The Great Mass Debater

When he came on as a substitue in that game (was it Everton) Oh My God. The man was unstoppable. Pace power, I thought he was truly sensational. Must have been as he was fresh and playing against tired legs, but wow. Shame he never had quite the same impact as a starter but that would have been asking for a lot. Definitely a game changer though. Role as a super-sub? Think theres an argument for that!

If we were to get another quality midfielder who can do more than one thing, I think that would mean Howson would have to be considered as an attaking midfielder. Feedback from Leeds when we signed him was he was brilliant in this position, but wasnt very good at CM. If we were playing one up front that would leave us with Hoolahan, Howson and Butterfield competing for that AM position. Quite like the sound of that

Mr Chops, where have you been? Oh how Iv missed your humourous posts... (Im not being sarcastic, but no matter how I say it in my head it sounds that way!)

If this were to go through, how quickly could he sign? I guess my question is who does he need to see to complete a move? Obviously medical can progress independantly, but who else needs to do their bit? With the team away in the USA, would any move be delayed til they got back, or could the move go through earlier?  Is McNally etc in the states or will all the important people still be at the club and able to do all the transferry bits. I have no idea who needs to be involved or where those people will be - can anyone enlighten me?

Fox has the passing range and ability of a world class midfielder   I think our problem in previous seasons is that we''ve had players with singular strengths, and you almost need to play all of them to get the components you need for an effective midfield, which of course you cant do (unless you play a spanish 4-6-0), and so ultimately we have been forced to choose which midfield componenets to sacrifice. Fox does the deep long range passes, Hoolahan the close, penetrating, creative final balls, Tettey intercepts and breaks up play, BJ adds the muscle. Hopefully in Fer we''ve got a player now who has multiple strengths. From what Iv read, power, tackling, box to box and a good pass, with a pretty good scoring record. But agree he doesnt seem to be that creative player we need. If we could merge the talents of Wes and Fox we''d be laughing. Maybe Hoolahan will be more effective with Fer in the team. Perhaps Hoolahan could be tried again as a central midfielder. Didnt quite work with previous central midfield partners, but maybe with Fer to do some of the things Wes doesnt do so well he might do better in that role. I certainly think Hoolahans lack of direct threat in the AM position means he is somewhat of a luxury - yet the team is so flat without him Fer and Hoolahan as a central midfield partnership? 

Im going to do a Chery Cole in X-Factor about 4 years ago and refuse to vote! On second thoughts - Martin!

I am reminded of that old saying ''A bad workman always blames his tools...''

[quote user="priceyrice"]Would be a good move for him and all parties. Good championship defender but very very limited in the prem, torn apart by better quality strikers. Hopefully we recoup some of his original transfer fee[/quote] Anyone know how much that was? Seem to remember it was undisclosed as most of our transfers seem to be

[quote user="ReadingCanary"]Do you watch every game Jacob and Josh play?Do you watch every training match?Are you basing your opinion entirely on the FA Youth Cup?There was clearly a good reason the decision was made.[/quote] Well quite clearly I dont. Much of my opinion is based on Youth Cup performances but also, a lot of the match reports (which I do read a lot of) have suggested that if anything, Jacob is considered the better prospect. My question was an innocent one, asking simply if Jacob was injured, and asking whether, as an identical twin, it must be a bitter pill to swallow if your brother is favoured over you. Interesting you chose not to comment on the question I was asking but instead to reply in quite a negative, personal and aggressive manner. Cant understand why some people feel the need to post aggresively. No-one forced you to read this thread...

Reminds me of the type of goal Junior Hoilett seemed to enjoy scoring against us for Blackburn...

[quote user="The New Boy"][quote user="Mervmeister"]This is definitely going to happen :( not a good player at all[/quote]He will be better than Chris Martin, and probably better than Simeon Jackson. For that reason he represents an improvement in the squad. But I would still want one more striker. [/quote] I think this is definitely the way to look at it. We survived/achieved what we did last season with players in our squad like Martin and Jackson. So the players we bring in only really have to be better than the players they are replacing to take the pragmatists view. Im not overly excited by this potential transfer but does anyone doubt that he is better than Martin or Jackson? If he''s better, then he''s a good signing, as the quality of the squad is only improving. Perhaps quantum leaps like Quagliarella are just too ambitious for us to pull off. Perhaps ultimately we need intermediate steps

There are a few which are dragging on like this, only to be expected when we coveting players of this quality, with little novel to offer them (and by this I mean no European football, no big stadium, no big reputation, no big bucks - before anyone gets sore) I really wonder how many of these may well complete ultimately. Toivonen seems dead, but Alderweireld and Quagliarella keep rumbling on. Will be very interesting to see in a few weeks time. Think both players are probably holding out for a bigger club, but that may not materialise, and in a few weeks we may remain the best offer on the table. I dont think we should be upset about that or sore the player didnt immediately jump at the chance. We are going to have to be as patient and persuasive as possible in order to court this type of quality. It may ultimately pay off - and we should be excited if any of these players eventually come. We shouldnt get upset that they took their time. Exciting transfer window!

Not in the squad for the USA, yet Josh is. Is Jacob injured? as if not, Id be a little bit peeved if I were Jacob. Cant see an argument for one having impressed more than the other. Interesting choice to take one and not the other if its purely football reasons, sure that could plant a seed of resentment?

No to Bendtner. Very very average. Interestingly Bethnall I would disagree, I would have thought Morris was the one who was closer to first team football, simply due to his physique. The Murphy''s are still built like boys, another year of youth team for me, whereas Morris is already built like a man, I think he is ready to play mans football, whichever that level may be.

How good is Hooper?  I have only ever really seen him in Sky News''s incessant reports on the Scottish League. Admittedly he always looks good scoring against Scottish opposition, and I know Celtic fans rate him, but how well did he do in the Champions League against quality opposition? If the answer is ''poorly'', then what is there to suggest he is any different to a multitude of championship strikers? Anyone seen him regularly enough to give an opinion?

Starting every counter-argument with ''To be fair...'' Think that came from MOTD. Also hate any X Factor buzz word like ''you nailed it/smashed it or ''you were on point''. Grrr

That picture of Sutton is the definitive example of ''A picture paints a thousand words''...

[quote user="Che''s right hand man "]Why would you want rid of Johnson he may be a poor passer but he can tackle and disturb the oppositions attack. [/quote Yes, but I feel that thats pretty much all he can do. I think we need to be trying to invest in players who can do more than one thing. We have a midfield full of players with a singular strength and in Fer we have a player who can do many things. Another one like him and we''d have truly stepped up a level. If we could get 4.2m for BJ and only paid 4.8m for Fer, considering the upgrade in player, thats good business in my eyes

If we had just spent 12.5m on this guy, who was bought by Celtic for 900k would we be happy? I would be seriously upset if I was a Southampton fan. I cant see how a player can increase his value this much after playing in the Scottish League, which lets face it is League One standard. 61 appearances later and he''s a 12.5m player? On that platform? I know Celtic played Champions League football as well, but I cant help thinking they have paid way over the odds there. Celtic in general seem to massively over-value their players. Mind you if Dwight Gayle is worth 8.5m maybe the currency has been adjusted...

Still some international chatter about Quagliarella according to that whotalking thing... One tweet suggesting could be finalised when club return from USA. Also tweets saying West Ham and Rubin Kazan are chasing him too...

Considering BJ was linked with a 4.2m switch to Swansea (proved to be codswollop but still, the fee seemed plausible), we have gotten what seems to be a serious upgrade/step up in quality, for what? 600k more? What a pity we couldnt sell BJ then we''d almost have our money back

Teamtalk running a story this morning that Liverpool want both him and Christian Eriksen in 22m double swoop. Boo. My fiancee who is a Liverpool supporter asked ''Where do Liverpool get their money from?'' It does make you wonder considering how much theyre going to lose on Carroll and Downing

[quote user="City1st"]lifted from Purple GK: Ruddy, Bunn, Nash.RB: R Martin, Whittaker.LB: Garrido. Olsson.CB: Barnett, Turner, Bassong, R Bennett, Ayala.RW: Snodgrass, E Bennett.LW: Pilkington, Redmond, Surman.CM: Fox, Butterfield, Howson, Hoolahan, Johnson, Tettey, Fer.ST: Becchio, RVW.As said, we have 25 players plus Redmond who is U21 if as McNally has said there are more signings to come then players need to leave Barnett- definite, his loan was about being in the ''shop window Ayala - doubt his loan was to develop him with a view to a longer spell at CRFox - hasn''t really featured much recently and now looks a bit ''light'' compared to what is coming inButterfield, could well go back out on loan in a make or break seasonup till now we haven''t really sold anyone, only letting players drift away so to speak - Holt was the change in that policy and I''m not too sure if anyone''s place is still absolutely certain and so it maybe that one or two favourites might follow Holt out of the doormy dark horse is Hoolahan [/quote] After having allowed Holt to leave I think Hughton would be a very brave man to sell Hoolahan

[quote user="Canary02 IV"]I think we need another 2 strikers and an attacking midfielder. I think we have enough wing options now and I''d be happy enough at CB with the options provided by Bassong, Turner, Bennett and Martin although it appears CH is looking to strengthen there. Toivanon was an interesting target as a hybrid AM/S. I''ve always liked the idea of having a big man playing behind your goalscorer, winning headers for his partner to run onto. Sutton and Larsson proved how effective it can be if played correctly. Target men are rare enough these days though. Target men who can link play through the midfield as well are incredibly difficult to find.[/quote] Wilbraham did this very well :)

I think Bassong would be a good choice, but the Captain has to be someone long established usually. Russ has been here a few seasons now, I wonder if Bassong is too recent an acquisition for the role? That said, he seems a natural leader on the pitch. Think Russ would be a good choice, but he''s not first choice CB and plenty of people think Whittaker should be ahead of him in the RB slot. Bassong is surely the first name on the team sheet, so perhaps he is a better bet to play every week?