Hodgey

A move to Liverpool is definitely a good career move in terms of opportunity to win things / compete in Chaps League - we have won nothing of note in 40 years or appeared in the Champs league and being honest there is nothing to really suggests that we are highly likely win something or appear in the champs league in the next 10 years - ie the rest of his playing career. It's not a sideways move - that is heart ruling head. I have a differing point though - which also applies to Schneiderlin - are these players genuinely good enough to hold down 1st team places at trophy winning/champs league clubs ?. According to Hodgson Clyne ranks a distinct 2nd to Jones and Henderson out of position, I'm not even sure Jones is 1st choice for Utd - and lets face it England are hardly an example of top of the tree. Maybe the question should be where can I go to maximise winning opportunities and 1st team football ? - in which case a move is not quite so clear cut (look at Shaw / Bertrand).

Kermitsaint - think that is an overly harsh assesment there. Tadic, Pelle and Mane were excellent signings - their goals and assists last season proven that. The others I agree with though. I think the bigger point is priorities - at the moment I think we need a quality CB and Gk more than any attacker - irrelevant of replacing anyone who may leave, and that will probably cost a min £25m - add this to the £10m already spent and I think that hits our transfer and wage budget (ie £35m and probably another £7.5m in wages). I think Austin is a great buy at £15m and agree there is no direct replacement in the squad for Pelle which for me contributed to his poor second half of the season as he was simply knackered. Question is - do we need a reserve striker more than 1st choice CB or GK - or do we have enough already to get by.

Agree on Champs League front. But if we are looking for the next stage can I suggest Sevilla have shown us a direction ?. Consistently in Europe but actually competitive in it and have won it 4 times in the last decade or so. That has to be our aim, constant qualification and silverware in this and domestic cups. Not a fanciful notion either, Sevilla average attendance is pretty much the same as ours and they are also well below their domestic top sides in terms of resources etc. We will have superior finances moving forwards and a better academy. So you never know, we may end up in champs league but via winning the competition which I think is ironically easier than finishing top 4 in the UK. Oh and they play in red and white as well !

Les Reed would certainly be earning his crust if he can get anything at all for Mayuka Osvaldo and Ramirez given their spectacular failures (be that abilily, attitude, fitness, simply mental etc). I would see it as a massive bonus if he could manage to send them packing as that alone would save us c £7m in wages. Thinking about that it does completely vindicate KLs removal of Cortese - I wonder how many other vanity projects we would have been lumbered with if he had continued to operate unchecked. On which basis I would say that we would be looking at spending £20m on a GK, Att Mid and Striker due to our increased income, with any income for sold players used to replace like for like (but at c 1/2 of the amount). So assuming Clyne and Spiderman do go for £40m - I would predict another £20m to add to the £20m. That certainly seems to be how it panned out last season (we spent c £52m and sold c £90m). I like this idea of predicting sales however as fun so here goes Out Clyne £12m Spiderman £22m Gardos £4m In Austin £15m Claise £12m Byram £5m Janmaat £10m One of Arsenals 3 keepers Loan

Can't work out if we are much better due to JWP replacing the totally ineffectual Djuricic or that the dominating beast that is Toure has gone off. Suspect a bit of both

Just interesting that we seem to be able to keep other teams chances down but City clearly know how to create against us. Fair play Kelv (and Forster in the home game) for keeping the score down. Can see this being 3-0 again, especially when the players hear the spurs ht score. Still great season and personally I'm unconvinced that we can handle being in Europe and not be looking at the wrong end of the table (I also don't think Spurs or Liverpool want to be in ironically).

They could be 4 up by now - this reminds me of the home game

I gave to disagree with some of this - I agree that on a like for like basis that Wanyama is better, however against the poorer sides cork is a better option as Wanyama slows the game down and isn't a great passer. That should have been the basis for trying to keep him rather than always play Wanyana when fit and make it clear he was an understudy come what may. Plus we must have known that we would lose one of Wanyana or Schnederlin come season end. Big miss for us - ironically we'll now be looking for a Cork in the summer and there are very few good big defensive midfielders around so we will need to either gamble on someone totally unproven or spend big. Also don't agree with the Reed progression, I've yet to see the club place any real faith in him so he can't be hugely fancied - they'd rather play someone out of position instead.

I'm a big fan but he hasn't been as effective this year as under Poch, and has noticeably been poorer the last 2 months. This could be due to playing less possession football, or that we have had to use him as a defmid much more due to injuries which may have disrupted his rhythm. What I would say about yesterday is that at least he was getting into scoring positions, it would be more worrying if an attmid never has any chances and I really can't remember SD having many chances this year - that is a worry. Still think we are going to regret losing Cork - he's doing very nicely and a regular with a team not that many points behind us.

I dont think he is the answer no, but I do think we are worse without him and yet to see anything to convince me otherwise. Not sure what that says about those who play when he doesn't mind........

I'm not sure Pelle is poor, but it's certainly been a season of two halves for him. If anything Getting Djuricic and Elia in has harmed us as we keep changing the am 3 every week and it isn't working. We never play well if Davis isn't playing, he's the only one who can link our def mid with the attackers. We were unlucky to lose today and a draw would have been a decent result - we do need a massive rethink on set pieces and corners though, we are getting to the stage where we may as well just give the ball to the gk rather than bother slinging it in for him to punch or the centre half to head out. I agree with others on the striker front - we've spent 45m on strikers currently on our books but JRod aside they are average or poor. Our record in buying strikers recently is not good so let's hope we produce (and hold onto) one.

Weird - I've not seen any of that. He's definitely got technique but I've not seen the speed or eye for a pass others have (and clearly Koeman too) and seems very lightweight to me, someone who may prosper in the italian leagues. Have we got another Ramires on our hands (didn't see what everyone else did in him either). I'll be having a proper look at Burnley. Looks to me like it's between him and Elia for a perm contract, and with Isgrove being signed up again it is this fella who has impressed. Not sure you can compare with Mane who started very well but then lost his confidence when played wide left - or is this the point, are we playing him out of his best position ?

Djuricic - what are you all seeing that I'm not ?. Thought It was no coincidence that with Davis back in the side the team gelled much better, when he went off they didn't. Personally he wouldn't even make my bench - jwt looks like a better back up and I'd have Elia back on the bench for late pace if needed. Must just be me but I've yet to see anything from Djuricic to suggest he is the level we need, even for the u21s, hoping he starts to prove me wrong.

I've posted this elsewhere but the striker issue is down in no small part to terrible transfers. In theory we have Long, Mayuka, Pelle, Rodrigues, Osvaldo. The club has spent c £45m on strikers in the last 3 years with a combined weekly wage of something like 170k a week so c 9m a year. It may be that KL put her foot down and said we need to lose strikers before we buy another - and it is hard to blame her if so. Bit unlucky with injuries, but compounded with dreadful and expensive transfer choices.

Thanks for the reminder unbelievable Jeff. I think you totally missed my point that I think he is capable but isn't consistent. For every QPR there is Aston Villa, fumbles at Spurs away etc. I didn't mention any of those as I wasn't doing a full season analysis. I think my point still stands - clearly you think he is a top class keeper with his displays so far, I'm hoping for more.

It's odd - even with his record and size he doesn't look confident. He's a regulation goalkeeper - he makes the saves you would expect a championship keeper to make - he doesn't make point saving saves that most Prem GK make. Given that Celtic are c Champs level that isn't surprising What is surprising is capability vs consistency - he's certainly capable of being a top Prem Gk - we've seen that against the likes of Barcelona and Arsenal - it appears that he needs to make one fantastic save early to have a good match. It must be a concentration issue.

He is - he showed that up to Dec. What he can't do us play every game up against 2 centre halves and have that pressure of scoring on top fir 90mins every game. No other Prem team demands that of their strikers and nor should we. Our terrible spending on strikers is to blame, and you can't blame KL for not trusting another big money striker. We've spend the best part of 30m on second strikers, none of which are adequate. For those lording our transfer history that stands out like a very sore thumb.

Was in with the QPR fans, although thankfully most had gone when we scored !. Scrappy game, we wasted chances first 20 after that looked like a clear 00 with neither side having any final 3rd chances. Mane always looked most likely, Elia played well but I wanted more against clint hill. Can't understand criticism of Pelle, we are so lucky to have him, he contests hoofs and links plays well, he does look tired but he has been clattered by the best prem def every game and knows there is no number two so give the guy a break. Also don't get the Davis criticism - thought he and Fonte were out two best players (along with vic who only played a half)

I'm going for Pelle - we haven't missed SRL and without him we would have been lost (look at Shef Utd performance). Not just his goals but all round link play and work rate, also think he has been a bit unlucky with near misses / hitting post etc. if he doesn't play I just don't see us winning as he is integral to the way we play. Lots of contenders though - he nudges it ahead of the full backs, Toby and Jose, Davis and Wanyama.

This will run and run as all parties are right here. He isn't worth 12.5m - he was only worth 6m six month previous and hardly set the world alight. That said he falls into an ever increasing bucket of madness/desperate buys that the wads of sky cash have driven. So he compares favourably to a load of other misfits (inc Osvaldo, Ramirez for us) but we did pay well over the odds. He also has had a positive impact on our squad / results so is of value, and when you are going into a season with 60m in your pocket and a few days left to get another striker in, it could have been much worse. His value won't go up however - if we sold now we would be lucky to get 8, but we don't need to sell as he is a great squad player who we should keep around for his contract (unless we go down, in which case his 50k a week would need to be off the books)

I think he is going to be a fantastic player. I agree at the moment it isn't obvious what his best position is, but he has great technique and temperament and is clearly a grafter with a great attitude. Midfielders take a while to blossom so we need to be patient, he'll have some stinkers as he learns but I think we'll end up with a hell of a player, and assists and goals will improve along with his experience (he already sets up plenty of chances). Very glad we have him (and it seems Adkins, Poch, RK, southgate and Woy all agree).

I don't think we will get hammered like some do. Don't think we will win either - a ground out 1-1 to break the run of defeats with this team Forster Clyne Fonte Yoshida Bertrand Toby Davis Long JWP Tadic Pelle

That was awful, was hoping for better but feared without Pelle and Tadic we would have nothing going forwards. I've got some other questions though. How many chances is Mayuka going to get (he isn't anywhere near good enough and never will be), and how few Reed. This cannot be good for Reeds confidence - in essence RK is saying that no matter how badly people play, or how many injuries I have in your position, you will not play (but I'll name you as sub). Just doesn't strike me as good management There is a good player in there somewhere with Mane - but he needs to knuckle down, cut out the nonsense and use his pace and skill as part of a team. Schneiderlin worried me today - I think he wants out again and will not wait until May to join Poch. Agree with other posters - worst game I have seen from both Bertrand and Clyne (although Bertrand should never have started left mid, did nothing and never really recovered when pushed to LB).

Bottom line is we really struggled to break a team down - no shame in that but I did feel that in the first half we thought we could play in first gear and win. First half was a game of two keepers - ours made a monumental cock up, theirs produced a world class save . There is another thread on Foster - but my question to my mate was if Forster was capable of making that Guzan save and for me the jury is still out. I was in the end very pleased we created and scored another chance when we did - I thought we were going to be found wanting. Bottom line is if we swapped keepers tonight we would have won 2-0 and everyone would be in 7th heaven. But Forster had plenty of time to make amends - I really want him to prove me wrong as so far I cannot see the hype ( including his England performance). Also thought that Pelle struggled against Clarke - but that happens and he has already shown this season that he can bounce back. As for the decision to play Long instead of Cork, I have no idea why consecutive managers worry about cork - he gas been performing for 3 years now in the prem, he must be a terrible trainer...

It's all a PR war. Did anyone really believe Kruger when he said he's not going ?, without talking to the player ?. He's been made a pawn in a PR war and whilst I'm unhappy about his reaction, why has he been picked on ? Let's face it we all know what is going on here. KL wants to sell the club, and why wouldn't she, why would she want to win a Prem club? She and the board have realised they can't sell a club who will go down and probably realising that is now a reality have panicked. A 3 yr deal for a cb who has as much time left as Lambert. Bringing in a replacement for Schneiderlin from Milan. Downgrading statements all the time 'we will spend 30m plus player sales', 'we'll reinvest all player sales', 'we'll spend a large amount of our transfer budget', 'sone of transfer budget needs to go to satisfying player contracts'. I think you have to be pretty deaf to not hear the theme here. Most of the fans know this and the players certainly do. I think Schneiderlin has realised that thus window gives him more chance than Jan (I would have thought after their PR disaster SFC tactic was to ask Hi to stay until Jan to buy them time). He's a player approaching his prime, been with us from the Championship down to league 1 and up again and we are showing zero ambition. Precedent had been set and he is rightly ****ed off. Sadly for MS Krugers crass statement has in so many ways forced his hand. Let's say you were employed by a company clearly on the decline and all your talented colleagues were all allowed to leave when your boss suddenly announces to everyone that no matter what you are staying! He'll go before this window is out, we've all known that for a while, it's just a shame that it has all ended with such bitterness. I don't believe MS is that kind of player.