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

[Mister E]

We could all make those type of lists and most of them would probably be different. It makes interesting reading though.

The "interesting" bit is simply that we all have different opinions about the players in the squad!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

We could all make those type of lists and most of them would probably be different. It makes interesting reading though.

That was my point.
It raises lots of discussion/concerns re: our team, whatever terms/categories we apply to players.
See your point spangley about the "classification".
In your "rely on" list, Collins and Heskey relied on to do what?

[spangley1812]

We could all make those type of lists and most of them would probably be different. It makes interesting reading though.

That was my point.
It raises lots of discussion/concerns re: our team, whatever terms/categories we apply to players.
See your point spangley about the "classification".
In your "rely on" list, Collins and Heskey relied on to do what?

Towards the end of the season Collins did play well, the season before he and Dunne had forged a good partnership and IMO Heskey always tries his best I know people dont rate him but I do but I can see why people think he is a waste of money     

[PeterWithesShin]

I reckon Spangley has it pretty spot on. The only one i'd be debating about is Gabby. Should he be dropped from the rely on list because of an injury plagued season and being played out of position most of the times he did play?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

We could all make those type of lists and most of them would probably be different. It makes interesting reading though.

That was my point.
It raises lots of discussion/concerns re: our team, whatever terms/categories we apply to players.
See your point spangley about the "classification".
In your "rely on" list, Collins and Heskey relied on to do what?

Towards the end of the season Collins did play well, the season before he and Dunne had forged a good partnership and IMO Heskey always tries his best I know people dont rate him but I do but I can see why people think he is a waste of money     

Agree with you in many ways. I thought we had a great pairing in Collins and Dunne 2 seasons ago but they were pretty poor and very unreliable for the majority of last season, redeeming themselves towards the end. As I posted earlier, they, along with quite a few other senior pros have a lot to prove to the management and themselves this season, and I really hope they do it. I think many of us love Heskey for the very reason you state but many supporters also acknowledge he just isn't Prem standard anymore.

[spangley1812]

We could all make those type of lists and most of them would probably be different. It makes interesting reading though.

That was my point.
It raises lots of discussion/concerns re: our team, whatever terms/categories we apply to players.
See your point spangley about the "classification".
In your "rely on" list, Collins and Heskey relied on to do what?

Towards the end of the season Collins did play well, the season before he and Dunne had forged a good partnership and IMO Heskey always tries his best I know people dont rate him but I do but I can see why people think he is a waste of money     

Agree with you in many ways. I thought we had a great pairing in Collins and Dunne 2 seasons ago but they were pretty poor and very unreliable for the majority of last season, redeeming themselves towards the end. As I posted earlier, they, along with quite a few other senior pros have a lot to prove to the management and themselves this season, and I really hope they do it. I think many of us love Heskey for the very reason you state but many supporters also acknowledge he just isn't Prem standard anymore.

I agree with you totally about Collins/Dunne being unreliable for 70% of last season but we have to hope that they get back to their best form and are totally committed to the club 

[Percy McCarthy]

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.

How about Barton and/or Diarra?

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I really hope Warnock, Ireland (and Albrighton?) can do the same. Marc worries me a bit...he was such a revelation for us for the first half of last season but seemed to run out of steam. He's not been too good so far this pre-season and if I was his mum I'd have him down the doc's in the morning to see if he's anaemic or not eating enough greens! (or do those 2 amount to the same thing?)

[Phil from the upper holte]

I find it staggering that people are prepared to write off makoun yet still think delph is going to be brilliant

[Phil from the upper holte]

I'm not saying delph isn't going to be but I find him a bit of a liability

[spangley1812]

I find it staggering that people are prepared to write off makoun yet still think delph is going to be brilliant

Makoun is like Ireland he needs to be given a run of games in his best position and only then will we have any idea if he/they will be good enough as for Delph he needs to play regularly as well but he also needs to stop "jumping into tackles" or he will be a liability

[Phil from the upper holte]

He's tackling is shocking. He does need a run for us to judge him properly but people seem to base it all on 45 mins against man u

[TheSandman]

I reckon Makoun will be a big player for us next season. Delph as I said last night just needs to make a breakthrough and have a bit of a run.

[spangley1812]

He's tackling is shocking. He does need a run for us to judge him properly but people seem to base it all on 45 mins against man u

His tackling has always been poor (it was at Leeds) I am suprised that given the length of time he has been at the club that Sid or one of the other coaches has not worked on that side of his game, he has been injured a lot though

[PeterWithesShin]

Makoun worried me in the games I saw him play last season, for every great pass he made, and in fairness he did make a few, there were a lot of basic passes that went out of play etc. Hopefully he will be more used to the English game this season, and if he Ireland and Delph can hit form if could be very good to watch. But I hate how many hopefully and ifs we are relying on this season.