OTF

I'd say it's never good to see anyone pickup an injury, but then I'd be lying wouldn't I. In all seriousness get well soon Alan.

Pardew: Mike and Derek, when you said there was money available in January you were joking weren't you? FMA & Llambias: [giggle] ....... I still reckon we'll bring someone in.

Colo at the back for mine, A defender with some skill on the ball and a better passing range. Or else Enrique.

Did i say we had to spend 12m on him?. He'd walk into just about any top team in the PL, regardless of what his goal scoring record has been. If Zenit have bought him for 12m how exactly were we, or anyone else going to buy him for less?

From the man who rarely posts outside of general for fear of showing himself up? Fish, I bow to your knowledge of the game. Why bother posting when most of what I have to say has already been said? Seems a little tedious to write "I agree" all the time. I suppose you're immune to tedium, given your repetitive "banter" isn't it about time you edited a Wiki page? That refers to a team you're not obsessed with. Honest. Beeeee Lahky! Doresn't take much to make the fish bite these days. Oh oh, he's resorted to claiming he's on the wind up already. That didn't take long.

Just quoting the numbers makes the case. The players I ommitted I expressely mentioned before that as being players that I believe have risen or at least held value. Kidding if you think Dawon is worth 12m, though you're right, I didn't realise he came as a two for one with Reid. Probably slipped in in Reid's shadow with noone noticing. Taking a gamble on making the Champions League this season, not sure who'se going to drop out of that top 4 to make way for you. I'll admit that the Tottenham candle is burning brightly at the moment...... you can finish the rest of that analogy being the smart lad that you are.

Can't live off the Berbasulk and Carrick spoils forever. Name the players in your side now that you think you could sell for a profit? Van Der Vaart might be one though he'd have a limited set of clubs he could go to, then there's Lennon. Bale's value will have gone up from the 10m you paid. Modric's value will have held. Huddlestone's will have risen. The rest will have dropped off. Gomez 8m Hutton 9m Kaboul 9.5m (you've already lost 5.5m on him) Jenas 7m+ Pavlyuchenko 14m Keane 12m+ Palacios 12m Crouch 10m dos Santos 5m+ Defoe 16m Bentley 15m+ Bassong 8m Dawson 8m Corluka 8.5m

Can't argue with the numbers. If they're operating at a profit now just think how well they could be doing if they hadn't fucked up on numerous purchases. You're far from guaranteed Champions League football next season, and that's even with Liverpool's continuing spectacular fall from grace. The financial sting from that will hurt.

Of course Seems to be a solid history of Tottenham stuff-ups on the player market.

Put it this way. You were well ahead on Robbie Keane, got his best years out of him and sold him for a healthy profit. Then you fucked up monumentally by buying him back when he was clearly a spent force. How ever you want to look at it you had money in the bank from him then wasted it on buying him and paying his hefty wages. If you want to glorify that fuck up by saying you broke even on him, then go for it. Still paying his wages now whilst he does sweet nothing for you means that every moment he's there he takes your figures on him into the red. Plus the double shot on it all is that every moment he sits there doing nought the fans must grow more and more resentful, slowly eeking away at the good things he has done at the club before.

Another of the bench brigade at Tottenham; sparsely used collecting their big wages to sit on the bench whilst their market value deterioriates. See Keane. See Bentley. See Jenas. See Wioodgate. See King. See dos Santos. See Kranjcar. See Sando. See Corluka.

Assuming you paid no additional amount on top of the 12m for Keane from Liverpool (not including the wages you've wasted on him, which would be in the millions) plus the 14m you paid for Pavlyuchenko if you sold them to Sunderland you'd be losing a tidy 10m. Bentley's only on loan and you won't get anywhere near the 15m you paid for him before any add ons. You probably have the highest paid bench in the league excluding Manchester City who are well and truly in their own financial bracket. I don't see how you could net 4m from the signing of Bent considering you sold him for less than you bought him for. Maths not your strong point fella? Keane = 8 - 20 + 12 = 0 So a 4 mil loss on Pav. We can eat that up neh bother. Logic not your strong point? Point A. Tottenham do not have Robbie Keane Point B. Tottenham buy Robbie Keane for 12m (plus bonuses) from Liverpool Point C. Tottenham pay Robbie Keane to play in spits and spats and sit on the bench collecting money in the meantime The fact that you had had Robbie Keane at your club earlier counts for diddly as it was a completely separate set of transactions.

Assuming you paid no additional amount on top of the 12m for Keane from Liverpool (not including the wages you've wasted on him, which would be in the millions) plus the 14m you paid for Pavlyuchenko if you sold them to Sunderland you'd be losing a tidy 10m. Bentley's only on loan and you won't get anywhere near the 15m you paid for him before any add ons. You probably have the highest paid bench in the league excluding Manchester City who are well and truly in their own financial bracket. I don't see how you could net 4m from the signing of Bent considering you sold him for less than you bought him for.

Who's paying 16m for Bentley and Keane? Even if they do that's a loss as you paid up to 17m for Bentley, not to mention the massive wage he collected for sitting on your bench. Even though you made 7m approx from selling and re-buying Keane from Liverpool you still paid up to 16m for him and have consequently worn the brunt of his depreciation. He's not worth much now and noone is interested because of his age and massive wage. Definite loss there, shouldn't have bought him back from Liverpool. Plus you lost money on Bent, with Sunderland making you look like suckers with what they garnered from Aston Villa for him.

With more than 60% of the season gone I thought it would be fitting to check in on the comparison made prior to the season beginning. Updates noted. Goal Keepers Then: Shay Given (until January), Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Fraser Forster Now: Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Fraser Forster Winner: Then (with Shay), even without. Update: Shay Given is better than Krul and Harper, though both Newcastle keepers have had their highlights this season. Unfortunately they've been littered with the odd lowlight which means that neither has really stood out as out first choice keeper. Shay is still the winner, despite him seldom playing himself. Defenders Then: Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Sebastian Bassong, Claudio Cacapa, Habib Beye, Jose Enrique, Ryan Taylor (after Jan), David Edgar, Tamas Kadar Now: Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Sol Campbell, Mike Williamson, Jose Enrique, James Perch, Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Tamas Kadar Update: Our defense has looked quite strong on most occasions this season. Mike Williamson, although not perfect, has proved that he is able to compete at this level, and Coloccini is playing with confidence (excluding a horror performance against Bolton). Now is still the winner, with Enrique a more complete player than he was in 08/09 and Simpson doing a susprisingly good job at right back. Our depth in central defense has allowed us to cope well with injuries and suspensions. Winner: Now (largely due to depth). Midfielders Then: Nicky Butt, Danny Guthrie, Damien Duff, Kevin Nolan (after Jan), Joey Barton, Charles N'Zogbia, Jonas Gutierrez, Geremi, Alan Smith Now: Danny Guthrie, Kevin Nolan, Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Joey Barton, Wayne Routledge, Hatem Ben Arfa, Dan Gosling, Haris Vuckic, Alan Smith Winner: Now Update: Kevin Nolan has been scoring plenty of goals, and his leadership skills have developed immensely. Joey Barton has been a revelation playing in a hybrid right-mid position. We haven't had much of a look at Ben Arfa, but from what we've seen he looks great. Cheick Tiote has been a fantastic signing who really has filled a hole in the side. His sometimes reckless enthusiasm means that he'll miss plenty of games this season through suspension unfortunately. Dan Gosling is finally available for selection so it will be interesting to see how he fits into the overall picture. The winner is still very clearly now. Forwards Then: Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen, Mark Viduka, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll, Xisco, Peter Lovenkrands (after Jan), Now: Andy Carroll, Peter Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Leon Best, Xisco, Nile Ranger Winner: Then (if Carroll stays fit/available it would be close). Update: Carroll has lived up to his promise and then some, except he already has missed quite a few games through injuries. He's certainly our stand out forward with our options after him falling away badly. Ameobi was fourth choice in 08/09 and is second choice now, which is a little worrying, but the injuries and inconsistencies of the three that were ahead of him in 08/09 means that it's still a tough choice to decide. On the strength of Carroll alone I'd give it to now, as the 08/09 crew were as inconsisten and unreliable as they come.

Bollocks, one thing that was a certain is that Carlos Edwards was never going to return and be at the same level as Hatem Ben Arfa. His reaction in the field, coupled with the way he has handled it afterwards indicates that mentally Hatem Ben Arfa is extremely strong and can't wait to get back out on the pitch. All reports medical or otherwise have him healing extremely well. The regeneration of the bones is not a problem at all and physically he should return to 100% function, it's only where substancial ligament damage occurs that a return to full function is not expected. Don't know or care the nature of Edwards injury, except to say that a 23 year old will recover from injury a lot better than a 30 year old. Agree. Even if he comes back as 80% of the player he was it's a great price. Backhanded compliments ahoy! You mean like Bent did with you guys? How much of your Bent money is going to Droopy's summer fund?

Tamas Kadar should be an alternative as well, except he's injured at the moment. Back from his 1 month loan as a result. Enrique wasn't bad in his first couple of season here IMO. Took a long while to get a regular run in the side under Allardyce in his first season, with N'Zogbia often used there instead. Was decent in his second, but was playing alongside a defense with shattered confidence behind a laughably bad central midfield. No doubt though his confidence, ability on the ball and his distribution have improved a lot through the season in the championship. He always had the makings o an excellent defender and was quick and strong from the get-go.

Being honest, this Bent thing has just made me realise how much I don't care about this anymore. In the end they'll probably shit on you. If he does a job here and leads us in Europe I'm sure we'll accept him being a miserable French twat. And the only thing I knocked about HBA's signing was the fact he's injured. A bit of a gamble to sign someone with a broken leg, sometimes they don't come back the same player. We've seen it happen at SAFC with Edwards breaking his leg, before the injury he would fly past defenders, jump into tackles etc., yet when he came back he was shot of all confidence, was scared to beat a man, wouldn't go into any challenge. It was quite sad to see really, he had a promising future, I know he wasn't exactly young but he definitely had the quality to give the PL a proper go. Carlos Edwards and Hatem Ben Arfa... peas in a pod. 30 year old Edwards suffers a leg break, having not too long before arrived from Luton Town where he had helped them to obtain relegation to the third tier of English Football playing in front of home crowds nearing 8,000. 23 year old Hatem Ben Arfa suffers a leg break, having not too long before arrived from Marseille where he had helped them become French Champions, winning the double taking out Lique 1 as well as the Coupe de la Ligue Final, playing in front of home crowds averaging over 50,000.

I'd be more upset. Even though Carroll is local, Enrique is immensely more likable.

For sure. The vultures will start circling at the end of the season otherwise as he'll then have only a year to run.

TBH Ben Arfa's for us was on par, that's without thinking too hard. Joey Barton's goal against Stevenage was possibly better too (was from further out), despite the game being abysmal.

Who would be bothered? I can't even be bothered reading it.

Just about nailed on that we line up like this against Tottenham Harper Simpson Willliamson Coloccini Enrique Barton Guthrie Nolan Jonas Best Ameobi Subs: Krul, Gosling, Perch, Ranger, Lovenkrands, and two out Ferguson/Vuckic/Airey That's if Jonas is fit to play. Pretty weak looking bench, and not a strong defensive midfield.

Yeah since his return Simpson has been quite good for us. Still likes to give his man a bit too much space when on the ball, but there's not a whole heap of players in England that are great with the ball at their feet so it doesn't cost us that much. Growing in confidence on the ball, though still a little pronee to turning it over under pressure. Decent at getting forward and has a good enough engine to do it and get back in time.

Try again, it's not even Andy Carroll, just some wannabe knob pretending to be a good English striker (nailed on it's Carlton Cole I reckon).