Summer transfer rumours, speculation and out-and-out b*ll*cks.

[spangley1812]

Signing Shaun Wright-Phillips would be absolutely mental. It's not 2004.

He was only average then.

SWP makes Aiden McGeady look like Lionel Messi.....................

[taylorsworkrate]

I think the game against Braga will give us a better indication as apparently AM is fielding a full strength side so I'm reserving judgement until then as I thought we played some good stuff against Blackburn and Walsall when we played or at least started with full strength sides

It'll also be interesting to see what he thinks his full strength side is.

My money is on:

Given
Young - Collins - Dunne - Warnock
Makoun - Stan - Ireland
Gabby - Bent - N'Zogbia

IF:  Collins and Dunne can get back to 09 / 10 form, rather than last seasons embarrassment (on and off the pitch),

IF: Warnock can rediscover his first half of 09 / 10 form, rather than his walking yellow card liability form since,

IF: Makoun turns into a poor mans Essien, rather than Djemba Djemba mark 2 (could go either way),

IF: Petrov's legs can last the majority of a match,

IF: Ireland can realise his potential and stop being a nutjob,

IF: Gabby can reverse his regression,

IF: We steer clear of injuries,

Then thats a reasonable team.

[TheSandman]

Chelsea have signed that lad Romeu from Barca we were interested in January.

[PaulWinch again]

Jeffren is going to Sporting Lisbon for £3.5 million. He surely should have been worth a shout at a decent price.

[ozzjim]

The two we were interested in, the defensive midfielder from Barca and Forfana would both have been very impressive signings for the future. One is the captain of the French U20 team and one going to Chelsea for big money. He had his issues, but Houllier had his eye on the ball with players coming in.

Interestingly I reckon Makoun could be sold by the end of August back to France for 5-6 million, allowing a move for someone like Parker.

[Chris Smith]

The two we were interested in, the defensive midfielder from Barca and Forfana would both have been very impressive signings for the future. One is the captain of the French U20 team and one going to Chelsea for big money. He had his issues, but Houllier had his eye on the ball with players coming in.

Interestingly I reckon Makoun could be sold by the end of August back to France for 5-6 million, allowing a move for someone like Parker.

Why do you think Makoun will be sold? He looked the part last night, I'd be sorry to see the back of him before we get the chance to properly see what he has to offer.

[Chris Smith]

I think the game against Braga will give us a better indication as apparently AM is fielding a full strength side so I'm reserving judgement until then as I thought we played some good stuff against Blackburn and Walsall when we played or at least started with full strength sides

It'll also be interesting to see what he thinks his full strength side is.

My money is on:

Given
Young - Collins - Dunne - Warnock
Makoun - Stan - Ireland
Gabby - Bent - N'Zogbia

IF:  Collins and Dunne can get back to 09 / 10 form, rather than last seasons embarrassment (on and off the pitch),

IF: Warnock can rediscover his first half of 09 / 10 form, rather than his walking yellow card liability form since,

IF: Makoun turns into a poor mans Essien, rather than Djemba Djemba mark 2 (could go either way),

IF: Petrov's legs can last the majority of a match,

IF: Ireland can realise his potential and stop being a nutjob,

IF: Gabby can reverse his regression,

IF: We steer clear of injuries,

Then thats a reasonable team.

So, if our players play well we'll be a good team. That's punditry in the Shearer class.

[taylorsworkrate]

I think the game against Braga will give us a better indication as apparently AM is fielding a full strength side so I'm reserving judgement until then as I thought we played some good stuff against Blackburn and Walsall when we played or at least started with full strength sides

It'll also be interesting to see what he thinks his full strength side is.

My money is on:

Given
Young - Collins - Dunne - Warnock
Makoun - Stan - Ireland
Gabby - Bent - N'Zogbia

IF:  Collins and Dunne can get back to 09 / 10 form, rather than last seasons embarrassment (on and off the pitch),

IF: Warnock can rediscover his first half of 09 / 10 form, rather than his walking yellow card liability form since,

IF: Makoun turns into a poor mans Essien, rather than Djemba Djemba mark 2 (could go either way),

IF: Petrov's legs can last the majority of a match,

IF: Ireland can realise his potential and stop being a nutjob,

IF: Gabby can reverse his regression,

IF: We steer clear of injuries,

Then thats a reasonable team.

So, if our players play well we'll be a good team. That's punditry in the Shearer class.

I was more alluring to the fact that there are serious question marks over a no of the players expected to be in our first 11.

It worries me that we are gambling on certain players being able to rediscover lost form, or players being able to improve their fragile mental states.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

"I was more alluring to the fact that there are serious question marks over a no of the players expected to be in our first 11.

It worries me that we are gambling on certain players being able to rediscover lost form, or players being able to improve their fragile mental states."

I think that's exactly the position that AM finds himself in of having to do!
He's inheriting a lot of MON's rubbish and has got to try and justify the money/wages spent on them before RL will let him go on some kind of spending spree - after they've been tried out/given another chance/moved on!
I don't particularly like it but it makes a lot of economic, practical common sense. Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Ireland etc SHOULD be contributing more and as experienced players have we been getting the benefit of that experience? Certainly not last season. Surely they can't all become bad players in such a short space of time!
As you say tayls, IF AM can give then a new lease of life and it works, great! If they don't then they are their own proof that they are not good enough and we need to start looking elsewhere.
Lots of shit to happen in the meantime perhaps, but a lot of those IFs might work out to be positives.
On the earlier point, I know Ash and Downing contributed considerably last season, but I just feel that both could have given more, especially when we were really struggling. Again, they are experienced professionals and very effective at times, but so they should be and should have been more so in a team that needed steadying and a bit of guidance when times got tough. Other than Ash's workrate, I don't think either of them were impressive in that department. I don't think we'll miss Downing at all. 

[ozzjim]

I have started another thread about wages, but I am getting more and more puzzled by our lack of support for Eck in the market. Verhoek for 2 million who looks a good prospect is surely a better proposition than no back up winger at all? Finding a midfielder like Mulumbu at Albion must be possible too. Plenty have over the last few years - Palcious, Tiote, Mulumbu, come to mind that have cost relatively small amounts, made or would make big profits and are all 3 the type we need. Our short sighted approach in the market has hurt us badly, but that is not cause to stop speculating. We have made big profits on Young, Downing and Milner because we bought the potential. To scale back completely just seems well, madness. I feel sorry for Eck being manager at the moment, and can see why Benitez, Ancellotti, Martinez and whoever else said no did so.

[Steve67]

Any combination of midfielders I've seen from those of you who are picking a side, is weak as piss.  Makoun, Petrov, Ireland have no backbone whatsoever, Bannan is lightweight, Delph can tackle at least but is injury prone.  We desperately need a good quality ball winning midfielder.  The centre of our midfield at the current time, you could drive a coach and horses through.  Surely to Goodness McLeish see's this as well?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I have started another thread about wages, but I am getting more and more puzzled by our lack of support for Eck in the market. Verhoek for 2 million who looks a good prospect is surely a better proposition than no back up winger at all? Finding a midfielder like Mulumbu at Albion must be possible too. Plenty have over the last few years - Palcious, Tiote, Mulumbu, come to mind that have cost relatively small amounts, made or would make big profits and are all 3 the type we need. Our short sighted approach in the market has hurt us badly, but that is not cause to stop speculating. We have made big profits on Young, Downing and Milner because we bought the potential. To scale back completely just seems well, madness. I feel sorry for Eck being manager at the moment, and can see why Benitez, Ancellotti, Martinez and whoever else said no did so.

My previous post touches on much of the thinking...I think!???!
I'm sure we all hope AM has got his men out there looking for talent; perhaps it's a bit too early to bring a newbie in?
In the meantime expensive, experienced squad members have gotta get off their arses and show if they can do the job they're being very well paid for. A few shrewd, low-cost buys, that a number of posters have mentioned could have made a big impact on the momentum of going into the new season with genuine optimism.

[ozzjim]

The two we were interested in, the defensive midfielder from Barca and Forfana would both have been very impressive signings for the future. One is the captain of the French U20 team and one going to Chelsea for big money. He had his issues, but Houllier had his eye on the ball with players coming in.

Interestingly I reckon Makoun could be sold by the end of August back to France for 5-6 million, allowing a move for someone like Parker.

Why do you think Makoun will be sold? He looked the part last night, I'd be sorry to see the back of him before we get the chance to properly see what he has to offer.

On Makoun Chris, I just would not be shocked. Very much the last managers man, struggled to get to the pace of the game, and think if there was interest he would go. No more than a hunch.

[pauliewalnuts]

If, at the end of the season, we'd have said "Get shot of Friedel, Walker, NRC, Ashley, Downing, Carew, Salifou, Pires, Osbourne and the other lesser players, and bring in N'Zogbia and Given", I expect pretty much every single one of us would have responded along the lines of "you must be joking"

If we do not back AM more in the market, then he is being hung out to dry, I'm afraid.

I'm also starting to wonder if a large part of the reason they were so keen to get shot of Houllier was that fabled list of players he'd put together, the one that would give us a good shot of top four, so it was said.

Maybe Randy didn't fancy stumping up the list and thought it'd be cheaper and easier to swap the manager.

[Irish villain]

Any combination of midfielders I've seen from those of you who are picking a side, is weak as piss.  Makoun, Petrov, Ireland have no backbone whatsoever, Bannan is lightweight, Delph can tackle at least but is injury prone.  We desperately need a good quality ball winning midfielder.  The centre of our midfield at the current time, you could drive a coach and horses through.  Surely to Goodness McLeish see's this as well?

He probably can but if we don't have the money we don't have the money. To improve on what we have would cost an awful lot. We have plenty of bodies in central midfield so no point bringing in any more on the cheap as they won't improve us.