Rob182

I still think we'll see movement in the next ten days. Lambert could be playing a waiting game, knowing he'll get a few cut-price deals if he leaves it late. The ITK's are suspiciously quiet! I imagine there are two or three deals being worked on in the background. We'll probably see a flurry of activity when the market picks up and a few Premier League teams start to show their hands.

No to Huddlestone! Yes to Olsson!

He sounds like a freelance tyre salesman..

Decent passing but no penetration upfront. Good signs but we either need a few new players or Lambert needs to give them some instructions. Vlaar was shaky at times, but he looked better towards the end. It's nice having two central defenders that can actually control the ball - now we just need them to tighten up their partnership! Gary Gardner was atrocious for the 10 minutes he was on. El Ahmadi was excellent. No need to panic. There's still time to bring in players, 4 of the starting eleven were new the the Premier League, Lambert just needs time to get the team up to speed. Remember when we lost 2-0 at home against Wigan, for Martinez's first game in charge? That season wasn't as bad as first feared, and I'm pretty sure that Match Thread was full of people over-reacting as well.

Who's Alan Ahmadi OBE?

Take out Agbonlahor and it is a perfectly plausible forward line for me I'm actually interested to see how Lambert makes us play when Gabby's in the team. I've always felt that Houllier, Mcleish and MON, to an extent, asked our plays to fit into the system/ tactic they wanted to play. Whereas I think Lambert & his backroom team will change the tactic to suit the players on the pitch. If Gabby is upfront I'm hoping Lambert will exploit his pace and find a way to drag the opposition defence forward. Houllier used him as a winger while McLeish and MON used him as a target man, asking him to bulk up too much in the process.

^^^^^^^^ Anyone know if this is possible?! If not, I doubt I'll buy a macron top because they're too big for my slight, yet muscly, frame... :winkold:

Hmmm, I'm not too happy that he hasn't ruled Defoe or Jones out. Defoe would be on high wages and is getting on & Jones seems like an ass. I trust Lambert, but I really hope we'd go for a younger player with potential. Qwpzxjor1, we've been playing with 2 strikers all pre-season, so I think we'll stick with that.

Stop quoting BJ10 & Eames' argument!!!!!! It's making my VT page stretch a mile, and I'm trying to hide this window as I'm at work!

I'd put money on Ramirez having a relegation release clause. Fingers crossed they go straight back down and we can swoop for him for a cut price when the re-buidling continues next summer (if he looks decent). I think we'll still see a few transfers in the next few weeks. West Ham don't have the most dangerous of attacks so I think a back four of Lichaj-Clark-Vlaar-Lowton will be okay for now. I expect to see us buy a LB and a striker, along with Hutton AND Warnock being shipped out for cut prices in the final days of the window (which personally, I don't think will effect our activity before their departures). I don't actually think we'll bring in a winger or an AMC. At the fan meeting, Lambert said he wants to improve the service to Bent, but as we play with attacking fullbacks, I think he'll just bring in a decent fullback to replace Warnock. I think the wide positions will be easily filled by N'Zogbia, Holman, Ireland & Albrighton. -------------------- Given ---------------------- Lowton --- Vlaar --------- Clark --- Cresswell --------- El Ahmadi ------- Bannan ------------ N'Zogbia -------------------------------- Ireland ------------- Bent ---------- NEW ST ------------

I sit next to a sha fan at work, he's just shown Me a picture of it! The season we have a flourescent-green away kit, they chose baby pink! Deflecting the abuse back to them!

I'm slightly concerned about the lack of experience, but I'm also excited by it. We were constantly asking for Lichaj/ Clark to be given a shot last year, and a lot of us were asking for Collins/ Warnock/ Hutton/ Dunne to be dropped when they were playing poorly. Clark will never become the CD we want him to be if he doesn't get a good run of Premier League games under his belt. Regarding Lowton and Lichaj/ Stevens, the way we're playing will send them high up the pitch so their defensive-inexperience wont be too much of an issue. The only time I can really see us suffering is when defending set pieces. I don't have many concerns around Lowton, as he can also play in a central role, therefore you would hope he'd be good at cutting out crossed. I think my only issue could be when Lichaj or Stevens are defending a set piece. I'm looking forward to see how we'll play. I imagine it will be similar to last year, but with a lot more goals scored for us, and it will be a steep learning curve for the back four (which, ultimately, could mean we have a much stronger defence next season).

That anyone would even think the opposite of this regardless of his confirmation makes me feel like Mugato in Zoolander... Saying it twice won't make it funny :winkold:

BJ10, has Ellis recently been quoted on his hatred for foreigners wearing fancy jumpers and becoming cult figures because of it? It's the only explanation I can think of, as to why you won't shut up about him! :winkold:

What money has he been sat on? The vast majority of the 45m we banked from the sales of Young, Downing and other fringe players last summer Leaving a grand total of -£9m when set against the clubs £54m operating loss. So you're telling Me that Randy's been sat on -£9m?!?! The greedy bastard!!

You'd think that if you work for talksport, you'd at least do a bit of research. .... Actually, scrap that.

5:45 PM: 5:46 PM:

I'd rather stick with Gabby, Weimann or Fonz than loan Hernandez or Welbeck. There's no point in giving their players experience just to send them back at the end of the season.

I can't see us spending that much on a winger when we already have N'Zogbia, Albrighton & Holman to play in those positions (and, the way we've been playing, Ireland aswell). LB and ST are a priority, in my opinion.

If I have a Galaxy S2 on contract with O2, but didn't pay for insurance, and now it is playing up all the time, will O2 be able to help Me? Or will I just be wasting my petrol to drive to Merry Hill Tonight? I mentioned a few pages back that my phone occasionally overheats & freezes. I can cope with that, but for months I've had a problem when recieving long text messages from my gf. The first half of the text will be fine, but then it'll cut off and the second half of the text will be part of a text she sent me ages ago. I did a factory reset but it's still doing it! I'm due an upgrade next April, but I might make a trip to Merry Hill Tonight and see what they can do, if anything. Any thoughts?

He'd cost so much though. Is he really worth it? If we've got the funds available, which I think there is a chance we have, then I think £15m-ish spent on Carroll would be well worth it. We know that we'll spend more on young, English players because they'll know the league, they'll fill our home-grown quota and they will have a higher resale value if they do leave under contract. I think, with Lambert in charge, we could easily get 30-35 goals from a Bent/ Carroll partnership. (Re: having funds available. I honestly believe that we do have funds, but I think that Lambert is playing the game at the moment. Getting the small/ cheap transfers out of the way, leaving the big ones until the last few weeks, when teams will lower their prices slightly so they can get rid. Also, by buying the cheap players first, it makes other clubs believe we don't have that much money, so they won't push the price up to a stupid amount).

Good post A.V.F.C, I've never watched Poulsen apart from a few Euro games where I didn't watch him closely. Warnock is currently rubbish defensively, rubbish going forward, low on confidence, prone to errors and poor positionally. If Poulsen is decent attacking but shaky at the back, that's a step forward, and I'd hope that Lambert could drill his positioning into him so that he tightens up defensively too.

He was seriously lacking confidence last year at Liverpool, but at Newcastle, people were scared to play against him because of his ability in the air. If we signed him, I think Lambert could really work towards his strengths. I'd love it if we signed Carroll. Bent and Carroll upfront would terrorise the Premier League!

I think his energy and ability to tackle will make him a decent DM. Just because he can pick out a pass aswell, doesn't mean we shouldn't put him in a role where he can use his more defensive attributes. I think we're actually going to have two CMs that will chip in with defensive and offensive duties.

I'm quite happy that we're so tight-lipped about transfers now. If we keep leaking these deals to the forums/ press, other clubs will hear about them and may join the bidding. The Vlaar and OGS reports probably didn't help either deal. I still think we'll see one, maybe two, transfers in the next few weeks. Hopefully, at least one by Saturday!