OTF

Fantastic signing for them. As much as I hate to say it, they've got a good shot of a top 4 finish IMO. If Gerrard can come back and be anywhere near the player he was a few years back they'd be a very good shout for top 4.

So let's get rid of him for nothing and then not replace him - that'll teach him!

Don't get the Enrique hatred. I for one can't bitch about the club on one hand then expect the players to put up with the shit willingly. The ambition of the club is written on the wall many times over, clearly he's leaving because his ambition has outgrown that of the club. No problems with that. Can't stand that he's going to Liverpool though. Hate those cunts.

Coloccini! He's the captain now, you've got to at least be able to spell his name. I think Marveaux will start on the bench with Jonas down the left. Left back will obviously be interesting... Would be pretty quick to rush Obertan out there, I'd much rather see Barton down the right in an act of conciliation. Obertan and Marveaux will be good to inject later in the game off the bench. If Barton doesn't figure then either of the two new French wide-men could play with Jonas. Alternately Obertan could play behind a lone striker - likely to be Shola I'd say. If two up top Shola and Ba. Plenty of choices to be made in certain positions.

Classic pitcure that like.

Bring in Pieters and keep Enrique until at least January. If Pieters settles well then sell Enrique, if not there is the option to keep him to the end of the season.

I actually felt bad for him watching that compilation. Shouldn't have done though, but there's just something about him that lets him almost get away with being shit or injured the majority of the time. Maybe it's when he flies in and scores a fucking belter of a goal against Sunderland? Canny penalty taker though.

Brilliant game tonight. A catch up after the referee abandoned the game because their bench was hurling abuse at him a few weeks back. This team are on top of the table undefeated, but they only just scraped a 1-0 win over us earlier in the season. We started the match with 9, they had a couple of subs. Held our own with 9, and by half time we had 11 and it was still 0-0. In the second we went behind to a relatively soft goal early on, and five minutes later conceded a second soft goal. At 2-0 down we upped our attack and got our first goal, then ten minutes later scored our second to equalise. Not too long after we gave away a penalty. Fucking typical. Anyway our keeper made a nice save then even better reacted quickly to save the follow up from the penalty taker. On a high from the penalty save we surged and threw everything at them eventually the pressure told and we scored a belter of a goal in the dying moments of the match. 3-2 win and with a week to go we're in with a good shout of making the finals. Now that's why I play football.

No doubt after picking up an early yellow and then treading a thin line with some perilously close tackles.

Ameobition.

Time to pass the hat around?

The fact that there is a huge number of French speakers should be a very good thing initially as it will help them to settle. There has been large scale changes to the side, and expecting them to come out firing from the start is asking a lot. Having them at least able to communicate effectively will certainly help both off and on the field. Whether down the track they could form some sort of clique remains to be seen. With the track record of the board that could be a very bad thing as they could easily get offside with one, taking the rest with them.

Can't see that happening for games on the other side of the country. Will stuff up their television deals and having to reschedule a full round so early in the season will be a nightmare - unless they whack it in the Sept 3rd FA Cup break. Yeah because football on TV is more important than civil unrest Glad we agree.

Good replacement for Routledge, if that is what it is. Definite improvement, that should settle well because of the growing French contingent.

Possibly told he has more chance of being first choice keeper if he tells the media that they're interested in Pieters. I wouldn't go that far, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's been "permitted" to get the story out there. Under the impressions that it's actually true. All the while there's no real intention to make anything more than a derisory offer and then feign amazement when it's rejected. Then use it to explain the panic last hour purchase of Jlloyd Samuel.

Possibly told he has more chance of being first choice keeper if he tells the media that they're interested in Pieters.

Can't see that happening for games on the other side of the country. Will stuff up their television deals and having to reschedule a full round so early in the season will be a nightmare - unless they whack it in the Sept 3rd FA Cup break.

Brilliant CT. Fucking hilarious! Training facilities line got me.

The reason behind the delays.

Out of our price range.

It's testament to how downtrodden our ambition is that I'd be relatively happy if we somehow managed to hang onto Barton and Enrique and brought in a striker of decent quality. The fact that Pardew is hinting at just that to me though is a further sign that they'll both be out the door in a minor flurry of activity just prior to the window closing.

Erik Pieters has a decent pedigree, but doubt he would come cheaply (or at all).

3M plus wages for a loan is a bit rich.. wonder what the price to sell would be based on that? 12-15M?

Absolute horse shit.

Can guarantee regardless of what happens at the club he'll be here. They could sell all of the first team and promote the reserves side, and he'd create a post about how positive and dynamic it is that we're promoting our youth and being financially responsible.