- I like it if Mac plays it like that, like it a little less if he's playing Nige as a right winger.

I'll only take him if he doesn't go on to swap Carew to Galatasaray for Baros

honestly, I think we could use the kids and be OK. Would like to see ----------Golden Guz----------- Lichaj---Cuellar--Collins---Beye Downing--NRC----Salifou--Bannan ------------Ireland------------------ -----------Gabby------------------- EDIT: And, in fact, we SHOULD use this team, because the Everton match is much more important . Ireland and Gabby to play around 60 mins before making way for the Fonz and Sidwell, if available.

His name came up earlier in the thread. He'd be a pretty good shout, I'd think.

Blaming it on the players now? Seems a bit extreme. :shock:

:nod:

Actually, I think if Heskey is asked to play as a striker, and not "a link man" (read: tracking all the way back to his own area to get the ball), we might see more of the form that he produced at Wigan (where he was pretty dangerous, TBF)

Sven likes a Brazilian. Apparently. And Arshavin? Pretty smooth. . .

might this new contract mean his wages just rose? :winkold: :shock:

Not quite. He appointed Holmgren as general manager, which in American Football is closer to DoF. The "manager" is Eric Mangini, a rah-rah type who gets quickly found out. From the way Faulkner's suddenly become prominent, I'd say Lerner is looking less for a manager and more for a coach

Didn't think of that; his hiring record with the Browns has been atrocious. Mostly it's up and coming, inexperienced coordinators (read: coaches) getting their first shot, and flaming out (i.e. Romeo Crennell) or young coaches who had a glimmer of success, but were quickly found out elsewhere (i.e. Eric Mangini). MON's been his best "hire" of either team, and he didn't really handle the hiring of O'Neill. In fact, his handling of Mangini (hiring him first, and then hiring Mike Holmgren as GM/DoF half a year into Mangini's tenure) gives us an idea of what he was playing at bringing in Faulkner- I think he's looking for a coach and not a proper manger.

And if he doesn't sign anyone this summer? You have comprehended that yes, or is it just not going to happen? If he doesn't sign anyone, the team will be fine. We've got, IMO, the deepest defensive squad in the Prem, probably the second deepest central midfield grouping in the Prem, A top-tier keeper, two strikers who scored over 15 goals in all competitions, and one, maybe two top tier wingers. With four youngsters who will be pushing for places through the season. Sounds like a good team to me.

The Fiat Collins: Boxy and unremarkable from the outside, but once you've driven it, you discover solid handling and stopping. The Fiat Downing: frustrating to drive the first 6 months after you replace a flat, but class at points. The Fiat Sidwell: Available in only orange, it flies up and down the roads, but has a tendency to overdrive its destinations and fly right into opposing traffic.

Except in Gabby's case, where the player has been good enough to start over a quite a few of the manager's signings whenever he's fit. I would imagine that Albrighton's future mirrors more that of Gabby rather than Gary Cahill, for example.

Can we just lock this post until Monday? It's been apparent since England crashed out of the cup that the transfer issue won't be addressed in any fashion other than rampant speculation until Milner's back from his hols on the 26th.

Fulham have launched their kit for this year; looks like we'll have the tagline, then

Yeah, the blurry photo makes me think I saw shadow, and that the collar is overlapping the body of the shirt, and not vice versa. I would love a proper collar shirt too, but if not I can keep wearing my 80/81 retro

Something like this? Oh did a collared home and away too... not a big fan of the old collar but they do look great! You should do our kit designs mate! Those are fantastic, but I think going by the glimpse we catch in the Man United leaks, it will be a solid claret collar (it does look like a proper collar, and not a crew/v neck):

interesting- he sounds like the Shaun Maloney/Patrik Berger type player MON's been trying to make Sidwell into the past two years. I really like Valdez, one of my favourite players but I'm not sure if he's what we need. A very good team player who runs everywhere like Milner, but his finishing has always been very suspect. We need the opposite. I could see MON being very interested though. I saw his ability to be a striker/midfield hybrid filling a need as an impact sub to offer plan b when we're chasing a goal. I admit to not being familiar enough with the player; how are his crossing and distribution? Is he the type of player that could break a game open in ways beyond shooting (and apparently, running)?

interesting- he sounds like the Shaun Maloney/Patrik Berger type player MON's been trying to make Sidwell into the past two years.

Boyd FREE Fletcher £2m/£3m Piquionne £3m/£4m Doyle £8m/£9m Kalinic £8m/£9m Keane £8m/£9m Cole £8m/£9m Jones £9m/£10m Bellamy £9m/£10m Rodellaga £10m/£12m Santa Cruz £15m Pavlyuchenko £15m Bent £20m + They're my guesses. They're all realistic signings apart from Bent. I'd personally prefer Santa Cruz, Rodellaga or Bellamy as a new striker and then one of Piquionne/ Fletcher as a backup. If we buy from Spurs or Man City then I can see the values increasing slightly because they wont want to improve their rivals for cheap. Boyd FREE --- Useless in this league, so slow Fletcher £2m/£3m ---- Maybe as 4th/5th choice I guess Piquionne £3m/£4m ---- Do you know he's 31? Just no. Doyle £8m/£9m ----- Would be good but would cost more than that so I wouldn't pay it Kalinic £8m/£9m ---- They paid £6 million or so, they'll keep him and make more next year if he is successful. Keane £8m/£9m ----- Too much for him, is he finished? Worth a risk for £5 mill Cole £8m/£9m ---- Would probably cost more than that, do we need a different type of striker? Jones £9m/£10m ----- How is Jones worth more than Cole? Anyway. I don't rate him Bellamy £9m/£10m ---- Also close to 31, that is too expensive, too much chance of injury, wages too high, will stay at City Rodellaga £10m/£12m ---- Would be a gamble, could be good Santa Cruz £15m ----- Too expensive for his age, no form for 2 seasons, too injury prone Pavlyuchenko £15m --- Too expensive for him, will go to Russia or a big European club Bent £20m + -- No Chance This summer really needs to be the summer we look to Europe. I really do like the idea of Fletcher in our set up. If he was able to poach pretty well off of service from Jack Cork, imagine the damage he could do collecting crosses from Ashley. . .

Which is what people said about Dunney when he first came in.

Always thought he would be a very good signing, but not so sure about him now. How old is he? Would he be a very good squad player or starter? Just turned 30, starter...better than Downing IMO. Yep, I'd definitely go in for Benayoun, he runs at players and actually goes past them, opening space up for other. Exactly what we need at times. But Benayouns not a wide man is he? Doesnt he play just just in behind the striker? I know one thing for sure though, if we played Gabby and a smaller guy upfront together wed have to cut out a lot of the long balls. That's Yossi's preferred position, but Benitez has played him on teh right wing on many occasions. I don't agree with your assessment of playing Gabby and a shorter player, especially after this year. Gabby's gotten a lot better at playing with his back into the centerback, and has over the course of this season turned into a faster, goalscoring version of Lionel Heskey. As a matter of fact, one of the best goals Gabby ever scored was off of a long ball (at the Emirates last season, when he fought off Gallas, circus-sealed the ball onto his right, and hit it on the half-volley). Actually, one of the things that miffed me most about Sunday's match was that the Fonz didn't come on first, so we could see what the Gabby-Fonz partnership would look like.