eddie

it's a rehash of an old story. I can't confirm/deny whether we want someone - but in terms of whether we've approached him or actually asked to take him back on loan, apparently it's codswallop. wenger said in his press conference that noone had approached him about chambers.

haha. I for one find it hilarious. well done sir

post #674, the question still remains unanswered

mate. the bro said he thought he hit a nerve, because of your ridiculous overreaction and long post. the piece doesn't necessarily contain bizzare elements, but the fact that you just went off on one is not exactly normal behaviour. its a freakin football fans forum not a philosophers anonymous meeting It's nothing to do with not handling the truth, I'm sure if I had as much time on my hands as you do, I'd read your posts in detail and possibly agree with you. I appreciate you actually spending time to reply instead of the normal posts on here like people just quoting and writing "this" (to be fair I've done that), or the usual ranting that goes on between people, but seriously try to just be a little bit more brief noone on this forum wants to read a stream of consciousness

See: bbc radio humberside bloke said he'd heard southampton hadn't even contacted hull four days ago about chester, let alone made an offer.

this is a completely bizzare post do you have adhd?

I wonder what footballer's think of man city. I know most fans I've spoken to don't like them, and the atmosphere at the etihad (though I've never been) is supposed to be dire, even in big champions league games. But all this talk of guardiola going to man city, as well as big players like de bruyne etc. I wasn't surprised that raheem went, it's the kind of player that would. But it just surprises me that players I regard as 'decorated' or experienced, would go to the etihad to play. Maybe the impression on the continent is they are a massive club with lots of history and lots of supporters. don't really know if footballers see it in the same negative light as the fans

were I a hippy, I would say that there is a lot of negativity on this forum I'm not, so I'll just say that caulker (described on this very page as slow as a glacier and the turning circle of an oil tanker) would be a poor signing. I think Chester has a lot more promise. can't be bothered to talk about van dijk anymore as he's had 12 pages of discussion about how much we all love him I felt last transfer window that there was always a danger Schneiderlin and Clyney would go. This would be the first summer for a few years I've really felt satisfied with where we are, if we manage to sign two solid CBs and some cover in midfield. I tihnk we have a squad that would be relatively stable for the forseeable future which I haven't felt for a while.

is this....english?

It's fine if the individual is actually half decent at defending, which David Luiz just isn't anymore. Pushing up the pitch isn't necessarily a sign that they are poor defensively. With clyne and bertrand it was a sign that they work incredibly hard and have the energy to run back as well, though granted it's different for a fullback. I think it's fine, can't really draw any meaningful conclusions about his skill from it. If he;s able to push up the pitch and help out a little bit there, as well as having the legs to run back and make the tackles/interceptions, that'll do just fine for me

That hair. Words.....cannot.....describe...

they'll make a bid for koeman before too long

Anyone else seen this? Virgil favourited a tweet which was a transfer rumour about him going to everton: http://www.goal.com/id-ID/news/784/transfer-pemain/2015/07/27/13918022/roberto-martinez-isyaratkan-kejar-virgil-van-dijk?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter bit weird. (source = https://twitter.com/VirgilvDijk/favorites)

this is a great post. good to hear, and thanks for posting.

I think in quite a few areas of the game saints are just pipped by Barca and have to settle with second

That's interesting. If We had vvd and he was playing well, I would be tempted to play clasie in that role instead of wanyama, then put juanmi behind Pelle/JRod. i.e. drop wanyama to the bench or use him on and off depending on the formation of the team we were playing. I think he's essential, but there's no reason we always need to play 4 at the back and 2 holding MF's.

http://celtsarehere.com/celtic-still-preparing-for-life-without-van-dijk/? rumours still floating around. This is from some self declared clued up fans up in glasgow. might be nothing, but certainly not gone completely quiet on this front

im the same. trouble is they might get another first choice this summer as a signing, when they have to announce the team numbers right at the start of the window

Yeah, fair enough. I suppose I just remembered feeling overloaded with steve mclaren fanboys for a lot of last season whenever I turned on the radio or watched match of the day, so maybe that's all I remember from his time with derby. But you're right, his history isn't that glorious

feel like I'm out of the loop on the whole 'unspoken but everyone-knows-what-it-means acronyms'. What is the difference between a rumour, in the know, and a whisper? this is getting well technical

Hm. Fair, although I really don't think the jury is undecided. He's a proven quality defensive midfielder in one of the top 2/3 teams in the eredivisie, and he's been rated to play at national level as the key defensive midfielder (bear in mind last year in WC the games he played he was playing alongside wijnaldum (who for those games definitely played more an attacking midfielder) and guzman......who is 5' 8, and blind, who showed for Man U that while he can break up play and distribute, he's not a key shield for back line. So van gaal rated him to be the prime DM for netherlands team. I'm not saying he's a god on the pitch, but he's very very highly rated. In a way I don't know what you would say of schneiderlin if we signed him now from some other league. He is a quality, proven DM who is good at distributing and excellent at breaking up play. But, just like clasie, I feel a lot more confident having someone play alongside him like Wanyama (I know I sound like I'm down on morgan, not at all, I think he's world class.). Sure, Clasie has not played in england. But is the question over him 'completely unanswered?' Not really..... If its a fitness question though, like you say, he's not been out through injury much (the most games he has consecutively missed due to injury in the last four years is.....two), and he regularly plays all 90 at feyenoord - in fact he played the most minutes out of any player in the squad for feyenoord last season - 2778. I think he's not just about silky through balls, but I'd be interested to hear your reply. you seem like a level headed guy

Villa I just don't know. On the one hand I think they've turned over the squad and had some good momentum end of last season, with couple players playing well, trouble is they've sold so many. The rumours of adebeyor coming to villa as a replacement for benteke I think would be disastrous. Really can't see him ever coming into the form he had for one or two seasons over the last 5-6 yrs.

I think palace could be very decent this season, as could newcastle. palace could build on what they achieved last season and start challenging for top 8 kind of positions. Newcastle are always an odd one, but they seem to have bought quite highly sought after players - and manager - so could go either way. Wouldn't surprise me if they did ok, though

I'd agree with much of that. Its also nice to hear an analysis of the young guys, I really can't tell them apart on the pitch sometimes so good to know. Completely agree about soares, and also thought the same about juanmi. For me the only unusual point was about Clasie. I think that Koeman will have specifically told reed to be the one to break up play and close people down, putting in the bigger tackles, with clasie just off him to receive the ball in space and then pass it on. So while I actually think Clasie did a lot of closing down, especially closing people back toward their own net, it may have looked like he was just standing there in space some of the time, because that was his job. In other words, reed can across like a better defensive midfielder. But in reality, Clasie performed an excellent role similar to schneiderlin. He did break up play when necessary but also gave an option to players around him to pass to, and then made incisive passes (set up a couple of goals with over-the-top passes to j-rod/pelle that were unbelievable). Being an option in midfield, in space, is as valuable as anything else. Otherwise we're limited to only going up the wings

Just thinking in terms of who could compete with saints for cb signings. would be interesting to map out where other, 'bigger' PL clubs are at with their back lines (especially CB...). I know spurs are fairly sorted with vertongen and toby, I suppose arsenal will look to play paulista now this season so can't see any signings there. of the others, I'd say less so with city/chelsea (though chelsea I think will get stones probably, not that we're in for him so it doesn't really count), but I could definitely see man U going in for a centre half this summer as none of those three have made any real additions to that area of the pitch. Liverpool may also.