Bethnal Yellow and Green

[quote user="The Jewish Cowboy"]The Mail ran a story that O-C could be sent on loan, that was on the 11th http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2085051/Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain-loan-Euro-2012.html [/quote] That story was run by other papers in Dec and earlier in Jan. Chamberlain himself said he didn''t want to go on loan and wanted to force his way into the Arsenal team.

Very, very unlikely. Wenger has said he won''t be loaning out Chamerblain as he is needed in the first team while Gervinho is at the ACON. Arsenal have 3 wide player available at the moment - one being Arshavin. Chamerblain will only be loaned out if someone else is brought in during January.

Apparantly the loan deal was cancelled as De Laet''s injury is worse than first thought. This could be just a cover story - but hard to know.

Does anyone know his best position in midfield? I thought he was a box-to-box player, similar to Crofts - others suggesting he''s more like Hoolahan. The Norwich midfield is getting a little packed now, anyone leaving?

[quote user="ron obvious"]http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20120118/offer-accepted-for-jonny_2247585_2580741?[/quote]   ''we are disappointed the matter has become public at this stage'' - Then shut up about it! Leeds looking to start a bidding war (although that seems a little late as our offer has been accepted).

With ''free'' transfers any clever agent will make sure that most of the savings made from bypassing a transfer fee go to themselves and to the player in an increased wage and larger signing on fee.   As mentioned signing Howson in the summer would require a fee set by a tribunal, and the fact he has come from the Leeds academy and played a lot of games for them would set that fee fairly high.

Ryan Shawcross and Martin Taylor both got the ball in the tackles they made against Ramsey and Eduardo respectively. Ayala''s wasn''t as bad as those as he only went in one-footed but it was a lunge and it was reckless. A 50/50 red card incident and I would imagine if it happened outside of the box he would have seen a red card.

It''s obvious that in terms of numebrs, Norwich have a couple of centre backs too many. Ayala was brought in to cover Ward''s injury and then Russell Martin discovered he can also play centre back. Including the injured Ward and De Laet we have 6 players who can play in 2 centre back positions - this isn''t really sustainable and someone will have to move on. De Laet will probably be kept on loan due to his adapability and can play anywhere across the back line (it might also not be possible to send him back to Man U, depends what was written into the loan agreement).   Barnett has had a good chance in the team and for what ever reason Lambert appears to have lost a little faith in him - I think one of the main reasons Norwich have looked more solid recently is having an unchanged back line for a few games.

[quote user="Eric Pickles Pie Supplier"] [quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"]They''re not playing particularly well and have some pretty major issues at the back. Lambert is tactically very astute and will have a strategy. .[/quote]   I''d agree with that CotT . Without wishing to sound too smug or dismissive, frankly, teams like Arsenal and Chelsea are not the sides they once were, and with a bit of smart tactical awareness and application , they can be seen off, as Swansea showed yesterday . It''ll be interesting to see if Cahill plays from the start . Either way, their defence is vulnerable. Dogbreath has his critics, but when he is away , or out (as he is in Africa right now) Chelsea look a lot less potent up front, too. Mind you, what''s the betting Torres breaks his scoring duck against us though?! [/quote] Torres was excellent on Saturday and should have been given 2 penalties and was unfortunate not to score with his volley. His movement off the ball is as good as it ever was and if he keeps playing like that then it won''t be long before he is back amoungst the goals. The main danger is Mata who only had a brief appreance against Norwich at Stamford Bridge - Johnson is going to have to do a close man marking job against him.

[quote user="SnakepitCanary"]We can beat them. I think Holt and Morison could prove a massive problem for their defence. They have never really come up against the type of striker that they are. We could have a field day from Luiz mistakes alone.[/quote]   I think training against Drogba every week probably means they know all about big strong strikers.   I was at the Chelsea game and they are still struggling to get the right balance in midfield, there is a lot of space between Lamps, Ramires, Merelies and Mata and the Chelsea defence. Romeu is a good player but drifts too far forward at times, leaving the slow Chelsea defence exposed (especially as Bosingwa and Cole go on runs up field).   However, it looks like Essien will start the game against Norwich and he will add some discipline to their midfield and if Cahill can play like he did last season rather than this season they will be tougher to break down. Chelsea''s main weakness is players running at them from the space in front of their back four, this isn''t something Norwich are particulary good at. An arieal bombardment will play into the hands of Terry and Cahill.

[quote user="Gingerpele"]They play great football, maybe better than us? But only at home, I think they will stay up this season though. They have three ''easy'' home games (including against us) then Newcastle and Everton, who based on their home record they should get 2-4 points from, and then Chelsea, Man.C and Liverpool who they could just as easily get points from as they did today. They will finish on 38+ points, which will see them safe.[/quote] Suppose it depends on how you define ''great football'' but when it comes to passing they are miles and miles ahead of us. I think Norwich have one of the worst pass completion rates in the Premier League and one of the lowest levels of possession. Last time I checked Swansea make more passes per game than anyone else and have one of the highest possession rates. Their problem has been turning possession into goals, but Dyer and Graham have started to find confidence in front of goal and they are looking increasingly impressive.

[quote user="NWC"][quote user="pete_norw"][quote user="NWC"]It was the usual "blink aned you''ll miss it" reporting from MOTD. "Norwich have done really well, haven''t they Alans?". "Yes". "Ok, the next game features a glory club, so it will be so much better than the previous game, even though its a dire nil/nil draw"you get the picture....[/quote] Never mind Late kickoff back tomorrow night and we will be on there. should get a decent bit of air time Pride of Anglia and all that [/quote]Its only good if you''re lucky enough to live in God''s county Pete.Some of us have to put up with Citeh, Liverpoo and Manyoo - because they aren''t on TV enough, right!!![/quote]You can watch all the different Late Kick Off shows on the iPlayer. I wouldn''t imagine too much Norwich talk though as I think the show is designed to discuss lower league teams more.

1) Wow, the Star are slow. This was in other tabloids a couple of weeks ago.2) There is no truth it in at all - it is just taken some quotes from an interview with Chamberlain and twisting them. He was asked about playing for England and he said ''I need to start playing here (Arsenal) regularly first. Chamberlain came out a couple of days after the other tabloids run the story and said he wants to stay at Arsenal.3) Arsenal aren''t going to let him go anywhere while Gervinho is at the African Cup of Nations.4) Lambert himself said he was trying to get a loan in - we can take players in on loan, in addition to the 2 with have existing. As long as the loans are short term and not from Tottenham or Man U.

[quote user="blahblahblah"]"No, you can bring in a player of loan, even if you have two exisiting players on loan, as long as any new loanees are on 1 month rolling contracts with a maxium of 2 renewals (i.e. 3 months or 90 days depending on which is longer). Clubs can only have a maxium of one player from a particular club (i.e. Norwich couldn''t take another player from Tottenham or Man U while Naughton and De Laet are here) and there is an absolute maxmium of 5 players." Ooh ! Could we perhaps have that Oxlade-Chamberlain bloke from the Arsenal then ? He looked a handful in that FA Cup match against Leeds. Mind you, it was only Leeds...[/quote] We could indeed, although in the Arsenal press conference today Wenger said that Oxlade-Chamberlain will be playing more games in the next couple of months and wouldn''t be going out on loan. But in theory we could make a move for him.   (I going to add a quick caveat, the information I am quoting about loans has been given to me from someone I know who works at a football club and may not be correct - I think the rules are fairly new and no one has really tried them out, but this is the understanding that most clubs are working on. As with all transfers the Premier League and FA have the last say and the rules are open to interpretation)

[quote user="star_manic"][quote user="Ncfc"]Just reading that Southampton are to up their offer for Celtic striker Gary Hooper to £6million , West Ham have already bid over £4 million for Jordon Rhodes and these are Championship clubs , i just do not think how football is now that Norwich can compete in the top flight . People say we spent well in the summer , did we ? the prices we paid for players is peanuts at this level , Paul Lambert thinks we need players so you have to assume he is right, too many people on here are taking survival as granted and given our home fixtures i think they may have a shock coming , push the boat out now rather than regret not doing so at the end of the season . [/quote]..............these are two clubs that have been in administration in the last few years. time the rules were changed. go into administration and you are not allowed to spend more than your income for a number of years after. both clubs appear to be doing their best to run up sizable debts again.[/quote] But both were in adminstration under different owners and are now doing fine on the financial side. I don''t think there is much in the Hooper to Southampton story anyway.   Interestingly both clubs have just signed Japanese strikers - the one going to West Ham is on about £30k a week....

[quote user="Joanna Grey"][quote user="PurpleCanary"] [quote user="Sports Desk Pete"]Lambert''s been knocked back on the loan front. Tierney trained yesterday. De Laet still out. [/quote]   That at least answers one question. We can get loans in, either because we are dumping one of our loanees or more probably because the rules really do allow more than two at any one time.  [/quote] No, pinkun reporting is crap. [/quote] No, you can bring in a player of loan, even if you have two exisiting players on loan, as long as any new loanees are on 1 month rolling contracts with a maxium of 2 renewals (i.e. 3 months or 90 days depending on which is longer). Clubs can only have a maxium of one player from a particular club (i.e. Norwich couldn''t take another player from Tottenham or Man U while Naughton and De Laet are here) and there is an absolute maxmium of 5 players.   I keep saying this and no one believes me :(

I think the transfer window works well to be honest. The changes in the transfer rules were brought in for two main reasons, one; to unify all the European leagues (apart from those that run from a summer schedule like Russia, Sweden, Norway etc) and two; so the richest teams couldn''t poach players from lower teams in the run up to the end of season and make clubs think ahead for the entire season.   If there was no transfer window and clubs could buy all season long then teams like Huddersfield etc would have very little chance of holding onto their star players whereas now they know once they get to the end of August they are around until at least Jan, and from the beginning of Feburary they know the player is around until the end of the season. This allows teams on smaller budgets to have some security over their squad for the entire season. By allowing transfers all year round the richer clubs are the ones who really profit, any injuries can be covered by going out and buying another player. The one month window means that if clubs are in a situation where they really need additional players they can add to their squads (this is why prices can go a little mad), it also means that players in Scandinavia or Russia can also move into the other European leagues at a more suitable time for the exisiting clubs. If there was no January window prices in the summer would become much higher as clubs wouldn''t have the safey net of another chance to add additional players.

[quote user="Truth-Seeker.Mk3"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="Hog"] I wish people wouldn''t compare us to QPR, they now have millions to spend and a decent manager, it was Warnock and him alone that put them where they are today, I would not be at all surprised if they finished above us now, which I woulg personally hate.....   Have to agree with Wiz to a certain point, I am also worried that unless he is backed more financially he may leave sooner rather than later. [/quote] Not entirely true as Fernandes and his ''advisors'' selected all the players they bought in the summer. If Fernandes had bought Norwich maybe we would now have Joey Barton in midfield. Hard to know if that is something to be sad about or not. [/quote] We could use a Joey Barton in midfield.  He is better than any of the centre midfielders we currently have at the club and would certainly add to what we have been lacking in the centre of the field so far this season. We desperately need to add some quality and strength to our centre midfield options. [/quote] No doubt that Barton is better than any of our current midfielders - whats more the point is whether Lambert would be happy having a player like Barton added to his squad without being asked. I''m not sure how much meddling Lambert would stand for, if it risked the team harmony he obviously values so much.

[quote user="Hog"] I wish people wouldn''t compare us to QPR, they now have millions to spend and a decent manager, it was Warnock and him alone that put them where they are today, I would not be at all surprised if they finished above us now, which I woulg personally hate.....   Have to agree with Wiz to a certain point, I am also worried that unless he is backed more financially he may leave sooner rather than later. [/quote] Not entirely true as Fernandes and his ''advisors'' selected all the players they bought in the summer. If Fernandes had bought Norwich maybe we would now have Joey Barton in midfield. Hard to know if that is something to be sad about or not.

It''s not just the wages, Everton have given him a 4 and a half year contract. That is a massive commitment to a player who has been good in bursts. He was suppose to move to Sunderland in the summer but his £50k a week wage demand sunk that deal - I would imagine he has come down from that kind of demand after another 6 months of average performances.   It''s hard to judge his quality as he hasn''t been given a long run of games in the team - which will always provide inconsistant performances, but seeing as Man U have a bit of a midfield ''crisis'' it doesn''t fill you with confidence about his abilities.

[quote user="Attleborough_Canary"] [quote user="alysha"]If the reports are to believed that both us and Swansea want to sign him, then unless Swansea offer him a much bigger wage or transfer fee than what we are prepared to pay, we may have an advantage in that both Crofts and Bennett have come from Brighton and have settled in well, which could sway Bridcutt to pick us over them. Of course, that''s all depending on whether Brighton are prepared to sell in the first place.[/quote] True but Rodgers worked with him in the Chelski youth setup. [/quote] Rodgers seems to build very strong bonds with his former players - Glyfi Sigurdsson is at Swansea because he wanted to work with Rodgers again.

[quote user="Eric Pickles Pie Supplier"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"] The main problem with Hughes is his involvement with football ''advisor'' Kia Joorabchian - a very shady character who many clubs find very difficult to work with. Although he technically isn''t an agent he ''give advice'' to many footballers, including Nedum Onhura, Wayne Bridge and Carlos Tevez. I would expect to see many of Kia Joorabchian''s ''friends'' suddenly being signed by QPR, and all of them getting rather generous wage packages. [/quote]   I knew, BY+G, that Hughes had had dealings with Joorabchian, but what you are suggesting is that he (Hughes) is more aligned than most with him. Is that the case ? And, if so, is that fairly common in football ? I''d always thought that these agent type characters had certain players "on their books", and tried to hawk them round various clubs, irrespective of who the manager is.   So are you saying that managers themselves involve themselves in "special relationships" with thse guys ?  If so, then there must be clashes of interest on a very regularly basis. Perhaps I''m being naive here, but if this practice is widespread, then it''s worrying. [/quote] It''s becoming more and more common - for me the most interesting case is Blackburn. Jerome Anderson helped the Venky''s to buy Blackburn from its previous owners - Jermone Anderson happens to be Steve Kean''s agent and represents many players through the companys SEM and Kentaro. One of the first transfers to Blackburn under the Venky era was Jerome Anderson''s son Myles...   Agents will pimp their players out to all clubs if they feel there is a possiblilty of a move or increasing the player''s wages and value. But by working closely with certain managers and clubs the agent has direct influence in transfers and can end up on both sides of the negotiating table (not officially of course). Joorabchian or Anderson, for example, can tell Hughes or Kean the exact terms of another team''s players'' contracts, release fees etc Through Kentaro, Anderson is pretty much in charge of Blackburn''s transfer policy, why would he try to sign another agency''s player when buying one of Kentaro''s would provide a kick back for the company and himself?   I feel the conflict of interest between agents working for managers and players will be a large talking point in the Premier League in the next couple of seasons - as well as the increasing amount of agents who ''advice'' club owners on transfers.

As someone above mentioned, as it is a ''loan'' arrangement between two different countries Dani has technically been transferred to Madrid for a season; it will be written into the terms of the contract that he returns to Liverpool at the end of the season (although in this case there is a ''right to buy'' included). This means that he can then be loaned from Madrid to Rayo under the normal league loan rules.   As I understand it Madrid want to buy Dani, but wanted to defer to full payment for a season (as they are a bit hard up at the moment) and also wanted him to gain some experience with another club (not that it is really happening). However, there has been a recent manager change at Madrid which may mean the transfer doesn''t happen, also his less than convincing performances may make Madrid rethink the whole transfer. Nothing will happen this transfer window but come the summer things might change.

[quote user="Bryangunnshairline"]I think bringing in mark Hughes was a good bit of business. A proven track record in the premier league. According to sky sports he said mark Hughes can sign whoever he wants in this transfer window. The plan is to stay up this season and build on it next for European football. Sounds good for now but what if they don''t get European football next year? I''m much happier with our set up because one day we will go back down and when we do with our set up we should be ok financially. Another thing, why did Hughes leave fulham? Very similar in the size of club. Was it lack of funds?,[/quote] Hughes left Fulham saying it was due to ''lack of ambition'', but it was also related to him thinking he would get the Aston Villa job - by quiting before being contacted by Villa it would avoid compensation payments being needed.   Hughes is a good manager, he has never really failed at a club and only been sacked once, at Man City. At the time many people felt that was unfair and looking at the current Man City side many of the players were brought in by Hughes - the board however felt he didn''t have enough ''kudos'' to bring in the really big names and he found it hard to work with big name players. There were also arguements about players being bought without Hughes knowing about it - the most famous example was the Robinho transfer were Hughes was out enjoying a round of golf and had no idea of the transfer until Sky Sports phoned him up to tell him about it.   The main problem with Hughes is his involvement with football ''advisor'' Kia Joorabchian - a very shady character who many clubs find very difficult to work with. Although he technically isn''t an agent he ''give advice'' to many footballers, including Nedum Onhura, Wayne Bridge and Carlos Tevez. I would expect to see many of Kia Joorabchian''s ''friends'' suddenly being signed by QPR, and all of them getting rather generous wage packages.

[quote user="Lincs CR"]24 hours ago Neil Lennon announced Hooper, Matthews and Commons are 3 players being linked with clubs, but are 100% not for sale. I think Commons is the type of player we should be looking at, but as we all know with Lambert he won''t pay more than a player is worth, sadly Celtic will be after a big bid to sell a player they want to keep.[/quote] I guess it all depends on whether the stories are true of Commons being unhappy at the club. To be honest the player I would really want from Celtic is Ki Sung-Yeung but that is just dreaming.