UpweySaint

Well I don't think either deal is signed and done but I wouldn't be surprised to see one walk in and one out almost at the exact same time. No real surprise we're letting him go mind, unlucky perhaps but didn't really even prove himself in the championship. I rated him when we first signed him but needs to kick on and show he can do a job or join the moving on in the summer list

Well seeing as they've had Barnard off us and now they're having Seaborne ( http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12691/8402498/Southampton-defender-Dan-Seaborne-is-poised-to-join-Bournemouth-on-loan ) you would think they'd wind their necks in!

Dell sized mentality sorry couldn't help myself! True it is a perfectly fair point though I cant speak for others but I would genuinely be so proud to see the likes or Rickie and AL pulling on an England shirt and I think it would mean so much to both of them, particularly RL at the peak of his career

For me Assou Ekotto is actually a cracking player but with me in that Danny Rose is far from convincing at the back. A real yard of pace though and may have the potential to be a flying full back but i'd genuinely be hesitant to predict how good he will be i'm sure shaw will be better

Fair play I can't see England building a side around Lambert like we have but I am more then sure he could do a job for England even if off the bench, I think it'd be foolish not to at least have a good look at him in a friendly. Besides i'm sure England could do with our fine tradition of penalty takers!

Anybody know when bbc will be showing the highlights?

True true, we don't seem to do it the easy way often!

Fair point but I'm wary we could get into the usual "our transfer policy is terrible, sack the lot ..." nonsense territory this forum often descends to. I'd just like to suggest that us competing with liverpool (and apparently everton) for transfers is a sign of real progress and intent! I'd rather we had hassle and worry and came out with the likes of Ramirez, Yoshida and maybe Astori/Forren compared to Reading's "straight forward" capture of Akpan from Crawley, Kelly from Fulham and the likes of Guthrie in the summer ...

Anything but another Yates or Spoons! If it has to be a generic mix of bars, restuarants and housing could they at least try and find a few different companies?!?

The amazing football manager aside surely the fact that us, everton, fulham, liverpool and reading (a quarter of the league!) have all been credited with genuine interest would suggest he must be at least half decent? I'm sure we have a half decent scout between the five of us

Agree with a lot of the sentiment on here. Ramirez is class and needs time to settle. Between injuries, a new country/league, our own patchy form and flying back to uruguay I fancy he's yet to really hit his stride. When he does I fancy he will tear apart a few defences!

Even my Villa supporting mate agreed, it was not a dive. Rodriguez loses his footing under a challenge and did not make ANY attempt to appeal or claim it as a penalty. I don't think it was a penalty either but today, unlike other days, we got the rub of the green so I figure we should take it with good grace and accept that next week it may well be us who are on the end of a dodgy decision (Turnbull's handball in the Chelsea game anybody?) ...

Even my Villa supporting mate agreed, it was not a dive. Rodriguez loses his footing under a challenge and did not make ANY attempt to appeal or claim it as a penalty. I don't think it was a penalty either but today, unlike other days, we got the rub of the green so I figure we should take it with good grace and accept that next week it may well be us who are on the end of a dodgy decision (Turnbull's handball in the Chelsea game anybody?) ...

QPR too far behind and lack that "team spirit" that often keeps teams fighting to the bitter end and, of course, I dont buy the 'arry hype Wigan looked utter dross against us. I admit they have a habit of grinding out points and performing great escapes but this has to be the year. Not enough quality throughout their squad and a couple of injuries and they'd be sunk for me ... Reading just poor. Championship squad for the most part. Again they, like us, might have real money to spend this month but their summer recruitment was uninspiring at best and, unless they manage to find real quality to add to their squad, can't see them picking up enough wins. Of course ourselves, Villa, Sunderland and even Newcastle may yet find themselves in the bottom three come the end of May and this is all just a bit of guesswork

Again you have absolutely no evidence for this. Total wind up merchant at work ...

How do you know? We only know who we signed and the rest was mostly paper gossip. Nothing to say we didn't line up brilliant transfers and have all the right ideas but they didn't come off for one reason or another (Buttner was the lb we all wanted, Butland we refused to pay over the odds, Phillips at Blackpool had some strange goings on at there end between chairman and manager ... these are just three high profile examples, may well have been more behind the scenes!). Crikey do you ever get bored of spouting the same tired line every week...?

I'd suggest our tactical set up has been different, we've played with a bit more passion then the sunderland game and don't think Guly's defensive work has been up to much. Agreed we've been impressive against Arsenal and, to a lesser extent, Stoke but AL has dragged us through games before now. If anything it's showed that Guly has a role to play and we can have some sort of tactical flexibility. Little off topic but Guly has certainly played like a man with a real point to prove in the last few games, can only be a positive for us.

It was a tactical change and, to be fair, I was surprised to see he was one of our better performers. Who else actually tried to get past their man? Right idea from NA just didn't come off.

It wasn't the best atmosphere but it was a dreary day and there was sod all to get that excited about! The sunderland fans only perked up when they got a goal to be fair. I think maybe this one should be chalked up as a bad day at the office and hope it doesn't cost us come the end of the season ...

Agree with most of the sentiment on here. No point taking two mil for him now when we he plays such a key role for us. If he has to leave i'd rather it be in the close season when we can bring in a proper replacement and get them blended into the side.

Ok maybe not inevitable but how else do you establish a side in the premiership that has a core of players not good enough?

Hold on I said likely. He may leave sure, of course its possible. But if he genuinely felt we would go back up and be better for itwith him central to this ...? Well no but my opinion is we are financially well managed, a few big player sales would see us over and we'd keep high attendances. Besides I have faith that long term our academy would see us right

Maybe, maybe not. But NC seems to have acquired a reputation as a man with a keen trigger finger for very little reason. He's been an astute, if perhaps a tad unsentimental, businessman and has run the club on such lines. All the "pressure" on NA was paper speculation. Yes results weren't going were, there was a meeting. Surely it'd have been absurd not to have a chat about things not going well? The meeting may have gone "Nigel I see the task, its difficult, you have my faith. Anything I can do to help?". We dont know NC has backed NA long term as our man and I hope, though football is football, he would see that through. Sorry for the rant but one final point on the spending. Yes in pure transfer fees we spent a good ammount, commentators and other managers LOVE to mention that, but lets be clear we kept wages reasonably low (so we're told) and didn't pay massive agent fees so the disparity between our outlay and other teams on players may, in real terms, not be that great. While we have to have the perspective that of course the team needs a lot of strenghtening. We achieved back to back promotions. A lot of the senior pros from league one wouldn't be good enough for the prem. Butterfield, Barnard, Dickson, Hammond, Jaidi ... I think, or hope, NC would recognise the spend was inevitable and would've happened even if we took another year to reach the prem (we'd have still been in the market for j rod, clyne, davis etc ...)

Ok going down would be a dissapointment BUT perspective. Lambert would stay, his value to us combined with his age he would ikely be overpriced for over clubs. Lallana is likely to stay. He's stuck with us through worse! Ok we might lose a couple but we'd reinforce, it's normal and natural. Financially we'd be ok and could hold onto plenty within reason. Worse case we see more playing time for the young players on the fringe maybe. But we'd come back up sharp. I am very much in the "I'd prefer to go down with Adkins" crowd. I have every faith that long term he's the man to take us onto the next level. He's learning as a manager and will one day possibly be brilliant!

Success is staying up, gladly take 17th though my nerves might not, anything above that would be a bonus and our young squad looking better is also a real plus. Shaw and JWP being in and around the side is a mark of "success" for our long term goals