saintbob40

sounds like a tosser surrounded by other tossers. A lot of money for a player from the dog and duck league. Lets move on.....we can do better.

Very good player in a pub league. Thats a lot of money for somebody unproven week in week out at this level.

Agreed, that looks a very strong team!

We do need a third DM as I dont think SD and JWP really fit that role. They look better in the middle of the three where we are being slightly less adventurous. Cork and Morgan are however a very good young partnership. It will be interesting to see how a third DM fits in with the other two. It is however all about the team not the individuals and I think we are very close to being a very good side (...and a new CB who can head and pass certainly helps). We do not want to be this year's QPR so let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The general rule of thumb is that you have to be a bellend for at least 20 years before being described as a "character". Not sure if he qualifies as such at this stage.

.......and we did so well without Cork at the start of last season.......

The problem is he is comparing himself with Shaw and Shaw is a bit of a freak in terms of physical development. Shaw is unusually stong for someone of his age. I can only think of Rooney with such strength at the age of 17. There are very few kids of JWP's age playing week in week out in the Premierhsip, especially English ones. He should compare himself with his fellow England Under 19s and not beat himself up so much -as not many of those are starters in the EPL.

Needs to play and learn his trade and I do not look at him as a holding mid. Loan to Bournemouth would be ideal for him but even a run in the Championship will not be easy at his age.

Bottom line is we have beaten Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea (+ a draw away) this season and drawn with Arsenal-frightening the life out of Man Utd twice and Spurs (Away) in the process. We can currently compete at the top level therefore but not perhaps week in week out due to primarily a lack of quality and depth in defence particularly. We just need another 4 or so the right side of 25, who fit in personality wise and want to improve (i.e not fat and happy on massive wages already e.g Sunderland)and like weeks on end of grey skies, rain and soggy chips(!).

Bit of a tightrope walk between selling your club’s soul (with a bunch of couldn’t care less mercenaries arriving (e.g. QPR) ) and risking stagnation. The interesting point here is that we have got a developing bunch of young players who could get to CL standard in the next couple of years ( e.g Shaw, Clyne, Yoshida, Cork, Morgan, Lallana, Jay, Ramirez, JWP). With 3 or 4 shrewd signings ( two CBs, one CM, one SRL type focal point attacker)and I do not think we will be far off. Also a lot of these players have learnt their trade in the lower divisions and have a humility about them which will aid ther learning process. We are in a pretty unusual and situation. First we need to get Shaw and Cork tied down to long term deals and then add the quality.

Clyne > Shaw.?

Possibly the weirdest set of marks and comments I have ever seen.......

I am sure a bunch of Swiss trustees are most perplexed by the asset they hold and the crazy Italian (descent) despot who manages the asset for them. They would probably much rather deal in Government gilts/ bonds generating a 1% yield a year and model the return with absolute certainty- rather than deal with such a volatile asset which is impossible to model- because that's what they know. The problem for them is the rules of the trust instrument ( I guess ) may prohibit a sale or a sale other than in certain fixed circumstances and the fact that Cortese has proved to be successful. Cortese himself appears to have been brought to heal having had free reign and has probably promised MP and the players who have signed new contracts a future that Cortese cannot now deliver. He has overplayed his hand and for once comes across as naive. In fairness to him this looks to be about more than just his salary and he may have the best interests of the club at heart. But then again who the **** knows!

Like him a lot and I think he would make the first eleven...but at least £8 million I reckon.

Our first 10 games this year without Cork (and Shaw to be fair) yielded just 4 points (+29 goals against), or 15 points extrapolated over the season, i.e relegated in bottom place. Since then we have gained 36 points over the next 27 games (+30 goals against), i.e 50 points-extrapolated over the season-8th position. Let the numbers tell the story, Cork's industry, discipline and tactical awareness have made a huge difference to our season. No offence to some of the posters above-but only a buffoon would say otherwise....

No brainer -win it-you could probably swap JWP and Punch for Davis and Adam though without weakening the team though.

What a lot of tosh. He has started every game for MP and is one of the main reasons we are staying up. We need a left sided CB who doesn't hoof the ball 60 yards with a triangular foot every time he gets it and serious competition for Adam and Rickie who have dropped off significantly in the last month.

Assuming Wigan beat arsenal puts them on 38 points. Assuming we lose to Stoke then: 1. wigan win, villa down on poorer goal diff (only way we could go down is if Stoke rattle in a stupid amount of goals)or sunderland down. 2. draw-wigan down; 3. villa win-wigan down. Time for a beer or two i think

If I were them I would go on a 48 hour bender and turn up to the Arsenal game with a gaggle of East European hookers and a quarter kilo of Columbian marching powder.

Morgan played without Cork at the start of the season and that didn't go to we'll did it now? Surprised posters would want to break up the most promising CM partnership in the division/ Europe (?).

So panic ,more or less, over. I wonder which of the board's posters we would like to have in the trenches next to us in a tight situation and which would need to be shot for cowardice and general soiling of undergarments in the face of enemy fire.

I have come to the conclusion that there are some very odd people on this Board who seem to revel and take comfort in their own team's (and by proxy therefore their own) misfortune to the point where they are only truly happy when things are going wrong. I will see if I can find anything on Google for this disturbed state of mind and any therapy which may assist. Possibly not living in a **** boring country on the continent may help certain of the protagonists for starters.

I hope Huddelstone plays, he has got the turning circle of the Battleship Potemkin.....and bad hair! We should also play keep it off Scott Parker for the first 10 minutes and knacker him out for the rest of the game as he runs around like a nutter in the sun.

Forren ?